Little Things.

This week is a teacher appreciation week and it reminded me yet again of how grateful I am for the teachers in David's life.

As David enters kindergarten next fall, I'm already agonizing over his kindergarten teacher. Will they be a match? Will she recognize and appreciate his creativity, perfectionism and determination to complete the work before proceeding to a next task? Or will she instead label him as difficult? Will she praise him? Will she realize how much those praises lift his spirit and build his confidence?

It took some time for David's current teachers to see his kindness, his generosity and his brightness. Instead of trying to fit him in a classroom, they adjusted their approach to accommodate him. They know how much he loves science, so they have him be a teacher's helper during a science experiment. They write words like "perfect", "good job" and draw stars on his worksheets. These things make the world of difference to David. The teachers make mistakes on purpose to show him that everyone makes them, so he wouldn't be so hard on himself when he makes one. They let him bring his creations to school to show to his friends even though personal things are not allowed in school.

All these little things matter to David so much and, I think, that's the reason he loves his school. Anytime it's closed for a break, David's response is always "Oh, no" (whereas Julia's -- "Yay!").

There are a lot of nice and kind words I have for Julia's teachers as well, but since she prefers to leave her mischief at home, she is not much trouble at school and thus doesn't need as much individual attention as David does.

Both kids made this card for their teachers (they used only their handprints for a flower and turned this door sign project into a card). Since the name of David's school is "Learn and Grow Academy", I thought it was really appropriate for his teachers.

Girly and Twirly.

I've been keeping myself busy with a few knitting projects for Julia. I finished knitting them awhile ago, but I kept putting off sewing some pieces together and blocking them. So, without further ado, let me introduce you a breezy summer skirt . I loved knitting it. It was so easy and I learned at least 2 new techniques with this project. Julia loves twirly skirts and dresses and as soon as she put it on, she started spinning around.

One of her ballet moves.

The skirt is a bit long for her now, so hopefully it will fit her well in the fall. But it's not as long as the first version of it that I knitted. I made it in a 5-7 year old size and it could probably fit a friend of mine who is size 0. I kept it because considering how big Julia's appetite is, she'll fit into it in no time.


Second successful knitting project was this adorable twirly skirt . It came out larger than a previous one, but I think Julia can pull off wearing it now. I feel as though I'll be knitting this pattern again and again in bigger sizes. It's so easy and I can use scraps of yarn that I have left over from other projects.


Julia enjoyed wearing the skirt while practicing her ballet moves, but will she actually take it off the hanger and wear it to school? I doubt it unless I don't do her laundry for weeks.

The End. Time to get this homemade stuff off and put something with a label on.

David's been asking me to knit him a pair of slippers (yes, he wears slippers in a house). I found this pattern and considering making them in blue. Of course, if Julia sees them, she'll request one pair in pink.

I think I have enough knitting projects to last me throughout the pool season.

Weekend Pictures in Review.

Thursday Adventures.

We are back home from visiting our relatives in Toronto for Easter. Julia still insists that she went to Ukraine and tells this to everyone in her school. David keeps drawing churches and asking Seth to take him there.

This week we tried to get back to our regular schedule. Julia went back to school and David was off since it's a spring break in his school. I realized it was a good opportunity to spend some quality time with him. So putting cleaning and cooking aside, we played sports in our backyard until it was time to pick up Julia.

Then Thursday rolled in. I decided to take him to a park in a nearby town which we have been visiting for years. It has a lot of old equipments like a merry-go-round, metal see-saw, sand box among others. Not even 5 minutes us being there as I noticed a police car parking next to mine and a cop writing me a ticket. Long story short, since I'm not a resident I wasn't allowed to park there until 10 am and it was only 9:30 am. That was one pricey outing.

Not to let the morning incident spoil the rest of the day, I decided to have a picnic with the kids in the woods. We picked up Julia and went on a hike looking for a nice picnic spot. We had such a wonderful time that I promised myself to bring them there at least couple times a week once David is done with his school and eats lunch with us. It was peaceful, quiet and enjoyable which is never the case around our dining table at home.

I wish that was enough excitement for one day. In the afternoon the kids asked me to take them bike riding in the Middle school a block away from us. They rode their bikes there, but 20 minutes later got bored and insisted on riding to a local playground about 10 minutes away. Sure, why not. David is pretty good on his bike and even though he rides too fast for Julia or me to keep up with him, he'll always wait for me at a cross walk. The kids like riding in the playground although I don't think it's the safest as there are a lot of smaller kids playing and considering David rides like a maniac on his bike, it's just the matter of time when he hits someone. I kept my eyes on the kids the whole time until I lost Julia. I ran all over the park looking for her when I noticed someone helping David up. His lips were covered in blood, he was crying pointing to his scratched up knee, elbow and fingers. Thankfully, he couldn't see his face because knowing how dramatic he is, he would have fainted. I rushed him to the police office located off the playground when who decided to show up? Julia! I asked her where she was and she said she got lost and a grown up was feeding her popcorn. I was thankful she was alive, so I wasn't paying too much attention to her until the cop who was wiping blood off David's face (it was coming from the inside of his nose), elbow and knees started applying bandages on his wounds. Then Julia went into a full meltdown mood crying that she needs a bandage too for a 5 day old scratch on her toe. At the end, the police officer gave us a ride home as David insisted he couldn't walk and while the cop was telling me all about his brand new baby, I was contemplating of asking him to do something about the ticket I received earlier that day. I decided not to push my luck and let it go.

After an hour of laying on a couch moaning and holding an ice pack over his nose that tripled in size, David couldn't wait to get outside and play.

Seth rushed home and took him to the emergency room to make sure his nose wasn't broken. Unfortunately, because it was swollen so much, they couldn't do much there. So, I'm bringing him to a specialist next week.

The good thing is, David was back on his bike the next day cruising all over the town, falling again, dusting himself off and getting right back on a bike. I have a feeling he won't be a stranger to the emergency rooms.

Canadian Trip Review in Pictures.