Our Weeks in Pictures

We have had a fun two weeks. Here is our life in pictures:

Sleeping in the clubhouse


My brother- and sister-in-law slept in the shed the night of my husband's birthday last week and since then we have done it twice. Our guy would like to do it nightly.

Skating competition





My guy had his first skating competition last Saturday. He was announced; skated by himself (including going backwards, jumping and turning around); waved and blew kisses to his fans; and then stood on the podium to get his first-place medal. It was fantastic.

Skating on the lake


While the warm weather didn't help our backyard rink, it made the ice on the lake beautiful. We spent several hours on the ice both on sleds and on skates.

My brother and I had a race. I had a 20-foot head start and he skated backwards. He won. I was proud I stayed on my feet.

Registered for kindergarten


My guy was registered for kindergarten last week. It might have been the kindergarten room filled with toys, the gym and the stage or the playground, but E talked about his school for the rest of the weekend.

New furniture


My parents, aunts and uncle gave us my grandmother's dining suite, which includes this beautiful hutch. It is now full of my grandmother's dishes and Harley mugs.

Goodbye, beautiful bowl


My good friend, AC, gave me this bowl – which always reminds me of the bowl from Anne of Green Gables - as a wedding gift. There has been a crack in it for years but last week the bowl gave out. Goodbye, beautiful bowl. I miss you.

How Did this Happen?

Friday we register our son for kindergarten.

How is it that our little guy is at the age where he is going to school?

When I first realized our three-year-old will be getting on the school bus like the “big kids”, I was so sad. While I acknowledged he was likely ready to go mentally, there were a list of things he still isn’t able to do and a whole bunch of things I hadn’t yet taught him.

While he can get dressed himself, he can’t zip up his coat and he still puts his shoes on backwards. While he knows to stop at the edge of the road and look both ways before he crosses, we still need to work on letting other people talk despite having something important to say.

He still likes to nap. We leave the house at 6:10 a.m. This works out because he has at least a two-hour nap during the day. His kindergarten is all day every day. My poor guy is going to be tired.

And then there is school itself.

When my stepdaughter lived with us, it seemed like each week she was asking for money – school trips, fundraisers, pizza lunch.

My guy doesn’t get a lot of stuff. We don’t go to the grocery store and buy him a treat. On our recent Belleville trip, we went into many stores – toy, hobby, book – and he saw many things he wanted but he didn’t get anything.

But the school system seems to not only want your money, but makes you feel pressure to give your child everything because everyone else is doing it.

I suppose I will cross the money issue when it comes but I am feeling better about kindergarten readiness as two friends both told me the children don’t have to be completely self-sufficient, that there are parents in the classroom who help out.

So while I will be a little sad that my guy is starting a new chapter in his life, it will also be exciting to watch this little boy grow up to be an even bigger boy.