jake turns four

F O U R

Wow, did that ever happen fast.

Four was ultra exciting because it was the first year Jacob got to have a kids party.  We planned a picnic for his friends and their families, made invitations and Jacob hand-delivered them to each child, planned a scavenger hunt, made mini cupcakes and cupcakes for the kids to decorate, made a picnic feast, Jake filled goodybags, and then... May 10th arrived with rain in the forecast.

Luckily my Aunt offered her house up as plan b and we made a last-minute location change (THANKS aunty Brenda and uncle Mont!).  It turned out to be overcast with just a few drops of rain so we were able to play in the bouncy castle and do the nature scavenger hunt outside BUT picnic and decorate cupcakes in comfort inside.  Perfect. 

The guest list was definitely the hardest part.  I think the smaller the better but there were a lot of family friends to invite and a few of his good friends from preschool.  Plus their siblings!  We ended up with nine kids (four more were away on holiday, phew!), Jake and Avery too, and then everyones' parents. 

But everything went smooth... 

The bouncy castle was a huge hit 

(I can totally see why people buy those things now)

  

Time to picnic

And onto the nature hunt.  All of the kids got a red pail with a printout of pictures of things to find: rocks, flowers, twigs, leaves, pinecones, pine needles and acorns.  

Last but not least, cupcake decorating with a lot of sticky little fingers and happy kids

A party success!  And a four-year-old with a huge grin on his face.  

Kids were sent home happy with their loot-bags and we then popped forty balloons, vacuumed up about a million sprinkles, wiped-up after all those sticky fingers and were home in time for Avery's nap.

    

I had a hard time with Jake turning four, seems so fast and sounds so big.  But we love watching him grow, seeing his sharp little mind work and love that kind heart of his.  These four years have been a dream.  Love him so hard it hurts and always will. 

valentine

In preparation for Jacob's Valentine's Day party we've been busy crafting.  Jacob and I have been working while Avery naps.  Chopping up crayons and melting them into Valentine hearts.  Jake was a big help taking all the wrappers off and filling up the heart moulds with crayon bits.  It turned out to be a really fun activity for just the two of us. He then carefully helped put a valentine and crayon in each bag and sealed them up with a sticker.  Fun and done.  

We're all set for the party :) 

The theme is "Helping Hands Party" and Jake is so excited.  Helping hands has been a daily theme from the start.  "Hands are for helping, not for hurting" is a common phrase in a class made up of majority boys and all the sudden a few weeks ago everyone seemed to get it.  We keep hearing that everyone's helping hands are perfect - good news! - and they're going to celebrate it at the Valentine's party. 

It's our first school Valentine's, so I'm curious to see if parents are suppose to stay and help hand valentines' out or if the teachers are going to hand out all four-hundred themselves.

halloween fun

This was our funest Halloween yet.  Jake was really looking forward to the whole thing and it helped that they had a party in his class.  He kept telling everyone who asked that he was going to be a "big digger" and although I consider myself a little crafty, I didn't want to tackle that.  So we were happy that Grandma Jean sent this Buzz Lightyear costume in the mail.  It was really adorable.  And so was our little ladybug (Apparently a really popular costume this year as three of Avery's friends were also ladybugs).

These two are just too cute!

       

We also enjoyed pumpkin carving.  It took Avery a while to warm-up to it; but in the end she got her hands a little dirty.  

Jake invited some friends over to decorate mini sugar cookies and of course everyone had fun.  Good work Jake.  If you look close you can see the little ghost and moon sprinkles.  So perfect.  

The most-talked-about-event at the preschool Halloween party was ghost bowling.  Happily Miss Taylor sent out pictures and here is Jake showing us how it's done.  There was also snacks galore, so the party was a success.

And we made these paper spider webs to decorate with, which turned out super.  It was a happy, happy Halloween :)    

our fall summary

You can see that fall is nearing its end.  

Cooler breeze.  Barer trees.  Dark mornings.  Greyer days.  

But we really made the best of all that autumn has to offer...

 there were piles of leaves to jump into with friends on our walks home from school. 

there was golfing in the park.  

bright and sunny walks

more parks, leaf collecting and searching for acorns

    

With our fall leaves this year we pressed them flat (just for a few hours), then ironed them between waxed paper, cut them out and taped them onto our sunniest window.  After we ironed and cut, I thought they looked really dull; but once they were stuck to the window and had the light behind them, they were vibrant and bright.  They kept their colour way better than dried/pressed leaves do, so twenty of them on the window was quite a happy sight. 

We roasted pumpkins, scooped them out, made pumpkin purée and used it to made pumpkin pancakes.  Avery loved them, Jake liked them and Bill and I thought once was nice - to be festive and all -  but we kind of preferred original pancakes.  With the rest of the pumpkin purée we're going to try baked pumpkin donut holes.   

We decorated the house with gourds (and sorted them by shape and colour too).

  

we went to the beach last week - just to throw some rocks in - on our way home from the grocery store.  

and we nature walked some more 

  

See ya next year fall.  We're already looking forward to it.     

sewing project

When we were away, I brainstormed all of these things I was going to do with my sewing machine upon our return.  Fast forward ten months and I haven't done a single thing.  How lazy of me!  My only sliver of an excuse is that it's a complete pain to take the kids into the one-and-only fabric store here, as it's not stroller friendly.  At all.  

So I finally got organized and made a little tag blanket.   Considering I haven't made anything for ages, I thought it best to start small.  And the printed fabric is from my Grandma which I love.  

The funny part is that Avery loves all the tags on any stuffed animal she gets her little hands on, but she's not that impressed with these tags.  We'll see if it grows on her.