Life is Good

Charlie entered a provincial composition competition for his piece titled, A Might Rumpus. He used the Touch Notation app to write it. He was awarded for placing in the top 4. Way to go Charlie!

This is Scarlet's lesson plan for her first day back as teaching the littles school. LOVE her!

 Love these girlies so much. They let me crash their party one morning and it was so nice to catch up.

 I love her curlies.

 It's always a treat to spend time with the Spencer family.
We met them for the Street Performers Festival. They braved the fountains after!

The Cahoon's are our newest pals. They've really taken us under the wing since we moved into a new ward. We are thankful.

I found this poem that my brother Eli wrote for me such a long time ago. 

Sometimes I just want to be a kid again.

 Handome Ezra at church. He loves his bowtie from his friend Riley.

 Grammy spoiled us with a Famoso pizza party after the symphony. She likes to be fun and spontaneous and I like to dig my heels in and be an Eeyore. I worry about late nights and tired kids and too much junk food and all those kinds of things but it's always fun in the end :) 

My friend Lisa has led me into the fermenting world and I don't know how I survived before? Just ferment everything. That's all you need to know. OK well maybe not this many carrots... 

Vacation Times

 Hobbes is like stuffed animal cute, only he's real!

 Hiking in Canmore

 They're basically siblings- all twelve of them :)

Why are we in separate pictures? This is weird. 

 Having Lily with us made the trip even more delightful, except that it 

made me sad that I don't have seven kids.

 Timmy bonded with Daisy while she practiced riding a two wheeler. She was so tenacious! And the look on her face should be bottled up forever.

Poetess

Jane’s Poetry 2016 Grade 6

Spring Apple Blossoms

Welcome Spring!

Apple blossom tree you looks so pretty.

Your velvety blossoms are so beautiful. 

Their fragrance soothes my soul.

The light, pale pink and white so snowy, look so lovely in my hair.

HAIKU:

Reflection

Shimmering waters

My sad reflections glimmers

On that dark, cold night.

Whispering Wind

Hear the wind whisper

Through the dark forest at night

Sad, lonely, and distant.

In the Meadow

Smiling at the sun

In the meadow clear

Sleep in the warm shine

ACROSTIC:

Nature-

Nest

Air

Tree

Underground

River

Eagle

Sport-

Strike

Pitcher

Offense

Run

Team

Scrimmage

HAPPY-

Hello

Afternoon

Pineapple

Porch

Yard

RAINBOW-

Red

Amber

Indigo

Night

Blue

Orange

White

LIMERICK:

Crack

Downstairs is where I sleep

In the morning upstairs I creep

I eat a snack

And I hear a crack

And now I always weep.

Geese Migrating

Up I look into the sky

I see the geese start to fly

All the way South

I open my mouth

And answer to their cry

So many little people

Jacob and Charlie and Timmy had a great time at the ice fishing activity with the cubs group. 

Easter has become such a beautiful time of year for us- we have some meaningful traditions established and the younger kids have joined in now. 

 I found this old picture of Janey and Baba and I really like it.

Jacob spent the afternoon building this engine by himself. He turned it on to show us and Ezra broke it by accident about 30 seconds later. It was a tender experience bc Jacob could have been extremely upset after the hours and hours of work he spent on it but he wasn't angry for even a moment. He handled the situation gently and lovingly- nothing is more rewarding to see as a parent.

 Jane played with her cello group in the Edmonton subway tunnel downtown. It was a cool to have people pass by and stop for minute and let music be a part of their day.

Jane also played her cello in church with a few friends. It makes all the driving to lessons worth it when she shares her talents in such a way.

 Jane made me this gorgeous bracelet for mothers day. She learned on 

YouTube and it turned out so well!

Jane leaves a trail of notes and poems to all of us. I will really miss this one day. 

Charlie and I got to go on a date to the Symphony with friends. 

It's always a treat to spend some one on one time together. 

 I was so excited to find another of my favorite sweater at the thrift store. 

I couldn't wait to deliver it to my Lindsay. 

Grammy and Baba went to Italy and made us a fancy Italian 

breakfast when they got home. 

Ezra wore this shirt out to a shred. He must have loved the Italian-ness of it :)

 Timmy loves to snuggle Max who happens to be the squishiest in the land. 

He wraps himself around you so tight when he hugs you. It's delicious.

 Charlie worked SO SO hard on his exams this year. He got 100% on his theory exam and a great score on his grade 6 RCM exam. Once his exam in August was over he exclaimed, "My life feels so empty now."

 Jane and her friend Heidi. Such a cute age!

 Jane spent lots of afternoons at Grammy's pond while we stayed there so we ended up making it into a study unit for her. I found her basket all packed with her supplies on day and snapped a picture.

"The question is not,--how much does the youth know? when he has finished his education--but how much does he care? and about how many orders of things does he care? In fact, how large is the room in which he finds his feet set? and, therefore, how full is the life he has before him."

Charlotte Mason, Volume 3, p. 170-171