School Days - Grade 4 and Grade 9

I always like to do a bit of a look back over the school year. 

Q completed Grade 4 this year.  He is in French Immersion where they have had mostly French instruction since Junior Kindergarten with Grade 4 transitioning to more half and half with English. Because of this, his English reading has required some work. He has extra help at school and although he doesn’t love it, he has worked hard to make improvements. He does really well at math and science and enjoys doing projects, especially if they are with a partner. Schools are so adverse to giving homework, but I think it would benefit him to have some set goals to work on each day at home, and it would help Dave and I with some structure so we could help him out. We will work with his teacher next year to see how we can better support him at home, and I think he’ll continue to make strides with his reading and writing.  

He participated in cross country in the fall, learned violin in music class, performing in two concerts, and played in the kickball (soccer base) “league” at lunch. It seems there will be more opportunity to join school team sports next year in Grade 5 and I know he will want to try out for some of those. 

He started the year going to the YMCA after school, but after Christmas we decided he could just come home and it made things a lot easier since Dave and I didn’t need to make sure we were home at a certain time to pick him up. And as the weather started to warm up, Q was able to hang around with friends after school, riding bikes, going to someone’s house, or just playing in the schoolyard. As long as he knew when he needed to be home, for practice or dinner, he was good to do whatever he wanted. It’s great to create some independence. Q does not lack for friends and he loves going to school, even if his report card noted he should work on staying focused and not getting distracted by his classmates :)

Onward to Grade 5!

Ski trip day, his favourite day of the year!

E had his first year of high school, Grade 9, and he did great! A few of his public school friends went to the same high school and he has stayed close with a couple of them, along with making new friends in his class. It’s a big school and I’d think it could be overwhelming but he did well. He got into the routine of walking or biking to school, usually meeting up with his friends along the way, eating lunch either at the cafeteria or walking up the street to buy something (and usually making it back in time for 3rd period!), and then going to Snack and Study in the library after school. He would usually work on whatever homework he had there, and then would play games on his phone with his friends. (And get the all important snack!) 

He took four classes in each of the two semesters.  Besides the basics like Math, English, Gym, etc, he also took Skilled Trades and Design Studio.  He really enjoyed those and will take sometime similar next year. His marks were pretty good but we are always encouraging improvement.  His scholastic habits have not changed - he gets his work done but does not go above and beyond to get extra marks. Sigh. 

He tried getting involved with the Robotics team but felt they had too many people and he wasn’t sure how he could fit in. He will try again next year and also consider the music club and a few others (ones that I learned about after seeing his yearbook). Basically if you have an interest, there is a club for it! 

Take your kid to work day!

Getting volunteer hours at the food bank.

Gratitude Journal Prompts

 19. Write about an unexpected opportunity that benefited you for which you are grateful.

My new job! I had been at my previous company for 7 years and although I was thinking about making a change and moving on, I hadn’t actually done much to look for a new position. Then a former colleague of mine contacted me about a new opportunity, kind of out of the blue, and it actually seemed pretty perfect for me. I had a couple of interviews and they offered me the position. It was a fairly seamless transition and I am grateful for the logical next step in my career but also for the referral that made it happen! A lesson to keep in touch with people and you never know what it might lead to.

20. Write about a movie and a song that inspires and makes you happy.

It’s really hard to pick one movie and one song that make me happy but one movie that really is just lovely is Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. It has Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor, it’s a very simple plot where a sheikh wants to bring salmon to the Yemen and Emily and Ewan need to figure out how to make it happen. There are a lot of movies I love that usually have some sort of melancholy to them, but this one is just nice. 

I love to sing and one song that I love, and that I know all of the words, is “If I Had a Million Dollars” by The Barenaked Ladies. A song that mentions Kraft Dinner, how could it not make you happy!

21. How can you express your thanks to others.

This is pretty basic but literally saying “thank you” does wonders. I will admit that sometimes it feels awkward to say thank you, but it really is that simple. When someone does something nice for you, say thank you, in person or send a quick text or email afterwards (or if you’re feeling really inspired, a handwritten note!). I don’t think anyone has ever said “what a terrible person, I can’t believe they said thank you!”. 

Weekend Recap

Hello there! I hope your summer is going well. I read blogs and follow people on Instagram that live in the southern US and they all seem to be ‘wrapping up’ summer now that July 4th has come and gone, and we are just getting started up here! It’s a weird dichotomy. 

My Friday went a little sideways last week.  I was all ready to take Q to his baseball camp and my key would not unlock the car. We thought the battery was dead so we changed it but it still wasn’t working. I tried using the physical key to manually unlock the door but couldn’t figure it out. (Dave wasn’t home and had the other set.) Then I realized that my key had become unpaired from the car. We had taken it in for a software update and I think that’s when it happened. By this time we were late for camp, so we hopped in an uber so I could drop Q off. And then I had to uber home. 

Then I was supposed to take E to the gym so he could sign up for the free teen program. So we had to uber to pick up the other key from Dave, walk to the gym, and then I took the subway home so I could take the car to the dealership to get my key repaired. Meanwhile E stayed at the gym to workout. 

I never go through Old Mill Station so I snapped a photo, I love the view of the park and the bird decals on the window.

After I got the car sorted out, I came home to find the washing machine stuck on an error. I thought it was maybe unbalanced, even though it was just a regular load of clothes, and tried again, but it kept giving me the error.  So thanks to Gemini, I figured out the issue was with the drain pump. 

So when Dave and E got home, they took apart the washing machine, and we ordered the part on Amazon. I joked that it was like E went to Skilled Trades “camp” this week because in addition to the washing machine, he also took apart the dryer lint trap to clean it out, and painted a door and replaced the hinges.

After baseball practice that night, Dave and Q brought home the other coaches and their kids. He made a bunch of pizzas and we had a fun night in the backyard.  And the pizzas all turned out well, practice makes perfect with the new pizza oven!

It rained a lot on Saturday morning but it was the perfect opportunity for Dave and E to install the washer part that had arrived overnight, thanks to Prime, and get that chore done, and I could continue the laundry. Excellent timing since I was packing the kids up for camp! 

We watched the Canada soccer game, well played gentlemen, even with the loss.  Canada is proud!

And then the rain cleared up and we were able to get out for our scheduled tee time with our friends. We could not believe it was the same day as the morning rain. 

And ended the night on the patio of course. 

On Sunday morning we watched the F1 and finished getting the kids packed up for camp. And E got his haircut and I got my nails done. 

We set out for Muskoka Woods, the kids were very excited!  

Set up on the top bunk waiting for his friend to arrive. 

These two are going to have a fantastic week!

Dropping off E, he did a similar happy face for the bunk photo.

Ready to go with his two buddies. 

Dave and I stopped in at Rosseau Pizzeria for a little break before driving home, and to charge the car.  This is such a beautiful spot. 

And then our friends joined us for a drink after they had dropped off their son. We drove home, avoiding some of the traffic around Barrie, and got home in time to see the England Mexico match. What a game!! I was very happy with England’s win. 

May and June Books

Here are the books I read over the past few months, some good ones! 

Tomorrow is for the Brave by Kelly Bowen 

This is the second of three Kelly Bowen book I have read this year (another coming up below). This one follows a well to do young woman from the South of France, starting in the couple of years before World War II. Her father has plans for her to marry a suitable man with business plans in mind. Then the war begins and the young woman has other goals. She becomes something of a known figure and we get to learn about different contributions made by women. There is also a man that features in the story because of course there is, but is he who he seems?

It’s a good book, I like the strong female character, exposure to the risks the Allies faced from spies, and what was going on in Northern Africa. Bonus, the author is Canadian!

Once and Again by Rebecca Serle

I like a Rebecca Serle book, she always has a bit of a mystical element to her novels. In this book the females in the family all have the opportunity use a “magic ticket” to go back in time and prevent something (usually a tragedy) from happening. Here the main character of the book is moving home to the beach in LA with her parents for the summer while her husband is working in New York. She starts slipping back into old patterns, and we hear about the times when the “magic ticket” was used by her mother and great grandmother. 

This was pretty good, although not her best. I enjoyed the characters but didn’t feel as interesting as some of her other books. I think it’s because by now I know what she’s doing with these mystical elements now. But what a good imagination to come up with these plots!

Stars in an Italian Sky by Jill Santopolo

A novel that goes back and forth from post-WWII Italy and present day New York City. After the fascists have been removed from power, the people of Italy are going to vote on becoming a republic and removing the monarchy (and by extension the royal titles). The main character of the story has lost her mother during the war, and is now a seamstress in her father’s shop, along with her sister.  Her sister wants to emigrate to the United States with her husband, but our main character likes things the way they are and wants to stay put.  She then becomes reacquainted with one of those members of the aristocracy when he comes into the shop for some alterations. He had lost his older brother in the war and is now the heir to his family’s title and estate. They strike up a relationship but the looming vote weighs on how they see their own futures.  The present day part of the story is a young couple getting married, both with links to Italy. 

This is another author that I enjoy and although some of the story was a bit predictable, I really enjoyed hearing about this period of history, one I didn’t really know about. 

The Garden of Lost Secrets by Kelly Bowen

Another Kelly Bowen book to round out my list. And another book that goes back and forth between narrators and timeframes.  The story starts with a Dutch teenage girl, visiting her grandparents in France, in the 1930s, meeting a teenage boy who is living in an old estate, managing his father who his suffering from PTSD from WWI. Fast forward a few years later when WWII is about to begin and they are young adults. They get pulled into different roles during the war and we get to learn, typical of this author, about parts of the war that do not usually get as much exposure as other things we are so familiar with. The present day story is about two sisters who have purchased that aforementioned old estate and are restoring it after a fire. They find some old papers and start making connections to the past.

No complaints about this novel, it follows the formula that she has used for The Paris Apartment, and it works. She writes a good character and I like that not everything works out perfectly for them.

Friday Favourites

Happy Friday! A great week to ease into the summer routines since we had the Canada Day holiday right in the middle on Wednesday. That just meant that I had no idea what day it was anytime this week. 

Q had a baseball camp for four of the days.  His stuff was all in one spot when I went to pick him up on Monday, even if it wasn’t really put away.  There are a couple of people he knows from the High Park league and they had a great week. 

We all went golfing on Monday night and we all did pretty well. Go us!

It is always a beautiful night when you get to sit on the patio. 

On Canada Day, Dave went golfing so I took the boys up for brunch. They both ordered a milkshake. 

Q asked to stop at the book store on the way home, and I never say no to that. He picked out a couple of books to take to camp.

And then you know what? We didn’t go outside for the rest of the day! It was extremely hot in Toronto and I wanted to watch the England soccer match and the Blue Jays. It was kind of nice to not have to do anything or feel like you should be outside. Then we made some ribs for dinner, and they were delicious.

We had some more steamy weather on Thursday and I golfed 7 holes before the weather siren went off for some lightening in the area, although the rain never fell. 

Onward into summer :)

Linking up with Andrea and Erika

Weekend Recap

 We had another fabulous weekend attending Q’s baseball tournament in Brockville.  We hit the road when school let out (for the summer!) and started the trek. The 401 drive east of Toronto always feels like a long one and Brockville is about 3.5 and 4 hours away. 

We decided to stop in Belleville for dinner and we found a great spot. They had all of the soccer games and Blue Jays on TV. 

Because of some rain our first game got pushed to 2:30 so we had an easy morning. 

The team did go out and play whiffle ball for a bit but we did want them to relax and save their energy for the game, so screens it is!

Serious team photo.

And some smiles. 

The tournament was set up where 9 year old teams played 10 year old teams. We’re a 9 year old team and we didn’t know how we could compete against the older teams.  But we won our first game and things were looking up. 

Team huddle after the game.

We had a team dinner at Boston Pizza and then back to the hotel. The kids had a little swim and the parents hung out on the patio. I made a good decision to go to bed when Q went to bed, which meant I was able to get up the next morning for a workout. Go me!  The hotel had a Peloton so I could log in under my own account. 

Our first game of the day was at 11:30, which we also won!

Dave’s parents came to see some of the games. We went to downtown Brockville for lunch with them. 

The boys actually went across the street with some of the baseball team. 

Ready for the next game.

Another win!  We were so impressed with our boys.

We qualified for the quarter finals, scheduled for 8:00 am on Sunday morning. 

It was a beautiful morning to be outside at the ball field. 

It was a close game and our kids battled, but we lost, ending our tournament. 

Number one brother!

We watched a little bit of the next game but then started the drive back.  We got home in time to see the Canada soccer game (whoohoo!!). 

Q fell asleep on the floor, he plays hard!

Now summer is truly here :)