Back to school! Junior High, here we come!

This year, Maelie is in Jr. High! That's Grade 7, or Secondary 1, depending on where you live. This is a big change since she was in the same grade school for K-6. She was SOOOOOO excited to change school. She was a bit nervous about the whole "new kids" thing, but I knew it wouldn't take too long for her to make a bunch of new friends. That's what high school is all about isn't it?

If pictures could speak, you would here it loud and clear : UGH! stop mom!

Don't be fooled by this smile! ;) She did not want more than ONE picture!

The first 1st day of school was before labour day weekend. Maelie was sooooo excited. We didn't listen to the news or anything... and Maelie walked to the bus stop. The bus didn't come so she came back home. A friend of hers called and told her that school was cancelled. We checked the news online, and it turns out there had been a gang related shooting in close proximity to the school so it was closed!! Thankfully, it was not an act directed towards the school or anything. It doesn't make it ok, however knowing the school was not a target is somewhat reassuring.

Maelie was SOOOOO disappointed!! She had been waiting for this day for so long and now she had to wait another 5 days!

Well, now we had a 2nd first day of school picture to take!

Good luck in Grade 7 sweetheart!! :)

Is this what your house looks like before school starts?

Best part of a new school year? Shopping and organizing supplies! Maelie is a PRO at that!!

 

School starts soon baby!!

The Capital Fair 2014

Maelie spent a lot of time with Ashley this summer since she lives close and she was in town for most of the summer. She invited her to come to the Capital Fair (what used to be the SuperEx) to simply have fun!



 

They were determined to try almost all the rides! This one in particular, the ship, they rode about 20 times!!

When they said EVERY ride, they meant it! They even tried the kiddie rides that they could fit it! This could be a picture of them on the road in about 4 years! A nice purple shiny truck!

A music store had supplied some instruments for them to play. What a GREAT instrument! It comes with headphones and barely makes ANY noise! Wooooo hoooo!!

They had a really good time. We had pretty tired girls by the end of the day!!

Monster trucks!

Bill and I got tickets for him and Maelie to go see the Monster trucks at the Capital Fair. Unfortunately, it had to be a rainy day! We don't know ahead of time what Mother Nature will bring us!

I love that Maelie enjoys doing stuff like this with her dad. It gives them special moments to remember :)

The ground was all muddy!

Maelie said it was pretty loud, but she had a wonderful time with her dad!

Summer vacation with the cousins... part 2!

I decided to take the older cousins out for an activity. They were always with the little ones, so this was just for them! We visited Arbre en Arbre at Ilv Melville in Shawinigan.

 

I got the whole deal for them. The tree climbing AND the extreme ziplines. Maelie suddenly discovered her love of zip-lining! Crazy girl!

In her younger years, she would have been afraid of this type of activity... but now, she is crazy about it! She LOVES the sensation of zipping through the air!

Once they got to the tree climbing part, they had to work a bit harder than the ziplines! They had to make their way through the different activities in the trees. It was an awesome time!

Maelie almost made it to the end. She was really thirsty by the end so she was too exhausted to finish the last part. Next time we go, we'll bring water along! What brave kids ! I must be a wimp because I would never be tempted to go high like that!

How nice of Lucas to offer Maelie a piggy back ride on the way out!!

On our last day, we went out for breakfast with "les matantes". Two of grand-maman's sisters came for breakfast with us. It's always so nice to see them!

Maelie my sweetheart!

Jo wanted to go to Lac de Piles after lunch for a swim. Sadly, it started to rain so only Maelie and Nathan made it in the water! She did have company at one point... a mama duck swam by, probably wondering why Maelie was out there in the rain! ;)

After our visit to the lake, we drove home. It's always sad to leave the cousins because we will more than likely not see them for a year. We miss them already! :) How I wish we lived closer so we could randomly visit on the weekends for adventures! I love these 3 kiddos!! and Maelie of course!

Summer vacation with the cousins... part 1

Our family got together a bit earlier than usual this year. Jo and the boys visited in July. They usually visit in August. What always surprises us when we first see them is how much everyone grew!! Lucas is incredibly tall! He is taller than everyone by far.

 

Maelie of course is always happy to play with the cousins. They have a LOT of energy!

Within minutes of arriving, everyone is off doing something!

The river is always refreshing :)

They are safe from the mosquitos when under water! On the deck however, I was being eaten alive!

Nathan was in love with frog catching this year :)

Grand-maman and her grand kids!

Maelie of course LOVES to take me on a ride on the ATV. I don't like it so much! She likes going on hills and bumps... me? not so much!

We stopped by at the city pool one afternoon. It is HUGE! Saldy, the water was a mere 65 degrees... so Maelie swam the most, Nathan was in and out but the others? TOO FROZEN!

We enjoyed a bit of play time at the park.

CHEESE!

Grand maman took the kids fishing in the river. Nathan was quite excited to catch a fish!

While riding the ATV, Lucas spotted a turtle! Grand maman brought it back to show us, and then let it go in the river.

His nails were quite scratchy! At least he was not a snapping turtle!

 

 

Some afternoons, we headed off to visit grand papa and Lucie. Sadly,  I didn't even get a picture!! When the grand kids come over, it's time to take all I-pads out and get them fixed! Maelie loves setting them up. I guess this is how I felt when I was younger and explained to my mom how to record a song on the tape player. We feel so much smarter than our elders! LOL now *I* am part of the elders!

 

More to come....

End of year gifts

I've been meaning to make Sunshine boxes for quite a while now! I never got to it... until now! I was trying to think of a good idea for the teacher gifts to go along with their gift cards. I used 9 inch pizza boxes for them. I made an English one for the homeroom teacher.

 

and a French one for the French and science teacher.

This is the inside of one...

and the inside of the other..

Fitting everything nice and tightly was the difficult part! I will have to start collecting more yellow stuff to have on hand for future Sunshine boxes :) It makes me happy to make others happy!

Now for the rest of the staff, we gave them a Tims gift card with a flower. The stem is filled with green candies, either Skittles or M&Ms. Then I hot glued a flower that I got at the dollar store. We attached a tag saying thanks, and that was it.

 They turned out pretty cute!!

I will have to find more people to give surprises to now that Maelie is no longer at the primary school! There is usually no shortage of people who like surprises so I am not worried :)