The same weekend we went to Drumheller for Daegan’s birthday, both boys had their final performances from their drama classes—Gareth on Friday, Daegan on Saturday. It was a busy time! Gareth took a class called “Lions, Tigers and Bears am I” which combined visual arts and drama. One class an art instructor took them and the kids created the sets and costumes; next class a drama instructor helped them create their play and rehearse—back and forth for the 8-10 weeks. Gareth LOVED it! In their play, the kids were different animal characters, who went on a quest through different regions...

The boys built a large structure out of blocks over the weekend—an armadillo house. It was almost as tall as Gareth: Had a hiding space for armadillo and his food (the corks): And what I thought were chimneys on top, were in fact additional food caches: It was just so nice to see them playing cooperatively together, about something other than dinosaurs! :-)

The boys headed out to play in the snow right after breakfast. I guess both were still hungry as the first thing they did was eat it:   They ran all over the yard, making tracks and listening to the snow squish underfoot (very different than the dry powdery snow we get in winter): And then, no surprise, out came the dinosaurs. The boys fashioned asteroids and kept wiping the dinos out. :-) While they were playing, I called around to let everyone know soccer is...

Both boys had their first community soccer tonight—the kids do drills and running for 20 minutes or so, have a snack and water break, and then play a half-hour game. It’s all low-key and fun. Daegan has played previously, but this is Gareth’s first go at the sport—and he kept his asthma in check without the inhaler! Yippee!  Our neighbour’s little girl is on the same team as Gareth, and Daegan is thrilled his team is his favourite colour: blue. It looks like it will be a fun next 8 weeks. Here’s way too many pics <g>. Was an...

Jim took Gareth to the mall the other day to get some shinguards as he starts soccer this week. We’re not shoppers in this family and spend as little time in malls as possible, as was evidenced by Gareth’s loud comment while walking past mannequins in a store window: “Daddy…is that what we do with dead people?!?”

We took the boys to the bird sanctuary Sunday afternoon for some free displays and activities in honour of Earth Day later this week. We attended a presentation on composting (in which Daegan was the only child and the most vocal and engaged participant!), met a Great Horned Owl, listened to a storytime about animals and the earth, chatted with folks from the Calgary Gardening club, etc. This last was quite amusing, as while we were talking Daegan asked if he could have a nibble on some of the fresh herbs in the display pot. “Can’t get him to eat...

Took the boys down to Edworthy Park in the river valley this afternoon. There’s a great playground (one of 4 in the park, actually), and a paved path between parking lot and bathrooms that is perfect for bike riding. (The boys did not want to take off their bike helmets, going back and forth between playground and bikes.) The boys ran around doing all kinds of things, playing with other kids…was so good to be back outside in the sunshine. Here’s some pics: ...

Gareth had his second Rainforest Safari class today, and again he came home excited and talking about it. He showed us this cute art project they did: they trace their arm for the tree trunk, and make handprints for the leaves. They then decorated their tree with their choice of animal stickers. I like how Gareth has the sloth hanging upside down, as they do in life. They also did some painting, played games, the teacher read them a story at the end, etc. And the highlight of the day was getting to try a food...

Just a lovely warm spring day today, so the boys headed out to the backyard in shorts and T-shirts. Gareth called to us through the window a few minutes later: “I’m hot! Can we set up the sprinkler to run through?” This gave Jim and I a good chuckle because—as you’ll see in the pictures—we’ve still got a few snowbanks in the yard! We told Gareth to take his shirt off instead if he was hot. Here’s some highlights of their play (hover over the pictures for details): ...

Gareth started a new class today: Rainforest Safari. Its just over an hour of games, crafts, songs and stories about the rainforest—a preschool alternative. When I picked him up at the end of class he was beaming—“I like my class!” he shouted. They did a jungle obstacle course at the beginning (beanbags as stepping stones across a river; a tunnel to crawl through like crawling through the plants, etc.). They played a boa constrictor game: the teacher was the snake and tried to catch the kids who pretended to be other animals. Gareth told me he was a “4-toed sloth”...