A Post Mother's Day Post

I hope everyone enjoyed Mother's Day. I had the best Mother's Day weekend ever. It started out on Friday night, when Mr. Level-Headed and I went on our first date in a long time. We went to WordSpring 2013 put on by the Writer's Federation of New Brunswick because our long-time friend, Jerrod Edson, was one of the eleven authors that evening who were launching their latest books. Jerrod read from his manuscript "The Moon is Real"**, which has not been published yet, but won the David Adams Richards Prize this weekend. I am so proud of him, and I cannot wait to read his latest book.

After the reading, Jerrod headed to the Bourbon Quarter to meet up with another long-time friend of ours, but this tired, prego mama needed to get home. Mr. Level-Headed and I bowed out, picked up two DQ smoothies, and headed home. Wild times . . . tee hee!

Then, I woke up Saturday morning feeling too ill to do anything, but Mr. Level-Headed swooped in, as usual, cleaned up the house and took the boys out for the day so that I could sleep and relax. Baby Girl was at her last volleyball tournament of the year, which meant I had the entire house to myself. I slept, I read,  and I munched on popcorn. Another wild time . . . tee hee!

On Sunday, I woke up feeling much better and was spoiled with breakfast from my hubby and cards and gifts from the kids. Avery made me a bookmark, which I have lost (eeeek . . .  terrible mama!) and he wrote me a piano song, which he played for me while I ate my breakfast:

Elliot made me a bracelet:

Zoe made me this adorable keepsake with the most touching note written on the back:

And Thing 4 reassured me that everything is still going well with a couple bouts of nausea and some terrible heartburn.

I have the best kids!!

After church, where I got to fill in for a friend of mine and teach her four-year old class, which was a total blast because all we did was play with play-doh and eat crackers (eeeek! . . . terrible Sunday school teacher), the fam and I visited Mr. Level-Headed's mom and then had dinner at my mom's. It was the perfect day, and last night, as I was drifting off to sleep, I could not help but feel grateful for all the amazing people in my life. Truly, I am one lucky girl.

Happy Belated Mother's Day!

**I must mention that I have to apologise to my dear, Mr. Level-Headed because I forgot what the title of Jerrod's book was last night and when he suggested it was "The Moon is Real", I scoffed and told him he was wrong. So, here it is:

I was wrong, and Mr. Level-Headed was right! :)

Feeling Nostalgic

As we pored over math lessons at the kitchen table yesterday, I began to miss summer.  Sure the sun was shining, but my feet were cold and I was wearing a sweater to take off the chill.  This is our 7th week of school, and I can't help but marvel at how quickly time has flown since we spent our days basking in the frivolity of summer vacation, and oh, what a summer it was!

Like all summers, this one was spent on the soccer field, but for the first time since she was a Timbit, Zoe played for an all-girls team, and she loved it!  As you can tell from the photo, all of the girls wore different colour headbands, and it got so bad that the other moms and I had a hard time telling who was who if they sported a different colour one day.  We would have been so lost if they stopped wearing them altogether because then it would have just been a sea of pony tails whizzing by.  Sporty girls are so cute!  They had a lot of success too.  In fact, they ended the season in second place, which meant they had the opportunity to play in the Regional games, and Zoe wrapped up the year by winning "Most Offensive Player".  Way to go, Baby Girl!

Derrick coached Elliot's team this year, and they had a blast too!  On occasion, Avery was called up to play with them as well, and he loved it.  This picture was taken after the boys beat out the U12AA Saint John team to clinch a spot in their division's playoff games.  This was the first time that Kingston Soccer Club sent all of their AA teams to the playoffs. We may be small, but we are mighty!  During their End-of-the-Season Banquet, Elliot was awarded "The Sportsmanship Award" for being a good friend to everyone on his team and maintaining a positive attitude even during the disappointing games.  What?!?!?!?! Why can't he do that off the field? . . . tee hee!  Way to go, Mr. Man!  

The kids spent the first two weeks of summer vacation at the British Challenger Soccer camp.  They love this camp, and this year was extra special because we had Coach Jamie stay with us for the two weeks.  He fit in quite nicely with our rambunctious crew and became a great, honorary big brother.  We miss you, Jamie!

Something new this summer was my latest grand idea, a Summer Writers' Workshop for kids, and it was a huge success!  The boys loved having friends come over on a regular basis, even if they were doing school work, and they learned lots!  Creative writing can be a daunting task for kids, and my own boys now approach it with much more confidence.  The biggest bonus to our summer program was that it helped keep the school routine in place for Elliot, which made our transition back to the grind so much easier in September.  Hallelujah!

Although soccer and school seem to be the top priorities in our house, we still managed to find time to squeeze in a whole lot of summer shenanigans, including:

dinner parties gone terribly wrong, 

bonfires,

(and s'mores)

injuries,

So, technically this injury was the first week of school, but it fit so nicely . . . tee hee!   We could also pretend that this is Zoe's foot because she spent the last week of summer vacation on crutches for spraining her ankle in the first ten minutes of her first Regional game.  :(

kilometres run,

bikes ridden,

beach days,

mud wars with friends,

books read,

(mostly by the mama)

a crazy road trip to Halifax,

weapons shot,

weapons made,

 a trip to our favourite island in the world, PEI

 time spent fooling around with younger brothers,

and, finally, enjoying our newest addition to Shenanigans Inc, the pool!

It really was a spectacular summer!  Why, oh why, must they always come to an end?

Creative Writing Workshops with Shenanigans Inc.

I am so excited to be finally announcing this!

Yes, you have heard correctly: The School of Shenanigans is opening it's doors this summer to all kids ages 8-14 for a creative writing workshop.  I am sure your kids will LOVE it!

Classes will be held every Tuesday and Thursday from 10:00-11:30 am at my house here on the Kingston Peninsula beginning July 3 and ending Aug. 23.

The cost will be $160 for the summer, with payments of $80 due on July 3 and Aug. 2.

The curriculum we will be using is Lucy Calkin's Units of Study for Teaching Writing (Grades 3-5). For more information on this curriculum check out this link. Don't worry if your child is of middle school age because this course can be easily adapted to meet their needs.  I have worked with this curriculum in the past, and have seen first hand how helpful it is in enabling children to find their "writer's voice".   If you are interested in learning more about this course, please email me at krista_skov@hotmail.com

Hope to see you this summer!