Preschool Field Trip to Aldor Acres - this time to milk some cows!

Elisabeth's class headed to Aldor Acres to learn about dairy farming. I was really excited about this trip since I grew up on a dairy farm.

We watched a movie in a big welcoming room then headed into what they call the theatre (there's a picture of it, below!) where we got to watch a few of the cows get milked.

Here's the set up they used, it doesn't look that much different from what I remember back in the olden days. Though those glass jugs are different. The milk stays in there till all the cows are done, then they flush it through the system. It was interesting to see how different the production levels are for each cow.

We all had to take turns shaking this jar of cream. After we'd done in the theatre, the lady opened it up and lo and behold we had butter! Cool.



Then Elisabeth milked a cow. First she stroked it...

And then she milked. I was so proud of her cause she was VERY scared. But excited once it was done :)

More Olympic Fun

Last week David, Jade & Ashlie's school held their own Olympic events. Monday they held opening ceremonies. I didn't stay for them, but apparently they were really good. Many tears were shed (by the parents...I don't know about the kids!)

The following picture is courtesy of Daisy's Creations. Both morning and afternoon classes with their signs. They walked into the gym to the Olympic song and holding these signs.

On Tuesday the kids came dressed in their house colours and competed in various Olympic events. Again, I couldn't be there. I was milking cows with Elisabeth. But Andrew went and got a couple of pictures:

This event they had to propel themselves down the hallway with plungers. David is apparently a stickler for following the rules. So he wouldn't let go of the plungers till they forced him even though everyone else abandoned them and zoomed off ahead of him.


A 3 person skiing event.

They also did a figure skating event, but David wouldn't participate. This suprised me since alllll he talks about is doing figure skating. Ah well, maybe he only wanted to do the jumps.


After the sporting events were all done, they celebrated with champagne (sparkling apple juice), Olympic cookies and orange slices. YUM!

This month David's class has been learning to skip. It's something to do with heart awareness and the big skip off they're doing later this month. Why they can't do something else that exercises the heart is beyond me, but I guess that's what they chose.

I've already blogged about how we got sent home with a skipping rope to practice. He is seriously resistant to even trying. Shortly after we were assigned our homework he told me he was never going back to school - or at least not until they're done skipping.

After a conversation about how school is necessary, and skipping is a very small part of school, he agreed to go back. But now every day after school he slides into the car with a "phew! No skipping today!" or a shudder and a moan.

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The kids were talking about what they want to be when they grow up. Elisabeth wants to be a skating teacher so she can teach David how to skate. So even though she would rather watch then participate in skating lessons, she has decided to persevere.

I turned to David and asked him what he wants to be. He thought long and hard for a few minutes, then sighed and said wistfully, "I just want to be a family."

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On Monday and Tuesday David's school is having their own mini Olympics. On Monday this entails having Opening Ceremonies and each class will take part. David was telling me that his class will have to wear special shirts and hold letters that spell We Believe.

"But Mama," he said, "That sounds a little bit scary to me. I don't think I want to wear a shirt and uhm, well, I don't want to believe."

Elisabeth on the other hand is totally gung ho. "I do! I have two hands, see? I can hold the words."

The transition from being a mom to preschoolers to being a mom of a kindergartener has been huge for me. There are so many things I had no idea I needed to know.

So far this year, David has had PE homework several times. Early last term he was sent home with a ball and we were told we had to play catch with him. Because we don't already do that. This term we got the skipping rope. The good news is Elisabeth is a great skipper. The bad news is David just doesn't care.

There are an awful lot of field trips, parties and parent participation days. It's a good thing I can't find a job.

Then there's the fact that David has only ever had girl friends his own age. Or boys who are Elisabeth's age. So he's not really used to rambunctious, loud, rough housing boys. They scare him. Every day (unless it's pouring), David's class walks laps around the school. And unless I'm there to walk too, David has a tendency to panic. I finally figured out that it's because the other boys want him to play with them so they surround him and cajole him. The funny thing is, they do it because they like him. But it freaks him out. Luckily the girls in his class LOVE David, so I just make sure he has a girl to protect him and he's fine. Meanwhile we'll work on playdates with the boys so he can get used to rough housing on a more low key basis.

This term we also had to learn how to read. Us. The parents. This involved a morning workshop where we had a combo of teaching, practice and crafts to help us learn to read. Now we have a three part reading program through the school: weekly library books, daily books to be read to the kids and daily books the kids read to us. SO MUCH HOMEWORK! Especially since we've always read to our kids. Andrew started bed time stories when David was four months old and he has consistently done 3 books a night with the kids. Last fall he started reading chapter books (They've read the Three Muskateers, Moonfleet and they're working on Robin Hood). Elisabeth has chosen Noddy for her chapter book and they usually do some picture books too.

So I'm a bit leery of books that are chosen for us. Especially since last term the books being sent home (to expand our children's vocabulary) were very...spanish.

Anyway, after the workshop we had, I wasn't sure I liked the way they wanted us to read with our kids. We're basically teaching them to memorise a simple and repetitive book, which they then have to 'read' back to a parent volunteer the next day. We're not encouraged to do phonetics yet except when practicing writing. This is about tracking and teaching them that the words and the pictures on the page are related.

Tonight David and I sat on the couch and read his book through twice. Elisabeth sat on the couch with us. When David was done, she grabbed the book and said, "I want to read it!" and she read the book perfectly - even going so far as to track each word perfectly. Wow.

She closed the book and said, "I guess I'm ready for kindergarten, hunh mama?"

I guess so.

Olympic Fever Hits Our Town

Today the Olympic torch arrived in our part of the Fraser Valley. David's school had some spots reserved inside Fort Langley to watch the torch and so Andrew and I decided to hang out with them for the morning.

Each school was assigned a colour from the Olympic Rings. Our colour was green which meant everyone was supposed to wear green. And we got funky hats to wear too.

We got tattoos on our faces.
And we practiced our cheers in the van on our way to the Fort.

My cute boy.

And cute girl.



The wait was not too bad considering the cold and the drizzle (though we probably had one of the warmer waits so I shouldn't complain!) and then the torch arrived!






All too soon the muskets fired to signal that the torch was leaving the fort again.

Though the fort had festivities going on all day, we had to get the day care kids back to school. So we went home for lunch, changed into something more patriotic, and headed to the City for the next leg of the torch journey (our next leg?)


Family portrait at City Hall.

The torch arrived, but this was a lot different from at the Fort. All that waiting and it just zipped by. Still cool. One thing I LOVE about events in downtown Langley is all the seniors who come out. I love our seniors.

Dancing in the street.


Then, so the kids would think it was a perfect day, we stopped at the playground for a while. Any other day, dressing our kids the same would have made it easier to find them. Today, every single kid looked the same. Yikes.

Practicing for his own Olympic events.


When we got home we bumped into our cousins. And since all four kids were dressed in their Olympic gear, I took some pictures.

First bonfire of 2010!

I spent the morning at the PPAC Cloverdale photoshoot. I blogged about it here.

Andy and the kids picked me up at noon, and we headed home to eat lunch and then head east to Chilliwack for a bonfire. I wanted a picture of Elisabeth while she was still clean:

And David wanted a picture of the forts he made at school...for Natasha:

We finally arrived at the farm and headed outside. First stop, the pool.

I think the boys were planning their summer.
Elisabeth and Daddy sharing a kiss under the umbrella.
Tee hee.
Riley is a creature magnet.
Then again, these chickens (and roosters!) were really friendly!



Elisabeth was still a little leery of the chickens, so for the first part of the afternoon she stuck pretty close to daddy.

Have you ever heard of flying chickens? I hadn't. This little guy not only got on the roof of the barn, later he flew across the entire yard. Yowsers!


Riley with more chickens.



I think he was saying "don't take my picture," here. heh oops :)

After a while of playing, the kids discovered a boat. Best toy ever! They had a blast playing all kinds of water-y games on here. Pirates, ship wreck, cruisin'...



Don't fall overboard!!

Day dreaming about spending her summer on a boat on the lake?




Scheming ways to take over the ship from the boys?