I volunteered in Wyatt's classroom this week, which is always fun and somewhat hectic at the same time. I don't know how much money Kindergarten teachers make, but I'm sure it's not nearly enough. I don't think I sat down once. It was non-stop running around and I was only the "helper"! I was in charge of the sunflower painting station and I somehow managed to crank 21 kids through there - get them suited up in paint shirts, paint their flower, check their name off the list, hang it to dry and send them to the sink to wash up. I was sweating by the time I was done. We also had a trip to the library and indoor recess in the gym. It was also "dress as someone famous day", which I somehow missed on the calendar. Only about a third of the class did it. A few of the girls were ballerinas and there was even a Lady Gaga, but my favorite was the little girl dressed as the Virgin Mary. She wore a full cloak, a rosary and carried the Baby Jesus around with her all morning. She asked the other kids if they knew who she was (most didn't) and she said "Well, I'm the Virgin Mary and this is the Baby Jesus!" That's Catholic school for you!

Yes, Wyatt is the one up front having a hard time sitting still for the picture!

They say three prayers throughout the day - once at opening circle, just before snack and right before it's time to go. The teacher says to the kids "Put yourselves in the presence of the Lord" which means you are to be quiet and calm (and ready to pray) and I was surprised how well it works. They sing this cute little song/prayer before snack and Wyatt was belting it out:

"Oh, da ward [Lord] is good to me.
and so I thank the ward [Lord], for giving me, the things i need,
da sun and da rain and dee apple trees.
Oh, da waaarrdd issss goooood toooo meeeee
Johnny Appleseed
Amen"

It was fun to be in his classroom, get to know the other kids and get a general idea of how his day goes. I was in need of a serious nap after it was all done. It was a reminder to me that I could never be a Kindergarten teacher. God bless teachers!

Both kids went in for haircuts this week. I find it amusing that Hadley chooses the red Hummer and Wyatt always chooses the pink jeep.

Our babysitter asked if she could take Wyatt to see The Lion King in 3D. She really wanted to see it, and she thought Wyatt might like to see it with her since he's such a movie junkie. It was so sweet of her to offer and Wyatt was so excited when I told him. He said "Hadley, only me and Sarah are going to the movies and you can't come!" I'm sure he meant this in the nicest way possible? Sarah came and picked him up and took him to the theatre. She said he kept taking his 3D glasses off and looking at the screen without them, then putting them back on. We were just glad he made it through the entire movie. He played with his 3D glasses all weekend.

I had a little girls' get-a-way to Calgary on Friday. Five of us drove down to go to shop, have dinner, spend the night and do some more shopping. We wanted to hit a few of the American stores that we don't have here - like Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma and check out the cute boutiquey areas. It's always fun to catch up with the girls and we had a great time, laughed a lot and were loaded with packages by the time we headed home. Dayven and the kids seemed to survive fine without me. He took them grocery shopping at the organic market, to the movie store and out for dinner at a burrito place.

 

Sunday we had a very lowkey day, just relaxing in our PJs. Dayven made pancakes in special shapes with the new Halloween pancake molds we received as a gift. The kids thought they were so cool!

It's getting chillier here and Fall is definitely setting in. The leaves are all changing to gorgeous colors and there's that cool crispness in the air to let you know it's coming. I heard today they are predicting an especially cold winter, but really after -40, what is the difference?