Guest Post: First Day of New School

Jen asked me to step in and write a guest post as we've been extremely busy, having just moved into our new house. The house is in good shape but it needs a bit of work to make it exactly the way we want it. That means painting, buying new furniture and even...buying a new cat!  With all this brew-ha-ha its hard to find time for the little things.

This weekend is probably the first in awhile where we have some semblance of routine so I thought I would take a few minutes out of my day to fill you in on another recent monumental event: Margot's first day at her new school!

She goes to École Élémentaire Catholique Saint-François-D'Assise, which is a 5-minute walk away from our house. The close proximity of the school is one of the great things we love about this house and the plan is that I (dada) walk her to school half the time in the morning and Jen walk her the other half. Its a nice start to the day and much more enjoyable than when we were living at our old house and I would often leave before Margot woke up in the morning.

Margot's first day was emotional, which probably isn't surprising. It started out with some tears and angry words. Margot did not want to go.

But as we got closer to school her natural good cheer shone through. We got her laughing and by the time we entered the school yard she was curious to meet her teacher.

To her shock her teacher is a MAN! (She's used to women teachers). But she likes him already. He seems happy-go-lucky.

By the way, if you haven't guessed, Margot's school is French-only so I'm going to need to brush up on the langue de Molière. Margot also wears a uniform. At first I thought that was an advantage (no fuss in the morning) but Margot seems to have developed the knack of  staining every shirt permanently after every day. It's going to be a long year!

(longer for that kid photo-bomb-yawning in the background - it's just the first day dude!)

Popsicle Weather

Welcome to July! It's hot. It's sunny. It's flip-flop and bathing suit weather. It's time to eat freezies and play in the water!

Blue and white are Margot's fave flavours.
That's great news for me, since mine are red and purple.

It's also time for late afternoon bike strolls. Destination: the park.
Nothing says "summer" like a child biking to the park with her bathing suit and crocs.
Margot can now ride a bike without training wheels. Yeah! There were a few slow falls and elbow scrapes (and I'm sure there's more to come!); but otherwise, she's been gaining confidence and enjoys biking. She loudly encourages herself:  "You can do it, Margot!"  and sometimes sings while she carefully maneuvers her bike.

This picture was taken 3 weeks ago.
Notice the training wheels.

Summer is also the time to get outside and move!

Margot received the "most improved player of the week" award at her tennis camp.

She really enjoys tennis!

A demonstration

Make sure you eat freezies this summer! Sure, it's only sugary water, but this is the only time of year where you can justify enjoying them!  :)

Summer has begun!

RIP Luna

 May was a month of moving, packing and organizing. It was a month of wrapping things up and saying goodbyes.

Boxes and furniture lined up in our garage: ready for the big move

The kids were great helpers!

At the storage unit

Lending a spade

For a week, we ate our meals on our laps.
We're practising for summer camping :)

Empty living room. Just the necessities: the laptop, a few pillows
and a yoga mat

Saying goodbye to Marcel-Chaput.
7 years of great memories!

On May 31, Luna joined Animal Heaven where cats get served unlimited butter, tuna, salmon and cream cheese everyday .

Going with the flow...

An explorer of the outdoors!

She will be crowned Queen of the Cats 

She was loved and Margot was never shy in
expressing her love. 

In her early adoption days, Luna joined me on the yoga mat.
She mostly lounged on the mat next to mine and sometimes
snuck under me while I was in my downward dog.

Such a pleasant, quiet, chill cat.

June has been a month of transitions. Living in rental accommodations, we (I) are feeling rather antsy and ready to move into 103 Sherbrooke Ave! We still have a month and a half to go … arghh!

The condo we were living in for a month

The view of our street from our current house in urban New Edinburgh

Margot has been incredible during this whole year-long process. She has kept my spirits up and has demonstrated such resilience and adaptability. That's my girl!

Splash pad season is in full force!

Margot finished kindergarden with a big smile on her face. By moving to Ottawa, we are saying goodbye to Montessori.  This school was absolutely fantastic. I console myself in knowing that, in her three preschool years, she gained a strong foundation and learned life-long skills.

These days, Margot loves:

-Caterpillars and all insects.

-Riding her 2-wheel bike (finally!)

-Running.

Running a 2km on the Ottawa Race Weekend.
Sweltering temperature 

Simon also recently ran a race: The Perth Kilt Run

There he is, in all his beauty ;)

a few meters before reaching the finish line
(please ignore the lack of cropping of this pic)

No June would be complete without our annual Strawberry picking day:

I wish you all a lovely summer! It's a short season (except in the South of France!) so take advantage of it and spend lots of time outdoors.

Our awesome trio!

A Red-Tutu'ed' Doll

For your enjoyment…

This year, the theme was "At The Circus"

A Special Number!

A weekend of b-day celebrations! 

Margot is six. That's entering the big league! 5 is usually considered preschool-age, but 6… 6 is the real deal. You're a kid now! :)

It's Tulip Festival time in Ottawa and we were thrilled to have Uncle J, Auntie Erin and cousin Lily visiting us.

It was a coldish weekend (for May), but we made the most of our day and headed to Dow's Lake and caught warm rays of early evening sunshine.

On the following morning, Sunday, Margot celebrated in style at the Museum of Agriculture. She invited 8 friends from her class and they had a fun-filled morning making ice cream and visiting stables.

Here's the crew!

Margot petting the alpaca

Special privilege of holding the bunny, Tango.

She chose her calf to brush.

I think that 6 is going to be a fabulous year! 

Turning 6 on the 16th in 2016. Whoah! 

My girl: spunky, affectionate, adventurous, brave, fun.