A Bee-utiful Day

After learning about bees we took a trip to Clovermead - a "local" apiary. Notice the quotations around the word local?? Well, it turned out to be quite the drive! Thankfully my sister Vicki and her daughter Peyton decided to come with us - so I had someone to keep me company on the journey :)

Clovermead turned out to be a wonderful place! Their big harvest / pumpkin / bee festivals only happen on the weekends, so we missed out on some fun activities like wagon rides and bee beard competitions. The bonus of going during the week was that it was so. quiet. Since my kids are rather shy, this worked out great for us!

We also got to see some of the things we learned in real life! Pretty neat!

There was lots of playground areas. Seth loves construction vehicles, so he was pretty excited to try out this excavator. Notice the dump truck? He was filling it with sand. 

 

Kiera and Peyton enjoying the sand. Well, Kiera enjoying the sand. Peyton is a little like her mom ... sand was just a little too dirty for that princess :)

There was a really neat spider web for the kids to climb on. It took some convincing to get them to leave and continue you on our adventures - Seth is turning into a real monkey. He loves to climb. And Maddy is never far behind.

Lots of tractors to climb and "drive".

This has got to be the cutest bee I have ever seen!

A neat wagon that the kids sat on. They were a little disappointed to learn that there wasn't going to be any horse ride.

They had some farm animals for the kids to look at - a cow, some chickens (some really neat kinds!), rabbits and some goats. The baby goats were so cute! Petyon loved the animals. Maddy did too - but that goes without saying! She's our animal lover.

Seth didn't stay to look at the animals for long - he saw a tire swing that was begging to be climbed. We turned it into a double decker swing!

The tire swing was soon abandoned in favour of a large rope swing. This was one of Seth's favourite parts - he loved to climb and swing.

Maddy tried to keep up with her big brother, but it was a little tricky for her. I managed to capture part of the three seconds she stayed on the rope!

Seth's absolute favourite part of the day was the zip line. I was nervous to let him do it by himself at first, and spent a fair amount of time running with him (I think I got my run in that day!). Finally I gave up and just let him do it - and he did great! He loved it and wanted to do it again ... and again ... and again ... My little boy is getting big :( It doesn't look so high in this picture, but it started off fairly high (for a short four year old) then went down.

I thought I better give Kiera some roaming time. It's tough work being stuck in a stroller for a day! There was a nice play area at the back of the farm with a big Noah's Ark play structure. Kiera loved going in and out of the boat and peeking through the window.

There was also a neat castle made out of hay bales. It had rooms, hallways, and stairs inside. Notice the no shoes - yuck!

The king of straw mountain! Once again - climbing.

There was a huge yellow "pillow" for jumping. The kids had a blast on here. And so did Vicki and I. We haven't grown up yet! Seth and Maddy loved getting double bounced by us. They really fly!

Maddy found a horse. This was on our trip to the bathroom. She had to go (which is just a given!) and refused to go in the portable washroom. We had to trek all the way to the front of the park. Apparently she has some royal blood :)

And, of course, the reason for the trip! They had thousands of bees in hives that were behind glass. It was neat to see all the bees working. It was also neat to see the wax rooms being filled up with nectar and changed into honey. They actually had a wall like this behind the toilet in the lady's washroom. Needless to say, Maddy refused to use that toilet as well!

We watched a short movie about the keeping of bees and the process in which honey is made and harvested. Seth and Maddy tried out the bee keeper's hat. Seth doesn't look very impressed ... he wasn't. I tried it on him during the movie and he was trying to listen.

We ended our day with a bee chocolate. Not that bees and chocolate are related - but I thought these guys were too cute to pass up! We did buy some honey, as well.

It was a great way to end our unit on insects / bees. The kids had so much fun! Unfortunately, as we were leaving, Seth started complaining about being cold. He fell asleep in the van on the way home, and had a fever by the time we got home. He was fine the next day, so I'm assuming it was maybe heat stroke? Or just exhaustion. Sometimes I work them hard ... busy like bees!  

Letter I Fun

Week #2 (although it lasted much longer than a week!) of JK:

Letter: Ii

Colour: Yellow

Verse: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me

Animal: Bees (Insects :D)

 

Here are a few "highlights":

I is for ink - we had lots of stamping fun. Seth and Maddy loved this! They were covered in ink :) 

 A very inky page!

I bought the Kumon pasting book for Seth.

Pattern block fun. I got the pattern block template from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

I taped a large I on our kitchen floor. Seth and Maddy lined up cars along it ... we obviously have a lot of cars!

I is for insects! We learned that insects have three body parts, six legs, antennae, wings and a proboscis. Our insects:

Making an Ii out of insect counters.

Sentence printing from This Reading Mama.

We usually start the day off with some chalkboard work. I think this might be their favourite part - nothing like printing with chalk!

Dot marker fun.

We learned a little about how bees make honey. We pretended to be bees - first they used their "proboscis" to drink nectar from a flower. Then they emptied the nectar from their "stomach" into the hive (making sure to leave the bottom wax rooms for the bee babies!)

Seth's proboscis.

Playing the honeybee game.

 

Just Like Aunt Katie

Kiera does not like peas (anymore - she did two weeks ago). She would rather wear them than eat them. Maddy noticed her looking like this:

 



and exclaimed, "Hey, Kiera looks like Aunt Katie!" I did not realize Aunt Katie walked around with something green hanging out on her nose. So, I asked Maddy what she meant. She told me Aunt Katie has something little there ... I was confused until I remembered - the nose ring :)
So, Aunt Katie: This is how you look to Maddy :)

Photo Attempt # (Lost Count)

Here I go again ... attempting to take wall-worthy pictures :) It's a good thing she's cute! 

 

Classic Kiera: Goofball :)

Mom, how can you possibly think of taking pictures with this in my hand??

One

To my dear one year old, Kiera:
We are so incredibly thankful to have you in our family! You have been a most unexpected blessing! We have loved watching you grow up over the past year, from the quiet, content baby that first entered our lives to the loud, giggly, goofball of a one year old that you are today! Here are a few things about you that we never want to forget:
You are LOUD. Especially at meal times. I guess that is what happens when you are number three - you need to yell or not be heard :) Well, my dear, you have that figured out!
You like to eat ... or do you? You keep us guessing! You certainly love some foods - crackers, cheese, bananas, apple sauce, MEAT (you *inhale* all kinds!), cheerios. You do not have a great fondness for others - vegetables in particular. I guess we will have to work on that!
You are a good player. You love toys - especially the ones that Seth and Maddy are playing with. You definitely fit the role of "little sister"! Your favourites include balls (you like to hit them around the house with anything stick-like), stacking toys, and anything long and skinny (read: anything dangerous that you should not be putting in your mouth and walking around the house with).
You are on a good schedule. Kind of. It starts a little early in the day for me, but that is okay. You usually wake up around 6:30 or 7:00, nap around 9:00 and again at 1:00 and are back in bed by 6:30). You eat at the same time as we do.
You LOVE to go outside. As soon as I start walking down the back stairs you get all excited and start jumping in my arms. Once outside you like to wander around, eventually making your way to the sandbox.
You have encouraged mom (and Seth and Maddy) to keep the house very clean since you like to put *everything* in your mouth!
You LOVE your baths. You like to splash, scoop and pour.
You LOVE your daddy. When he comes home, you greet him louder than do Seth and Maddy. You often jump out of mommy's arms to get to him. You are wiggling your way *very* deep into his heart :)
You LOVE to play with mom's cell phone. You hold it up to your ear (or at least in that general direction!) and start to babble.
You LOVE hats ... but will not keep them on. You take them off, then *attempt* to put them back on ... sometimes it works, most often it does not.
You know how to clap, wave and do "hooray". You shake your head every time you hear someone say "no", and can also nod (although that takes more effort and time for you to remember how it works :P). You have also learned to shake your head "no" when offered food you are not a fan of. Uh-oh!
You LOVE to walk. You were determined to learn and are very happy with your progress (although the numerous blue bumps on your face suggest that perhaps you should slow down a little??!) You love to walk the "circle" in our house - through the kitchen to the living room, back to the kitchen ...
Well, dear Kiera - that is you at one. You have brought much joy to our house. We look forward to getting to know you better and better throughout the next year :)

No More Baby :(

I guess it is official ... there is no longer a "baby" in the house (at least upstairs!) Our "baby" is now a giggling, running, happy one year old - a toddler.

After celebrating Maddy's third birthday, we were still in full party mode ... the house was already decorated (I just took the balloons off Maddy's chair and put one on Kiera's chair instead), I had plenty of gift bags (re-using gift backs is good for the environment, no?), I still had some cupcakes left .... I guess there are bonuses to having two birthdays in the same week!

We began the day with presents. Kiera was not as "into it" as Maddy had been (and still was, as she tried multiple times to open Kiera's presents for her!)

 



Lots of helpers!

A new hat (since Maddy is still wearing the same one she wore at this age!), a new stroller (since fights having been breaking out between the girls over the stroller), and a turtle (lovingly chosen out by Seth and Maddy). Spoiled girl! Notice her face - she kept saying "oooooo" throughout the present time :)

She thought this present was hilarious.

Tea party before breakfast!

Her birthday was spent very "quietly". Seth and Greg went to a carshow, I headed out to a Mom to Mom sale with the girls, Kiera napped the afternoon away....
Grandma and Grandpa VG came at 4:30 to share some birthday cupcakes. Kiera was not too sure about it at first ....

Then she "took the plunge" and tried it...

... and discovered it was quite tasty!

Kiera's cousin turns one at the end of the month, so Vicki and I planned a joint friend party. We went with the theme "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". It was so much fun to plan and do together! Vicki is definitely the creative one...

Neither girl was very impressed with the singing. Kiera did crack a smile when we shouted "stop" after singing, "How old are you now?"  

 
We decided (at 10 the previous night) to make some caterpillar "party hats". I think Kiera appreciated it!

We now have a one year old in the house! So fun!