Sierra has become quite autonomous in some ways, and very needy in others. She can easily wait until 7:00 appears on her clock and then she gets up and watches TV in the morning. Her go-to shows are currently Super Monsters, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and I see some Paw Patrol or Dora the Explorer pop in once in awhile Here I thought she was really getting into He-Man! Those days have past.
But she constantly needs our attention when she is doing something. “Look at me Maman, no LOOK AT ME!” We usually offer up the opportunity to wash the dishes so we can go play. Somehow she realizes this isn’t the best case scenario and she leaves us alone.
She’s also losing interest in going outside. I can only imagine it is because it is starting to get colder outside and a few more layers have to be put on. Let’s be honest…who WANTS to go outside in the cold compared to the heat?
One month into school, I am impressed that she can colour within some lines and trace quite well. A little work needs to be done on the writing department but she’s on the right track! I am also quite excited to see what she works on each day. This is definitely a bonus of virtual learning from home.
Here’s a great example of what I DO NOT care for about virtual learning…there’s a lot more involvement from the parent. I know, I know, you are all screaming that I am a parent and I signed up for all of this! This is true. But there’s something to be said for the amazing freeing concept of ‘I’m dropping my kids off and I don’t have to deal with them for the entire day while they are at school.” Here we had to figure out how to build a grid for her to do an activity. At the beginning of the school year we were scrambling the day of trying to assemble all of this stuff. We smartened up (for the most part!) and try and get these things done the night before.
Pretty good!
After school is done it’s play time, everyone’s favourite time of the day!
Look at the muscles on this kid!
Some Saturday mornings are meant for making Halloween decorations.
“Dad, take a photo of me on a hill. Dad. DAD!”
I can’t believe we are still finding dandelions in October!
The garden is seeing its last days but we still find a few treats.
Is this…an apple mask? I’m not sure.
There’s Sierra and her friend having some fun after attending virtual school together. While virtual school is fun, there’s a LOT less (none?) physical activity. I shouldn’t say that…I walk by sometimes and see that they have an exercise video playing and she is dancing around. We also do some exercise videos in the morning before school each day. But I don’t think it’s a replacement for recess!
I had a good laugh when I whipped this up for Carol who thought I could photoshop a shark in behind her and her father.
This was the last time we saw Sierra after the leaf monster got her.
Here’s an example of what I don’t like about virtual school…we had to give her a bunch of things to make car ramps and tunnels with. That’s not an issue since I have a garage of junk. But who would have thought that we are house THAT DOES NOT OWN A RACE CAR? I asked a friend if we could borrow some and they replied “How many and which colours?” Clearly they did not encounter the same issue that we did!
This tree saw a lot of use at the end of the summer
I decided to put up some gymnast rings as Sierra had grown enough to reach them. It was hard for her to hold herself up for long so we embarked on some muscle building exercises
Oh Jason, you are so wise!
We returned to the trail that Jon and Chantal had introduced to us a few weeks ago. Look at the size of that leaf!
Sierra enjoyed seeing some slow motion videos of the leaves falling.
Sierra mastering the art of putting the right amount of cheerios into a muffin…holder? What are those things called?
It was pouring rain and cold but Sierra insisted on dropping off a birthday gift to her friend.
This monkey was hanging out in a tree back at this office for a few years. My friend Trisha picked it up as she shares my love of Legend of Zelda. I packed it up along with the rest of my belongings and here is Sierra playing with a monkey we named Kiki.
Sierra practicing her selfie skills
I’m not sure when this came into my possession but I found it in my suitcase. It is from Abitibi Canyon’s winter carnival back in 1982. Pretty neat!
Harrrrr
Mom trying out her camera when they came back from Gaspe
Sierra is pretty good at posing for photos but we all know she wants to do a silly face as well
I swear every time Mom comes up with end up making a cake!
Grandma hanging onto Sierra
Setting up for Hallowe’en
Grandma chasing after Sierra! Watch out!
Sierra is pretty tired after Grandma chasing her all over the place!
Poppa looking great as always at 70 years of age
Watching TV
When the fall arrived I started noticing that the fan in the hallways wasn’t turning on. Sure enough, this ventilator had seen its last legs. It was really hard to find a replacement…one guy even told me he hadn’t seen something like this in 20 years! That’s the problem with older homes. After a few weeks of researching my options I followed through on one of my Dad’s original suggestions…taking the motor out and replacing it. It was a fairly painless process after I found the part number from the manufacturer and called a place where they helped me find an equivalent. It was fairly easy taking everything apart and reassembling and testing it in the garage but it was a PAIN putting it back because the plastic hoses just didn’t want to connect without a lot of work. I spent a few hours more than I should. Dad did point out afterwards I should have just moved the entire unit over a foot so I would have had more wiggle room. Dad’s a smart guy. I ended up hearing a rattle in Sierra’s room so a few weeks later I found out that something was vibrating INSIDE the unit. I was not ready to take it all apart again and I found out that if I just pulled up on the entire unit the vibration stopped. I ended up putting a tie down strap on it and ratcheting it to a nearby joist.
We set up a card table downstairs
We were up on the roof cleaning the chimney and marvelled at the colour of this tree. Being at home all the time has its benefits. Generally I would work all day and get home at night and never see the beauty around.
Picking up a few pumpkins
This was probably the highlight of my autumn season. Victor and company dropped by for a quick visit so I played in the leaves with the kids. Then they were asking Victor to get in the car but he had a pile of leaves in his arms ready to throw at me…so he ran for the car and dumped them all inside! AHAHAH, ah I had a good laugh.
Leaf fight!
This was equally a great photo that was sent by JF and MC. They live in a new suburb which have NO TREES. So now I understand why they were so excited when they saw all the leaves at my house! They ended up taking all the leaves out of the car and playing with them in their own yard.
Doh! My order of hot sauce had an accident. It looks worse than it was…only one bottle shattered.
I need to remember to do this in the future.
Sierra spelling names with playdoh.
What’s this?!
A new hot tub of course! Installed on a very rainy day where everything was happening at once…I was in the middle of a meeting, we’re trying to get Ezra to take a nap, Sierra finished school…aye aye aye! A lot of movement when the delivery guys first showed up. It was raining so hard and they were behind schedule that they had to come pick up the old tub another day!
Our new Beachcomber tub in action! While it was a long wait due to the pandemic, we were happy to see it arrive in the autumn so we could have some fun in it before the winter hit and it would be too cold to bring Ezra out.
Ah, the old tub which sprung too many leaks a few years back that I didn’t have the heart (or time) to go in and fix. You gave us some great memories but it’s time you moved on. I wonder how old this tub was…easily 20 years. Maybe 30?
This comic made me laugh even more after I had been playing Final Fantasy III while recovering from an operation. There was this section where I had to grind through quite a bit. I hate that concept in a video game. Definition: In video games, grinding is performing repetitive tasks, usually for a gameplay advantage or loot but in some cases for purely aesthetic or cosmetic benefits.
A few month into school and you can already see Sierra improving at colouring within the lines!
Making sure the Halloween costume fits
Sierra got to go to the park for a birthday party. Which kid doesn’t like rolling down a hill?
I asked if Vero planted baby carrots in the garden this year. She was not impressed with my joke!
Nanny Ruth made some nice clothes for the dolls
Sierra carving a pumpkin with Maman
Not bad!
