Grade 1

Kieran is in Grade 1 and loving it. At first he was a bit suspicious because unlike Kindergarten, they didn't have play-centres twice a day in which they got to play with the Playmobil castle or make Lego creations. When I asked what they do instead of centres, he told me, "nothing, we just LEARN!!"

Kieran's teacher, Miss Moss, is fabulous - she's creative and fun and just sparkles. How she gets 15 squirrelly 6-year-olds to sit nicely in desks is beyond me. She has decorated the classroom with IKEA stuff and, having inherited a classroom with a wierd little office in it, converted that space into a Book Nook with couches and comfy chairs and stuffies, that is Kieran's favorite spot. In fact, students from all the grades in the school come to read here, much to the delight of the Grade 1s.

His best friend is Nathaniel and they play together for hours after school, always some intense combination of Star Wars and Knight's Kingdom. Every sentence they utter during their playdates start with "And how about... "

And how about you're Obi-wan, and I'm King Jayko
OK, and how about I hit you with my light saber
Yeah but how about you hit my magic shield in its heart of power
OK, and how about then Darth Maul comes along
And how about we both go after him in our X-wings
Yeah and how about we defeat Darth Maul, but then we get back to the castle and the dragon has come and wrecked it
OK and how about we have to go back and get some more Jedi to fight the dragon
And how about we get more magic shields along the way
And how about .....

Yesterday was a Pro-D day, and Nathaniel's Dad and I took the boys up to the school and helped some other parents lay sod for the new field. The boys had a blast rolling out the sod and jumping up and down on it, and mining the ground for rocks, and watering with the really big hose, until they got bored and went to play with their Hot Wheels in the mud puddle.

Today after we all went to the swimming pool, Nathaniel came over for more Star Wars action. They had a serious game in which Luke and Obi-Wan had to defeat some pirates, and then collapsed into peals of giggles in a game in which they each had to sneakily place a sticker on the other, yelling "Tu as oublié!" when they had succeeded. The French didn't even make sense, but the accents were sublime, and it made me just think how wonderful it is that they are so sophisticated but still goofy little 6-year-olds. I'm loving it!

Baby Lily

Introducing Lily Mia Aragona Murray:




In August my brother Kaje and his lovely wife Clelia became the proud parents of the World's Most Adorable Baby Ever. My niece Lily is so precious to me, I think even more so because in photos I am already seeing resemblances to my boys - and to me, I'd like to think, even though her Italian genes are also coming through magnificently. Sadly, they live in Australia, so we won't get to meet her in person until she's bigger. But we have regular web chats on Yahoo IM, in which we fire up the webcams and Kaje proudly shows off his daughter for us to coo over, while she either sleeps contentedly in the sling or chuckles merrily.

On our end, the kids love to go and bring the latest Lego creation or art masterpiece for Kaje's approval, or they just jump around like monkeys to watch themselves on the computer. At the risk of sounding like my grandparents.... when I was a girl, we used to have to WRITE LETTERS to our aunts and uncles and wait a couple of MONTHS for a reply. So it is so intriguing to me that my kids are growing up thinking that it's perfectly normal that if we want to see Uncle Kaje in Australia, we just ring him on the computer and chat away for half an hour.

Liam, however, seems to take the technology for granted a bit too much. The other day he was going through a litany of People Liam Loves:

Me-me yuv NANNIE!
Me-me yuv POPPA!
Me-me yuv GANNIE!
Me-me yuv GAMPA!
Me-me yuv OMI!
Me-mu yuv BABY YIYI!

To this, I asked Liam, "where does Baby Lily live?"

Liam's response: "Baby Yiyi yiv... inna PUTER!"

Travel plans and show-and-tell

I'm back! Funny how school starts and suddenly I find I have no time for blogging... by the time I've got the kids to sleep and made all the lunches, my brain has turned to mush. I've also been super busy getting ready for my Next Big Adventure - I'm going to Peru for 3 weeks, next month! More on that to come!

A couple of weeks ago I took a course on digital photography at the local Parks and Rec Centre. It was such an eye-opener to really learn how to use my camera on its Manual setting - something that is long, long overdue. After the morning session we went out in the garden and got close to nature - such a fun and relaxing day! Here are some of the best shots (in my humble opinion):




This one was my favorite of the day. Our instructor told us to find our subject, then get in twice as close, then get in twice as close again. Who knew?!







... and finally, here's one I happened to take a couple of days before the course, with the camera on auto, while chasing Liam around the corn maze. So go figure!!

Firsty

Monday was a big day of firsts for us! Our school was finished with not a moment to spare and both kids started in their new classrooms. Here they are walking to school on Monday morning. I love that the school is now in a little patch of forest!

Liam has suddenly decided to speak, and all the way to school he was happily burbling "dool, dool!" Kieran chimed in and reminded him how great it was that they were both going to the same school, but Liam got all mad and insisted, "no, MY DOOL!!". I wasn't too concerned about him handling a full day away from home; here he is about a nanosecond after I dropped him off:






















Can you believe Kieran is in Grade 1? He has homework! He also has a simply fabulous teacher, I can't wait to see the fun they are going to have this year. He is as pleased as punch to have his very own desk and homework bag. I will just be impressed to see him SIT in a desk for more than an instant. He and his classmates were so cute when they all saw each other, gleefully showing each other all their loose and missing teeth and figuring out who was the tallest....


After school was Kieran's first karate class, which he said was awesome even though he was exhausted from school. He's not exactly catching flies with chopsticks yet but he seems to be taking to it with a lot of enthusiasm. I think it is because he realizes that it is his first step towards becoming a Jedi Master.

Liam is very upset that he is not allowed to do karate, and spent the whole 45 minutes in the waiting area doing his kicks and blocks and yelling "kee-yai!". He can't wait to be six. I told him "I'm sorry Liam, you're too little for karate". To which he responded, "NO! meme BIG! meme BIG kee-yai!" which I think is Liamish for "But I must be tested early if I am to begin my padawan training".

Big day for my big boys.

Great Big Evening

I've been thinking recently about how certain periods of one's life have a soundtrack. When I was six we were sailing around the South Pacific and my soundtrack was filled with songs of John Denver, Roger Whittaker and all the folk songs my Mum played on her old folk guitar.

In recent years our soundtrack has been provided by Great Big Sea. Their song "Ordinary Day" got me through the purgatory of writing my dissertation in grad school, and while we were living in the US, they were one of our lifelines to Canada. We saw them live in San Francisco in a tiny bar when Deanna and I were both 8 months pregnant with Aila and Kieran, and we were hooked, and since then we have gone to their shows any time they've come within a day's drive. We saw them again in Seattle and I met my wonderful friend Kerry at a Great Big Sea show - I think it was destiny - and Kerry and I went to see them a couple of weeks after Liam was born. When we moved back to Canada with a brand new baby and finding myself far away from my girlfriends, "Clearest Indication" soothed my lonely soul.

Like me with the sea shanties and folk songs of my childhood, Kieran has also become a big fan of their music - but then, any band with a large repertoire of songs about pirates and other scoundrels and heroes has got to be cool!

So last weekend GBS played live and we took Kieran to his first ever concert. I don't think he really knew quite what to expect, but as soon as the lads came on stage and started in on Captain Kidd, he was entranced. It was wonderful to see the look of wonder and amazement in his eyes to see his favorite music actually being played in front of him. We were blessed with the tiny venue and the warm summer evening, so we were very close to the stage. Ironically, had we gone by ourselves without Kieran we could have been right at the front of the stage where the lads like to banter with the fans, but this night was all about sharing the experience with Kieran. It was after his bedtime, so he fell asleep after only a few songs, but it was a lovely evening and a fine way to end the summer!

Photo op

Today we went for a photo shoot with Gordon Lafleur. He took us to a wonderful site on the Englishman River, a beautiful spot that we hadn't been to before. I can't wait to see how the photos came out. He was gracious enough to allow me to take these snapshots of the boys while he was photographing them. Don't you think the photos will be just gorgeous??