Sawyer at School!

For the last few weeks Sawyer and I have been going to school about once a week. I am taking and AQ course while I am on maternity leave. One of the requirements for this AQ is to do 10 hours of observation. I have been fortunate enough to be able to bring Sawyer to the school with me while I am doing these observations. She is such a good baby and is generally quite while we are there. Plus, the kids love her. She gets lots of attention. I have been doing my observations in a grade four class. Today, I took a few pictures of Sawyer in class. 

 Sawyer hanging out on the floor during the math lesson on measurement.

 Sawyer was really interested in how to convert metres into centimetres. Hopefully, she is like her Dad and is good with numbers.

 One of the students took a special interest in Sawyer today. When the students had library time he choose a special book to read to Sawyer. She was really interested in it. Sawyer loves reading books already (she likes the pictures).

 Class picture with the class. Quite a few students were out today because we recently had lice checks.

Sawyer getting lots of attention.

More SNOW!

WOW! I can't believe it is already November 11. One month today, Sawyer, Edgar and I will be back in Niagara. We cannot wait. Although we are sad to leave Daddy behind in Deer Lake for 8 days :(. I am looking forward to going to stay at my parents house. I am sure it will be kind of weird living there again for 2 1/2 weeks (one week before Christmas and one 1/2 week after). I have not lived there obviously since I have been married. We are also very fortunate to be able to stay with Greg's family during the Christmas holidays when Greg is home. They have graciously given us a room at their house and allowed us to move our things in. They are currently our home base in Niagara.

We have had a lot of snow in Deer Lake this week. It has snowed non stop since yesterday. We currently have about 2 feet of snow. I have been told that Niagara had beautiful weather today. However, since it is before Christmas I am not really jealous. I expect snow right now. After Christmas, well, that may be a different story. Enjoy the pictures below of our adventures this week. 

 Greg thought it would be funny to put Sawyer in the pot we boil her bottles in. She took it like a champ and never complained at all.

 We decided we would take advantage of all the snow and go outside with Sawyer and "play" in it. Jon, kindly took a family picture of us. Edgar is "standing", that is how deep that snow drift is.

 Sawyer enjoying her first snow seat. My siblings and I would always go outside in the snow and jump in the drifts or piles and sit in the snow.

 Mommy and Daddy enjoying the snow with Sawyer.

 Sawyer then came inside for her "hot chocolate"... or hot formula.

This kid never stops moving. If you put her down on her back she always rolls over to her tummy. This afternoon I put her on the edge of this blanket (on the edge closest to me) and she moved herself backwards off the blanket and towards the coffee table. Greg thinks she is going to crawl soon, even if it is the army crawl. I think she may crawl early, although I like how I don't have to chase her right now.

I hope everyone has an excellent week.

Halloween!!!

Sorry these pictures are all out of order but when I loaded them they didn't load in the order I wanted them to. 

Well as you all know this week was Halloween. Everyone, including adults get into Halloween in Deer Lake. Unfortunately, someone died in Deer Lake earlier this week so school Halloween was postponed until this afternoon (regular trick or treating carried on as normal). Sawyer and I spent a good part of the day at the school, enjoying all the Halloween festivities.  This morning we had a cake auction. This is where people make a cake and it gets auctioned off. It is a great fundraiser, as the classes get to bid against each other and as you can imagine it gets quite loud. Today, they had about 15-20 cakes and racked in over $1000.00, on cakes alone. This afternoon their was the grade 8 haunted house and dance and they raised a few more hundred dollars. All in all it was a great fundraising day. 

Enjoy the pictures below. 

 Sawyer dressed up as a pirate. I really wanted to get Sawyer a costume this year (a really cute Strawberry from Old Navy) but Greg wasn't infavour of getting her a costume. So JOn and Jill got out Jill's costume from last year and we dressed her up. She is looking really cute in her adult sized clothing.

I made two cakes for the cake auction. One was a pull apart pumpkin cake and then a spider web cake. 

 Haunted House cake made by another staff member- this one went for $110.00

 Cake made by another staff member- this one went for $100.00

 Frankenstein Cake this one also went for $100.00

 Greg's frugal costume.... he was a Sugar Daddy (so not appropriate for down south)

Sawyer on the bus on the way to town. She looks so tiny in those big seats.

Update

So as my grandma and my sister, Alana has pointed out I have been slacking on updating the blog. There honestly, has just been nothing new and interesting to update on. Things have been going really well for Greg at school this year. His students are excellent and he really enjoys them. He has also got a lot of support this year with fundraising. It is a big job to do on your own and thankful others have stepped up and the principal is extremely supportive. 

Not much is new with me. Myself, along with Greg are taking an additional qualifications course (Special Education, part 1). A part of this course is to do a practicum and since I am not teaching I had to arrange to go into the school and watch a class. Thankfully Sawyer was allowed to come with me. She was awesome! Barely made a sound and just soaked in all that was going on around her. We are honestly blessed with such a good and happy baby.

Sawyer rolled over (tummy to back) last week. It was a big milestone and very exciting. Unfortunately, Greg was not home so he missed the first roll over but I videoed it and sent it to him to watch. 

The weather up here has not been nice lately. I think it has rained every day this week. It sucks because it keeps Sawyer and I in the house and when we are finally able to go out it is so muddy and there are puddles every where. The mud sucks for taking Edgar for a walk because he becomes so filthy. 

Anyways, I hope everyone has a great weekend. And a special happy birthday to my Grandpa Hotson and Rob!

 Sawyer playing with toys. Although she does not grab for the toy yet she will hold it in her hand and look at it.

 We recently got a package from my mom and sister. It was stuffed with lots of goodies for Sawyer and us. Sawyer got a nice new warm snowsuit and a cute little outfit from Nana and Papa. My mom also made me a sling for Sawyer. I love it and it is so easy to carry her around in it. Thanks Mom and Dad. It is so nice to get your packages and letter.

 Last Saturday Sawyer turned 3 months (wow, where does time go). This is her three month picture (with her new clothes from Auntie Jai). Isn't she so cute!

I put together this little collage of Sawyer's first, second and third month pictures. I can't believe how much she has changed already.

Just Some Pictures

Not much new going on here. Greg was off all week because of the traditional Hunting Week. We didn't do much. Greg went to the school... we went with him and helped him out. We played a Settler's of Catan tournament, went for a few walks and I had an X-Men marathon. Other than that nothing new. Here's some pictures from this week. 

 Sawyer hanging out with Edgar in HIS bed!

 "When you're the best of friends

                                                         Having so much fun together

You're not even aware, 

you're such a funny pair

You're the best of friends"

(for my family that is reading and who plays movie trivia... guess the movie this is from)

 Hanging out with Mommy!

 Family Photo down by the Point. We managed to get Edgar to look but we still have to work on Sawyer.

Love this picture! Don't I have the best looking family. 

Sawyer's First Snowfall!

Well, of course since this is Sawyer's first year of life there is a lot of first for her coming up and this week she experienced another one. Her first SNOWFALL! It has snowed three days this week with this morning being the best one yet. Of course we had to take the opportunity to get some photos. 

 Her first taste of winter in the North. She has no idea what she is getting into.

 She really wasn't sure about the cold ones when they were hitting her face.

 She was just being so cute and funny!

 First Family Picture in the Snow (Don't mind our pyjamas... it's Saturday)!

Sawyer also had her first shoulder ride from Daddy this week. Aren't they so cute?!

2 Months

Song - Hall of Fame (feat. will.i.am) by The Script

Not much new going on here lately. Last weekend Greg and Jon put on a hockey hour (turned into 2 1/2 hrs) for the grade 8 and 9s. It is a great way to connect with the kids and get some exercise at the same time. Greg really enjoys himself. Usually they have a good turn out however this being the first one and being planned last minute they did not have a ton of kids, but all you need is one. 

Sawyer and I decided we would walk over and watch them play for a little bit. This gave us something different to do. She enjoyed watching and was very good while we were there. 

 Greg and Jon

 Greg getting ready to shoot the ball.

 Sawyer watching Daddy play hockey for the first time (the first of MANY times).

Sawyer is two months old today. It seems weird because in one hand it has seemed to go really fast and  I can 't believe it has been two months already and on the other hand it seems like she has been with us forever. She had her two month needles today and was very good. She weighed in at 10lbs 8 ozs and was 23.5 inches long. She is doing great!!!

Shoreline Fishing

Today was the last day of the long weekend :( It was so nice having Greg home during the day to hang out with. Sawyer and I will definitely miss him during the day. 

The TV Station was hosting a Shoreline Fishing Derby today. So Jill, Jon, Greg and I (and Sawyer, of course) decided we would try our hand at shoreline fishing. None of us had ever had much luck catching anything from shore but we thought it would be a fun thing to do. Plus it was a beautiful day so, why not? 

We walked to the TV station at around 1:45 bought our tickets to play (Greg and I only bought one, because we had Sawyer with us too so when one of us wasn't fishing the other was watching her). Then we walked to the point for an afternoon of fishing. Jon, Jill and Greg all caught a fish. They were all small fish though. Jill's was the largest and it only weighed in at 1lbs 11 ozs. All in all it was a nice afternoon, a nice getaway and it gave us something to do.

 Jill, Jon and Greg fishing!

 Greg trying to catch a fish, unfortunately here all he caught was snags.

Sawyer and I hanging out while everyone else is fishing. She was so good and enjoyed being outside, even though it was a little windy by the lake. 

 Daddy and Sawyer trying to catch a fish!

 Still trying!

Greg weighing his fish. It weighed a whole 6 ozs! Needless to say, he didn't win a prize, but Jill won 12th place with her fish (she won a baseball and glove).

Not much has happened around here this week. Greg started work on Monday. He went in and set up his classroom for the first three days and then the students finally came on Thursday. Greg is teaching only grade 8s this year so there will be a little less work for him to do. He doesn't have to produce lesson plans for the grade 9 classes for the Ministry. He has a nice small class (12 students) and his students are well behaved. They are unlike the other classes we have previously taught. I hope he has an excellent year with them. The graduation trip should be fun with only 12 students (only 3 girls too). 

For Sawyer and I every day is pretty much the same. We wake up, eat, play a little (as much as a 7 week old plays), she naps and then we do it again. However getting her to take an afternoon nap has been a chore, because she won't nap in the afternoon she gets kinda fussy by the time Greg comes home, so he doesn't see the best side of her. 

Since coming up here we have tried to get Sawyer on some what of a schedule. She regularly takes a morning nap. Afternoon not so great but our big milestone comes at bed time. She starts her bed time routine around 8:30 and by 9:00 she is ready for bed and then she sleeps 8 hours!!! It is so nice (this still however gets me up at 5:00 am- so we are working on getting her to sleep longer). She does go back to sleep though until about 7-7:30 am after she has eaten. 

This weekend we are not doing much. We had everyone over for a games night on Friday. Yesterday we walked to the store and I think we are going to the school this afternoon to help Greg get stuff done for this week. 

I hope everyone enjoys their long weekend. 

 Sawyer having cuddle time with Mommy and sucking her thumb one morning. She is sucking her thumb more regularly now and is even starting to take a soother (when she is tired).

 Just chillin' with my dog!

Aren't we so cute!

Year Three

Well we have made it to Deer Lake for year three. This year with an extra person in tow. Each year we introduce one more person/animal to Deer Lake. First year was Greg and I. Year two was Edgar and this year Sawyer is making her big debut. 

On Sunday we started our journey up north bright and early. We woke Sawyer up at 5 am (of course the day she has to be up by 5 she sleeps past it). My parents picked us up and we went to the airport. We were at the airport and through security by 8 am. We got to skip the big security line and go through a quicker line for people with young children. It was really nice. Sawyer was great on the airplanes. She slept most of the way, she only woke up to get fed. 

As soon as we got to the airport in Deer Lake, she was passed around the airport to all the different people. It was great to see how many people were excited to see her. We made it to our apartment and went to the store shortly after we arrived. 

True to Deer Lake fashion our internet wasn't working when we got here. However, that was quickly fixed and it was up and running by lunch today. Tomorrow evening by dinner we will also have a phone. 

Greg started work yesterday. All went well but he has no TA this year. He only has 12 students though and he is strictly the grade 8 teacher. 

We have 2 new teachers. One female from New Brunswick who will be teaching grade 9 this year, and a male from Ottawa who will be teaching grade 3. We also found out when we got here that the principal backed out. They couldn't meet the requirements he wanted in his contract. Apparently he wanted one month a week to go home to Peterborough. He was leaving his wife and three kids there. So one of the locals (who has their principal qualifications) has been asked to take over.  

Anyways I think that is all for now. Below are some pictures for you to enjoy. 

 Sawyer in her first pair of jeans. She looked so cute in them. Although they are a little big for her so if she kicks hard enough and long enough they come right off her.

 Loving her swing.

 Bright and early on the way to the airport. This was also the last picture of Greg and I taken outside of our first home.

Sawyer and I on the airplane waiting for the flight to take off. She was GREAT!