Sherwood Park and Nottingham Green

I've always loved Robin Hood.  I think its one of my favourite stories of all time.  I love the animated movie and the book by Robin McKinley.  So I guess I feel really connected to Sherwood Park, where we live now, subconsciously.  :-)  Our neighbourhood is even called Nottingham Green, of all things!  Wes Hosford Elementary School, where Owen, Tommy, and George go to school, is carved right out of a forest.  For recess the kids play in the forest--there are lots of wonderful trails and hiding places.  They've played Capture the Flag a number of times as well as tag in the forest.  There are actually many parks and walking paths carved out of the forest all over in "The Park."  We've enjoyed a fun summer of biking and running and walking on these paths.  The playgrounds are super enjoyable and the boys have enjoyed exploring many of them.  Among the forests are also wetlands, interspersed.  Owen's class went on a field trip to wetlands and caught minnows and explored in their boots.  George and I enjoy biking around the wetlands and I am surprised at all the variety of plants and trees there--different from the forest lands.  Speaking of which, George can ride a bike now!  He started out on his little one, and I would run along and see how he did, and then when we moved here he decided he was ready for his bigger bike.  So again I ran along and pushed him when he needed it, but after about two weeks, he was fine!  We have been on a few bike rides as a family, and it is amazing that we don't require a stroller!

Owen, Tommy, and George have really made our deck into an extra room.  They play all sorts of things out there.  They took some of our packing paper from the move and painted murals--outside.  They also enjoy setting up the dinosaurs out there and the army guys.  They also built houses out of all our cardboard boxes and they set up a pirate game with the table and chairs--walking the plank, etc.
Another hangout place for them is our little "hobbit holes" downstairs.  Once I peeked in and they were pretending they were horses pulling carriages (the chairs with rolling wheels on them).  Other things they do in there--play hockey, cars and trains, and lots of dress ups.
We haven't unpacked any video games since moving in, so the boys created their own game where some of them pretend to be characters on the video game and others pretend to "control" them.  This game has kept them entertained for hours on end!
Over the summer we spent a lot of time with cousins--riding bikes, playing hockey and basketball and football, playing ping pong, and just about anything else they could think of to do.  We enjoyed the new spray park and the beautiful library.
William and Ryrie went on a scout camp one of the first weeks we were here.  It was good for them to meet all the deacons in Sherwood Park, and I think they did some bonding.  James also went with them.  They went to lake country and did some hiking and kayaking.  While they were gone the three littles and had good bonding time and exploring time as well.  It also became clear to me what a calming influence the twins have in our house.  They really are the peace makers.  Owen said he wanted to be the Peace Police and add that as a duty on our job chart--but he really did get tired after his week of being the oldest.
Tommy in particular seems to miss his old friends, but Owen often does as well.  Its easier for them now that school has started up, but in the summer he was pretty sad. He made a poster with his friends' names on it and drew pictures of things they liked.  We also called and facetimed some friends and that helped.
We're making new friends in the ward and the neighborhood, and that always feels good--as well as takes time.

We've worn in the new house pretty quickly!  We had three bloody noses within the first two weeks of moving in--all in the only two bedrooms that are carpeted in the whole house...all the railings are already being pulled from their sockets, and there are fingerprints trailing down every stairwell.  One ceiling fan has been broken, and the ping pong table was almost destroyed when Tommy and George decided it would be a good idea to climb on it and it folded up on them.  Sometimes I wonder about this household of boys!

The first week of school was pretty rough for the twins.  They started the week not knowing anyone and being in different classes from each other--but we got that sorted out and by then end of the week they were both smiling, so that was a relief!  Owen was super scared the first day of school, but he was super happy by the time he came home.  He LOVES his teacher and really connects to him in a great way.  Tommy also came home happy and although he seems to have the most homework of all the boys, he is working hard and learning a ton of different things!  One thing that James invited the boys to do in the first couple weeks of school that really seemed to help them identify tender mercies was to try and do one act of service a day and also to notice an act someone else did for them.  It has been a neat experience to hear their daily reports.  We have fallen out of the habit lately, but hopefully we can get back into it again.

George loves kindergarten so far.  His teacher is Mrs. Borbe and she is short.  He noticed that right away.  She is also smiley and friendly and he enjoys her class.  I wouldn't say he loves her yet, but I think she is winning him over.  He is a super-confident, very ready kindergartner.  I have never had a boy more ready to head into school.  While he is there, I teach a lot of violin lessons, do my shopping, and try to make my appointments.  I pick him up--sometimes I bike there or walk there or drive there.  The first couple of days I felt guilty leaving him at school--but he likes it a lot and he's happy there, so that helps.  One day we went on a bike ride together before school and then just ended up at school.  He tried to cross the street before we got to the cross walk.  It totally caught me by surprise and it scared me pretty bad because its a really busy street.  Sometimes he is overly confident on that bike.  Anyway, I yelled pretty loud and scared him--that was the only day he was sad when he went into kindergarten. :-(

Here are some funny George-isms of late:
"I'm flexdaddle!" (flexible)
"Can you put some gasoline up my nose?" (vaseline)
"Tommy LITERALLY left his wallet right under the piano!"
"I hadded to..." (had to)
"You smelt it, you dealt it!"
"I wished I was an angel--I could have special powers and go up to heaven!"
"Website"--he uses this word for many things that are not websites.  "What does the website say?"
He told Grandma the other day, "I was just reading an article." (it was a book)
"I don't know why this kid at school keeps being mean to me...but I'm not mean back."
"Whenever girls look at me I just whack my face."
"We should make a watermelon pie!  I think it would be yummy.  You get some crust and then some watermelon and then you bake it!"

And here are some random pictures for your enjoyment:

Georgie left these as a "welcome gift" on our new porch steps.  He picked them for me.

Unpacking our new kitchen!

The scary recycling calendar that I studied all the way down to Utah to make sure that we would do it right.

Quick trip to Utah after we had been moved in for about a week.  Got to see Grandpa H do a candy drop!  

We got to visit lots of wonderful cousins while in Utah!

We got to watch many people become US citizens.

We visited Grandma Halvorsen's grave while there.

Woohoo!

Enjoying the new spray park in Sherwood Park

The boys dug out the dress ups as soon as possible!

Walkin like an Egyptian

We went on a campout in Jasper with Mom and Dad.  Loved it!  Was a little wet, but we modified...

Our three oldest have started wearing this!  Hard to believe.

Tommy thought this was a picture saying no old people could hike here.

our red-headed chipmunk

Jasper was just totally stunning.  Each day we saw so many breathtaking beautiful things--it was actually amazing how much variety is in that huge national park.

We loved Athabasca Falls--and were totally amazed by it.

The glaciers are massive and monumental.

We also enjoyed the hot springs

We will definitely be coming back to Jasper again!