Reuben's First Day of SK.

We were all ready for Reuben to go to school!
Reuben having snack. Parents were encouraged to come into the classrooms. Reuben started eating his lunch, too:)
Reuben gave Nadine half of his cookie. What a brother.

Blustery Day...

Poor Gazebo.

A Quaint Little Inn

Just thought I would let you know about a quaint little inn I discovered while I was in Hamilton this week--kind of like a bed and breakfast place. It's in a lovely old house, right near a gorgeous section of Hamilton near all the rich, large mansions in Hamilton. The place itself is very comfortable, with homey furniture, windows framed with ivy, a simple but comfortable bed. The proprietors were excellent about making me feel comfortable, and cooked the most delicious food--spinach enchiladas, chicken breast stuffed with spinach (I'm seeing a pattern here!), and fluffy pancakes for breakfast. I would recommend this place to anyone, however, I suggest that you make reservations well in advance, since this place is not large, and cannot accommodate too many visitors at one time. So I won't publish the phone number--just contact me privately, and I'll give you all the info.

Thank-you Auntie Jenn!

Reuben, Nadine and Judah wearing their matching shirts that Auntie Jenn brought back for them from her trip South. We heard that other cousins have matching shirts as well! We will have to get them all together for some matching-cuteness. Matching Cuteness hasn't been seen since Jenn's wedding!

It is hard to get all the monkeys to smile and when they finally find something funny to giggle about the littlest monkey escapes. He was also laughing but didn't make it in the picture.

Judah quickly intitated his new shirt with the diaper cream he now knows how to climb up to and reach.

An Education about Bees

Yesterday, when I was finishing hanging up my laundry, I turned to go in the basement door, and my eye was caught by a huge wasp nest hanging in the window beside the door. Many wasps were busy going in and out, and were totally ignoring me (good thing!). Actually, it was an amazing work of art (if my camera were working, I'd show you a picture). It was perfectly round, about 5 inches in diameter, gray and white striped, with a little hole in the bottom. I've not ever seen one like this before. I called Jack Dunford, and he told me I should get a professional to take it down. So I called every pest control number in the book--prices ranged from $200 to $50 (guess which one I chose!).

He arrived this morning, took one look at the nest and said "Holy s---!" He was full of facts about wasps. He told me these were yellow jackets, not paper wasps--there's a slight difference in their nests. These bees don't like it when you try to remove their nest. About half the bees are in the nest at any one time, tending to the queen, while the other half are out collecting food. Once the ones in the nest realize that someone is attacking their nest, they send out a radar, so that within 15 seconds all the wasps within 200 metres come flying in as fast as they can to protect their nest. Isn't that amazing? Except when the nest is on your house!

So he got his sprayer, powered by a motor on his truck. He sprayed the shed entirely, then sprayed around the window, and then attacked the nest (all from about 20 feet away). The spray that he uses is residual, so that when bugs land on it, they will die. He told me that by Saturday, all the bees should be dead, so I could just take the nest and throw it in the garbage.

I'm glad it's done--hope that I won't be hosting any more bees!

Darren's Baptism

Today we celebrated God's promises to Darren in his baptism! It was very special that Ron Smeding did the baptism. I spoke to him about it earlier, and he thought it was very special too, that he could baptize a child of one of his former students! I never realized that "Hendrik" meant "ruler of the home", so I guess that you, Marya and Eric, will have to really work hard to establish your position in the family! Darren is doing his best right now to live up to his name! Marya had asked me to carry him into church, but that was largely a formality--Eric is very good at keeping him quiet!

It was great to celebrate with the Renkema family, and spend time getting to know them better, and also to get to know Janice and Jono before they go to Africa. But we really missed you, David and Jenn and Brian. I'm sure that you all wanted to be here, but I guess your friends didn't consult with you as to when they should get married, Jenn. And David, well, a weekend flight from Korea just wouldn't work too well, would it! Hopefully we can get some pictures posted soon!

Oh those crazy Van Bredas!

Thursday May 24

What we did today:

• French
• Grammar
• Math: Dividing fractions by fractions (so fun!)
• Spelling/ DEAR/ Book Reports
• Library
• Social Studies: Working on Presentations about where our everyday products come from

Homework: Grammar pp. 95-98
Math: p. 224 #1-6 15-18 p. 225 #1,2, 3-19 odd
Book Reports: May Book Report: Read one book (approved by me), and complete numbers 4, 14, 29, and 2 of your choice from 39-53

Judah Judah the Jumping Bean

More van Bredas

Sleeping Faces

Surprised Faces

Tongue Faces

Serious Faces

Silly Faces

Beautiful Ladies

Happy birthday Nadine!

Tuesday's Storm- A Tour Around Our Block

Tuesday's Storm in Stratford- A Tour Around Our Block

Super Nadine!

Reuben on the Wii

We rented a Wii this weekend, and Reuben got quite good at it! In this game, he got 5 spares in a row and then a strike! He beat me by 26 points.
I beat him the next 5 games.

Here's the rest!

More to come later....

Darren!

Darren with the flash...

Darren without the flash

Another beautiful addition to the Family van Breda! Way to go, Marya and Eric!

Judah takes a stroll.

Batman's True Love?

Every wonder why Batman doesn't have an enduring love interest? Spider-man has Mary Jane, Superman has Lois, Green Lantern had Carol, and on and on.

Reuben has been growing in his seemingly insatiable hunger for super-heroes, and we recently picked up a bag of them at Value Village. Among them were a couple of Batmans (Batmen?) and a large-sized Wolverine. It didn't take long for one of the Batmans (resplendent in a yellow and black costume) to notice this large and very manly man. Perhaps it was the similar ears. Perhaps it was the colours. Perhaps it was sympathy for Wolverine and the claws missing on his left hand. Perhaps it was just one of those beautiful mysteries.

Regardless, by this afternoon, not 24 hours after receiving these action figures, Reuben had these two walking hand in hand, was asking Sarah "Mommy, do you think that Batman would cry if he loved somebody?" And by bedtime, Wolverine and Batman were tucked in nicely together.