A Special Lunch

This morning I had the pleasure of volunteering in Sydney's classroom for the first time since she started Kindergarten.  Once a month the class has what they call a 'special lunch.'  This lunch is special in many ways, the girls get to help prepare lunch using fruits and veggies that they've harvested from the school garden, they set specially decorated tables and eat all together with their teachers and invited guests.  It is a wonderful tradition.

I was given the task of making french fries with beautifully fresh harvested potatoes from the garden that Sydney and her classmates washed off just this morning.  Another parent made stir fried zucchini and summer squash and a third made sliced apples in yogurt dipping sauce with apples from the trees on the school property.

It was so neat to get a little peek into what Sydney has been doing during the day at Kindergarten while I was in class today and to meet many of the staff members at her school that I hadn't yet met.

I just loved how her classmates Olivia and Emma decorated the tables with fresh flower bouquets, leaves, bark and chestnuts.

The highlight of the lunch was the arrival of some delicious pasta made by the school cafeteria which they ate for their main course.

It was a very special lunch indeed!

Sydney loves waiting after school for her buddy Julia's class to get out for the day so that they can see each other.  I just loved watching them hang out on the school steps together chatting and laughing!

Yesterday was my 39th birthday.  It was a pretty ordinary day by most standards, taking Syd to school, working at Paul's office, shuttling Syd to swim lessons and then home.  We did manage to sneak out for dinner together at Thai House and Paul gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers which definitely brightened my day.

Sydney is loving being back at swim lessons and has rediscovered her passion for painting again over the past couple of weeks.  I picked her up some new canvases and a watercolour book to paint in today, she was so thrilled she literally stripped her school clothes off and started painting naked right away!  Reminded me so much of when she was a wee one and would do 'naked painting' as she called it, sitting naked on the floor of the kitchen on her splash mat just lost in her painting!

What a girl!