Finding What I Am Looking For

Yarn Along

2012-01-25T17:35:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are again for the weekly Yarn Along hosted by Ginny over at Small Things. This is such a great motivator - I find myself actually getting some knitting done just so that I have something to include in the picture.

This week:

Reading - I just finished the Alexander McCall Smith novel that I started and posted last week and, as always, it was brilliant. How as a man he can write about a woman's feelings about her child and be so accurate is mystifying to me. This man is brilliant. I have just started a new Jennifer Chiaverini Elm Creek novel, "The Aloha Quilt." It seems like it's going to follow in her usual fine form. I also thought I would share my devotions book I am following right now. Just before the new year, I went into the Christian bookstore and had a good browse, looking for the right devotional book for the new year. I wasn't seeing anything that leapt out at me and then I saw Beth Moore's name and my interest was piqued. She has four "90 Days with..." books and obviously, Jesus was the place to begin. I am really enjoying it so far. I think I may buy her David book next.

Knitting - I finished LB's hat/scarf combo and I LOVE it. I did it in Spud and Chloe and it's a nice weight. I love having the scarf attached to the hat. I'm a bit paranoid about scarves and the risk of being strangled. This is a perfect solution and was a quick and easy knit. I may make him another one because we do have a bad habit of misplacing hats. Next, I'm starting this wrap. I am not a huge fan of the pattern but it seemed like a good way to use this yarn. A friend gave it to me for Christmas and I was a bit unsure about what to do. I know this makes me a bit unusual in the knitting world but I don't have a yarn stash and I don't buy yarn unless I have a project in mind. To start with the yarn instead of the pattern was strange to me. I'm terrified I won't have enough. Oh, well, it looks like it will be super cozy and I love the brown colour.

Grouchiness Continued

2012-01-25T10:46:00.000-08:00

Wow, I really am in a bad mood. It might have to do with the fact that we had LB back at the emergency ward last night since his breathing was kind of scary. Fortunately, on the plus side, it's bronchiolitis and that should clear up with the inhalers he is on and time, the antiobiotics should get at the bad ear infection and maybe, just maybe, we might get some sleep around here soon. Bronchiolitis sounds so much less serious than pneumonia, even if he is still having some problems.

I don't really think that's the problem, though. For me, it's some people. Regardless of the fact that I know that there are reasons for why they think what they do and say what they do, I can't seem to let things go. They just drive me crazy.

Sometimes, it's hard to be a Christian, especially when you are a Christian whose politics and moral beliefs might be more to the liberal bent. I'm not saying that I'm all for sex in the street (my friends would probably tell you that I am more conservative than most on some of that stuff) but my ruling principle is that God did not put me on this earth to judge anyone else and my job is to show His love. In one of my favourite sermons from Andy Stanley at Northpoint, which I love to listen to on podcast, he said, and I paraphrase here, that we should love so hard that our critics can't really tell what we believe because we love those who disagree with us so much. That's my view. I don't always manage it but I try.

So, there are these two women from my church. They are nice women, kind women, generous women. They are also huge small "c" conservatives who LOVE to share their views about the downfall of the world. It would seem that public schools, lack of prayer and lack of beating our children has led to the downfall of our society. I really should leave it but I just can't. It drives me insane, especially since one of these mothers homeschools (which obviously makes her an expert on the failings of the public school system) and the other has a family that is entirely dedicated to hockey and they don't come to church because that's hockey time.

This morning, one of them shared yet another Facebook status on the decline of Western civilization being connected to the fact that there is no prayer in the public school system. I should just ignore it and let it go but sometimes, I just need to sound off. Here I go, my counter arguments, which I didn't bother to post on her page since she probably wouldn't get it anyway.

1. It is not the school's job or the church's job, for that matter, to parent and teach my children. It's mine. Read Mark Holmen's book, "Faith at Home." His research clearly shows that it's having a mother with a strong faith that is lived out in the home that is the number one determinant for whether a child lives in faith as an adult.

2. I may be wrong but if your child wants to pray in school, I don't think anyone will mind as long as it isn't in the middle of a lesson. Sure, we don't bring in ministers to lead the prayer but if they want to pray, go for it. I'd love to have a kid ask. It would start a great conversation.

3. The lack of empathy in our kids and the lack of manners is because:
a. We don't model it.
b. We don't teach it.
c. We let them watch t.v. shows, movies and play video games that show the antithesis of it.
d. We are too busy doing our own thing to focus on our kids.
e. Our families are organized around getting through the day instead of living the way that we believe to be most important.

4. Spanking children does not teach them empathy or kindness or consideration or respect. It teaches them that it's o.k. to use force against those who are smaller than you are.

5. You shouldn't criticize everyone else when your own kids act like they are feral and you don't even notice.

6. Learning and study does not lead to the downfall of civilization - ignorance does.

7. Teachers should teach children. I don't care whether the parent is a teacher or a paid educator is a teacher. Buying a programme and throwing in a DVD does not a teacher make. Please do not read this as an attack on homeschoolers. There are some blogs written by homeschoolers that I follow closely and those parents are giving their children a wonderful education that is as sound as they would get in a good public school. That being said, teachers are educated to be teachers. Teaching out of ignorance is not a good plan.

8. God told us to be a light in the darkness, not to hide away in caves and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist. Jesus did not run from what he didn't like. He faced it head on. Homeschooling because you value your children's education, you have some skill and you want to be involved are good reasons for homeschooling. Homeschooling because you are afraid of everything that is different or because you don't want to face that your children have issues that need to be addressed are not good reasons for homeschooling.

9. In most cases, the reason that Christianity isn't welcome is because of the way that "Christians" have treated others in the past (and, in some cases, treat people now). Perhaps we should earn our way back by living so that people want us there instead of complaining and whining all the time.

10. If you really think the world is that bad, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Teach your children to ask questions. Write letters. Offer other options. Work to positively impact the world around you instead of whining that things aren't how they should be. For heaven's sake, READ YOUR BIBLE. I mean truly read it, not just pick a few verses that make you feel better than other people. Live the message so that without words but with actions you can communicate the message of the Gospels.

O.k., I feel much better. I've had my say.

M is for Movie

2012-01-24T17:34:00.000-08:00

This year, I am truly discovering why I am a primary teacher, LOL. These "themes" are so much fun. I wish the curriculum gave us more time for this kind of fun in class. I remember, when I started teaching, when we used to have so much fun with themes. I understand all the reasons behind the changes but truly, there are days that I feel as if most of the fun has been taken out of school.

That's another topic. For today, let's stick with fun with letter M. To begin, we made maple syrup muffins. These are seriously good. I found the recipe here. It's the brushing the tops with maple syrup that made these so seriously good. I'm thinking I'd like to try that with a few other muffin recipes I have that are a little better for you than this recipe. LB in particular was very fond of these. Pk thought the brushing of the syrup was the best part. Food was a big part of M - macaroni, meatballs, mangos and milk all played a part in our week.

Our "big idea" for M was a movie. The original plan was for daddy to take Pk to see "The Muppet Movie" at the theatre. Uncle J tried to take her in December but she "got scared that mummy and daddy would be scared without me". We thought we would try again and that it might be more successful with daddy. Sadly, these movies don't stay around long. We even checked the listings for the local multiplex (we usually go to a wonderful, inexpensive little retro theatre in a nearby small town) but we were too late. Plan B was to take her to busy a movie. Dh and I discussed it and decided that, while we are not big Disney fans, we would cave a little bit and let her buy "Beauty and the Beast" since character is more of an emphasis in that one. She was so excited. Of course, the store at which we planned to make our purchase was out but we did manage to find it and, as you can see, Pk was very excited.

M is for magazine. Each year, the school (both mine and Pk's) do a big magazine fundraiser. The prices really aren't especially great but at least we don't have to sell chocolate bars. This year, I decided to buy National Geographics "Little Kids". It's terrific. A friend also gave Pk a subscription to Chickadee and that's o.k. but a bit busy and above her yet. We've been taking the National Wildlife Federation's Wild Animal Baby out of the library and enjoying that one, too.

And, of course, we couldn't resist. I debated whether to do this but it's not as if my kids never get it and, frankly, everybody needs some junk food some of the time. The moms I know who never allow anything always seem to be so joyless. Yes, I try to keep things healthy and to be as natural as we can, but there are limits.

We actually had a lot of other M's this week but most were photos of people in our lives and I haven't asked to post their photos so I had better not.

It's so funny, N started out as being so hard but now, I can't wait!

Tough Times

2012-01-23T19:22:00.001-08:00

The last few days have been tough. LB has been really sick. He started with a bad cold and a fever. Fevers really scare me and tend to be fairly rare around here. Runny noses, yes, all the time but other than feeling slightly warm with the odd virus, my kids don't seem to be prone to them. That's a great thing because they terrify me. I know that they are supposed to be the body's defense mechanism but I can't get the fear of febrile seizures away. I taught a boy who had two febrile seizures, the parents were told they were nothing and he would be fine and by the time he came to me, it was very obvious that he was not fine and he had major neurological damage. At the first sign of fever around here, we break out the Advil and the Tylenol (I was amazed when the doctor first told me you could do that and we have been told that by several since).

Anyway, LB just kept getting sicker. His nose was constantly running, he had a horrible cough, he was sleeping maybe ten minutes at a time but he wanted to do nothing other than to cuddle on one of us. By Sunday night I was getting worried. Dh and I talked and decided that if he seemed bad on Monday morning, Dh would take the day off.

We got LB up and he could barely open his eyes, they were so filled with gunk. Dh, being a man (sorry, but I have come to the conclusion that men are not capable of these decisions) said that he thought he could probably go to daycare. My "mommy-dar" was going off and I just had a gut feeling that none of this was normal. I insisted that Dh take the day and take LB to the hospital in a neighbouring town (not the big hospital in which they would wait 8 hours and catch 3 nasty viral infections while waiting) but the small one with the kind doctors and the short wait time, knowing that if things were really bad, we'd be transferred to the big hospital. Dh called at around 11 a.m. to say that LB had a probable case of significant pneumonia and an ear infection and the doctor had said that it was a very good thing we had taken him in when we did. We now have two inhalers, antibiotics, strict directions to continue the Advil and Tylenol and have been told to take him back in 7 days. It's been over 24 hours and we are starting to see a small improvement but this is one sick little boy. I was off work today, Dh will be off tomorrow and we will see about Wednesday.

This all makes me very, very grouchy. On the one hand, there is something beautiful about mothering a sick child. I love the way they cuddle in, the way that I can feel like I am being useful and bringing them comfort. I love cuddling them and making sure they are safe. There are those poignant (and exhausting) moments in the middle of the night when you exhaustedly think that this is what parenting is all about.

Then, there are all of the frustrations. There is the fact that I wish I could stay home with my kids so that I didn't have to struggle with myself about whether to send them to daycare. I wish that other people were in the position to keep their kids home when they are sick so we don't catch all this stuff. I wish that I didn't feel so much doubt about when it's time to actually take them to emergency (I always struggle with whether I am wasting time of the hospital staff or whether I might have actually waited too long). I wish that a friend with whom I disagree about flu shots wouldn't look at me with this knowing look that implies that my kids wouldn't be sick if we got the shot (why do people who are committed to flu shots so often convince themselves that flu shots prevent all seasonal illnesses and viral infections when they are normally smart enough to know that the measles vaccine won't prevent chicken pox???) Most of all, I wish that those people who claim that "family should come first" make the most demands on me when they know that I have a very sick child at home? I wish I was better at saying NO.

So, there's my rant. I'm off to listen for the first waking of the evening (which should be anytime) and to pray that Pk doesn't get this. We've already had to use up a lot of sick time.

Yarn Along

2012-01-18T17:45:00.000-08:00

I haven't participated in Ginny's "Yarn Along" over at Small Things in a while and I have really missed it. Sadly, there has been VERY little knitting time these days. I am hoping that as this set of report cards gets written, life will ease up for a while and I will be able to do some more. The local cable t.v. station is coming to film our "knitting guild" at the library on Thursday night, so I had to get something started.

Knitting - this is a cute hat/scarf combo that I found. The pattern is here. It's been easy to follow so far. I'm not 100% convinced on the colour for LB - I bought the yarn during Boxing Week and the store was crazy and I had both kids and the salewoman was less than efficient. I just grabbed the first thing that looked decent. I just hope it will fit his big head :-)

Reading - I've been steadily reading through the pile from the library, slipping in reading time when I can. I must admit, I've been really tired from the crazy pace at work and I don't often get far before my eyes get heavy. I do love Alexander McCall Smith. I was pondering how ironic that is, given that, especially in the Isable Dalhousie series, things wander off into philosophical ponderings, something that would drive me crazy in a conversation and yet I love it in his books.

I can't wait to see what everyone else is working on!

L is for Library

2012-01-17T17:32:00.000-08:00

L was a very easy letter for our family. If anything, we quickly discovered that we were going to have to limit our "L" photos a bit for Pk's book for school otherwise we wouldn't be able to fit them all. It was a fun letter.

Of course, our outing had to be to the library. I have raved about our library here before but I will say it again, our town has a wonderful library with marvelous staff. It isn't huge but for a library of its size, it has a surprisingly good collection and we have enjoyed the children's programming since Pk was about 4 months old. At this stage, we try to get to the Wednesday evening bedtime stories when the littles aren't seeming too tired, mommy goes to the twice-monthly knitting club (and hey, we have now become a guild - not sure what that means other than that I get a card and discounts at several knitting stores!) and Pk goes to the once-a-month "Crafty Kids" on Saturday and the once-a-month "Groove and Play." We've met many of our closest friends in town (any friend of ours has to be a friend of books LOL) at library activities, too.

Then, of course, there's Lunatic Lucie. She is a sweet dog who has been sent to test us. Pk loves putting her on a leash. Sadly, she is such a leash-fiend (and before you make suggestions, she had over a year of serious obedience, a pinch collar, a gentle-leader, a halti, a harness and, at times, I use a pointer hitch, none of which works). She was quite willing to have her photo taken.

Then, we had lights. Unfortunately, in a rash of organization for the new year, we packed away all of our Christmas decorations in rubbermaid tubs. It was a nice idea but I couldn't face going through the stack to find the lights so we cheated and pulled out an old photo.

L is for lollipop and this lollipop is one that Pk has been eying for a very long time at the England store. We have been strong and resisted but, in the name of our alphabet project, we relented and were immediately told that she needed two... Our first reaction was a resounding no until she informed us that her best friend needed one too. When we dropped it off, I am not so sure her friend's mother was soon keen, LOL.

Then, of course, L is for laundry. I have high hopes of trading off some of these jobs someday. No success yet. Just getting laundry into the hamper in our bathroom is an accomplishment with the littles.

Lego was a suggestion of mine which Pk embraced. We have some and she hasn't seemed all that keen. I loved it as a child and then, when I saw this ad from 1981, it renewed my interested in having one of my children enjoy Lego. I must also admit, I have also seen many, many wonderful Lego birthday ideas on Pinterest and I am seriously hoping to have someone who would like a Lego party one of these days.

Finally, in our family, L is for lamb. I find it a bit surprising that the kids eat lamb because I loathed it as a child. Part of that may have been due to the fact that my mother, whom I love dearly, is a terrible cook (something which she will freely admit). I came well into adulthood convinced that lamb was disgusting and then, my friend A insisted that I had to try their grilled lamb chops. I. WAS. IN. LOVE. I now would have grilled lamb with mint sauce (must be sauce, not ever jelly, yuck) over just about any other meat. Dh cooked a lovely leg of lamb in the oven and then, we had so much left over that I went on a quest to find a recipe for leftovers (not being a fan of cold lamb). I wasn't sure about this recipe but I should never have doubted. When will one ever go wrong with onions and butter??? Yum! Even the kids couldn't get enough.

We have "m"agical plans for M (ha!) bit I'm struggling a bit on something great for N. I'd love suggestions (and we'd thought about Niagara Falls but we just don't have the time for the drive).

K is for Kettles

2012-01-14T04:49:00.000-08:00

It's rather funny. I have mentioned to several people at work our "alphabet adventure" and I have so many people who have gotten involved in it. I go into work on a Monday morning and people want to know what we have come up with for that week. I even had another teacher tell me that she had told her husband that she needed to have another baby, just so that she could do this. Seriously, we are having so much fun but then, I guess that's why we are teachers - we love stuff like this.

It took me a bit of effort to get back into the swing of this after the winter break. Fortunately, k gave us a few special opportunities. First of all, there is Pk's cousin, K. She totally worships both her big girl cousins so to take a picture of her into class was a big excitement.

We also had the good fortune of going up to visit my parents-in-law. There's a restaurant on the highway that is a favourite of the locals and it happens to be called "Kettles". The food was fairly rustic but delicious (my potato/corn chowder was the height of comfort food!) The best part - the door handle was in the shape of a letter k!

Food was a bit of a challenge but we figured it out. We gave Pk "Oven baked kale chips" (a favourite around here, I thought she was going to eat the entire pan before any went into her lunchbox), kiwi fruit, which Pk discovered that she loves after insisting that it "tastes like yuck" before trying it and, I am embarrassed to say, I tried a total junk food ketchup recipe which was a huge hit with both Pk and Dh. I had a photo of Pk with a kite, too, but I can't seem to find that at the moment.

Onto letter L!

Simple Pleasures

2012-01-13T18:16:00.000-08:00

One of the things that first drew me to Dh, those many (many, many, many) years ago was his ability to be who he was. He had learned that he didn't need to please anyone else and that he wasn't going to change his interests or his clothing to suit someone else's opinion. He isn't insensitive - he cares very much when he thinks that he might have hurt someone, but he has always been his own person and he doesn't apologize for that. For me, who has always been so much of a people pleaser that I compromise myself far to often to fit in, it is a characteristic that I have admired very much.

I'm really excited that, at least at this stage, Pk seems to be following in his footsteps. We see it in little things. She loves passionately and when she loves something, it becomes almost an obsession. I think she has seen every episode of Word World 200 times (hence why her reading is coming on so nicely), it's been Veggietale everything since she was about 18 months and Rudolph is the current fixation. We are seeing signs of a move to "The Lion King", about which we have mixed feelings - ANYTHING other than Rudolph would be a nice relief but if you have been around here very long, you know how we feel about Disney.

I heard a nice little story today that confirmed it for me. Back in November, when people started asking Pk what she wanted from Santa, she always came up with the same answer - a chocolate egg and some Rudolph toys. The Rudolph toys were fairly easy to find as there seems to be a huge resurgence but the chocolate egg was a bit more of a challenge. I wanted to find something special but, after an extensive search of local chocolate sources, the best I could do was a large kindersurprise egg. Christmas morning, she got up to open her egg and was thrilled. Given the sheer amount of Christmas junk that has come into this house, we hadn't opened it until today. It was a big event.

The best part was the call I got this evening. My friend had been volunteering in Pk's class and she called beacuse there was a story she thought I would want to hear. I gather that before Christmas, Pk's teacher had her write a sentence about what she wanted for Christmas. Obviously, she said a chocolate egg. Today, her teacher had them use the sentence starter "I got a ..." My friend said that Pk eagerly sat down to write and when the teacher when over to check on her, she very loudly announced, "I got a chocolate egg," with great pride.

I love that she is pleased by the small things and, frankly, it's also nice that the things she wants are cheap, LOL. I just hope that she keeps that strong sense of what gives her pleasure and her lack of apology for it. I could learn a lot from her.

Joy Dare

2012-01-09T14:56:00.000-08:00

I just wrote and then accidently deleted a wonderful post about a great post that my bloggy-friend and brilliant Christian inspiration Jill wrote. You need to go and read it and then go to the blog that she is talking about. Like Jill, I have not entirely joined the cult of 1000 Gifts but certainly, the practice of cultivating gratitude has made a huge difference for me, especially at a crazy time like the return to work after our winter break.
Go visit Jill and read this post. She's worth it, I promise!

Just Wonderin'

2012-01-07T18:29:00.000-08:00

Am I in the minority of women my age (pushing the later end of the 30s, if I am being honest), who, at times, still gets flashes of the insecurities of high school? I work with several women, all nice enough (to your face... oops, did I just say that), who like to function as the kind of "in" crowd at work (I work at a very large school). I'm too busy for crowds myself, I have friends at work but I'm too busy to go out for lunch - I go to work, I work all day, including through breaks, and leave as soon as the work is done because I'd rather be with my family.

So, we were invited to the 2nd b-day party of the son of one of these women. He went to daycare with LB until recently. Even though we probably make as much money as these people and they live in the heart of suburbia (sorry, I'd much rather be in either the city or a small town, I don't really like housing development after housing development), there is just something about these people that makes me doubt myself in so many ways. I am usually fairly comfortable with what I have and one of the reasons we moved to the small town was to get away from the pressure to keep up. I want to have a comfy home and I don't pretend that we have a lot of money and I know that we are not fashionable in any sense of the word. Most of the time, I don't care. Today, though, I felt really out of place and came home and the house just looked that little bit shabbier and the kids looked that little bit scruffier and I was filled with doubt about everything.

I'll get over it and, as the therapist I saw for a while two years ago told me, I need to stop buying the image that everyone wants to put forward and start seeing through to the person underneath, warts and all, but, yet again, I hit that feeling like I had when I was 15. It's not so nice.

New Year's Eve (and the end of the December Daily)

2012-01-01T08:47:00.000-08:00

December 30th

2012-01-01T06:34:00.000-08:00

On the 30th, we spent a lot of time having fun as a family. I had just finished this hat (the "shroom" made from Spud and Chloe) and I was really excited to get out and have Pk wear it. I don't often like bulky knits, especially ones that are kind of "funky" (which leaves me in a small minority in knitting these days - most people seem to really like odd-looking stuff) but I loved the way this hat turned out and while the photos don't do it justice, Pk looked adorable. Dh wanted to go out and shovel as much as he could given that the forecast was for a warm-up (which to Dh immediately leads to concerns about a flooded basement) and then a freeze over (being sued for someone falling on our property).

We bundled up and went outside. The plan was that Dh would shovel and snow blow (that was one of our best-ever investments!) and the kids and I would make a snowman. The snowman didn't work - while the snow was wet, I just couldn't get it to pack properly. I seem to be hopeless at making snowmen and the snow never seems to be right. I'm hoping it's the snow, not me!

We had fun making snow angels, throwing snow and watching LB look like the little brother in "A Christmas Story" - his mobility was seriously limited and he and I fought a lot about his mitts. They are wonderfully warm but rather bulky (I bought the size up since they were expensive enough that I didn't want to have to buy another pair next year - perhaps a mistake).

We had a lovely nap together (nothing like fresh air) and as a special treat, we went into town for dinner at "the" Chinese buffet restaurant. The food was o.k. but we don't have to wait for service, which, for Little Bean, is huge. They also have fountains and fish tanks, another thing that can stretch our meal past 20 minutes. The best part - Dh took me to Wild Birds Unlimited to buy a squirrel-proof feeder, which I have wanted for ages. I LOVE birds in winter but to date, we tend to only really attract squirrels.

If only I didn't have to pay bills, I could really get used to these days together as a family!

December 29th

2012-01-01T06:00:00.000-08:00

Excuse the quality of the photos. We decided that, with some snow, we wanted to take the kids sledding but since it gets dark so early, the photos aren't great. It was fun, though. The view down the hill in the schoolyard was gorgeous. I tend to hibernate in winter but this year, I want us to get out and have lots of fun!

December 28th

2012-01-01T05:43:00.000-08:00

The 28th was our first day without anything to do. Well, that's not entirely true - the 27th we decided that the kids were in desperate need of a decompression day and we took a day just to rest and keep things quiet. On the 28th, we felt like we were ready to start doing a few things again.

It really didn't end up being an especially exciting day. For the most part, we stayed close to home. We did venture out to give the dogs a run in the forest. LB got to wear his new hat (when I asked Pk what she wanted to give him for Christmas, she insisted that he wanted a lion hat and I found this cute on on Etsy). It wasn't an especially cold day, which made it perfect for a walk.

I love the fact that LB still fits in the Ergo (the best investment I ever made!) He loves being on my back and usually, as you can see, either sleeps or goes into a super-relaxed state. It amazes me that the weight on my back doesn't bother me at all.

Dh and I were so excited! About five years ago, on a walk through this forest, we stumbled across this tree that someone had decorated. It seemed really magical, hidden away at the intersection of three paths in the heart of the forest. We checked back following years and nobody had repeated the decorating. We talked about decorating it ourselves but just never got around to it. This year, we discovered that someone had decorated it again! I wish I still had the photo from five years ago - the tree has done a lot of growing but it's still charming!

It the evening, the snow started. It looks lovely and made being inside so comfy. I love looking at the trees coated in snow, especially when I don't have to drive in it. Everything was especially pretty with the Christmas lights - I don't know why people take them down so soon after Christmas. I wish we kept them up into February to lighten the January darkness. Dh and I have decided that we are going to leave our snowflake lights up.

For a New Year

2011-12-31T20:12:00.000-08:00

I love the idea of a fresh start. Every September, as I begin a new year back at work, every birthday when I reach a new milestone and every December 31st, I get that wonderful "new notebook" feeling. When I was younger and didn't have so much stuff, one of my favourite things to do was to rearrange a room, just to feel everything from a new perspective. While I can't do quite that large a shift, I am, yet again, hoping to see life from a different angle.

During the last few years, I haven't found that making resolutions has been all that effective. On the other hand, a number of my favourite bloggers have shared a word for each year - something upon which they want to focus, a way to set a tone or upon which to realign life. Last year, my word was "peace", and while I can't say that I was always successful, I did manage to find a bit more.

This year, there is a word that has really leapt to my mind and once I began to think about it, I found it captured exactly where I want to be going this year. That word is "today". Initially, that might seem a bit strange. Let me explain.

It began with reading this passage again.

²² Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. ²³ For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. ²⁴ Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! ²⁵ Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life^[b]? ²⁶ Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

²⁷ “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ²⁸ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! ²⁹ And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. ³⁰ For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. ³¹ But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

³² “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.

Luke 12:22 - 32

As you know, I struggle with worry and often, about things about which I have no control. Then, the 2-and-a-half year old daughter of a family at my school was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. One day, the family was bumping along with life as normal and then, all of a sudden, their world was turned upside down and they realised that they might not even have their daughter a year from now. I have had times in the last few years, when life has been fine and then, one day, something goes seriously wrong that I wasn't expecting and I realize that whatever is overwhelming me now wasn't even on the radar before and yet I had no idea how lucky I was when things were fine. Earlier this year, someone I was at school with died of cancer. She had discovered a breast lump when she was 8 months pregnant and by the time her son was 4, she was gone. I worry about not being here for my children and yet I don't always take advantage of the day I was given. While I am not advocating living with reckless abandon, I want today to be my focus this year.

Today... I will take time to connect with each member of my family.

Today... I will find a few moments of quiet to journal, to read or knit or just to pray.

Today... I will take the time to contact someone who is on my mind instead of putting it off until tomorrow.

Today... I will say thank you.

Today... I will make healthy choices instead of putting them off for tomorrow.

Today... I will strive to impact someone's life in a positive way and to reach out.

Today... I will live the way that I want to live and that matches what matters to me.

In less than an hour, today will be a new year. I wish you a year of wonderful todays and I look forward to hearing from all of you! Blessings for 2012!

Boxing Day

2011-12-29T17:11:00.001-08:00

Christmas Day

2011-12-29T16:10:00.001-08:00

Christmas Eve

2011-12-29T13:30:00.000-08:00

Friday, December 23rd

2011-12-24T18:15:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was our last day of work. I can't tell you how much I am savouring the idea of two whole weeks with my family and not having to get everyone out quickly in the morning. What a treat!

To begin the holiday, we decided to take the kids to the Nativity Pageant put on by a nearby town and the LDS church. I have to admit, I feel a bit funny about the LDS part but a nativity play is a nativity play. It was cold as anything but the kids enjoyed it.

Afterwards, we decided to go out for hot chocolate. LB had never actually been in a doughnut shop before near the counter and when he saw the big case of timbits, he got very, very excited. He emphatically pointed to what he wanted and had fun stuffing his face.

Oddly enough, after our treat, we went to do groceries. We didn't know how LB would hold up but we didn't want to have to spend time in a grocery store on Christmas Eve. The store was deserted and LB was great. We were all exhausted when we got home but boy, was it nice to go to bed knowing that we were done all the big jobs.

Thursday, December 22nd

2011-12-24T18:06:00.000-08:00

Thursday was "mommy night" - daddy was out doing his school concert. I had the bright idea of taking the kids to buy something for Dh and Pk was really into that idea. It took a bit of convincing to get her past the idea that Daddy urgently wanted a "Rudolph book" (where do these ideas come from - she also insisted that I wanted Star Wars???) but then, she was right into it. We went to the England store and bought Dh a Chelsea mug and flag from the kids and I got some stocking stuffers. Sadly, I had the bright idea of bringing the dogs in the car to give them an outing and while we were in another store, they had quite a feast on a few snackies (thankfully, I hadn't bought any chocolate). Oh, well - that's life with Brittanys. The photo is Pk wrapping her gift for her daddy. She was so proud!

Wednesday, December 21st

2011-12-24T13:25:00.001-08:00

It may not look like much for Wednesday evening was a wonderful time for me. We "mommies" got together for a cookie exchange and tea evening at my friend J's. We get together as families all the time and love being together but we don't often get to actually spend any grown-up time together. It was so much fun! I need that kind of decompression every so often.

Tuesday, December 20th - Happy Hanukkah!

2011-12-20T18:30:00.000-08:00

While we are not Jewish, Hanukkah has become important to me. As I have done a lot of teaching in areas with anywhere between a few Jewish students and predominantly Jewish populations and as "Traditions and Celebrations" is one of the units in the Grade 2 Social Studies curriculum, it's become a traditional part of my Advent. There's so much crossover between Judaism and Christianity, as well, it just seems like a natural overlap.

I had a lovely Jewish mother come into my classroom today and bring a menorah, dreidles for the entire class, chocolate gelt and a wonderful story. She presented to the class and made the celebration meaningful for them. I was beaming from ear to ear - I LOVE to see my students getting to have person experiences and form personal connections with the celebrations of their friends. I also love to see the pride they feel in who they are. I may not share their beliefs but I would fight tooth and nail to ensure their right to be recognized and valued. I bring religion into the classroom and I don't apologize for it. I also find it amazing how few parents have ever had anything to say about it.

At home tonight, Pk and I lit our menorah. I considered putting it in the window but, as our tree is right by the window, I thought that lighting it there might give us more light than we wanted. Pk was thrilled to be able to light a candle.

We took photos so that she could take them into her class tomorrow. I must drive her teacher crazy. I believe that the principal there isn't exactly the most open guy and I expect that I push the limits - when we work on Pk's alphabet book, for C, there was church and cross, G was for God and J was for Jesus... I will fight for the right of the Muslim and Jewish kids to have their faiths allowed and valued in the classroom but I will also fight for my child's Christianity to be allowed, too.

I'll get off my soapbox now, LOL. I'm just trying to decide whether I can skip making latkes this year, since we are having family for Boxing Day and the oil smell tends to linger... it does feel like something is missing, though.

Monday, December 19

2011-12-19T18:32:00.000-08:00

Today was a busy, tiring day for all of us. I had the "Traditions and Celebrations Luncheon" in my class which was fun but chaotic, Pk was at school, Dh was getting ready for his concerts and LB was busy running around at daycare.

These photos represent how we were all feeling at the end of the day.

Sunday, December 18th

2011-12-19T18:14:00.000-08:00

Poor Dh, he has this habit of getting a winter cold that turns into a cough that lasts and lasts and lasts. It's loud enough that it keeps us all up and most especially him. He feels fine otherwise and I don't think he is contageous but he is exhausted from the lack of sleep. Usually, he's up by 8 but he just kept sleeping and after the week of concerts and illness and his parents' visiting, I decided to let him sleep. Since he didn't get up until almost 10, that ruled out church. I think we've been really pushing everyone around here so a day at home won't kill any of us.

LB was the first up (surprise, surprise) so he and I started getting ready to decorate the tree and then Pk got up so we did the lights and the red wooden beads that I just adore. I love red on a tree and I don't like much glitter so they totally capture the simple look I want. As you can see, LB liked them, too!

We tried to get some great lights shots but between the cheap camera and the poor photographer, we didn't have much success. We did have fun, though!

When Daddy finally got up, we had breakfast together. Pk has this current habit (that will probably disappear as quickly as it came) of squeezing her clementines into the peel to drink and I wanted to capture it as a memory of this Christmas.

We had to go out and get some groceries and then, after nap, we decorated the tree. Pk was determined that she needed to put our star up top. Dh got it as a teacher gift quite a few years ago now and while it's very simple, I think it's just about perfect. I love it!

LB did something that totally melted his Grandpa's heart. Dh's family are long-time Salvation Army members with an active involvement in the band. Dh and I met at university for music and brass is in the family blood. LB went and pulled our tuba and trombone ornaments off the tree and began to walk around trying to play them. This went on all evening and then he took them to bed. Grandpa has high hopes that he will follow in the family tradition. Based on today, I think he might be right!

As always, a "quiet" family day also involved work. Pk and I wrote up all her gift cards for her friends from daycare and we bagged the treats. We also got the alfalfa ready for the class guinea pig and packaged up the pencils for her class.

Wednesday evening is our cookie exchange with our dinner moms so Pk and I also baked our cookies to contribute. I did my usual chocolate crinkle cookies but substituted mint extract for the vanilla. Yum!

I'm going to have to work hard at getting photos this week. It's going to be so busy and we are so tired! I can't wait for some rest at Christmas time.

Saturday, December 17th

2011-12-18T04:16:00.000-08:00

It was a lovely day! To begin, we got a surprise that a good friend and his children were coming up into the "Great White North" to cut a tree for the first time (truly, so much more fun than just picking one at the lot!) These are friends we love but with our busy lives, we don't see each other anywhere near enough. This was such a treat. The only sad part was that the mommy of this wonderful family was working - we will just have to work harder to see her over the holidays!

The children were thrilled because we had a bit of snow. Not enough for snowmen but certainly enough to make the odd angel. Pk is in love with snow angels right now so this was her favourite time of the day.

In the afternoon, we broke down and brought our tree in. It's been in the garage for a week. Dh and I really like to wait until just before Christmas but given that we work until the 23rd, I am not sure we will get to decorating before the big day if we wait. It's a smaller tree than we usually get but so pretty!

Dear friends had an open house last night. The food and company were wonderful. LB loved this little table and chair set my friend has. I can't get over how grown up he is looking. I'm missing my baby!

One great thing about parties like this is that the kids were involved and M had even got a ridiculous amount of candy for gingerbread decorating. The kids were in love.

Lb has discovered a new kind of soother.

See you tomorrow!

Winter Bucket List

2011-12-16T17:57:00.000-08:00

I was just having a look at my blog and realised that I still have my fall bucket list posted. It's time to change that. I'm trying to keep my list separate from Christmas since winter tends to be pretty bleak after Christmas passes. Here we go:

-make special hot chocolate (and find some special H.C. recipes)
-make matching hats for the entire family (silly but fun)
-spend a day with all of us in our pyjamas
-take the dogs for a winter hike in the forest
-find at least three new comfort food recipes
-find a new author that I like reading
-build a snowman
-paint snow
-take the kids sledding
-have a games night with friends
-shovel snow as a family
-decorate for Valentine's Day
-cook a haggis for Robert Burns' Day
-order seed catalogues and plan to add at least two new plants to the garden this year
-repeat the Love challenge from Muthering Heights
-start a winter scrapbook for winter memories

That's a good start. I may add more down the road. It almost (but not quite) makes me look forward to winter.

I'd love any suggestions that you have! I tend to find winter rather blah and would love to spark it up a bit.

Friday, December 16th

2011-12-16T17:46:00.000-08:00

Sorry, no post yesterday. It was school concerts and I couldn't post any photos thanks to lack of permission. It was a crazy day yesterday. Today is the aftermath - as Dh said, LB decided that he was going to re-enact the battle of Jericho and he was Joshua and I was the Philistines. The screaming was so bad that we called friends to cancel our dinner together since we thought it would be a disaster. Strangely, it stopped as quickly as it had begun and we ended up having a quiet evening together making the treats for Pk and Lb's friends at daycare. I always make something and Pinterest is always full of great ideas. This year, I am making these. Of course, mine were a little meltier than the ones in the online recipe but I don't think the kids will complain. Tomorrow I will get nice bags and Pk and I will make tags.
Have a lovely Friday night!

Wednesday, December 14th

2011-12-14T18:33:00.000-08:00

Today I got to be mummy. We had Pk's kindergarten concert (which they do in the day and I don't like that very much - not fair to working parents). I arranged with her teacher to go and volunteer in the classroom afterwards since I was taking the day off, anyway. I had so much fun. I don't generally think kids are that cute but oh, my, the cuteness was breathetaking :-)

After the concert, the kids went back to the classroom for treats with the families and then when the parents rolled out, it went back to being a normal day. I ended up helping to do a craft involving painting of hands and doing prints (torture, LOL, I hate doing crafts in my own classroom). I love Pk's teacher - she is such a sweetie and is doing an amazing job.

I took Pk out of school for lunch, something that I can never do. We went to the local Chinese takeout place - in a town this size, there aren't many options, especially that can be successfully managed in an hour with a four year old.

After school, we finished up Pk's Christmas treats for her school friends (don't you love the look of concentration) and then went off to get LB.

He is very into applesauce at the moment and must have two spoons to eat it and after every mouthful does a satisfied sigh. He's quite a character.

Tomorrow will be a long day - we have the primary open house tomorrow night at my school and my inlaws are coming to take care of the kids since Dh is running a musical at his school. Getting up on Friday morning is going to be tough.

Tuesday, December 13th

2011-12-13T19:29:00.000-08:00

What strange weather this winter, so far. I don't mind that I am not driving to work in a snowstorm but I actually miss the prettiness of December snow. It's weird to be getting Pk and LB dressed in rainboots and missing the snowpants (hooray!)

When we were leaving to go to work, I had a glimpse of Pk and couldn't believe how my baby girl has grown up. When did this happen?

The sunrise this morning was really pretty on my way to work.

This evening was the first of the school concerts. This was the junior/intermediate concert and I was singing with the teacher/student choir. Daddy took Pk to piano lesson and so LB came with me. We had a ball... the school hallway was great for running, the xylophone in my class was loads of fun and he even got to play with cars and sand in the kindergarten room! When we went up to sing, he was in my arms the entire time. Needless to say, he got lots of attention and was very proud of himself.

Tomorrow night will be the first of Dh's concerts and I will be home with the kids by myself. I am taking the day off tomorrow - it's Pk's concert at school in the morning (it really annoys me that they do it in the day - talk about discriminating against working parents) and then will stay to volunteer in the class. I don't get to be very involved in her school because I am always at mine so I'm really looking forward to it. See you tomorrow!

Monday, December 12th

2011-12-12T18:57:00.000-08:00

There was nothing especially Christmas-y today, just a few moments that I thought worthy of capturing.

Since she started school, Pk is exhausted on Monday and Wednesday evenings (and Fridays when she has been at school are ugly). Frequently, she falls asleep on the couch (I love that she has the family frown when she is asleep).

LB has learned to make himself very comfortable. This was watching a bit of t.v. while I made dinner. All he needs is a beer and a remote... he's all boy.

It's hard to walk the dogs in the evenings right now since it is dark so early. This was around 5:15 when LB and I took the dogs to the field. Notice the star in the sky on the left side of the photo.

I'm off to bed - it was a long day.

Friday, December 9th

2011-12-12T18:33:00.000-08:00

I love poinsettias but pets really rule them out (although I have learned that while they will made an animal sick, they wouldn't actually poison one). This morning, I arrived at work to a. seeing a friend I worked with years ago and hadn't seen in ages who was at my school for a meeting and b. a student with this poinsettia and a pair of snowflake earrings for me and 3. a "wonderful teacher" ornament. They are only little things but it really does make such a difference when you get that little treat once in a while. I feel very lucky.

Thursday, December 8th

2011-12-12T18:28:00.000-08:00

Every other week, I go to my knitting group at the library. It's wonderful, a quirky group of women from younger than me to late 70's, rural born to city born and working on every kind of project (that is another scarf I have begun for my brother). Normally, we just knit and drink tea but this week, we had our festive celebration, otherwise called our "Pig and Knit". The treats were incredible. I made some shortbread in a wonderful pan I was given several years ago (thanks, yet again, Kittenpie!) The best, though, we the empire biscuits, made by one of our "Scottish ladies"- they were divine. We are planning on charity knitting projects for the winter and I am really looking forward to it.

Wednesday, December 7th

2011-12-12T18:23:00.000-08:00

Last year, I decided to try the Jesse Tree idea that was featured on Ann Voskamp's blog "A Holy Experience". I love, love, love Ann Voskamp - she is such a voice of reason and of peace. Her book "One Thousand Gifts" was such a powerful read and a book that I would like to go back to again and again. I read the devotion myself and with the kids, I find the reading that connects to the story and we read the story and put the ornament on our Jesse tree. It's a wonderful way to keep the Advent focus where I believe it should be for us.

Tuesday, December 6th

2011-12-12T18:09:00.000-08:00

We took the dogs for a run and then came back for some hot chocolate. We had a bit of a meltdown because the reindeer were missing. When Miss Pk is overtired, tears are always close at hand and Sunday's dinner was fun but she was exhausted after the fact. My friend made all the kids Christmas playdough that was mint scented and alternated pink and white - it was a lovely treat to play with along with the hot chocolate.

December Daily - Dec. 11th

2011-12-11T18:17:00.001-08:00

Today was a lovely day - a baptism and reception at church, making Pk's cards for her classmates (with her printing on everyone's names), a quiet afternoon hanging around the house and this evening, Dh and I have been frantically trying to get our Christmas cards done. Obviously all of the England ones to Dh's family will be late but we can at least say we tried.

December Daily 5

2011-12-11T05:57:00.001-08:00

We have a good friend who has a tree cutting party every year. We all go to the tree lot, cut down a tree and then go back to Grannie Annie's house for chili, lots of great bread and Deb's turtle brownies. it wouldn't feel like Christmas without this tradition. This year was great - LB discovered a love of gingerbread at the tree farm, Dh forgot to take cash, forgetting that in the country they don't take debit, so the kids and I killed a lot of time in the heated shelter waiting for him to come back from the bank machine in town and the chili was yummy as always. The tree will rest in the garage until around the 23rd - we do it the English way and don't put the tree up until just before Christmas. I am often accused of choosing a cathedral-sized tree - I think everyone will agree that this year's tree was of a modest size.

It was a lovely day!

December Daily 4

2011-12-10T19:17:00.001-08:00

My posts are going to be out of order because I have started a blog for my class and so I am uploading photos to computers all over the place and it seems that some of my home pics have ended up on my classroom computer. I will have to do something about that.

Last Sunday was our monthly supper group's Christmas dinner. We had a blast! We were hosting and Dh did a standing rib roast on the barbecue. The smell is unbelieveable and all the neighbours have to come and comment on the aroma. J brought the appetizers - cheese sticks and stuffed mushrooms. I have never had the mushrooms before and am not generally a fan of mushrooms in general but these were divine. That's a recipe I must get. The M brought a black-bottomed cheesecake and sticky buns that were amazing and the other J brought a great salad and bread. There were lots of jokes about needing Weight Watchers by the time we were done.

Pk and LB only have two cousins and I don't expect that to change. Having this group of friends is really nice because it feels a bit like a big family Christmas and the get togethers we had with the rest of our family when I was growing up. Pk and Lb love the other kids and they had so much fun. For the kids, one of the highlights was teaching Lb to jump on the bed in his room. None of the parents were quite as excited about this.

It's amazing to us to see the three together. They all did kindermusik together when they were 18 months old - I wish I had a photo handy from those days. It's hard to believe how much they have grown up already.

We did a name lottery for the gift buying. Each of the kids got another child's name for a larger present and then we all got a little something for everyone. The opening was INSANE but the kids are all very, very happy with what they got. O is obsessed with Star Wars right now and we bought him a talking mask that the dads had a lot of fun with. We all found it funny that the box was so emphatic that it spoke in English - we all felt that the Chinese version might have been more fun.

Of course, we had to try and get a photo of the gang. With all the littles, it can be more than a bit challenging to get them all in one place and looking in the same direction. I wish that Lb didn't have a soother in his mouth (something we normally won't allow but he was being such a grump, I was at the point of doing whatever it took to get by). This photo is going to be a Christmas classic for all of us, I think.

We were fairly amazed that the littles were able to stay up as long as they did. If I do say so myself, I think that Lb was awfully cute in his Santa Hat and shirt :-)

December Daily 3

2011-12-10T18:49:00.000-08:00

As always, this poor blog has been very sadly neglected in the frenzy that is my life. I had such great plans and I have been taking photos, it's just the posting that seems to be the problem. Evenings have been very chaotic and the kids haven't exactly been cooperative about bedtimes lately, so I don't have much evening time on the computer. Anyway, I'll do my best to catch up.

Pk volunteered herself to be on the school's float in the town Christmas parade and so we got a letter home asking us to purchase either a pair of reindeer antlers or a Santa hat. Pk was beside herself with glee because she is OBSESSED with reindeer this year, Rudolph especially (which I believe to be designed to drive her mother, who is trying to keep a very sacred focus on Christmas, nuts). Anyway, we couldn't have antlers in the house without harassing a dog. Chelsea, as always, was a good sport, since the kids were eating muffins and she thought that there might be a treat involved.

The parade itself ended up being something of an exercise in maternal frustration. I didn't think that a hat AND antlers would would together so I offered Pk my earmuffs. She was very excited by the idea but then, once the parade began, decided that she wanted to be bare-headed. That was not o.k. with me so the final outcome ended up being her wearing my hat and scowling through the entire parade. In a small town, everyone knows everyone so I have been fielding a lot of questions about what was wrong with Miss Misery. I think that part of the issue was that she was at school on Friday (we do an alternate day schedule for kindergarten here and it was her week to go three days and that left her exhausted).
Later Saturday, we ran down to the city to see my parents. The original plan was that she was going to go with Uncle J to see a movie in honour of J week. She ended up being scared by the previews (one of the reasons that we so rarely take her to movies - I get really ticked at what is felt by marketers to be appropriate for littles) but she and Uncle J went to get a little tree for Gran and Momis instead and they had a great time. We did all the Christmas gifts since my mom is going in for another round of surgery on Dec. 15 (prayers, please) and she won't be in any shape for little visitors for several weeks if last time's recovery is what we can expect this time.

The kids were spoiled and had a lovely time. I think my favourite part of the day was knowing that Uncle J took Pk to the tree lot that we always went to as kids and that he and Pk carried the tree back singing Christmas carols, just like we always did when we were younger.

I ended the day feeling very lucky.

December Daily Post 2

2011-12-04T05:00:00.000-08:00

Today ended up being a wonderful day for me. After the kids' being sick for the last few days and being up all night with them and then going to work (dh stayed home), I decided to take today as a sick day myself. I don't do it often but once in a while, I just need that break. I didn't do anything special. The original plan was to sleep for a few hours but once I dropped Pk at school (do I ever wish I could do that every day), I came home and was dying to get to know my house again. Am I the only one who does that? I get so busy that I don't notice things. There are entire spaces that I forget the existence of. I cleaned out the cupboard at the bottom of the sideboard, sorted the kids' games, gave the hardwood floors in the living and dining rooms a good mopping with Murphy's Oil Soap and dusted. The house smelled lovely and I got to explore some spaces that felt like new finds.

The other benefit to this is the fact that Pk's school is an early start school and I was able to pick her up at school and have over an hour with her on my own before I had to go pick up LB. The photo below comes from that.

When she was three and a bit, we bought Valentine Cards for her friends and she decided that she needed to write her own name on them. She went from basically not writing her name to writing it independently in the span of about two days. Christmas cards is proving to be a similar exercise. She is able to write letters independently but they tend to be random and other than her and LB's names, she doesn't generally write strings of letters. All of a sudden, she is writing words (e.g., to and from) and the names of her friends on her cards. The teacher in me is beyond excited by that. So cool!

December Daily Post 1

2011-12-01T16:37:00.000-08:00

Having just done 24 hours with two children with a tummy bug, I am not feeling capable of a post of any depth whatsoever but I didn't want to miss the chance to start my December Daily. It's so easy to get swept up in the frenzy of the season and the shopping and the occasion attending and the event planning and the school concert season and miss the significance of this time. I know there are lots of places I could link up but I don't pretend to be a photographer or to write anything of any significance here, it's more just a way for me to a. capture the fun of the season and 2. to be more aware of the little moments as the days pass. It helps me to be reflective, something which doesn't come naturally to me right now in the craziness that is my life.

So, here's my plan (which may not pan out but I'd like to try) - at least one photo of each day in December that captures something that connects to what the Advent/Christmas season means to me. I'll try.

Pk has been desperate for today to arrive. She wants so badly to open the doors on the Advent calendar. I love the idea of marking the imminent arrival of Christmas (and why don't we do as much to prepare for Holy week???) and while it is my intention to do a Jesse-tree type activity with my children, at the absolute minimum, I want to light the Advent wreath, open a door on the calendar and read something from the Bible with the kids. Last year, I printed off and laminated the photos from Ann Voskamp's Jesse tree study (and oh no, I just stopped over at Ann's blog and fell in love with another idea!) and I loved doing it. I am late starting but I want get it going again this year. I need to find a branch tomorrow.

Dh put the light-up reindeer out yesterday and we are having to revisit another ritual with Pk... she has to feed the reindeer with snow every time we go outside. We had our first feed this evening. Getting out will become that much slower but I suppose that probably won't hurt me, either.

Poor LB, his tummy has really given him a hard time the last 24 hours. Let's hope it gets better.
p.s., When you are saying prayers, pray for my mom. Her health problems have continued and she has just found out that her new surgery date is Dec. 15th. On the one hand, she is thrilled to feel like she is moving forward but it's a bit scary, too, for all of us. It's hard to imagine a Christmas without her as a driving force - nobody loves spoiling others like she does.

Christian Anger

2011-11-16T17:32:00.001-08:00

There is one thing that has really been getting on my nerves lately and it's time for a vent. Feel free to ignore me (although I get a lot of satisfaction as I write imaging that someone out there is reading this). This has been building for a few days and you know how once you ponder something, all of a sudden, it's everywhere?

I have this friend from church. She's a lovely, kind, generous woman but she posts stuff on Facebook all the time that DRIVES ME CRAZY. She is very conservative and often posts things about how a lack of discipline (i.e., spanking) has led to the decline of civilization and how the lack of prayer in schools and respect for other faiths has led to discrimination against Christians. It leaves a very bad taste in my mouth and I spent a fair bit of time over the last few days pondering why.

First of all, I have decided that other than in a few limited cases, there isn't all the discrimination against Christians that certain people like to cite. Absolutely, there are places in the world in which people definitely face what ranges from inconvenience to risk of loss of life for their Christian faith. Those people have something to complain about. I work in the (very) secular public school system in Ontario and I boldly teach Christmas and yet, I have never had a single complaint. The only complaint I have had was from a Christian parent when I taught the class about Rosh Hashanah. I really teach Christmas, too (and Easter for that matter) - I cover the Nativity and what Christians believe about Jesus and we get into the nitty-gritty about the crucifixion. I have had muslim parents give me crosses as Christmas gifts (!) because they knew and honoured my faith. I am proud of being a Christian and I am very open with my class about the fact that my faith helps me to decide how to behave and how to treat others. I have never had a principal tell me not to discuss it and every year, in our school concert, my choir performs songs that reference the nativity. Again, I have never had a complaint.

You know what I think it is? People aren't against Christmas (at least, not the faith Christmas, as opposed to the commercial Christmas, which, frankly, I could do without, too). They are against ONLY Christmas, which is a very different thing. If I teach Ramadan and Eid and Navatri and Holi and Hanukkah and Passover and Purim, they are very happy. It is my intention that every child leaves my class knowing and respecting others. Christianity is my faith and my journey. Regardless of whether I agree with someone else, I can't believe that God would want me to disrespect people for being different. I don't believe that most people of other faiths and backgrounds really want Christmas out of the schools - they want its exclusive domination of the culture addressed. I know that there are some people of extreme beliefs who do complain (my husband has dealt with more than a few of those in his teaching career) but, at least in my experience, those people are most often atheists who object to a theistic faith in all its forms. Sorry, the very vast majority of people in the world believe in a God or many Gods and we are not going to avoid addressing that fact, regardless of whether faith makes you uncomfortable.

The other thing I can't help but think is that Christians walking around complaining about being hard done by and being angry so misses the message. Sure, Jesus got angry, but He got angry about true injustice, oppression of the weak and the minority and the poor and commercialism of the holy. I can't help but think that aggressively complaining about "foreigners" and ranting about how "they" should be like us since they have come to "our"country is unBiblical. There were many good outsiders in the Bible and caring for the outsider was a message of the gospels.

So, I guess what I am saying is that if you want to rant on Facebook about muslim prayer in TDSB schools or about the lack of Christian prayer in public schools (and I don't actually know of anything that would prevent a Christian child from praying, should he or she choose - I know that I wouldn't be bothered about it in my classroom, provided that it wasn't in the middle of a lesson I was teaching), that society is taking the Christ out of Christmas (I think the retailers have a much bigger charge to face on that one), drop me from your friends list. I don't want to hear it.

Yarn Along

2011-11-15T17:12:00.001-08:00

I've really missed the Yarn Along over at Ginny's blog, Small Things. I have been so swamped with writing report cards and marking and mothering that I haven't had time to do anything other than knit a row or two here or there. It's so nice that it looks like things are easing up a bit and I can get back to so fun things. Now, if only I can find some time to read some other Yarn Along posts tomorrow. There's something about women who read and knit that make me feel like I have come home!

So, for this week:

knitting - all over the place I definitely have too many things on the go at once. I still have to finish dad's scarf, get a dent in the one that I have started for my brother and I have started a hat project. I had this crazy idea of trying to make matching hats for the family and then to have a photo taken of all of us in our hats to be our Christmas card. It's a nice idea but in reality, I don't love the yarn I have used and the first hat is a bit snug on the hugs heads that we have in our family. Finally, there's the project above - a square for a group blanket. A friend organized a knitting club at our local library and we meet every other Thursday. It's a very diverse group - ages ranging from about 70 to 30, I think, with most of us somewhere in between. At first, I didn't enjoy it that much - I'm shy and sitting around with people I don't know that well isn't always something I love. Now, though, I am really enjoying it and I look forward to my time with our group each week. As a way of thanking the library for the space and the publicity, we decided that we would do a blanket for the library and they can raffle tickets. The yarn was donated and I don't love the texture but the square looks o.k. and I think that the finished blanket should be fairly nice.

Books - again, I am all over the place. There's Matilda by Roald Dahl. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE him but I often feel a bit funny about reading his books to my class. They can be pretty dark at times and the humour can be a bit mean or scary to some kids. I thought I'd read this first and see if it would work for my class. The jury is out on that one. I am finishing Indigo Dying by Susan Wittig Albert. I really enjoy her herb mysteries - they came along long before the other theme mysteries that seem to be all over the place right now and they are very readable, whether they are "special interest" mysteries or not. I have a new Alexander McCall Smith series to start and I can't wait. I love his meandering pace and quirky characters. I hope this lives up to his other books. Finally, a friend lent me a copy of Mary Jane's Farm. I'm loving it! It lets me dream of the gardens I'd like the plant, the crafts I'd like to do and the natural lifestyle I dream of (although I am not altogether sure that I would enjoy as much in reality). It's a lovely read and I think I am going to have to get my own subscription!

I can't wait to see what everyone else is reading and knitting this week!

G is for Greek Food

2011-11-15T17:01:00.000-08:00

G was a fun letter, too. We debated how we wanted to do it (Greek food or "Grand Buffet" - a Chinese all-you-can-eat which the kids love and our bank account doesn't). Unfortunately, Dh and I had visions of Greek food like we get down in the big city, full of flavour, hot, fresh and with good ambiance. This outing was doomed from the start. The kids both napped late and we had to wake them up to go (we wanted to beat the dinner rush) and whenever they have to be wakened up, it's ugly. Little Bean wasn't too bad but it was about two thirds of the way through the meal that Pk started to thaw a bit. She ate a few nibbles of souvlaki and drank lots of milk. Our food was cold and not terribly flavourful, but then, what can we expect from a chain? It made me want to go home and watch Shirley Valentine, though (I loved that movie - must buy it again one of these days).

Pumping gas was much more fun. Pk always wants to help and on occasion, I let her, although, given how much I hate getting her in and out of her carseat, I don't allow it all that often.
Of course, there is a host of grandparents, all of whom seemed to be unavailable, even via Skype. Fortunately, we have a good friend that Pk adores who she calls Grannie A and she was a perfect choice.
I was thrilled that we managed this. I wanted to feed geese and so on the Saturday, we decided to head out to see if there were any around. It was incredible - a Saturday in November and we didn't even really need coats. We took old muffins from the fridge that were on their way to the green bin and the birds were big fans. Sadly, geese are NOT as quick as seagulls so the gulls had a great feast.
Finally, we decided to make granola. There is so much controversy about sending food that might have nuts that I worried about this. In addition, in our province, there are new guidelines about schools needing to serve healthy foods and you never quite know what is going to be deemed inappropriate (which I find amusing, given the total crap the kids in my class always seem to bring - given all the things we aren't supposed to send these days, including nuts, seeds, coconut and eggs, I am beginning to think that the powers that be won't be happy until we are all sending "Lunchables" - no risk since there are no authentic food products in them anyway). I found this granola recipe on epipen.ca and it turned out really well. We left out the sesame seeds and I called the school and left a message for Pk's teacher, just to let her know that this was school safe. Little Bean loved it and if it wasn't so expensive and high in sugar with all the dried fruit, I'd definitely make it again.

I'm looking forward to H - I have a great idea, I just hope I can make it work out.

F is for Football

2011-11-13T04:05:00.001-08:00

I'm just going to stop apologizing for being so infrequent these days. It's been report card time and Dh and I were both responsible for organizing the Remembrance Day assemblies at our school so last week was insane. Here's hoping that now all of that is done, we can settle into something of a calmer routine.

I'm really happy that I am posting these here. This exercise has been something that I have really enjoyed and it's giving me a wonderful way to remember Pk's J.K. year. I was pretty devastated earlier in the week when she came home from school and had basically ruined the book that we are making to go with all of this. We are having some trouble getting her to close her water bottle properly and despite my putting it in a ziplock bag and insisting that it not go into the bag but into the side pocket, she still managed to put it into her bag open and all of our work was ruined. I was so upset. I've decided that what I am going to do is at the end of the year, I'll get the photos put together into a hardcover photo book that I can keep (and I might ever get her a copy). If you have any ideas for a great source for that, I'd love to hear it. I know of several sites but haven't actually done it.

F was a fun letter for us. It took me a while to decide what we were going to do and then I came up with a great idea - "Football with Friends" (which also happens to have a great fall connection). We got in touch with all of our supper group friends and set a date for football, followed by pizza at J's house. It was pretty funny. The kids were all grouchy since they have all had a hard time adjusting to school and we spent a LOT of time refereeing but we did get a few minutes of something resembling a game. They had the most fun, however, playing in some old trees with great spaces for hiding and climbing. It was a great memory.

Then, of course you can't do F without french fries. I realise that McDonalds fries aren't particularly chi-chi, but they are what she loves and so they are what we did.

We also went to a farmer's market. There's one in the nearby town that we always talk about going to and so this seemed a perfect time to do it. It was bitterly cold so we didn't stay long!
And finally, in our family, you can't do F without the forest. We run the dogs there most days on the weekend and in October, it can't be missed. We got a number of lovely photos that day but I won't bore you with all of them. Too bad Pk looks almost cross eyed in the photo.
See you soon for letter G. We had fun with that one, too!

E is for England

2011-11-05T19:02:00.001-07:00

E had me stumped for a while. One of my students (yes, we talk about this when I am on yard duty) came up with English muffins, which I thought was a good idea. Pk won't eat eggs so our culinary choices were rather limited. I thought that gathering eggs at the farm was a good idea but it just didn't seem like enough. It was days before I came up with a solution.

Then, out of the blue, I KNEW what we needed to do. Dh is from England and in our family, we believe that English chocolate is much better than anything available here in North America. I know, I know, it's technically more "candy" than chocolate but for "milk chocolate", the Brits just do it better. Once in a while, we go and get some crisps (there's nothing like pickled onion flavour), chocolate and dh gets jelly tots.

The shop itself is wonderful. It's off on a little side street and run by a tiny and seemingly ancient woman. It's generally frequented by ex-pats who seem to love children, especially very British-looking little kids who already recognize the team logos for many of the English premiership football teams. The shop owner loves little ones and Pk and LB always get spoiled, often with tubes of English smarties. It was a great idea for E as we have always called it "The England Store."

Of course, if we are talking England, dh's soccer gear was a necessity.

Finally, although it wasn't terribly inspired, we went up to the farm for Pk to gather eggs from her chickens. Of course, everyone needs to do that wearing a crown and a pink dress!

Stay tuned for letter F. I had "f"un with that one. Ha!

D is for Duck

2011-11-05T05:12:00.001-07:00

As I have said before, we have been having so much fun with our "letter of the week" activities with Pk's school. I actually find, now, that on the fourth week, when they review the three letters that they have done so far, I actually miss it. I know, I'm crazy. I love this stuff (why do you think that I am a primary teacher?)

D was an easy one for us, although for snacks, it was a bit harder. (And snacks is another post...) I tried making date muffins and twice, they were crumbly and I couldn't get them out of the pan. I tried giving the kids dates to eat (the dried ones) and that was not a hit, either.

In our house, there were a couple of things that were absolute necessities for D. The first, of course, was dogs. Needless to say, trying to get two dogs and a child to pose for a photo posed certain challenges. I don't think the result was too bad, although I think it would have been better if they had been closer together.

Our next d was a great one. For Thanksgiving Monday (we are in Canada and celebrate Thanksgiving much earlier - I think Americans have it right on this one, November is so bleak and boring here), we went with several families to the local farm for the activities. It was a gorgeous, hot day and best of all, my teacher friend whose sister married into the farm family, was making fresh doughnuts all day. I have to say, these doughnuts, crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside and coated with sugar, were an entirely new doughnut experience for all of us. I will never have one at a corner doughnut shop again!

The next idea was one that I have bee pondering for a while. We live outside the city and not far from the beach but I have found it hard to predictably find ducks around here. They hang out in the puddles outside my classroom after a big rain but none of the local ponds seem to have them. We had to go back to the city to be certain that we could feed them. We went down to the big city to visit my parents and while there, we fed ducks at the beach. We almost didn't make it because of a fight about clothing (Pk had a dress on and I had put on bicycle shorts underneath as I always do and she decided that she was hot and didn't want to wear the dress, just the shorts and shirt - I am not into having my child parade around in too-small shorts, thank you). We resolved our issues with some help from Uncle J and had a great time feeding the ducks and scaring Gran that Pk was going to fall through into the lake.
And, of course, we saved the best for last, D is for DADDY! He is such a wonderful guy who makes life so much fun for all of us. How could we miss him???

We'll be back with E and F shortly!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T16:37:00.000-07:00

So, to begin, I am still alive. Yes, I realise that this is probably something of a surprise to you. I am teaching a split grade this year which means that I have to teach Grades 2 and 3 at the same time. As you can imagine, this presents some challenges and given that I haven't taught Grade 3 before, it's a lot of work. I am enjoying it but I feel like my head is spinning a lot of the time.

I have really missed blogging. I want to try to get back here more often. November is such a yucky, depressing month, I want to try to do it differently here and use your ideas. That's another post, though.

So, as you know, if you have been around here a while, you know that I have some mixed feelings about Halloween. I grew up celebrating Halloween and always really enjoyed it as a family holiday. We never went with anything especially especially ghastly but we did have fun with it. I never saw anything wrong with it.

In the last few years, I have come in contact with a bunch of Christians who are VERY anti-Halloween. At first, I totally dismissed them as being over the top (a bit like the ones who are afraid of Muppets out of the fear that they are demons - seriously, I did know some like that). Gradually, though, as I gave it a bit more thought and I did some research, I did come to realise that there are some issues around Halloween that I hadn't really pondered before. While there is nothing in the Bible against dressing up and getting candy, the Bible is very clear that we are not to have anything to do with the occult.

Dh and I talked a lot about it and we decided that we think that it is o.k. to do Halloween but that we will do it our way. We have friends who are Christians who have largely withdrawn from the world and really, they seem like their kids aren't having much fun. I am not in any way saying that we should let our kids do everything their friends are doing but at the same time, I think that constantly saying no to our kids out of fear will make Christianity seem pretty bleak and oppressive. We had a discussion with our minister and his wife (who is also our minister) and he said that she had said something about we, as Christians, needing to be light in the world - isn't Halloween a great time to do that, when we can give generously, forge relationships with neighbours and show a different way of doing things? We do not do witches, demons, satan, etc. but I don't see anything wrong with pumpkins, princesses and animals. When the kids get older, it may be tougher to keep it clean but for now, anyway, we can really enjoy ourselves without feeling like we are compromising what we believe.

The build up was fun and Halloween itself was great. We made treats for a dinner with friends, treats for Pk and LB's daycare friends, gave out candy, carved pumpkins (based on "The Pumpkin Patch Parable" by Liz Curtis Hicks) and went trick-or-treating with good friends. It was so much fun!

We made these treats based on a great recipe I stumbled across via Pinterest.

We worked together to carve pumpkins. LB wanted to get in on the fun, which really frustrated Pk.

Once we got him his own pumpkin, everyone was much happier.

The look in the photo above was the result of taking his first taste of raw pumpkin. Yuck!

We made these cute jars from another Pinterest find. I wanted something to give to Pk's teacher, the sitter and our trick-or-treating friends. It was fun, easy and Pk did most of the work!

The actual trick-or-treating outing was so much fun. I have to say, I find it quite moving. There were families everywhere and most houses had people either already out on the porch or quick to answer the door. Everyone was so kind to the kids and people were so generous. When else do we all get outside and talk to people we don't know, give things away and trust our neighbours with our children? What a nice community event. I have been thinking that it's really sad that we don't do more this way with other holidays.

I hope you had a wonderful Halloween, too!

Fall List

2011-10-18T18:52:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to do a fall list for a while now and it just never seemed to happen. This one is off the top of my head but at least it's better than having my summer list still posted.

Here are my goals for fall:

-pick apples

-make an apple pie

-go to the farm for pumpkins

-do our annual pumpkin photo shoot

-buy a sweater that I really like

-decorate for fall

-have a photo shoot in a pile of leaves

-do several walks in the forest

-go on a wagon ride

-have or attend a bonfire

-go trick-or-treating

-buy a poppy to wear before November 11th

-get back into the habit of daily Bible study

-try to focus more on people than on things that need to get done

-enjoy Pk's letter of the week activities

-decorate with fall objects

-burn candles more often

-wear my wrap that I love

-knit a scarf for dad and one for my brother

Yarn Along

2011-10-18T17:17:00.000-07:00

I haven't been able to get myself organized to participate in the "Yarn Along" hosted by Ginny at Small Things in a while. Frankly, there hasn't been much knitting time and even less blogging time. I feel like I am finally starting to get into a routine and I have started to do a bit of knitting again and I had a few moments tonight so here I am.

In terms of reading, I have been devouring mysteries of late. Since I had been co-sleeping until fairly recently, I hadn't had much time for reading since most of my reading happens in bed (which won't work when the light is off for a little one). Since we have gotten Little Bean into his crib (and Daddy joins him in the bed beside the crib when he wakes up), I actually get some reading time. Several of my favourite writers have come out with books since babies were born around here, so I have lots to choose from.

Right now, I have finished my M.C. Beaton-fest (Hamish Macbeth and Agatha Raisin) and then just finished a terrific Anne Perry mystery. There was a while when I found her books a bit mechanical, as if she were just churning them out, but recently, I have found she has gotten her flare back and I really enjoyed this one. Now, I am skimming through a Jennifer Chiaverinni Elm Creek Quilts novel (I love this series) and next, I have two Susan Wittig Albert China Bayles herbal mysteries waiting. I enjoy her books, especially her Beatrix Potter series. I like the fact that she was writing her herbal mysteries long before the "theme" mysteries became such a trend) and her characters are just a bit different.

In terms of knitting , I have been very slowly working my way along on a scarf for my dad for Christmas. I am hoping to do one for my brother, too. I just pulled the pattern from the Lion Brand website and ended up ordering the yarn from them, too (Alpine Wool, I am loving it). The yarn price itself wasn't too bad but the shipping was almost as much as the yarn - ouch. I love cabling of any kind, especially when done in natural tones and this scarf is just so soft! I am hoping to get one done for my brother, too, if I can find the time.
I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else is reading and knitting!

Crazy Love?

2011-10-17T18:46:00.000-07:00

At church, we are back into small group season and this fall, our church is doing a study of Crazy Love by Francis Chan. I have seen a lot about him and his work and I had been meaning to read this book for a while so I was glad to see that this was what we were going to study. I know a lot of people have really been impressed by this book and some have found it to be life changing.

I'm into chapter two and I'm not sure what I think. There are things I really enjoy and I don't know whether it's our church's ideas or whether it's a published study guide but for each week, there is a challenge. That is something that I am finding very powerful. This week, the challenge was to memorize 1 Corinthians 10:31 "So whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." We are to make a conscious effort to "live with" this verse in mind this week. That made today an interesting day. Instead of listening to random podcasts on the way to work, I listened to some of my favourite worship music and found myself singing in the car. That was something that had a big impact on me on the way home from work - it had been a very frustrating day and losing myself in "How Great is our God" and "Mighty to Save" by Hillsong United really helped me to shake off the stress of my day and come home with a clear head. I also liked the idea in the chapter that we TRULY need to live our day as if it were our last. That sounds trite but really, it does change the way you do things, when you are trying to live without regrets. It was especially nice because a friend had a crisis with her husband (a serious injury at work) and I was able to go and get her kids and babysit for her until she was done at the hospital and it felt so good to know that today, at least one person I care about knows that I am here for her. It's such a powerful way to make each day matter.

My struggle, though, was in the discussion on worry and stress. Francis Chan stated that worry and stress are a kind of arrogance, a statement that we believe that our challenges and struggles are more important that God. While I can see his point, I really find it hard when people criticize people who worry. For some, sure, they put themselves into situations in which they are going to be stressed and that is a choice. For some of us, though, worry isn't a choice. I will be honest, in August, I went on a low dose of medication for anxiety. I have really struggled with it for years and for some reason, at the end of July and into early August, it got totally out of control. I have tried everything to manage it - prayer, memorizing Bible verses, meditation, breathing strategies, journaling, etc. Nothing helped. Once that cycle of worry begins, I feel as if I have fallen into a pit and I can't get out. I can reason my way through and still, it's like this shadow that I live in all the time. My doctor put me on a low dose of medication and I have to say, my life is totally different. There is not a day that goes by that I don't pause and realise that I am happy - not blissfully, exuberantly happy but I have this sense that I am where I am supposed to be and I am savouring the gifts I am given every day. If what Francis Chan is saying is to be believed, then I am arrogant and think I am better than God - I have a very hard time accepting that my brain chemistry is somehow a reflection of my weak character.

Life everything, I read and try to take the best our of the material and leave behind what doesn't work for me. I think, with this book, there is much good but there are also things I am going to have to look past.

I'll keep you posted.

C is for...

2011-10-02T17:33:00.001-07:00

This week, our letter was "C". There are lots of foods with c and I knew that cookies were going to have to be a part of our fun but I was stumped in terms of an outing. We settled on Costco. It's not exactly sophisticated outing but it's a place that Pk has always loved. She loves the snacks and she has always had a thing for their hotdogs too (although I shudder to think exactly what they contain). For "C" week, I was willing to suck it up and let her have her fun.

After Costco, it was off to our local pet store. I am not a fan of animals being sold in stores but the cats at this store are from a local cat rescue organization and it happens to be the one that our Sadie comes from. They give the animals the best care in the world and they don't just give cats away to the first comer who is willing to pay the fee. Pk loves visiting the cats so it seemed a nice way to make some letter C memories.

Of course, our cat had to be part of the celebration of "C" as well. I wasn't sure that she would cooperate - she is very much my cat and while she will hang out with the kids at times, she can be pretty stand-offish and I didn't know whether we would be able to track her down.

Little Bean had his visit at 11:30 p.m. We had a horrible night and he and I were up for hours before I could get him down. This was one of the few moments that he was actually smiling. As an aside, these are his favourite jammies and he goes around roaring very proudly when he wears them. I guess, in a way, they fit our cat theme, too!

We got the cat in the first place because of Pk. She fell in love with the cat at the home daycare she goes to and we have always liked cats, so it gave us the perfect excuse to add another life to our household. We have had Sadie for three years now and we love her. She is tiny and can be quite aloof but it feels a bit like she knows she is lucky to have a home and she conveys to us that she is happy to live here. She's wonderful company and there is nothing better than when she curls up, purring, on me, when we sleep.

Trying to get a child and a cat still at the same time for a photo was a challenge, that's for sure.

Of course, we couldn't just see cats and Costco, there had to be some "c"ooking involved. We started with pumpkin cupcakes that I wanted to try since I am hoping to take them to next month's dinner group (they are really yummy and made the house smell wonderful).
Our second recipe was a cookie recipe that we all love. We decided that we would deliver a batch to Mrs. M, our neighbour across the street who is the lunch monitor in Pk's class. She's a bit of a grandma figure to Pk and I know, especially during the initial adjustment, she really went out of her way to make Pk feel loved at school. Now, every time we see her outside, Pk wants to run over to give her a hug. It was very sweet, Pk took her the cookies and she made a HUGE fuss over Pk. This morning, when we were getting ready for church, she arrived with the container and to tell Pk that they were the BEST cookies she has ever eaten. Pk was walking on air. I also really liked that Pk was starting to learn to do things and share with other people.
We finished up by making breakfast cookies this morning. I thought I did a photo but I can't find it. She has lots of memories to go with letter "c" and it's gratifying for me because I am really seeing the payoff. She has been fairly good with letter sounds for a while but now, she is constantly thinking about the sound that starts a word and she sounded out the word cat by herself today. I think that reading is just around the corner and I couldn't be more excited.

Stay tuned for letter D. I have plans for that one, too!

B is for Boat...

2011-10-02T17:22:00.000-07:00

As you know, I am having a wonderful time with the whole "letter of the week" thing. Two weeks ago, our letter was B and we decided to do something that I had wanted to do with Pk in the summer but didn't get around to - making paper boats and floating them in a stream. She had really fallen in love with floating leaves and I thought it was a great extension.

I went online (of course) and found a great video with directions. I made 12 paper boats and we got the dogs and set off for the stream. Everyone was very excited. We decided to go to the spot under the bridge because 1. Pk loves bridges and 2. of course, bridge also starts with b!

The wonderful part is that we ran into a girl from Pk's class at school. Pk has not exactly been forthcoming about school (most of our information comes from the lady across the street who is a lunch monitor in her class and from Pk's friend's mother who gets information from her son). Pk informed us that G is her best friend (which is hilarious given that she couldn't remember this girl's name) and they were very excited to float the boats together. It was a good thing that I went over the top, as usual, and made lots of boats.

Before the excitement started, of course, the dogs needed a swim. It made getting near the water very muddy and splashy (all the more fun!)

Pk and her friend were thrilled to get the boats into the water. They couldn't get them in fast enough (I had hoped they might watch them float downstream a bit).

Baby Bean thought this was really cool. He was very into throwing boats but didn't really care that he wasn't anywhere near the water.

The next day at church, we had our Sunday School kick-off, along with our church anniversary lunch (which, at our church, is always celebrated like a birthday). There were balloons - another great "b" for our list.

Of course, on Wednesday morning, there was also the bus, another "b". I hadn't ever done the school run before (I hate Little Bean's tears at going to daycare so Dh does the morning run. Unfortunately, a totally dead car battery meant that Dh had to get a lift into work early and it left me on bus duty).

And finally, since a friend gave us a bread machine since I was complaining about additives in bread, we had to get Pk involved in yet another pair of b's - making bread and buns. Dh makes all the bread in our house now so that we can avoid all the glucose/fructose and other additives we don't even know the names of. His bread is yummy, the house smells lovely and Pk has another personal connection for the letter B.

Stay tuned for letter C!

A is for Alphabet

2011-09-23T17:50:00.000-07:00

Pk has started school and as part of the kindergarten programme in her classroom, there is a letter and a colour of the week. I love it! She may not be entirely in love with school (her feelings are very mixed at the moment) but her mom is certainly having fun.

The letter of the week is something that has become a wonderful project for us. Each child is supposed to take in one item that begins with that letter. I want to go one better and have Pk take in one experience connected to the letter. For the letter A, we went apple picking.

The wagon ride was a fun way to begin.

I got Pk to help me make an apple pie (we love this "Deep Dish Apple Pie" which only has a top crust over lovely filling - I'd share the recipe but it comes from my mom's old cookbook)

We also made this applesauce that we love

I plan to make this a year of memories that we can keep forever and part of that is a scrapbook.

Her teacher also has colour days. Once a week, the kids are supposed to wear clothing that fits the colour theme, if they have it (and no, it isn't all that sensitive to the kids who don't have parents who will go and buy them clothing to follow the colour for that week but up here, that isn't really an issue most of the time). I've come to realise just how much the colours available follow the trends - this month, it was red, orange and yellow. For red, I was lucky that we already had a red shirt and pants, for orange, all I could find were orange socks and the shirt with orange flowers (which I happen to really like on Pk) and a yellow shirt at Old Navy. Now when pink day comes, we will have that covered from head to toe!

I'm having a ridiculous amount of fun with this. I hope that Pk does, too!

Fall Nesting Party

2011-09-19T16:49:00.000-07:00

I was driving home this afternoon, with a pumpkin spice latte, with the cool rain outside the car and I got thinking about fall. It is absolutely my favourite season. I love the deeper blue of the sky, the rich colours of the leaves, the smell of the air and all of the wonderful activities. I can't get enough of it and I try to bring that feeling into our house.

Over at "The Inspired Room", Melissa hosts an annual "Fall Nesting Party". I get very excited about it and back in August, I found myself going back to last year to see when it happened. I couldn't wait (I think that may be the best part of the changing seasons - looking forward to the wonderful times to come)

I always put out my fall stuff after Pk's birthday on Labour Day weekend. I know that fall doesn't start until closer to the end of September but as a teacher, September can be so crazy, if I don't do it before back to school time, it often doesn't happen. I've also always loved to change my space around - I love the fresh feeling of a new furniture arrangement, a shift in colour or the full change of my displays. After the cool, open, airy look I strive for in summer, I love to change the table clothes to fall colours, to put out lots of candles and to bring the harvest inside with corn, gourds and pumpkins.

I love my new luminaries that you see in the photo above. Pk's sitter sells Partylite and while I am often horrified by their prices, a. I want to support J and b. I love these luminaries. They have changeable panels so the pumpkins for fall switch to snowflakes for winter, delicate flowers for spring and something for summer that escapes me right now. I bought the smaller ones a couple of years ago (leaves, spiders and snowflakes) and have loved them. When I saw these newer, larger ones, I had to have them. I love the way that they look when lit.
Please excuse the horrible quality of the photos. My decent camera died and the one we bought to replace it is having problems, too. I bought a little cheapie until I can get the other two fixed and the quality of these pics are horrible.
As you can see, we have an overabundance of tomatoes that needs to be dealt with and we picked apples on the weekend and are overflowing with them, too. Add the smell of the apples simmering into applesauce to the ambiance of the house and it's hard to see how things can get better!

Keep an eye for my fall list - I've been meaning to get to that post for a while. It is coming, I promise!

The Other Side

2011-09-15T17:18:00.000-07:00

Having a child is so interesting for me. I've been a teacher for a long time (I started in '97, you do the math) and I have experienced all of these annual rituals of the school year (starting school, "Meet the Teacher Night", concerts, etc) over and over again, but never as a parent. It's fascinating to experience it all from the other side.

Tonight was Pk's Meet the Teacher Night. I've done these over and over. Every year, we frantically try to get work up on the walls, get the kids' desks tidy, write up handouts about everything in the programme and rush back to school in the evening to meet everyone. I am always a bit nervous, always anticipating the parent who is going to ask me something that I am not expecting which leaves me feeling a bit unsure on my feet. We've had crazy parents, combative parents (although this is much rarer than one might expect based on what I hear from other teachers), out-of-control children and, worst of all, that parent who just won't leave at the end of the night. Every year, there is discussion in the staff meeting about the fact that this is not an interview night and that we are not there to discuss individual children with their parents. We are there to outline the programme and be available for questions. Every year, I end up doing interviews with every parent. I could be tough and refuse to answer the question that every parent asks, whether out loud or through their eyes - "How is my child doing and do you like him/her?" Personally, unlike many teachers, I don't mind telling parents that. So many parents work and we don't ever get to see each other, it's the least I can do. And, to be totally frank, I don't really feel like trying to set up parent interviews before or after school, it makes sense to talk when the parents are already there.

Tonight, I developed a much greater understanding of why every parent wants that little interview. Pk won't tell me anything about her class (other than that she cries a lot, she says). Dh and I have been so curious to know how she spends her day and whether she is, in fact, crying all the time. We arrived to the school and there were cars for blocks (many children are bused to our school from surrounding farming areas so driving is necessary for those parents). The halls were crammed with families, the book fair was so crowded that we didn't even attempt it. We wandered somewhat aimlessly down to the kindergarten wing - it was obvious that since we had come in a different door that the one Pk typically uses, she had no clue where she was going. Once we entered the classroom, it was bedlam (this teacher has two groups of children so she has 46 families to see in two hours). I tried to get Pk to take me on a tour but she wasn't especially interested in showing me much other than the class computers. I desperately wanted to talk to the teacher and find out how she was doing (and whether she was liked). It was so busy, we only had a couple of seconds and all that I really got was that 1. Pk is very sweet, 2. no, she isn't outright crying but she has episodes of chin quivering and seems to wander the classroom clutching the notes I write in her lunch each day and 3. she is eating part of her lunch for snack and hasn't shared with her teacher that she has a snack in her bag in its own cloth bag with the word SNACK printed hugely in permanent marker.

I realise that her teacher has only had her at school for four days and really doesn't know her but I wanted more. I also have to say that I have been a bit surprised at the school - I don't find it as welcoming as the one at which I work (if the Principal was there, I didn't see him and ours is always either outside in the hallway doing a meet and greet or meeting parents in the classrooms). It reminded me that when I do our "Meet the Teacher" night next Thursday, I am going to go out of my way to let parents know that all is well, that I like their children and that they are welcome.

I think that having a child in the school system is definitely going to make me a much better teacher.

2011-09-14T17:14:00.000-07:00

Thanks as always to Ginny at "Small Things" - I love having the goal of the weekly check-in to keep me on track!

I haven't had much of a chance to knit or to take photos - both my cameras seem to be under the weather and the knitting has been almost non-existent. I have found a way to solve both problems - I am now knitting while I watch Pk's show with her in the evening ("Wordworld" - ugh) and I bought a cheap camera to tide me over (hence the very poor quality photo). I'm on an M.C. Beaton kick, catching up on the books in her Hamish Macbeth and Agatha Raisin Series that I had missed (both are kind of fun but nowhere near as good as they were when they started out). I'm still knitting the leaf dishcloths, which make a nice project when there isn't much time - I can finish one in a couple of hours. I've ordered some yarn to start my Christmas knitting and I can't wait for it to arrive.

As always, I am looking forward to seeing what everyone else is reading/stitching!

Dining with Royalty

2011-09-13T19:03:00.000-07:00

September 1st is Pk's birthday and we have an annual tradition with local friends that Pk's party always happens then. This year she was determined that she was going to have a "fairy princess tea party" and we were determined to make it happen.

We have had such fun with this! I spent the summer combing yard sales, church sales and thrift stores for inexpensive (read: CHEAP) teapots and china. I ended up going a bit nuts and buying plates, small bowls, teacups, saucers and teapots (I think I now own every tacky teapot available). We found lovely invites on Etsy and for take home gifts, we decided to buy a puzzle tailored to each child's interests. While the theme was "dress up", we made it clear that our gentlemen (and ladies, for that matter) could come as anything they wanted, as long as it was a bit out of the ordinary. People were very obliging.

I spent the days leading up to the party cooking. There were strawberry cupcakes with swiss buttercream frosting (these are AMAZING), white chocolate dipped strawberries (but I used pink sugar instead of blue), heart marshmallows and rainbow fruit kababs. We did sandwiches, veggies and dip, chips and drinks. I did the Martha Stewart Poms (which looked lovely) and we had balloons everywhere. It was insane and so much fun!

Sorry the photos are out of order, some were taken by me and some by friends (my camera decided to stop working early on in the party so these were taken later for me by others). Pk was so lucky in the thoughtful gifts she received. We came away from the day, yet again, feeling extremely grateful to be surrounded by such wonderful people!

Pin the crown on the princess

Each child was able to pour his or her drinks from his or her own teapot and they thought that was wonderful

Dh did the streamers and I have to say that he did a wonderful job

Our guests beginning the tea

Best friends

Pouring

the sweet table, which, if I do say so myself, looked pretty spiffy (other than the buttercream which decided to melt a bit, since the day was so incredibly humid)

one of our knights

this gift was amazing, a full princess kit, complete with a homemade tutu, a shirt with a crown, jewels and "Princess Pk" on it

being spoiled by grandmas

during gift opening

the gift that stole the show - a box of six pairs of pretty heels - it will be weeks before I recover from the sight of one of our young knights trying to master walking in heels

Little Bean was a big fan of the shoes, too!

So sappy but sweet - Pk's best friend - they each got a matching necklace, one says "Best" and one says "Friends"

I can't tell you how much fun we had planning this party but I am glad that it will be a year before we have to plan another!

Starting School

2011-09-12T17:20:00.000-07:00

As so often happens, I am starting here with an apology. Sadly, when life gets busy, the blog seems to be the first thing to go. I'll try to be better but I won't bother making any promises.

Last week was a BIG week in our house. Pk started school at the same time that Dh and I returned back to work after a summer at home. Fortunately, my parents were able to come up for the week to deliver Pk to her first day at school. Ours does a staggered entry and the JKs only go for 90 minutes on their first day and we wouldn't have been able to manage drop off and pick up otherwise.

Pk was so excited but unfortunately, our start was a bit rough. Sadly and unlikely as it sounds, poor Pk had been stung by a wasp four times in the last month, rendering her absolutely terrified to be outside. We had arranged for Pk and her two best friends to walk to school together (with their parents). We wanted to get pictures and have it be a wonderful time. The boys were thrilled but Pk's fear of bees meant that she was NOT interested in being outside and until they were actually going into school, she was a mess. All the photos are awful since she was doing that "ugly cry" - you know the one I mean.
I would love to post more photos but a. the best ones were taken by my friend and she hasn't sent them yet and b. there are pictures of lots of other kids and I can't post them here since I don't have permission. On the plus side, my mom did get some lovely ones when she came out of school and as you can probably see, she loved it. Her teacher is the one that we were hoping she would get and she is in love. She walks around singing the songs from school and it turns out that our lovely neighbour from across the street is her lunch monitor and can keep an eye on her for us. She has been taken care by the big girls she knows from daycare and she seems to be loving the social part of school.

On the first day, they all got a crown and they got to add stickers - Pk used princess stickers, which just made the day all the more perfect for her. On the second day, she got a birthday crown (since her birthday was the week before - that's another post!) and her teacher made a fuss over her. She is in love with school and we couldn't be happier.

I have to say that it has been interesting to work out my feelings about school. Before she went, I had a lot of worries and trying to get logistics worked out. Interestingly, the first day, when everyone said I would be a crying mess, I was in pretty good shape (other than for a bit in the afternoon when I got rather emotional about the fact that I hadn't been able to take her myself). I liked school as a kid and I am really excited for Pk. I think she is going to be really happy being with her friends, singing songs, reading stories and working. I see school as a really good opportunity for her - I suppose that is easier for me given that we live in a great school district and her teacher is a friend of mine who I have seen in action. She even had homework this weekend and we had fun sitting down to do it (and, I might add now, SHE did it, not me - I am NOT going to be that mother). Tonight, I did her Scholastic order and getting her books was fun!

So far, we are all enjoying the school experience... I hope that keeps happening!

My Girl

2011-09-01T13:57:00.001-07:00

On this day, four years ago, I met Pk. It was a somewhat scary delivery for both of us but the second I met her, I knew that it was worth it. It's so strange to me to think that Dh and I had debated whether we ever wanted to have children. It probably sounds cliche but until Pk arrived, I had no idea what life was meant to be. She has brought us so much joy.

Here she is at one. That was a fun party but I had no idea what I was doing!

Her second birthday was a Veggietales party. We kept it small but had so much fun.

Her third birthday was more ambitious - she started with a party at the home daycare she attends and then had a party at a local farm. So much fun!

Today was the party at daycare and on Saturday, we are having a fairy princess tea party. I can't wait. Throwing parties is so much fun, especially when they are to celebrate someone that I adore.

Thank you, beautiful girl, for bringing us so much joy. We can't wait to spend the next year with you!

Summer Round-Up

2011-08-31T17:36:00.000-07:00

While summer officially lasts until mid-September, in our house, tonight really feels like the end of summer. Given that Dh and I are both teachers and we both go in for staff meetings tomorrow and start teaching next Tuesday, it really feels like it's time to move on. I didn't want to wind up, though, without sharing some of our summer highlights and reviewing my summer list.

Summer Memories of this year:

1. Dancing around the kitchen to "The Siamese Cat Song" from "Lady and the Tramp" (yes, I know, we are not a Disney family but my in-laws are big Disney fans and Pk fell in love during our visit up north).

2. Sitting on the kitchen floor as the kids eat peach after peach (and the clean up of the floor afterwards).

3. Taking Little Bean for his first ice cream (he is a huge fan).

4. Endless long stroller walks to the bridge.

5. Afternoon naps with the sun streaming in the window.

6. Reporting on our weekly reading at the book club at the library.

7. Swim lesson after swim lesson after swim lesson.

8. Homemade souvlaki and tzatziki.

9. Pool party with Pk's best friends.

10. Knitting in the car.

11. Little Bean beginning to sleep through (HOORAY!)

12. Making relish and jam.

13. Swinging in our hammock in the yard.

14. Eating fresh kale and tomatoes from our garden.

15. Sharing an afternoon strawberry smoothie with Pk and LB.

16. The magical day at the cottage.

17. Going down to the city so my mom could buy Pk her first back-to-school outfit at the mall we always enjoyed when I was young.

18. The death of my uncle.

19. Watching Jack Layton's funeral.

20. My sad addiction to Top Chef Canada, Top Chef Just Desserts and Masterchef.

21. The pinata at our "Mexican Fiesta".

22. Buying dirt cheap pink floral china to plan for Pk's birthday.

23. Enjoying participating in Ginny's Yarn Along weekly link-up.

23. Savouring the moments.

Review of the summer list:

-pick strawberries and make jam - almost done

- we went crazy and gave strawberry rhubarb jam to everyone!
-eat dinner outside at least once a week

-eating outside worked for a while until it just got too hot and now, the wasps are bad and Pk has been stung several times, something I don't want to risk again
-read outside at least once

-I loved the afternoon that Pk and I read on a blanket in the yard

-make zuchini relish

-we bought too much zucchini and ended up having to make more relish than we will ever eat - I got royally sick of making relish!

-take the kids to the farm once a week

-we went a few times but there wasn't enough shade - we plan to go in the fall lots on weekends, if we can fit it in

-do something special for Canada Day

-Canada Day was spent in the city with my parents and then at the local fireworks - I will never forget standing in the crowd to sing the national anthem before the fireworks began

-do a BIG clear-out of junk at home so that I can go back to work with the house in better shape

-while we did a big clear out, there's still more to do and we haven't as yet had the big yard sale that we are going to do with several other families, if we can fit it in

-memorize Psalm 91 (one of my favourite pieces of scripture)

-I began this but didn't really stick to it - I plan to move this to my fall list

-have music on all the time

-we've done more of this but I would like to try more often

-plan Pk's birthday party with enough time before that I am not CRAZED the week it happens

-this has definitely been better this year and I am having so much fun planning - it's this Saturday and I can't wait!

-take Pk at least once to the wading pool at the end of my parents' street in the big city

-I planned to do this more often than we did but we did get there once

-have at least one picnic using my picnic basket and eaten on a blanket

- we didn't get to this one and with the wasp fears, we will have to wait until next year

-swim in fresh water at least once (probably while visit my parents or the in-laws)

-this happened at the lovely cottage day we spent up north - it was magical

-spend as little money as possible as we launch into our "Total Money Makeover"

-while I can't say that we were entirely frugal, we were much better this summer than usual and didn't use credit at all, which is real progress for us

-sit with the lights off to watch a thunderstorm

-we didn't have many good storms this summer but last Wednesday's big lightning storm was great to watch

-run three times a week and finish the 5k to 8k series I am doing

-I was good for the first half of the summer but I have to admit, I fell off my routine - it was too humid to run outside and my doctor has put me on some medication, nothing serious but it has left me quite tired and I am having some trouble getting up early - while I am not planning on working on the 8k this fall, I am definitely going to keep running 5k three times a week

I have to admit, while I have mixed feelings about going back to work, I am excited about fall, which is my very favourite season. Watch for my fall list soon!

How was your summer?

Mexican Fiesta

2011-08-26T18:16:00.000-07:00

We have a group of good friends that has become a kind of supper club - once a month, we get together for dinner with our families and we take turns hosting. We always pick a theme and each family contributes something to the meal. This month, we were hosting and the theme was "Mexican Fiesta".

Since we were hosting, we were responsible for the main dish and I was really happy with the theme since tacos were really easy to prepare before everyone arrived. I like to do as much of the food preparation as I can before we have company since our kitchen really keeps you away from your guests if you are spending a lot of time cooking. We decided to do a few kinds of meat to try and meet everyone's tastes - we did this recipe for chicken which was delicious (although I don't use a seasoning mix for the tacos since they are full of salt, I make my own), we did plain ground beef for the littles and we did our standard beef taco filling which is just beef, jalapenos, onions and chili powder. We had whole wheat and white wraps and corn hard taco shells, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese.

Since we knew that one family was bringing a pinata, we wanted to really get into the theme as well. We went out and bought sombreros for the littles and I did some research to get some Mexican music. I quickly discovered that I really, really dislike mariachi (sorry if you like it) which is kind of strange, actually, since there are very few musical forms that I can't stand. I love latin jazz and decided that since Cuba is fairly close to Mexico and at least one of the friends coming shares my love of vintage jazz/bossa/latin music, I decided to go with the Buena Vista Social Club, which ended up being perfect. We also got some margarita mix and little umbrellas and the kids sampled virgin margaritas.

The evening couldn't have gone better. The food was delicious (we had veggies and dip, nachos and salsa, meatballs which are a tradition for the kids whatever the theme and for dessert, M made profiteroles and the most amazing smore desserts). The kids had a blast, the food was a hit and the company was great. I was a bit worried that it would be too tight for space since our house is fairly small but it seemed to be just right.

We tried to get a photo of the older kids wearing the sombreros but we couldn't seem to get them all in one place for very long. One dad was a very good sport! He's also funny because he's a big, tough guy and the babies ADORE him and he is so thoughtful - I think he ended up holding Little Bean more than anyone else.
When it came time for the pinata, two of the dads went out to hang it in the tree. The kids were bursting with excitement and I was a bit concerned for the well-being of our blinds.

Before we began, we tried to get group photos of the children but as you can see, Little Bean had gotten very tired by that point and wasn't feeling so thrilled at the experience.

It was an industrial strength pinata and in the end, the dads (very enthusiastically) had to finish it off for us. Sadly, it was at that point that poor Pk got stung by a bee for the third time this week. She was pretty miserable but at least having her friends around meant that she got over it much faster than the other two times.

Next month, we are meeting at M's house for a harvest celebration. I can't wait!

Yard Sale Finds

2011-08-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

I've been woefully negligent about posting here lately, I am very sorry. Life has been very busy and we are gearing up to return to work in two weeks. My uncle died on Saturday, as well, which has complicated things a bit (that's a post for another day). I am going to try some shorter posts in the next few days to see whether I can get caught up a bit.

Next Saturday (Sept. 3rd), we will be celebrating Pk's birthday. She is going to be 4 and she has been talking for ages about wanting to have a "princess tea party" (and, to further complicate it, over half of her guests are boys). We modified it a bit to call it a "dress-up tea party" - we are going to welcome superheros and dinosaurs as well as princesses in their finery. It should be very interesting.

I have been having so much fun planning this. Thanks to Gin, who introduced me to Pinterest, I have found all kinds of marvelous decorating ideas and recipes. Since the beginning of the summer, I have been watching Yard Sales and Goodwill for teapots and china dishes that are ridiculously cheap. I know that there are those who would be horribly stressed out by 3 and 4 year old guests using china but the way I am seeing this, when I paid next to nothing for things, who cares if something gets broken. I know that Pk adores using our china and I am sure that her friends will, too.

Excuse the horrible quality of the photos but tonight, I spread all of the finds out to see what we have... I am very excited. I had managed to find quite a few pieces but today, I hit the motherlode - at a sale at the local United Church, I got 9 cups and saucers in pink floral china, 4 large matching plates and a cream pitcher for $6. I love buying china anyway (I am such an old lady) so this gives me a perfect excuse to relive memories of my Grandma and having tea at her place.
I have absolutely no idea what we will do with all of this after the party (I think the yard sale we are planning may contain a lot of china!) but for now, this is so much fun. I'll try and share some more of the fun planning I have been doing in the next few days.

Weekly Yarn Along

2011-08-24T03:24:00.001-07:00

I have come to really love the weekly Yarn Along hosted by Ginny at Small Things. I haven't done a lot of posting lately (I hope to remedy that in the next few days) but I always seem to find time for my Yarn Along post. I have been doing so much more reading and I think that it is, in party, thanks to this series. Thanks, Ginny, for the inspiration!

Knitting - of course, since I don't really want to do the blocking and assembling of the sweater I have been working on, I have found something else to do and something that is perfect for my ADHD brain. I love little projects that can be done quickly and I have started to yearn for fall (my favourite season). I found a pattern for these knitted leaves (washclothes) and they have been fun and quick to make. They are supposed to be concave when you knit them and then block out flat but I am not having much luck with that... I'll keep trying, though.

Reading - I found this book by Lily King, "Father of the Rain" on the new books shelf at the library. It's good, if rather depressing (an 11 year old girl dealing with the divorce of her parents and her father's alcoholism) but it is oddly readable at the same time. I also have rediscovered a light and fluffy mystery writer who I have enjoyed in the past, M.C. Beaton, and picked up a few of her books.

What are you working on this week?

Yarn Along

2011-08-17T02:57:00.001-07:00

Each week, Ginny at Small Things hosts the weekly "Yarn Along" - a place where we get to share what we are knitting and what we are reading. If only I could manage to do both things at once, life would be perfect :-).

Knitting - this week, I have been all over the place. I finished the hood to the cabled sweater I am working on, which means that I have to block and finish. I loathe finishing sweaters and it will be an act of sheer will to get this finished. In the meantime, I have a few of these knitting dishcloths to work on in the car - I have been trying to take advantage of time in the car (with Dh driving, of course!) to get a few little projects finished. Once September arrives, I am going to need to go full steam ahead on a few gifts for Christmas that I want to get done which means that I need to take the next couple of weeks to get everything finished that is already under way.

Reading - One of my guilty pleasures are the Amish books by Beverly Lewis. They are not my typical reading but once in a while, I love to get hooked into a series that doesn't challenge my brain too much and in which I get to glimpse the simpler life and dream a bit. The Telling is from the Seasons of Grace series, which I quite enjoyed (although the Abram's Daughter's Series is my favourite of all time). I was thrilled to arrive at the library yesterday to discover that Alexander McCall Smith's latest mystery in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series had arrived for me. I love his writing style and I haven't found anyone like him.

What are you working on this week?

Over the Bridge

2011-08-13T04:11:00.001-07:00

It's been a really busy week, more swimming lessons, doctors appointments and needles (yuck) and having a freckle checked that I was worried about (I can't tell you the relief that it was nothing). On the plus side, the weather has cooled down a bit so we have been able to get out and about a bit more. I love walking, the kids love being outside and our walks help me get through my down time of day (am I the only person who drags from 3:30 or so until 5?)

One of the best things about living in our town is the way that the town is laid out. There's a creek that runs from the eastern end of town to the western end and there is parkland and forest trails that run the entire length of the creek. I love water - there's something about the sound of the water that calms me down immediately and I also love the fact that while we are right in the middle of town, it feels like we are out in the middle of nowhere.

Pk has developed a fascination with bridges and luckily, there are at least three over the creek. There's one that is our favourite, though - it's tucked in the woods and we have never seen anyone there. You walk along the path and the bridge is around the corner, hidden in trees. We practice Pk's hops for dance class, throw rocks and leaves down into the water and look for fish. It's strange how something so small can bring so much pleasure but when I think back to this summer and this time of our lives together, I think one of my most fond memories will be the time we have spent at the bridge.

One thing I want to do before the end of the summer with the kids is to make and sail paper boats. Pk has had so much fun dropping Queen Anne's Lace and watching it float down the river, boats might be a lot of fun.

What special place does your family enjoy?

Misfits

2011-08-10T18:44:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit of a Facebook addict, I admit it. I know, Facebook isn't a way to truly relate to people and I certainly have "friends" who I wouldn't have time for in real life. For me, right now, Facebook fills in the gaps - I don't have the time to be in touch with the people who mean most to me anywhere near frequently enough and at least the status updates keep me aware of the big stuff that I might otherwise miss (and remind me to get in touch). Sometimes, though, Facebook drives me crazy.

Dh and I have a very bizarre circle of friends. Those of you who are like us, slightly crunchy, university-educated, formerly "big city", yet also living in a small town and Christian probably understand what I mean. We don't fit anywhere completely - we are more conservative morally than many of our friends who aren't "church" types and tend to be thought of as being a bit odd, and on the other hand, some of our church friends and acquaintances think we are bordering on un-Christian (in their minds) at times and certainly, many of them think that we are politically and parenting-wise significantly too far to the left. Our faith has a much more New Testament than O.T. orientation and we strive not to live like Pharisees (although we do have strong beliefs about what we are commanded to do in terms of our lives and we try to live what we believe).

One hazard of having this odd group of friends is that, at times, people say things and expect us to agree and they are things that shock us. I have debated whether to link my blog to my Facebook and today, I know why I haven't. Someone I know and love came out with something today that ENRAGED me and reminded me of just how much I can disagree with those I love. I need somewhere to rant and I don't want her to see this.

I have been watching the situation in the U.K. with tremendous sadness. From what I have seen and read, society in the U.K. (and more generally in Europe) has been going down a very troubled road. To me, these riots are just a symptom of a bigger problem. This is what I saw as my friend's status this morning:

RIP Broken Britain.. You went soft on discipline!.. You went soft on immigration!You went soft on crime.. Parents were told.. 'No you can't smack the kids'....Teachers were prevented from chastising kids in schools.. The police couldn't clip a troublemaker round the ear.. Kids had rights blah blah blah.. Well done Britain..You shall reap what you sow.. We have lost a whole generation.

I have spent the day brooding and arguing in my head. I don't know why, the kind of "Christians" who say things like this aren't interested at all in what I have to say (or what other people have experienced). I just can't get past this - seriously, smacking people upside the head and hitting our children is going to rectify a situation like this? Do you honestly want me to believe that the young men involved in this haven't already been abused by the adults around them? We are going to blame immigrants? I don't recall seeing many skinheads with dark skin, with kinky hair or with Asian features. In fact, I believe that the first deaths related to the riots were of three young men trying to protect their neighbours and judging from the father of one of the boys who was obviously originally from South Asia, I don't think it was the Asians who were responsible. I am SO SICK of ignorant people blaming the problems that we, those of us whose families have been around for generations, have created and allowed to fester.

The problem in England? Young men who have grown up in a society that tells them that they are utterly valueless. They are born to mothers who are using drugs/depressed/victims of abuse/hopeless, living in grim housing that looks like something post-nuclear apocalypse, taught a curriculum that ignores their learning disabilities/fetal alcohol syndrome/lack of early stimulation/emotional issues caused by lack of stability in their early years by teachers who are expected to drive a curriculum home to classes that are too large and too angry and they learn from their first school experiences that they are stupid and unworthy. They go to sleep at night listening to the social chaos around them and with no hope of a different future. They are fed constant messages that tell girls that their own value is in their sexuality and boys that they only prove their value through possessing stuff and bullying those around them. They quickly fall prey to messages that scapegoat immigrants as being the cause of the problems rather than a government system that has been mismanaged for years and an economy that has left so many behind as many industries that kept families going for generations disappear. I am in no way saying that they are right in their riots but to say that the problem is a lack of physical discipline is so utterly simplistic.

The saddest part? That we, as Christians, have missed the chance to change these futures. We could, if we tried, put across the message than rather than being worthless, these young men are created in God's image, they are loved and valued and have so much to contribute. We could have taught them how to think about others and developed their capacity to feel empathy instead of blind rage. We could have come alongside their mothers and changed the environments in which they are raised.

Yes, the Facebook poster was right - we are reaping what we have sown. Tragically, so many people are paying the price. For me, the only question is how we can change this and what I can do. I guess, no matter how much I disagree, I should thank the poster - she has really made me think about what I might do to help a child to feel his/her worth.

Yarn Along

2011-08-09T17:52:00.001-07:00

I have come to really love the weekly "Yarn Along", hosted by Ginny at Small Things. My list of holds at the library keeps getting longer and my knitting projects are getting done since I have a weekly goal of having something to post. It's so much fun. Thanks, Ginny!Knitting - this week, I pulled out an old sweater that I started about five years ago and then put away. It was so foolish all I had left to do is one and a half sleeves and the finishing (I hate finishing, probably one of the reasons it got put away). I had forgotten how much I truly love cables and since this one is knit up in a chunky yarn, it works up quickly. I don't know what I was thinking when I picked this colour since I think it will look awful on me but who knows, I might either discover it looks better than I think or it might make a nice gift for someone. Anyway, it's been satisfying to work on and it's got me really keen to start some other cable work that I want to do (but that won't be started until the end of the summer when I have money for yarn buying). As an aside, any Canadian knitters around here, if you have any good suggestions for online yarn buying sources, I would love to know.

Reading - The 19th Wife by David Ebersol. I LOVE this book. It was suggested to me by someone who has wonderful taste in books not that long ago who predicted that I would really like it. She was right. I haven't been able to put it down. It's two stories threading along at once - the story of Brigham Young's 19th wife who left him to become a staunch critic of polygamy and the story of a young man who was thrown out of a polygamous sect and whose mother is ultimately accused of killing his father and the young man's struggle to determine what really happened. I know almost nothing about the Latter Day Saints or their history and from the little bit of research this book has led me to do, it's pretty fascinating. It's also got me thinking a bit about my own tolerance - I find some of the aspects of it pretty bizarre and, well, ridiculous but then, I guess to an outsider, Christianity might seem that way, too. It's a good read and at half-way through, I can't put it down.

I can't wait to do some visiting and see what else everyone is knitting and reading this week!

Our First Movie

2011-08-09T17:21:00.000-07:00

I am please to say that we did make it to Winnie the Pooh. Pk was over the moon. Instead of going to one of the big Cineplex theatres, we ended up going to a small, art-deco theatre in a nearby town. I will definitely do that again. The matinee tickets were only $5, the sound in the theatre was just right (unlike the last few theatre movies I have seen, when I thought I might have to leave, it was so loud) and the popcorn was yummy. The movie itself wasn't anything terribly exciting but I did laugh out loud a few times and Pk thought it was marvelous. I love the story of Winnie the Pooh and its complexities (I plan to use it as my first read aloud this fall with my grade 2/3 class, it's much less simple than one would think) and yet, there was enough that Pk could understand that she enjoyed it, too.

It was a wonderful outing that we will definitely have to repeat again when another good film comes out - let me know if you know of anything that we might like!

When Life Gives you Lemons, Make Pizza

2011-08-05T17:29:00.000-07:00

The last few days have been tough. My anxiety has been out of control and our vacation up north to visit the in-laws wasn't exactly what it was supposed to be. We left Tuesday after lunch. Just before we left, Dh mentioned that Little Bean had spit up a bit in the early morning and he had forgotten to tell me. Well, it turned into being much more than spitting up. In the car on the journey, he threw up hot dog three times and then, during dinner with my in-laws, he got sick again. We kept saying that we should probably come home and not infect them any more than we already had. The in-laws were wonderfully understanding and supportive and they wanted us to stay. We ended up with three days of children throwing up, endless amounts of laundry and not doing any of the things we had hoped to do.

Getting home wasn't much better. Just before we left, our dryer died. This is very bad news for us right now - as teachers, we don't get paid during the summer and the only money we get for the summer is given to us at the beginning of the summer. Given that the summer payment comes from money held back from money earned during the school year and the fact that I only worked two months due to mat leave, I didn't get much at all for the summer. Things are TIGHT. We have insurance on our appliances but the utility company that holds the insurance contracts out to another company to do the repairs. Dh called and booked the service call last Monday. They were set to come this morning. Imagine our surprise when we got home yesterday to a message form the sub-contractors, wanting to book the appointment. It took a great deal of calling to get them to come. Add to that the fact that Little Bean threw up in the night last night and woke up this morning covered in vomit, the fact that dh left his trunk of his car ajar while we were away and the car battery was totally dead this morning and the fact that we then couldn't get the clock in the car to work again (which we feared was going to relate to a bigger and more expensive to fix problem), I was having quite the pity-party this morning.

By lunchtime today, I was pretty upset so I decided that Pk and I were going to do something special. She has been talking for a while about wanting to see a movie at the theatre. I have held off a bit, not sure of what to take her to. I'm not a big Disney fan and I find a lot of films for kids are actually not especially good for little ones. When I saw that "Winnie the Pooh" was coming, I wanted her to see it. I decided that today was the day. I had checked last night and seen that it was playing at our local cinema at 1:45 and I had a coupon for two... this would be perfect.

Pk was over the moon. We had lunch, drove into town and arrived at the theatre. She was humming with excitement. We walked in, I looked at the listings and (I'm sure you can see it coming), no "Winnie". I got up to the counter, asked, and was told "they pulled the movie today." I was crushed (I think it hurt me more than Pk, she was brilliant). I decided to get her a fruit smoothie on the way home (one of her favs), which she dumped into the carseat on the way home. Could this day get any worse?

I drove home in tears, wanting to do nothing more than just go back to bed. I really struggled with myself. I had no money, no ideas and a day that was a shambles. Finally, I decided that I had to do something to make the day better. I wanted to treat the kids to a nice dinner but, in the midst of it all, dh forgot to take the meat out of the freezer for dinner so we didn't even have something planned.

I finally decided what to do. We have been making all of our bread in our bread machine lately. I want to control what the kids are eating and I have been finding it really hard to get bread that wasn't full of additives. We have gotten pretty good at making bread, now, I wanted to try pizza dough. It's not a big thing but it made me feel like we were actually doing something and something that the kids would like.

I used this recipe and while I wasn't sure that it was going to work, I have to say, the final result was delicious. I changed the recipe a bit and instead of using part whole wheat, part white flour, we did all whole wheat. Dh and the kids had their favourite - tomato sauce, ground beef and lots and lots of cheese. My part was more to my liking - pesto, parmesan, black olives and sundried tomatoes. It was delicious (and, it seemed to change our luck - the car started working and it turns out that the only problem with the dryer was a loose belt).

I really have to watch myself. It's so easy to be mired in a bad day and to let the frustration I am feeling ruin everything. I'm proud of myself that I ended up turning things around. And the nice part? My friend, the one who lost her husband to cancer last year and has been feeling really blue, found a wonderful, quaint local theatre that is showing Winnie and she (who is 65 and lonely and not a kid person), is going to come with Pk and I. That will end up being more special for us and, I hope, something special and memorable for her, too. It's been a real gift - I didn't know whether our friendship would survive my having kids but if anything, it's enriched it. She and Pk are kindred spirits I think (she's not gushy or in-your-face and neither is Pk - even when Pk made strange with everyone, she loved her "Grannie Annie", who has spoiled her rotten). I love feeling grateful at the end of a terrible day.

Happiness Project, Month 2 Wrap-Up, Month 3

2011-08-01T07:25:00.001-07:00

This has been a good month but I have to admit, the "clearing clutter" challenge was a lot more daunting that I thought it would be. After a month of lots of clearing out, we still haven't put the Bumbo, the wonderful swing, the bouncer or the blood pressure monitor on Craigslist, we haven't held the garage sale and all of my clearing out has been limited to the main floor (and our rec room downstairs is definitely the house dumping ground and really needs a clear out). Clearing clutter has definitely given me a sense of accomplishment and I love opening a closet door and not having an avalanche. It's also been cathartic to me, I think, to get rid of baby stuff - that forces me to move on past that faint wish for another little one (although, to be honest, as Little Bean's sleep improves and the further from the memories of pregnancy and delivery I get, the less nostagically I look back, I really don't want to do that again).

My biggest struggle, really, is to make peace with the fact that, as long as we have little ones, life will not be clutter free. I love seeing a house that isn't scattered with thousands of toys (I curse all of you who have given us party loot bags!) and I really like to be able to have company in without having to do an all-day cleaning fest beforehand. In the back of my mind, I am often thinking of the Christian idea of hospitality and thinking that my house should always be guest-ready to be hospitable. I think the true secret to happiness in all of this is to let go of those expectations and accept that a cleared-off place to sit, a cup of tea and a yummy snack in the midst of toy clutter might be the best I can offer right now.

The next's month's theme is one that I am really feeling the need for right now. Faith. My anxiety levels have been really, really obsessively high (yes, I need to talk to my doctor about it, we may joke with friends about me being a worrier but frankly, the feeling of impending doom that I seem to live with at times really is rather crushing). I think that if I can find a way to pray about things and then release that, it will really help me. I have already started trying to do a few things to put more of an emphasis on my faith and they do bring me peace. Now, it's time to take a month to be really deliberate about it and see if I can turn this into a series of good habits.

1. Read the Bible for a few minutes each morning when I first get up (which I often do but when life gets busy and kids get up early, this is easy to let slide).

2. Write in my prayer journal every morning. I record my prayer requests and then go back and review them every so often to see how things have turned it. It's a chance to see clear evidence of God's faithfulness. Again, I do this sometimes but it often gets missed in the craziness of the day.

3. Do a daily Bible reading with the kids, maybe in a devotional format. Pk and I did this regularly before bedtime but we have gotten out of the habit lately (I must admit, I get so tired, I am often trying to get bedtime over with as it seems to drag out). I'd like to do a little Bible story and prayer time each morning.

4. Try and do a social thing with church friends once a month. I have many friends who aren't devout Christians (which is just fine, many of them offer me friendship that is at least as supportive and heart-affirming as my Christian friends) but sometimes, it is nice to have those special friendships. This should be fairly easy, as a group of us who live in town are doing a monthly dinner club anyway.

I'd love to hear what you do with your own kids for devotions, if you do them. Along the way, Pk and I have been pretty good about it and when I was off on leave, we did lots of work but since I have gone back to work, it has slipped.

Have a happy August!

Yarn Along

2011-08-01T03:15:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to be able to write my "Yarn Along" post on Wednesday so I wanted to write it today. Ginny, over at "Small Things", hosts a wonderful weekly challenge and link-up - to take a photo of what we are reading and knitting to share. I love this - the only problem for me is the fact that my list of books I want to read is getting awfully long.

This week, I have taken a break from my knitting on Pk's tunic to work on some knitted soft balls for a friend's baby. We were going up north for a cottage visit and they were the perfect little project to work on in the car. My friend had seen the ones I made for Little Bean and fell in love with them so of course, I had to make her a set. The pattern comes from "Itty Bitty Toys" by Susan Anderson and couldn't be easier.

In terms of reading, I have been all over the place this week but settled in for this book, "An Irish Country Doctor" by Patrick Taylor. It had been given to be months and months ago by a friend who loved it. When I first started it, I liked it well enough but it just wasn't where I was at. Now, though, it is exactly the kind of thing I am looking for. Think James Herriot but rather than a vet, it's a doctor and in place of Yorkshire, it's Ulster. It's a lovely read.

What are you knitting and reading right now?

100 Things I Love

2011-07-30T11:29:00.000-07:00

A friend did a post yesterday that I thought was really fun. It's nothing complicated, just a list of 100 things that she likes. As someone who has done a gratitude journal at different times and who is in love with One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, this really shouldn't be very hard. Here's my list:

1. my husband, daughter and son (should that be 1, 2 and 3?)

2. my dog Chelsea's eyes

3. a purring cat

4. our family when we are all in my bed in the morning (that includes animals)

5. being up early and having a quiet house

6. tea, especially when served in china

7. Starbuck's Green Tea Latte

8. planning a knitting project

9. a book that I can't put down

10. trying new recipes

11. reading interesting blog posts about home and family

12. evening church services

13. fall

14. Christmas

15. giving food gifts

16. celebrating anything with my kids

17. down duvets

18. crisp, cool sheets

19. a long, hot shower

20. ice cream

21. vintage jazz

22. Pride by U2

23. Steel Magnolias, the film (it's boring, I know, but for some reason, I love it)

24. A Christmas Carol with Alaistair Simm

25. walks in the forest

26. sunrise

27. celery green

28. Lug bags

29. buying yarn or fabric

30. decorating for any holiday

31. eating food that I have picked

32. berries, especially strawberries

33. cheese, especially sharp cheese like extra old white or blue

34. pad thai

35. a few favourite hymns (e.g., Be Thou My Vision)

36. potluck dinners

37. pink gerbera daisies

38. cooking shows

39. M1-5 (called Spooks in England)

40. Lucy Maude Montgomery books

41. a good mystery (Elizabeth George, Anne Perry, Kathy Reichs)

42. photos

43. browsing old scrapbooks

44. visits with good friends

45. barbecues

46. reading stories with my kids

47. lots of pillows

48. candles

49. chocolate

50. gingerbread

51. spring asparagus

52. flowers from my own garden

53. long walks

54. shopping from a catalogue

55. taking my dogs to the forest

56. swimming in fresh water that is really clean

57. going on low-effort trips (e.g., visiting my in-laws in their lovely town)

58. organic baby stores

59. buying beauty products

60. my ipod

61. chocolate ginger

62. my own bed

63. reading until I fall asleep

64. time at home on a rainy day

65. thunderstorms (inside)

66. snowy days (as long as I don't have to drive)

67. nutmeg

68. oatmeal cookies

69. apples fresh from the tree

70. elegant hats

71. cable-knit sweaters

72. mary janes

73. wearing skirts

74. choosing books at the library

75. getting parcels in the mail

76. Rhapsody on a Theme by Paginini

77. Beethoven Piano Sonatas

78. what we call my "Dr. Zhivago" coat

79. sitting in the shade

80. making lists

81. CBC radio (talk only, I don't like their music)

82. fresh stationary

83. sunny mornings

84. east facing windows

85. getting my hair done

86. a really good pedicure

87. linen

88. snow on cedars

89. japanese maples

90. clothing blowing on a clothesline

91. laughing with friends

92. trains in the distance

93. the sound of crickets

94. rhubarb crisp

95. latin jazz

96. Pk in dresses

97. shopping at second hand stores

98. face powder in a compact

99. the Chrysler Building in N.Y.C.

100. people who smile

So, that's boring old me. I often feel like I am old beyond my years but I do like things calm, sedate and easy... I guess it's because so much of my life is so busy.

Thanks for the idea for the list, Sarah!

Another List Item

2011-07-30T03:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we got to strike another thing off our summer list and it was in such a marvelous way. We were invited to spend a day at the cottage of friends' up in Muskoka.

-swim in fresh water at least once (probably while visit my parents or the in-laws)

These are friends of ours from town but the funny thing is, I got to know the mom at the library with our eldest kids when they were babies and my husband, it turns out, works with her parents. This is the kind of family that I want our family to be when we all grow up - they are very close but in a loving, supportive sense, not in a cloying, sickly sweet sense. They are a family of individuals who genuinely like, respect and care for each other and the sense they have of belonging to something is palpable. The cottage has been the family getaway since the late 1970's. The father of my friend built the cottage, they had a road put in and have done all the work on the property. Being welcomed to the cottage felt like being welcomed into this wonderful family - it was so special. It also said something that Dh and I had such a great time, as neither of us are "cottage" type people - we like our hot showers with good water pressure, a/c and lack of grit just too much.

When we left our house, it was POURING rain. The Weather Network was predicting that when we got up north, it would clear and the forecast was actually correct. When we got to just outside the largest town in the area, the rain stopped and shortly after we arrived, the sun came out and the heat came up. It was a perfect cottage day.

Needless to say, Pk was very excited. Little Bean, not so much - it was about a 2-and-a-half hour drive and he wasn't thrilled.
I always associate going into cottage country with the appearance of the rock at the side of the road. I believe this is Canadian Shield country but I may be wrong.
The road in was a bit harrowing. The family put it in themselves (most of the cottages on this lake are water access) and it's very narrow (there's only room for one car). We were worried that we were in the wrong place but suddenly, the sign with the family's name appeared in front of us.
When we arrived, we got the tour. It's lakefront access with a sand bottom lake (at least at their beach) and set in the trees. You could see other cottages so you didn't feel eerily remote but you definitely had privacy.
Pk and B, her friend, immediately started to play in the water and we couldn't get them into their swimsuits fast enough.
Little Bean didn't want to be left out and he was in the water right away, too. It was a struggle to get him to wear his hat.
Luckily, good friends lent us a pair of lifejackets to take with us and thankfully, Pk didn't give us any struggle about wearing hers, unlike her little brother, who flat out refused.
The babies had fun sitting together on the raft. They are so funny to watch playing together!

Little Bean was not a fan of the float.

Pk wasn't so keen either. She wanted to be jumping off the raft into the water, again and again.
This gorgeous, screened-in porch area was added for my friend's wedding (they have hosted the weddings of two of the three siblings here at the cottage). I don't think you would get me out of the porch if it were my cottage, other than for the odd swim. The shade was lovely and the view was breath-taking. While LB had his nap, I got to sit and knit in this area - divine!
They designed the cottage so that the lake could be seen from everywhere (the joke is that as long as you leave the bathroom door open, you can even see the lake from the loo).
Pk was desperate to go out in the boat and M, my friend's wonderful husband, was quick to oblige. He chauffeured the old kids around over and over again. They found a lovely family of ducks, got to scoop up tadpoles and visit a beaver dam. Pk was in heaven. He's also just so slightly paranoid about the safety of the kids, which was wonderful for me as mom- I knew that if they were with M, they would be totally safe in the boat. Pk also got to try a canoe but I missed getting photos of that.

Then, it was time for a ride in the big boat. Pk was heaven (she's such a rides girl). Dh and I each got a ride, too. The sun was really bright but the breeze from the water kept things comfortable.
Pk and her friend B had a marvelous time having all kinds of adventures. I love it when they play together. She has some friends with whom I feel like I need to wear a black and white striped top, since I am refereeing all the time. B and she, while they both have their three-and-a-half moments, really get along so well and have so much fun together. At times, it's "ah!" kind of sweet to watch.
Dh got a chance to fish, which he says that he used to do but hasn't in the time we have been together (just shy of 20 years!) He really his the Zen of fishing and it was hard to get him in. He was happy to catch three fish, all of which he put back. Pk found it fascinating.
This is the cottage. It's marvelous. It's roomy, well-designed, open-concept and a wonderful mix of rustic and comfortable. If I were to design one, I'd certainly copy this. The photos don't do it justice. But then, I love screened in porches.

The best part of the day? When we got home at 10:30, both kids were in bed asleep within 10 minutes and slept all night and after a quick shower to get tidied up, I had a glorious night sleep, too. I wouldn't want to be at the cottage all the time, I just don't have it in me but for a day, it was magical. Pk will remember the day forever, I think.
I lied - truly the best part? Having such great friends :-)

Yarn Along

2011-07-27T12:09:00.000-07:00

Each week, Ginny over at "Small Things" hosts the weekly yarn along - a place for all to post what they are knitting and what they are reading. Knitting and reading seem to go hand-in-hand, although I don't know why and it's fun to see what other people are working on and knitting.

This week, I haven't had much knitting time (and after this post, I plan on getting in some stitching!) I have begun the front of the tunic I am making for Pk and if I can get to work, I am hoping to have it done before the end of the summer. We shall see - so often, it feels like I either knit or blog, they don't seem to both happen.

My reading this week has been really interesting. I mentioned here a while ago that I had heard a lot of talk in the media about Amy Chua's book, "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" (I have to say, I know that book titles should be underlined and not put in quotations but I can't find how to do it). I was offended by a fair bit of what was reported and I wasn't going to go out of my way to read the book. I assumed that the book was designed to be controversial to generate sales.

This past week, I saw the book on the shelf at the library and decided that, since I had mentioned it here, I should read a bit. I have to say, I am truly captivated. It is not a "how-to" manual, as had been implied in the discussion of the book - it is a combination of a parenting memoir and an exploration of the dynamics of Chinese parenting. I have found it to be gripping. I can't decide whether I like Amy Chua or not - as a narrator, she often grabs my sympathy, in spite of myself, despite the fact that some of what she says is offensive and some of the things that she did with her children are horrible. As a teacher, I also find the book fascinating. I have dealt with many Asian parents who come across as being pushy, demanding and unwilling to accept the level of performance of their children. This book also has been asking myself questions about my own parenting and my most deeply held parenting beliefs.

I'm surprised at how much I am finding the book interesting and I would certainly suggest it as something that is worth a read.

Happiness Project Month 2 Check In

2011-07-26T02:27:00.001-07:00

To review, this month I have been working to clear out clutter. Gretchen Rubin is right, this is definitely a happiness generator. I began this month focusing on clearing out the kids' stuff. The baby stuff is now almost all gone (other than a couple of things that I want to list on Craigslist but haven't gotten organized to do yet). This week, the focus shifted to the kitchen, our bedroom and my recipe binders.

The kitchen was our first stop and to be honest, our motivation was at least as much the rotten potato smell that had just begun from our pantry cupboard. We have a bad habit of buying things that we think we will need without checking whether we actually need whatever it is, leading to thousands of boxes of pasta that are half filled and endless bottles of dh's salad dressing. It took us a good hour to get through it but it filled me with such a sense of satisfaction. The only pantry thing we need to really get to now is the spices. We have little spice jars but they are too little and we also have a spice rack. Now, we are at the point where we have a little jar of everything and then, on top of that, we have leftover bags of spices in cookie tins at the top of the cupboard (and I would imagine that everything is going to taste like curry powder before long). The plan we came up with yesterday, is that we are going to buy mason jars for all of the spices, we are going to label each on the top and we will put them in one our our pull-out shelves. I don't know whether we will get to it immediately but, if it works, it will make the spices easier to fine AND keep them tasting fresh.

Yesterday was a rainy, stormy day and it ended up being perfect for a big clean out of our bedroom. This was fun. Our room tends to get overlooked and I find that when I actually do get some time to sit down and go through it, it's a bit like meeting myself again - I stumble across things I chose to save for one reason for another, I browse through old small notebooks (I am a journaler and list-maker and while I don't write for others' eyes, it can be really fun to revisit myself - my favourite yesterday was a date journal I kept from 11 years ago, when Dh and I went for a monthly date to a different restaurant and film - I can't wait until the kids are old enough that we can leave them with a sitter and do that again).

We started with our closet. This photo does not do it justice but please note the sweaters that are all neatly organized and sorted up top. We pitched at least one garbage bag and have a couple of bags to go to the thrift store.

I significantly reduced the books on my desk and rearranged things a bit so that there wouldn't be an avalanche every time I tried to sit down to write.
We moved the co-sleeper out of our room since LB is now in his crib for the first part of the night and then I join him in the twin bed in his room. We were able to move the nursing rocker, my personal favourite of our rocking chairs, up into our room, since we aren't spending much time rocking anyone these days. It is the most comfortable chair in the house and I look forward to the day that I can find the time to sit and read in the bedroom in peace.
I also finally got around to the dining room. I tend to decorate in there seasonally - I do a big fall display that stays until it's time to get ready for Christmas, then a winter display, then Easter... Well, Easter got left for a LONG time since I got busy with going back to work and then, when I couldn't stand it anymore, the Easter stuff was removed but I didn't do anything to replace it. I finally got that sorted out and now, it looks so much cleaner!

So, another week and the house is definitely much more orderly and tidy than it was a week ago and our yard sale pile is getting bigger and bigger. Sadly, there's only another week in this month and then I have to move on... I hope I can get a few more jobs done because this month, I have gotten such a sense of satisfaction from my clearing out.

How to Survive a Hot Day

2011-07-21T17:28:00.000-07:00

I don't know about what the weather is like near you but in our area, today was incredibly hot. I don't know whether we actually broke the record but I know that we were close. I heard something like 37 degree celsius with a humidex over 48. I believe that is somewhere in the range of 120 degree farenheit. It was intense. We are spoiled in that we have central air conditioning so really, we didn't suffer that much but since I knew we were going to be stuck inside for most of the day, I wanted to come up with some real summer activities.

We started the day in a bit of a rush. Pk is doing a two week intensive swimming lesson session and we have to be up at the pool by 8:45. That may not sound like a huge accomplishment but given that I run, we both shower and the kids have to be dressed and fed, it's a bit of a crunch. Today was no exception, especially when we had to add in a photo session to get pics of LB in his new jammies (a gift from Dh's aunt in England - we always do thank you cards with photos).

Upon returning home, I had one job that I was determined to get done - cut some hydrangeas to go on the table. I love having fresh flowers in the house and they seem so summery. The plant is in a hidden corner of the property and gets missed every year - this year, I was determined to not miss the blossoms. Pk wanted some for her room, too, so we cut some for her to go in a little vase.
I tried to convince her to wear her shorts and blouse but she insisted on wearing "a princess dress". At first, I said no since everything was either double-layered or cotton-poly blends but then I remember this dress I had bought for $1 at Goodwill ages ago. It fit the fill perfectly.
When LB went down for his nap, Pk and I settled down to read in my room. We got through about 4 books before we both dozed off. There's nothing better than a nap on a hot afternoon.
When Pk got up, we did something that we have been talking about. She desperately wanted to do a lemonade stand. I don't know where she got the idea but she has been talking about it a lot so we planned it starting the other day. We mentioned to a few friends who said that they would swing by. I love our town, we had several very, very kind adults stop for lemonade and a chat. People are so supportive of other peoples' kids, it really gave me a smile.

Finally, we rounded out the day with the most delicious pudding pops. I got the idea from Laura at Heavenly Homemakers, who has some of the yummiest healthy recipes, including these fantastic healthy puddings. The pudding we made here was the vanilla one, sweetened with maple syrup. I can't tell you how delicious these are! Both kids (and our guests' children) LOVED them!

I had meant to buy some watermelon, too (yet another perfect summer day treat) but we just ran out of steam.

I hope you managed to stay cool today!

Yarn Along

2011-07-20T17:00:00.000-07:00

I love this idea. It comes from Ginny at Small Things. The idea is to share a photo of some knitting that you are working on and what you are reading. I don't quite know why knitting and reading go so well together, given that I haven't managed, yet, to figure out how to knit and read at the same time but somehow, they do seem to go together. Maybe it's just the fact that both seem to harken to stolen quiet moments, which for me right now, are so few and far between and something most definitely to be treasured.

I finished the back to the tunic I am making for Pk yesterday (and this evening, got a good start on the front). It isn't the most practical garment but it's awfully pretty, I think. I love working with bamboo and this pattern is pretty but doesn't involve too much complicated counted, which is a nice bonus.

In terms of reading, I am bouncing between several books at the moment, as usual. I always have at least one novel and one non-fiction book, usually faith and/or parenting related and this week is no exception. "Sacred Parenting" has been wonderful so far. I have to admit, it's a bit slow going for me since I need to be in the right quiet headspace for it and I just haven't been there of late. "Cast of Characters" by Max Lucado is wonderful!!! I have a new, very good friend who has no experience of church or Christianity who has decided to become a Christian. She has many questions about the Bible and I have been looking for some reading for her that starts easy but that I am comfortable with. This book is marvelous - profiles and discussions of major Biblical characters and as always, Max Lucado helps me to see things in new ways. My fiction reading, "The Quilter's Holiday" by Jennifer Chiaverini, is brilliant. I LOVE her books and her characters and she always manages to make me want to get out some quilting, even though I am most definitely a knitter at heart. Her books make me want to think about really matters and focus on that - family, friendship and, of course, crafting!

I'm off to check out some other Yarn Along blogs. Thanks for visiting if you are just stopping by!

I Confess...

2011-07-19T16:36:00.001-07:00

I confess, I have become exactly what I always said that I wouldn't - I am a mini-van-driving, mommy-sticker-porting, spit-on-a-kleenex mom. I'm harried and harassed and always going in six directions and lucky to remember to brush my teeth. The crazy thing is, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Let's just hope that I can still keep a bit of the old me in there - sometimes, I feel a bit like I got lost in my life. I'm guessing that some sleep and being able to put a little man to bed without nursing will help to fix that worry.

My Dirt-Lovin' Little Man

2011-07-19T10:30:00.001-07:00

When I had a little boy, my friends warned me that boys are very different from girls. These are not friends who have determined, fixed gender assignments for their children, these were very progressive women who would have been quite happy to have a boy who played with dolls, loved musical theatre and whose favourite colour was pink. I was warned (maybe warned isn't the word but I haven't come up with a better one) that my life would be filled with diggers, dinosaurs and defense (although that won't be happening in this house, we are not a pro-violence family).

It's been amusing to see how right they are. LB might be just a year old but already, we can clearly see that we have two VERY different creatures inhabiting our house. Reading is a contact sport, balls and wheels are where it's at and, most of all, dirt is something that needs to be explored in a close-up and personal kind of way, best if it can be explored with all five senses.

This is so much fun. I love having a girl and I love having a boy - while I would have been happy to have two of one gender, I must confess, this is so much fun!

(This photo was taken just before the handful of dirt was put into his mouth)

(Sadly, this doesn't capture the amount of sand around his mouth - or that emerged in his diaper)

(this pirate ship water table BLEW HIS MIND)

(I am not kidding, we had to stop to change his diaper and I decided to bang his shorts against the side of the car to get the dust out - there were clouds that harken back to drought sandstorms from the 1930's)

(Visiting my m.i.l's hair salon, his feet were BLACK)

So, while I may inhabit a world of tiaras, tulle and tea parties, I also get to see how the other half lives.