Blog Archives

Happy Thanksgiving!

10/10/2011

A glorious weekend and three thanksgiving dinners -- lots to be thankful for!

Perhaps the most chaotic moment of the weekend occured at Turkey Point, where the boys were reunited with their cousins. (All 8 of them!) Trevor's parents took advantage of this rare opportunity to see the full membership of three generations in one locale, and attempted to corral everone for a group shot in front of the house.

0 Comments

Vote!

10/6/2011

0 Comments

We almost didn’t fit it in today, our civic duty… between work and medical appts and picking the kids up from daycare and making dinner and dropping one kid off at basketball and walking the dog and doing German homework with the other kid and making a long overdue phone call and preparing lunches for tomorrow and doing my marking for school and and and…

But after harassing various anti-voting friends and work colleagues for the past several weeks, both Trevor and I felt compelled to squeeze it in somehow, and am I ever glad we did!

What an exciting experience it was to arrive at our local community centre and be

0 Comments

Brilliance is a Humbling Experience!

10/4/2011

0 Comments

I sent home a math test the other night. I was very impressed with myself, because I had crafted a thoughtful cover letter for each family -- four differentiated versions of the positively worded letter indicated the level of the student's demonstrated understanding of the math concepts in this unit, and asked families to sign and return the bottom portion, so I would know they had seen it. A highlight of my parent communication indeed!

Ahhhh, but had I only considered the consequences of such a letter...

You see, although I had included the child's or family's name at the top of each letter, the tear-off at the bottom left space only for the signature of an adult. It was an interesting way to spend my lunch period, hunting down which student each of the 17 encrypted tear-offs belonged to. (At least tomorrow I can use process of elimenation to help with the stragglers, hehe.)

I must confess, my brilliance can sometimes be a difficult burden!

0 Comments

Mr. Biddle's Strange Desires

10/3/2011

0 Comments

We found ourselves in the unusual situation at the end of this day of having a few spare minutes. So, I pulled out the ol' Mr. Biddle trick from Joanne Myer's "Mind Games" session, picked up at a Primary AQ course I took in Toronto many moons ago.

As the students sat on the carpet in front of me, I wrote "Mr. Biddle" on the chart paper, and made two columns underneath. I told the kids that my imaginary friend Mr. Biddle has some strange likes and dislikes. For example, I began, he likes zippers and buttons, but not laces. I wrote these three words under the

0 Comments

Riding in the Rain

10/2/2011

0 Comments

Thanks to an "anonymous elderly patron", as he likes me to refer to him, I recently became the proud owner of a snazzy new bike. And thanks to that patron's dear friend, who has become an integral part of our own family, I also became the proud owner of some waterproof panniers (the bags that attach to the rack on the back of a bike) and waterproof pants. Although I have been riding to work (roughly 12 km) about twice a week since I got my new bike, today was the first time I really used those pants, and wow, are they ever GOOD!!!

I met a friend for lunch after church, and as my husband and kids were heading out of town for the afternoon, I took my bike, even though it was pouring rain. My amazing bike took me from church to lunch in 7 minutes, through puddles and slipperly streets, without incident, and my pants kept me warm and dry. Amazing! And when I arrived at the restaurant and tied my trusty steed to the nearest pole and removed my bag from the rack, I was pleased to discover the contents bone dry.

I can hardly believe it: It would appear that I am turning from a person who rides a bike (as my girlfriend likes to refer to occasional riders) into a serious, hard-core cyclist!!!

0 Comments

Five Boys + Two More Photo Shoot

10/2/2011

1 Comment

Got to hang out with Vida's gang this morning, thanks to photographer Cristina from BoyGirl Photography, who donated her time and talents to capture the twins/triplets on film. Click the first photo below for a self-guided tour: