12/31/2016

Out with the old in 2016 (old worn out register covers --this one was literally just placed on top of the vent) and in with the new!

I bought these register covers on a smoking good deal (3 for $18.99) and they look pretty sharp with our new flooring, paint, and baseboards.

May today be brighter.... what a fitting end to the year as we aspire to be brighter, change old habits, and begin anew. 

That's a wrap on 2016. I think this will be my last photo a day blog as this year was often a little tough to think of things to add to my regular blog and still have something to post here. I plan to continue posting on my main blog each day but have all the posts in one place instead of spread out between two places.

Thanks for following along!

12/30/2016

Kaden shovelled the snow the plow left behind before he headed off to the Moose game this evening....

12/29/2016

How we looked when our plan to go to Thermea didn't pan out.....

12/28/2016

Kiandra was a cheerful helper as Conrad and I spent some Christmas money on a new dresser for our room:

12/27/2016

Grad dress for Kezia--check!

12/26/2016

I *may* have sat in the house and watched my girls attempt to get to work this morning after the blizzard. They have incredible team work and persistence and a funny story to go with this after they drove around the corner and out of my view...it involves Kiandra driving and not wanting to stop for fear of getting stuck and Kezia running alongside of the car and hopping in as it was going...They made it to work with 3 minutes to spare.

12/25/2016

Christmas morning:

12/24/2016

Christmas Eve Service at church this evening....

12/23/2016

First day of the Christmas break....and here's what I have to show for it:

12/22/2016

Looked at another house today...

...not a winner so we keep looking...

12/21/2016

Like Father, like daughter...they don't like the Christmas crowds in the mall....

12/20/2016

My sister-in-law started a Family snap chat group and today Kaden added this to the group:

He's showing off his awesome Euphonium skills and the new hair cut he got last night...

12/19/2016

When you leave your phone in the Staff Room unattended....you might find this picture of the principal and the gym teacher when you look through your camera roll....

12/18/2016

Fourth Sunday of Advent....Love.

12/17/2016

Kezia has been pretty busy these last few weekends. Today was the first Saturday of "crew" as she works behind the scenes to build sets for the musical in March. She has shopping plans with friends after crew and then works at 4:30. Still, she manages to get it all done....

12/16/2016

It was a different kind of date night tonight...Kaden and I had stopped to pick up the cabinets for the ensuite and then Conrad and I built two of them this evening. Everything is really starting to come together from broken to beautiful!

12/15/2016

My teacher peeps and I were dressed "Merry and Bright" for the second dress rehearsal today!

12/14/2016

Kiandra is an awesome movie maker. After I had filmed all of the staff snippets for the Veggie Tales theme song that we plan to play at the Christmas concert tomorrow night, Kiandra put it all together into an awesome movie. She completed it in less than an hour. She is awesome!

12/13/2016

Every year I tweak and change some of my activities to fit with my students and what they need. It would be much simpler just to do the exact same thing each year but each year brings a different set of skills and personalities to my classroom family. This was a new activity for this year using some of the existing cards I have from a different activity. We are working on learning our higher numbers (and writing our numbers the right way) and this helps them sort them in numerical order and then record them. I love my job.

12/12/2016

It's official! This girl is a certified WSI certificate holder. She now can lifeguard AND teach swimming lessons!

12/11/2016

Third Sunday of Advent....Joy.

I loved the message of today's sermon today. Pastor Dan talked about the three reactions to the birth of Jesus as told to us in the Bible.

Herod: fear (afraid of being taken over by a more powerful King)

Herod's advisors and scholars: indifference (they knew but didn't care or desire to find Jesus too)

Wise men: Joy and Worship (didn't stop searching, fell down and worshiped with gifts)

He asked us to honestly consider our reaction to Jesus' birth this Christmas....

12/10/2016

Conrad does the big things on the house like the flooring and the building. I do the smaller things like the painting and the final touches. We make a good team. I chose, and hung, this toilet paper holder for our ensuite today. It's a radical improvement from the half holder we had before where we just stuck the toilet paper roll sticking straight out on the half part that had not fallen off the wall.

12/9/2016

It's our school Christmas concert next week and we're presenting a Veggie Tales Christmas. There was an idea to film snippets of all the staff and put it together to the Veggie Tales theme song and then play it at the concert. I don't know what was more funny today....the fact that my friend Sheralyn and I waltzed up and down the produce aisle at Walmart with a sack of potatoes.....or the reaction of Kaden when I asked him to film us doing it....

Kaden (after walking over after school): What time are we leaving school today?
Me: by 4:30
Kaden: ok
Me: oh but we just need to make a stop at Walmart so you can video tape me and (Sheralyn) dancing in the aisles.
Kaden: (not even batting an eye) ok

He is a great sport and just always follows my lead without even questioning the crazy antics that I drag him into. :)

12/8/2016

I came home after school (and Kaden's Driver's Ed) to find my girls all set up doing a photo shoot in Kezia's room with the camera that Kezia had bought last weekend for $2. I helped hold the 2 lamps to get the lighting "just right" and they posted this picture to their 7_is_greater_than_Instagram account.

12/7/2016

I worry.
Often.
Too much.
And lots of times without a really good reason.

Today, however, with all of the snow we've had in the past 2 days and the fact that school buses weren't running I worried about Kaden's first in-car driving experience. He drove from 3:30-5:30 and survived. I need to remember that God is in control of every situation. He is with me and I have nothing to fear....Easier said than done....

12/6/2016

The time I was stuck in the school parking lot and the Principal's two daughters ( who work at the day care in our school) came to my rescue and helped push me out! Girl Power! *fist bump*

12/5/2016

Kiandra lives in joy every. single. day. Today she received her gift for getting "Employee of the Month". Since they knew she had just bought a car, they gave her a gas gift card and a 'smile' paperweight that the manager chose especially for Kiandra. I'm thankful for Kiandra's joy and everything that she puts into her job each time that she works.

12/4/2016

That time my friend Tammy and I showed up to church in matching stripes!

12/3/2016

We've been working on the flooring room by room over the last few weeks and today we started in our bedroom and ensuite. The cats don't quite know what to make of these renovations....

12/2/2016

Kiandra and Kezia were up an out the door early today as they set out with their friend Jenna to surprise Jenna's sister Kara who is attending Bible College 8 hours away.

12/1/2016

Early morning ortho appointment for Kaden and Conrad sent me this snap...they know me well...

11/30/2016

November was a busy month at work for Conrad....

11/29/2016

Flooring (finally!) going down in Kezia's room! She's been sleeping in her bed in the living room since last week.

11/28/2016

Driving home from school on the last Monday in November and it's 3 degrees above zero?!

11/26/2016

Kiandra completed her WSI (water safety instructor) course today and is officially a swimming instructor now! She is now eligible to apply to work at our city pools if she wants to.

11/26/2016

We have been in the midst of house renovations now for 2 weeks. We are creating a new space and wondering where God will move us to be....

11/25/2016

Date night! These fried pickles were HUGE!

11/24/2016

Conrad spent his "day off" today working on the house. He is installing flooring on the entire main floor and has to move the furniture around to do each room. He is awesome!

11/23/2016

Kaden bought tickets to a hockey game for Conrad's birthday and because we had a BOGO from the show and save coupon book he splurged on front row seats and this was their view....

11/22/2016

With the main floor of the house undergoing renovations, Kiandra had to improvise a table to eat her supper...

11/21/2016

Today Kiandra offered to come to school to help in my classroom and she also was able to drive some of Kaden's volleyball team to the game after school. When she arrived, she brought me a surprise! I am blessed and lucky!

11/20/2016

Conrad makes things beautiful....flooring installation began tonight...

11/19/2016

It was 25 years ago today that Conrad first asked me out. Tonight we "celebrated" by putting in flooring (him) and painting closet doors (me). We've worked hard on home renovations AND our relationship and I am so thankful for the last 25 years and look forward to many more opportunities to work hard.

11/18/2016

I was back at The Home Depot (again!) and found out that they were offering a $10 mail in rebate for every can sold this week....but I bought 9 gallons LAST week. The paint person said I should bring in the receipt and get it adjusted and I did...and they did! Woohoo! A $90 rebate is coming my way!

11/17/2017

Required parent night for Driver's Ed this evening. I couldn't help but smile at the truth of this PowerPoint slide during the presentation....

11/16/2016

This guy is amazing....

11/15/2016

Do my school families know me or what?! I also got 2 other cans from families of former students because they know how much cherry coke is my favourite.

11/14/2016

I'm getting pretty good at Monday morning journals! ;)

11/13/2016

Conrad started putting everything back together after painting and Jewlsey thought Conrad was making her a personal cat climbing gym.

11/12/2016

It's hard to believe Kaden's team has won 3 games in a row AND they've scored 9 games each game...2 of this afternoon's goals were Kaden's.