School Service Saturday

The first Saturday in December the junior high students in our school always put on a Service Saturday, led by a special teacher *Mrs. C*.
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This year the Service Saturday took on more of a Christmas Fair format with all the money going to local charities.
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Steven signed up to work the bake sale.
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Jaclyn preferred the traditional Service Saturday activities from when she was in junior high. She likes direct service better than being entertained and having the money raised go to charity, so she helped pack up warmth and hygiene kits for the homeless.
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Carmen and Chloe were happy to be entertained!
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The hay ride was a big hit.
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As was the cookie decorating,
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And writing letters to Santa, which the junior high students respond to. Chloe should be getting a return letter in the mail this week.
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The Angel Tree was up. Apparently we were very quick on the draw for the Angel Tree this year. The jr. high students also spent a lot of time wrapping coins brought in by families to donate to Change for Change.
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We were done with the Christmas Fair before Steven was done with his shift working the bake sale, so we went out to the playground while we waited. It was hard to get a good photo of the playground and the mountains: the good mountain view is just to the right of this picture. It is an idyllic setting for a school.
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The little girls have been wanting to share their new equipment with me for quite a while, and they were pleased to show off a little.

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I can't believe the brown winter we've had so far, but I certainly appreciated it when I had to run to 5 different stores later on Saturday to buy materials for a school project for Jaclyn. I was very glad not to be bracing against the cold or driving on ice and snow.

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Somehow I had a change of heart when yesterday I walked out of church to this (in strappy little shoes and bare feet). My first thought was: Finally!

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It will be a White Christmas.

Friday Night

Everything that's ever been said about the little black dress is true. Last night I wore mine to Ken's office Christmas party for the 7th year in a row, and I felt great! Why would I ever buy another party dress when I have the perfect little black dress?

SPT: Showing the Love

Each year our school puts up an Angel Tree filled with wishes for less fortunate kids. Students can choose an angel off the tree and then buy the wish-list item for the less fortunate child in our community. My littles just figured out this year that the Angel Tree gifts go to students at their own school - they were a little surprised by this and didn't know that there are families in need so close to home.

For me Christmas & fine arts go together like hot chocolate & whipping cream. Imagine my pleasure as we drove downtown this unseasonably warm evening amid twinkling Christmas lights, beginning the month of December with Carmen and Chloe's choir singing in the Knox United Church Carol Festival.

The event was great, or as Steven would tell you: not as bad as he thought it would be. The performances were inspiring and there was sing-along time between the choirs - naturally, Steven joined in on the singing when he knew a funny version.

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Carmen is a performance-night singer (fine arts version of a game-day player), and enjoyed herself despite the discomfort of new black pants.

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It seems that the choir director has spoken to Chloe about not dancing while singing, which I think is a shame, but there you have it. The director must have her creative control I suppose. [Chloe found humor in the title another choir sang, Oh Tannenbaum, and desperately wants to sing Oh Tannenbum when we go delivering our chocolates and caroling as a family.]

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Jaclyn had a friend in the audience who was there to hear his own sister sing in the LDS Institute Choir. The boy's presence was endlessly fascinating to my younger girls who seem overly interested in Jaclyn's current social stage-of-life.

SPT (via cell phone)

SPT - Lest We Forget

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In Flanders Fields

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In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

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We are the dead.

Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved, and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

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Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

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— Lt.-Col. John McCrae

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Every Canadian school child knows this poem written by a WWI Canadian army physician in 1915. Wearing a Flanders Poppy for the first eleven days of November is a tradition that means a lot to me. Today, Remembrance Day, is our day to remember and honor the fallen soldiers who have protected our freedom at home and abroad. If you walk down the streets of a Canadian city in the first part of November everyone you pass will be wearing a poppy.

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Today we had a unique experience . My kids and I tagged along with a home school group on their Remembrance Day field trip (thanks for thinking of me Tania and bringing us in on this).

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This fellow, Mark, is a WWI buff who used to work at the Museum of the Regiments. He was saddened by the lack of young people at Remembrance Day ceremonies at the Museum and decided he needed to create something more interactive that would engage young people in appreciating the sacrifices made for them by Canadian soldiers.

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So he created a real life replica of WWI trench warfare.

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At first Chloe was excited to be out of doors,

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until she noticed the smell. Mark had arrived earlier and lit fires all around the trenches, burning moss to create some stink and smoke. It was very effective, though not as smoky and stinky as it would have been in real trench warfare.

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Carmen peering out of the bunker that gave a view of the battlefield that fell away down the hill.

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A soldier would dig himself some shelter in the side of a trench where he might sleep.

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Steven in a crater - as if from a bomb.

(yes, Steven's friend wore shorts)

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Craters were created by bombing meant to tear apart the barbed wire, and thereby allow soldiers through to gain ground against the enemy.

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At the beginning of the afternoon we had all drawn a colored paper from Mark's helmet. At the end we discovered that those who had drawn red had been killed (about 25 of us) those who had drawn blue were the injured, blind and amputees (about 8 individuals) and Jaclyn, who had drawn a green paper, survived WWI as a soldier - whole in body and mind.

Everything I needed to know Chloe learned in 2nd grade

I've had the worst time hanging onto my poppy this year. I keep losing it - especially when I get out of the car because my seat belt drags it off.
This morning I was pinning Chloe's poppy on her dress and she said, "That's not how my teacher does it." She then proceeded to explain the brilliant 2nd grade teacher method:
In (through the fabric), out (making a new second hole in the poppy), in (3rd hole in the poppy - just through the poppy this time, not into the fabric). The black center hides the pin weaving through the red poppy.
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Now if I want to take my poppy off I have to remove the pin completely, pulling from the head of the pin. Sweet.
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In other news:
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It's this time of year again . . .

Good Mail

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Some good mail came my way in October:

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Amanda sent me a card with her beautiful penmanship inside, Jill made me a personalized batch of note cards, Michelle sent an autumn card that reminded me to get out and enjoy the beautiful fall weather, and Michelle sent me her fabulous gift tags (a Canada Post worker out there somewhere has some terrific Christmas gift tags - I'm so glad he didn't steal my birthday ones!).

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I have fallen out of the good mail habit, but good mail begets good mail and I am recommitted! Thanks to each of you for brightening my mailbox.

Toughest Loss of the Season

Steven had his final football game this morning.

It was a close game all along. Really a great game.

Scottie was amazing!

But the Falcons scored a touchdown that put them in the lead with only 2 minutes left in the game, and that remained the final score: 38-30.

It's a little hard to enjoy a silver medal moment when the team standing twenty yards across are being awarded gold medals.

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For me the best part was when we pulled up to the house afterwards: Steven took the time to thank Ken and I for supporting him through the season and coming to all of his games. Thanks for making me feel like a winner, Steve. You're a champ.

Schmalloween

I am all Halloween'd out and the trick-or-treat-ing hasn't even started!

In the last week we had a ward party, a friend party, and today was the costume parade at school:



The mustache really made the mountie costume.

Three different minor football teams were represented in Steven's school class.

Chloe wore the tiger costume that I bought for Jaclyn 10 years ago. I remember I really stressed myself out over the $20 price tag on this costume, but I justified the purchase by telling myself that all my children would wear it. As it turns out this costume cost me $5/kid - a number I would have been comfortable with even 10 years ago.

As for Jaclyn, she went to a Halloween party at a friend's house last night (today was a day off for high school). Her last minute costume decision was to buy a witch hat at the dollar store, wear her normal clothes, and call herself Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

SPT

#28 from my 100 list: "I'm not so picky about having a clean car."

But Ken is - we balance each other off nicely.

Birthday Cake

Every year either Christy or Sue treat me with my favorite birthday cake:

Gingerbread Cake with Lemon Sauce and Whipped Cream

The Cake:

Cream together:
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup molasses

Add:
1 egg

Sift together, then add to wet ingredients:
2 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt

Lastly mix in:
1 cup hot water

Bake in a 9x13 pan at 350' for 35 minutes.


The Lemon Sauce:

Sift together:
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp cornstarch

Add to a pan of:
2 cups boiling water

Boil till thick, then remove from heat and stir in:
4 Tbsp butter
2 tsp vanilla
3 Tbsp lemon juice


The Whipped Cream:

oh c'mon you already know this one


The only picture I could trouble myself to take:



Sorry about that.

Wide Receiver

Steven wishes I'd caught the QB in this series of photos, but that's not the boy I was watching!

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The fact that I missed the QB throwing the pass means it must have been at least 20 yards.

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I assume Steven's teammates were busy blocking for the QB, because there wasn't anyone around to block for him.

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You can't hear me (Or Ken, Or Truman's family) yelling at

this point.

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So I'll just type it out: GO STEVEN!

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He made it past the corner back,

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but here came the safety.

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Boys find this fun.

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(Her son, I presume.)

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A small load off my mind and memory card

Chloe wasn't too happy that I put her in skating lessons again this fall. Neither was I - I thought we were done with skating lessons in this house - but she somehow forgot how to skate, so here we go again. She really didn't like my explanation for mandatory skating lessons: I told her it is a life skill. (Our school does a skating field trip for every grade every year. That's a lot of skating even by Canadian standards.)
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I was thinking Chloe is looking like a hockey player with her front tooth missing, but now that I've got the picture up on the computer I see that she' s a little too cute to be a hockey player.
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Besides, the curlers under the helmet take away from the hockey player effect.

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Jaclyn turned 15 last weekend and held a classic teen boy/girl party.

No decorations. No party games (unless you count Wii). Just pizza, cake, and hanging out. And going to the park. Because somehow that didn't feel too juvenile?

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It turns out I really go for a man in coveralls.

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Our federal election is coming up on Tuesday. I'm not going to give you a lesson on the parliamentary system, but I will tell you I am one of the few Canadians who has the opportunity to vote directly for (or against) our Prime Minister.

SPT[h]

Perhaps I should have highlighted #9 in my list of 100 things about me since today is the 9th, but I am sticking to the challenge as given (this week anyhow) so here is #7 on my list:

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I buy one pair of casual shoes and wear them nearly every day till they're worn out, about 2 years, and then I buy another pair.

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I actually think I've been wearing these shoes for 3 years. They're not exactly sea-worthy anymore.

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I have a regular date at Winners on Tuesday afternoons during Jaclyn's piano lesson (unless I need to go to the grocery store during that time) and last week I found the next installment for my standard shoe-wear. I may break with tradition, though, and see if I can find a second pair of shoes in brown because it might be cheaper than buying myself a new black belt and black purse for those times that I feel I need to get all my leathers coordinated.
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Just let me finish up by sending a shout out to April for converting me to Moleskin back in May. It turns out I'm one of those knucklehead kids who ignore parental advice, but adhere to the very same advice when given by a friend.

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