THE LUCKIEST AUNTIE

Took a quick visit up to Williams Lake for Christmas to spend time with my family. I was able to spend some top notch quality time with the cutest nephew and new niece. I love being an Auntie!

Baby Rowan- only a month old- too precious!

Parker- Santa's little helper!

Playing Pass the Pigs with Aunite Heather- and he beat me!

Sweet baby girl

BITS & PIECES OF DECEMBER LIFE

Still sporting my news bangs- and lovin' them.

Been really busy at work with Christmas prep. I made various crafts with the students, in the hopes that they would give these handmade treasures to someone special like their parents, Grandparents, siblings,etc.

First up- bracelets, with what we called 'real beads' and 'handmade beads' (magazine strips rolled up). They looked gorgeous!





Oops- this one is sideways. if you tilt your head... it is a beautiful mason jar with a bead and a glass paint design drawn on. These turned out spectacular!







Chrsitmas tree ornaments- wire, beads nad string. Being the only adult in the room- I was the only wounded one with hot glue gun burns... a workplace hazard.




Merry Christmas from us! Out for dinner at a friends and took the photo op!












Our holiday tradition- a puzzle. We work so hard each year together to complete this tough task. its great time spent together, and a tradition we will definately keep alive!











Our friends also just had a little baby boy- too cute! Here's Dale sparking some paternal fertility!

Every season comes with a bo-bo! Dale rear-ended someone in a parking lot. Don't know the monetary damage yet, but makes me feel like a scrooge for sure.

Romance in the First Degree

The other night, Dale planned a wonderfully romantic evening. As I was getting my new bangs, he had something up his sleeve. I got home and he had created a wondeful dinner, as well as bought me flowers, and made this adorable display on the kitchen table with our picture and some candles. Too cute. I'm a lucky lady.

Bang on!

I got bangs. I am in love my my new bangs. I was hesitant to post the pics, because I think my nose looks like something out of this world, or could reach another worlds but try to focus on the cute little "fringe" as my hairdresser calls it.

What a difference if I am running late in the morning. No more get up, throw it back and go. I have those "Something About Mary" bangs in the a.m. that require some taming .

Can't complain though :)

Christmas get to know you

Received this from my little sister, and I will 'be in the holiday spirit' and play along...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? wrapping paper has more originality and chance to be creative with toppings. Which we all know is right up my ally.

2. Real or Artificial tree ? Real for sure. Nothing beats the process, picking it out, the smell, the needles on the ground being eaten by Ginger...

3. When do you put up the tree? When we get a chance.

4. When do you take the tree down? After the epiphany, when the three wisemen finally reached baby Jesus. Jan. 6th. Sometimes longer depending on the start of school chaos...

5. Do you like Eggnog? Soy Nog- on the news this morning too!

6. Favourite Gift you received as a child? My very own "ghetto-blaster"

7. Do you have a nativity scene? No.

8. Hardest person to buy for? Definately my Dad

9. Easiest person to buy for? My nephew Parker and new little niece Rowan.

10. Worst Christmas gift ever received? Probabaly some sort of matching outfit with one of my sisters....

11. Christmas Cards...Snail mail or E-mail? Mail for sure!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Miracle on 34ths St.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? EEEHH! When Report Cards and the Christmas Concert are done.

14. Have you ever 'recycled' a Christmas present? Not a "Chrisitmas" present...jk

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Appies

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? clear all the way.

17. Favorite Christmas Song? So this is Christmas .. and what have we done...another year over, and a new one just begun...

18. Travel at Christmas or Stay Home? A little of both.

19. Can you name Santa's Reindeer?Rudolph, Comet, Dasher, Donner, Prancer, Vixen? Very tempted to use Google... but I will be honest. I think I'm missing one...

20. Do you have an Angel or a Star on top of your tree? We use a star. Grew up with a Angel though. Some ridonculous crochet thingie...

21. Open the Presents Christmas Eve or Morning? Dale & I exchange cards Christmas Eve.One Christmas Eve and the rest Christmas morning - and sometimes Christmas afternoon if we swap mom and dad's house that day!

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year ? Report Cards and Christmas Concert Prep and stress.

23. Shopping...Mall or online? I do a bit of both.

24. Do you decorate outside for Christmas or just inside (or at all?) Both.

25. Favorite Christmas cookie? Do rumballs count?

26. Do you own Christmas clothing or jewelry? I'm a teacher.... Don't tell Dale....

27. Do you believe in Santa? Love the spirit of it. What do you mean do I believe?? Don't we all?

WHO DONE IT!??

Last night Dale and I hosted a Murder Mystery Party.

For me, the planning of it was just as much fun as the party itself. Everybody did a great job getting into their characters too!

There were a few too many guests we wanted to invite for the number of characters, so I decided to be Lorraine, the dead lady. We had to figure out who killed me.

Here are the profiles of the guests. Take a guess who did it and I will reveal at the end of the post~

Madame Rose

a.k.a Cluny

Lorraine's psychic and confident.

Lorraine

a.k.a Me

Killed by potassium Cyanide. Who did it??!!

Here I am. Spooky eh?!! I had a lot of fun gtting ready! By the end of the night, Dale had to tell me to wash off my makeup becuase looked to gross! Apparently he doesn't love me for "whats inside that counts!"

Vanessa Cross

a.k.a Tasha

Daughter of Lorraine's.

David Cross

a.k.a Jaron

Vanessa Cross's husband. A politicain, and Lorraine was NOT happy that he was married to Vanessa.

The Butler

a.k.a Jeff

Another 'add in' character. We liked him though because he served us food and drinks !

Susanne Smythe

a.k.a Katie

Lorraine's best friend. Classy woman, living the high life, but with no apparent means of support...Dr. Thomas Blackman

a.k.a Corey

Lorraine's corrupt doctor

Anthony Lockwood

a.k.a My geeky husband

Lorraine's husband (his second wife) and he also remarried 12 months after Lorraine's death to a woman he was having an affair with. Geesh Dale!

Jessica Cates Lockwood

a.k.a. Freya

A washed up actress who is now married to Anthony Lockwood. Nice velvet dress and fur coat Freya!

Shawn Easton

a.k.a. Jason

Son of Anthony from his first marriage. A drunk/druggie that is a racecar driver, living life in the fast lane!

The murderer!??? Cluny- The psychic!

It was really fun! Definately a must-do again!

YAY! I'm a very proud new Auntie!

Jenn and Kurtis had a little girl this morning at 3:45.

8 lbs. 8 oz.

YAY!

Can't wait to see them all at Christmas!

Couch-licious

Is it bad to be so happy and addicted to something so materialistic??!

I guess we have just gone so long, convincing oursleves we either couldn't afford, or didn't need new couches. Probably more so the first.

But holy dina! I am so happy!

• Bye -bye futon (otherwise known as the puked-on, thanks to our fine friends ...cough cough Katie & Jess et al)


• Dale and I each get our own couch! No more squishy sharesies


• We can invite friends over in the winter months as well (summer we have our nice new deck/patio set)


• Dog hair just wipes off!??(x2) No more vaccumming the couch!


• We can start nesting, being of our nice 'married couple' things!
• Maybe the trim will make its way back on now that the new window is finally in too??!!

Don't push your luck Heather....

Fridge-tastic

Dale and I have saved our pennies for a few big ticket items - a new fridge and a set of leather couches.

The fridge arrived today!

YAY!

It makes such a difference in our humble little home. SO many shelves inside, and it forced us to clean out our 101 bottles of condiments. Its hard to imagine not having the freezer at the bottom before- all that bending down to get to the veggie crisper we had to do before!I absolutely love it now.

We then were able to pop out the white face plate of our dishwasher, and give it a make-over by popping in a sheet of stainless steel for $40!

Here are some before and afters of the fridge.

Dale was too quick for me to get a before of the dishwasher, but the after looks like a competely different one ( I'll help you imagine - the before- think WHITE)

How to Avoid Stress ( without having to hide in your basement)

Report Card season is upon us. Any teachers out there will know the stress related to this tedious, unruly task. I have gathered some stress relieving tips- feel free to use if you want.

For those of you who aren't teachers, now is the time to be extra nice to those teachers around you. AND if you see them doing these wacky things, understand they are being proactive before they pull all their hair out.

• jam marshmallows up your nose and try to sneeze them out
• tatoo "out to lunch" on your forehead
• leaf through a magazine and draw underwear and or mustaches on people
• go shopping, buy tons, sweat in it, return it the next day
• dance naked in your bathroom
• make wax figurines out of your earwax

Maybe these will help. I might try one or two. Let me know if you have any other suggestions.

Halloweenie

All in all, besides the pumpkin fiasco, the 31st of October was fun. I dressed up as an identical set of cowgirls with my classroom CEA ( Certified Education Assistant who works with a boy in my class who has Autism). It was a fun day, the kids looked spectacular, the Grade 6's did a spooky pumpkin display, and several of my kids told scary stories at an assembly ( a class project we had been working on). The rest told their scary stories by candlight in the classroom ( mummy candles we had made with our buddy class.



Good times . Good times.



Surprinsingly, very few kids came to our door this year. We spruce up our house and then attract fewer kids!? Weird.



Check out last years Halloween post. Funny to look back.

the life of a pumpkin

this post is early. wasn't supposed to be, but i'll tell you why. i had intended on posting in a couple of days, with pictures of us carving our pumpkins (a household tradition since we have been together), them out on display Halloween night etc. BUT, someone ruined my plans.

i think it was the best pumpkin i had ever created. i used dale's drill ( yes- power tools!) to drill varying size holes in my pumpkin., the end result was a cool, array of light shining from the pumpkin, much like a sky of constellations. we debated, also traditional, over who's was better. not settled, they went out on display to be enjoyed by all. they looked fantastic.

Scary Dale. Real scary
nothing like a wife who can operate power tools
Half way there- looking good!

next thing i know, i arrive home from work today, my pumpkin is M.I.A.

not even Halloween yet, and some rude-a -tude has stolen my pumpkin. i take flight down the street to surely find it smashed on the road. nope. i call my neighbour who likes to play tricks. nope. i believe someone has indeed stolen my pumpkin because it is so damn cool. so look out amongst all those carving contests- you may have an imposter.

Gosh darn it- those kids CAN be so cute

Everyday the kids in my class amaze me. That is why I truly love grade 5. They are witty and smart, and down right sensible and cute.

Two funny things today. More than two, but these are the ones I am going to highlight. And I should do this more often.

For C.A.P.P. (Personal Planning) I had gotten these free drug booklets from the doctor's office, and gave one to each student to keep, as we have been learning about drugs and alcohol. They quietly read through them, did the word searches, etc. for the block. At the end, one boy asked me if that was C.A.P.P. ( the menu on the board said thats what we were doing). I told him yes, and he sadi "Then we all got really good marks today!?' - in all seriousness! Hilarious. I just smiled and said yes.

The other cute thing, that just warmed my heart was in Math! Of all things!
I have been teaching the kids mental math strategies for their times tables up to 9. So for instance, instead of thinking iof it as an 8x , sperate it up to a 4x and a 4x. Or 6 times, a 3x and a3x and add together. OR, it told them they might have a special times table , like 7 x7, that they always know, so they can use that one to addd or subtract to. I was trying to emphasize the importance of having a few special ones like that ( 8x8, 9x9, etc.)

So in marking their litle strategy sheets at the table tonight, I stumbled across this little lost soul in my class, or as I see know, maybe not so lost. For her strategy for one question she wrote : "its my little gem." By that I understood that she just knows that one.

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! Even though she didn't state the strategy like I had asked, I loved her answer and gave her a mark.

I'm a sucker.

Momma Bear & Daddy Bear & Baby bears

Its my Dad's birthday - as Ellen would say "Holla Trevor!" He is out of town for work, but we will connect when he gets back.

My Mom on the other hand, is having a case of bad luck. Her house was broken into on the weekend, AND now she has Shingles!! Poor mom. We are going to cheer her up and go for a pedicure on Friday.

My class reached their goal of 50 Gator Gotcha's- reward coupons the school does for positive behaviour- SO proud of them!

Board Games Cont...

Now that I'm getting obsessed with Board Games, I have decied to take it a few steps further. I'm a crazy, geeky gal!

Step 1 - Incorporate into Romance

My friend Elizabeth mentioned a great couples game/ activity that she has used and loved. I figured it would be perfect for Dale and I's Friday Night Date Nights. For those of you who weren't aware- every weekend, usually Fridays, Dale and I make an effort to do something together- some may call this a 'date.'

So this new activity is really cool- Its a book filled with 101 closed invitations- 50 for "her eyes only", and 50 for 'his eyes only." The point is for you to take turns secretly planning what the envelope talks about. There is both a date to plan, as well as little things to do throughout the week- from as simple as conversation starters, to Passion Coupons. FUN!!
There are codes and titles on the front of the envelope, to make it easily suitable to what you feel like planning. For instance, we are planning on going to the cabin Friday night, so I am in charge of this week. I will pick one that is not a specific location, doesn't cost a lot of money, can be done in the Fall, etc.
I'll let you know how it goes!

Step 2- Friends/Weekends

I have decided to organize a murder mystery dinner party. I have put the bug out there, will start researching/ buying or borrowing the game, and I'll let you know. Can't wait- I have ALWAYS wanted to do one of these. Dressing up, hangin with friends, and playing a game. Doesn't get better than this.

Life in game land is Awesome!

Board Games

I love board games. NOT to be confused with 'bored games', as my husband might be inclined to call them. I actually don't even possibly know how those two things could be homonyms (words that sound the same but mean different- those of you who don't remember Elementary School).

I have always been a Scrabble lover. Several years ago I bought myself Scrabble Deluxe- the kind that has a rototaing base! Yet, I seem to never have anyone to play with. Dale doesn't mind playing cards, or Battleship (the Electronic Version is our household favourite). But he would never in a million years play scrabble with me (he suffered with school and in a weird twist of fate ended up marrying a teacher!!??). Infact he just laughed at me for playing Scrabulous with Elizabeth on Facebook (which I thought was an way to hang out with a friend from a different city- he's just jealous...). LOvE scrabulous!

Another new fav- Apples to Apples. For those who haven't tried it- try it. Such a simple game, and so much fun! I had some girlfriends over the other night, and we had some wine, a nice dinner and played. Too fun!

MY all time fav- and my friends as well , is Loaded Questions. I receieved this as a birthday gift one year, and lttle did we know it would become the game everybody asks for! A must play to get to know each other very well!

I am quite a fan of differnt, new, quirky games that require little instruction and rules. I find these fare easier with the game hesitant personalities. Don't get me wrong, I love games like Cribbage, and Monopoly (I would play for days on end with my sisters), they just haven't been 'in the cards' these days.

My question to you, and I guess sort of a quest for more games out there... what are your favourites!?? Do comment and let me know some MUST PLAYS!

Happy Fall!

Its that time of year again. Our street is lined with beautiful changing trees, the mornings are brisk, the days get darker faster. Love it!. I can't believe summer is very much gone and winter is very much on its way.

Here are two photos - one taken around this time of year last year, and then the other day. The house is coming along eh? I can't wait for it to be done. The process has been so time consuming, but in the end, our house will be so cute and spectacular. My 'fall display' has also gotten significantly better over the years too I might say!

Ta- Da!

Yay!

After hours of playong around- I am so happy with my new blog layout!

Thanks to Liz for giving me the confidence to 'muck' around!