Good Things

A great day at school

A field trip to The Home Depot

Great connections with our Science unit on Objects and Materials

16 parent/grandparent volunteers plus a bus driver who helped too

23 wooden bird houses built

This temperature on in the van on the way home:

(This)

Helping Kiandra with an essay:

Kezia posing for this picture which makes it looks like Kezia is just on her phone and Conrad is doing all the work:

I love days like this!

Last Regular Season Badminton Series

Kaden and his doubles partner added a few more wins to their record today:

In a fog

I had Kaden snap this photo this morning:

By the time he grabbed my phone, the fog was already lifting and it wasn't even this bad. A few minutes earlier the fog was so bad you could hardly see a few car lengths in front of us. Fog isn't something that is common on the way to work but it has appeared on my morning commute before. Today it reminded me of the road of life....

Fog doesn't change what is out there. It only makes it difficult to see. It is just there making it hard to navigate through. Certain situations in life can be like that too. I heard something this weekend and it doesn't really change things right now but I know it will be difficult to navigate through. I can't see where it is going and I don't know how long this fog will last or whether it is clearer just on the other side that I can't quite see yet. 

What I do know is fog makes us more careful. When you can't see clearly you slow down. You are watching with more vigilant eyes. Today, the fog that Kaden and I encountered early in our drive made me more careful as we were driving and it was a good thing. Just ahead of us, a truck carrying a large bundle of vinyl siding lost its load just ahead of us. Having just driven through the fog, I was more aware of my driving and saw it as it happened and I was able to slow down and get out of the way and avoid most of the debris on the road as I drove. The truck didn't even slow down. In fact, it seemed to move even quicker as I attempted to catch up with it to let the driver know. I never caught up to it. 

Fog doesn't let us see well. However, we tend to look more closely. This isn't always an easy thing to look and look and still not be able to see. I'm not sure what I'll discover in the situation I learned about this weekend. Will it make me able to focus on what I can see? Or will I just drive off blissfully unaware that I've lost everything in my load?

Hello Monday

Hello late night yesterday
Hello hard to get up this morning
Hello quiet ride to school

Hello Spring musical practice for Grade 1-5 first thing
Hello concert in 7 more practice days
Hello Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Jr.

Hello quick day
Hello after school badminton practice for Kaden
Hello errands after school
Hello school budget spending
Hello new shin pads and runners
Hello pizza take-out (with a coupon) for supper

Hello deciding to meet Conrad at the rental house
(since we were still in the area at 7:30!)
Hello meeting new tenants moving in this week
Hello invitation call for Kaden
Hello jump in the van
Hello extra ball hockey practice

Hello arriving home at 10:00
Hello lunch packing
Hello showering
Hello another late night

Hello Bible in a Year Posting already done
Hello Monday. Hello.

Hockey by the Numbers

We got a final email from the manager of Kaden's ice hockey team this afternoon...just as the new Spring sport season is beginning.

These are some stats from the email about Kaden's team this year:

• Regular season record was 10 Wins 9 Losses and 3 ties.  This was good for 5th place. 
• Playoff record was 3 Wins and 2 Losses.  
• Scorers during the regular season (69 goals for and 60 against) were: R.E. 17, Kaden 10, T.L. 9, D.P. 8, M.D. and L.T. 6 each, C.T. and B.Z. 4 each, T.B., D.B. and C.G. 1 each. R.B. scored 2 goals as a call-up.
• Scorers during the playoffs (22 goals for and 20 against) were: T.L. 4, C.T., B.Z. and R.E. 3 each, M.D., D. P., L.T. and K.H. 2 each, and Kaden 1.
• Scorers during the two tournaments were: R.E. 8, Kaden 4, M.D. 3, C.T., D.P., T.L. 2 each, T.B., B.Z. and a mystery scorer 1 each.
• Your King of Penalty Minutes was... Remember, this is with two game sheets missing! T.L. 78!!, D.B. 72, K.H. 20, C.G. 18, R.E. 14, E.S. 12, M.D. 6, L.T. 4,  C.T., D.P. Kaden and B.Z. 2 each, T.B. and T.Y. 0 each.
• The team was together 80(!) times for games, practices and other events.

Getting it Ready...

Our new tenants for the rental house are moving in next week. A few things needed to be done to get it ready. The garage cable needed to be replaced:

and there was a bit of paint touch ups to do too...my specialty:

Kaden tried to keep busy too ;)

School Planning Day

It's hard to believe that it's already that time of year again to begin thinking about next year. There were some discussions about the vision for our school and plans to get there.

There were calendar plans and events already scheduled:

I think my favourite part of the day was lunch...with a stop at Menchie's for dessert!

Goodbye

Honestly, I don't want very much television anymore. Over the last few years, I have traded most my tv time for blogging time. However, there are still a few shows that I watch and Grey's Anatomy is one of them. Hopefully, if you are a fan of the show, you've watched it before reading this post.

I did get a bit of a warning from a few friends on facebook that something unexpected was going to happen in today's episode but what did happen was a total surprise to me.

One of the main characters was killed off....and like the crying fool that I am...I cried.

 I am a crier. 

Maybe it was the episode itself...maybe it was that April has had a history of saying goodbye. Two years ago (just this week), Kaden's friend Jen's mom passed away from a brain tumour. (post here and here and here) As pictures of her showed up in my instagram feed this week, it made me tear up. Good byes are hard. 

Last April, we said goodbye to an amazing coworker. (post here and here) It's hard to believe it's been a year already. Our school has faced so many losses in our school family over the last few years. Goodbyes are hard. 

I am a crier.

Maybe I was a little bit sad when a make-believe character on a made up show died. Or maybe I was thinking about the loss itself and how in real life good-byes are very hard and very real. I hate goodbyes.

Banff Bound!

This evening our girls joined 3 bus loads of their friends to make the overnight trip the the Rocky Mountain Music Festival in Banff. They were so excited to go:

I suprised them with some snacks for the road:

and then they were off...

Copycat Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup

Inspired by the lunch one of my coworkers picked up for the ride home, I made this for supper:

Copycat Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup

SERVES: 8

 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 medium chopped onion
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• ¼ cup flour
• 2 cups half-and-half cream or milk
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 lb fresh broccoli (about 1 cup)
• 1 1/2 cup carrot, julienned
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Saute the onion in melted butter and set aside. In a large pot whisk together the melted butter and flour over medium heat for about 3-4 minutes.
2. Slowly whisk in the half and half and chicken stock. Let it simmer for about 20 minutes.
3. Add the broccoli, carrots, and onions. Let them simmer on medium low for about 25 minutes until the broccoli and carrots are tender.
4. Add nutmeg, garlic, salt and pepper and sharp cheddar cheese. Let the cheese melt and then serve. For a smoother soup puree it with a stick blender right in the pot.

Kiandra thought she'd photo bomb my picture!

Home again...

After a bit of confusion about heading home with seats and vehicles, I ended up leaving my van with 7 ladies who wanted/needed to stay later to avoid duty costs and 3 of us loaded all their luggage and food into another vehicle to get home. 

Um...there were just a FEW boxes of pop!

We all made it safe and sound to my house to switch back vehicles and organize all the stuff that belonged to everyone:

What a fun weekend!

Deals, Delicious-ness, and Dinner

Although it is a "shopping weekend", some of the most fun is the company of the staff and the eating too. I wasn't at all successful at shopping for myself but was pretty pumped to snag all three of these pairs of boots for my girls for $43.00.

Lunch, on the other hand, was very successful. Having been emailed a coupon this week for a free side and printing off a coupon for each of my friends we ended up with many sides to sample:

My black bean/pretzel bun burger was pretty awesome too!

Dinner was awesome too with everyone all back together after a busy day of shopping:

This was followed by a bit more shopping and then the traditional fashion show to show everyone what was bought over the day. (This usually leads to more stops the next day!) I'm so thankful for the people I work with!

Teacher Peeps Shopping Weekend!

It was our annual weekend get-a-way. I left the school as soon as I could, dropped Kaden and his friend off at our house, met these ladies (and one more who didn't lean in far enough, lol!) and headed South for the weekend.

I'm so thankful for having a job that I love. I'm thankful for the awesome people who work with me. I'm thankful for events like this that make me laugh until my sides ache, give me stories that will live on forever, and remind me of how blessed I am.

Annie Warbucks

We had the chance to attend the musical "Annie Warbucks" (the sequel to "Annie") with awesome family friends. We took up almost an entire row in their theatre!

Meguire played a number of different characters and was on stage for most of the show:

Meguire even had to play a Secret Service agent man and she stayed in her costume after the show to snap this picture with Kiandra and Kezia: