A Sunny Song To Say Goodbye To Grey February

This song really makes me want to learn to play the banjo. It would of course require a porch, a summer day, and a tall glass of lemonade. March was ushered in to day with bright sunny skies, and so it needed what is in my opinion a sunny song. I know that spring will not arrive until May here, but at least it can be spring in my ears!

Outside My Window

The past few months have been a whirlwind of lessons, marking, and then collapsing at home. Our school just finished the science fair, which I believe was invented to torture students, parents and teachers alike. Since December I have been waking up drenched with worry about my student's science fair projects. Anyways, today we have the day off to work on our report cards. I just finished - yipee! I love my job and the whirlwind of kids and how crazy every day can be. But, twice a year we get to work from home and I love it for a variety of reasons:

1. 1.Spreading out everything on my kitchen table, hearkening back to the days of my youth.
   
   
   
   2. Draining pot after pot of coffee. ( I can do this at work too, but then I have to share)
   
   
   
   3. Blasting my favourite tunes - hooray for CBC radio
   
   
   
   4. Wearing my jammies
   
   
   
   5. Finally getting those loads of laundry in
   
   
   
   6. Limitless snacks - I found an uneaten chocolate letter from Christmas yet.
   
   
   
   7. Uninterrupted work - ahhh so peaceful and relaxing
   
   
   
   8. The view outside my window
   
   
   
   

This last one was particularly amazing today. Normally the view isn't that amazing. We have a small backyard with a big maple and one of my favs, a lilac. While the trees are gorgeous (I love trees) in the winter they are not that spectacular. Yes, there is a soft and thick blanket of snow on everything, but that is not very exciting as a view. At work my view is a parking lot, so even sleeping trees is an improvement over that. But, in the winter the best thing about the backyard is the birds. Usually in the winter all we see are fat chickadees and the occasional goldfinch to brighten things up. But today was awesome because I had a huge visitor to my small suburban backyard:

He looks small in this picture, but I am pretty sure he could eat those fat chickadees for a snack. His spectacular presence makes the view outside my window the best thing about working at home today.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow...o.k. it can stop any time now!

If you look real close in the picture below you can see the tip of my magnolia tree and baby maple struggling to get a breath of air out of the giant snow banks. I hope they survive the winter!

I don't think we will be doing any grilling this winter, unless we can get a snowblower to uncover our deck and barbeque.

There is my poor lilac tree bent under the weight of the snow, I hope she springs back to life when it all melts, pardon my pun.

The view from my deck this morning, like I said, it can stop any time now!

Today was the joy Sunday of advent. Last week our school had our concert which featured the candles of advent. In spite of the hectic rehearsal schedules, wrapping a million boxes to decorate the set, and listening to the same incredibly catchy yet annoying songs a thousand times, there was a lot of joyful moments. I was getting so grumpy and tired, but I tried to focus on the joyful times. Here is a list of a few:

1. the giddy smiles on the faces of the girls covered in dust trying to get heavy risers out from under the stage

2. the giggling girls dressed as giant candles making up dances back stage as they waited their turn to perform

3. the ancy and innocent questions of the young children with "glitter gloves" anxious for the curtains to open so they could dance while I tried to get them to stay quiet

4. the beautiful snowflakes created by my class while they sat through many rehearsals that are now plastered all over my class room

5. as I was trying to get costumes organized back stage the small jk child who turned to me with a halo of tinsel on his head and said "we're angels you know".

6. the sweet voices of the same jk kids singing at the top of their lungs "PETIT JESU....DANS LE CIEL"

and so many more

I hope that as I enter this week I have the patience to remember moments like those ones and smile my way through crazy last days as the kids and teachers alike count down the days to the holidays!

Trick or Treat

Last night was my first time handing out candy. Up until now I have lived in an apartment and did not have the opportunity to see the cute little kiddies all dressed up. I loved dressing up when I was a kid. Designing the costume was the best part, no store-bought boring costumes for me! I was so eager to see what the kids would dress up as. Kurt carved the pumpkin while I baked the seeds. As it got dark we lit the candle and sat there with our big bowl of candy, waiting to jump up and run to the door when it rang.

Well, lots of kids did come. They were cute, but I was so disappointed to see them in the same 5 store bought, non-descript costumes. When I asked them what they were dressed up as I was met with blanks stares, a shrug of the shoulders, and a monotone, "I dunno". Grudgingly I gave them candy. I thought to myself - do kids these days have no imagination?

We sat there, sadly drowning our disappointment with little packages uf peanut butter and chocolate goodness when the door bell rang one more time. I made Kurt get the door, I didn't have the heart to face any more of the flimsy nylon and pastic "costumes". To my surprise, Kurt began to excitedly call me to the door. Dropping yet another candy wrapper to the floor, I ran to the door to be greeted by two trick or treaters who were clearly past the age you should be going door to door. However, they were in two fantastic home-made clown costumes. It totally made my night!

I still wonder though, what were Jack and Audrey, Kurt's parents, doing last night? Hmmm...

Becoming like Little Children

Well, I never knew how reliant I was on technology until both my computers crashed. It turned me into a grumpy, whining, snivelling and petulant child. I have however begun to notice that Kurt also exhibits some childlike tendancies. But he is endearing and joyful, not stomping his foot like me! For example, there was the time he repeatedly slipped and scambled in a comic fashion on a "slippery spot" on our living room floor. I don't even think it was on purpose. Made me laugh until I cried. Then there was the time he got a bread tag stuck in his mouth on our drive home. My sides still hurt. It's hard not to smile when he expresses his love for me by demonstrating his headstand skills. Finally, I think I scared the saleslady when Kurt walked into the glass wall, twice and I couldn't stop from laughing. He couldn't help it, malls are foreign places. We may not have cute little kid stories, but who needs them when we have each other to giggle at? I hope we always stay like little children inside, isn't that what Jesus said?