living like a local: halloween and november beginnings

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

halloween and november beginnings

the kidlets with our neighbour Liz

Man oh man these days are flying by! The work day is over so quickly, and then it's go go go when I get home and then eventually it's bedtime and then morning comes and we do it all again... But it's all good! Work is going well and a once very disorganized place (the library) with a laundry list of needs has become a somewhat organized place with just a regular (I think?) list of needs. One of the biggest jobs on the horizon is dealing with the boxes and boxes of books I purchased a few weeks ago at the one and only book buying day, though this is a slowly but surely kind of a thing, where I'll process and shelve handful of books at a time. For books that I purchased that are a bit older, there's no need to wait for the cataloguer to create records; but for the newer books, I have to wait, and I purchased a mix of old and new. It was so fun! The companies that were there were TinLids, Saunders, Permabound, Whitehots, Another Story, Bound to Learn, and a few more, and my favourites were definitely Another Story and TinLids. They had a good mix of titles and it really was difficult choosing when and where to spend my $$ - which expired quickly. Anyways, I digress... I'm loving work, the kids are excited about reading and talking to me about books etc., and I'm on Instagram and trying to create a presence online for kids (and maybe teachers) to get involved in the process of finding new reads and research materials.

the annual make a face like your pumpkin photo

looooooot

It's already been a week since Halloween, and our people are pretty much over it. Alana was over it before she even went trick or treating (she was up the night before with some super weird thing - in the middle of the night, "my armpit hurts!!" + tears tears tears (??!!?), and then up early that day plus she had a full day of Halloween festivities at school), and Hendrik lasted for maybe 45 minutes before calling it quits. So there are only remnants of the candy (Hendrik's - some of which is in wrappers on my desk right now), and that's okay. And here's a question - does Christmas come earlier every year? I was at Canadian Tire at lunch today and the amount of decorations candy paraphernalia etc is a bit much. Instead of advent calendars, Smarties does an advent tower; and the Star Wars inflatable in the entranceway was ENORMOUS. I mean really and truly enormous - ridiculous. And Sunday afternoon at Chapters? I met a friend there for coffee and it was Christmas shopping parking lot mayhem.... the first weekend in November! We don't rev up for Christmas until after Hendrik's birthday which is at the end of the month, so maybe since it's not on my radar at all, I'm just out to lunch. When really maybe I should be starting my Christmas baking.. ha! Yeah right. When? Shopping for the bigs is done already though, but I did that in September because they've had one item on their wish list since forever, and books... I bought books at the book fair I hosted in early October.

What else to say about the kidlets... Jordan is in full on run mode, and is saying a few more words. Regulars are mama, dada, car, done, and lana/nana (for Alana and banana); he loves making pig sounds and can make somewhat recognizable horse and cow sounds ("mmmmm"). He still LOVES diggers and any construction equipment, and doing whatever his big bro and big sis do is pretty attractive. He also loves books and the water (and eating cheese). Hendrik's 7th birthday party is all booked for later this month, so hopefully some of his friends can make it. He is still a voracious reader, and I'm finding that one of the perks of my job is an ear to the ground as to what the kids are reading and interested in. I've brought home a few new series that he's really liking including And then it happened, Nnewts (graphic novel) and Plants vs Zombies books. Math is also a strong suit of Hendrik's, and he still asks us to ask him math questions at night - and sometimes he'll even ask Alana (who isn't too interested / has no idea what 100/2 is). Alana likes pushing Hendrik's buttons, and is good at it, but he's pretty tolerant with one of her new games which involves her chasing and then hugging Hendrik and calling him her stuffy. She LOVES helping with Jordan, and is great (albeit physical) with him. She calls him "Jordie boy" or just "boy", which is very very sweet. She loves the monkey bars, is picky with what she'll eat especially at dinner time, and is quick to tears when something doesn't go her way. And Steve is doing well - he is honing some of his culinary talents, and really outdid himself today by making a ham in the slow cooker, the best mashed yams I have ever tasted, and green beans (YUM). The kids weren't too enthused about the mash but ate the rest of the meal which was rounded out with toast and cinnamon apples, a dessert we ate frequently in Greece (cut up apples and lay them on a plate, then drizzle with honey and sprinkle cinnamon on top - delish). I think he's enjoying his time with Jordie boy, and the days go by quickly for him too. Time to wrap this up - I need to do laundry and go to bed before the clock strikes 10:30....