Well, we're no longer in shorts and t-shirt weather! It doesn't mean people aren't still wearing shorts and t-shirts (and Crocs), but winter weather has arrived. We woke up on November 1st to a dusting of snow, but today (December 1st) is rainy and mild. The last month has flown by - weekdays are so full and busy that before we know it, it's the weekend again! We're not planning much and are definitely still using Saturday and Sunday to recover from the volleyball, basketball, soccer, dinner-crunch etc. during the week. We're adding in high school visits (eek!) and some scrimmages here and there - and that's with zero weekday activities for Jordan! Steve and I are both coaching so it keeps us busy too. As of last week I'm taking the lead on Alana's 12U team, and school volleyball has started (practices) so days are even more full - yikes. It means I usually sleep pretty well, so that's a trade-off I'll take.
The kids had a great outing on Halloween - the candy belt has begun! Here are photos...
And the big news of late is that we have a teenager in the house!! Hendrik turned 13 at the end of November, and we celebrated a few times. His actual birthday fell on a school day, so after a day at school (he wasn't too pleased we made him go) we had a delish sushi dinner followed by the requested cake (raspberry cake) and then rounded out with a volleyball practice and cupcakes for the team. He also went to a virtual sports simulator thing at The Factory with a few of his buddies, and seemed to have a great time there too. He received some verrrrrry nice gifts, including a new baseball glove, a hoodie, Kids Against Maturity (hilarious game), some books, candy and gift cards. I need to ask the regular birthday questions and then update the post - I love looking back on old birthday blogs!
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| Me and Hendrik in Italy, somewhere close to his 1st birthday! |
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| His own batch of banana chocolate chip muffins too! |
House updates: Steve finished the laundry room (photos coming soon), and it looks amazing! He's currently working on fixing up the basement to get the kids a small hang-out area down there, and then it's attic time! I should find some photos of the unfinished space - it's going to be such a transformation. Other of-notes: Alana and Audrey have been bit by the sewing bug, so their new after-school activity is creative, messy, and amazing! They're deep into my fabric stash, and I'm happy to see it all being used. Jordan has been asking to play ice hockey, so we're trying to find something that's just right for him. Stay tuned! And Hendrik has had one high school visit with two coming up this week. It's such a different set-up than it was for me and Steve, as we just had one option where we grew up. Here you can apply to high schools outside of your designated area, and quite a few students do that to have access to specialty courses and programs (also different). I'm thinking he'll say in-area and go to the closest high school, but I guess we'll see!
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| sewing madness!! |
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| one of their many creations :) |
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| Alana with most of her 12U volleyball team |
School (work for me) has been bananas. This is definitely the most challenging start to a school year that I've experienced (though it is only year four of teaching for me). There are so many behavioural challenges, and the lack of consequences or accountability (from home, from the office etc) fails to motivate kids to change their behaviour (or whatever it is - but kids continue to act in ways that are not at all appropriate for the classroom or allow for any learning to happen). So anyways, it's challenging. But the weeks go by quickly, and we're almost at the winter break! Three more weeks to go...
