From Holly's Kitchen

We have a group of students and staff that will be taking off earlier tomorrow morning for Waukesha. They will be spending a couple of days there giving several presentations and just hanging with the Bible School students. It is another opportunity for me to send some cookies to the boys. Tuesdays are always busy for me but I got up early and started baking, did more during our lunch break. I was able to get six batches of cookies baked. Titus was a very willing taste tester and had no problem eating any cookies that didn't look quite perfect.

A NOT so Professional Haircut

With the weather turning colder and winter around the corner Cuddles was needing a haircut. She was looking pretty shaggy and it is far better for her to get a haircut now rather than the middle of winter. Also, if her hair is too shaggy she collects snowballs on her fur when she is outside and it takes forever for them to melt and dry off. (As you can imagine getting a hair cut and bath are not her favorite things to do so we usually try to move quickly.) We bought a dog clippers several months ago so we are still learning in how to best cut her hair. Well, with the first cut I could tell that something was terribly wrong. I thought I was putting on the 1/3 of an inch clip attachment, however, it was actually the 1/8 of an inch. Since it is hard for me to see small numbers I only saw half of the 8 and though it was a 3. Well with that first cut it was like giving her a shave. I quickly changed the size of the cutting attachment. The pictures of the finished haircut are not showing the side with the shave on it. At least it won't take too long for her hair to grow and everything to look all shaggy again.

Cubbie Dress Up Day

Tonight at Cubbies we had a dress up night in which the kids were supposed to dress up as an animal on Noah's Ark or as a Bible character. It was a busy afternoon and so we only had about ten minutes to try to come up with some thing. Ruth dressed up as the Bible character, "Ruth", Titus dressed up as an Israelite, and I dressed up as a mouse. A lot of our Cubbies dressed up and they were so cute. We had a couple of elephants, three tigers, a lady bug, a pig, a horse, a unicorn, turtle, lamb, a horse, and a giraffe.

Ladies Day Out

Once a semester the first and second year student and staff ladies take the afternoon and part of the evening to get away to spend some time together. (The dads were home with the children to make it possible for the moms to come.) Yesterday we went to a city about 1 1/2 hours away. We went out for a late lunch to a restaurant, "The Mandarin". It hosts the best Chinese Buffet that I have ever been too. Needless to say we all left VERY full. After our meal we headed to the mall and did a bit of shopping. Before we headed home we made a stop at Strabucks. Since there is no Starbucks within an hour of here it was a real treat. The schedule here does get very busy it was nice to spend the day with other ladies. Although we did hit some rain we were thankful it wasn't snow as some years we have had to battle with the snow in Oct.

How do you connect with your daughter?

Vern and I have a wonderful daughter who we love spending time with. Although we love doing many things together we have different love languages when it comes to having a special treat with our daughter. Ruth and I had some errands to run this afternoon but we did make a stop at a coffee shop to get in some mother/daughter time. A latte and chocolate truffle is just the right touch to having some good connecting time together. When we were out Ruth picked up some things to have a special connecting time with her dad. (Sardines, crackers, hot sauce, and olives.) It is hard to believe this is the same daughter.

Thanks for the Visit, Howard and Susan

Howard and Susan took off first thing this morning. But we had a wonderful last day together yesterday. We had a barbecue and grilled up some ham. I have never had barbecued ham but it was really good. We played a few games of lawn bowling, the guys flew a kite, we made a fire, and had a great time together. Howard and Susan will be working in Mexico and it could be awhile before we see them again. It was great having them here!

Welcome to the World, Chase

Friday evening was a very special evening as some dear friends become parents. Congratulations Andrew and Amberlynne on the birth of your precious little son, Chase. We are so happy and excited for you!

Trip to Toronto

Friday night we went with Howard and Susan to Toronto. Our trips to Toronto have been for paper work and things like that. We have been here five years and really have not seen much of Toronto. Susan found a incredible deal for a hotel and so we explored a bit of Toronto while spending some good quality time with Howard and Susan. It was perfect weather for walking around and we made some wonderful memories together.

Seize the Moment

It has been so nice to have Howard and Susan here. We have been trying to work in some time as ladies. With the Dyck family spread over four different countries, we know only too well to seize the moment and enjoy to the fullest, each and every time that our paths cross.

Finger Lick'n Good

Howard, Vern, & Ruth share a love for stinky smelly fish dipped in vinegar. They come by this honestly as Grandma Dyck passed it on to her sons and now to some of her grandchildren. Why are they eating it outside? Well, like I said it is stinky smelly fish. They had so much fun sharing this "treat" together you would have thought they were eating candy.

Los Hermanos

It has been so nice to have Vern's brother Howard and his dear wife Susan here for a visit. With four brothers in the family being missionaries it is not very often that three of them are together. We are enjoying having Howard and Susan here but our time together is going too quickly.

Happy Belated Birthday Wes!

Last night we had a birthday meal in honor of Wes. We weren't here for his birthday and we so had to have a little belated celebration. I made a favorite Mennonite meal which is a Dyck family favorite. Too bad we couldn't have had the whole Dyck gang over to join in on the fun.

Fall Fun

About once a month we have some sort of social with our students. Last night was a 1st and 2nd year student and staff family social. We started off the evening with a hot dog supper along with chips and cookies and squares. Then we moved on to playing a lot of games. Many of our students and staff worked on putting different booths together that were set up all over the gym. There was bobbing for apples, balloon darts, a candy toss, face painting and several other booths. Throughout the evening I was heading up what I called "Take the challenge". I worked on getting some different challenges together where couples, adults, or teens competed against each other. There was a jell-o challenge of finding marbles with your feet and using your toes to dish them out, sculpturing a dog with bubble gum, picking up Q-tips with your toes and putting them in a pop bottle, and several more challenges. Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to make the evening a success. It was a fun filled evening where many great memories were made together.