Toronto Here We Come

The kids have had off of school for the last couple of days and so yesterday afternoon we headed into Toronto. We wanted to take the kids to a huge mall that is down town Toronto. All the Christmas decorations were up and Christmas music was playing but it seemed a bit early for us. We like to wait until after American Thanksgiving before we think of Christmas. After the mall we walked around outside checking out the area. We then drove through China town. It was nice to get out of our little town a enjoy a bit of city life. (You can't tell I grew up in a bit city.)

House Guests

Since Tuesday night we have had Bret and Moriah staying with us while their parents are away. The kids all get along so well and we enjoy having a house full of kids.

Report Cards

Yesterday Ruth and Titus came home with their first quarter report cards. Ruth once again did an awesome job. She works very hard on her school work and plans to enter into her university studies in the fall of 2009. She has some challenging classes this year with taking her chemistry and geometry via video classes. If she has a question on what she is learning she can't ask the teacher. We are also very proud of Titus and how hard he has worked on his school work this quarter. He does not enjoy school and would rather be doing anything but school. However, he has taken a lot of responsibility in his school work this year and it is really paying off. GOOD JOB RUTH & TITUS!

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!