SLED [5 pts]

This year, Liam and Hannah received two new sleds as early Christmas presents. There was to be a cub family sledding activity and we were woefully unequipped. So, as dutiful parents we trekked down to Canadian Tire to pick out appropriate sled. There were several different models in varying price, construction, durability, ease of use and more- choosing one was somewhat more difficult than I originally hoped. (Pick up sled and pay.) Clark eyed the classic GT snow racer model, complete with steering, brakes and a handy tow rope. I preferred a newer innovation- the Zipfy mini luge. Guaranteed to send you hurtling down the slope at break-neck speeds, it was a sure bet for any races. (This wasn't for me of course, I could watch safely from the sidelines. Hannah would do the hurtling) Since we needed two sleds, we each took our choices home and wrapped them up.

Saturday morning, Liam and Hannah excitedly unwrapped their presents and set to work. Both were excited. Hannah initially was a little leery because hers was smaller and not quite as cool, but I knew the real test would come. I watched smugly as Clark and Liam set to assembling the GT- Hannah's was in one piece with no assembly required, so we were free to just hang out and watch. Once everything was finally assembled, (including losing and finding the missing lock nut) I waved happily to everyone as they tromped out the door to enjoy the sledding. I had Christmas wrapping to do.

Around lunch time, my red-nosed, happy family came back through the door. Hannah had won hands down. Liam's sled definitely was a good performer, but for sheer speed- the Zipfy was a winner. (Little victory dance for the girls!)

Now, I took the kids out again yesterday to the same hill to do some more sledding. Lest I sound a little too self-congratulatory, the Zipfy was a little tough to control on the packed terrain, and quite honestly, there was no way I was sitting on it. I took a couple of runs down on the GT, thankful for breaks and a modicum of maneuverability. Everyone had fun!

Snowy mama!

Beamin' Liam!

Happy after a good run.

TRIM [6 pts]

It's time to trim the tree!
Step one: Purchase one artificial conifer separated into individual branches and trunk.
Step two: Grumble at your unbelievable misfortune. Who knew a tree could have so many parts?
Step three: Step back and let your children assemble it for you.
Step four: Crawl under the stairs to find the most inaccessible, dusty corner surrounded boxes. Dig out Christmas ornaments.
Step five: Go back to the same disorganized corner for the lights.
Step six: Pretend the previous five steps were nothing (laugh modestly any time someone brings it up) and have a great time trimming the tree!!

Yea, the lights!

Did I forget step six? Wear a stocking on your head.

My expert tree assembler. 

Assembling ornaments is HILARIOUS!! (Or at least trying to avoid Mom's camera is

)

Star on top!

My proud helpers.

Our happy tree.

We had a fun morning setting up and decorating the tree, as well as setting up our nativities. I think that the ornaments we made last week turned out really nicely too! The best surprise was having Daddy stop in for lunch just as we finished up. Merry Christmas!!

CINNAMON [12 pts]

Ahhh, cinnamon wafting through the house. What could possibly be so delicious?? Couldn't we just try a tiny taste? Um...bad idea. We are baking ornaments.

I got the basic recipe from a couple different online sites, basically using cinnamon, applesauce, and the secret ingredient: glue. These are not for eating, folks. Despite their tempting aroma and cookie-shaped likeness, these are strictly ornamental. I had to laugh as one reviewer of the recipe I was using (and let's get this straight: these are clearly labelled as non-edible) complained of a stomach ache from these enticing little beauties. Thankfully, with Hannah's hands covered in the white sticky stuff during the mixing process, she was definitely NOT tempted.

Supplies ready!

Cinnamon, applesauce and GLUE!

Mixa mixa mixa!

Done!

 

 

 All we need now is some ribbon and a TREE!!!

HOME [9 pts]

For all those who have wanted to see: here's our new house!! We are really enjoying our new place here in Fort McMurray. We're in a nice new neighborhood (so new we're not on any maps) and have lots of amenities close by. I like that I've got a grocery store and the banks within a couple minute drive, and there's lots for the kids and I to do outside when the weather is nice.
Even though there's a few things that drive us crazy- doors sticking, troublesome bathrooms and a couple of other minor irritants, we love it here. And of course, because we're together, it home!!

I think there's an elf doing some pre-Christmas surveillance.

And one balloon left from the birthday.

This would be the clean part of the living room.

SNOWMEN [12 pts]

I started out the morning planning on continuing our solar house project for science. Unfortunately, we couldn't locate the magnifying glass needed for the next set of experiments, so I decided to take advantage of a project I had planned, but set aside: the science of snow.

We certainly have enough of it here already. It's actually the pretty, drifting snow you see on commercials that gently blankets the world and makes me glad that I can stay inside.

But back to the science. Today we learned all about the different shapes of snowflakes: hexagonal plates, stellar plates, stellar dendrites (the most common) as well as needles, columns and bullets. We collected, drew and diagrammed; we watched a movie on how snow forms. Let me tell you, I am feeling informed on the topic.

Finally, just for fun, we made robot snowmen. I picked up the idea from the Science Mommy blog, and it turned out very well. Even Liam, who is not an arts and crafts kind of guy, enjoyed making his tyrannical snowman leader with little snowmen underlings. Ahhhh, boys.....

This is one snowman you don't want to mess with.

 

Hannah enjoyed designing her snowmen robots.

I love the marette hat and mitts. Can you tell their dad is an electrician?

BE [4 pts]

I had an epiphany today, of sorts. I guess it was more a reminder of what I'm really trying to do here. It often seems a struggle to teach everything I think my kids should know. They're good readers, but are they good writers? Can they handwrite? Do they understand how the government works? Are they good at mental arithmetic?

Sometimes I think it's my sole responsibility to distil the knowledge of the universe into their sponge-like little heads. What do they need to know to flourish in this world? Then I realized: it's not what I want them to know. It's who I want them to be. If they can BE life-long learners and excited about the world, then they'll search it out. If they will BE courageous, they can stand up for what's right.

I admit, many of these Be's are not mine: they come from President Gordon B. Hinckley, 15th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. And certainly it's not a comprehensive list, but it's a good start.

BE:

KIND

COURAGEOUS

PROBLEM-SOLVERS

POLITE

GRATEFUL

HONEST

CLEAN

TRUE

SMART

HUMBLE

PRAYERFUL

COMPASSIONATE

HARD-WORKING

INVOLVED

LIFE-LONG LEARNERS

HERITAGE [12 pts]

Last week we took a home school trip to our local Heritage Park to explore schooling and life of the past century in Fort McMurray.

It might be big, but this radio is stylish!

Squeezed into the turn of the century school desks. 

 School came to Fort McMurray around 1913, but most kids didn't go for long, or even all year. Everyone helped with trapping in the wintertime until more industry settled up here.

Where's the screen?

One thing we learned: School in November is cold!! Even though many of the buildings have been modernized with heat, some were not, and we were all shivering. I couldn't imagine huddling close to the stove (if you were lucky) while trying to learn. We agree that school in 2011 is pretty great!!

SNOW [7 pts]

It's 8:30 AM. The sun has finally risen above the horizon and the first snow of the season is gracing the ground. And of course, my kids are out playing in it. Despite the fact the some of our, ahem, more southerly neighbours have had snow for a couple weeks, this is the first we've seen of the white stuff so far. Probably the last we'll see of the sidewalks and grass until May, but we'll enjoy the novelty today.
I love the shining eye excitement of Hannah and Liam quickly bundling up with the prospect of snow angels, teeny tiny snowmen (there's really not enough for anything else yet) and writing messages on my car. New hats, mitts and boots add to the "first day of snow" thrill. (Thank goodness we bought some on the weekend. There probably won't be any left by the end of the day.)

Snow day!

If you look carefully, I have an "I <3 U" on the hood of my car!

Snow tires will be on both the cars by Monday, so we're set for whatever comes our way. Winter weather is finally here, but at least we can have some fun in it!

WRITER [9 pts]

How can two children who are so utterly entranced by reading be so diametrically opposed to writing?? The logical, patient part of me says "Don't worry, the writing will come...encourage them, inspire them and expose them to great literature and it will come." But of course the worry-wart, frantic homeschooling mom in me says "What if they never learn to put two sentences together because I failed them as a teacher. What then????"

I know I should take a long-term view of this, but it's really hard in the moment. I love to write, why don't they? But at least they like to play Scrabble :)

PIANO [7 pts]

Well, I had all sorts of good intentions on posting on getting settled in our new house, but sadly the iphone on which I was taking pictures (since I can't find our camera) decided to die. So instead, everyone gets a chronicle of my adventures in moving a piano!!

It started out with a too-small moving van. Not only would the piano not fit for the move, but several pieces of furniture were given away very last minute. Oh well- less junk in the new house!! The piano was carefully wrapped and moved to Mom's garage for safekeeping until it could be safely shipped up north. Most moving companies wanted both arms and a leg to move it- if they would go to Fort McMurray at all. Alternates were being planned.

Fast-forward to the moving van driving away, me crawling on my belly to get the cat out from under the porch (oh yes, that was an adventure) and Liam and I driving up Highway 63 trying to keep said cat from nesting on my lap. (We never could get him into his carrier.) The piano rested blissfully unawares of its coming adventures.

Clark and Hannah drove in the moving van and actually had things unloaded by the time Liam and I caught up, as they had a half-day head start. We were blessed with some kind church members who came to assist, which made everything go rather smoothly. (I can say that since I didn't actually see them in action!) Over the next couple weeks we did our best to unpack and  organize as much as humanly possible, and are actually finding ourselves rather settled.

With the house in order and homeschooling getting organized, it was time to move the piano. Plans A, B and C all fell through, with plans D, E and F biting the dust as well. Come to the rescue.....ME!
Actually, I was incredibly nervous about the prospect of driving a truck carrying my piano as well as two children 8 hours across the province, mostly on 2 lane highway. In fact, just thinking about it again is giving me nervous anxiety, but a mama has to do what a mama has to do. The only way to get the piano home before the weather changed for the worse was to go and get it.

The kids and I took advantage of our flexible homeschooling schedule and drove down to Edmonton on a Wednesday afternoon. Despite long delays for construction, we got there with no incident and happily slept over at my brother and sister-in-law's. The following day, we loaded up again and headed to Airdrie. We were able to spend time with friends as well as run several errands over Thursday and Friday. I even fit in an afternoon of Scrabble!

Finally, Saturday morning several friends came over to load the piano into the truck. I can't say how thankful I was for their assistance! Some things you just can't do on your own..... The missionaries came by and helped Mom and I  to wrap and secure it in the truck and then...we prayed.

I truly felt angels around my as I drove that big truck and piano up the highway with my even more precious cargo in the cab with me. Despite my anxiety, the drive went completely without incident and the traffic couldn't have been more accommodating. The piano made it up without problem, and again more friends helped us to unload it.

Phew!!

I am so thankful for being watched over and accomplishing something I didn't know I could do. And now, I have a piano in my living room to play and enjoy again. Let the music begin!!

EXPLORE [16 pts]

To celebrate the beautiful weather we have been having, I decided to take the kids out for a romp in the woods this morning. Within a five minute walk we were in this beautiful gem tucked among the housing divisions.

Liam was our trail leader.

Smile!

Crossing over the stream.

Mushrooms!

 

We came back delighted and exhausted. It's wonderful to explore!

BECALMED [15 pts]

Here I am trying to find my Zen after an absolutely exasperating morning.

It started out innocuously enough: husband off to work early, kids eating breakfast and me getting ready for our first "official" day of homeschool this year. Dare I say I had high hopes? Two cherubic children smiling back at me, obediently memorizing math facts and discussing classical literature? All my ambitions were on the table for our first day.

The first fifteen minutes were actually inspirational. There they were, neatly printing out the inspiring message of the day, eagerly participating in thought-provoking discussion (really!) and looking up words in the dictionary.

Alas, if only school days were only fifteen minutes long. Shortly thereafter, all the sugar Hannah ingested yesterday manifested itself as a full-on meltdown, Liam fled the scene, and I sat there wondering if anyone will learn anything more than self-preservation this year.

Well I learned (again) to never let Hannah eat candy, keep things simple, and to never, ever take both of my children grocery shopping again. 

But back to our inspirational message.

You were born with potential.

You were born with goodness and trust.

You were born with ideals and dreams.

You were born with greatness.

You were born with wings.

You are not meant for crawling, so don't.

You have wings.

Learn to use them and fly.

-Rumi

So things have actually settled down. Hannah is patiently stitching the first patch of her quilt, Liam is experimenting with motion and velocity, and the cat is sleeping next to me.

I think I am becalmed at last. Time for a round of Scrabble!