The life of...?

I am attending a book club in two weeks in which we are required to come prepared to share our book. (a biography of our choice to be exact) I had selected a biography on Pablo Picasso, and it just wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be. It didn't capture much about his "life" it just discussed his work. His work was often dark and abstract. I don't know if I'd have much to share about him, other than to just show some of his art. The good part about reading this book was that by the end of it, I felt totally inspired to take a minute and draw a bit myself. This picture above is my version of Picassos 1922. Mother and Child. (Yes I spend my time copying other peoples art. I have no imagination), the only difference is that mine I did with lead and charcoal and his was done with oil. It felt good to pull out the pencils for an hour. It must be the -30 degree weather. He was an amazing artist!


The problem now is that I really feel the need to find a new biography to share at this book club meeting. But who? I have a couple ideas, but no person has really stood out yet. What about you? If you had the chance to sit down and read about someone's life, who would you chose to read about?

Good News/Bad News

Hip HIp Horray it is snow day today!! John's boss phoned this morning and told him to just sleep till noon if he could. I LOVE it when there is no school. It means an extra set of hands to help for one more day. Abby is going to be dissappointed that there is no pre-school however but since John is around...I'll get him to break it to her:)

On a different note, I was very sad to learn about the passing of President Gordon B Hinckley last night. He has been the prophet and president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints since 1995. He was truly an amazing man and leader, and I will miss hearing him speak. I thought this was a good summary I found in the church news:


"SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - He was in his late 90s. He arrived at the
office early and often left late. He traveled the world at a
breathtaking
pace and kept up a speaking schedule that would drain the energy of men
decades younger. "I would enjoy sitting in a rocker listening to soft
music
and contemplating the things of the universe," President Hinckley once
told
the Associated Press. "But such activity offers no challenge and makes
no
contribution."


It is amazing and inspiring to think of what some people in this world manage to accomplish in their own lifetime. It makes
me want to strive to be a little bit more productive than I am perhaps being.

Jessica actually took her first steps back before Christmas time. We figured it was about time to show off her skills a bit. Hmmm, this is going to make church that much more interesting:) I love how proud of herself she looks.



Other notable news of this week:

John spent all of Saturday registering and training with Scouts Canada. He now has his "woodbadge?" He came home with some cool survival tips, like how to start a fire with a battery and steel wool. He's officially finished teaching his first semester at the High School, and begins a new series of courses this week.


I made two trips to the local Bargain Barn this week and scored on some cool used toys for the kids. Have they been a bit spoiled? Perhaps. But at $1 a toy...I don't care!! It makes Sam happy...he plays well all day, and then goes to bed SO EASY at night. Sam is in Toy Story Heaven. Best couple of bucks I spent all week!





It's the end of a busy week.

I could use some survival tips of my own.

Yesturday when I went to pick up John from the school, Abby and I decided to race to the entrance doors. Midway through our sprint Abby called out, "First one there WINS the Rotten Egg." I couldn't help but slow down...a lot and just let her win. I love it when she says something that is almost right, yet just a little off. She is so unaware of how much she makes me laugh sometimes.

Abby and I often play a little game in which we compete to see how much we love eachother. It usually results in one of us getting to say "I love you more than the whole Universe" or something outrageous like that.

So, last night as I was putting the kids to bed, Abby looked over at me and asked, "Mommy...how much do you love me?" I quickly said, "Abby I love you more than ...THE OCEAN!" After a second she said, "Yeah, well I love you more than this house!"
...huh. I couldn't help but clarify if she was talking about our little house or perhaps she meant that really big house at the end of the street. "Nope. Just our house." she sweetly said.
Ah well...maybe next time:)

k We have had some SNOW in the last few days. We are trying our best to enjoy it here:)

If you are tired of the cold, check this out. lol! YouTube - Rick Mercer's Rant - Dec 1, 2007 - The Weather

John's brother got married a couple of weeks ago. Just wanted to post some pics for family of that event as well as the open house this past weekend.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Progress Report

*The print that I ordered awhile back finally arrived. It is bigger than I thought it would be, so I'll have to wait until I have a good frame before I can display it.

*We dropped off the kids' passport applications this week, and are now breathing a sigh of relief. That's out of the way, and the process was a lot simpler this time around. Bonus!


*Jessica has croupe for the second time this winter. I'm thinking that maybe I'm not doing something right with her. Today though, despite the fact that she fell asleep standing up, she is doing much better:) Again...progress.


*Attended an open house last night for my Brother-in Law and his new wife. They are such a stunning couple together, and it was a great time. I even ran into some old friends which is always fun. I love having a reason to get in to the City. Welcome to the family Katherine!


*I tried a new dish this week. Bruschetta Chicken. So delicious. I'm thinkin I should post the recipe for this one. The best part about it is it is so EASY!


*Sam's vocabulary has changed in just the last few days, and I'm really excited. He will try to repeat anything now, and though we still here mostly grunts...more and more those grunts are resembling actual words. He has even started saying prayers and insists on being asked each meal to be the one to bless the food. It's a "I'm thankful for my head...nose...dada" kind of a prayer but it works.

Time is flying by and life is good.
And that is our report!

One Week in

It is hard to believe that we are already one week into the New Year. New years eve was a blast. My family all came down and we spent the evening at Jewel's house, eating...playing games... eating some more and just enjoying their company.

We had a feast of food and the kids all loved getting to actually "choose" for once what they put on their plate. Bacon wrapped sausages, sushi, chicken wings, fruit, veggies....we ate a tonne! My neice Ava introduced us to a game called TILES, that is a favorite with her family. It was such a great game and the perfect way to practice spelling with kids. Not that Ava needed the practice-she can hold her own when it comes to spelling!



Jessica has been climbing stairs for awhile so we decided to show her the art of climbing down the stairs...safely. She caught on fast and spent most of her time going up and down!


The next morning we all went to the local Junior High School to play in the gym. All the kids needed was a little bit of open space to have a good time.


I enjoyed running around a bit and brushing up on some very rusty basketball skills. I think I did pretty good...against some two year olds atleast:)




Since the New Years bash with my family, we have kept busy, still lucky to have John home with us all week long.



There have been a couple of messy faces this past week! Still though...they are both so darn cute!




One of the large trees lining our property cracked causing one part of our tree to hang dangerously. Sadly we had to remove that one large limb taking off half the tree. This wind down here can really do some damage at times!!



With the school break being two weeks long I took advantage of the fact that John was here to watch the kids. I borrowed the books Twilight and New Moon from my sister in-law. Who thought vampires and werewolves could make for such an interesting read? I think I neglected and ignored most things around the house this past week. It has been so long since I just sat to read...it was fantastic. The only problem is I haven't gotten to read the third book in this series and when I went to the library it was out. I'm number 29 on the waitlist. AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! Does Bella marry the vampire, or go back to the werewolf? Wait...on second thought, don't tell me:)


John had several of his Brothers visit over the holidays and that was all he seemed to need. They played with their remote control airplane things...often, and tried several different daredevil stunts in the process. (but I won't go into that) One night though, they decided to attach some LED lights to the planes and fly them at dusk. John came back thrilled that it actually looked like a real plane in the sky! I hate to admit it-but it did look pretty cool.




Anyways that was our first week of the new year summed up! Oh wait, we also enjoyed visiting with John's grandparents in Stirling and also seeing some of our good friends from Sparwood. There now you have it. Fun week.

On Monday, John will head back to the school, Abby returns to pre-school, and normal life will resume. It was a great start to the NEW YEAR. We wish you all the best as well!!!!