Sunday Funnies:

This afternoon, in the middle of the sermon in church, Natalie (whom I thought was asleep on my lap) looked at me and said:

"I really wanted to be a mermaid. But...I'm a girl. With legs (as she pointed to the offending appendages). I'm not a mermaid".

And she heaved a mighty sigh and laid her head back down on my lap.

Don't you just wonder how their minds work sometimes?

Harsevoort Sinterklaas 2008

I know, it's not even December yet! But since we were all going to be together for family pictures anyway, we thought we'd combine it with Sinterklaas.

The Story of the Red Hat

Once upon a time, there was a red hat. After outliving it's fashion heyday (sometime in the 80's, I believe) it was relegated by its owner to a thrift store. It gained new life a couple of years ago when it was purchased by my mother to wear to a Red Hat Lunch for my aunt. After this event, it was given a place of honour in the dressup box downstairs.

Yesterday, it was the most popular item in the house! Proof:

Amanda, Natalie, Deanna and Jonah all had a turn.

Even Uncle Pieter looked dashing in his nouveau chapeau! Let's hope nobody had head lice :)

And some more memorable moments:

Aunt Kathryn, I was sitting here first!

Callum taking after his father :)

Uncle Art getting his baby fix

Kim enjoying a frosty beverage....

Aaron setting the kids table - so helpful!

Caleb taking it all in.

Callum likes his new book!

Uncle Rick had a nice hat too!

Well, it snowed...

...about 6" so far.

This afternoon I went to the school to teach P.E. (as I do every Thursday afternoon. I have Gr 3/4 for an hour, and then Gr 1/2 for an hour at the end of the day.) When I arrived, the entire school was in the back yard building snow forts! Even the staff - it was great!
Lunch recess is supposed to go til 1:00, but nobody wanted to go inside, so we all stayed out til 2 rolling giant snowballs and building them into forts. I think Mr. Meinen (the principal) rolled the most snowballs! Gr 7/8 used their snow to build a large ramp at the top of the backyard slope. Then they slid down it on Crazy Carpets. I really really wish I had brought my camera. It was something to see! The older kids helping the younger kids roll snowballs, or climb the ramp to slide down.
At 2, the teachers decided they should do some work yet, so Gr 1/2 and I were left with the ramp to ourselves! It was fun Phys Ed! We also played Cops and Robbers (using the snow fort as the jail), before we went inside for a few minutes at the end of the day.

More snow is on the way.... Tim might have a lucrative weekend (shovelling driveways)!

**UPDATE**

Friday was indeed a snow day. Although the sun was shining here, just west of us in Strathroy they got dumped on! Up to 75 cm in some areas.

This is how much snow we got here, just about a foot:

WHAT???????

COPIED FROM ENVIRONMENT CANADA'S WEBSITE:

SNOWSQUALL WARNING: London - MiddlesexIssued at 3:28 PM EST WEDNESDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2008
ANOTHER SIGNIFICANT SNOW SQUALL EVENT EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ON THURSDAY. THIS IS A WARNING THAT SNOWSQUALLS ARE IMMINENT OR OCCURRING IN THESE REGIONS. MONITOR WEATHER CONDITIONS..LISTEN FOR UPDATED STATEMENTS.
AN ALBERTA CLIPPER WILL CROSS SOUTHERN ONTARIO TONIGHT ALONG WITH A DOLLOP OF SNOW. ACCUMULATIONS WILL GENERALLY BE AROUND 5 CENTIMETRES WITH LOCALLY 10 IN A FEW LOCALES..MAINLY IN PARTS OF SKI COUNTRY. A SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT IS IN EFFECT WITH MORE SPECIFICS ABOUT THIS EVENT. A MUCH MORE SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL EVENT IS ON TAP FOR THURSDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. SOME OF THE COLDEST AIR OF THE SEASON THUS FAR WILL SURGE INTO SOUTHERN ONTARIO BEGINNING LATE THURSDAY AND BECOME WELL ENTRENCHED ON FRIDAY. VERY UNSTABLE AIR COMBINED WITH THE RELATIVELY WARM WATERS OF THE GREAT LAKES WILL PRODUCE ABUNDANT SNOW SQUALLS. THESE SQUALLS WILL BECOME PARTICULARLY ROBUST THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY. SEVERAL SIGNIFICANT SNOW SQUALLS ARE LIKELY TO AFFECT THE BRUCE PENINSULA TO COLLINGWOOD LATER ON THURSDAY AS WELL AS DOWNWIND LOCALES TO THEIR SOUTH. ACCUMULATIONS IN EXCESS OF 15 CENTIMETRES ARE LIKELY THURSDAY NIGHT. BUT A MORE MONUMENTAL BAND IS QUITE POSSIBLE NEAR THE EASTERN SHORE OF LAKE HURON EXTENDING ACROSS GRAND BEND OR SARNIA AND SOUTH FROM THERE. SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL AMOUNTS IN EXCESS OF 30 CENTIMETRES APPEAR LIKELY THURSDAY NIGHT. COLOSSAL SNOWFALL TOTALS IN EXCESS OF 50 CENTIMETRES ARE POSSIBLE OUT OF THIS EVENT BY THE TIME IT WEAKENS ON SATURDAY

SO...BETTER BREAK OUT THE DOG SLEDS!

Decor Project

Today I had both Deanna and Amanda home sick. Natalie has been suffering from a bad cold all week, as have I.

Since it was going to be a write-off day for housework anyway, I thought I'd tackle a project. Deanna has been wanting a new desk chair. This is what she's been using:

Not too beautiful, or remotely comfortable! This is an issue, since she likes to sit in her room and read.

So, $25 and a couple of hours later, this is what that chair looks like now:

I was just going to use the stripes, but we happened to spot that blue chenille in the remnant bin as we walked by, and she loved it! It's beautifully soft, but very difficult to cut and sew! Glad I didn't do the whole chair in that!

Much more comfortable (especially with 3" foam!) and it looks a little better too!

Vacancy..

Today our pastor announced that he has accepted a call extended to him by the church of West Albany, Australia. It was an emotional day in London. I'm sure this was a difficult decision for the Pot family to make. We wish them well, but we will miss them.