Snowmaggedon - the Trilogy

Snow Day #3 here - no city busses, no mail delivery, no garbage collection, just lots of snow!!
Yesterday afternoon, when it stopped snowing for a bit, the kids went outside to play. This should give you an idea of how much snow we have here:

Natalie trying to get back to the sidewalk:

Today, the sun is shining, and it's pretty nice out. Everyone was getting a bit of cabin fever, so we loaded up the sleds and went to the sledding hill!
Natalie didn't like sledding last year, but this year she LOVES it! Here she is coming back up the hill after her first run down with Allison.

Amanda at the bottom of the hill:

Tim showing off:


The Koopmans met us at the hill. Here's Tim and Jared on the GT's:


And the whole crew headed down the hill! The shadows are Monica and I!

Warming up with some hot chocolate - yum!

Getting tired, almost time to go home:

Amanda and Zoe are tired too!

It's been a nice break, but I think everyone will be glad to get back into routine tomorrow.

Snow Day - the Sequel.

It is still snowing here! And now they say it is not supposed to stop until Thursday!! We have had about a metre of snow so far, and could get another metre before it's all said and done.
This was the scene out my front door this morning:

Here is our back deck:

Look at the overhang from the roof! Pretty cool...

Tim is digging out my snow tires so they can go on the van. It took us a bit to get the van dug out, but I made it!
Art is heading to Ancaster, where it is warm and the grass is green...


Our front sidewalk:

Tim has been out with the snowblower for about an hour now. I think he still has a couple more driveways to go. An enterprising young man could probably make some extra $$$ today, I'm thinking....

SNOWDAY!!!!

It started snowing yesterday around morning, and it hasn't stopped yet! Church was fairly empty in the afternoon, and Bible Study was cancelled. The kids went to bed hoping for a snowday today... they got their wish! Maybe tomorrow too...

This is our back deck at around suppertime last night:

This is our back deck this morning:

The kids went out to play in the snow:

The entire city is pretty much shut down - no mail delivery, public/catholic schools closed, I think the busses are still running - for now! We are supposed to get up to 60 cm by the time this is all done on Wednesday. We'll see if there is school tomorrow!

We are having a cozy day at home catching up on some laundry/cleaning. I am making bread and a big pot of stew for supper...

Success!

Last night, the CCS Ladies Auxiliary cooked and served Stamppot Dinner for 225 people. This is our large annual fundraiser/social event. We don't charge admission, but have a donation box by the door.
We thought we could seat around 200, and intended to cut it off there, but how do you say no to people who want to come out and support our school? So we ended up with about 225, and were really hoping we could squish the extras in somewhere!
There were 4 of us in the kitchen, along with some wonderful teenage helpers, who were great at peeling potatoes and setting up tables and chairs.
We served boerrenkoel, carrot stamppot, sauerkraut stamppot, smoked sausage (yum!) applesauce, fried onions, and cake/ice cream for dessert.
So...
200 lbs of potatoes
60 lbs of sausage
30 lbs of carrots
10 lbs of onions
150 cups of coffee
3 Costco cakes
3 tubs of icecream
1.5 bushels of applesauce

translates into....

approximately $1700 net profit!

Thank you, thank you to those who came out. We enjoyed ourselves, and hope you did too. Even though the dishwasher broke down and we had to do dishes by hand. Even though our feet were sore and our hands chapped. I think we'll do it all again next year. We may have to find a bigger venue though....

The Rest of the Story....

...in pictures!

The twins had a birthday party:

Here they are busy making a craft...

Which they then got to take home.

While Chad & Erin were busy packing & moving, their kids spent some quality time here playing MarioKart Wii. (Noah's favorite!)

They all had to have a turn.

Grandpa & Nana's dog Missy came for a visit too one Sunday evening. She really likes Tim, but won't go down the stairs to find him. She just cried until he came up to see her.

Apparently his armpits are nice and warm. And ticklish!

Tim raked up a really large pile of leaves...

....and look! We found Natasha and Deanna in it!

October Occasions, 2010 Edition

Continuing on with our whirlwhind birthday month!

Allison and Amanda turned 9 on the 10th! Here they are waiting to open gifts at breakfast.

Got some good ones! Of course, then we went to church, and not even our own church, and were gone for lunch, so they didn't even get to play with any of their new stuff until later that day!

Birthday cupcakes for dessert.

Here they are modelling their lovely new dresses from Grandma and Grandpa!

On my birthday, I had the privilege of accompanying Grade 3/4 on a Field Trip to Fanshawe Conservation Area. We had a guided Habitat workshop. So fun!

While waiting for our guide, I snapped a class shot:

It's a big group this year: 21 students!

First stop, the pond! They all got a seive and used it to dig into the muddy bottom to see what kind of critters they could find. Rubber boots were mandatory for this trip!

Allison looking to see what's in her muck. We found lots of dragonfly nymphs, and even caught two minnows!

Then into the forest for a lesson on survival of the fittest. They were all bears, and had to gather enough food for themselves. According to the guide, only two would survive. I don't have pictures of this game, as I had to help the "blind" bear gather her food. (She got too close to a beehive and her eyes were swollen shut. )

Last stop, the field. Each pair of students had a butterfly net to swoop through the long grass in search of more critters.

Lots of grasshoppers! Some crickets, a honeybee or two, milkweed beetles, and a butterfly!

It was a fun day!

Before and after

This is Tim's desk. Grandma's neighbours were throwing it out years ago, and she picked it up for Tim. It has done him well for a number of years, but it's getting a bit small for high school homework!
Deanna has a larger desk in her room, that is really too big for the space. I finally convinced her that they should switch desks by promising to refinish Tim's desk for her...

After 3 hours of sanding, one coat of primer and 2 coats of Benjamin Moore Aura Satin Impervo paint and some new hardware, this is Deanna's "new" desk:

It turned out so well, very pretty and feminine. She wanted me to paint it purple. I refused. We compromised by letting her pick the hardware, and I have promised to look for some purple vinyl decals to dress it up

She loved the crystal knobs. Of course, they were rather pricey! So, she got two for the top drawers, and picked some more economical, but still pretty floral ceramic knobs for the other four drawers.

Now that her current desk is emptied and de-stickered (is that a word?) we will switch desks around tonight.

But first we'll have to wake up Sleeping Beauty:

There was an overnight retreat for school last night. They tried to pull an all-nighter, and made it til 3 a.m. before being threatened by the principal with a phone call to their parents to come pick them up. Tim came home this afternoon, showered, and went for a nap....

**EDIT***

So to give you an idea, here are before and after shots of her room:

BEFORE: That green desk was nice and big, but really took up a lot of space in there

AFTER: Lots more space, and still enough room to do homework

She wants a bulletin board/whiteboard yet, but for now, she has a Redwall poster to look at

And a bud vase of flowers from her own garden!

Gerber daisy, roses and some lavendar for colour. Smells good too!

Doors Open Weekend

Last week, Art flew out to Calgary for some customer events and sales meetings. He flies home again today, (Monday).
I was looking for something different to do with the kids on Saturday, and found that Doors Open London was this weekend!
This event means that various (50!) sites around London open their doors to the public, and it's all free. Some places you don't usually get to see the inside of otherwise.
We picked a few favorites, and a few new places to go..
First stop, the Royal Canadian Regiment Museum. This one is usually free (or by donation) but the kids love it...

Whoops! Tim got caught..

Lots of cool stuff to see.

Next up, One London Place.

This is the tallest building downtown, an office building. We went up the high speed elevator to the 23rd floor, where we could visit an empty suite to enjoy the view.

We could even see our church! I've marked it on the photo.

Then, up to the 25th floor to tour the mechanical room.. The entire building is cooled using ice!

That was pretty cool...

Since we were downtown, we toured a couple of churches briefly. They were beautiful, but the kids were quickly bored.

No boredom at this stop: The Model Railroad Club! A football sized model train setup...

Natalie was thrilled to see Thomas there!

Lots of buildings and bridges... I think all of the buildings are replicas of sites that were/are in London.

We could have spent hours here.

Next... the Childrens Museum! Of course, we have been here before, but we couldn't pass up an opportunity to visit for free!

It was Polish Day, so we could watch some traditional dances, and sample some Polish pastry and perogies!

Sliding down from the big tree

Doing some (magnetic) fishing

Riding a snowmobile in the Arctic

..and playing in the sand at the bottom of the ocean!


It was a fun day. We'll have to remember to go again next year!