Merry Christmas!!!

This is one of the pictures that didn't make the final cut in the Halldorson Christmas card but it's still cute! This year Will was still agreeable to wear something matching with Zanna (which I'm thrilled about) so I went with it. Aren't they cute?!!!!

A Halldorson tradition - an IKEA Christmas tree. $20 and you get a $20 coupon to spend in the New Year. What a deal!Some families go to a tree farm, freeze their buns off, God bless them, for the sake of the "experience", have some hot chocolate and cut down a tree. We pile in the car and go to IKEA and have it over and done with in 15min. I love it! After last years tree falling over fiasco we were a bit more sensitive to that problem this year. We made sure that the trunk was nice and straight. We bought a new tree stand (new and improved - Canadian made!). Bottom line - it's a piece of $40 plastic crap. Wayne still had to reinforce it with plastic ties but it seems to be holding up. We hope.

In November we took a little getaway to Syracuse (my favourite place to get my American shopping fix). I bought some presents, we ate at Olive Garden, wandered up and down the aisles of Target (gosh, I love that place). We stayed at a hotel with a pool and the kids had a blast. We got together with the Gumm family - they came to our hotel to swim and we had some pizza. Addie and Zanna got to play together - it's so sweet! I would have posted a picture of them but as a general rule I don't post pictures of other peoples kids no matter how cute they are! Anyway, it was great to get out of Dodge if only for 2 nights!

We had a lovely American Thanksgiving. We had some more of our Chinese friends over who had never had a traditional meal like this - it was great! Will presented his lapbook to the group explaining the history of the holiday and how it came about.

Now we're in the full swing of the Christmas season. We've got lots of snow (again) and my garden flag that says "Jesus is the Reason" has been buried (again). This year with Zanna just a bit older it's been great to be able to send the kids outside and they will play together making snowmen, or snowforts or whatever. They'll spend an hour playing outside and it's LOVELY!

Zanna was invited to a birthday party last weekend for a little Chinese girl that lives around the corner. I wish I would have brought my camera because soon after our arrival the girls were taken upstairs to change into dress up princess dresses that they wore for the remainder of the party. They were all adorable! Zanna was in heaven. They beaded their own necklaces, made bracelets,ate cake - she talked about it all week! The girl's mother and I had a chance to chat too and in the course of our conversation she shared with me that she is from a Chinese family line that is allowed to have as many children as they wish because they are Muslim. I had the privilege of sharing with her the good news of Jesus and that He is God. Of course, she did not understand this but never the less heard the message. Please keep this women in your prayers!

We are looking forward to Christmas in Wisconsin (or rather, the day after Christmas as we'll be driving on Christmas!). Lord-willing, my family will be all together - so exciting! Merry Christmas!!!!

Trick or Treat

Good golly - what a picture this is! In case you can't tell by looking, Will is Indian Jones, Zanna is some sort of fairy with wings (she called herself a butterfly) and my dear husband is a monk. I never thought in a million years he'd dress up. We bought it because it was so cheap and thought maybe he could use it for Reformation or something. Well, ten years and he still surprised me! Ha! They look great anyway and they had a great time.

To fill in the rest of the month of October (now that we're halfway through November), we had a lovely Thanksgiving. Canadian Thanksgiving that is because in this house we celebrate both. Now to be honest, I usually think of Canadian Thanksgiving as the "trial run" to the real Thanksgiving. I do appreciate it being in October when the fall colors are at their peak and often the weather is nice enough to take a walk after our big meal. But growing up with a November Thanksgiving with the Pilgrim thing and the official kickoff to the Christmas season, it's been difficult. Until last year. This is the second year now that I've gone all out for Cn. Thanksgiving and the Am. one has been in the way - let's get on with Christmas already. Perhaps I'm becoming Canadianized (is that a word?). So this year we had turkey and all the trimmings and invited some of our CHinese friends over for a traditional North American feast. I had hoped it was something they hadn't experienced before and I was pleased to find out for the most part that this was the case. Our friend Rebecca said that their Chinese friends had done a Chinese version of one - can you imagine what that would be like? Maybe our version of Chinese food - a poor comparison! Well anyway, they "gobbled" everything up and the big hit was the green bean casserole. Too funny!!

I still find it difficult when Am Thanksgiving rolls around - I want to celebrate it and I know my family is celebrating it and I want it to be a big deal. I turn on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, take the day off of school, etc and make the big meal. But it's weird when no one else is making a big deal of it too. I don't want my kids to miss out on this tradition. I want them to "get it". So this year we're preparing a bit ahead of time for it and will do a unit study on it next week. Will's reading the Magic tree house book "Thanksgiving on Thursday" and will do a book report on it.

I went and did something crazy this month just to keep things interesting, I suppose. I got Invisaligns for my teeth. This is the alternative to braces. I've always been annoyed with my crooked teeth and now I'm out to fix it. So I've got these clear inserts over my teeth I change weekly and the idea is no one can tell. However, I can't eat or drink anything other than water with them in and I've got to keep them in for 22hours a day. This leaves me a precious 2 hours each day to stuff myself! Actually, I'm drinking way more water than I usually do and if I'm really lucky I'll loose a few pounds and have straight teeth. What a deal!

October update

We've had another busy month! We went with some other homeschoolers to the butterfly exhibit at a local university and the kids had a blast. It wasn't as awesome as the one we went to in Rochester but this was lovely too.

The butterfly shown with Will really took a liking to him and sat on his hand for quite some time. People were going up to Will like he was a display and taking his picture with the butterfly.

Of course October includes a trip to the pumpkin patch. We picked out our pumpkins as well as took a hay ride through the pumpkin patch. I'm ashamed to admit we ran out of time for a fall nature walk on one of the lovely trails around our community. It just never happened - not that we weren't doing other things but it's disappointing anyway. It has been a beautiful fall - that is until it snowed 6 cm the other day. Yes, that's right. It's like it never left. Actually, it's warmed up since then and the snow's practically gone now. The paper claimed it's a "false winter". Whatever.

In other news, Will participated in his first Karate tournament and won a pretty cool 3rd place trophy. He had a good time and Zanna and I cheered him on!

The kids and I did manage to make leaf cookies this year. I cut out the shapes and the kids have a blast decorating them with sprinkles and stuff. They were yummy too!!

I've tried this month to tap into my creative juices and did a few fun things - I took a mixed media art class at a local art store and made 2 wall decorations for Christmas I'm looking forward to putting up. I've also done another "year in the life" scrapbook workshop - 2 nights, layouts per month done for me, tools, stamps, ink, etc provided and I leave with a scrapbook I just need to journal and put in a picture. Pretty slick, looks great, documents memories through the year. Works for me!!

I will have to do the Halloween update in the next one - I'm running out of time now.

Fall Fun!!

I think this is precious - she set this all up herself. A tea party with her dollies!!! Too cute!
Last Spring, Will started karate. He took the summer off due to our busy schedule but he resumed in September and recently earned his yellow belt! It was very exciting!!
Apple picking!! One of my favorite fall things to do! Speaking of fall, I love fall. Not just "I really enjoy this season" but I may just be obsessed. Like other times of the year, I decorate my house for fall. But as I hauled up 6 boxes of fall decorations from the basement this year, I realize I may have an issue. I can't even walk into Michaels this time of year because I don't need any more fall things but I just can't resist. I love the colors so much - they are so relaxing to me. And the smells - cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, etc put me into a heavenly blissful state of mind. I love apples, pumpkins and scarecrows. If I could keep mums alive I would love them too. I love my fall dishes and the acorn shaped salt and pepper shaker. I know - I have a problem!! I love Canadian Thanksgiving and American Thanksgiving (can you have too much turkey? I don't think so), I love celebrating Reformation and all things German. I still detest Halloween but I do like (not love) jackolanterns (pumpkin faces). I love nature walks - the fond memories of my family's growing up and the new memories my family now makes. I love taking the extra time to thank Jesus for all our many blessings and recognizing everything comes from Him!!Happy Fall!!

Halldorson Happenings

When I was growing up it was a tradition during the summer months that each of us kids would have one night that we would pick a menu we wanted and make it (with Mom's help), set the table and put out any decorations we wanted. Then we'd get our picture taken before everyone dug in. So that's what Will did - he chose to make bean and cheese enchiladas, salad and apple slices. He had a great time and we will do this again for sure!
Will's first day of grade 3. Normally we've done our work at in the kitchen but this year we are starting our day upstairs in the playroom. We do our Bible lesson first followed by spelling and handwriting. Then we go downstairs and do the rest - math, history, science, etc at the kitchen table and my favorite - read aloud snuggling on the family sofa.
We took our 3rd annual (maybe 4, I can't remember) trip to Upper Canada Village with the Homeschool group. It was a beautiful day and I brought a picnic lunch to eat before we headed home.

Fun Pictures

Here is Zanna's version of potty training.
This was taken on our morning at Valleyview Animal Farm. The kids enjoyed riding the train through the corn, playing in the sand and petting the animals.

Zanna enjoys her corn on the cob!

End of summer - Labour Day

Our summer ended as it has for the third year now - at the WELS North Atlantic Districts Labour Day Retreat in the Berkshire Mountains of Mass. The weather was perfect and we were able to do a lot of things out of doors this year. Will had a friend from our church along this year and the two of them had a blast playing tennis, swimming in the outdoor heated pool, beach volleyball and the children's Sunday school classes they offered. Will slept in the cabin with his friend, friend's mom and one other gal from church. It was weird not having him with us. We saw him every now and then to make sure he was OK. It's funny how independent he's getting!
Zanna and I had fun in the swimming pool and she was getting brave enough to jump off the side of the pool into my arms and to be fully dunked under water. The rest of us have no natural ability to survive in the water so she may have a fighting chance. Ha!

The weekend was spent catching up with friends from around the district, attending the different Bible studies offered to choose from and just getting out of town!! We stayed an extra night on the way back in Syracuse and did some back to school shopping, etc. Then we hit the ground running!

With as relaxing and fun as the first half of our summer was, the last half was the opposite. It's been an unusually stressful time for our family and I'm not altogether sure why - just one of those seasons of life I suppose - and I keep waiting for things to return to "normal" but normal is a bit different now. First of all, Wayne has a vicar for the year (very last minute!) and while this helps him get way more done in less time, it's also more work. Will started grade 3 and his work load (also mine as his teacher!) is heavier. We switched curriculums and it takes some time to get used to it and plan for the proper amount of time to get things accomplished. Our activities start over the next few weeks so this is good in that it will give us some time to work out our mornings before the afternoons kick in with activities.

As for the update on Zanna's pottytraining - boy, oh boy, is she a smart cookie. She's realized that if she goes on the potty, she gets M&M's. So.......................she'll tinkle a little into the potty and demand her candy. After she receives her reward she goes back and tinkles a bit more and demands more candy. This has gone up to 6 times before! This does not mean, unfortunately, that she's trained and we're done. She only does this when she feels like it. Or, if she didn't eat very well for a meal and still wanted dessert but didn't get it. So then she falls back on the "Then I'll just go potty a few times and get dessert anyway".

That's about all for now!!!!

Potty training - the final frontier

And so it begins. I've got the little potty and the one that fits on the big potty. I've got pull-ups, training underwear, big kid Dora underwear and vinyl underwear covers. My rewards include stickers, high fives and mini M&M's. I've got a training video for girls that includes the song "Bye, Bye Pee, pee. Bye, Bye Poo" with complementing book and doll with little potty that matches the video. My arsenal is full - if only she'd cooperate! We actually made some big strides in the couple weeks we started this and considering we've been extremely busy. Being very impatient by nature, I was going to give up the whole thing but we've turned a corner and now she wants to go on the big potty, has control of her bladder and has kept pretty dry all day. I realize this may go on for awhile with little improvement but I'm hopeful! She's very independent by nature and so this may work in my benefit with the potty "learning" as they now refer to it.

July trip to Calgary

We did a lot of things on our trip to Calgary this year but for some reason I didn't take very many pictures. Our main reason for going was, of course, to see Wayne's family as they all live there now. But it's such a fun city to visit and there is so much to do that it's hard to get it all into a week. We tried! We made a visit to the children's science museum, spent a day at the zoo which is fantastic by the way. We went for a hike in the mountains which rewarded us with this lovely waterfall you see pictured here on the left. We walked around Banff, the cousins played. The weather was typical Calgary - changes at the drop of a coin and plays with your head. One day sunny and 30C and the next it's hailing so much you have to shovel. We got a ride with Jake and Fran in their massive motorhome out to the lake where the family will be building a cottage to enjoy in the near future. We spent two nights with Wayne's brother Jeff and sisterinlaw Steph and four girls. Got a chance to meet the new pastors and their families in the area and had a fun cookout at the beach with them. We really appreciated this fellowship with fellow called workers in Canada and were grateful it worked out that we could be a part of this get together.
Here Zanna is playing in the water at the children's science museum.
We had a fun time in Calgary although maybe not very relaxing but it's great for the cousins to play together (there are 9 on that side now) and it's really neat to see their friendships developing. And as always is the case among this family, it's never a dull moment, often amusing and this trip was no exception!
Brent and Chantal and kids are in the process of moving to Texas for a few years so we most likely won't see them for awhile. Maybe the kids will develop a bit of a drawl - haha!

Celebrations

It had to come eventually - my high school reunion! Wayne and I went to Prairie du Chien, WI on the 28th to celebrate 15 yrs since I graduated from Martin Luther Prep School. My dear boarding school that I spent 4 life changing years at is now a boys prison so we were unable to celebrate on campus due to the inmates (which we always joked back then we were!) Just when I think I've grown up and moved on with my life, I go and attend a high school reunion and turn back into my idiot self. Oh, well. There was not a great turn out from my class (it was a multi class reunion) but we had a blast with those who were there - pictured is Tonya (my dear friend and Matron of honour in my wedding), Melony, me and Janine (fellow pastor's wife and good friend). We had dinner at the banquet facility we had our Senior class banquet 15 yrs ago and then our group moved on to the bar that our tutors apparently frequented in "the day" called the Sawmill or something. (We knew this because Janine married a former tutor - ha!) It was here the classiest of Prairie very clearly hung out. Pitchers of beer were a whopping $6, mixed drinks were $2.50. Janine and I had a very unfortunate experience on the way into the women's bathroom I wish I could erase from my memory. And we all took off when someone in the bar puked and we got our first whiff of it. Needless to say, Prairie itself seemed a bit dumpier to me than when I last was there but my brother thought it looked better and so did my Mom two weeks later when she and Dad drove through on their Harley ride. It's funny how different memory can be from reality. I was sad to leave without having Crab Rangoon at the Chinese place that was still there (maybe someday, Janine)! So while Wayne and I were gallivanting around Wisconsin/Minnesota having the time of our lives - or something like that- my dear Dad stayed with my children. Mom had left earlier that week for Arizona to attend the LWMS convention and Dad was up to the challenge. I'm pretty sure he hasn't changed a diaper since my sister (who's 26) and Mom said she could never recall a time she left us for a night and Dad stayed with the three of us. Nevertheless, he stepped up to the plate. Now, I don't know all the particulars of what went on those two days he was in charge but I do know that when we got back they were still alive, in good spirits and still alive! No really, he did a great job and we sure appreciated it.
On Canada Day our family celebrated by having burgers flavoured with Canadian seasoning and maple leaf cookies. After Zanna's nap we drove into Minoqua and stayed at a hotel with a waterpark. The four of us had a great time!! The fourth of July was also our 10th anniversary and Mom and Dad's 37th. The kids had their face painted in the morning - Zanna had balloons and Will had an eagle. We spent time with my Grandpa and Grandma and we all went out for Friday night fish fry - a Wisconsin classic! Reid and Brenda met Zanna for the first time and it was great to see them both. Wayne got me a beautiful James Avery charm bracelet and we'll go on a trip to celebrate this winter!!!
Here we are with my Grandparents, brother Reid and Brenda, Mom and Dad. Happy 4th of July!!!!

That's pretty much our 3 weeks in Wisconsin in a nutshell. It was a great vacation!!

Wild in Wisconsin

We left for Wisconsin in mid June. We drove 14 hrs through the night (a record thanks to Wayne's "efficient" driving). There's something to be said for traveling through the night - the big one is sleeping children that aren't driving us nuts. We also save money on a hotel, no lines at the border, and stopping for less meals. We got to Mom and Dad's and Wayne and I headed straight for a nap while the kids played with Oma and Opa. We celebrated my birthday on the 22nd. Mom made my favorite meal - chicken salad served in her antique chickens (you have to see to believe) and double crusted lemon pie. I usually make these things for myself if I'm celebrating at home but I must admit, it tastes better when Mom makes it!! After lunch, Wayne took off for the Seminary in Milwaukee for a week of Summer quarter. So for the week he was in school, the kids and I hung out with my folks. Will got a chance to attend their church's soccer camp the first two days we arrived and the week Wayne was gone Will got to go to their Vacation Bible Camp. He had a great time and Zanna made a new friend in the principal's son Noah. We'd hang out at church and wait for Will to finish up and Noah and Zanna would play together. Zanna worked all her charms on him and he tried to impress her by telling her he's potty trained - he's not! While we stayed at Mom and Dad's, Zanna slept in our IKEA castle tent we brought along. We called her the Princess of the castle and Mom got her a crown.
One of the favourite things to do was to take out the pontoon boat with Grandpa. Will got to drive and did a great job on the lake and Zanna drove on Opa's lap. She also did a good job as she followed directions to turn left, even it out, turn right - she loves to be in control!

Here's another picture of the kids on the boat with Aunt Brenda who came up with my brother Reid for a few days. The weather was fantastic almost the whole time we were there. We had so much fun!!

Summer is here!!

Ha! I just thought this was such a goofy picture I had to post it.
I know I'm way behind in this update and now I have to rack my brain thinking of what the heck we did the beginning of June. One thing we did was to go to the Medieval Festival at Upper Canada Village and spend the day watching jousting, play games, eat giant pickles on a stick and watch the knights in shining armor. In this picture, Will is making a candle by going around in a circle and dipping a wick into hot wax. We went with my friend Ruth and two of her girls. It was an extremely hot day and very busy and dear Ruth got to see the side of me that's hot and uncomfortable. Hopefully, she still likes me.
By the way, I have to laugh at the response to my GPS in the last post. 3 people wrote me that they have "feelings" for their GPS too! I was thinking about mentioning Bob as one of the family in our Christmas letter this year but Wayne thought that was taking it a bit too far. His brother and sister-in-law have a GPS that speaks like Yoda. Can you imagine?

8th Birthday Bash

We survived another birthday party!!! Always an accomplishment. The theme of the party was "Mad-Scientist" and we had a blast! I put together a few experiments for them to do including a test tube lava lamp made with Alka-Seltzers, fun with slime and the finale was exploding Diet Coke with a pack of Mentos candies. (what 8yr old boy wouldn't want something to explode at his party - thankfully it was at the park down the street!) My Mom and Dad were able to spend his birthday with us and they were a big help at the party along with friend Melissa. Wayne was in charge of pictures and video. I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off.
This is the cake for this year. Much easier than the bike cake from last year! It's a brain if you can't tell. The kids got a kick out of eating "brain" - haha!

At this point I'll catch you up with what I've been up to other than putting together crazy birthday parties. Inspired by my sister-in-law and several other sources, I purchased a grain mill. This means I've been grinding flour from wheat berries (not exactly as rustic as Ma Ingalls - this baby is a fine tuned machine.) and managing to make bread and other baked goods when I get the chance. I've done this because first of all - it tastes amazing. It has a fantastic nutty flavor that you can't get from stuff off the shelves. And second, because it very nutritious. Flour goes rancid extremely fast on top of the fact that they suck out all the good stuff and leave white all-purpose stuff that's supposed to last - how long? Anyway, I've been enjoying it and my family seems to like what they get to eat.
The other thing I've discovered I can't live without and Will's so tired of me talking about it is Norwex products. Now this is a line of cleaning products so you might wonder what I'm so excited about it's the fact that there aren't any chemicals I'm using anymore (for the most part) and I'm still getting things clean. This is very exciting for me. I know - I need to get out more. I have a friend who admits (you know who you are) that she likes the smell of CLR. I do not. And my trusty micro-fiber Norwex cloth cleans better than CLR (I'm serious, Cara).
Finally, the last thing to come into my life and I wonder how I even functioned without before. His name is Bob (as in Bob's your uncle), has a brilliant British accent, goes with me almost anywhere and tells me where to go as I happily comply. My in-laws feared that Bob would cause marital strife but that was when Bob was a women telling my husband where to go. The new man in my life is our trusty GPS. My father-in-law got this little gem for my husband shortly after Christmas and I was not amused. It was set to the women's voice to begin with and she kept telling me to go the long way to church. I know how to get to church. She really ticked me off. Then when we were going on a family outing to Upper Canada Village (which I've been to about 10 times and know the way very well), Wayne listened to HER as she took us all over tarnation and no one would listen to me. But then we found the switch and changed her to Bob. Bob has gotten us to out of town cities, suggested restaurants in the area, gotten me and kids the the kids museum and back to our hotel - I can even take a wrong turn and Bob will "recalculate" and get me back on track. I can now go anywhere in Canada, the States and Puerto Rico and get to my destination. Does it get any better?

Trip to Rochester, NY

The beginning of May the children and I were able to accompany Wayne to his pastors' conference in Rochester. So while he was at conference during the day - the kids and were free to roam about town!!! It had been quite awhile since our last trip to the States so Mommy was in need of a major Target fix (among other places). So for the first morning I dragged (at times this was quite literal) them around the local mall. I had no time or luxury to lolly-gag as they were not amused by this outing. But I had a list!!! Since Mother's Day was fast approaching and didn't want their minds to be focused on this unpleasant experience - I made it up to them by taking them to Chucky Cheese for the first time. I then turned into "super Mommy" thank you very much! We ate OK pizza and Will played video games (a rarity for him) and Zanna rode the machines for toddlers (the cars that vibrate). Sure she sits on these things at our local mall but we never actually put any money in it. Now she knows they do something - rats! We went back to our hotel for some down time and I had hoped she'd nap at some point but she was having too much fun. Then it was time to leave for the children's museum where we were to meet some friends. She fell asleep 5 minutes before we got there. I put her in her stroller and thought she'd wake up during the transition but she continued to snooze. So after refusing to nap ALL day and fussing about shopping she falls asleep at the Children's museum of Play!!! Crazy! She finally woke up about 45min later to find herself in Sesame Street. I thought she was going to pass out. It was like we were there! There was a room that was Elmo's World!!!!! It was magical. I was just as excited as the kids were. There was a Berenstein Bears exhibit that they loved too. They played in Bear Country. How cool is that? We went to an amazing butterfly exhibit in a room like a rainforest flew 80 or so species of butterflies. Unbelievable. This place went on and on and we didn't even get to everything. I can't wait to go back.
The next day was back to shopping and while they were "fresh" in the morning I took them to Target and Kohls. It went pretty well, in Target the two of them sang "Twinkle, Twinkle, little star" at the top of their lungs. Annoyingly cute, but at least they weren't driving each other nuts.

That night after Wayne's meetings were over we drove to Syracuse for a family evening before heading home the next day. After dinner that night, we walked back to the hotel and Will and I played tag and I sprained my ankle. Did it ever hurt. Of course, I can't go to a doctor because I'm in the States, so I put ice on it and waited to have it checked out the next day when we got back. Thankfully it happened after my shopping was done. Whew!

Our school year is winding down. We're finished with everything except Language Arts and should wrap that up in a few days. Will finished his pottery class and made some pretty cool pieces - definitely something he'll do again. He's doing great at the violin and hopes to take his Level 2 test in August. Hard to believe he'll be in grade 3 in the fall!!! Crazy!

Zanna's doing well and likes to take care of her babies Rou Rou and Susie. She's a good mommy and takes them on walks around the house. She still gets her fair share of 10second time-outs for various reasons like telling her brother to "shut your mouth". Consequently, she can count really well in both English and Mandarin.

My Kids!

A vision of things to come? I hope not!

"These boots are made for walking" She's so stinkin' cute!!!!!

Looks like we made it

Well, after making it through Lent, Holy Week and Easter (while certainly a most joyous occasion but more stressful time for Wayne) Wayne decided we needed to "get out of Dodge" and took advantage of a telemarketers offer one evening while I was at a Ladies' Aid meeting at church. Before I knew what happened we were on our way to Quebec - more specifically to Mont Tremblant for 2 nights at an unbelievable price of $120 if we agree to sit through a time-share presentation. He apparently agreed for the both of us and off we went. Not having been there before I wasn't sure what to expect but it turned out pretty good. Our room was quite the deal for the price for sure - fireplace, separate bedroom (a plus for kids!) and a kitchenette. The time share presentation was tolerable and they provided babysitting for the kids who had a blast. Will and Wayne went skiing while Zanna and I shopped and looked around. The worst part of the trip is now that Zanna can climb out her pack and play - she does. I watched her in action and it's pretty funny to watch if I wasn't so stinking tired. First she chucks "Rou Rou" over the edge followed by her blankie. Then she hikes up her leg and climbs over to be reunited with her sleeping buddies. This gives her WAY too much freedom. So after I clued into what was going on I just kept returning her to her bed. Over and over and over again. Not fun.
Here's Will in the VW that takes him up to the ski hill.
Will has started a pottery class that he is really enjoying. He is doing this with a couple other homeschool buddies. They've made quite a few creations so far and I got to watch him at the wheel this last time and it was pretty cool. I think the boys like that they get to play in the clay and get dirty! Ha!
We had another book club on "Mr Poppers Penguins" and the theme of the day was - you guessed it, penguins. They all made a penguin mask and walked around "goorking" until the Mom's couldn't take anymore. The older kids did a scavenger hunt outside (the weather's finally nice) and the little ones played on the playground. Zanna managed not to attack anyone this time. We're making progress. As far as his other studies are concerned - we're almost done with Math - 8 more lessons! We finished a study on Poetry this last week and learned about the first Queen Elizabeth in History.
I am writing this now to avoid the housework I should be doing. Unfortunately, no one has done it for me while I've been doing this so I better get back to work!

March Madness

March was an incredibly long month that I'm very thankful we got through in one piece. Because I seriously thought I'd go insane and I'd be writing this from the loony bin. The picture of our house is one big clue. Just when I thought we couldn't possibly get any more snow because where the heck would be put it, it snowed. I'm not talking about flurries. I'm talking some serious storms. For the first time since we've been here, church was cancelled due to snow. It was the week before Palm Sunday and Wayne got up as usual on Sunday morning, showered, put on his suit, ate breakfast, reviewed his sermon and then - took his suit off and put his snow pants on and went outside to start the snow blower. He not only snowplowed our driveway, but made his own path down a few streets to hopefully get the van through. He did get it through and made it to church (with the suit back on) and then it was decided to cancel it. So he came home and snowplowed some of the neighbours driveways, nice guy that he is. The plows never made it to our street until 3 in the morning.
This picture makes me laugh! I guess this is what poor Zanna has to do for fun to keep herself occupied. The other reason March turned out to be so long is all the being sick in our house. We all seemed to have the flu at some point during the entire month on March. The fevers would last for up to 5 days, it was in our muscles causing soreness, went into some nasty colds. And the bloody noses the kids had was horrible. One evening I went upstairs to find Will leaning over the sink that had pools of his nosebleed in it. There was a trail of dots in the carpet leading from his bedroom to the bathroom. And somehow it managed to spray on the wall next to his bed, not to mention the sheets. Oh, how I did laundry because Zanna had nosebleeds to. I felt like I was covering up a crime scene after these episodes. I know I've become pretty good at getting it out of sheets. By the time Wayne and the children started feeling better Mommy got it good. It's funny cause when you're a kid you get to just be sick and watch TV all day. When Mommy's sick everyone wants to know what's for supper. Wayne tried to help as much as he could but I managed to take ill for Holy Week. I was even supposed to cook the meal for Maundy Thursday's Seder Supper at church and woke up feeling horrible and panicked!!!! Friends from church thankfully stepped in and took over.
The highlight of the month was Easter. We not only celebrated our Saviours resurrection but celebrated two adult baptisms from Wayne's chinese bible information class. A women and her teenage daughter were baptized on Easter Sunday!!! As if that wasn't enough, Wayne and I were asked to be the daughter's godparents. We were extremely touched by this and honored. Praise God as he continues to bless the outreach efforts to the Chinese community here. Our church recently started an English Conversational Outreach program and have made contact with 8 new Chinese people through this program. Please keep this in your prayers as we establish new relationships with these people and look for opportunities to tell them about Jesus.
Speaking of the ministry, Wayne did not take the call to Austin, TX. And so Ottawa continues to be our home and we're happy to be here. We'd be happier if the snow melted but alas, my discontent shows. The weather has since taken a turn for the better and the snow has been melting. Since living in Ottawa, we've had to laugh at the yearly tradition that most of the locals seem to do. After shoveling snow off their driveway all winter and paying taxes that fund the snowplows that clear our streets, come spring they shovel the snow off their yard and back onto the driveway and street to melt faster. We've gotten quite a kick out of this every year but this year the jokes on us - we're one of them! In an effort to get the snow off our yard, a good chunk of it now sits in the street and driveway. They may be on to something.

February Fun!!!

This managed to be another crazy month - but lots of fun!!! We had some house guests for a few nights - the Gumms from Syracuse,NY came with their adorable little girl just a few months younger than Zanna. The two hit it off and had a great time together. They played, pooped and (I can't think of another p-word to fit into this) and shared a bath together. It was too cute! It's nice to have another pastor's kid in our district she can look forward to playing with at conferences, the Labour Day retreat, etc. The day after they left we took off for a two night stay in Toronto. We had the opportunity to get together with most of the group we travelled to China with a little over a year ago. It was great to them all again, to see how far the girls have come and how well everyone is doing. It's just amazing how well they've all adjusted. The hotel we were at had a water slide which was a hit for Will. That and the fact that almost all the older siblings were girls he had all to himself. I wish we had taken a picture of him in the hot tub with all his "ladies". Ha!
We had a chance to go to the famous Mandarin buffet restaurant. I have never seen such an amazing Chinese buffet, we were in heaven (I'm sure the Chinese food will be even better in heaven) but until then, this will do! And for those interested, the twins (affectionately called the snot sisters) are doing great and were still snotty (I'm sure there had been a period of draught for awhile).
The day after we arrived back from Toronto my parents came in for a visit to celebrate Zanna's birthday. We had a great time and it went very fast as usual. On her birthday, her godparents Skip and Karen came over to celebrate. Elmo was the character of the day! Having clearly recalled Will's 2nd birthday and the meltdown he had from too many people and no nap I learned my lesson this time around. It was low key but she had a great time and quickly realized this was an extra special day for her. As my custom is to make my children's birthday cake every year and stress myself out this one wasn't too bad. I made a chocolate cake (with the flour I ground in my new wheat grinder mill - that's a whole other endeavor) and wrote Happy Birthday Zanna and had little Elmo candies around it with an Elmo candle. As you can see from the picture, she enjoyed her sugar high!
I should have put this picture first because it happened earlier in the month but this was taken at a Chinese New Year party we were invited to. Here Will is helping turn the pasta wheel for the dumpling dough. Wayne helped fill the dumplings and we all helped eat them!! It was a very lovely evening and we felt honoured that a group of the Chinese community would invite us in their home and share this important part of Chinese culture with us.
On the school front, we've done some special fun things. We met a group at the Experimental Farm where the kids got to learn about the food chain. It was very interesting and everyone had great time. Of course once we were home all I could smell was farm on my hair and skin - I had to shower all over again. I'm such a city girl!!! We've also participated in some book clubs. The first book was the Railway Children. There was a discussion circle followed by some Victorian period themed crafts and lunch. I took Zanna along since there were a few other little girls her age which turned out to be a pain in the butte! She plays great with kids but when it comes to people her own size she likes to hug them and it ends up in a tackle with her on top and the victim pinned to the ground screaming and wondering what when wrong. It's exhausting. The last book club was on Little Lord Fauntleroy. Loved this book!!! Had to take Zanna this time, more tackles.
Finally, this last Sunday we hosted the group from Ottawa we traveled to China with. It was a lovely evening, potluck style. It was great to see everyone again and Will had more ladies to schmooze. Zanna had more toddlers to tackle.

Fun in the New Year

January was certainly cause to celebrate and I couldn't help but often reflect on what we were doing a year ago. On Jan. 15th we celebrated our first "Forever Family Day" or "Gotcha Day" as some people call it. In honor of the occasion we went to eat at a Chinese buffet and totally pigged out. We just spent the day as a family and tried to enjoy every bit. We're just so thankful we are a family and that this year has not only gone by so fast but so well. I had thought maybe we'd watch our video from China but I have a hard time watching it when I see how difficult it was for her. Now we know her so well and see how happy she is now that it's hard to see her so upset and in so much pain in the video. But we have such fond memories (not the monkeys) of our trip to China and look forward to returning someday with the kids when they're older - hopefully. Maybe Disney World first!!!
Near the end of the month, Zanna and I went on a girls-only trip to Calgary to visit family. We stayed with Wayne's brother and sister-in-law and their four girls. I had wanted to take a trip with Zanna before she turns two and we have to pay for a seat for her! I had taken several trips with Will when he was little and I enjoyed the time we had together. I wanted to do this with Zanna too. It was a four hour plane ride which is plenty long with one her age. We walked up and down the aisle getting to know the passengers and crew. Zanna kept asking people "where's William?" She was lost without her big brother, it was pretty sweet. She refused to sleep even though it was during her nap time - she didn't want to miss anything! She reluctantly dozed off as we started our descent into Calgary, wouldn't you know. She had a great time with her cousins who were thrilled to see her except for the four year old "baby of the family" who by Saturday was wondering "when is her going home?" - haha! She apparently wasn't getting the attention from her sisters she normally gets do to this intruder! As the older girls are 9, 10 and 11 I got caught up with the in tween shows and now totally get Hannah Montana and High School Musical. I had hoped to play a little Dance Dance Revolution with them on Sunday but woke up with the flu (yah, right auntie!). No, really I felt like roadkill. Very unfortunate. My dear sister-in-law took Zanna to church with the rest of them and Zanna, I was told, was a hit. Apparently someone named Dennis took her dancing around. One can only imagine what went through her mind! The plane ride home was a bit more challenging due to the whole roadkill feeling but, thankfully shorter by 40min. The reunion between her and Will was priceless - what a joy to see them really care for each other. Although it was not long before reality kicked in and they were back to teasing each other. Of course, the reunion between husband and wife was equally touching as one could overhear me say "take me to bed" - seriously, all I wanted was my bed!!!!
One final thing worth mentioning is that Wayne was extended a call to serve a congregation in Austin, Texas. This completely took us by surprise and is now something Wayne must consider over the next few weeks - whether we remain here or go to Texas. Personally, I think it's a conspiracy to give a call from a southern place to a Canadian in the middle of Winter. Could there be anymore snow this year? I haven't been able to put out my cute garden flag in the front because the snow goes up to our lamp post. Crazy!
We have a few things to look forward to - a reunion with our China travel group and a visit from my Mom and Dad for Zanna's birthday - yeah!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Boy, do we have the snow. Wayne and I have decided we have never seen so much snow in our lives. Apparently we've have mild winters since we've been here. But not this year - so much for global warming.
Last year I started Will on a collection of nutcrackers so this is his second one.
Grandma Halldorson got Zanna a tea set. It's so cute how she serves us all tea. She only gives us about 10 seconds to finish our "tea" before she comes back to collect the cup.

Wayne's mom and dad came to visit us for Christmas this year. We had a great time! This picture was taken at Upper Canada Village which was decorated with beautiful lights, we took and cozy horse and carriage ride and had a yummy turkey dinner. The evening was lovely and the weather was mild.

Zanna woke up with a couple of red spots under her lip sometime around Christmas. I thought she had scratched herself in the night. But the day after Boxing Day she woke up with another one that covered her nose and she looked like Rudolph - only with skin peeling off. I panicked and was convinced she had some flesh eating disease (one's imagination tends to run wild) but the doctor said she had impetigo - a common bacteria infection. She got on some medication and now they're practically gone.

On an equally stressfull note, Zanna has also decided to forgo her nap time in exchange for taking her clothes off and diaper and peeing all over the bed time. She likes to see how zippers and snaps and buttons work. She can't get them back on (other than her socks) but she sure likes taking them off. I was doing laundry everyday and was getting really ticked off. So my first tactic was keeping a onsie on her at all times. This worked well for about 2 weeks. Then she figured she didn't need to take off the onsie to get her diaper off. Not sure how she managed that but had to give her some credit for imagination. Then I put her in overalls. But then she figured out snaps. Then I put her diaper on backwards which sort of worked until it leaked because it was heavy in the wrong place. I was ready for duct tape but thought I'd try one last thing. I found an outfit someone had given us. Homemade by the looks of it, a jumper with no crotch snaps and buttons on top so when I put it on backwards, the buttons are in the back. This is now her official "nap outfit". She's very clever though so we'll see what she does next.

Will and I have been enjoying our school break. He's getting together with friends this week now that the Grandparents have gone home. Our normal schedule resumes next week.

Mom and Dad spent Christmas with sister Bekah and her husband Tom in England. We received a few phone calls from them from a pub - very British! And we webcamed on Christmas Day - so great to see and talk to them all. Reid and Brenda hosted an El Paso, Texas Christmas with Brenda's family and were on their way to Mexico when I phoned. I thought the law had finally caught up with him but they were just going for a day trip.

2008 - William is 8 this year, Zanna 2 and we will celebrate 10 years of wedded bliss!