Expect the Best

When I was growing up there was an expectation that I would do part of the household chores. Sometimes dusting, floor waxing or dishes. When I was older it was making dinner, painting the deck or mowing the lawn.
So these boys will definitely be expected to do their part.

Oh ya. And the moustaches. They got these on Friday when we were at Diefenbunker. They've been wearing them of and on all weekend.

Yesterday

We had the opportunity for a guided tour of Diefenbunker yesterday. This is the blast tunnel.

And through the super thick metal doors.

I went with A and his group.

M went with E's group.

Tour highlights? The massive computer room.

And this sign in the cafeteria.

We stopped to look at paint on our way home. Still trying to pick a colour for the kitchen.

You know that saying, "You can dress 'em up but you can't take 'em out." Well....that's A. He asked if he could use the colour matching computer and I said yes. When I turned back around he was standing there with one bare foot and his sock in the machine. Yuck!

Then when we got home I made Monster Toe cookies.

And the kids and I went to a Hallowe'en party at our neighbour's school. They had a blast!

Sum Up

It's great that the kids are learning the national anthem at co-op.

They have a class where they are learning gym games. Dodge ball is by far the favourite of all.

And another of their classes is Medieval History. These are the castles they have made.

Thursday night is Beavers for A.

Not surprisingly they had a Hallowe'en theme.

Week Off

This year we are trying something new. After each 8 week 'term' we are taking a week off school. This kids are pretty pumped about it and it's fun for me too. We have just been hanging out this week enjoying ourselves. Our plans include: lots of play time, coffee with Granny, cheap movie matinee, mid-week sleep-over at Granny's and a group tour of the Diefenbunker. (We are still doing our volunteering and our co-op program though.)

We have been invited to a school Hallowe'en dance at our neighbour's kid's school. So E has been trying different costume ideas in anticipation.

And this guy just cracks me up.

And since daddy was done his paper and E was at Cubs....A was able to rope both M and I into a game of ClueJr.

P.S. Welcome home Nana. We love you.

Weekend So Far

**Please note** At the risk of this blog becoming a hockey blog as opposed to a family blog I have created a new page dedicated solely to hockey pics. Under the heading of the blog you will see a tab called 'Hockey Pics'. If you click on that.....voila.....more and more and more hockey!

This is the insane time we had to leave for E's hockey game this morning.

Here's the sleepy head before we left.

We sometimes tease M about having a not-so-happy 'happy face'. But in this picture there's no doubt. He's happy.

And also today we had a bday party to attend at LittleA's house. The first thing MyA always does is run outside to play in their yard. And this time there were balloons of course.

Granny was there taking pics of everybody.

And the bday boy....with his yummy cake.

Sorry D....next time I need to get a pic of you for my blog.

Colour Blind

I'm not really colour blind but I'm definitely colour challenged. I have the hardest time knowing what colours go well together and what it will look like all over a wall.
Case in point? I ended up painting the front hall-1st beige, then yellow, then lighter yellow, then some of the walls...back to beige. Seven coats of paint in total...yikes!

So here are the colour chips for the kitchen project. The middle square is the countertop. To the right of that is the beige of the livingroom and over that is a little of the yellow from the front hall. All the other pieces are colours we've considered for the kitchen walls. Some are hideous and some are o.k., but none of them get me really excited. Aa-a-a-ah!

E at Hockey

At first it was looking a little rough.

But he tried everything and didn't skip any of the drills.

It was cool to see him as a big group.

He and his friend are the two in black jerseys at the back.

He picked green tape which makes him easier to find on the ice.

His coach is awesome and welcomed him onto the team wholeheartedly.

He was looking more and more comfortable as the skating went on.

It's such a cultural norm here to play hockey. There are kids on his team who have been skating since they were 2and a half years old and playing hockey since they were 5 or 6. So he has some catch up to do in terms of skill development.

But he is really excited to be a part of the hockey season this year.

Catch Up

So we finally found a nice, affordable, healthy option for our post-church lunches-Our House.

M and I went to a concert on Monday night. The band was good.

But as far as I'm concerned the warm-up band stole the show. Green River Ordinance-you rock.

As most of you know A loves playing board games. Whenever I say I'll play with him he picks the longest game he can think of. We just finished a two day Game of Life marathon game.

And this guy started hockey this week. I will post more pics of it later. He had been asking to play but I wasn't sure he was really committed to it. But he persisted in asking and convinced me he was sincere. He's starting a little into the season. And most of the other kids have been playing for a year or more. But he doesn't mind being out skilled. He just wants to play. I'll post pics of his first practice tomorrow.