WRAD Memories

The beginning of year four was a mixed bag of emotions. For the first time, I finally felt like I was starting to find my 'groove'- that I was getting a handle on this whole home schooling thing. But as excited as I was for all the new curriculum that I had for the coming year, as fall approached my dread about the new year increased. I literally did NOT want to start the year. I was starting to freak out about how much work I was going to have to get through and figured that there was NO way I was ever going to manage it. Somehow, though, I managed to finally convince myself to start opening books and get a handle on what I was supposed to be doing with the kids and how it was going to happen. And you know what, for a few weeks, it did happen. Then things started to wane (see my earlier post about that  here ). Anyway, our school year consisted of a virtual trip around the world- and it was great. The kids really enjoyed our 'together time' as we read all o

I can't believe the school year is done! Thankfully, it's like most deadlines- it comes and happens whether you're ready for it or not. This is a good thing, since then it can't drag on indefinitely. So, I figured I'd recap for myself our fourth year of home schooling (which started with our summer last year since there were a few 'educational' trips in there- unbeknownst to our kids!). Lake Louise, AB Stayed overnight here the final night of our honeymoon It started out with our first official camping trip as an entire family. I normally go places with my parents and the kids and Graham stays home to work. He didn't grow up having pleasant family vacations (think driving straight through from Abbotsford, BC to Hanover, ON as fast as possible- stay for two weeks and race back just as quickly. NOT fun.)- so he would just as well rather stay home. We had talked about doing it for a while, but finally managed to get to Jasper, Banff and Calgary

A couple of weeks ago I read this really funny blog post (found here  Worst End of School Year Mom ). It was really quite hilarious and so where I'm at these days. I have grand intentions every time I start something new. Things like school years, diets, exercise regimes, organizational to-do lists, schedules, habits, blog posts, etc. You name it and I'm pretty good at starting it- but finishing it, well, let's just say I'm not too good at that part. Elijah doing his first potato sack race at their school's sports day- he ended up wiping out and not finishing well. Trying not to come in last. For the past week and a bit (it's taken me a while to get this post written and up), I've had God gently nudging me with the scripture from Heb. 12:1-3: the whole thing about persevering right to the very end- putting my whole heart and soul into things until they're finished. Unfortunately, I usually peter out after completing only 5 - 10% of som

A while back I wrote about a video series that we're going through with our home group. In it, they talked about God giving us over to our own stubborn desires in order to help draw us back to Him (Ps. 81). I think I've found my latest version of this- our new dog. And yes, it's only been three days! Short honeymoon, eh? He is the cutest thing ever- but I HATE potty training. I hate the 'presents' that he gives us when we don't get it right (at least my kids didn't do that on the carpet!). And, I'm seriously lacking in sleep from his whining during the night. NOT a good combination. As I was thinking about it I began to realize something- as I'm getting 'squeezed' by this latest challenge in my life, how am I responding? Snarly- just like how I was feeling today. Honestly, it really hasn't been all that pretty. I don't think it's been very pretty for most of us- each in different ways. In some ways it makes me sad t

Many years ago, I was really intrigued by the idea of decorating cakes. I wasn't too bad in the kitchen (after a pretty steep learning curve when I first moved out), but I wanted to try decorating cakes. So, for my birthday one year, my mom bought me one of those kits from Michaels. Here are two of my first attempts. Jeremiah's birthday cake March 2007 Elijah's birthday cake March 2007 Needless to say, I've come a long way since then. For starters, I actually took a class so that I could learn how to make icing. When I made the cakes above, I had actually run out of icing sugar and my husband had the car so there was no way I was venturing out in the middle of a Calgary winter with three kids to buy more. So it was REALLY runny. Not only did I finally take a class, but Elijah took it with me as well. The next few pictures are from that class. The first class is all about technique, buttercream decorating & making basic flowers. Thes