January Round Up

Well January had lots of ups and downs.  The downs were mostly with work and luckily I only work 3 days a week, so the good times still out weighed the bad times, although the bad work times, did often creep into my days off and the good times with the kids.  But we did do lots of REALLY fun things this month.

The one sad thing that happened that I can write about and want to write about because it's never happened in the 8 years as a teacher and I hope it never happens again is that we had a student die.  This is the saddest thing I've ever had happen to me as a teacher.  And his funeral was packed full of people.  He was young and going to be a great x-ray technologist.  It is such a waste that someone who was so vibrant died.



Okay on to happier things.  First was taking Lucas skiing.  It was his first time and it was really important to us that he liked it.  We didn't want to pressure him because we want him to love it as much as we do.  We didn't want it to be a bad first experience and him not want to do it again.  So we started off on the bunny hill.  Pop came with us and gave Lucas some great tips to start with.  Pizza and french fries and how to lean on each leg to turn.   After about two runs, he said he legs hurt and wanted to go in.  We made a deal that after 3 more runs we would go in and have a break.  Well of course on the next run he started to get use to the skiis and started to "get it" a bit.  So we didn't go in and skiied and skiied.  At lunch time he said he wanted to try the big hill.  So off we went onto the gold chair and went up the mountain.   The chair was pretty fast, so I was worried he may be scared or didn't like it, but he thought it was great.   Luckily Pop can ski backward so he helped Lucas down the first time.    Really that kid was hooked!  It was me who at the end of the day, said my legs were sore (as I hadn't been skiing in 7 years either) and wanted to be done for the day.    I forgot how much I loved skiing.  Being in the mountains, surronded by nature and friends brings a sense of peace and being humble.


It was also Mom and Dad's 30th wedding anniversary!!  Can you believe it, 30 years is a long time.   It was a great celebration at the Banff Springs hotel for brunch.   Delicious food, delicious company in a beautiful setting. 

 We also celebrated Dad's birthday!  Which was a fun evening of good food and friends.  Darryl also helped Dad work on finishing their basement.


Things continue to be good with Lucas and Nathan. Lucas is now excelling at school. He's going through the reading levels for french books really fast. He was "etoile de la semaine" and he presented in front of his whole class. He's answering questions in class and doesn't get upset if he makes a mistake. Mom noticed a big difference taking him to school. We got Nathan signed up for preschool for next year and he is very excited about it. We've been working hard at getting him learn recognize all his letters and know what they mean. Although I think lots of his brain is taking up with big boy stuff from hanging around with his brother. But they do get along really well so that great!



We are so lucky to have such great support and people around us to spend our time with.  We live a sweet life and are so lucky to have great people to spend time with.  We are also healthy and happy and lucky.  So even though work has been incredibly challenging this month, I get to come home to fun boys to play dodgeball and UNO with.  And spend my weekends with great family and friends.   

Till Next Time

Jenn