September Photo Highlights

Look at me mom - I'm warming up for the Terry Fox run, really, I am!

This was soo cute. There are two kindergarten classes in the photo. They did six laps of the field, and it was hysterical and extremely endearing to watch. Kids run funny. teehee.

Lucas gets personal with a corn snake at the Southlands Country fair. Happy Lucas.

Mia gets personal with Fancy the pony at the Southlands Country Fair. Happy Mia.

Gadzooks

I knew it would be busy; I really did. But I didn't imagine that I would be this busy. I am essentially a moving machine and show up to teach every evening with a not-so-glamorous sweat that no one seems to understand. But it's the motion you see, the endless movement that I can't seem to quell as I find my mom-legs. Notice I said mom? I think I'm there. Elementary school is finding a way to redefine me in way I wasn't ready for. All of a sudden I am swamped in fundraising brochures, meetings, book bags, forms, and other countless details that need to be remembered. Heaven forbid I be the mom who forgot the dollar for the Terry Fox Run or didn't show up for Friday Family Reading time. My poor brain is busting from all the details of preschool and kindergarten that I must manage while still having something organized for dinner and making sure the everyone gets to where they need to be that day. Oh yeah, and then I go to work. Mayhem. An absolute shit-show. But somehow, I am doing it. Let me write a list for you;

- preschool (am)

- kindergarten (pm)

- teaching (late pm)

- parent rep for kindergarten

- duty days and art coordinator for preschool

- field hockey

- team rep for field hockey

- swimming classes x2

- birthday parties

- hubby will be departing any day for a two-week wine adventure

Ok , the list isn't that long... and I know... it's my own fault I'm volunteering to help so much, but I want to. So, what to do? Any words of advice or encouragement in the form of a comment would be greatly appreciated. I just keep reminding myself that "this too, will pass" but the reality is that I love these days. Lucas is adjusting to kindergarten well, Mia LOVES preschool, I'm happy playing hockey again, I've got nice students and supportive colleagues, my hubby helps as much as he can and sometimes I go out. It's really all good, just busy.

Photos aren't uploading right now. I'll add some later.

Savary Year Two

This year's trip to Savary Island was once again the highlight of everyone's summer. The island seems to have some sort of healing power on us as a family and we all worked out the kinks and bugs of a busy year. The lack of media alone brings us right back to the roots of our relationships and the way we relate to the time granted us in our days here. Such a pleasure as well as such a reminder to live the rest of our year in a state closer to that which fills our spirits when living in the trees and on the beaches of a quiet island.

We started our week with a visit from our friends the Witts who were sailing up to Cortes for the week. We had a crab and rib feast, plenty of wine, some ghost stories, a pitch-black forest walk and then a day of sun on the beach the next day.

(Sorry - I couldn't erase this so you get Lucas and I twice!)

Many a creature was found, loved, photographed and released. (Except for a few unlucky crabs!)

Lucas was able to cycle the hilly five kilometers across the island and we had a couple of phenomenal days at the unbelievable South Beach.

View of South Beach from the steep trail down.

The water was as clear as glass.

We caught the sunset on the aptly named Sunset trail off of Indian Point,

made new friends,

and just lazed away.

Heavenly; we can't wait for next August...

Something I love

School is out for summer. Yay! I finished all my summer school reports on Saturday night and handed them in on Monday. Although it's been a long year, I must say that as I reflect back on it, it has been incredibly rewarding. I feel so fortunate to have landed in a job where I feel capable yet challenged, needed and also appreciated.

The student population of our schools (VSB Adult Ed for those of you reading who might not know) is extremely diverse in so many ways; race, religion, age, education, and experience to name a few. The one thing they seem to have in common is a desire to learn and a true, and I truly mean "true," appreciation of the value of education in their lives. I have taught everyone from kids who failed and are trying again, professionals whose credentials don't transfer from their country of origin, those who never got the chance by choice or circumstance to finish high school , seniors who haven't given up on the need or ability to continue to learn and every type of person in between. I have been touched on innumerable occasions by the stories these people bring with them, and humbled every day by my own good fortune in life. The amount of work the majority of my students put into passing and often surpassing my classes blows me away as well as motivates me to work harder to give them the skills that will help them in their own personal quests.

And I'll tell you, do those needs ever differ. A large part of the challenge that I love is creating a curriculum that is rich enough in meaning to people from all these different places; to students trying to get into university, to second-generation Canadians, to new immigrants who would like to work at jobs requiring our system's most basic of requirements: graduation from high school. How can a nineteen-year-old Canadian born middle-class teen fathom the heartache of a man forced to flee his country with only the clothes on his back? The months of living in refugee camps? Seeing friends maimed or killed in war-affected countries? How can a young new bride of an arranged marriage comprehend the doctor who left his successful practice to start again in Vancouver; doing janitorial work by night, studying in high school by day. But more importantly, how can I make one class work for all these diverse people? How can I help each of these individuals move forward in their lives? What can I, whose own life experience and knowledge pales in comparison, give them?

I guess I only give them the best of what I can. I teach them the skills they need in a sometimes-backwards system that places emphasis on knowledge that is not always useful in real life, but necessary to get them into the colleges or universities they dream of. I try and give them the self-assurance that they can do it, no matter how tough, no matter how humiliating it feels. I give them a safe place to explore their abilities with a language either new, rusty, or weak. I treat them like friends. I respect them as adults. I learn from their stories, their laughs, their tears and their words.

And so as I begin to relax and unwind from a year of more work than I was expecting, I just thought I'd take a minute to write down why it is that I do my job and why it is that I love my job.

I think I'll print this out and frame it above my desk for next years endless hours of marking essays... !

This is why...

This is why we spend endless cranky moments putting sunscreen on our children...

This week I had a patch of basal cell carcinoma - skin cancer - removed from my face. It is the type that is likely from juvenile sun exposure before the age of twenty. I'm blaming mine on the time we spent in Africa rather than stupidity in my teen years, but it sure has put into perspective the reasons why we protect our skin. Today I drove past Kits beach; packed with people bronzing themselves, and I cringed. I really did.

There were seven of them... and a moose.

We are just back from a long-anticipated moms-and-kids only camping trip to Manning Park. Even though several people told me I was mad to undertake such a trip (there were seven kids between the ages of 2 and 8) the trip was awesome. Great wildlife, great weather, great moms, great kids. I would even do it again!

A moose walked by our campsite. Have you ever seen a moose before? I certainly never had... and was thrilled. The photo leaves a lot to be desired, but you can only imagine the excitement and also trepidation of seven kids at seeing this guy! The deer that walked by later in the day was anti-climactic, to say the least!

Balmy breeze, bursting sun, bountiful friends... brilliant day.

Ground squirrels provided hours of entertainment for both Lucas and I. Lucas was very determined to catch one, much to my entertainment!

What's smore better than smores and friends?

God and his UFO

Lucas wants to know why God doesn't leave a crop circle when he visits Earth to make all the beautiful things. I'm considering telling him that its because God is magical... am I doing this wrong??

A Couple of Quick Trips

With only a week and a half off between terms, Rob and I decided to make good use of the time by planning a couple of trips. The first was a visit to the Okanagan without the kids. Yup. You heard that right - without the kids. This was the first time we've had a trip just the two of us since we had the little guys. Unfortunately, it was slightly spoiled by the fact that my marks and reports were due on Monday at noon and having finished teaching Friday at 7:30 - they were definitely not finished. That excuse only got me out of one wine tour :P but I did enjoy meeting the owners of Cedar Creek Winery, who also graciously put us up at Greata Ranch. We enjoyed a gorgeous afternoon under the sun tasting their wines, chatting and enjoying some splendid appies.

The next day I had the pleasure to finally meet Heidi and Michael Noble of Joie Winery in Naramata. Rob had been morel mushroom picking with them a few years back and always spoke highly of them and their endeavours. It was interesting to hear about the adventures that led them to where they are today. Again, a fun afternoon of barrel-tasting and good company.

The only photo I took was of the speeding ticket we got on the way there though. Hehehe... good tunes, no kids...

Later in the week we headed south to Larrabee State Park for a little camping excursion. The kids were in their element exploring the animals (man is banana slug slime hard to get off of hands!) They are such great campers; keen to try it all and shy of nothing nature has to offer. Lucas got himself pretty beaten up falling on barnacle-y and slippery rocks as well as totally wiping out on his bike, but he fared well. The tidal pools were amazing and we even saw a deer wandering through the campgrounds. The smores we built were also pretty damn good this time around if I may say so myself! We all came home pooped and stinking like camp fire, but it was great.

Tomorrow we start bike camp for Lucas and Swimming camp for Mia (and me!)

Strawberry Days

The marking and reports are done. Lucas is done preschool. School is ouououououttttt for... another week when I start summer term :( Ah well. We went strawberry picking today which was a dusty, sticky, funny mess enjoyed by all. Let the photos speak for themselves:

Friends

Preschool, for Lucas, is over. It has been a wonderful experience that saw both him and I grow in more ways than I thought preschool could. He started a babe and is leaving a boy. Even though I am excited about kindergarten, I am sad to see the end of the days at Little People's. We have all made wonderful friendships and learned amazing things. Thank you Little People - Teacher Liz, Teacher Lena and Teacher Alexandra as well as all the other families that supported Lucas and I as we grew.

4, 3, 2, 1

Here are the Herman - Higgins, Killam - Aitken clan all lined up by age.

Lucas 4, Owen, 3, Mia 2 and Clare 1.

It's amazing where life leads us. Did we really make all those kids???

An aside from kidlets and pets...

The following link is an excellent article about the branch of the Vancouver School Board that I work for. I won't be angry if you skip it and pretend you never saw this post, but if you're interested in knowing a wee bit more about where I'm working these days you may find this informative.

URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/the-school-of-second-chances/article1180987/

(I was going to write an article just like this after grad ...but I guess I was beat to it! Next time I'll get my ass in gear before it gets stolen...heeheee... )

Mind you, I don't have the capability of publishing in the Globe and Mail, do I?

Sooooo...

Ding dong, the frog is gone,
The crazy frog is goooooone.....

I must have jinxed things with my last post about our dear Froggy. After fixing him a up a super-duper new frog condo and stocking it with oh so many live, jumping fesh crickets, the little green bugger jammed his belly full and made a run for the border. Or the back door - no one is really sure. We searched the house on hands and knees for over an hour until Lucas exclaimed, exasperated with my persistence, "Oh Mommy, it's ok. It can just die. Let's go to school." What a realist. Shit.

I think I'm getting a couple of birds soon. Two baby zebra finches. Although Rob is pushing for chickens... Any votes?

Ode to a Frog

Dear Frog,

Why jump you with such grace and height

From tables, hands and chairs?

Do you aim to bring yourself a death

More dreadful in despair

Than the poor passing of our dear

Broccoli butterfly

So beautiful, so tame and sweet

Who rarely yearned to fly?

Does your sweet moist home

So full of bugs

Not fill you with desire

To spend another day with us

And hear the wee town criers?

I must confess.

There are some days

I'd rather lounge with you

among the crickets

Plastic plants

Within safe walls to rest.

Today we took you in the yard

You jumped among the grass.

How lovely and how camouflaged

You seemed until at last

We saw that crow hovering nearby you

His eyes a sharp clear stare

And off we hustled you back in

To your new home fresh and clean.

Eat my friend now

Enjoy your home,

It can't be all that bad.

If you were to leave us by feast

or feat

We would all be slightly sad.

Body Art

Mia is a really great little girl. She's most generally kind, loving, understanding and freakishly intuitive for a girl of only two and a half. And Mia loves to colour her body. Daily it seems.

Wednesdays are Rob's day off and he generally takes the kids out for the morning so that I can do some marking. However this last Wednesday we decided that Mia would stay home with me for whatever reason. I worried that I would get nothing done, but on the contrary she was a pleasure. She sat with me playing playdough and stringing beads while I marked, and only interrupted me for milk or apples about every ten minutes or so. Really, this is not bad!

When it came time to have a shower for work, we decided that bringing her markers and paper into the bathroom would be the best aversion. And what a lovely, quiet shower I had! And what a lovely, colourful zebra Mia made! So funny.

This bottom picture is this afternoon's blue goo - created by Lucas and enjoyed thoroughly by Mia. I had to cut her blue legs out of the picture due to my son's bareness!

Aaaahhhhhhhhhh.....

A smiley day at the beach with good friends puts songs in my heart.

It's hard to believe that this pic of the same two little guys at the beach was only a few short years ago.

Random Catch-Up

So, I sure am not very good at this blogging thing anymore. Life has become very full indeed and I find it increasingly frustrating to get any time to myself that does not involve marking or teaching. Ergh. Compounding this has been the fact that our computer died (largely due in part to a jumbo cup of cold,cold milk being poured over it.) That computer, now dubbed old faithful, has been brought back to life by a kind student and has taken the role of the kid and nanny computer since all our data was mysteriously lost in it's last illness. The irony is that the speedy sleek new computer does not want to connect to the internet for long periods of time. I spent a large part of mother's day growling to an innocent man in the Philippines who kept telling me that I could not avail of his service until I gave him my credit card number. When I finally buckled, against all my better sense, he instructed me to download an upgrade for vista from the internet. Bastards. It still doesn't work well and I refuse to call again after refusing their six calls for sixty bucks deal. Bastards, I repeat. So do I return the new and very expensive computer, buy a new modem or swallow my pride and call Linksys again? A greedy part of me loves to be able to surf at the same time as a kid or Rob. It's a novelty in our our house that I could (and am) quickly getting used to!

The last few weeks passed with a realization that I am simply not as important as I once was. Ha! Rob and I passed incredibly boring birthdays that saw ourselves hosting our own family festivities and cleaning up the mess afterwards. The old thrill of surprises and parties has obviously gone the way of the cuckoo bird and somehow messages posted on my facebook wall just don't cut it. When commiserating with Julia, I was relieved to hear that she felt much the same way. Next year I vow I will just go ahead and make a fuss out of ourselves! Get your dancing shoes on!

Rob worked all day mother's day and I spent the afternoon (post linksys call) with my mom and the kids. The kids were CRANKY all day, we ordered sushi (dry and bland) and laughed at ourselves - what else could we do?! The best part of the celebration was the Friday before when Lucas' preschool hosted a mother's day tea complete with wrapped gifts of kid-made jewellery, kid-baked scones with kid-mushed strawberry jam and hand-printed cards. Too cute.

Work has been really, really busy for me as I am deep into my nine-week stint teaching two English 12 classes. I am very pleased with my ability to cope with the prep and marking, not to mention the meal planning and making, housework and driving(!) but it has been quite a feat with Rob's schedule not letting up at all. I fully deserve the title of SuperMom right now. And, might I be so bold to say, super teacher? Ha! That one may be less than true! It has been really rewarding, however, to teach a great group of students who are (mostly) keen and interested in the material and process alike. I still can't wait for summer though!

Speaking of summer, will it ever come? Last year I vowed to not buy summer clothes, and I'm sticking to that again this year. It has been such a cold spring. The only light in that is that when we have had lovely warm days, we've made great use of them. This last Sunday Rob dropped us off at Coal Harbour on his way to work and we rode into Stanley Park on our bikes. Lucas was a hero weaving through pedestrians and bikers, backpack on and teddy hanging like a dead bear from his handlebars. We made several stops to adjust sunglasses and look at the wildlife, but the crowning moment was his sudden braking when we reached second(?) beach and he saw the playground, beach and pool. We spent the afternoon swimming in the surprisingly warm pool and crab hunting under the rocks - pure bliss. As was the beer can chicken for dinner when we arrived home!

Lucas and Mia, dare I say it, are getting along very well these days. I feel grateful and blessed to see them interacting together, mostly happily. Mia is so easy-going to go along with Lucas' plans and Lucas is quite content to help her when she can't quite get it. Most of the time... I'm beginning to see the light at times, thank the Lord. But no, we're not having a third. I think our friend Jeff convinced us of that! Maybe another dog though...?!

I'm sure I have thousands of other things to tell you, my anonymous readers, but at this point in the chaotic morning, I must revert back to looking after food and floors.

Hope all is well with each of you. xox Ting

"Go Canucks Go! Go Golfing!"

(As heard by most of 41st ave from Lucas yelling out the window of the truck while waving a Canucks flag post game six.)