As One Year Ends...

Happy New Year to you!

We were planning to go to Lethbridge and go to a party the city puts on there for kids. However, when we woke up Sunday morning I felt terrible and Jill felt worse. We stayed home from church...which wasn't great since I was supposed to teach RS...but what there wasn't much I could do. We decided we should skip the party tonight too. We thought we'd go visit tomorrow since Gaylene was there with her kids - but this afternoon we got a phone call from Allen's dad saying that his mother passed away. She was 92 and she had been in the hospital for a number of years. It's a blessing that she can go because for the past number of years she has not known anyone who comes to visit and has been quite incapacitated. However, it's still sad.

The funeral may be at the end of this week so we put off our plans to go visit since we'll have to make a trip there for the funeral. They are trying to see if they can have it the next weekend instead as one aunt just had a surgery and Allen's sister just had a baby - so they're not in the best form for travel. We should find out later today when the funeral will be. For the past several years Grandma has been having strokes. They seem to knock her out for a few days and we receive messages from family telling us that Grandma probably won't last too much longer. Then she tends to sit up and ask for toast, or something, like nothing happened. A week ago, she had a major stroke. She hadn't had any food or water in seven days. Saturday Allen's dad was sitting with her and she tried to clear her throat and simply stopped breathing.

We will miss her. I never really knew her that well. She had fallen down some stairs and bumped her head just before Allen and I got engaged - and has had progressively worse memory and brain function since then. Everytime I'd see her she'd pat my hand and ask my name. I'd tell her who I was and who I was married to and she'd say, "My, aren't you a pretty girl." From what I understand she was just one of those darn nice people that you couldn't help like.

Visualization

I found a cool thing today. It's a site where you can create a virtual model of yourself. I made a model of myself at my highest weight and at my goal weight. Looking forward to getting there! I'm especially glad all the Christmas celebrating is coming to a close so I can get back at it in a more serious way!

Quite a difference!

I think I like the hair-do too!

Sensitive People

Yesterday my sister-in-law had a baby! Yea! We're all so happy to have this little one here finally. He didn't arrive without a little excitement though. Luckily they were in the hospital at just the right time. If they hadn't been it is likely that they would have lost the baby and perhaps even my sister-in-law. We're counting our blessings!

Interesting side note to it all. Yesterday afternoon Jill came to me to tell me she had a really bad feeling. She had big tears in her eyes and said she felt scared. We had a little talk about it and I told her perhaps she needed to go pray and read scriptures for a while and try to listen to the spirit to see if there is something she needed to do. She did do that, and soon the feeling went away. Tonight Grandpa was telling us the story of the events yesterday when the baby was taken in an emergency c-section, and suddenly it all made sense. We wondered if perhaps Jill was sensing that something was wrong with her Auntie. Grandpa said his mother was like that - that she would have feelings to warn her when something was awry with someone she loved.

Jill has always been a sensitive girl. It made me grateful that I didn't brush aside her feelings when she came to me to tell me that she felt scared!

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! It was a new experience for us - and I think one we'll repeat: to have Christmas in our own house! Loved it!

The Letourneau's came to visit on Christmas Eve. It was wonderful to visit with them. We went to the Nativity Pageant that the church puts on at Heritage Park every year. It was sure fun to listen to Peirce's comments as he watched it for the first time. The donkeys were cool and the sheep were cooler - and having the angels suddenly appear on the hill and speak with such a booming voice - well, that was way cool.

In the Ackroyd house stockings are a big deal. I hardly even remember stockings at Christmas from when I was growing up. I think most years we didn't have them - but I'm slowly becoming converted to the fun of stockings. We had a great time with all the stocking stuff on Christmas morning. The Letourneau's opened their stocking stuff with us and then they left for Edmonton for more visiting. We opened presents slowly and enjoyed each one as we opened them. It was a lot of fun. Lots of squeals and happy faces!

Later in the day my parents and my Grandpa came for dinner. While I got dinner ready Allen was busy putting toys together, putting music on IPODs and generally helping kids get their presents together and where they wanted them. He said he's never done so much building in one day! (We'll have to remember to do a bit of that sooner in the month next time I guess, if we
can!)

It was the first time I had cooked Christmas dinner. I have never cooked so many things for one meal before! I think it at turned out well (no one got sick with food poisoning anyway....so I'll call it a success). There were tons of leftovers and so I shouldn't have to cook for a few days now! Yea!

We'll definitely do Christmas this way again. It was a lot of fun!

Fun Meet

Today Jill had her first swim meet. They called it the I Can Swim Fun Meet....and it was a lot of fun. The kids got their first experience in a swim meet. All the parents sat along the deck to watch and to cheer...and cheer we did! Jill swam front stroke, breast stroke, back stroke and butterfly - all 25 metres, then did 50 metres of free style. She was really nervous about it all before-hand - but as the meet unfolded she decided it was really quite a lot of fun. 25 metres is still pretty far for her to swim - so 50 was a real challenge! We were sure proud of her for her efforts! Her favorite is the back-stroke - probably because it's easiest to breathe in that stroke. She hasn't quite mastered breathing in front crawl - but she's getting there! After each heat she'd come over to where we were sitting and hug us and tell us her time - which I dutifully recorded for her. It was GREAT!

It's so fun to watch our kids learn and grow!

Getting there!

I feel like shouting for joy! ...actually, I did...and Peirce thinks I'm pretty weird.

I haven't explained - but I work from home for a company that finds people to do mystery shopping jobs. In December there's the same amount of work to do - but fewer days to do it in due to holidays and people's busy schedules. This month I had 334 shops to schedule (which is a little lower than normal) so my goal was to get them all taken care of by Dec 20. I haven't met my goal. I wanted to have all the shoppers have their shops submitted by that date - but looks like that will have to be pushed to Saturday. I did, however, get all my shops assigned! Yea!! Just got the last ones assigned this afternoon. Well, there's one twist to it - I did get an extra project last week...but I am not counting that in my numbers yet since I just got the project.

Now I can get to finishing those last few items on my buying lists, writing the Christmas letter and mailing the cards (do they still count as Christmas cards if I at least get them in the mail before Christmas?) and cleaning the house. The fun never ends! The house cleaning might have to wait until I can get up and down the stairs with a little more ease. I'm REALLY sore today!!

Oh! Oh!

I'm really enjoying my new gym. I've done cardio each day. I've used the machines and I've even gone to a yoga/tai chi/pilates class. Today I went to a new class.

Oh my goodness....I'm in trouble.

The class was called body pump . It was fun. And it didn't seem too hard....but it's only been an hour since it ended - and I think I'm in trouble. I'm going to be SOOOO sore! I started out with 2.5 weights on the bar and the instructor suggested I change them to 1 pound weights. I felt like a dope having such little weights on my bar...but thank goodness I did change them! My quads are shakey and going up and down stairs is a risk right now. As I type I think the best I'm going to be able to do is just sit here and keep my arms on the arm rests. My calves are pulsating.

I might have to go have a nap.

Oh dear. I've really done it to myself!!

...now, where is that glutamine powder Allen was telling me about...I need help!

Back At It!

So excited! I joined a new gym today.

Allen and I joined a gym about 3 years ago that is right by his office. It was fun to be able to work out together. However, over the last 3 years we've run into snags a number of times with childcare. It isn't a big priority there - and if the childcare person gets sick or quite or goes on vacation then there's no childcare. Recently the person doing it quit and so it's now been 3 weeks since I've worked out. Apparently in this job market in Calgary it's hard to find someone to take the job! I decided it was time to make a change - and so today I cancelled my membership at the old gym and joined a gym closer to home. I was so thrilled when I found out the childcare hours and policies! They have childcare 7 days a week from 9am to noon, and Monday to Thursday 5-8 pm. Wow!! I'm so excited! Tomorrow will be the kick off day!!

The Value of Money versus the Value of a Generous Soul

Yesterday I took Jill and Peirce to the zoo. At our zoo you walk through a long echoey tunney to get to the entrance. It is a great place for buskers to perform as the acoustics really carry the sound. We always look forward to see who is performing. This particular day Jill had brought some money in the hopes that I would let her buy something at the gift shop. We didn't have time to even stop by the gift shop on our way out. However, there was someone playing in the tunnel. She quickly went up and put $5 of her $15 into his open guitar case. She had a big grin on her face and was so pleased with herself!

When I saw what she did I laid into her.

"Did you see any other bills in that case??!! You know why?? It's too much! You don't put $5 in there...you put a loonie!"

Big tears welled up in her eyes and she told me she would be too embarrased to go take it out and put a loonie in. I agreed with her...and suddenly felt terrible about my rant. I told her that actually, she could forget the scolding and that I was proud of her for being generous and I gave her a big hug. Now I had tears in my eyes.

As I thought about the whole thing I felt a little embarrased that in my mind $5 was too much to give. We're not rich - but we certainly have some dollars to spare. I don't think Jill quite understands the value of money - but she does understand generosity.

As I reflected on this incident later I thought about how I hope, especially this time of year, that I can think more like Jill and be willing to share so freely.

'Tis the Season

"It's that time of year again....time for the ward Christmas party," she said with a groan.

It's Ward Party Eve today - the eve of the 5th ward Christmas party I've planned. I'm wondering if that's some kind of record or something. It was the thing I feared the most when I was first called to be the Activities Chair. Now planning a party to feed 250 people hardly phases me. When I was first called there was absolutely no way I was going to be in charge of the food. It was critical that I had someone that knew what they were doing when it comes to preparing such large amounts of food. I think though (although I'd never say this out loud in Ward Council Meeting!) I might be able to do it now. That being said, I still feel more comfortable having a specialist in charge of the food (actually, I'd feel most comfortable having it catered - but I haven't been able to sell any of the Bishoprics that I've worked with yet on that idea)

Some things don't change though. It seems to take all day the day or two before to prepare. Maybe next year I'll just show up at dinner time and eat. :0) And I always have those last minute flashes of brilliance that keep me running like crazy (why don't those come the week before rather than the day before??) However, it's probably the most satisfying activity to plan because almost everyone comes and a lot of people bring a friend too. This year I finally got a little better at getting people to help....so logically it shouldn't be too crazy. One thing I know for sure is I'll make sure we don't have a party on a Friday again. We need to have it on a Saturday when more people have time during the day to help. Oh well. Live and learn!

One thing that always seems to happen for the Christmas party is that I get sick. It started last night. My throat felt like it was swelling up and was quite sore. Hopefully lots of vitamin C and a good night's sleep tonight will fend off the bugs. Time will tell!

I know one thing for sure - I sure will have a different view of any big parties that I attend in the future when I'm not involved in planning them.

Shhhhhhhhh!!! Can you hear that??! It's so quiet!!

No school today for Jill. We were out of the house at the regular time though because we had a parent-teacher interview to get to. We did that, visited the book fair (yet another fundraiser?? Ugh!....I'll have to blog my thoughts on fundraising another time), and then did a few errands. We ran from one end of the city to the other. When we finally got it all finished it was 11:00. I had promised the kids if they were patient and good while doing errands we'd go through the drive-thru at McD's - and so we did. I was really on a roll to make this a majorly productive day - and then it got better!! When we got home Allen was getting ready for a quick road trip to Lethbridge to see a couple clients. He decided to take the kids along - and after a whirlwind effort at packing toys and books and writing utensils for travel entertainment as well as a few snacks, they were all gone!! It's been so quiet here all afternoon!! When I'm left alone I go through a series of emotions. First I feel a rush of glee...then I get a little panicked feeling as I consider what would be the best way to use the time...and then as I check things off my list I get a rush of euphoria.

I've been working like a mad woman and taking breaks here and there to do a few thing around the house. It's amazing how much one can accomplish when you're not interrupted with DVD emergencies, or having to find the remote control yet again or pieces missing to a puzzle or game, not to mention the seemingly incessant need for snacks or stories or something else! I love being a mom...but gee, I sure love being alone now and then!

Now I think I'm going to go do a few more errands. I'm going to just walk out to that van and get in and go. Don't have to remind anyone to tie their shoes, do up their coat, put on their seatbelt - and I can listen to whatever radio station I want to!!

Ah! The simple pleasures in life.

Writing

Some experiences leave an indelible impression. For me, teaching school did just that. It has had a real affect on how I parent. My kids can thank some of the less darling children I taught for teaching me self-discipline in my approach with children. LOL

When I was teaching my whole Language Arts program was based on writing. (Yes, we followed the curriculum as mandated by the province - we just based a lot of it on writing) The children wrote first thing every day. They sometimes wrote with a friend, sometimes they wrote alone - but they almost always sought feedback from the class on what they were working on. It was a terrific process. I found it totally inspiring and a really fun and effective way to teach. Don Green was our mentor in it all and I found interaction with him and his wife, Anne, totally inspiring. I've done a bit of searching and there are a few programs I've found that use his approach in their enrichment programs for honors students. There's even a private school in Calgary whose program is based on their approach.

So, coming back off that tangent - I make my kids write every morning. There are a few reasons: some of them educational, and some of them simple parent survival. My kids have always been early risers. It doesn't matter what time they go to bed...they always get up about the same time - which is some time between 5:30 and 6:00 or so. Going to bed late doesn't affect what time they wake up - it just determines whether they wake up grumpy or happy. So our rule is that they stay in their rooms and work on stories and then play. They can write whatever they want....just as long as they write something every day. It seems that I don't have to work very hard to push them along with a topic. When left to their own accord they seem to be able to find something to interest them each day. Peirce draws pictures and then later he gets Jill or Allen or myself to write some words for him. Jill doesn't usually draw anymore - mostly she just writes.

I thought I'd share their stories from today. I really get a kick out of them.

I think Jill was testing to see if she really could write about anything. It sure made me laugh to read hers today! Just in case it's too hard to read, I've transcribed her story here (I've corrected her spelling mistakes. The punctuation isn't all fixed up...but I think you'll get a kick out of it anyway):

Why Picking Your Nose is Good

Yipee! I just bought a hamster! So we still haven't bought a cage. And just between you and me I pick my nose (and that crack under the door? Well, I put them there.) We put my hamster in a cardboard box and one day my hamster excaped. I know she didn't go out of my room because of my boogers. Now look! She's sleeping on the bed. Well, my mom says we can go buy a cage tomorrow.

The End

Peirce writes about tornados quite often, and crabs often appear in the stories too. Today though it was a totally different topic - the TV exploded! Maybe it's just a mom thing, but I love his drawings. He can work on something like this for 30 minutes. It's amazing how much effort is put into all those little circles and squares. Jill wrote the words for him today.

Brrr!

I found a tourism website that says Calgary’s average summer temperature is around 20 degrees Celsius, and in the winter, average temperature is -8 Celsius. Ya right. It's in the -30's today....and with the windchill it makes it about -40. They say if you don't like the weather here just wait 5 minutes.\

....still waiting!! It's been days now!!

Here's a picture of a Canadian Winter Smile for ya' all out there who think you know cold!!

On days like this I'm SOOO glad I work from home.

They say on Thursday the temperature is going to raise 30 degrees. I sure hope so!!

Trimming the Tree 2006

My parents bought a new tree this year and now we have a 'new to us' tree! Yea!
Last night Aunt Colleen came back from Lethbridge and brought it back with her.

This morning from breakfast on, I think approximately every 7 minutes, Peirce would badger me about putting the tree up. By lunch time I gave in and we got it set up. We had to wait until Jill got home from school before we could decorate it though.

We've never had a tree up this early. But I think I like it this way!















Allen got the job of untangling the garland...I think it was a Grinch test! He didn't 'bah humbug' for too long. (hee hee)
















Right in keeping with Jill's style - she has an outfit for every occasion!





Here's Peirce wearing the snowman hat and scarf from the snowman kit that Grandma gave us last year. He sure had a good time tonight!

Service

Our stake has just finished another major service project today. It's been quite interesting the last two weeks being involved in some service to the community.The first was a Food Bank drive. We do this annually. Every stake in our city delivers flyers and bags, and then a few days later picks up food to donate to the food bank. I organized it for our ward. It was an interesting challenge. We got it all done though. Last year they said what we collected was more than any food drive in Canada has ever collected. This year we beat that by 10%. We collection over $650,000 worth of food! Quite amazing. The front page of the Calgary Extra had a picture of it.
We have a new children's hospital that has just been built here. So all the stakes again joined together in a service project. We made a quilt for every child that will be transported from the old hospital to the new hospital this next week. There was about 300 or so quilts made around the city, I guess. We did that today. We tied quilts and finished quilts from 1-5 pm, then we had a light dinner, and then watched the RS Broadcast. We had a fabulous turnout. They were hoping for about 75 women - and got double that. It made a bit of a challenge for the dinner - but just like the loave and fishes story, it all worked out and everyone seemed to get plenty to eat and there was food left over.I quite enjoyed the broadcast. I think spending the afternoon in service was a good way to prepare our hearts for the messages given.

Teach the word

I'm always interested to see how teaching from the scriptures makes such a difference. Alma was right. If you use the word of God it makes all the difference! I really have a testimony of the scripture that says:
Alma 31: 5
5 And now, as the apreaching of the bword had a great tendency to clead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God.
Recently my daughter has been nagging me to have a later bed time. It's the usual "All my friends go to bed at such and such a time....why do I have to...."

Finally, last night I read a scripture to her that seems to have ended the discussion. I read D&C 88:124 to her. It says:

124 Cease to be aidle; cease to be bunclean; cease to cfind fault one with another; cease to dsleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be einvigorated.

We talked about what all the different phrases in there mean (idol versus idle, being clean versus being unclean, having an invigorated mind, etc.). And that was about it!

When she said her prayers that night she thanked Heavenly Father for a number of things - including that scripture - and then hopped into bed at the regularly scheduled bedtime!

Perhaps we're finished with that issue now! Yea!!

The results are in....

CBE has lost their court battle. This is from the CFCN news website

CBE loses case to reclaim two schools
calgary.ctv.ca
POSTED AT 4:57 PM Friday, September 1
The Calgary Board of Education went head to head with another school division in court Friday and lost.
The CBE accused the Palliser Region of overstepping its authority by taking the two Calgary area schools into its fold.
The case revolves around Calgary’s Heritage Christian and Menno Simons Christian School.
Some time ago they asked to become alternate program schools with the CBE. The Board rejected the schools because they teach religion which goes against its policy.
The Palliser Region, based in Lethbridge, welcomed them both.
Lawyers for Palliser argued the move was done with the assistance and approval of the Department of Education and falls under the School Act.
CBE lawyers say Palliser has no right to run schools outside its jurisdiction.
The decision will have a big impact on the schools and the parents of the children who attend them.
When Heritage and Menno Simons were private schools, they were funded sixty percent by the Province. Forty percent had to be made up by constantly rising fees.
Now as public schools with alternate programming under Palliser they qualify for full funding. The fees parents pay will be significantly less.
The children are assured of receiving a Christian education but they will also benefit from stable funding and an association with a school board that really wants them under their wing.
Classes at both schools starts Tuesday morning.

Do Penguins Have Knees?

One thing that I didn't fully understand before I became a mother - was the things one has to know! I'm always amazed at the interesting questions kids come up with. They range from the mundane, "Mom, what does that sign mean?" to really quite intriguing: "Mom, why is the zipper on your pants called a fly?"
Today I was making dinner. My 8 year old daughter was reading a Spider man comic book at the table when suddenly she got up and started pacing around the kitchen. Then she stopped and said, "Mom, do penguins have knees?" I gave my regular, "That's a great question. Why don't you go write that down so we can look it up later." and also added, "Why do you want to know?" She replied that she was trying to figure out why they waddle like they do and perhaps they don't have a place to bend at their knees. Good reasoning if you ask me!
Personally, I used to love to come up with questions like that. My personal favorite from my youth was, "What would furniture look like if your knees bent the other way?" My mom used to just shake her head at me.
I don't know what parents did before the internet! Luckily there is an answer to everything on the internet. We did a search and found a book with a title Do Penguins Have Knees. Not only that, we have found a kindred spirit: David Feldman. He has a number of books on questions like this! I think we've struck a goldmine!

CBE Wrankled Again

I happen to live in Calgary - home of the largest school board in Canada. Impressive isn't it?
It certainly is a large school board. For me, that's often where the impressive qualities end.
It seems that CBE has been shocked again by a forward thinking group of educators. It seems that a private school in Calgary has somehow jumped into bed with the Lethbridge school board - and CBE is mad. While I can understand, to a point, the concern CBE has - how is it that a board can have jurisdiction over a school not within its geographical boundries (i.e. most of the stakeholders of this school cannot vote for any of the trustees in the Lethbridge school board) I find it quite entertaining actually to see someone seemingly breaking the rules again. If there's anything that will make the left-leaning trustees at CBE it is someone thinking that there could be a way to do things that does not follow the norm.
CBE has long been famous for it's hatred of Charter Schools. They make life as difficult for Charter School's as possible. I worked at one such Charter School for a few years and was always amazed at the intricacies they could come up with to foil our school's attempts at success. All the while they're working at making like difficult, they like to take the things Charter Schools do oh so well - and try to replicate their ideas. There is a very successful Science Charter School in Calgary - and wouldn't you know it, CBE starts their own Science School. Another very successful Charter School is Foundations for the Future - and CBE has responded with its own attempt to do the very same thing with their Traditional Learning Centers. The list goes on. In my circle of friends the common phrase is that they try to please everyone, while often pleasing no one. Too bad they can't just get focused and try to do one thing well.
So now Lethbridge has rankled CBE. What does this mean? A lawsuit. More money spent on more things that really do not matter to my child or my teacher. But it just may mean less money and resources in their classroom yet again.
I think that forcing this dinosaur of a board to think out of the box might just be the best thing for all parties involved.

More Company

It seems like around our house we're not quite comfortable if we don't havean extra person or two staying with us. Between students and cousins andkids staying with us while their parents go on trips life has been a littlebusy lately.This week we have a new guest. His name is Buster and he is a BIG black labdog. I figure he must weigh at least 100 pounds. He is REALLY big. At firstI thought Buster seemed like kind of a dumb name - but the more I know himthe more I think it suits him.His owners are friends of ours that have gone to the states to a wedding.They have 8 children and so flying wasn't really an option! They are taking3 weeks to do this little trip. DH had told them a while ago that if theyever need someone to watch their dog we'd be happy to do it. ...and I guesswe are happy to do it!Buster arrived last Thursday night. DD and DS played with himnon-stop. Well, until Sunday when DD left the gate open and Buster tookadvantage of the moment. I had left for church early that day and wasleading the music. DH arrived with DD and DS just as the meetingstarted. When I came and sat down with them after the Sacrament DD leanedover to me and said, "Buster's gone." My response was, "WHAT??!! What are wedoing here then??!!" We sat through the meeting waiting and waiting for itto be over - and then we took DS to Primary and then DD and I went inthe van and DH went in his car to look for Buster. No luck. Couldn't findhim anywhere. We prayed all through Sacrament that he'd come up and we'd beable to drive home and find him in the back yard. Alas, it wasn't to be. Ifigured by that time he could be to the edge of the city....he's quite a runner!Finally later that day we called the family and asked if they'd check theirmessages. Sure enough there were a couple message about Buster (he has a tagwith their phone number). No wonder Buster hadn't come home! One lady calledto say she had grabbed him but he got away from her. Then another guy calledto say that he had Buster in his back yard. Yea!! I really am not in lovewith this dog - but I'd sure rather not lose him!So, he's been with us for more than a week now. Only two weeks to go. Wefigured this might be good practise to see if we really want a dog. DD andDS AND DH have been lobbying for a dog for a while. I'm still holdingout. After this week they're not too sure they like picking up dog-poo(although it's pretty entertaining to watch them gag while they do it!) andnor do they (i.e. anyone else in the family but ME) like going for walks allthe time with him...so maybe I will win after all and we will still bedog-less for a while yet after Buster leaves.One can only hope!!The one thing I know for sure: We will NEVER have a dog this big!!He is a really good dog. He lets DS roll on him and ride him and doweird things to his face. DD dresses him up - and he just lumbers alongand lives with it. We've had cousins over a couple times this week.The first day the 21 months old was terrified of Buster (it all started with Buster'sENTHUSIASTIC greeting when they arrived). Whenever Buster would walk intothe room the 21 month old would run away from him and want to be picked up. However, thesecond day he started to have a change of heart. I would find him laying onthe floor next to Buster playing with his tail or his feet, or if Busterstood up he'd come up to him and hang his arms over his back and leanson Buster until Buster tired of it. They're friends now. :0)For me, I get to vacuum every day and am amazed at the amount of dog hair Ivacuum up each and every day!As nice as he is though, I'll look forward to when he goes home. :0)