It's Handy Having A Little Boy

I never would have imagined little boys would be so fun. They can build really cool things... ...and they're very handy when something falls in the back of the lazy susan

Skating Party

Whether we like it or not, we seem to go skating once a year. We had a great time this year!

I Am A Taxi (Deborah Ellis)

You've got to read this book. Every Deborah Ellis book I've read has caused me to marvel at the lives some children live in our world today! This book was no different.



This book is set in Bolivia. It's about a boy whose parents are wrongfully put in prison and so he grows up in jail. If they didn't live in the jail with their parents they'd be homeless. In those prisons the people PAY for their cells and luckily, they have children. Kids can leave the prison and so he earns money as a "taxi" (or what we'd refer to as a courier). His friend, however, convinces him to run away with him to work for some men. It turns out they men are in the business of cocaine manufacturing. The kids are enslaved and exploited. The experience of reading this book has left a deep impression on me!

The Library Card (Jerry Spinelli)

I love libraries, so naturally I loved this book! It's about four people whose lives are changed by a library card. I'm not sure if there was meant to be a connection between all the stories, but they did all seem to be troubled in one way or another.

Mongoose - a teenager whose generally up to no good until he finds a library card and wanders into a library only to have a fire of curiousity ignited. Then there's the TV-addicted Brenda whose parents agree to a week of no TV. Her withdrawals from TV are all too familiar to what a lot of people I know might go through! Sonseray is a young boy that is homeless that has lost his mother. He finds a story-teller lady who seems to fill a deep hole in his heart. The last story is a girl that LOVES libraries too - but her family moves out to live on a mushroom farm far away from her well-loved library. However, they do have a bookmobile - which is much more exciting that most bookmobiles.

I'm not sure everyone would enjoy this book. Many would find it a little too far-fetched - but given the hours I've spent in libraries exploring unknown worlds and the love I have for books it touched a chord for me. Loved it! I want everyone to have the same love for libraries. Heck, I should be a library missionary. :0)

Peirce's Swim Meet

For some of the heats they used flutter boards. Peirce doesn't really need that anymore, but what can you do when you're six! You have to do what the team is doing. He has a really good kick so a kicking race is all his!

We had to talk Peirce into swim club this year - and once he was in he took to it like a fish to water and hasn't looked back. These are some pictures and video from the swim meet where he won all his heats! (The truth is he didn't win all his heats...as you'll see in this video, but he was sure he DID - so we went with it) :0)

You can see that 3/4 of the day he's getting pretty tired. This was his last race of the meet and he was quite tuckered by the end!

As usual Allen is the loudest guy cheering. Jill is trying to follow in his footsteps.

Witches by Roald Dahl

We finally finished this! I've been amazed that Peirce has stuck with this book...but he has loved it. I wrote about this book before when we listened to it on tape. You can read that post here. My feelings on Roald Dahl haven't changed that much. However, I'm amazed at how much Peirce has loved his books! While I was reading he'd often say, "I love this part." I am surprised at how much he still enjoys repetition. Lately if I don't tell him it's bedtime by 8:00 or so he'll say, "Are we going to read tonight?!" His internal clock seems to know when it's time to read. I love reading with him. I wish we had more time for reading together!

School Concert

For the first time in YEARS our kid's school put on a school concert - and I must say, the school did a great job! I've rarely seen a concert executed so well: no boring blabbing by teachers to introduce numbers, and no big breaks between numbers. It was quite astounding. Peirce was VERY excited for the whole event and was going crazy from the moment he got home. He wanted to change and get to the school! We put it off as long as we could....ate dinner, got dressed up, warmed up the van, put air in the tires, stopped at the corner store, and drove well under the speed limit to get there....and we were still 40 minutes early. The good news though is that we got the front row!! Front AND center!

Jill's class sang a song about Canada. Jill got to introduce it (only when we were there she said her little blurb at the end because the pianist started playing the song....so they just sang!)




Peirce's class did Mexico. They made sombreros out of newspaper. So cute!!



Feliz Navidad!!



Red, Green and White, the colors of the Mexican flag





Mexican Hat Dance




Every class/grade did a different country. At the end of it all the children all came into the gym and were around the walls and they sang a song about Peace on Earth. It brought tears to my eyes! It made me think of Parvanna and how some children in the world must ache for peace on earth.

Anti-Coalition Rally

Well, today the kids and I decided to go speak up against The Coalition. I've never been to a political rally before and wondered if bringing my kids was a good idea - but in the end I think it was a good experience. It was pretty tame....just a bunch of people waving signs and yelling. Now and then they'd break out in a chant or start singing Oh Canada. J&P thought it was a blast!



Peirce hadn't made a sign but scooped one that someone had abandoned. :0)

Jill's sign said "Coalition Smoalition". Love it!

One of pet peeves in this is that supporters of the coalition keep bringing up that 63% of Canadians did not vote conservative, so really the coalition has the majority vote. This is such a moot point I find it almost laughable. There were 5 choices in the last election (excluding independents), not a choice between conservative and everyone else. People did not vote for a choice of conservative or a coalition of the other 4. To get specific, 62.37% of Canadians did not vote conservative. However, 73.76% did not vote Liberal, 81.8% did not vote NDP, 90.03% did not vote BQ, and 93.2% did not vote Green. I guarantee the results would have been completely different had there only been 2 choices (Conservative or "other") and so there is no way to compare the two scenarios. I realize that the coalition isn't doing anything illegal and that it is part of our system to allow these kinds of things - but it doesn't mean we have to sit back and let anyone think we like it.

Jill wanted to go see the Famous Five statues.



Some people had left their signs there and we had fun taking pictures with the statues. I felt a great sense of gratitude for those women today. I told Jill and Peirce their story and when I told Peirce that women were once not able to vote, to own land, and things like that he said, "That's really dumb." Funny. Sometimes we shake our heads at the sliding morality in our world. Yet our children shake their head's at the systems that used to be accepted as matter of fact.

After we'd had enough of the rally we went over to the library and hung out for a while. Here's how I found Jill:


I guess some good came out of our trip to the rally!

Star Girl by Jerry Spinelli

I LOVED this book. It would be so fun to read this book with kids in Junior High or High School. Jill's teacher read it to their class and Jill raved about it for quite a while. Finally she got it out of the library and gave it to me and insisted that I must read it. I'm so glad she did! It's so refreshing!

The story is about a girl that home to high school after being homeschooled. She's a free spirit that doesn't worry about what other kids think. She dances in the rain, she cheers for the opponents when they score, she plays a ukele in the cafeteria and leaves surprises for everyone in her homeroom class. At the first the kids are horrified. Then they learn to appreciate her. Then they love her...then they turn on her....and her response to it all is inspiring.

Truthfully, I think this is an ageless issue. Women of all ages could probably do well to learn from Star Girl. I think it should be a book read once a year!

Apparently there is another book called Love Star Girl which full of journal entries to give perspective on her side of the story of everything that happened in StarGirl. Got to get that book!

Grade One Missionary Work?

Last Sunday the guy on High Council in charge of missionary work spoke in our ward. I found his talk quite inspiring and I had a renewed effort to simply be a better person and possibly, as a result, a better member missionary.

Then I didn't think about it again.

(oops)

Until today. I volunteered in Peirce's class. They were doing a painting project (how to add a crazy twist to your day....paint with 16 6 and 7 year olds!) We were only about five minutes into the fun when a bunch of kids starting talking about church. "I never go to church." "I always go to church with my Grandma." "I go to church every Christmas." Then they turned to me and asked, "Why do you go to church?" I was kind of taken back. What should I say to a bunch of little kids? Is it okay to say anything? Do I bear my testimony? NAH! Finally I collected myself and said, "Why do you think I go to church?" Without looking up from his painting one kid answered, "To learn about God."

Yup. You're right. To learn about God.

I thought it was kind of crazy that it took me so off guard. Guess I better try to do a little more thinking about missionary work each day....just like that guy on Sunday encouraged us to.

The Magician's Boy by Serena Riglietti

This is a fun book. Peirce and I read it together before bed. It's a story of a boy that is a magician's assistant. One day he misplaces one of the puppets and the magician sends him off to a fairytale land to fine the lost puppet. Along the way he meets characters from many different fairy tales. It's quite entertaining. Peirce really enjoyed it, and so did I.

FHE Job Charts

Last week at Activity Days Jill made a FHE Job Chart. I always thought those were just nice decorations...not really that useful. However, it made a difference in our FHE tonight! Normally I plan and run the whole FHE. This time we did all my ideas, but everyone felt like they were contributing a little more. :0)

After we finished dinner I was checking the job chart and mentioned to Allen he was in charge of the lesson. He groaned and so I suggested he start us off on our Christmas Jar (a jar that has a scripture to read each day that all have something to do with the life of Christ and his love for us). Then Peirce asked what his job was. He was in charge of treats. He had a look of alarm and so I whispered in his ear, "Why don't you go get your Halloween candy and we can have some of that?" He was thrilled. Jill was in charge of the activity....and so she decided we should play name that tune with Christmas songs. I was in charge of conducting and prayers. Love that job!

The interesting thing is that we did all the things I had planned we would do - but with each of the kids having an assignment you could see that they were enjoying the responsibility. It made it all better! Our FHE was still quite simple....but I dare say it was one of the best we have had in a while! We'll definitely continue with the FHE job chart!

Looking for X by Deborah Ellis

Hmmmm...this is a weird one. I would have never picked up the book if it hadn't been authored by Deborah Ellis. I wasn't tempted by the blurb on the back of the book, still, it was by Deborah Ellis and it had received a Governor General's award. I guess the GG likes dark, depressing books about people on welfare who end up having to give their autistic kids away. I can't say I totally recommend it. But hey, it was just a Friday night....might as well spend it reading some crazy book.

Bifocal by Deborah Ellis and Eric Walters

When I finished this book I could finally take a breath, and all I could say was, "Wow."





Books like this make me wish I was teaching Junior High English! This would be great to discuss with kids that age.

Some of my favorite parts of the book:

Thing I loved about this book is it gave a good look into what it must be like to be a muslim living in North America after 9/11.

p. 162 Then my father says, "Your grandparents left Afghanistan so that we would not be bothered by war, or chaos, or hatres, or suspicion, so we could live our lives without fear or torture or police brutality, or the kind of craziness that plages most of the people on this planet. Our parents worked hard, and we have worked hard, to give you and your sister a decent life, an ideal life. And both of you, each in your own way, have brought the world's craziness right into our house.

In the story there's an 'assault' of sorts that happens. It's an interesting peek into the thoughts that might go on in someone's mind when these kinds of things happen:

p. 230 Despite it all, I couldn't help but think what it would have been like for him to be in the house when the bombardment started. It would have bene pretty eerie to be sitting there int he dark while your house was assaulted. He wouldn't know who it was exactly, but he had to know it was students from his school. I wondered if his wife was with him or if he had kids or whatever. I didn't like him, but I could picture his face. I tried to block out that picture. I forced myself not to picture him, not to imagine his family.

This is the fourth book by Deborah Ellis that I've read. At the back of this book they have a great quote from her that sums up why I really love her books! Courage!!

p. 277 Courage interests me - when we have it, when we don't, and how we make the decision to be brave or cowardly. We have created a world where most children live in some fort of war, and I write about them to try to do honor ot their strength and courage. I have learned that there is no such thing as 'other people's children.' The world's children are a blessing to all of us. They are also our responsibility.

This makes me think about some of my own goals and about the choices I make. Do I have the courage to do what I ought? Books like this inspire me to do so!

A Morning of Cooking and Baking

I went to a class last week on cooking with milk and with soy's milk. It got me reading about the benefits of okara - the gook that's left after we make soy milk. Normally I was it down the garberator but after the class I decided maybe I'd revisit the uses of okara and see if I couldn't do something with it. I've started putting it on our bread. You can't taste it, and apparently it is a great source of protein. I may never go back to buying bread again. The bread I've been making lately is a huge hit around here! This time I also threw in some oats, sunflower seeds and flax seeds as well.

Whenever I make bread I try to make a different kind of buns. Last week I made the kind that you make in muffin tins with three little balls of dough. This week I thought I'd try subs! I'm excited to try these in the kids lunches. I think they'll really enjoy them. I might even see if I can find a pan like the ones they use at Subway and do this more often.

I was on a roll this morning so I decided to get busy on tonight's dinner. Here's the Shepherd's Pie Simplistic from the Company's Coming recipe book:

I also made some puffed wheat squares for after-school snacks today. I decided to cut up the whole pan and wrap them up individually and put them away. I'm trying to save myself from those narrow long strips I always cut off and nibble on all day long when I make these!

We're having carrots with our Shepherd's Pie tonight so while I was at it I decided to cut up carrots and celery for tomorrow's lunches too. I am trying to always make lunches the night before (well, maybe except for the sandwich if I'm putting sandwiches in that day). It makes our mornings so much better if lunches are made the night before!

Nothing like a morning in the kitchen. I keep contemplating taking on a teaching job again...and after days like this where I'm able to get things done ahead of time so that our evening is a little less chaotic it makes me really wonder if I want to give up this working from home life that I enjoy so much.

Ready For Change

What a wonderful day! Today Allen was ordained a High Priest and set apart as a High Counsellor. His parents came up so that his dad could ordain him. My mom and my sister and her family were all here because they had a craft day at Aunt Colleen's and so they were able to come too. It was wonderful to hear the blessings and promises in his ordination and in his setting apart. He started right in on his calling today with a 6 am meeting in Airdrie, and then ward conference for the other ward in our buildling. He attended their ward's PEC meeting and then just before RS was to start one of the Stake Presidency asked if he'd come attend RS and give a 10 minute talk. Some might balk at something like that, but he's just the man for the job! Later we had everyone over for dinner. Nathan and Becky and their kids were here, along with Allen's parents, my sister, Gaylene, and her family, and my mom. We had baked potatoes with lots of fixings and cabbage salad, and apple crisp for dessert. It was a long and tiring day, but a wonderful one too.

A Dragon's Christmas

Peirce and I volunteered at their Cookie Cabaret (Jill had a swim meet so she couldn't come along). These are plays especially for 3-5year olds. They're about an hour long and the actors interact with the audience quite a bit. The kids get to sit on the floor right at the edge of the stage. It's quite a lot of fun (although Peirce did tell me he's too old now for some of the action songs they make the kids sing....sigh...my baby is growing up!)

This day Peirce and I got to work in the concession. They sell cookies, juice, coffee, and popcorn! Peirce LOVED it. He was in charge of scooping popcorn and having it ready for people to buy, and taking the money. He loves loves loves to sort money(perhaps his father's son in that regard?!). We also got to have lunch with the actors that day. They were a really fun group and were very friendly with Peirce. He felt like one of the crew! We're definitely planning to continue.

This play was about a dragon that is stealing all the Christmas food. The brave knights are unable to slay the dragon and tell tales of his big and dangerous it is. Since they're unsuccessful the king decides to send two little boys to get the dragon...and it turns out it's a baby dragon that's just plain hungry! It was really cute.

Jill and Peirce both really enjoy theatre and like to be in plays. I'd like to sign them up for some of their classes - but they're usually on a Saturday and I am not sure we can commit every Saturday for such an extended period of time. Far too many swim meets in our life right now! One of our next adventures will be to be in the pageant at Heritage Park. The kids and I are going to be in it and we're going to be shepherds!! Stay tuned for pictures. :0) We'd invite Allen to come be in it with us - but he might be busy with other things. He was just called to be on the High Council in our stake. And interestingly enough, one of his assignments is the pageant. Not sure what that all entails....but it's sure to be interesting!

Homework Happiness (?!?!!)

Today my comments on a blog I often read were featured as a stand-alone post. It's got me thinking about homework again.

I've never been a big fan of homework - which is kind of funny coming from a teacher. I was shocked into re-thinking homework philosophies back in 1998 when I was teaching at a Charter School. One of the parents in my school was a Deepak Chopra follower and would often talk to me about her beliefs and philosophies. I really grew to appreciate her calm and sensible approach to parenting. I had a number of parents who nagged me for more homework...and she was exactly the opposite. She felt like kids needed time to just be kids and thanked me for less homework. Over the years as I've grown into my role as a parent I've come to realize I agree with many of the ideas she shared with me. And the longer my kids are in school the more critical I seem to become about homework.

Recently Jill's been doing a novel study. Some of the work was done at school but most of it was done at home. I think I need to write a note to the teacher about how much I enjoyed that homework assignment.

One of the things we have both mourned the loss of from our half a year of homeschooling last year was the copious amounts of reading she was able to do. I would guesstimate that on average she read about 100 pages a day while we homeschooled. I really began to realize the value of reading, the learning that comes from reading, and the great experience it was to read together. My approach to Language Arts started to evolve into an approach based entirely on reading separately and together. It was a fantastic experience

Our discussions around homework when it comes home in the duo-tang revolve around nagging. However, that was never the case with the novel study.

We both read the book. At first she was slow to get into the story. I snuck it from her and read it the first week she had it and when she saw me engrossed in it she seemed to catch the spark. In the end I think she loved the book way more than I did as she spent a lot of time telling me why she thought it was great. She said she hasn't read a book that worthwhile since reading the Happy Potter series. :0)

Not only that, we had great discussions about the book and even discussions centered around the booklet she that was assigned. I could tell she was thinking about it often because things would come up when we were eating dinner or driving in the van or while watching Peirce swim or while walking the dog or just before bed (her favorite time to bring up something to talk about!) I even overheard discussions with classmates about the book. She also really loved working on the final project assignment. Truth be told, I think she re-did from scratch it about 3 times because she'd realize there was something missing or want to add a little more detail or challenging questions to her game. I've never seen her go over an assignment so carefully!

If her teacher decided to send a novel study home every month I'd be thrilled! I felt like it was really a rich experience. It would be interesting to see if we couldn't come up with a list of books that related to the curriculum month by month, and have those books assigned as homework. As a matter of fact, I'd even be happy to do some research to help come up with a list like that....just the kind of thing I love!

Crazy Hair Day

It's crazy hair day!

Jill's hair-brained idea....take a crochet hook and pull hair through straws. We stapled the ends to make them stay in. Make it 3 pony tails to make it a little crazier. We had planned to do the whole pony tail in straws - but it was taking a little longer than we thought it would so we threw a few braids in there too.

A little so-called temporary hair color (says it washes out in 8-10 shampoos...but that sure wasn't the case when Jill used the stuff....oh well....we'll cut it out probably before it washes it out) and some gel. The hair color (purple!) is in a lightening bolt shape on the side of the head...and a little spikey-ness on top.

Oh, and he's into painting rocks right now...that one is one of his favorites. :0)

Al Capone Does My Shirts (Gennifer Choldenko)

This is a book that just got better and better as I read it. It was the book for our parent-child book club...and I really enjoyed it! If you want a good synopsis check out this link.

My favorite line: When you love someone, you have to try things even if they don't make sense to anyone else.

The story is about a family that goes to live on Alcatraz Island because the dad gets a job as a guard. Their life there is quite interesting! There is a boy named Moore and a girl named Natalie. Natalie has autism (although autism didn't have a name back then). During the whole book the family is working towards getting Natalie into a special school....and in the end the brother is a big help in that regard. I love Moose's sarcism throughout the book. He starts off with, "I want to be on Alcatraz like I want poison oak on my private parts."....and only gets better from there.

The author brings up an interesting thing I've never thought about with autism. She quotes Oliver Sacks "We almost always speak of autistic children, never autistic adults, as if such children never grew up, or were somehow mysteriously spirited off the planet." (page 225)

One of my favorite book club discussions was when we read "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" because two of the women there that night have siblings that are autistic...and the discussion was fascinating. I never thought about what it would be like to be a sibling of an autistic child and both these books have given me a surprising and a beautiful glimpse into what that would be like.

I liked that this book was based on fact. The Author's note at the end of the book gives some really neat insight into what life was like on Alcatraz. I've known a lot of people that have gone to visit Alcatraz and I have never really been that interested....but this book has brought a whole new thinking in that regard!

In Flanders Fields

Jill's class did an assembly on Friday. There were a number of poems and stories to teach the school about Remembrance Day. They did In Flanders Fields in French and in English. I loved it!

Sir Ken Robinson

I just love this guy! Every time I hear him speak the things he says ring so true in my mind!

He talks about education and has a wonderful refreshing approach to it all. You can read them here and here

I went to a class at BYU's Education Week, oh, about 58 years ago or so, that was on creativity and it was a really curious experience. I have never forgotten the things that were said there - but have always been perplexed by them. The things Sir Ken Robinson talks about build on the things I heard there!

He says:

* In education we spend most of our time trying to stifle or inhibit imagination....not purposely, but systematically
* We are engaged globally in an education revolution, whether we like it or not. Things that we think are certain to happen do not happen in a revolution. Things we think are given are found out to not be true.
* The children starting school now will retire in 2070 and no one has a clue what the world will look like in 2070. We can hardly prepare people for jobs they'll try to secure two years out! Our educations systems are dominated by linear assumptions about what will be relevant to the future - and we don't really know what will be relevant to the future. The one thing we do know is it will not be linear.
* Why do we continually educate children by their 'date of manufacture'?
*He says creativity should be as important in education as literacy and numeracy (and oh man, is he singing my song there!)
*Curriculum, assessment and pedagogy are the three pillars of education. The only way to reform education is through pedagogy though. You only improve schools by improving teaching.


I could listen to this stuff forever!! (I know....I'm weird)

FHE

The kids were off school today and we could have had a lesson some time during the day - but we didn't. I had planned to go out with a couple friends tonight so Allen took the kids to eat at the mall (their favorite dining experience) and then got some videos and came home and they all snuggled on the futon together to watch them. When I got back at 9:30 they faked that they were asleep...but the party was clearly still going.

Oh well, gotta have a little fun for FHE sometimes, right??? It still counts if one parent is missing right??? After all, we often do FHE without Allen!

Destiny

At 1:30 am it'll be a year since our little Destiny was silently born. I've felt a little somber all week and have had trouble getting focused or accomplishing much.

I've decided that's okay. This has been a week for remembering, and wishing and crying and wondering.

I sure wish I had been able to get to know that little girl.

In time.......I do believe in time we will.

We love you Destiny.

Freecyle Finds!

Have I ever told you how much I love Freecycle!! I two or three or more things every week that we can get rid of on Freecycle. I'm blessed by cleaning out clutter from my house and other people are blessed that can use the items we don't need. Sometimes I even get stuff! This week I got a book for Jill that she had been asking me to buy! It's a French verb conjugation book. I also got a small dresser for our room that I will use as a bedside table. In time I hope to refinish it.

Lovin it!

FHE: The Law of the Harvest

Today was one of those FHEs when I wonder why we bother.

Allen wasn't home.
Jill and Peirce were obnoxious (they insisted I had read them those stories before and they already knew all this stuff)
...and I was tired and didn't feel like doing it anyway.

But we did it, and I suppose that's a good thing.

We talked about the Law of the Harvest. I read a story and told them I was going to ask at the end what the Law of the Harvest was. Then we each colored a picture with the scripture on it and as we colored we talked about different ways we see the Law of the Harvest in action.

I still think we're all suffering from sugar hangovers.

So Grown Up

Overheard at dinner today:

Jill: I feel so grown up
Peirce: Why?
Jill: Because as we speak I'm doing a load of laundry. And I just cut my muffin without destroying it...AND I know how to do a wheelie on my bike now.
Peirce: That doesn't mean you're grown up. If you were grown up you would be able to cook.
Jill: Ha! I can cook spaghetti and deviled eggs too!
Peirce: Well, you're still not grown up because you have to be 18 to be an adult.
Jill: Whatever. I'm very precocious you know!

A few minutes later Jill witnessed Peirce cutting his muffin and also not destroying it as he did it. She was aghast.

I said: He's precocious too Jill. He must have got that from you.

She was suitably pleased.

Primary Talks

Today Peirce and Jill were both asked to give talks in Primary. Jill wrote her talk all on her own. She wrote one version and then this morning decideds he needed to change it and re-wrote the whole thing. She did a terrific job!


We've discovered that cue cards work well for Peirce. We made cards and he drew pictures on them to remind him of what to say. He stood up there all on his own and did the whole thing!



I felt as though my chest might burst with pride.

In FHE we read a scripture that said that Jesus said we should do our service in secret

So we made cookies and we took them to our neighbors. We rang the doorbell and RAN!

I felt excited!

All the next week we tried to do secret service every day.

Everyone in my family was happy. It was nice.

I have a testimony that service makes you happy.

My Pet Lamb

Today I taught RS and the lesson was one of my favorite topics: Visiting Teaching! I wanted to talk about the doctrine of visiting teaching and started off with the scripture from the last chapter in John

John 21:

15 ¶ So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.


My only experience with sheep was a lamb we had in Lethbridge. His name was Woolley. I remember he would be clipped to the clothes line. We’d play with him until we saw the bus coming around the corner and then we’d take off to the bus. Sometimes we pegged him in the ditch to keep the grass down. He was really cute. But he got really big. He had this big cement pad of a front deck and he’d get up on the deck and butt us off. He got really nasty and mean.

Eventually we ate him.

Poor Woolley. We showed him!

Harriett's Halloween Candy

Today we got to volunteer at Storybook Theatre. It was a lot of fun! We helped patrons find their seats and then we got to watch the play! After the play we had lunch with the actors. It was a really fun experience for us! To see how they organize props, find out what the green room was like, and to chat with the stage manager and lighting director and accompiast and the actors made it all very real and very fun for Jill and Peirce

This is a picture Peirce took of the set. It's one of the houses on the street where they went trick or treating:

This is Peirce with Harriett, the star of the show!


The story was about a girl named Harriet that loves Halloween. She especially loves candy, and there's no way she is going to share that with anyone! Young Theatre-goers will no doubt relate to Harriet's pursuit of all things sugar, while parents will appreciate that Harriet eventually learns friends trump even chocolate. The play was full of all sorts of fun music. We LOVED it!