Merry Christmas

I have been keeping a secret since April. My in laws decided last year that they wanted to come spend Christmas with us and they didn't want to tell the boys. We (and when I say "we" I mean me) suggested to also keep Rob in the dark about this also. There has been many phone calls back and forth as the time got closer, trying to keep Rob in the dark. It ALMOST worked. I had to tell Rob the night before they got here that they were coming. I had made up a lie to convince him to take an extra day off work, as this would have been the last day his parents were here. HE decided to take my lie (that I wanted to take the boys out of town for the night) and turn it into a work trip and bring back supplies for his store. He was actually quite proud of this and was going to confirm with a distribution centre that we would be in the city at the beginning of the week to bring an order back for the store. Of course, I couldn't let him make this confirmation as in fact were NOT going out of town. We did keep the secret from the boys, and boy were they surprised to see their grandparents pull in the driveway! The only thing I regret (and I know you will be shocked by this) is that I didnt have my camera ready to catch their reactions.

Unfortunately these next pictures are backwards, but frankly I'm tired and I don't want to change the order.

A typical Schwartz Family picture. People in this community are very generous. We received ALL these trays of goodies from people in town. I LOVE it here. My mother in law was just astonished by it all. It seemed every 10 minutes someone was coming to the door with a tray for us. My christmas coffee.

We bought Colby and Ipod Touch. He has wanted one for the past few years but we felt he was now responsible enough for one.

Waiting impatiently for me to put the camera away so they could open presents.

Throwing colored reindeer food so the reindeers would know where we live.

The traditional Christmas eve "Twas the Night Before Christmas". Jean started this in 2001 when Colby was just a month old. Since we have lived in the north this tradition has been kept alive via webcam. It's the first time the boys have been on THIS side of the webcam.

Christmas eve seafood chowder. Our friends from across the street came over to share it with us. There was just one small bowlful left when we were done.

Reading stories on the Ipad.

Walking outside with Puppa. For some reason Joey kept falling over into the snowbank.

Baking with Gramma. We were making Maids of Honour, which is a cookie that Rob's grandmother always made and I love them. I have never been able to make them right so I asked Jean to make them so I could see how they were done. Unfortunately somehow between us talking and Joey "helping" we quadripuled the butter (it called for 1/2 cup and we put 2 cups) so they ended up as Maids of Honor Crumble instead of individual cookies. It only took a couple of hours of soaking the mini muffins tins to get them to come clean. Although my new clean oven it's so clean anymore!

The best book E.V.E.R

If you have children, or know someone who has small children, buy them this book. This is BY FAR the best book I have ever read. Joey and I have read this book many times, and Joey has read it many times on his own. It is an amazing idea for a book. It promotes imagination and it's a truly magical book. I can't wait to sneak it to work on Monday to share it with my preschoolers.

I can't do it

I just can't go private. I have taken a lot of time over the last 24 hours (more than I should have honestly) to think about this. I have had many comments on how this blog has helped people, whether it be dealing with the death of a parent or just looking for information on where I live. I've decided I'm not going to restrict the blog. I really do appreciate all the comments that I have received from each and every one of you who reads this. It really means a lot. And like Tammy said, I'm not going to let "a blip on the radar" restrict what I do. If you don't like what you see, there is a red X in the top right corner. Press it. :)

Going private

It has come to my attention that some negative comments have been made about the blog. In order to keep blogging, I now want to control who is reading it. It honestly upsets me that I have to do this, but I REFUSE to have people insulting the content found here.

The 2 babies in my house

One proud momma

I am amazed how well my kids are doing. Colby is on the volleyball team and they are playing in a tournament today. Joey was awarded star student of the term yesterday. It was all I could do not to cry.

How I teach color recognition to 3 year olds

New blog to follow!

I love that more friends are getting into blogging. One of my closest friends (and certainly the friend I've had longer than any other) has started a blog. I now have it in my feed but you can check it out HERE.

Your daily laugh... brace yourself

Happy 10th birthday

Happy birthday Colby. I can't believe you're 10. You are turning into quite the little man. We love you very much.

4 years

If you knew my dad, you would totally get this. If you didn't, I will enlighten you. Dad always had mints in the ashtray of his car. Specifically these pink mints. We called them "car mints" and still do to this very day.

Finally, a college graduate

Looks like I'm 9 months pregnant here. Horrible shadows and a a gown that was miles to big. Luckily everyone looked like they were pregnant, including the woman who was sitting next to me who was in fact 8 months pregnant.

My partner in crime. Anna works with me at the preschool and honestly I was more proud of her graduating than of myself.

I finally graduated on Saturday from Lakeland College. For the past 2 years I have been completing my Early Childhood Education Certificate by correspondance. I graduated with Distinctions (which is a GPA of 4.0 or higher). The highest you could. And so did Anna. I will admit, I did get a little welled up looking out in the audience seeing Rob and the boys watching me. There's just something special about watching your husband and children watching you graduate. Life is good.

Seen today

It's not the best quality picture I've ever taken, but I couldn't delete it. I just happened to look out the window and saw this guy playing in the wind (it's very windy here today). I quickly grabbed my camera and telezoom lens. This was taken from my doorstep, no tripod and I didn't want to miss it. I felt like it was watching me the entire time, and when I cropped this picture to take out some of the background (it's all sky), this is what I saw.

The most wonderful time of the year

For a photographer that is. This is the scenery all around me, and tonight after Joey's bath we went outside on our front deck and watched the Northern Lights dance above our heads.

My preschool classroom

I sit here, knowing that I SHOULD blog, but I don't know what to blog about. Well, that's not true. There are many things that I want to write about, but because of the nature of this public forum and the fact that anyone can read this stops me. I am having a personal moral dilemna right now. I am, for the first time in a VERY long time, alienated from members of my family. It bothers me, but because of the details around it there is no easy solution for this, and I fear that this is something that can never be resolved. Sitting in church this morning, the priest talked about forgiveness, and the importance of letting anger and hurt go and to forgive those who have wronged you and asking for forgivess of those you have wronged. It really got me thinking about my current situation. But again, I'm not one to air my "dirty laundry" on the blog, this is not why I started it in the first place. At times I am soo tempted to start another "anonymous" blog, so I can really write what I want without fear of making a very bad situation worse.

With that being said, I promised you a post about my classroom. I have changed my classroom this year, with the emphasis of making it as homey and comfortable as possible. Take a look.

The desk that Rob built for me with plugs. Initially it was for computers but since I am teaching 3 year olds I switched them out for light brights and puzzles.

Our quiet reading / circle time / fine motor skills area. Yes, that is a FULL size couch. This is a work in progress. The bare walls behind the couch will be filled with framed pictures of the kids. I have a whole basket of frames that I have been collecting that I will be filling as the year goes.

Our latest addition, thanks to the school division. A light table!

Our loft. The bottom is a walk in area that I have set up with cars / blocks/ ramps and the upstairs is a mini living room with books. On top of the little shelf are puppets. I put the shelf on an angle hoping they would use it for a puppet stage and they do!!

Joe's first letter

As you know from the past, when I get a call from a teacher about something that happened in school, I have always made Colby write an apology letter to his teacher. Well today, I got a call from Joe's teacher (who happens to be a colleague of mine). She said that Joe took off on her after school without waiting for his brother. Normally he has to wait for his brother after school and they walk across the street to meet me at the preschool to head home. I always get Joe to wait for Colby to cross the street with him because it is very busy at that time of the day with parents picking up their kids, buses coming and going, etc. So, in true form after Joe and I talked about the importance of waiting for Colby, we wrote an apology note. As much as I want to ask her for it back, I'm sure as a teacher she's going to want to keep it herself.

Very seriously writing his letter. I wrote the letters and he copied it.

Translation (and if you look closely you can see it). I'm sorry. From Joe.

Scaffolding!

Just cause i am a geek, and if you are laughing this is for you.

Joey's first day of school

Drawing pictures of KITT.

No, he's not excited or anything.

Look at that grin!

He was soo excited he ran all the way in.

In the truck on the way. He was soo excited to go, and you should all be proud of me. I didn't cry. Now, when he gets on the school bus for the first time will be a totally different story.

Taken today

Where did August go?

Who the hell stole the month of August? I CANNOT believe it's August 21st. August celebrated our 13th anniversary and Colby's first fish. I have been super super busy with portraits lately and I feel like time is just flying by. I go back to work this Wednesday teaching 3 year olds. I will admit, that scares me. I've never taught kids this young.