We've taken on a lot, and somehow managed to stay in tact. Living life now as a family of 4!

you know that saying, right? About how many words a picture equals? Well, I've been seriously remiss about this whole blogging thing. Good thing I've taken lots of pictures regardless. So here you go...Life in January, February, and March. Or a snippet of it, anyway. Enjoy! First, some perspective: Remember the snow people Jake built in November? In January they looked like this: Today (March 18th) they look like this: I had this vague idea that I should take a picture of them every week over the winter and string them all together. I didn't, kind of wish I did. Oh well, some is better than none. Side story: When I first moved to Winnipeg my dad would always ask how much snow we had in winter. In Calgary that question makes sense - you could have zero snow one day and 2 feet the next, and then it'd be gone a week later. Not so here. Here is it just piles up. And up.  Next up: we have a new niece! She is our favourite Winnipeg niece. We a...

Warning: this might be a little mushy, but I am so proud! Jake and I met when I came to his school for a term job. I arrived to start my new job scared of what I would find, and worried about being in a new school. It didn't take long for me to feel at ease. The staff were very caring and friendly and welcoming. Before long I realized that most of the feeling of community at this school was directly due to Jake's influence. He seemed to be the one constantly encouraging staff and students, joshing with them, joking around, providing opportunities to play and laugh together. Don't get me wrong, there are many excellent staff at this school - people who routinely volunteer their time to coach, encourage, cheer on and otherwise support their extremely needy student-base (the demographics at his school are similar to mine). Jake is not alone in his efforts, but he is a major driving force. He has a way of getting people involved in things that is pretty amazing to witness. ...

Yesterday morning I had grade 7 gym first thing. This is a class I look forward to. The kids are so cooperative and enthusiastic - it's fun teaching them. Typically they all participate without much, if any, effort on my part. Yesterday, 2 girls weren't really into what we were doing. One of them found her way to the corner of the stage to sit by herself. Normally, I would cajole and convince and suggest until I got her moving in some way, but a few red flags had been going up about her older brother recently, so I went and sat beside her. She's a good kid - never defiant or hostile, usually at school, works hard, keeps to herself - she has never really been on anyone's 'radar' in any way - academics and behavior are not an issue. With very little prompting on my part (I basically asked how things were going at home), she started talking. And talking. And crying. This part isn't that unusual. I remember being desperately unhappy in grade 7 at certain point...

Ok, so I fell off the blogging bandwagon for a while, but I didn't mean for it to go on THIS long without a post. In fact, I have a half-written one waiting to be finished and published, with pictures and everything!, but it will have to wait. Jake and I have both been struck down in our prime with a nasty little bug that likes to weaken you, then let you think you're better, then move in for the kill. We're going on 2 weeks now of one or both of us feeling anywhere from 'under the weather' to 'surely death would be less painful'. I won't go into too many gory details, but I will say this: given the choice, I'd choose durchfall over upchucking any day of the week. I haven't been sick like this in a long time, and to be honest, I'm a little surprised that it took this long to hit - I thought after the year of insanity we had I'd get crazy-sick a lot earlier. It has also been (although not so much today) CRAZY-COLD here. -40 with wind...

It's hard to characterize a trip to summer in the middle of winter without falling back on worn-out phrases and descriptions: 'It was hot', 'It was nice', 'It was summer'. I've been thinking about what to write about this trip - probably the only one like it we will ever take  - and been having a having a hard time with how to present it. It was fun, extravagant, relaxing, sometimes ridiculous, entertaining, quiet, an adventure-but-a-tame-one. I think, though, all of the food and booze and nice accoutrements aside, the biggest thing about a warm vacation in the middle of winter is the feeling of air and water on skin. It feels so luxurious to walk out of your room into the warmth, miles of skin exposed to the air a mere 6 hours after you left -30 degrees where ALL your skin was cloaked in multiple layers of natural and synthetic fabrics to prevent it from freezing. Never has it been clearer to me that what is hard about winter isn't necessarily t...

I feel like I can taste this upcoming vacation. It tastes like hot apple cider, sleep, pepper nuts and delicious food in Mexico that I haven't tasted yet. These days I feel a strange combination of energy and exhaustion. On the weekend and in the evenings I move from one task to the next (candles! cookies! Wrapping and shipping! Choosing! Shopping! Planning! Laundry!) with enthusiasm that has Jake exhausted, unbelievably. Usually it's the other way around. At work during the day, however, I'm just barely hanging on. I need a break from the kids, from the drama, from the constant problem solving and crisis management. Example: Yesterday, Grade-8-Girl-A came into my room very upset and wanting to talk. Considering she usually just acts out, this is a big deal. She proceeds to tell me that she is being bullied by Grade-8-Girls B,C, and D, who are in the same class. She feels lonely, she's cutting herself again, she's throwing up her food, she's so desperately u...

Jake is already sick of hearing me talk about this, and I am (obviously) soo excited about it, I have to bring it to you, my internet friends. Plus, I took more pictures than necessary. I'm making candles! Beeswax ones! I love love love beeswax candles, but they are so expensive! You know what's cheaper? Buying beeswax and then making them yourself. Plus, it's fun. However, beyond the rolled beeswax candles we made for the wedding, I haven't really ever made candles. However, I have watched a youtube video or two, so I figured I could trouble shoot whatever I needed to. Very first, I had to figure out how to get the huge hunk of wax (not pictured) into smaller, melt-a-ble chunks. A hammer and old chisel did the trick on that score. Then, I gave a chipped measuring cup new life as my wax cup. Perfect! I knew that wax should be melted in a double-boiler-kind-of-way, and that in theory, the method of putting a glass measuring cup in boiling water should work (I don...