Huh?

Jo: "I know this road like the outside of a watermelon."

Cone of Shame

I watched how-to videos on YouTube. Downloaded and printed templates. Asked other teachers for help. To no avail - I could not make a proper paper cone. My class was asked to make Christmas tree and teepee paper cone centrepieces for the annual Christmas concert next week. So, before asking my students to make them, I had to practice on my own to get it right. By late afternoon I was tired and frustrated. I walked down the hall with the latest template in my hand, wondering how I was going to solve my cone problem. My son came up, noticed the template, said, "Cool, what is that Papa?", took the template out of my hand and made a perfect cone. Sigh.

Year of the Dog

My daughter has been "feeding her brain" with Uncle John's Electrifying Bathroom Reader for Kids Only!. Last night she informed me that I was born in the Year of the Dog. Oh, the irony. I have been having difficulty adjusting to life with a dog. Though I won't say more about that subject, I did take up the gauntlet of building a doghouse (and no, it wasn't for me).

My biggest fear wasn't so much building something, but that I had to use a circular saw (of which I am now an owner - more money in the DeWalt coffers). I haven't used any kind of powered saw since my early teen years when I chopped off bits of fingers on my left hand (another story, another time). But now I had to come to grips (no pun intended) with the dog situation.

Well, I faced my fear and built the house. Some of the wood used was recovered from the local dump, while the plywood was purchased from the lumber store in town. I loosely based the design on one my spouse found online. A neat feature was the space between the inner an outer wall which allows you to put some foam in between for extra climate control (necessary for those cold winter months up here in the north). It still needs to be stained and shingled, but at least it is built. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. Yaay?!

Grumpy Sky

Overheard at our house:

"Papa, I don't think the sky is happy. The sky looks grumpy today."

Overheard

Overheard at our house today:

"Josiah, go back up the stairs to your room and change out of your pajamas there. The world does not need to see your nakedness."

Fi & Astrid Sledding

One More Sleep Until Christmas Day

Green

"Papa, I need to go pee!"

"Then go."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"The water in the toilet is blue."

"Ohh-kaay."

Upstairs I went to find the younger Sprout doing a pee dance in the hallway. I hurried into the washroom where the water in the toilet was definitely blue. My spouse had used a blue coloured cleaner in the toilet and left it so that the cleaning agents could do their work. I found the toilet brush and quickly scrubbed the toilet.

"Don't flush the blue water!" Josiah exclaimed, still dancing.

"Why not?"

"I want to try a science experiment."

"Ohh-kaay. What experiment?"

"I want to see if it turns green."

(I'll let you figure that out on your own.)

Snow Covered World

Hyperbole starts off our morning.

"Whoa! The whole world is covered in snow, Papa!" Josiah exclaimed, standing on a chair peering out the kitchen window at the early arrival of Old Man Winter.

"Let's go outside!"

And so we did. Snow shovels cleared the driveway ("You shovel the big piles, I'll shovel the little ones."). Sleds were pulled ("Run, Papa, run!"). Snowball fights ensued ("I got you!"). Lots of laughter from both father and son. A couple of hours later, wet, tired and cold, we tromped inside our warm home, drank hot chocolate, and continued to enjoy each other's company.

The snowy morning almost encouraged me play Christmas music. Almost.

Car Wash

Roman Numerals

Weekend post-breakfast conversations usually start with a question posed by my daughter.  Today's question was, "What is the roman numeral for seven?"

"A capital V with two capital I's."

"What about eight?"

"A capital V with three capital I's."

"What about the rest?"

I found a piece of paper and pen, and based on my limited knowledge, began writing out roman numerals and explained how they work.  When I wrote down "C", the conversation turned into language, as "C" stands for centum (Latin for hundred). 

"That's why a centurion is named, well, a centurion.  He commands a group of one hundred men." 

"And why century is called century.  It's one hundred years!" 

"Yes. It's where the French get cent (hundred) and why we call our penny a cent".

"Why?"

"It's out of one hundred, or one dollar.  Like percent."

"How does that work?"

Our discussion continues with whole numbers, tenths, hundredths, percents, fractions and decimals.

Then, a younger brother appears.

"Play with me, Fiona!"

"Ok."

Switching gears, she leaves the kitchen table with her brother to create imaginary worlds.

I wonder what next week's question will be?

Put In My Place

The Sprouts unpacked their school gear when they came home from Nana's house. I noticed that Fi had black paint on her fingers and commented that there must have been art club today. She nodded.

Me, knowingly: "You made windchimes today."

Fi, in wonderment: "How did you know that?"

Me, boasting: "I know everything!"

Fi, rolling her eyes and shaking her head: "No, you don't."

Regrets

This weekend I fly back to my hometown to be with my family to bury my grandmother.  I have two regrets.  The first is that I wasn't able to say goodbye before she passed on.  It has been almost two years since I have last seen her and I wish I had been a better grandson and stayed in touch.  The second is that I have a pitiful amount of photographs of my grandmother to help my family remember her by.  Over the past five years as my love for digital photography has grown, starting with a point-and-shoot and graduating to an amateur DSLR, I've been designated as the family photographer.  So, when we travel south to visit family, I take loads of pics.  And yet, I have few pics of my grandmother.  How sad is that?  Well, add that to my photography goals.  Take photos of everyone in my and my spouse's family whenever I can, and take the best ones possible. 

But first, spend quality time with my extended family.

Cold Snap

After three days of indoor recess my students were a just a little (lot) cabin feverish today.  I was ecstatic happy to send them on their way at 3:30 PM. Brr, it's cold outside!  Up until the end of last week we were spoiled with mild winter temperatures (though not spoiled with as much snow as we would like).   We had almost forgotten what winter was really like up here in the near north.

Aside: Near north, ha!  When we lived in TO the Algonquin Park area was known as the "near North".  They don't know what near north really is.  "Ha!", I say again. 

Three days of indoor recess make for very cranky staff and students.  On indoor recess days, there are no breaks.  It was an exhausting day, topped by little sleep (Sprouts are sick and up at night) and cranking out five days of emergency lesson plans.

The best part of the day was coming home.  I opened the door and asked my spouse (who was home today with sick Sprouts) to please turn on the kettle.  She replied, "Your tea is already steeping."  Bliss.

While in the Kitchen...

...Jo asks Em: "What is the opposite of white?"

Em: "Black.  Were you learning about opposites in school today?"

Jo: "Yeah."

Me: "What is the opposite of Jo?"

Jo, without hesitation: "Fi."

Early to Bed, Early to Rise...

The Sprouts are already sound asleep, tucked in early tonight for some well-deserved rest after a busy holiday.  My spouse and I are finishing up various tasks to be ready for work and school tomorrow.  Nights of staying up late(r) are over; the days of early rising will begin again in the morning (at least until March break).  Winter solstice came and went a couple of weeks ago.  I look forward now to the mornings when the sun gets up early, too, so I feel like I haven't been awake all night. 

Time to close all apps and programs, log off, shut down and slide to power off for the night and recharge for a new day.

Bonne nuit!

Auntie Hedder

Jo has a twinkle in his eye, a particular tone in his voice and special smile reserved only for his very favourite people.  Up until now those favourite people have been his Pop and his Opa.  Now a third person has been added to his "list": Auntie Heather.

Auntie Heather (which often comes out as "Hedder" in Jo's excitement), is the "cool" aunt, the "rough and tumble" aunt, the "stay outdoors long past I'm freezing" aunt, the "best bedtime stories" aunt, the "energizer" aunt, the "zest for life" aunt, and, well, you get the picture.  Auntie Heather and Jo have loads in common.  They are kindred spirits. 

Every morning during Auntie Heather's visit Jo would call her up and ask, "Can you come over to play?"  The answer was always a "Yes".  Jo could barely contain his excitement until she arrived at the door.  It didn't matter what the answer to "What shall we do today?" was.  Jo didn't care as long as he was with his favourite aunt (sorry, other aunts).

Wednesday was a difficult day for Jo.  In the wee hours of the morning Auntie Heather boarded a train to go home.  Jo asked once again for permission to call Auntie Heather to come over, but this time, didn't get the answer he was hoping for.  

Come back for a visit again soon, Auntie Hedder!  We have a little mopey boy today who misses his favourite aunt.

Level 12

"Have you reached twelve yet?" is a recurring question when visiting Pop and Nana.  My father-in-law, my spouse and I have been WELDing off and on over the past few weeks (more here), hoping to defeat the broken tile mess that is level twelve. 

Well, Pop, I finally did it.  After "extracting" five hundred and thirty five words I reached and beat level twelve last night.  A little happy dance accompanied the cascade finale, I'm not ashamed to say.

Finally, a word game victory.  My spouse always trounces me at Scrabble, so allow me to gloat a little, at least until the Scrabble board comes out, which will probably be tonight. 

Update:  3 new levels, apocalypse swap and shake to undo (and more in an app update just today).  Oh boy, here we go again!

Alliteration

Skating on Sunday in a snowstorm.

Monday Morning Hallelujah

It seems like a typical weekend morning. Boy Sprout is at the table playing with the latest Lego set. Girl Sprout is dancing around the kitchen to Vivaldi's Winter from The Four Seasons. My spouse is sleeping in. I am downloading a backlog of photos.

Why do these trivial things matter?

It's not a weekend morning, it's a Monday morning. We are on holidays!

Cue Hallelujah Chorus...