Grade 1's.....

What is a grade one student capable of by Christmas? What kind of reading level is the 'average' child at by this time in grade one? What about writing? spelling? math?

I can't remember for the life of me when Susie was this age or the boys so I have no clue!

So if you could enlighten me that would be great :)

Hhhhmmmmm

It's 3pm and I could really do with a nice big glass of Baileys on the rocks.....do you think its too early?

Well, I will hold off until Lloyd gets home and then........ I'm going for it :)

How far would you go to protect your child?

www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2007/12/20/father-charged.html?ref=rss

Would you have covered for your child? I think its disgusting....his Son actually UNTANGLED the bicycle from his truck before driving off! How can someone do that? How can someone hit a person and then drive off as if it didn't happen? And then the parent covers for the child????????? OMG!!!!! It's just horrific :(

Not enough gift wrap!!!

So this is what Lloyd is having for Christmas...but it will be a few days late....but hopefully he will get to 'play' on it before he goes back to work!

Getting him to make a decision is so difficult! Finally he settled on this one though! And we got Sam one the same but a mini one to play with!

Now I finally get to use the John Deere scrapbooking supplies I've had for so long!

The last couple of days....

So yesterday we got up early and drove into town to pick up Samanthas Mom......we took her to Parentlink where Samantha works....it wa s agreat party atmosphere with Christmas crafts and cookie decorating, songs and everyone ina happy excited mood :)

I got a drink for Josie (Samanthas mom) and for the lady she was sat with (another Grandma) and they chatted for a couple of hours while we played, read books, and generally enjoyed the morning.

Samantha wasn't doing too good - she has arthritis in her knees which is bad enough, but yesterday morning she fell down the steps in her garage and her knee had swollen up :( she really looked in agony but was still at work!!!!

After parentlink we went to the mall and Josie went off to do a little Christmas shopping. We went to Chapters for Abigails Chickadee magazine and then we went and had some lunch at the food court. We each had an ice cream too :)

Then we went to look at a few things that Josie was thinking of getting Samantha.....but we couldn't decide which to get, so she remembered a store that she wanted to go back to - Homesense! Well I love any excuse to go there...so we went there and I found some wooden clothes hangers which Lloyd has been looking for, so I got those....

After that we went to Greenland garden centre for a stroll around the gifts store and the Christmas section......then by this time it was 3:30pm so I dropped Josie home and raced back to my house, soaked in the bath and then got dressed for the school Advent Pageant.....

Lloyd got home late so he got home about 10 minutes before we had to race out of the door for the pageant. Chris babysat Sam, and the rest of us headed off to the school.

The pageant was so wonderful - my children have been to a lot of different schools and we have experienced a lot of concerts but this one was wonderful - WOW!!!! the choreography and lighting and singing....well, just WOW!!!!!!

We got home around 9pm and Lloyd watched Family Man while I looked at the pictures etc taken at the concert!

This morning up early for breakfast at Esso with Val and her DD and her Grandson and of course Vals youngest too.....it was quite a short breakfast as we all had places to go, people to see lol but was a nice chance to say hello :)

Well, I guess I should go and pack away the things we bought today.

Have a great evening!

Feeling Festive....

Ok this may sound annoying to some but...whatever! If I have to listen to people moan about feeling unfestive then surely I have a right to post about feeling festive!

It seems everywhere I turn people are stressed, depressed, and generally feeling unfestive and wishing that Christmas was over. And I do hope those people are able to find some time for themselves...to rest, relax and be in the moment.

But I'm not going to apologise for the fact that I am LOVING Christmas! I am loving the parties, the concerts, the activities....the crafts, the songs, the lights everywhere...the excitement...the fun...the movies.....the traditions...the snow.....

I am enjoying introducing Sam to it all - I'm enjoying reading festive stories with him and Abigail...decorating gingerbread men....crafting with glitter and festive shapes.....looking at the tree all twinkly and bright....

This morning (after breakfast with Val) we went to Dollarama and I told Abigail she could choose gifts for everyone - anything she likes (nothing is more than a dollar in there lol) and I LOVED seeing her thrill at being able to choose ANYTHING!! Sam and I strolled around buying paper plates etc and Abigail went off on her own and picked all kinds of things. She is so excited to wrap them up for her siblings!

We also went to the pet store and chose gifts for our animals.

At breakfast this morning the children gave a gift to our waitress Grace - because she really does make having breakfast out with children so much fun! Today she had Abby filling up the creamers again and Sam was giving out menus to customers :) Abby and Sam were excited to give her their gift....and THRILLED when Grace gave them a gift each - I even got one :)

The next few days should be fairly relaxed.....we have some friends coming over on Sunday afternoon.....quadding, sledding, fire pit etc etc so that should be nice :) and at some point we will make our annual trip to Bright nights with hot chocolate :) and we have our gingerbread houses to decorate once the children are off of school!

All in all we are planning a quiet, relaxed Christmas and I am so looking forward to it all.....

It just seems I am one of very few feeling this way - everyone else seems stressed and totally unfestive! For a few people I can so understand but the vast majority I just wish they'd appreciate all they have and just push the stress and pressure to one side and enjoy the moment! It really is only a few days a year and it's sucha shame to not enjoy this wonderful time of year!

The Advent Pageant....

Here are a few pictures of last nights Advent Pageant at the school....I didn't take many pictures but we filmed the concert and Chris is going to show me how to youtube Susannahs part later and then I can add the clips of her dancing and singing to the blog :)