Excerpts from a letter to Kim. aka - some RANDOM from my life.

Have I told you the big news?  The South Calgary Costco has a GAS STATION now!!  We filled up there today - it was BEYOND exciting.  Amazing savings... seriously.  Okay... ACTUALLY Brittany (my favorite ridiculously tall sister that has been single until late) is ENGAGED.  I even have met the guy once (a year and a half ago) and really like him.  We might even get to meet him again over Christmas.  Won't that be nice?!?  I'm so excited for her taking this next AWESOME step in life.  Marriage has made me so happy because I found a really good guy who cares so much about me.  I'm so glad that Britt has found that too.  Congrats you two!!

 Baby Benson and Cousin Macy on Halloween

And now for something completely different - I have decided that officially going crazy (okay, maybe not that different, but just hear me out).  I have this new desire to learn everything and anything and read and read and read!  I simply have booked myself so tight with my "to do" list that I have spent all my spare time making the list and adding to it instead of actually doing things on it - sigh.  There's so many great books out there and great things to do with your time.  It's hard to rank them in the good, better, best categories sometimes.  We're reading "Great Expectations" right now for book club.  I'm hosting it at my house and leading the discussion on Thursday.  How far have I read?  Well, to be honest, I'd have to go find the book and find my spot to tell you, but I'm pretty sure I haven't made much of a dent in it.  It's a good 400-500 pages or so and I'd be surprised if I was past page 80.  Sigh.  It could be an interesting discussion ;).  Maybe I'll have some help by people who took the book club a little more seriously (Brian Regan pops into my mind her with - "I should've taken it more seriously - They don't call it a quiz").

The "Cahoon Cousins" on Halloween

Anyway, life is going well.  Jarett is working hard at work with my Dad and (hopefully) is getting more and more competent and helpful daily.  I'm finding that I'm enjoying home schooling more and more (although it does have it's hard moments/days/weeks).  I LOVE that my kids are getting better at their instruments and they are spending more and more time with me.  I feel much more connected to them than I ever have before.  It's fabulous.  I feel like I REALLY know them inside and out again - like when they were babies.  Plus we get to DO things together and have fun as a family again (outside of the summer).  We actually just started to read "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens (you may have heard of it) for our Novel Study.  We're hoping to read a chapter a week and be done just before Christmas.  We might even be able to see the play downtown when it's done.  I'm so excited.  In MY humble opinion, the earlier you can start to read Dickens, the better.  Who knows, maybe we'll do it again and again and make it an annual thing.

I started selling Norwex and according to the kids, the best part is playing in the boxes!!

Actually, when we started the novel study, we just read about life in England in the time of Dickens (in the 1850's-ish).  Kaia actually was to the point of tears and asked if we could stop when we talked about child labor and chimney sweeps and all that.  Not to mention the Cholera outbreaks and the lack of sewage, food and clean water.  I'm surprised anyone survived to tell the tale.  I find that learning about how poor and destitute most of these people were, and how separate from it all the rich people were, has already made the characters in the story become more wonderful/terribly and powerful - and we haven't even started yet.  I'm so excited to read it now.  We read Chapter 1 on Monday!

My Little Benson Puppy

My kids have all been team tagging the flu this past week.  Jaymeson had the croup SO badly that I was beginning to wonder if he had pneumonia.  Luckily, he didn't and he could even go trick-or-treating because he was no longer contagious and the doctor recommended being out in the cold night air.  It's a pretty good sign that the kids are sick when after only one street they are ALL asking to be in the stroller.  You know, because so many 8 year olds (and younger) just are passive about candy... Sigh - it's been a tough week with a serious lack of sleep, but we're all pulling through and *fingers crossed* it hasn't hit the adults.

Sheriff Jay

Kienna had us laughing with another mix up of words this week when we learned about Hammurabi and the Babylonians.  We talked about the first written laws and how it was enforced for equality, not power.  Quite cool stuff!  When I asked Kienna what city he was from, her answer was "Boo-ba-lee or something".  No one could say anything without laughing for a good 5 minutes or so.  She REALLY loves her Cello teacher and is actually wanting to practice for the first time in her life.  She DID just have her bow completely dissolve on her - which was fun (ugh) but she's excited about the Cello again and that is AWESOME.  I now just need to find a way for her to make it through a practice session without making it a stretching
session too.  Maybe Cello and Yoga go together?  Who knows?!?

Water Princess Kienna

Kaia has started to read the Harry Potter series (about 3 weeks ago) and is now on the fifth book.  You can tell she feels like SUCH a grown up being able to discuss the different curses and spells and which ones she likes.  I think it will end up being a hard series for her because she sees things in such a Black and White way.  It's hard to see how good people can do bad things and vice versa.  It'll be interesting for me to see how she processes Snape at the end.  Her quote of "But of course Draco could NEVER be good" is kinda proof of what I'm trying to say.  Trying to find her without a book in her hand would be difficult.  She just has gotten this fever of wanting to read NON STOP.  It's almost to the point of annoyance, but I'm really so proud of her.  I can't think of many habits that could be better.  She's also really working hard on her violin - especially because she's planning on playing "Silent Night" for the Christmas Program at church.

Rapunzel (aka Kaia)

Saryn has become an exceptionally fast learner in the violin.  I can't believe how naturally she has taken to it and how much she loves it.  I have learned, however, that you can NOT push her.  In fact, her teacher learned that last week when Saryn burst into tears, stomped across the room and said, "I'm just tired and I'm frustrating".  After giving her a minute, I asked if she'd like to do her lesson for two more minutes or if she'd like to do a half hour practice at home.  She immediately walked back to her very patient teacher and picked up her violin like nothing had happened and finished her lesson in style.  I WOULD like to say that Saryn's attitude towards school has been SO much better.  She's learning how to write her letters, numbers etc. and she's doing great in math and other general concepts.  She had a hard time, at first, sitting still and being so focused, but now she just dives in, gets it done and is really happy through it all!

Sweet Princess Saryn

Jaymeson has officially taken the crown for the sweetest little sick boy in the world.  My favorite moment of this whole week was possibly when I gave him his medicine.  In between his gasps for air and his coughs he mustered out "Tank.. oo.. Mom.  Dat.. makes.. me.. feel.. better."  It's moments like that which make you just fall in love with your kids all over again.  He was just so sick, and it nearly broke my heart, but he still was thinking about his manners.  How many 3-year-old boys do that?

Benson is almost ONE!  Can you believe it?  He's crawling like nobody's business.  If you look away from him for 30 seconds, he'll be across the house, climbing stairs.  He is SO sweet and just might be a little serious.  He sure loves his bottle though.  I'm a little worried that he's going to have a serious oral fixation.  He won't sleep without it or anything.  I think we'll wait until all the miserable teething is done and then we'll wean him off of it.  He sure is a little doll though.  He has a smile that melts your heart and so much dark hair (for my kids) that I just don't even know what to do with it.

Well, I guess that sums us all up.  Don't really know what more to add today.  I'm hoping to blog more often - and just write short brief deals instead of these essays.  We'll see..., but here's hoping.


More of my sweet little ladybug niece, Macy...

 and one of Benson almost asleep near the end of it all...