Tree up

Last night Nick wanted to put the tree up so I moved stuff around and Paul and Nick went down to find the tree and decorations.  Nick and Dana organised the tree branches then they put it together.

Dana and I put up the garland around the banister.

Paul and Nick putting the lights on the tree.

There is our tree.  I need to get one with everyone in the next day or two.

Nick has a hockey game tonight, it is snowing out and I had to pick him up early from school because in gym class he got knocked into the wall and has a goose egg on the side of his head.  He says he is fine to play, his turn to be in net.

Fake Jake, work and hockey jackets

Dexter is taking this class Family Living and he got the chose of writing a 20 000 word essay or taking a fake baby for 4 days and three nights.  He chose to take the baby.  So he brought it home yesterday and was already stressed out about it. He hated how when it cried at school everybody would stare at him.  He didn't do too bad at home, he got frustrated a couple of times.  He would go from bottle, diaper and back again if it didn't stop crying.  So I would take him and just bounce him and he would stop crying.  He was not impressed that I could get him to stop crying.

I posted on face book about it and had a really good laugh.  Dex is wishing he would have taken the essay instead.  I told him babies were work.  He just does not like to stop doing what he wants to do because he starts crying.

I have tried to upload the video I took at Nick's Christmas concert but it won't work so I will have to put it on a CD and send it out.

Last Thursday we get a call that Nick's hockey jacket and toque was in so we go over to Ron's (Brody's Dad) and had Nick come but didn't tell him where we were going.  They are really nice jackets.  I don't think Nick has taken it off either.

Work is going good.  Last week was really nice but this week has been a bit colder.  We got a little snow but it will be gone because the sun is shinning.  We don't even have our tree up yet.  Dexter hates it up before his birthday so we wait and then we had hockey and Christmas concerts, after school stuff and we just have not had the time.  Nobody has even said anything either.  Maybe we will just skip it.  If there was snow outside that would make it seem like Christmas but we don't have any.  Funny how that goes together.





Hockey, work

Things have been so crazy here.  We have been crazy with hockey games and practises.  Nick's team have had some hard games, they have played good and stuck together.  Nick had a game which he saved 34 shots.  The game got ruff and Nick stood his ground and pushed some kids out of his way.  I had to leave and walk around the rink.  The kids from the other team had hurt two of our players and never got called for it, they were taking cheap shots  at our kids and by the third period were taking there sticks and whacking Nick with them.  I get it that he will get some sticks on him but not like this.  You can barely see Nick behind the player in front of.

Last week as I was meeting the kids after school I was talking to my friend who is the crossing guard asked me if I would like a job I said sure you are not leaving are you? She said no but she had to have surgery.  So I am filling in for her.  A day or two later she asked me if I wanted a full time job.  I said you bet, the other crossing guard is moving so I can take her spot.  I am excited about it. I start full time in January. I work 3.15 hours a day and it is only 5 minutes from my house.  It will give me some extra cash, not a whole ton but more than I have right now.  It will defiantly help out having some extra money.  So I have worked a couple of days already and it is fun to see the kids, I have already got almost hit by a car so it is all good.  The stupid idiot was turning right where I was stopping cars.  I put my sign out and looked right at him, he stopped then I went out into the road and the guy pulled out and went right by me.  I am glad it was not a kid that was crossing, it was a military guy who stopped.  He was not impressed either. 

Nick had his Christmas concert and I took the video camera to film his class.  Part of his song was in french.  It was fun to watch.  I will upload it then put it on.  Sorry not a very good picture it was really dark in there.  Nick is wearing a white shirt in the middle row he is looking at the camera. I hope the video works.

Dex had his birthday we had Chinese food and he had a muffin for his birthday cake.  He didn't want a cake or ice cream (that was weird and Dana was not happy about it at all) so I put a candle in a muffin and we sang to him.





Dex also had to make the brownie cookies again.  I hope for the last time.  He said his exit project went good and he got a good mark so that is good.

Well I have to get ready for work and it is snowing out, oh goody standing in the snow what fun.

Colds, Hockey and scrapbooking

The winter cold has been at our house, we have all except Dexter (so far) had a cough, Dana and Nick were home from school and one of the days we got some snow and Nick was mad because he was sick and could not go out and play in it.

We have been super busy with Hockey and hockey related things.  Last saturday Nick's team had a bottle drive then a hockey game.  We all met at 8:30am and then headed out in trucks.  It was a slow start but in the end we almost made $600.  The kids split up into groups and Riley, Brock and Nick went together.

After the bottle drive the kids had their hockey game against the #1 ranked team in their division.  I was worried about the game and thinking it would be bad.  But the team played good and Nick was awesome in net. Our team was really good in the first period but then by the third had given up or was tired.  We do have a good team but our defence really needs to pull up there socks.  He saved some pretty wicked shots.  We lost 6 to 1.  After the game I had a couple of the parents from the other team tell me how good Nick was.  One of the parents said that if Nick was their goalie they would be unstoppable.  There team is really good because they have good defence, there goalie is good but Nick is way better.  It was good to hear the good things from other people about Nick.

Paul also had a hockey game so after Nick's game we went over to watch Paul play hockey.  Wow what a game that was. Pushing and shoving.  Paul almost scored two goals too.  Then after Paul's game was another military game so Nick wanted to stay and watch that too.   Nothing like staying at the rink all day and getting nothing done at home.

A bit ago I started working on a little project and got it finished today.  I took a book I got at the dollar store and painted the edges and glued pattern paper on the front and back.

I made these cards and scrapbook pages at Club.

Paul home

Paul got home Saturday afternoon while Nick and I were at hockey. He was tired and has a bit of a cold and is glad to be home.  He took the camera and got some photo's but I need to find out what ones I can post first.

Friday night Dana had a youth group sleep over.  I didn't want her to go because I am not fond of sleep overs but she wanted to go and some of her friends were going too.  Dana does not get to do much so off she went.  I dropped her and Rebecca off and went and picked them up at 7am.  They said they had so much fun and stayed up the whole night.  We got home and they started playing.  I thought they would go to bed.  Nick and I got ready for hockey and we left at 8:30 and they were still up playing.

When Nick and I got home from the hockey game at 3:30pm they were sleeping.  At 5:00  I was trying to wake them up and Rebecca said how did I get here? I was just telling her about the sleep over when her mom called and Rebecca started to say I am sorry mom I feel asleep, she was confused about what day it was.  She thought it was Sunday.  She gets off the phone and we had a laugh.  She was confused and still half asleep.

The game on Saturday was good.  The kids all played hard and worked together as a team.  Nick almost got a shut out but they scored with 22 seconds left in the game.  The score was 7 to 1.  It was a nice arena, not an old freezing building that most of them are.  We went a different way home and got to see the Heartland covered bridge.  That was cool. This video is from a bit ago during a warm up.

Sunday's game was a hard one.  The kids played good but the other team was stronger and we lost.  We were also missing two of our defence players, one was sick and the other one was in Boston for that game.  So we should do better the next time we play them.  Brock was awesome in net made some really good saves.  Best of luck to the team for the next time we play them.

Dexter was gone the whole weekend to his friends house.  So this morning he didn't want to get up.  He wanted to stay home and sleep because he didn't do to much sleeping all weekend.  Too bad that is not a good enough reason to stay home.  So he was mad that I made him get up and go to school.

I am going to try and get my Christmas presents finished this week and get them mailed off before the rush sets in.  I love how they turned out and can't wait to post them.

Sick kids, first snow fall

Before Hockey practice Nick put more tape on the end of his goalie stick.

Monday for practice I took my camera and got some pictures of Nick and his buddies.  He was not impressed but his friends didn't care. Mitchel, Brock, Nick and Brody.

When practice was over Nick was so tired he said that his arms were sore.  The coaches made all the players do push ups and Nick said it was hard to do with all his gear on.  It was funny because some of the kids could not do them at all.  Nick and Brock did awesome (the two goalies) they were very entertaining, I love that the two of them get along and work together.  By the time we got home both Nick and I were very cold and Nick said that his throat hurt, so I ran down to the store to get some orange juice (I was all out).

Tuesday morning both Dana and Nick were sick.  Nick said if he moved he would throw up and Dana coughed so much that she threw up so they both stayed home.  Nick didn't even wake up till 12:30pm.  They just wanted soup for lunch then Nick just layed on the sofa and dozed off.  Dana sat in the blue chair with a blanket.

Wednesday we had our first snow storm.  Dana and Nick were home again, Dex went to school but was home by noon because of the snow.  Nick and Dana were upset because they were too sick to go outside and play in the snow, Sasha and Gabby loved going outside in the snow.

Both Dana and Nick tried to stay home again today, I told Nick if he didn't go to school today there would be no hockey game for him on Saturday, and I told Dana she had to go today too.  I hope they make it the whole day I am sure they will.  Tonight I have parent teacher interviews with Nick's teacher and next Monday's is Dana's.

Paul has been in the field this month and is supposed to be home on Friday.  I wonder how much snow they got out there on Wednesday.



Hockey, kids

What a busy busy weekend.  I had my scrapbook club and Nick had two hockey games this weekend.  It was so good to go to club again and make cards and scrapbook pages.  I forgot to take a picture of what I did.  It was very fun and we laughed a lot.  We have a good time while we are creating.

Nick was in net for the first game and did an awesome job.  We won 11 to 3.  The longer the game went on the dirtier the other players got.  The goalie from the other team even went after one of our players after he scored his goal.  In the third period one of the Chipman players checked Nathan (which they are NOT allowed to do) and he didn't even have the puck.  He got sent out of the rink. 

So the next day we were playing the same team at their rink.  We were all pretty nervous about how that was going to be.  We still won 6 to 3 and it got messy and the ref made some bad calls.  We got 4 penalty's against us (a couple of them should have been the other team but we got them) and they only got one.  They should have gotten more.  Oh well our players did a fantastic job and worked hard.  Because we have two goalies they play a whole game then the next game the other goalie will be in net.  So Nick was the door man, he does a good job and tells his team mates that they are doing a good job and when Brock (our other goalie) comes over to the bench they talk to each other.  It is good to see the two goalies getting along so good.  I am going to try and get a photo of the two of them.

Nick thought it would be fun to hand cuff Sasha, Sasha just watched him do it then would move her paw and if would fall off.  Then Nick did her back feet, and one foot to her tail.  The poor dog, Sasha is such a good natured dog that she just puts up with what ever crazy thing Nick does to her.  Nick loves to play hockey with her too.  Sasha is fun to watch and when she gets the ball she will turn away from Nick, but she is good to hand over the ball when he says drop it.  He usually plays with two balls.

The other day it had snowed a bit, just to cover the ground and then when the sun came out and was melting Sasha and Gabby were having fun trying to catch the drops of water.  It was funny to watch them.

This morning when I opened the freezer door to get out Nick's water bottle this is what I saw.  You know you have a hockey player in the house when...........Hockey tape formed into balls and frozen.



busy days

It has been super crazy around here, some things I will talk about and others I will not.  The kids are doing good.  Dana has a bit of a cold and at night her nose gets all stuffed up so she does not sleep too well.

The workers came to check the furnace and hot water tank and the guy told me to turn on the furnace so it would kick on and he would check it.  Well he left and my furnace was blowing cold air.  Thank goodness I don't need it yet.

Last wed I called Dana's school to let them know that she was stressed out with all the work she had to do.  Then I went to Nick's school to do hot lunch and while I was there the guidance councillor called and said that it was all Dana's fault for being stressed.  What are you kidding me.  I was not impressed at all by her comments.  I said that Dana has projects and homework due and she is stressed.  She then told me that Dana gets extra time, I said that is great but she and I do not know when that is, I said a communication book would be very helpful to let me know what is going on.  She said oh that is a wonderful idea.  (I had been telling them that it would be very helpful for me then I would know what was going on but they didn't want to do it) Gee after a year and half it is now a good idea?

Then a bit later I got another phone call telling me that Dana had to have her hair combed by Monday.  I said fine her hair does need to be combed but some mornings it is not a battle I want to start.  I said her head is so sensitive that if I get her to comb her hair she has a headache and puts her in a super bad mood.  There are more important things to get her to do in the morning, getting to school on time, brushing her teeth, putting clean clothes on.  I am getting very frustrated by these TA's and guidance councillors who say they are specialist in the field of Autism but really have NO idea about it.

So last weekend the kids had Thursday, Friday and then sat and sun off we spent all 4 days combing Dana's hair.  There were tons and tons of tears from Dana and myself and the boys helped out by playing with her so I could comb her hair.  NOT a fun long weekend at all.  But in the end her hair was finished.  She had named her hair tangles Big Joe and Little Joe.  (she is not happy with me for taking her picture either)

Dexter had some projects to do also.  So last week he had to get them finished.  A couple of them he did then I typed them for him.  Another project was his brownie cookies.  So one day we made the brownie cookies and he did his poster board.

Nick had some french home work due and I had no idea so we went to visit Cate and James for some help.  Cate gave Dex a wonderful idea for his project on how to present his brownie cookies.  Nick got his homework done and we had a fun visit.  Dex hung out with Jordie who goes to school with Dex.  So the night of the market we were all ready to go.  Dex and I worked together on putting the brownie cookies in the baggies and wrapping the ribbon around them. 

 Dana was very excited to go help Dex and Nick had fun playing hide and go seek with his friend at the school.  I was very happy to say that he did not get lost.  (They each had a map of the school)

Any time someone came and took a brownie cookie Dana would fill up the plate.  I was impressed with both Dana and Dex, Dana for helping Dex and talking to people that stopped by and also for watching the booth right by Dex if he had to go anywhere.  Dexter did a great job on his project he put a lot of work into it.  He had to come up with a business plan, make the brownie cookies and poster board.  Then go to the market with his project.  Awesome job.  He was happy when it was over.

Yesterday Dana got to go to St. John Aquatic center for a Praise Day.  She was so excited to go and she definitely deserved it.  She works so hard in school.

Over the weekend Nick decided that he wanted to paint his car so he had fun doing that.  Funny boy.  His team had a game last Saturday and the other goalie was in net for the whole time so this Saturday is Nick turn in net for the whole game.  He is super excited, I just hope that his team remembers to play there positions and the game goes good.



Dex and I went out side and got the leaves all raked up.  The day before Nick was outside raking the leaves into piles he did a good job too.  We had the dogs outside for a while with us but they got so excited and were barking at the leaves and the rake.  We got the leaves in the piles then I take the bag stand on the two edges and fill the bag.  Dex and I have a good system and it didn't take us long.  Then the next day it rained and rained, so glad that was done.