Bus Tour of Yellowknife

On the last weekend in September, in between Eli's two back-to-back work trips, we took the girls and Papa on a bus tour around Yellowknife with another family we've met two ways...

The two men of the families work together, and their son, Mr. A, and our Miss A were in the same preschool together last year, and now I teach Mr. A!

The girls were PUMPED about the bus tour.

As children of a teacher, the girls don't get to take a bus to school, and so, of course, they covet the school bus.

This bus tour was on a school bus, which was perfectly fine with them!

Mr. A and Miss A loved giggling and playing together and bouncing from seat to seat whenever they had a chance.

Autumn Craftiness

Autumn brings out the craftiness in us.

It also brings out snowsuits and parkas... back to the front closet. 

They are there.

The girls had them on the other day.

Today, it snowed, and the kids in school were pumped, but it melted before recess... Our days are, quite literally, numbered.

Actually, we are pretty crafty any time of year, but the autumn here is cold and grey, so crafting it up inside is always fun.

Now, the girls have a pretty good base on crafting, so now they usually come up with the ideas based on things we have in our craft drawers or that we find in our outing to the store (Walmart... we work with what we've got, and Walmart has great craft ideas!).

How Gramma Got Her Groove Back

Gramma's got a new hip!

This was another big event happening in Yellowknife within the past two weeks.

Gramma got a new hip on September 25th.  Eli was out of town for work, and so was John.  I was happily able to go to the pre-surgery appointments with Gramma (to be an extra set of ears), but could not come to the hospital for the surgery itself.  Luckily, her pastor's wife, Lisa, was able to bring her to the hospital, and I was able to stop by the hospital several times that week.

Here is are some excerpts from the family email I sent out following the surgery:

Miss G's Great Race

Holy Busy, Batman... 

Eli has been away for the past two weeks, with one day and two nights in the middle at home, which really just messed up any sense of irregular regularity I managed to establish.

The girls have been busy with school.

Autumn Family Pictures

I've been slacking... clearly...

I have no really good reason not to have updated the blog.

You know, except for having a full-time job, and being a full-time mom, and a full-time wifey, and a full-time Shannon...

Oh, I've played around with the layout of the blog a bit, too... it's more like a magazine, and you click on the story to read more.

I like it because I can scroll down on the main page and see the posts with a picture each.

Speaking of pictures, this has been a picture perfect day.

Not a cloud in the sky, beautiful and warm...

Squeezing the Last Bit Out of Summer

We are approaching the end of our second week of school, and it has been eventful, let me tell you.

Lovely, in almost every way.

Except for my cell phone being stolen. 

Oh, and I confronted the thief (who was in my classroom), but didn't realize he had stolen my phone until after he'd bolted from the school.  Nice.  Classy.

I tell ya, Pumba, if I weren't the size I am I would have pummelled the guy.

Now, on to the whole point of this blog post... summer is slipping away.

It's true in every way.

We are losing a steady 6 minutes of precious daylight every day now.

Three whole hours will be gone in a month.  Six hours in two months... 9 hours in... oh, forget it, the stats are bumming me out.

The temperatures have dropped.  But, nothing negative.  Yet.

The leaves are DEFINITELY changing.

And, we have toques by our front door for the morning air.

Last year, I wrote about Autumn in August, and it is just oh-so-true.

We'll have snow on the ground in about a month.

And, by the end of October, Eli might try to get in one more boating trip, and find the lake frozen, just like last year. 

(Don't worry, he has a boating trip planned for later this month!)

The girls and I are more prepared for the winter this time around, but I must admit that I cringe when I see "normal" daylight hours whip past me in a month, and lead into... "The Dark."

Miss G knows how to take advantage of the last days of summer...

A picnic!!

Sharing Mrs. F with Miss A

Miss A is an official Kinder.

This means that she has Miss G's favourite Kindergarten teacher (from last year), Mrs. F all to herself (so to speak) this school year!

Last week, I was busy doing the Kindergarten teacher thing, and Miss A was doing the Kindergarten student thing, which was pretty special.

So, last week, Miss A and Daddy came in for Kindergarten interviews, which is a chance for the parents and child to meet the Kindergarten teacher in a one-on-one visit before school really kicks into gear.

 I came down the hall to meet them for our interview time, and this is what I saw...