Happy Halloween!

Normally, I am not a big fan of Halloween. Ever since the boys were really small, Halloween always meant rushing home from work, getting stuck in traffic because everyone else was also rushing home from work, having someone suddenly not like their costume anymore, having to find last minute costume replacements, having to fight with boys because they never wanted to cover up their costumes with jackets... even when it was snowing, having 1/3 boys decide that they had enough trick or treating RIGHT NOW and having to put very sugar high boys to bed because there was ALWAYS school the next day. This scenario does not include the fighting over who had which candies and who got the best stash ;) In other words, Halloween was always wine-worthy when the boys were finally asleep ;) Ah! The good old days ;)

This year, surprise surprise, Halloween is happening but only within our house... movies have been planned and candies have been purchased. The sugar rush will still happen but 2020 style... and it will still be wine worthy ;)

Happy Halloween!

 

First day of school in 2020.... the Alexander edition

This photo captures the ever-elusive and picture-hating grade 11 student in front of his habitat, and only standing still for a matter of seconds before jumping on his bike to head to school with his friend. Yes, Alexander started his final year of high school today. Wow- I can still remember his first day of kindergarten: since he is born in November, he should have been held back a year but our stubborn and fearless eldest son insisted on going to school at the same time as his friends. Andreas and I left it to the professionals who agreed that he was ready to go to school early**. So, off he went to his first day of kindergarten... We got there early so Alexander ended up being first in line, only to be joined by a boy who was (no joke) a good foot taller than him. I almost cried, thinking that we made the biggest mistake by letting our younger-than-the-rest-of-the-class son go to kindergarten early. Thankfully, when the other kids started arriving, we realized that boy was a good foot taller than almost everyone 😉 and, since he remains one of Alexander's best friends, I can say that he still sticks out in the crowd 😉 

Wishing Alexander and the rest of the class of 2021 a very happy COVID-19 graduating year... 

**In Quebec, the cutoff for each school year is September 30, so all children born after that date start school in the following year. Since Alexander is born in November 2004, he should have started school with the kids born in 2005 instead. Confusing, I know.

First day of school in 2020.... the me edition

 Here we go..... 😉

Yes, I did some online teaching when we shut down in March but, now, it is the real thing. All undergraduate classes are online for this semester but I still have to go in to work with my Master's and PhD students face to face. Honestly, as much as I like the challenge and variation of online teaching, I find it hard to connect with the students, especially when I have a large class and have to scroll page by page to see what is going on. I enjoy the eye to eye contact and the spontaneous communication/discussion. Now, it feels much more "organized" to ask a question (ie: clicking on the raise hand icon/using chat or trying to find who just said something), which can be a bit intimidating for the students. Also, they are not obliged to put their video on so, sometimes, teaching to a bunch of black boxes feels like talking to my kids when they are watching Youtube videos on their phone (ie: no interaction 😉). Plus, I had to change all my evaluation methods to suit online delivery... hope it all works out!

Anyway, we are back and I am looking forward to some sort of routine. I missed my job and those I work with. Keeping fingers crossed that my internet remains somewhat stable and I don't provide any entertaining background adventures for my students 😉

xox

First day of school in 2020... the Oliver edition

Today was Oliver's first day of school. Grade 5... wow! Nicka starts tomorrow and Alexander goes back by the end of the week. Honestly, I am still caught off guard with this whole return to school. Everything seems rushed... heck, I usually have everything labelled and organized a few days before their return (what can I say? I am a school supply geek). I found myself rushing last night to put Oliver's name on all his school supplies. No new shoes. A kind of wrinkly t-shirt. Just remembered to get him to wash his hair last night. It is, however, not only me being unorganized... it is the whole situation. Don't get me wrong... I am not blaming his school or teachers. Far from it... they get extra kudos from me. By rushed, I mean that we just literally went from shut everything down-pandemic-stay home-self isolate-how many people died today-how many people caught coronavirus today-daily press meetings to a sudden opening of everything. It seems rushed. Everything seems too rushed. This summer just sped by without any sort of transition or easing in process. Maybe it is just me? Not too sure. Before leaving home this morning, he chose his mask for the day (with a back up carefully packed) and I reminded him about the extra hand sanitizer in his bag. Andreas reminded him about keeping distance and to wash his hands regularly. Welcome to 2020.

Anyway, was Oliver happy to go back? His words say no but his face upon seeing his friends this morning said otherwise. 

Dear 2020

Dear 2020,

Why did you end up being so weird? On January 1st, you were so promising... I had such hope. Since then it has been all down hill. First, some strange illness appeared in China.... then the US and Iran started a face off.... then there was a plane crash in Iran (hmmmm? Co-incidence?) that killed almost 200 innocent people... then it turns out that someone had shot that plane down  (Not so co-incidence)... then that strange illness in China (now known as Coronavirus) started to kill a lot of people... then we our roof leaked (compared to everything else it was no big deal but a pain in the butt anyway), the helicopter crash that killed 9 people and changed the face of basketball, escalations in Syria (again 😢) and then the Coronavirus spread... and spread... and spread to pandemic proportions. Now borders are closing, the airline industry is tanking, countries are quarantining their populations... and I couldn't even go on my much looked forward trip to England and Amsterdam (PS: I was supposed to leave today) 😑 Instead, I have 3 boys (actually 4) who are bored already and fighting 😒 and I just came back from Costco in anticipation of the snacks that bored teenagers will be eating 😉

Now, 2020, I keep waiting for you to say "Just kidding" and have everything return to normal. We would all get a good chuckle and continue on our regular daily lives. Thing is... I don't think that will be happening any time soon. Good thing that my Costco shopping trip included wine... a few bottles 😉

Let's get it together now, 2020. It is only March. You still have time to make it up to us. We'll give you a bit more time to pull yourself together and then it better be filled with glitter and unicorns... and more wine 😉

Totally sold out of toilet paper,,, now people were going for paper towels ;)

Yes, this was the line up for the cashes... all the way to the back of the store!

Funny... this is not far from my usual Costco haul ;)

Happy New Year!

The new year started slowly... we got a late start, lots of coffee (for the adults... thankfully not the kids.... they totally don't need it 😉) and some outside time. Andreas and I went for a walk and then came home to have a snowball fight with the boys. Since I gave my gloves to Oliver who had misplaced his, I was an easy target... and someone had to take some pictures 😉 Despite the snow, it has been quite warm so it is not too bad to be outside so not too many complaints from over here 😉

Hope you all had a slow start to 2020. Happy New Year xox

Last hours of 2019

In these last few hours of 2019, I am reminded of all that I am thankful for from this past year: my beautiful boys, my always entertaining husband, the family I knew, the family I am getting to know, my beautiful friends that I see on a regular basis, my beautiful friends that I don't often see but think of regularly, the opportunities that I have been lucky to have taken up and the opportunities that I have been offered but had to decline.

I am also thankful for being able to share my day to day with you all. See you in 2020! 😘❤