Photography Tuesday

This week my challenge was to use the black and white setting on the camera. I've never actually done this before! I think I can remember how to set it up for next time and it was fun to see the differences in the color and B&W shots. Buddy was looking for attention so he was my main subject!

My garden is coming up!! I'm not much of a grower but this year I'm trying hard!! I like the texture of the soil in these photos of the radishes. The colored one reminds me of those pictures where they tint one section of the photo. Hopefully I can keep ahead of the weeds!!!

I'd love to see what you can do using the B&W setting on your camera!

Stanley's Coming Home!!!

We're 3/4 of the way there!! The Cup's coming home in just a few more games!! Oil Fever is building and the team just keeps getting better and better. Contrary to what you may have seen on TV, not all fans are breaking windows and getting arrested. Lots of us are watching TV, cheering and then going on with our lives until the next game. But we are loving every minute of this run and hopefully we'll get the big one. Thanks to all those players who are working so hard and with tons of teamwork - you guys are the best!!

Our apologies to those of you who live outside the country - we know you aren't getting all the news and replays that Canadians are. Sorry!!! Check www.edmontonoilers/com for more pictures! And it's good to have the folks from down south (you know, the big "C" country) joining us in cheering now!!

Baby Shower

This is our good friend Kim and her daughter, Rebecca, who is going to be a mom in September! Kim hosted a baby shower at Sorrentino's this afternoon and we had a great time together. Apparently it's an East coast custom to host a shower before the baby comes and a Western thing to have the shower after the baby comes. Kim's from the Rhode Island/Maine area so we celebrated Eastern style today! Rebecca just found out yesterday that she's going to have a baby girl (she had a 3-D ultrasound, which sounded fascinating) and she's even got it narrowed down to just 2 names already. Is there ever cool baby stuff out there these days! She's registered at
Toys R Us - which I didn't even know you could do! This baby was showered with beautiful clothes (but no dresses because the guests didn't know it was a girl until we arrived!), blankets, toys, books, dishes, bottles, shoes, a medical kit and many baby washcloths (I think every gift had some).

I'm looking forward to going to baby showers for Naomi and Heather, according to Western traditions - in a few months!

He's So Cute!!

Isn't he just so sweet!!!!

This little guy came to us from Bob's cousin and his 2 little girls about 10 weeks ago. We named him "Buddy" (instead of Tubby - the original name that Kendra and Yvonne had given him!) and he's become such a good friend to both of us. He greets us enthusiastically all the time and is willing to go wherever we do. He loves to ride on the back of the quads and even gets in the tractor cab when Bob is feeding cows. It really is true about a dog being a man's (and a woman's!) best friend!!

I'm so glad we got him! We've been without a dog for a couple of years (we were on the go so much that it wasn't fair to a dog) and I truly missed the greetings when I came home after school every night. And a farm really isn't a farm if you don't have a dog - in my mind anyway!!

Did you ever see a better pose??!!

Real Live Science - Thursdays at School

It's been an exciting week for the grade 3's!! The 12 chicken eggs and 2 bantam eggs we set in the incubator on May 3rd were supposed to hatch this week. And we were a little bit successful! Tuesday morning there was 1 fluffy yellow chick waiting for us. During the day we watched another egg go from a tiny crack to a hole where we could see feathers moving. But it wasn't until the kids were long gone, when finally at 4:30 , the 2nd egg hatched. Another egg seemed to have cheeping sounds coming from it today and by the end of the day a crack was appearing in it. Hopefully we'll have a 3rd friend tomorrow morning. I was going to send them to a good farm tomorrow but everyone's enjoying them so much that I may need to bring them home for the weekend and take them back to school on Monday. I'd like the kids to see them grow and start to develop a bit more. But it's a hassle to haul everyone and everything home and then back again on Monday. Have to consider that a bit more before the end of the day tomorrow. It's so amazing to watch their excitement as they get to hold the baby chicks - town kids miss the cycle of life that happens on a farm.

A major project that our staffl has been working on this year is to develop a mission statement, vision and goals. We've done alot of soul searching, stepping outside of the box and imagining 'what if' with the guidance of a facilitator. Today we tried to put some things down in a concrete way. It's been challenging but also affirming and positive to plan in this way.

Tomorrow is Friday!! Spelling test, reader's theatre, calculating area, classifying animals, badminton and art are on the agenda. All is well in grade 3 but there's only 1 month left in our year!!

And I just have to say how awesome it is to work in our building. This picture shows the main entrance with the afternoon sun shining in through the windows. (Love those shadows and angles!)

Creative Stuff

In the last few days, I've done a few scrapbooking projects!! Yeah!!! The first one was done for a circle journal on Girlfriends. Thanks to my friend Audrey, who is the bride in the picture, for loaning me the photo. The title block in the RH corner is actually a miniature clipboard!

I also did a layout for a challenge on the Scraptivity board. Kerry sent me 5 products and I had to use them all on a layout. 5 scrapping artists are chosen to use the same products each month and then post their work. This LO shows me with Donna Downey at a SB convention in April and the quote on the twill tape at the top was one she shared with us. She is SO nice and a ton of fun!! The 5 products were a chipboard coaster (the round circle - I covered it!), flowers, photo corners, buttons and twill tape. Papers are Basic Grey "Color Me Silly".

I have 2 more pages still under construction and I did some work on my "encyclopedia of me", which is lots of fun. I'll share when I have it finished!

Photography Tuesday

I'm creating a challenge for myself - and everyone else out there who wants to join me! Every week on Tuesday, I'm going to post a picture or two that I've taken using a new (to me) setting on my camera. This is a spinoff from Heather's blog and the challenge that Melissa gave her on the weekend. Thanks for sharing a great idea!

On the weekend, Heather and I tried the AV setting on our cameras to adjust the aperture. Our goal was to get pictures with a clear focal point and a blurred background. You know - that cool effect you see on really great photos?! My attempts on Saturday weren't successful but last night I got it to work!! I love how the bleeding hearts look. Hopefully I can repeat it again another time and yes, I'll need to keep the manual - or Heather! - handy so I can reset the camera.

The picture of the lilac bush is just to show you how full it is this year.

Let's see what you can do for "Photography Tuesdays!"

Busy Day

But I got alot accomplished!!

- the garden is all planted! Potatoes last week and vegetables last night and today. Now to keep ahead of the weeds - wish me luck! I still need to clean out the raspberries.

- did lots of laundry, now that my dryer is fixed again. Thanks, Dear Hubby!

- had a chance to work in my scrapbook studio - yeah!!! Finished a circle journal entry about girlfriends, created a layout about the scrapbook convention I was at, and did some entries in my "Encyclopedia". I love this online class that I am taking - I'll share some things from it soon.

- made rhubarb muffins and a rhubarb upside down cake, which is very yummy with whipped cream!

- took minerals out to the pasture for the cows and toured around on the quad with Buddy. It was a beautiful day but the forecast is for rain this week. The crops will definitely benefit from a good soak.

- still have the dishes to wash and some thoughts to collect about school tomorrow.

What a relaxing and refreshing weekend this has been! I think I need these on a regular basis!!!

Long Weekends. . .

are the best!!!

- Friday was a PD day(learnt more about online collaboration(blogging!) and daily physical activity.

- Oilers won their first game (2 -1 ) vs the Ducks.

- Darrin and Kelsey are home - we did a little quadding today. Kelsey helped me with my flowerpots but we need more soil and 2 more pots before we can finish.

- Heather came for a visit yesterday and we did a greenhouse tour. Bought some great herbs! She took 2 big pots home for her yard and I have 2 big pots here.

- BBQ for supper last night included pork chops, chicken breasts, grilled veggies and tomato/basil/cheese stacks for appetizers. Dessert was strawberry shortcake. It was good!!

- Now I have some vegetables to plant in the garden - hopefully after supper tonight.

It's been a very productive but relaxing and fun weekend! Hope yours has been great too!!

Thursdays from School

I've decided that I will take Thursdays each week to share about my job and teaching. That way it won't consume my blogs and I'll have really good stuff to tell you!

This week my grade 3 students wrote round one, math basic facts and story writing, of the provincial achievement tests. They have worked really hard and made lots of progress this year so I am pretty proud of them. Of course, just like adults, some of them did awesome and some of them didn't quite meet my expectations. The best part? Reading some interesting and original stories about a huge golden egg - and the fact that we are finished until the next round in June!! Don't they look serious and industrious in this picture? I love their efforts! They really are great kids.

We moved into a brand new building in September and of course the outside work isn't all done yet. For example, we go across the street to play on the highschool grounds. The street has been closed for the last 2 weeks and yesterday they started paving it!! This is a huge improvement and hopefully they will be finished by the time we return from the long weekend. Now if we could get the landscaping done and the playground installed!

Only 30 more days of school, I think! Man, the year goes by quickly - which is a good thing, I guess!!!

Flowers

It really is spring! There are flowers blooming everywhere which makes this a beautiful time of year. Jerry trimmed our apple trees on the weekend and they are FULL of beautiful blossoms this weekend. I took this picture after 9 p.m. - I love the beautiful blue sky in the background!

My sunny yellow buttercups (really marsh marigolds, I guess!) are still going strong after 4 days in the house. Usually they fade fast but Bob brought water from the marsh with them which they love. The +30 degree temperatures we had today will sap them I'm afraid.

And the lilacs are full of buds that are just starting to open. They smell gorgeous, especially when you are outside in the dark. I love the dark of this picture - I turned the flash off. I bought a National Geographic magazine "Digital Pictures" so I'm experimenting with my camera. I think I'm getting to be a better photographer. It only too 48 shots to get these 3 which are the best of the bunch!!

Hope the flowers are blooming and it's a beautiful day wherever YOU are!!

Mother's Day Pictures

Hopefully I can show you some pictures of the great chef we had for lunch!

Mother's Day

I know it's a little late but I really did try to post last night. I had an entry all typed up and then I lost the whole thing! By that time it was way past bedtime so I abandoned the project. let me try again!

First thing on Sunday morning, Melinda phoned from Taiwan to wish me a happy day. I miss that girl!! Less than 2 months until we go there and we get to spend 3 weeks together. I got an envelope last week that had beautiful pictures of them on some of their adventures like elephant riding. I'm bringing them to school to show the kids tomorrow.

For Mother's Day, Naomi and Jerry had us over to their house at the lake for lunch after church. Naomi barbecued pork shishkebabs and grilled vegetables - they were so yummy!! They gave me a beautiful Willow Tree figurine called "Grandmother"! It's a woman holding a baby up in front of her and it's a perfect symbol of the new adventure of being a grandparent. Thanks so much!

Then I cooked supper and took it over to my mom and dad's. My mom had back surgery 2 weeks ago and she's recovering very well. After supper we watched the hockey game (love those Oilers - 6 - 3 over San Jose' - again!), dug out an apple tree to take home to our garden, and I did some cleaning for Mom. Dad teased me about cleaning during the hockey game and I told him I definitely wouldn't be doing that at home! It was fun to spend the evening with them - we should do that more often, I know.

Heather and Darrin both called too. So over the course of 2 days I got to talk to everyone!

And Bob brought me a beautiful big bouquet of yellow buttercups! That's a Mother's Day tradition that he and the kids started many years ago. They are gracing our kitchen table and I'm going to do a scrapbook layout about that tradition. That was my "life artist moment" for the weekend!!

I Made It - and so did the Oilers tonight!

Finally I have entered the land of blogging!!! After reading Melinda and Tyler's, Heather's and lots of other great blogs, I think they are a fabulous way of staying in touch with the day to day events of people. Blogs seem to be a perfect way of celebrating life and the moments along that way that connect us and make life memorable. So I hope I will be able to share some of the excitement, committments and celebrations of our life with you here. Thank you for joining me on my journey!! I hope we will travel together often.

Tonight it's all about the Edmonton Oilers and the NHL playoffs!!!! Go, Oil, Go!! In the fourth game of the series, they were all over the San Jose' Sharks to win the game 6 - 3. This is after losing the first 2 games in the series and then winning game 3 in triple overtime. It kind of makes me wish we had gotten playoff tickets but that's a whole other kind of committment. So we will watch on TV and participate in Oiler fever. Darrin got tickets for tonight's game from a salesman at work - how lucky is he - I want his job!!!! So he's in Edmonton for the evening. The capital city will be rockin' tonight. Now keep your fingers crossed for game 5 back in San Jose' on Sunday night. We'll be in front of the TV!!