Author Archives: Heather

School notes

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The temperatures have climbed a little since I last wrote.  It’s amazing how -10°C can seem so warm after a few days of -20°C!  We did not go skiing last week due to the temperatures, but everything else in our routine is happening again.  I think it is getting a little easier to get up in the mornings too.

Group of Four has met twice, first for a morning of snow fort building and tobogganing and then last Friday for the first lesson in our Stock Market unit.  We began with a game of Stock Ticker, actually two games running at the same time in the hope that each stock market would act differently.  It was a great way to start as the children really didn’t know much at all about the topic at the beginning.  After a brief introduction we played the game, which they really enjoyed, getting more involved the more they played.  It was interesting to watch the different approaches,  I was banker for one game and all four players were very cautious investers,  they didn’t buy when stock prices were low, in fear that they  would just go lower.    The winner by a large margin was one of the mothers who only  bought low and sold any time those stocks rose even a little.

After the game was finished we were able to explain many more terms as we now  had some “experience” to refer to.  We hope to be able to   play  a game using actual companies on an actual Stock Exchange, but we haven’t found one totally suitable for our purposes yet.

Last Sunday we attended the award ceremony for the gingerbread houses.  A12’s group won, with L 14’s group coming second.  When the gingerbread houses were picked up   yesterday they were found to be very fragile as well as  dusty and dried out;  I don’t thing there will be any eating of the wreckage this year.

L14 is putting in a lot of practice  at present as she is taking her Grade 8 violin exam on Friday.  She has been working towards this for months and will be very relieved when it is over.

The Bleak Midwinter

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Canadians do like to talk about the weather and I can see why.   It is currently bleak.   We have several days this week where the temperature will not rise above -20°C and will drop to around -30°C each night.  Today we were warned that with the windchill the temperature was -39°C!   I tried to head out for a swim this morning but the it took  such a long time for the car to warm up (so the windows would defrost) I gave up.  I did head out at lunch time after running the car for 15 minutes first.   As soon as I stepped outside after my swim my damp hair froze stiff.  I still find this amusing even after eight winters.

Most of our Christmas decorations are now packed away, as the tree will be put out for collection tonight.  The wreaths on the front door and over the fire place will stay as long as they can survive.  And the candles will continue to light our table and rooms until the daylight lasts much longer.   The Christmas cards are not yet put away. The children and I reach for one each in the mornings when we have our devotions time.  Each day we pray for one of the families or friends who sent us cards, a practice I started a few years back after reading the idea somewhere.  I like to look at them a little longer and call to mind the dear friends who sent them.

The winter package

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For  twelve days over Christmas  we  had friends visiting from Sydney, Australia.  We have known them since 1997 when we lived in Wollongong for a year.  They have three children, very close in age to our children and we had a ball.  So much so that there was not time to write about it on the blog, just time to enjoy it in real life.   When we have visitors there are certain things we like to do with them and places we like to take them.  If they are from Australia, and if they are here in winter, there are a few activities which are a “must”.

Thankfully the weather was all it needed to be.  We had a white Christmas, which we were all   hoping for.  The skating rink at the end of our street was in great shape and, towards the end of their stay, 2 km of the canal opened so our friends experienced some hockey and a canal skate.   Keen to try just about anything we suggested, they loved tobogganing and also  enjoyed cross country  skiing in Gatineau Park on two separate days.  Both times we packed food so we could ski to one of the huts,  warm up, eat up and then ski back again.

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One place we always take visitors is the Museum of Civilization.  Our children have been there so many times, however, that the Canada Hall, which once intrigued them, does not hold their attention for very long anymore.  The six children raced through and then spent most of their time in the Children’s Museum, which continues to captivate them.  The parents did meander through the Canada Hall and then visit, with the older girls,  the special Tombs of Eternity exhibit.  Another place which we visit any time of year is Hog’s Back Falls.  When we were there it was extremely icy, which caused one or two  falls but also gave the four youngest and silliest children the chance to slide down the iced stairs on their behinds.  After they’d had enough of that we walked along a trail for a while and managed to lure chickadees on to our hands with bird seed.

I’ve never ventured into the Boxing Day sales before but this year we all headed out the day after Boxing Day, split into two groups, girls and boys and sought out the bargains.  All the girls came home with something new, and the boys might have bought a book or a video cable, I’m not really sure!

When we were back in our warm house we had plenty of time to catch up on the last few years over some delicious meals eaten by candlelight and followed by coffee, cheese and chocolate.

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We persevered through two jigsaw puzzles and the children watched several movies together.  We fell into a routine of going to bed late and rising late.  B8 was thrilled to have M11 stay in his room and the two of them had to be told just about every night to stop talking and go to sleep!  It was wonderful to see the friendships rekindle and grow between all the children and for the adults to be able to slip back into easy conversation after years apart.

As you can imagine we didn’t want them to go,  we didn’t want to go back to getting up on time and we weren’t keen on the whole back to school thing either.

Draw Near

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Draw Near

I’m sure you’ve heard the Christmas story,
They tell it every year,
How Jesus Christ came down to earth,
To banish all men’s fear.

As shepherds watched their flocks by night,
Angels announced Christ’s birth,
“Glory to God on High,” they sang,
“To all men, peace on earth.”

The shepherds knelt before the baby,
Their bright eyes wide with awe,
Then ran excited through the streets,
Sharing news with all they saw.

I’m sure you’ve heard the Christmas story,
They tell it every year,
But often it gets swallowed up,
In gifts and festive cheer.

So take a minute; stop and ponder,
On God’s great gift of love,
He sent his only Son to earth;
From heaven, up above.

Yes, Jesus gave his life for you,
He paid for all your sin,
If you will give your heart to him,
A new life can begin.

I’m sure you’ve heard the Christmas story,
They tell it every year,
But listen now for Jesus’ voice:
“My precious child, draw near.”

(L14)

We wish you all a very happy Christmas and pray that you will know God’s presence and blessing today and always.

Winter days

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Officially winter has not yet begun, but if you look out our window, you can see that it is well and truly here.  We have had quite a few snowfalls with more storm warnings ahead  so a white Christmas looks certain.  The days are much shorter.  We find it hard to get out of bed in the dark and to turn on the lights at 4:30 in the afternoon.

The end of the the school term is near and we are eagerly looking forward to a few weeks holiday.  Each of the children have some academic tasks that they are trying to finish by Friday at the latest.  B8 amazed us all by deciding that he would like to finish earlier than Friday and to that end he completed three math problem sets on Monday then two plus a test on Tuesday.  This has never happened before! But now I know it is possible…

L14 is working on her last writing assignment for this year, a Christmas poem and A12 is finishing up a research paper on trench warfare.   Our Christmas preparations are well underway despite the need for school to continue.  On Monday night we picked up a Balsam fir tree which is looking beautiful in our lounge room. The other  night Andrew and I put up lights on our front porch.  It was minus 7 at the time so we kept going inside for a little thaw break.  All the hard work had to be done by Andrew, some on a ladder some on the snow covered rook.  I just stood and gave advice and wondered if the hedge would be enough to break his fall if he slipped off the roof.

Lately, the girls have had several opportunities to play violin in the community .  Today, along with their friends H and P they provided Christmas music for a Senior Christmas Dinner at H and P’s  Grandma’s church.  A couple of weeks ago they did the same for the seniors dinner at our church.  Last Sunday L14 and P performed  at our church’s  Youth banquet.

This time next week will be Christmas Day, which we will be spending with friends we made back in Wollongong when A12 was a baby.  They are in New York now and will arrive at our place on Christmas Eve.  Everyone is looking forward to their arrival.  Like us they have three children, very close in age to ours.  There will be fun and games for sure.

Gingerbread House recipe

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The gingerbread we use for our houses is a different recipe to the one we make our cookies out of.  It does not rise and is denser.  When cooked it does spread slightly but not much, which is what you want.

Gingerbread House recipe

4½ cups flour
¾ packed brown sugar
2tsp cinnamon
1½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup butter ( I ended up using a bit more as the dough was too dry to work with )
¾ cup molasses
1 egg yolk ( save white for icing )

Preheat oven to 350° F. Combine flour, sugar, ginger, cloves and salt in large bowl. Set aside. Slice cube of butter into 4-6 slices, put in microwave bowl and melt in microwave, about 1 minute on high, it should not boil. Mix butter, molasses and egg yolk together in a small bowl with a fork or large spoon. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until combined. The dough will be thick and slightly dry. ( I used my kitchen aid mixer because it could handle it )

When rolling it out roll it between pieces of parchment, but before you do work the dough in your hands to get rid of any air bubbles. It should only be rolled to ¼” thickness. The best way to guarantee this is to use two pieces of dowel either side of the rolling pin. Chopsticks work too.

Glue icing

1¼ cups icing sugar
1 egg white
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
food colouring

Put all ingredients in a non-plastic bowl. Mix with electric mixer on highest speed until peaks stay when you lift mixture with a spoon, about 5 minutes.

Final Gingerbread Entries

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L14 and her friends P and E designed, built and decorated this house.     The group worked really well together as each participant had their own area of expertise which was employed as needed.

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As you can see the scale is quite big, there was definitely the need for a little structural reinforcement inside this one!

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A little frozen creek was added along with the pretzel bridge.

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The final entry  from the Group of Four, an outdoor hockey rink, was made by two of the boys, who did a fantastic job and managed to put it all together  in the shortest time.  It was funny to hear them discussing the details, they were not in the least concerned about how to make the lights stay up, or how to make a gingerbread sign, they were deep in conversation about the exact position of the gummy bear players.  They were setting up actual hockey plays!   I intended to get another picture from the other signs which would have showed the little “Ginger-rena” sign, but I didn’t get to it before it was taken to the competition.  See the little gingerbread zamboni yet to be positioned on the board.

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Gingerbread Church

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The gingerbread structures took quite some time to complete, as you can probably imagine.  We had scheduled three mornings but the church definitely needed more time.  Even though all the moms lobbied for a winter scene the girls making the church were determined to surround the church with a spring garden.  We were very impressed with their finished product, especially as it had all been their own design, from sketch and cardboard model through to completion.  By the way the stained glass windows will be shown off with little lights inside.

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Ducks on the pond:

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and graveyard out the back:

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They painstakingly put together the pretzel fence and sprinkled the parsley grass around.  There are also several  garden beds and a bridge over the pond.

Gingerbread village

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For the last two weeks my dining room table and several kitchen counters have been covered with gingerbread shapes and structures.  They are the components of four different entries for a local gingerbread house competition.  Last year we teamed up with another family and entered a lighthouse and the little house on the prairie.  This year the Group of Four families are all involved and there are four different entries.

B8 teamed up with the two other 8 year olds in our homeschooling group to make “Gummyville” a gingerbread village inhabited by gummy bears.  This worked very well because each child made two houses and was able to decorate them as they wished.

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There was some negotiating done about surrounding parkland, but they were all very accommodating of each others ideas.  It was their idea to have a little frozen pond with gummy bears skating as well as some parkbenches for those gummies who just wanted sit by the fire.

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They also came up with the name “Gummyville”  but no matter how hard I campaigned I could not get them to agree to have “…where life is sweet” on their sign!

There were several tense moments during the assembly day, but you can always turn a broken wall into a little shop.

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I will post photos of the other three entries soon, so check back later.