First Week of School, still no free time!!

Here in Devon, Alberta, school started on September 1 -- a half day to start, orient the kids with their teacher and family group, then a full day on Thursday the 2nd. Connor is in Mrs. Macdonald's grade 5 class and from an undisclosed source, I am happy he is in her class as she does have lots of special ed training and a focus on literacy. I spoke to her briefly on day 1 about Connor's laptop and she is all over that program which is great. It is nice coming in to a situation knowing that the teacher is knowledgable and is aware of the IPP. No homework Thursday night, but there was Friday night... which I asked Connor about and he told me there was nothing. More on this topic later. All in all, Connor was pretty excited about starting at Riverview Middle School, having his own locker with a combination lock and some sweet new school supplies to kick off the new year. I don't think that he can wait until junior high... still two more years to go buddy!

We had an extraordinarily busy weekend, having the Howden clan visit from Calgary. Greg, Amanda, Natasha, Jacqueline and Dallan showed up Friday night, with their Brazilian exchange student Rafa (he doesn't like to be called Raphael because he is only called that when he is in trouble!! Ha ha!!). We installed airbeds and floor camp out for the kids and mom and dad got the guest room.

Saturday morning, at 7:50 a.m. the phone rings... "Hi Shauna, it's Chris from Merriott Fitness. I have you registered for this mornings spin class... are you coming??"

After contemplating a few choice words, I know I did NOT register for a Saturday morning class, I threw on my cycling togs, grabbed Amanda (she wanted to check it out if I was going) and we went and sweated our brains out. We came back, had breakfast and the guys left to set up the Kites Over Callingwood Festival. We dilly dallied a bit, then headed in to Edmonton to check out the festival.

It was raining off and on, scattered showers and the like on the way in but no major deluge so it actually wasn't too terribly bad of a day for the kite festival. The kids had a blast in the jumpy things and the Adventure Bus. I had to blast off to pick up a payment from one of my wedding clients over in Bonnie Doon. On the way back I stopped in at the Italian Centre Shop on 51st Ave and picked up a dozen cannoli's to share with everyone and a sandwich for Connor and I to share. On the way back to the west end via the Anthony Henday, I of course got stuck in traffic... this time from a car accident, for about 45 minutes. Connor was "starving!!!" When I finally showed up, he was able to finally eat and was very happy I had brought cannoli's... they are one of his favourites!!

We get together with the Howden's every year for the Labour Day long weekend and the Kites Over Callingwood Festival. This year Greg has amassed a number of parafoils and purchased a kite buggy. He was hoping to get it out and about but the winds and the amount of people were not favourable for him to partake in his favourite pastime. Instead, he flew some of his smaller foils and let both my husband Tim and his BFF Ken Mueller fly. Boys and their toys... that is all I am going to say about that!!

After that, at around 4:30 or so, the festival was winding down and it started to rain. We packed up the kites, chairs and whatever else we had hauled on to the field, loaded up my van and I took Amanda and the kids back to my house to let the dogs out to do their business. Tim, Greg and Rafa followed at around 6 p.m. to freshen up and then we went back to Edmonton to meet our kiting friends at a restaurant (Moshi Moshi). They offered really reasonably priced delicious Japanese and Filipino cuisine. Tim and I had sushi combos, mixed tempura and Connor had tempura shrimp and rice. Other members of our party suggested we try the Halo Halo dessert. It was very interesting and delicious. I won't spoil it for you except to say that it is a great treat to have on a hot day. We drove back home then went to bed as we were TIRED!

Sunday morning was looking like a fairly nice one, quite windy though. I made Angel Honey Waffles for breakfast. A single batch was enough for the Howden's and the Filtz's but Rafa slept in and had to have cereal. Poor Rafa!! The kids played, Mario Cart on the Wii for the most part, and Amanda and I ran in to Leduc to visit the Bulk Barn as she hadn't been before. I stocked up on Gluten Free Flour and gluten free Lentil Chips and Snap Pea chips for watching movies later in the afternoon. Amanda got lots of stuff! We came home, had snacks and then started to watch the original Nanny McPhee. Super cute movie, we enjoyed it immensely. For supper, Amanda and I went and got a few more supplies and made BBQ chicken breasts, chicken rice (just cooked in chicken broth) and a raw kale salad (loaded with fruits and nuts). Amanda made an amazing raw dessert that was mangoes, raspberries with a nut crumble topping. We ate it ALL!! The kids wanted to play more video games so we let them and we just took it easy. It was a great day!

Monday morning I got up and made 2 dozen Cinnamon Spice Gluten Free Muffins (from an Only Oats mix from Planet Organic) and I thought it wouldn't be enough for the gang so I also made 2 dozen gluten free Pecan Muffins. I am now out of muffin papers and I have a dozen overcooked Pecan Muffins that will most likely wind up in the garbage. It was all tasty though. The kids were up around the same time and Dallan was chasing the dogs, Gus and Bart, around. As he is not light of foot (read: stomps around like an elephant), I told him to step lighter or sit down as to not wake up his mom and dad. What does the little turkey do? Opens the gate and goes downstairs to wake them up. I swear, if he was mine, I would have... oh, never mind. I couldn't believe he was such a turkey! Amanda and Greg did get up anyhow, we had breakfast then Greg wanted to take Rafa to West Edmonton Mall for a few hours. I called up my friend Karen to see if we could come and take a rhubarb plant off her hands. Karen called me back and said come on down but bring Connor, I let her know that Connor couldn't come without all the other kids and they would stay outside and Karen agreed that would be okay.  Amanda and I packed up the kids and the puppies and headed for the Gartel's acreage. Upon arrival, the puppies chased Leo, the black lab and Dallan thought they were trying to run away so he followed them around. Connor and Jonah were finally reunited (they hadn't seen each other since before we left on holiday). The kids took off to check out the acreage. Amanda met Karen and Ron, and we trekked out to the garden to select a rhubarb plant and pick some for freezing/cooking. Ron manned the shovel while I stripped the rhubarb plant down to small leaves and we loaded the rhubarb root into a cardboard box lined with a garbage bag. Amanda had also picked some rhubarb and put it in the box. Karen then offered up some of her enormous zucchini's. Amanda is in to eating more raw and was thrilled to receive three of those whoppers. Karen also gave her a couple of her huge acorn squash. The box was now quite heavy so I loaded it in the back of the van. Karen showed the kids where the trampoline was at and they were happy as can be. Karen then gave Amanda a tour of the little crooked farmhouse. We returned to Casa Filtz plus one (Jonah came home with us) to await the arrival of the guys from the mall. While we waited, we watched Nanny McPhee: The Big Bang. Amanda's kids had seen it but Connor, Jonah, Tim and I hadn't so it was fun to watch. Greg and Rafa returned around 5 p.m. and it was time for the Howden's to head home! The puppies were exhausted. We ordered in pizza as I did not feel like cooking and we just relaxed for the rest of the evening. Connor and I prepared his lunch for school and then went to bed.

Tuesday morning, Tim and I come downstairs and Connor is working on his homework. Uh, what??? His teacher told him not to do it until Monday and he forgot... so here he was frantically getting it together. What a guy! Tim was mad at him for not doing it on Friday and they fought about it which was really stupid. As long as he got it done, what did it really matter? I spun it as an opportunity to learn... LOL! And that was that!