The Birthday Questions - Alice - Age 10

1. What is your favourite color? Orange

2. What is your favourite toy? Turbo – remote control car

3. What is your favourite fruit?  Peaches

4. What is your favourite tv show? Project Me

5. What is your favourite thing to eat for lunch? Instant Noodles

 6. What is your favourite outfit? Jumper and Matching sweater

7. What is your favourite game? Minecraft

8. What is your favourite snack? Strawberries

9. What is your favourite animal? Narwhal

10. What is your favourite song? Peace In Christ

11. What is your favourite book? Wizards of Once Twice Magic

12. Who is your best friend? Adelyn, Leila, Izzabelle, Jessica, Grace

13. What is your favourite cereal? Reese’s Puffs

14. What is your favourite thing to do outside? Build snow tunnels

15. What is your favourite drink? Shirly Temple

16. What is your favourite holiday? Christmas

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Big Bunny and Fuzzy

18. What is your favourite thing to eat for breakfast? French Toast

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Pulled pork and veggies and cheese sauce

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Hairstylist

Back to School

The girls went back to school on Monday, February 8th. What a difference it made to me teaching from home without the distraction of my three little people! I feel like they're still coming down, but it's so good that they're back in school. I miss them, I do love being with them, and them being around, but online learning, ugh, it is not something that is good for everyone.

Sisters playing cards. The girls sure have their ups and downs, but watching them play together, I love it more than I can express.

After winter break the numbers were really high and so we didn't get to go back to school face to face. I can't remember now how much notice we got either, I think it was a week? We had a week of holiday time to reinvent our programs! My covid music program face to face is very different than online, needless to say, the planning and reinventing, it was a lot. Google classroom, google meets, it took a while to sort that out too. 

I remember with google meets I couldn't figure out why sometimes I had teacher controls and sometimes I didn't. Only to realize, I'm not even sure how many days into it, that if I wasn't the teacher that started the meet, I had no control. When I learned that, I created a bunch of new google classrooms, and started using separate links for all of my classes. I think the biggest frustration though, was not knowing how long it would last. Starting units and not knowing if we'd be able to finish them! 

There was one week in January - I think I was up to midnight every night planning. It was exhausting. However, once we knew when we were going back and it was time to wrap things up and do some fun things online, it wasn't too bad. The last week was lots of fun actually - taking advantage of everyone having a screen.

I'm not sure what the future holds for the rest of the school year, but I go back Monday. We all hope that we are back for good, that there won't be anymore interruptions, but who knows. The vaccine rollout has barely started, it will take time for numbers to be affected. Here's to our health and safety!

The Lim-Anderson's Move To Ottawa

When we moved to Tottenham we would see Toronto friends, but not too often. Traveling to Toronto with babies was a long adventure. When we moved to Ajax and no longer had babies, seeing Toronto friends was simple. When you find friends where there's a kid for every kid and the hubbies and the wives get a long really well, it's a match made in friendship heaven. That is until they move to Ottawa.

It was time for a change for John Inca's career and that meant relocating to Ottawa. They sold their house in the fall but rented another house and with the Pandemic and people working remotely, I didn't think they'd move until the spring, but then they bought a house in Ottawa and they gave up their lease in Toronto and all of a sudden they were coming in to pick up the rest of their stuff and this was it.

I'm not really ready to come to terms with them leaving. But here it is. We've been in second lock down since the winter break. We've seen my brother Andrew without masks in our home on Christmas, but that's it. We've been away or masked from the world, so when Emily told me they were coming back to get the last of their things did you want to hang out, the answer was YES!

Fiona is already asking when we can see them again. We're going to rent a cottage together in the summer, but beyond that, who knows. I keep telling her it isn't that far, but it is kind of far, and there's a pandemic. I know that they are forever friends, and that we will see them, but it won't be the same, and that's hard. Change is hard. We love you Lim-Andersons!!!

January Wrap-up

Oh my goodness what a long month. Good things - the birthdays and family fun. Bad things - online school. The girls have had so many ups and downs the past few weeks. Kate hates online school. Fiona doesn't hate it, but gets next to nothing out of it. Alice... I'm never sure. It seems like she's okay, but then she melts down. I've been okay teaching online, but the prep never ends. During the day I'm at home, so when I should be doing my prep, during my preps - I'm cooking, or cleaning, or helping my girls through their class work or their emotions, so then I'm up late every night prepping for the next day. That means I'm exhausted pretty much all the time and that's hard. The upside - we're together, Ken and I are employed, we're healthy, and we have enough tech for everyone to work at home! 

The school set-up in the beginning. This didn't last. Eventually Kate went up to our room, Alice and Fiona were in the living room/dining room and I camped out in the basement. I think I've only been interrupted by crying Fiona twice. The girls have interrupted my classes a few times - but not too bad!

We've had some fun outside time, and it's been pretty mild, so that's a blessing.

We've even met up with friends outside. 

Paradise Park with the Jenners. 

And going past Sophia's house.

We still don't know when we're back to school, but hopefully soon. The numbers have come down from their peak of 3000 cases/day to now about 1000/cases a day.