Not So Scary

I think you'll agree, Toby and Alicia were sufficiently adorable in their Halloween costumes last weekend.



Toby's kindergarten class:


And our scary jack o'lantern!

Not Exactly Foreigners

I don't have my car keys today. Yesterday, Josh and the kids were in the car for church long before I left the house. Upon leaving the house, I needed to grab my keys to lock the door. Not having a purse or jacket with me, I left the keys in the car. Josh drove home. My keys are still there.

11:45 today, the kids and I are shoeing up for school. I'm locating my goods and discover my lack of keys. I didn't have to wonder where they were, but only how to get the kids to their different schools.

Oddly enough, I think I actually have more options here about how I might alternatively get my kids to school than I did in Minnesota. Our friends were much more spread out in Minnesota. Here, there are at least three moms in Toby's class that I can call. Only one mom in Alicia's class that I have a phone number for, more if I could have found the phone list. And then there's family. There are definite advantages to having four adults in a house. Derek had conveniently stopped home for access to his larger closet, and I grabbed his keys before he left for work. That got Toby to school. A preschool mom picked up Alicia and will bring her home. Toby's friend's dad will bring him home. Viola! Community.

Reprinted For Your Edification

In Toby's Halloween goodie bag from church this morning, there was a little plastic pinball game involving flicking plastic beads into holes...you know the type. Reprinted here is the full text found on the back of this game. Enjoy.

Intelligent Marble
Intelligence add Lucky
A GAME OF MARBLES

Marble is a kind of game that is very mordern now. It collects exciment fasciration. It's a very interesting game. It can not only trains lover's skill and intelligence but also is a best way for lover to make friends. It's an intelligent game for a family to be a happy field. Spring your miracle, competite your level.

You'll surpass yourself intelligence and skill through a sernies of intelligent competition actions, competite your intelligence and your skill, participate in together plagways. 1. The two parties will judge winning or losing, according to the highest grand total. The one who get the highest grade is a big winner. 2. Before a game begins, players may also engage to shoot the five provided plastic teased pearl early or late, getting the grand total. We winner according to how many points it can reach. Where there is a will, there is a way. The training of will, intellivgence, skill will be your best ladder of success, it is your best training way of defeating everying.

Halloween pics soon.

Being Silly At Breakfast

Moving Down In The World

A while back that was my Facebook status, "moving down in the world." Facebook isn't really a substitute for blogging, but it's good for a quick update when there isn't time for a full blog post, which seems to be the case a lot lately.

Anyway, we have indeed moved down, descending to occupy the basement suite of my Dad's house, and it's working out well. We now have easy access to all our stuff, rather than keeping some of it at a storage facility several blocks away. We've acquired some furniture from craigslist, like a kitchen table and the cool toy storage/coffee table thing pictured above. Our books are back in their bookcase, clothes in an actual closet...life is good. I suppose you'd have to ask my brother how he feels about being unceremoniously ejected, but he doesn't get equal time here on my blog. Not that I've been devoting much time to it myself.

So to anyone who still visits, awaiting updates on our new Canadian adventures and more pictures of our cute kids, I apologize again. The dust is still settling, but gradually life is beginning to feel normal. We have moved for the third time in the last 12 months and the last time for another 12 months or so, I hope. Eventually we will want to buy a house, but it's the basement suite for now. The kids are getting the hang of school, Canadian Thanksgiving has come and gone, and Michelle's final year of working on her Master's Degree is well underway. I can still use that last one as an excuse for sparse blogging, since she commandeers the computer most evenings and weekends, but the other excuses are now falling away.

Besides our being newly installed downstairs, we have other news to report. The other three members of my family have all become more Canadian very recently. Michelle now has her official permanent resident visa! She has a Social Insurance Number (Canadian SSN) and is allowed to work now and everything. That's pretty cool, but the kids are even more Canadian than she is...they just got their Canadian passports.

Yes, we are living the Canadian life to the fullest. Last weekend we stuffed ourselves on turkey and pumpkin pie like good Canadians, secretly knowing full well that we would be doing it all over again in a month and a half, because after all, we all still have US passports too. Two citizenships means two Thanksgivings. Just one of those inalienable rights.

So now that I have no more boxes to unpack, visas or passports to apply for, and limited access to the computer, what will I do with myself? Take it easy, you might say. Plop yourself down on the couch and watch some TV. Ah, but that is one thing I will not be doing much of in the near future, because we don't have a TV right now.

Shocking, I know. We sold our TV in Minnesota because it was old and heavy and not worth moving. We haven't picked one up here, because there was no need when we lived upstairs with Dad...just watch his. And when we moved down here? Well, we just didn't bother. Money is a little tight, it's true, but really I think it's more that I just didn't feel like getting one right now. Michelle has always wanted to be without one, why not let her for a while? I think I was just open to, perhaps even curious about, taking a break from it for a while.

Since this happened, several people have seemed to be quite concerned about it. People offer to let us borrow one of their old ones for a while. Relatives talk about it being an anniversary or Christmas gift. I don't know yet. The more people think I need one, the more I feel somewhat resentful of the sentiment. You think I need a TV? I'll prove you wrong. Heck, I never had time to watch the thing when we did have one, did I? And now that I'm in Canada, it's not like NBA games would be on even if we did have one. Everyone here just watches hockey for some reason.

Now, it's not like I'm being a monk about this or something. I still go out to movies with my buddies. And I can always wander upstairs and flip on my Dad's TV if I get bored. Toby and Alicia even have a little portable DVD player they got from Papa John a couple years ago, so they can watch Caillou on that. But our own TV...I think we'll just wait a while. So far I don't miss it.

Someone remind me, when does the final season of Lost start again?