I shake my head realizing that I sat down to write this letter about two hours ago! My, time flies when I get distracted on Facebook. It’s all those games of Scrabulous that I work so hard to lose!

Merry Christmas everyone! I am really enjoying this season more than I remember in the past few years. Maybe that is because for the first time in years I have headspace. My children are all in school full time now and it has been a wonderful experience for all of us.

We are coming out of a deep freeze. For the past week or two in has been between –25 to –30 degrees. We have the most beautiful snow and I hope it stays for Christmas. For the last two years we haven’t had any snow at Christmas so I’m hoping for this year.

This week we are busy preparing for the Christmas program. We are so blessed to have a Christmas program that actually shares the story of Christ’s birth. This is Michael’s last year to be involved and then he’ll be in Junior High. (GASP!) It is definitely a highlight of the program when our son sings. He has a gift and still loves to sing. His voice soars with crystal clarity and gives me the chills.

Aside from preparing for Christmas, Michael is busy in grade six. This year he started playing volleyball and was the season’s most improved player. He works really hard and will become a good player. In September, he started Tae Kwon Do and loves it. It has been very good for him on many levels. I have found that making him do push-ups for sassing me works well. So Tae Kwon Do has been helpful for me too! He is a fantastic kid.

Adriana is in grade four and working really hard. She started gymnastics last February recreationally and was asked to do Interclub. (Sort of between competitive and recreational) In September she started Interclub and has progressed at a rapid pace. She has achieved three badges and is working on her fourth in one session. That is huge. In February she has been asked by her coach to do a pre-competitive class where they up the training and expect harder work. She has yet to be disinterested and her coach says that she is quite competitive. Every time the bar is set higher by her teammates, she goes for it. She is still as sweet as ever.

The precocious twins are almost seven! Can you believe it? I can hardly believe/remember it! School is a great and they quite enjoy it. They are working very hard. Bless the teacher, she has her hands full of rambunctious boys and a few girls that are right in there too. They have yet to join any extra-curricular activity. I can’t figure out how I can get them all in a different direction at the same time! Jonathan really wants to learn Hip-Hop dance. If we ever sign him up he’ll be good at it! Jamison has yet to show a real interest in any one activity. He loves to draw and will spend hours drawing with great detail. The two on them still keep my head spinning in circles.

Paul is working very hard in Fort Nelson. He is working as a Heavy Duty Mechanic. While he doesn’t necessarily enjoy the work, it is going well. He misses us and we miss him. He is home one week a month and that week is really great. He loves the area around Ft. Nelly, not that he gets out very much! He works really hard and then comes home and sleeps for a whole day!

Between bussing the kids to school and all their activities I have still managed to have fun for me! I play badminton twice a week with ladies ranging from 29 to 84 years old. (Maybe three of us are under 45) It is surprisingly tough! What the seniors lack in agility they make up for in cunning. I will NEVER say “sweet” and “little old lady” in the same sentence again! I was attempting to go back to school this fall. Our local college has a lab technologist course that I’d love to take. I basically have to redo grades 11 and 12. I am finding it difficult to fit that into my life. The fun is getting in the way! There are so many things that I need to do. We are hoping to sell our house in the spring and buy something farther out of town and more to our needs. Just getting the house painted could take me until spring!

I hope this Christmas season finds you well and filled with all the wonderful treasures of the season. Take time to slow down and spend it with those you love. Love and laugh more than you have all year. When you feast, throw your heart into it.
Love the Minard Family, Paul, Kelly, Michael, Adriana, Jonathan and Jamison. (Jake the dog and Bandit the cat)

Road Rage!

Road Rage is a funny thing. I suffer from it regularly. Yet when I see the flipping of hands and contorted lips of the guy in front of me, I feel quite self-righteous about the fact that I, unlike the guy in front of me, am keeping it cool. Good me. (Help me pat myself on the back here!) Jerry Seinfeld made a comment about when people purchase a car they think they buy the 50 feet in front of it too. Funny, it really resonated with me. When I still ran the daycare the little girl in my care would go home with her mom and at every green light would yell, "Go, go, go" and it wasn't because I was teaching her her colors! My son, when he was quite a bit younger was with Omi one day and yells, "It's not getting any greener!". Maybe I've had this problem for awhile! OK so maybe it isn't a "maybe". I was thinking yesterday while I'm driving on slippery roads feeling very superior about the fact that I have remembered to change my tires before the roads got bad (For the first time ever), that for lent (whenever that is) that I shall give up my aggressive driving. ( sorry for the run-on sentence) I shall abide by the speed limit and be patient with the idiots in front of me. I might even stop calling them idiots, but that isn't likely! Some have earned that title and it wouldn't be fair to take it away from them! Lent is 30 -40 days or something I think. Maybe I'll start with one day. I'll pick a day that I only have to go out once so I'll be able to restrain myself. Maybe I'll do it on a Sunday morning before anyone else is on the road....

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving comes during the most wonderful time of year. Somehow a tradition started a few years ago. I think the twins were 2 1/2 the first time we went to my sister's for the weekend. Maybe it was the last trip we could take before the roads turned bad. Whatever the reason for starting was, we have all kinds of reasons to keep the tradition going.

I live in the middle of the city, right on the brink of the "hood". Not a day goes by that I don't see hookers and druggies. I'm raising my kids here. When I was a kid I had no idea what a hooker was and I certainly wouldn't have recognized one if I saw one. My kids regularly tell me about a girl on the corner. Not an ideal situation to raise kids.

My sister lives on ten acres in the middle of farmland Alberta. It is very quiet there. The only noise you can hear are the quads roaring home at the end of the day. A far cry different from my lovely little home.

So we hop into our cool little mini van and burn our way across the province. Armed with a DVD player and 11 DVDs, we set out. We travel though some very beautiful country with varying amounts of snow and I realize that we are not prepared for all weather. As a northern girl, I should be better prepared! Six hours later we arrived at my sister's house. SIX INCHES of fresh snow! I am wearing clogs and bare legs. Really, I should know better.

They have spent the last two years building a beautiful home and I do mean home. It is so welcoming and well decorated. They had just had their topsoil levelled and spread over the yard. That being translated means mix dirt and snow and you get mud. Not just any old mud but the clay kind that sticks to boots and little children like glue. Seven kids all covered in mud, oh and two dogs too.

We were free from the business of life in the city. I didn't even have access to the Internet. (Not because they are backward, but because Telus has no service to speak of.) So no TV, no Internet, no traffic rushing by. So tranquil. We sent the kids outside and they went away for hours. Periodic checks out the window assured us they were still alive.

For five days we enjoyed country living. In typical "Michelle" fashion, we were very well fed. Thanksgiving dinner was a fresh turkey raised in a farm setting, not commercially prepared. Nothing makes better gravy. More food then we thought we could polish off magically disappeared.

I needed to return to the city and my home. I'm still enjoying the benefits of a country holiday and I hope to for quite some time.

New Life

If I have any readers left, please accept my apology for the neglect. I haven't been feeling very inspired and my life doesn't seem as tragic or something. I am finally free. My children are all in school now and I am trying to adjust to my new life. I think I smile all day and go our lots. My goal for next week is to stay home and get things done. We'll see!

School is going well. Tae Kwon Do has started for one child and gymnastics and dance will start tomorrow for the other one. The little two are still waiting for their activity. I can't seem to find a good fit for them and me. Maybe we'll just do swim lessons for them this year and they can wait until they're older for the extra things. I seem to be on the road all afternoon as it is now.

I am starting school next week. I'm not sure yet how many years I'll have to re-do. The placement test wasn't as scary as I thought. I know I have to do Math 12, English 12, Biology 12, and chemistry 11 and 12. Oh my sucky schooling. Or maybe it is my lofty aspirations! Maybe I should just be a mom... nah! That's not that fun. My brain needs to be used. It is amazing how quickly some of the basics come back when you refresh.

For now, I drink tea, coffee go for lunch....whatever.

Good Fellowship

Today is Sunday. The day when dedicated people drag their butts outta bed to go to church. I had volunteered to be a greeter for the K -2 Sunday school class so for today, I was dedicated! After I was finished my duties, I went to the "little girls room" for a quick trip before I went to the service. In there I saw my friend who is going through chemo with her mom-in-law. She was having a moment and we decided to talk about lighter subjects in the "Westwood Cafe", our church's coffee corner. We very rarely get to catch up due to the busyness of our lives (mostly hers). I must say that I needed that more than I needed to go to church. (Sorry Mel!) Adult conversation is as rare as ... hens teeth around here. I'm really feeling the end of summer and so are the kids. We are a little short tempered with each other. The weather hasn't been great and my energy has been low. In short, WE ARE READY FOR SCHOOL!!! I do believe that after this morning's fellowship I will make it!!!!!!!!!!

Bad Service

I want out for lunch today. I rarely go to a real restaurant for various reasons, but today I went for lunch. It was a local pannakoken house that recently changed hands. They are usually a very busy place on Sundays after church. (Just so you know, it is a pet peeve of mine when people criticize wait staff just for the heck of it. If your not willing to do it yourself, don't complain about someone else doing it. All this is with the exception of really poor service involving bad manners and uncleanliness.) In this restaurant my favorite meal is the Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict. This is served with hash browns and of all things salad. I went with two friends who are use to the waitress basically placing their order as soon as they walk in the door. That waitress no longer works there so for them the service was poor from the get go. I was teasing them a bit about not being pleased at the service or lack thereof. I should know better than to do that because it always comes back to bite me in the butt. Well, I ordered coffee from the regular waitress not the drinks waitress. It never showed up. Finally I reordered and it showed up right before my food did. My food was cold. Since I would rather eat warm eggs than microwaved rubberized eggs, I just kept eating. Until I got to the yolk. Now when you order a hard yolk, you should get a hard yolk, runny yolks are sickening. I cut into my yolk and it ran all over my plate. Yuk! I had to complain. It was too much. The second one was good but the damage was done. I was ready to complain. We didn't get any service at all. Our coffee and water wasn't refilled unless we asked and that was only after Heather went to complain IN the kitchen. We didn't tip. The chick who was taking our money was slow with the change hoping we'd say she could keep it. Surprisingly, none of us left a tip. If you deserve a tip, I'll give you one. I think I'll write a review for the local paper. I wonder if anyone would read it...

Opps!

I thought I had written about my injury here and sent people here only to find it was my imagination! Sorry! OK the injury wasn't heroic and possibly even stupid. I wrote about it somewhere and haven't a clue where. Old age creeping up on me.
I went to my soccer game and when I got out of the van, I wrenched my ankle. Cleats are great on grass, not so great on pavement. SO it hurt but I walked it off. ( Maybe slightly heroic!) I then played a hard game with no spares. Meaning I played a solid 80 minutes of soccer. ( Again the heroics!) My right foot was stomped on no less than 3 times and I'm sure the left one was kicked more than once. Game over. On the way back to the van, I turned the same ankle again! As if it didn't hurt enough the first time! This was the night before we were suppose to leave for holidays. I made it home and was sore but didn't think it was worse than any other hard game. Within an hour I was in agony. I could hardly move and I was biting off Paul's head for moving even slightly and jostling me. I was on crutches for a whole day. Then I was good. Homeopathic remedies work really fast. So now I've had a real injury. Crutches and everything!