Babies and Puppies

Triplets are a lot of babies. I used to think it'd be fun to have that many at once. Not anymore. Yesterday I went over to Darren and Melissa's (Rich's work partner) and while the boys were working I took a shift helping out Melissa with the babies. By the time I got home at 6:30 I was exhausted. I have no idea how she does it. The kids are closing in on three months old and are so cute. They don't do a ton more than eat, sleep, poop, throw up, coo, and smile. You'd think that'd be no problem but no. They eat every 3 - 4 hours, but often you get done one and the next one is ready, and it's almost never ending, cause it can take quite a while to feed them. On top of that they have a three year old, Liam. At one point Melissa took Liam outside to burn off some energy and have some Mommy time. I looked around and realized I was alone with three babies! I survived. I wore clothes that could get baby throw up on them, and they did bless me with that, but one, James, didn't throw up on me. He threw up DOWN my shirt. So much fun.

Because of being out for so long yesterday Chewie was cooped up for quite a while. She was a bit crate crazy last night and flew around slamming into doors (it was amusing) while she ran. This morning I was lying in bed, Rich was at work, and she jumped up and curled up on the end of the bed. She waits until we are about to get up and we call her up to the head of the bed for some cuddling. So I pat by the pillow and call her up and she jumps on my hands. I pet her and then pet her paws and stopped. I felt something on her paws. Something not normally there. I don't have my glasses on or contacts in so my eyes are now an inch from her paws......candy canes.

I saw a whole one in the hall in it's wrapper so I thought ok it's no big deal she can't get the wrappers off it was probably a fluke one. Then I got downstairs. There were wrappers on the floor. Everywhere. Rich bought 24 candy canes, no one has eaten any yet, and I can only find 17. I called the vet and they said just keep an eye on her she may get the runs (great) and then to give her pepto bismal if she does. She just had a lot of pure sugar. Now she's buzzed. It's so much fun to have a buzzed 90lbs German shepherd. So I'm going to push the baking back further on the counter...she's got a sweet tooth now.

Hope everyone is having fun getting ready for Christmas!

Countdown to Christmas Continues

School is officially done for the holiday! It's really interesting how your perception of things can shift. I still love classes, but after getting to teach for a while I really miss it.

This was a busy week. Tuesday I had class for the last time. We originally had a lesson plan due in History which also had a group component and we could hand it in any time before the 15th. The prof extended the due date till the 21st which in my opinion was not good. I was going to be at the school for the last time on the 15th and wanted to be completely done. It's nice he gave us the extension but I was afraid my group would want to get together after the 15th. Luckily we split it up in such a way I won't have to go back into the city. Tuesday night we had another great small group meeting!

Wednesday Rich and I drove to Scarborough Towncenter, parked the car and took the subway to U of T for the Professional Preparation Conference that OISE puts on. (OISE = Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.) The first two sessions were good and Rich contentedly played game boy while I frantically took notes. From there we went back to the car and went to Markham Station for dinner. They make a good breakfast and serve it all day, but we made the mistake of getting real food which was awful, from an equally bad waitress. From there we went to the school I did my placement at to see their Christmas concert. We got there early enough we had front row center seats. It was so nice to see the kids again. I got lots of hugs, lots of "we miss you!" and the funniest comment was "Do you remember how I did on my interval test? He hasn't handed them back yet." It was so funny. The kids did great and Dave (the dept head) acknowledged both of us (myself and the other student teacher) in the concert and the kids all stamped and hooted and hollered for us. So much fun. I can't wait to have my own department.

Thursday was back for more of the conference which was an entire day of wasted time. Then off to Theology Pub at Jack Astors which was fun.

Friday another wasted day at the conference which prompted me to write a letter to the organizers. Still waiting for a response.

Yesterday I finished my Christmas shopping and celebrated the end of the school season by watching some movies and wrapping presents. I do have a bit of homework but not much. I should be able to get it all done before Rich is done work on Thursday and then we can have a relaxing Christmas holiday.

I got my second placement and it's in Hamilton! It's the second closest public school to our place and sounds like my AT (associate teacher) is going to be very supportive. I just have to figure out my internship now. We have to self select our final placement and it doesn't necessarily have to be in a school. I have an idea for what I'd like to do and hopefully I can get to work on that this week.

Well off to get some lunch! Hope everyone is ready for Christmas! 8 sleeps!

Weekend Update

Busy weekend. I hung out with one of my favorite people, Deanna, in Toronto and got home later than normal. Friday night I honestly have no idea what we did. It seems like so long ago.

Saturday Rich and I went to Westdale to pick up a copy of Lincoln Alexander's biography and get it signed by him. He's a hero of Rich's so he was very excited. We then went to Burlington to do a bit of Christmas shopping and then back to Hamilton where Rich had volunteered to do a couple hours on the kettles. It gave me severe flashbacks as I grew up doing kettles...he had no idea what he was getting himself into. We ended up seeing the EMS Chief and Rich's old high school music teacher and many other interesting characters. It was fun till the sun went down and then it was just cold. I made up new words to most Christmas songs..."Oh where is Jen, oh where is Jen...my feet are so-oo frozen" (Oh Christmas Tree).

Saturday night was the fabulous Natasha's birthday party at Carolynn and Marshall's. We had tons of fun, got to know some people a bit better (Miranda rocks) and watched people make really funny comments. Some of the highlights of the evening were:
"She's hot!" "She's FOURTEEN!!!" "Oh."
"You know who else's number is 23?"
"Rita McNeil!"
"You know who else has a mushroom tattoo?"
"Eeeeehhnnnauuuuhnnnn" (the sound of Kevin clearing his throat or the average constipated person).
It was a late night but definitely worth it.

Sunday we did some cleaning around the house and I took Chewie for a nice long walk. Then her trainer Darla came over to give us another session. She also brought her sister who is Rich's current paramedic student. She also brough with her Luther. Now let me explain about Luther. Luther is a Bullmastiff dog who is personal protection and narcotics trained, and is just about the cutest thing in the world. Bullmastiffs are my favorite kind of dog (next to Chewie of course) but I never have known anyone who had one. Chewie has issues with other dogs so she brought Luther to help her learn to ignore dogs. She did so well and made huge improvement in the short time they were there. Luther I believe is over 100lbs, but he likes to sit in your lap. It's hilarious. I posted a few pictures below of both Luther, and Luther and Chewie beside each other doing so well! How could you not love a face like that?

Next it was off to Frwy nice and early to practice for worship team which was fun. I met Oliver (who made me feel even shorter than normal) and got to jam with the usual guys. Lots of fun. Thanks for letting me sing with you! Miranda made me a freaking awesome Pop Shoppe float which was a nice end to the evening.

Finally Gary and I head over to Carolynn and Marshall's to watch the finale of the Amazing Race. The boys won which made me happy. Another classic line to remember from the evening:
"Stop or I'll pee!"

All in all it was a good weekend. A good start to my last week at school yaaayyy!

Also wanted to throw out there, I know it's a weird time to do it but as Rich is on nights I am considering going to see Dreamgirls in the theatre either Christmas or Boxing Day (late shows). If anyone is interested in going and one night is better than the other drop me a line!

Snowtime

I love Christmas. On the other hand, I hate the cold. I don't mind the snow but unfortunately along with snow comes cold. I discovered Friday again that along with rain can come cold.

On the way to school I bought an umbrella at Union Station and went to class. It was my Music C&I (Curriculum and Instruction) class and we were performing for World AIDS Day. There are several buildings at U of T but I'm lucky enough all but one of my classes are in the same building. Every Tuesday and Friday I have to run from one to the other and they are a few blocks apart. Friday the whole class went to the second building to set up. It was painful. Big huge drops of frigid rain that were mostly soaking my jeans and all through my running shoes and socks. Then the brand new umbrella broke and I was just wet everywhere. So there we all were in cold, wet, yucky jeans, shoes, socks and everything else. I was pretty miserable and my jeans took a couple hours sitting in class to dry. So this is one of the many reasons I hate winter.

The tree is up and I love it. It is a Charlie Brown tree but how can you throw out the tree you've had your whole life? There is Christmas Music on radio stations and all the lights are going up everywhere. School is almost over (11 days, and 4 actual days of class and 3 days at a conference) and that makes me feel Christmasy.

Today the snow came and recalling my Friday experience I was not thrilled about it until I took Chewie out in it. We don't have a back fence so she has to be on the leash when we take her out but she ran around in circles sticking her nose into the snow and flipping her head up tossing it around, and eating it. She loves the snow. I had the brilliant idea to take her to a park.

There is a baseball diamond behind Winners on Hwy 8 that is mostly enclosed. We bundled up, grabbed the laser pointer and ball and off we went. We worked a bit on her heel, sit, stay, and turning while walking, and then got down to some play time. She ran and ran and ran. It's not often she has that kind of room to really let loose - it was so much fun to watch. We weren't out for too long but I must say I hate the snow and cold a bit less than I normally do and we're even looking forward to taking her out again.

So we're back home, more hot chocolate in hand, Chewie sleeping soundly after her snowy romp, watching a festive episode of the Family Guy.

21 sleeps till Christmas!