Happy Remembrance Day everyone.
I am grateful for those who have served our country in past wars and for those soldiers who serve today. Olivia, William and I have been studying world history for the last four years and we are now reaching modern times and soon will begin to study WW1. The kids hate war and through our studies they have learned how wars have touched every continent and nation in the world. It seems, us humans can't learn. So I'm just saying thank you especially to the ones who gave their all - their lives.
Let's talk about our Halloween. About two day's before Halloween I had the children carve their pumpkins. It's a tradition in our house that all the kids carve their own. We go online and choose a free pattern from the many sites. Then it's upstairs to the dinning room table to carve. The gross part is cleaning out the pumpkin. I was nice and cleaned out Derek's.
The carving was not easy and took patience and some skill. They have been doing this for a few years now so they are all professionals.
And finally we see that their hard work has paid off. Perfect Pumpkins!
Amazing Pumpkins ready for Halloween night.
Olivia's design
William's creation
Derek remembers Pousse (Puss)
Derek's pattern was the simplest but it was an important one for our family and our neighbors. Their cat Pousse had gone missing and still has not been found. Pousse and Cola were always over at our house trying to get in - especially Pousse. Derek decided to dedicate his pumpkin to the memory of Pousse. The neighbor was touched and later that week brought Derek a beautiful poster of Pousse and it is now on his bedroom wall. We don't have any animals so the kids love to borrow the neighbors or friends. Derek was often called upon to watch the cats when the neighbors went out of town. So he loved that little Pousse.
I hope everyone's Halloween was great. We had a quiet evening and really not very many children were out. Olivia is the only one that went out trick or treating from our family. She was a Hula Dancer with a turtle neck on because it was a bit chilly and hey! we live in Canada. She looked adorable and she was happy. It's funny because Olivia was a hula girl and the next day Jasmine flew to Hawaii (from Victoria) for a week. More on that later. William stayed home and gave out candy to the trick or treaters. Olivia and I went out with the neighbor kids. Brandon, Thomas, and Dayna were adorable in their costumes and eager to collect candy. We just walked around the block and everyone's bag was full. It was windy and cool so we had Hot Chocolate when we came home. Of course the candy was poured out on the floor and sorted into the "I love it pile" and the "I hate it pile". The latter was given to her brothers. So everyone was happy!
Olivia all ready for Trick or Treating
Dayna, Olivia, Brandon, Thomas
We are all so jealous of Jasmine. Hawaii is so beautiful, sunny, warm and it has Cousin Deb!!! She is a blast to be with because she always makes you laugh. Jasmine had an amazing time and I'm sure she is already planning a return trip. I am happy for Jasmine that she is able to travel now and see a little of the world. She's home now so I'm sure we will be able to see her pictures on her facebook page. So that's all for today everyone. It took me too long and now I have to figure out what to have for dinner. I know grandma and Jasmine are having my veggie enchiladas because they phoned for the recipe. Hmm, that sounds like a plan maybe something mexican would be good.
