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photo taken September 4, 2010 at Deas Island Regional Park, Delta

ten on tuesday

1) Colin has started playing Grade 6 Volleyball at school which means 8am practices on Tuesday and Friday. Of course, we really want the boys to play school sports but as if I wasn't having to get up way earlier than  I like already. Geesh. 

2) I don't have Pioneer Woman's site bookmarked but I really should. I get reminded to go back there often as she is so often linked to on other blogs and sites I go to. Her food photography inspires me! This week, The Little Birdies blog suggested her yummy molasses cookies so I went to her site to find the original recipe. They are SO good and remind me of my favourite Ginger Molasses cookies from Starbucks.

3) I packaged some of the cookies up as thank you treats to colleagues/friends who have helped me work through a lot of things this month! I'm loving the bakers twine still.

4) I am doing some mapping with some of the classes in the library (starting with mapping the library) and am inspired by this map post over on the givers log. So many great interactive maps! I might have to make one of these huge felt ones for the library.

5) When I got home from work, it was so nice outside. The boys and I headed out to take out the garbage and recycling for tomorrow and they stayed and played baseball. We love having the cul de sac...it is so ideal for our boys. When they were little they were so happy to ride their bikes around and around and now they appreciate the space to do all sorts of things.

6) And Colin worked on his circus act ;)

7) I love the deep colour of the sedum in our front garden bed at this time of year.

8) After breakfast for dinner (a favourite for the boys and I when Neil is working late) we headed to Chapters. I could spend HOURS in a book store!

9) When we got home Neil was back from his meeting and a side trip to London Drugs where he got a new mini vacuum and a panini press. We've talked for a long time about getting one and of course, they went on sale today so Neil was there! We've had different sandwich contraptions before but I think this one will be different. We've already had grilled cheese sandwiches tonight to test it out.

10) And finally, there will be more fall baking in the near future. Such a cozy fall thing to do! Probably some apple recipes I think. When I saw this on Bakerella's site, I knew I had to find this collection of fall recipes. I squealed when I saw it at Safeway last week. It if full of fall goodness. My staff is going to be very well  treat-ed! Photos to come ;)

the wonder of nature

Before heading out to work today, I had a little wander through the backyard. It's really almost time to put the garden to bed for the year...maybe we'll get to it this weekend. I did find this lovely guy hanging out between the raspberry bush and my herb pots. The web was a little wet from the rain sprinkles. 

I think the spiderweb is one of the wonders of the natural world. What an amazing structure and so much work! 

Sarah and I went out for walk this evening and at the beginning of our walk, it was sprinkling lightly but it was sunny so we headed out without jackets....by the end we were drowned, bedraggled souls! We saw the most amazing rainbow either of us had ever seen...again, one of the wonders of the natural world. I so wished I had my camera but I captured that rainbow in my mind. It was a complete semicircle and the right side had multiple layers of the bands of colours - like nothing I have ever seen. We paused a few times on our walk just to take it all in. 

Amongst the craziness of daily life - backpacks, schedules, meetings, work stuff - things like spiderwebs and rainbows bring you back to the big picture.

sunday at the steveston market

Colin and I made some banana bread this morning...such a lovely smell in the kitchen while it's baking!

After some homework and Colin's guitar lesson, the boys and I headed over to the Steveston Market. We bought some teeny tiny cucumbers that the boys thought looked baby watermelons, some new potatoes, peppers and zucchini as well as some frozen samosas for Neil, a container of black bean hummous, some yummy cheese bread and something new for us called chimney bread. The hit of the trip though were these GIANT marshmallows on campfire roasting sticks...and we all know our boys like a good campfire!

 And with Colin's fine balancing skills along with his ability to ride a unicycle and do flips, maybe he will work for Cirque de Soleil in the future! The nice lady at the marshmallow table gave the boys each a football shaped marshmallow which they gobbled up. She's a Richmond girl who is starting her own little business so if you need any fancy fresh marshmallows, flavoured or molded into fun shapes, she's your gal. Her company is at Absolute Fluff. Cute. We also got some very fun bread from a local business called Chimney Bread and some of our veggies came from Richmond's Sharing Farm. I am all about supporting local small businesses and I love the atmosphere of the market. The last outdoors was is in two weeks and then it is moving inside to the Cannery for the first time. We'll be visiting for sure.

saturday soccer in the sun

It was a great day for Colin's first away game for soccer. We only had to travel into Kerrisdale but I know it was a big deal for Colin. The sun was shining and Neil, Adam and I got "box seats" sitting in a little stairway by the field behind Point Grey High School. Colin played so well and was so tenacious...Neil commented that this is the best soccer that Colin has ever played. For whatever reason, he sure seems motivated!

Colin's team had another great game and won 2-0 so they are keeping up their winning streak! Colin commented that the other team was always arguing amongst themselves and that his team had really "bonded" and that helped them play well.  While we were watching, Adam was playing around with my camera a bit and liked the juxtaposition of a yellow autumn leaf against the blue track around the soccer field. I think he has quite a good eye ;)

After some homework, we headed to a hockey game for Adam and then out for dinner to our favourite quick place -Taco del Mar. We made it home to watch the BC LIons and Canucks games while the boys experimented with making their own homemade potato chips in the microwave.

Quite yummy actually!

common pro-d days

Professionally, I think there are lots of reasons why having common pro-d days in the district is not a good thing but, today for our family, I was glad to have one! With Adam and Colin being at different schools, it's nice to know that they'll have their days "off" together. And because all the pro-d days are on Fridays, which is not a school work day for me, I can actually plan to do something with the boys. Neil, of course, had to be at work. Today we slept in, Colin practiced his guitar and then we headed to White Spot for lunch before visiting the new Hillcrest Aquatic Centre in Vancouver for the first time.

It's a beautiful facility and the boys had a great time. There's lots of different areas but the boys thought it really should have a water slide of some sort. On the website (linked above) we found $2 admission coupons good til the end of September (Neil will be so proud of me).

It's at the site of the Olympic curling venue and Adam recognized these bird (I think they are supposed to resemble argillite) sculptures from when we went to wheelchair curling. 

This evening, Colin is at a bowling birthday party and Adam has a hockey practice. It's been a busy week and I think we'll all enjoy a quiet night at home, with the heat turned on for the first time this fall!

high school days

Today was the crazy four-way meet the teacher night in our family! All four of us had separate events at our respective schools and well, Colin's night got sacrificed because we just couldn't be four places at once. We know his teacher this year really well and she phoned last week to check in anyways. Neil was at his school, I went to the first part of mine and then came home to get Adam to go to his high school and my parents took Colin off to fencing. I must say going from class to class in Adam's high school brought back lots of memories of high school for me. We visited Adam's locker again after buying a t-shirt and then went to French, PE, Math/Science and Social Studies. We also saw Neil's photo as a student and as an administrator at the school!

 Today's 30DHS photo (yes, I'm still doing that)

And we ended the day with ice cream on the way home after picking Colin up from fencing. Ice cream just has a way of bringing happiness to the end of a day!

a wonder walk

This afternoon was glorious and sunny. I looked out the window of the second floor classroom I am teaching in and the tree tops looked amazing against the bright blue sky. How could we NOT go outside this afternoon?! We headed out for a "wonder walk", looking up, looking down and looking around and noticing what is going on with the natural world around us.

There were lots of acorns and "helicopters" collected and lots to wonder about. I see a photo book in the making...

ten on tuesday

the first day of autumn edition...

1) It's finally time to let go of summer, although today was sunny and warm outside. I love the way the leaves that are beginning to change colour look against a bright blue sky. 

2) I bought some cute little chocolate autumn leaves from Purdy's and put these together last night for the staff at my school. Little things can brighten your day, especially in September.

3) I found some great autumn photograhy tips HERE. 

4) Colin attended the World Wheelchair Rugby Championships at the Richmond Oval today with his school. They had a wheelchair rugby demo at the school in the spring so were excited to go. Colin said it was cool to see how the inside of the Oval has changed since the Olympics.

5) As they do every autumn, the spiders are taking over, inside and outside of our house. I find them fascinating although I know not everyone will agree with me on this ;)

6) To me, autumn fruits are apples, pears and cranberries. I'm looking forward to making some yummy crisps and pies and maybe some apple or pear butter. 

7) I wanted to make some autumn-ish cookies after dinner this evening and saw the crystallized ginger in my pantry so decided to make the chai spice cookies that I have made before. So good with a cup of tea.

8) I took a small bag of cookies over to Gil this evening for her birthday (Happy Birthday Gillian!) and used my go to packaging these days...glimmermisted tag, bakers twine and brown paper bag!

9) Autumn means hockey and we (well, Neil really) are enjoying the Canucks first pre-season game on tv this evening.

10) And a full moon, autumn sunset to end the day...

Welcome autumn!