Woodpiles and parties

Maeve and Kevin's party

excavator cupcake (diggers)

Hard hat cupcake

Kevin's birthday cupcakes, these are called 'boys and their toys!'

glasses & jewelry cupcake

fairy wand cupcake

close up of princess crown cupcake

close up of handbag cupcake

close up of sparkly shoes

Maeve's cupcakes for her 5th birthday party which was a dressing up theme.

These are called 'Little girls dream'

The end of September is looming fast. The weather is much cooler now with quite a lot of rain (we notice this because of the leak in our bedroom ceiling!). My old rule in Whitby was no fires lit until Nov 1st!!! I may have to change the date here but not yet! We've bought a wood stove to fit and David, Rich & the boys have been busy as beavers collecting , chopping and storing wood to keep everyone warm this winter.
David's work has picked up a bit this week too and now he's in possession of 'the telephone' we hope he'll be quite busy.

I was called into the daycare twice last week to get to know the little girl I'll be working with and then to actually look after her when her therapist didn't turn up. She is so sweet, very chatty, loves singing and knows what she wants! I have been asked to cover one of the daycare teachers the week after next so that's a bit more work. I haven't had any school work yet.

This week I applied to environmental health to approve my cupcake business which they did, I need to pass a hygiene course in 2 weeks time then wait for final approval from the market and if all goes well I should be able to trade by the end of October. I've been practising recipes and some designs this week. It was Maeve and Kevin's birthday party today so I inflicted some of my practise cupcakes on them as limited edition birthday treats!

Mon & Tues this week I'm booked onto a CPR and first aid course as everyone working with children has to have it. Mmmm not really looking forward to it I'll have to try not to pass out too many times.
Harriet has a friend called Jenny who comes to call for her when she's at her Aunties house down the road. She opened my games cupboard and said 'wow it's like a teacher's cupboard' which I thought was quite funny!

Isaac & Josh got called back into work on Saturday to sort cranberries. They sat for 6 hours next to a conveyerbelt sorting ripe from unripe fruit. Isaac said he could see berries even when he shut his eyes! With Isaac's wages he's bought himself a netbook and Josh is saving for an Xbox.

Continuing the animal theme David has now seen 2 bears, 1 outside the furniture store just out of town and 1 as we were strolling to the mailbox the other evening it just crossed the road in front of us!!!!! We saw an alive skunk the other night then David ran over another skunk that had a death wish. The car stinks bad, think it may have to go through the car wash a few times.

Thurs, Fri, Sat last week was Moose hunting season! Hundreds of people apply for a shooting license and only about 1 in 50 is granted, they get to shoot during daylight hours just on those 3 days a year. You see dead moose sticking out of the back of pickups, thankfully I didn't, but David did!

We really enjoy the church we're attending and are starting to get to know some of the people there. Last Sunday we were invited out to a BBQ lunch followed by an afternoons apple picking and apple pie making.

Six weeks on update

Life is starting to settle down into a routine. The kids enjoy school and have made friends. We are getting to know different people in the area and at church and are sorting out where to shop and places to visit.

David is getting some work which should hopefully get more when he gets the official 'river wireless' phone and lots of new parts to fit systems for people. He is keeping busy working on a website he's designing and exploring other avenues of making a decent wage.

After all the waiting I got my local permit through on Tuesday afternoon which means I can teach as an unqualified teacher in 4 local schools. Three mornings of waiting for the phone to ring at 7.30 hasn't brought me any work yet though! I should get my full teacher status in a couple of weeks. I have been advised to go into the schools I want to teach in and introduce myself. I was at parents meetings at 2 of them this week and said hi to the person in charge of supply teachers. One of them said I wouldn't get much work in this area! Hmmm not encouraging. To be honest doing supply work in a new country with a completely different system doesn't excite me at all so I've applied for lots of other jobs. I've had 2 interviews this week the first was a shock as I hadn't applied for it but another company had forwarded my resume to them! It was to be an adult education lecturer in Oromocto. This first bit of the interview process was an exam!!!! I had 8 maths questions and 2 short essays to write, if I pass I'll get called for interview next week. It's 34 hours a week but not normal hours odd times mon- thurs then days off fri & sat and working sun10-1 so I'm not happy with that at all. The next interview was yesterday as a supply teaching assistant for a 3 year old girl with autism in a pre school centre in Fredericton. I got the job in less than 5 mins as I had a bit more experience than anyone else! I'm working 2 mornings this week to get to know her so when I'm called in she's not freaked out too much. It's a lovely little place and it's a foot in the door for some work. The lady who interviewed me took me aside after and asked me to join a working party that's been set up by a local principle of an elementary school and others looking into other forms of educating children with special needs appropriately instead of the inclusion system that's operating now! Sounds fun!!!

With the lack of supply work and only a part time income I'm also looking at other alternatives for earning money. I've narrowed it down to 2 ideas, the first is to set up a pre school in the Harvey area. There isn't one at all and parents are crying out for something but a lot of the pre schools run from the teacher's homes by dedicating a room as a classroom and having up to 7 3-4 year olds come for the mornings. Some are within a daycare setting where the 3-4 year olds have a set teaching time. It is a mine field to set up and I couldn't do it while we're renting unless I rented a building specifically for it which is a big outlay. The first thing I need to do is get my CPR & first aid before I can work with any children. Then I will look into the legal aspects of it all. The second idea is to run a cupcake business from the local farmers market. We've sourced ingredients, packaging, taxes, market stalls, food hygiene etc. I'm perfecting the recipes, logo, fonts, decorations, marketing etc. David tells me it's my apprentice moment!!! I always shouted at the telly when it was on and reckoned I could do better than them so here's my chance!!!! All I need is Sir Alan Sugar and a six figure salary incentive and I'd be fine, instead I've got a possible market stall starting at 6AM on a Saturday!

Inside Yoho Photos

Our bedroom, note the nice new bed we've treated ourselves to.

the boys compact room, lovingly known as the meat cooler, we'll soon find out why!

kitchen

the whole kitchen, dining and lounge area

the dining area

the lounge area, we fight over who sits with the binoculars in the window seat!

We call this bit off the lounge 'the office'

Harriet wanted to be on the photo of her bedroom! Hers is the only upstairs room because she didn't want to sleep downstairs in case a bear or coyote got her!

Yoho in the fall photos

Lots of pictures of outside the house

This is the view out of our lounge window, Yoho lake. I will take a photo each season to show the differences. Up until last Friday it was 30+C and often felt like 40c, after the tropical storm autumn has set in rapidly bringing lots of rain, cooler temperatures and causing the leaves to start to turn quickly to reds and oranges.

When I've finished unpacking I'll upload picture of the inside of the house!

All new

Isaac, Josh & Harriet's number 77 school bus

What a busy week so far. Monday we moved from Tracy to Yoho and could start to empty all our shipment...it's like Christmas.

Tuesday school started. We were told to be at the correct bus stop point for 7.34AM. We set off at 7.20 so we'd be there in plenty of time except we'd been given wrong time and it should have been 7.13!!!! Dad's taxi had to transport kids on day 1 fantastic start! They did come home on the bus and now it brings them to our door.

School was a big hit. Harriet was very nervous but was very excited when she got home and got chatting to her new friends on MSN before tea! She is in grade 5, the last year in elementary school and to give the kids a boost in languages her school teaches grade 5 in French!!!! So all her lessons except Maths, English and PE are in French. We will have the option to put her in French immersion for her High school if we want next year.

Josh is in grade 8, last year of middle school. He is finding the way they teach quite good except his French lessons! He has a very mixed timetable and spends a lot of time making sure his files are up to date. He likes lunch time being at 11am!

Isaac is in grade 9 the first year of high school. He has to organise his own studies a lot and has only 5 subjects this semester then a different lot next semester so his timetable is exactly the same each day. He forgot his packed lunch on day 1 so came home hungry- he won't forget again!

The days are long from 7.13am to 3.59pm so everyone is shattered and going to bed very early. We'll really appreciated the weekends now.

I'm still waiting to be able to teach, it was really weird being the parent on Tues taking Harriet into class and talking with the teacher. I'm applying for other jobs too but nothing has materialized yet. This lull gives me a chance to get the house sorted. We even went and bought a bed and freezer which came today.

David's job is still slow and steady, hopefully it will pick up soon with all the leaflets we've delivered recently.

Bess seems much better since her medication has taken effect.

We are continuing to attend 'The Meeting Place' church in town, where we feel very at home.

After all the frustrations with transferring our banking with HSBC and finding our new branch slightly antiquated in it's systems e.g. having to purchase cheques, counter staff not being able to answer questions, bank is located down town where it costs to park, having to go to bank to get authorisation for all direct debits every time! the list goes on. The kids needed accounts to put their pay cheques in so we went to CIBC after school tonight and within half an hour all 3 had bank accounts with debit cards at a bank which opens some nights till 8 and most of Saturday. Mmmm me thinks we'll be opening a different account soon!

The heat, the dog and Hurricane Earl

This week has been one hot week! The average temperature has been in the mid to high 30's with a "feels like" at 40 degrees. The hottest weather I've been in. Unlike Suz and Josh I've not moaned about it as I'm sure in a number of weeks it'll be freezing! The hot weather though has had a bad effect on Bess.


When Bess went for her pre export vet appointment, he diagnosed a heart murmur which he said was probably due to age and that she would eventually need treatment. Well she's been fine until this week when she began coughing and as it got hotter the cough has gradually got worse so as it's a long weekend in Canada I decided that she needed to go to the vets today (Friday).


Two x-rays and a blood test later she has an enlarged heart and fluid on her lungs which means she has congestive heart failure which is what I suspected. She's now on a diuretic to get rid of the fluid and another drug to help her heart function better. She has to go back for another x-ray next week. The BILL was rather large so I've comforted myself with that fact that she hasn't cost us anything much in vet bills the previous 13 years so she's just making up for it now! 


Hurricane Earl is on its way toward the Atlantic Provinces and is expected to hit tomorrow morning having brushed the US coast. It's expected to bring strong winds and between 50-70 mm of rain. 







So two firsts, hot weather and a hurricane this week!