Spring!

So I was all ready to write about the arrival of spring, and then I got a phone call at 6:30 this morning.

Snow day.

And what a snow day. It's 3:00 pm, and it hasn't stopped snowing since this morning. Actually, there have been intervals of pelting ice, but the brunt of it is heavy, driving snow. The perfect day for James and his friends to drive to Detroit to watch a Canuck's game.

Not quite.

I have to admit, I'm a little worried. For one, the roads are bad, and there are bad drivers on bad roads. It's always a little dicey taking on the highways in weather like this.. not to mention the drive on a good day is roughly 3 1/2 hours.

I am also 9 months pregnant. IF I go into labour today, the cards are against me. My husband is gone, the roads are a mess, and even if they weren't, I would have to walk myself to the hospital because the brake lines in our car rotted out, and our car was towed away to Larry's shop.

Despite these minor concerns, I'm in good spirits. Simon and Garfunkel is playing, I just finished a great book, I have an extra day to relax and prep for classes, and Katrina is on her way over for a cup of tea.

My baby is also rolling around a lot. Fortunately, my gut tells me he's quite content to stay inside for a while before braving this balmy climate. Good choice buddy. Stay incubated.

On this note, I should mention that my amazing friends threw James and I (that's right, both of us) a baby shower. I really enjoyed that both genders were present. Typically, it's all women, and I've experienced some awkward baby showers as a result. I suppose I'm not really the type to fondle every gift as it circulates around the room, making all the appropriate ooh's and aahhh's over pampers and huggies in a room that is all together way to quiet, because, of course, the focus is on the mother to be. That's been my experience anyways. This party was different. For one, James IS one to ooh and ahh over baby gifts, and so he opened most of them. We were spoiled rotten! Danielle even made a two layer giraffe cake! I was so impressed by how grown up and fancy everything was. Girls, this is a shout out to you and all the work you did to make that party so wonderfully special. We loved it!

My good friend Kristina also threw me a baby shower, no boys allowed, but fantastic nonetheless. Some people know how to throw quality parties and my friends are that type. This party also almost killed my mom.

My mom is the kind of woman who likes to be involved. Kris was pretty good at letting her know that she was not in charge of this one, but my mom is persistent. Finally, Kris told her she could bring the cake.

So, mom decides to order a nice cake- two tiers, nicely decorated--it felt about 10 pounds.

She wanted it to be a surprise, so I was not able to help her carry it into the house, because then I wouldl see it, and the cause would be lost. She got Benjamin to help.

He's five.

My sister and I were sitting in the other room, listening to mom dictate orders to Benjamin (mostly to get his fingers out of the cake) when we suddenly hear a bang and a string of curses coming from "grandma". Mom had stepped on a case of Sprite in her heels and wiped out-- seriously wiped out. She had smashed her knee on the tile, banged her arm, and smoked her head on the woodbox, all the while balancing the cake above her head. By some miracle, the cake settled perfectly on the tabletop. My mother is a phenom.

Mom needed a few minutes to recuperate, despite our assurances that nothing was as "ruined" as mom kept saying it was, except her sunglasses. They snapped in two after she knocked her face on the woodbox.

So, with a bleeding head and a bum knee, mom made it to the shower and I was the cake carrier.

Mom-- you are wonderful, but sometimes I worry about you.

Thanks again to everyone for spoiling us. We are so blessed!

Perhaps my next post will see an addition to the family--my gut says April 5.

Snow Day!

Finally.

February 2, 2011.

A Snowday.

I have to say, the hype for the winter storm that was coming our way, having originated in Texas, had me thinking James and I should stock up on groceries and nestle into our apartment, where we would be trapped for at least a good 24 hours.

So, when I woke up at 5:30 am and jumped out of bed to scope out the conditions, I was sorely disappointed to actually see the road. Thankfully, most schools had made the call the night before, making the snowday official. This was a good thing, because it meant James and I could maximize our Tuesday night activities, (Settlers at Doug and Vanessa's, then watching the Fellowship of the Ring until midnight) knowing we would be scott-free on Wednesday.

Knowing that, we were promptly up by 7:30 am to maximize the full potential of our snowday. James and I were out the door and shoveling by 8:00 am, working up our appetites for a full breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, hashbrowns, tea/coffee/and OJ.

Since we were going to be making this delicious food, we thought we'd give some friends a shout to join us. By 10:00, Ryan, Tim, Jordan, Danielle, Matty B, Doug, and Vaness were cozily sitting in our living room while James and I worked our magic in the kitchen :)

I can appreciate cooks/my mom a lot more after that. Making food for large groups is a gift that some people just have. I'm going to keep working at it.

After breaky we settled two games of Settlers, and then people headed out. Overall, a fantastic way to spend a snowday morning.

I could say more, but I am sitting in an awkward position on this couch, and I'm noticing that it is getting increasingly more difficult to get comfortable at 7 months pregnant. No matter how many pillows I stuff under and around my back,, I can't quite hit that sweet spot.

Forget it. Time to move around.

a long weekend

James and I decided to head into St. Catharines this weekend to hang out with mom and dad.. and Sam. I have to include Sammy, because I know I always get a little bit excited when we pull into the driveway, because my loyal, loving dog is always there to greet me. It's amazing how unconditional a dog's love is. No matter how many times I "leave" him, he doesn't care. He just loves. And I love that. I suppose I can say the same is true of my parents, but it's a lot cuter coming from an aging cockerspaniel :)

Friday night, after being euchred (?) twice, I have to mention that Vaness, mom and I still pulled off the win in a very intense game of 6 man euchre against James, Doug and dad. It had to be put in writing. I am still savouring the victory.

Saturday the plan was to go snowmobiling with our friends from Hamilton. However, turned out we only had one available machine, which was at the farm. We went for it anyways, and James and I braved the roads to get it from A (the farm) to B (mom's house) realizing on the way that it did not have any brakes, or steering. I drove cautiously.

The friends from Hamilton didn't make it out, but the nephews came down, in full gear, ready for some snowmobiling. Dad tied a tube to the back, and proceeded to whip my 2 and 4 year old nephews around the yard, mistaking their cries of alarm for cries of delight. They returned as little snowballs, now fully terrified of the demonic tube.

My mom, not impressed, thought it would be fun to take dad for a spin--her behind the wheel, dad on the tube. I cannot get the image out of my head of my dad being whipped inches from a tree, almost out of view as he transforms into a snowball, and my mom, not looking back, just laughing her head off.

After that, we went in, warmed up, ate up and headed home for the evening. On Sunday I ate my last meal, pea soup and a panini, until today. Tuesday morning--a single solitary muffin.

I don't know what hit us, but James was up at 3 am, and I followed closely after. The flu.

A full 24 hours of misery that I would not wish on anyone, ever. At least we were in it together. A small comfort when you feel like you want to throw yourself out a window. Not to mention that for whatever reason, the flu bug seemed to stimulate our active little baby. I believe he did not stop kicking my already tender stomach for about 4 hours straight. A personal record. I had James' sympathy.

Anyways, after 18 hours of "sleep" I recovered, planned some lessons, and went into work. I came home wiped, but excited to eat again.

Having stomached a classic broccoli/potato/chicken dinner, along with a fruit smoothie for dessert, I would venture to say we are fullly recovered. And now it's time for bed again.

B.C. Christmas!

Walk in Whistler



Harskamp Family Photo Shoot on Granville Island






Science World!

Merry Christmas

I am savouring my fleeting holiday, and learning to appreciate the fresh wet reality of B.C Christmas's. Snow and ice are in short supply, which means noone wastes time thinking about pond hockey, but squash courts are easy to come by, and James and his bro's spent the morning playing squash and having male bonding time. James' mom (whom I will now be referring to as just plain "mom" ) and I had our bonding time while knocking off all the items on our lists at the nearest mall. It was fun.

Today has been the first sunny day, and on our way to pick up Ali from the airport, I fell in love again with the beauty of snow capped mountains, which had been obscured by cloud and rain up until now. The boys' capitalized on the weather, and the recent dump of powder on Mount Baker, and are currently spending the day skiing/snowboarding, and I'll venture to say carrying on their male bonding time. The girls (Leah, mom, Ali, and I) took a drive to Steveson (?) to take in the sites of a bustling harbour/fishing town, and to grab some fish and chips at the Blue Canoe. A very cute restaurant overlooking the water.
I've come to the realization that you simply cannot go wrong with fish and chips.

Although Christmas day is officially over, I feel like the party is just getting started over here. I consider Christmas more of a season anyways, which, fortunately, will not be over until I step back into my job on Monday morning. Until then, I am entitled (and expected) to eat frequently, play a lot of games, watch episodes of MadMen, and deliciously curl up at any time of the day to just read. It's a beautiful thing.
Tonight is family Christmas with the immediate Harskamp clan, which is going to be a lot of fun. Apparently there are some home videos of the fam worth watching, and I have to say, I'm excited to see what my husband was like at 5 years old. Something tells me not so very different. I say this from the experience of my own home videos, where a mini Ree at the age of 5 is incredibly telling of the person I am today. I find this very amusing. How is it that education and conditioning and being 20 years older still can't iron out my 5 year old mood swings?! I'm no emotional roller coaster or anything, but I'm still the Ree I was at 5. That's a fact.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to the next few days, one of which will be spent having a family photo shoot downtown Vancouver and going to Science World. That's right. I married a scientist, and this is the price I have to pay :) But I am really looking forward to it.

And now, I am looking forward to my book.
Merry Christmas everyone!

Bowmanville slumber party

Niagara Falls--free B & B!

Bears!

James in hockey equipment. Hot.

I am close to the end.

Two days until I am deprived of my "2 job" status and lumped in with normal people who work one job full time.

A moment to reflect:

Columbia International College was awesome.

Things that were awesome:

Teaching students from Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Senegal, China, Vietnam, Russia, and Korea.

Learning how to say "hello, how are you?" in every one of those languages.

Having my eyes opened to my student's realities, and what life is like for a foreign student

Reading Romeo and Juliet for the first time

Hearing my students heatedly debate the rules of war

Student papers :) (broken English cracks me up)

Getting a good taste of this career

Tomorrow is a study day, and Thursday they write their final exam. Then they move on to Grade 11 English and I never see them again. I don't get to see if they ever change their minds about the importance of money. I don't know if they ever go back home again, or if they end up settling here in Canada. Which ones will make it into their top universities? I have my guesses, but I'll really never know.

Strange to be so involved in a kids life every morning for 9 straight weeks, and then they drop off the face of the earth. I know it's just a part of life, and not really all that unique to teaching, but I think that because the volume of people that come and go through a classroom is higher than most other places, it seems like a bigger deal.

Oh well.

Good luck to them all!

Only two weeks until Christmas holidays!!