Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving at our house this year with Cameron's family (his parents, his Grandma and his brother). It was my first time making the whole Thanksgiving dinner. It took hours of work but I enjoyed it. Cam was a big help. There was way too much food :) I feel blessed to have my in-laws so close and was glad to celebrate this holiday with them.

**Nous avons fêté Thanksgiving chez nous cette année avec la famille de Cameron (ses parents, sa grand-mère et son frère. C'était la première fois que j'entreprenais de faire le repas entier. Ça m'a pris des heures de travail mais j'ai aimé. Cam m'a bien aidé aussi. Il y avait bien trop à manger! Je suis reconnaissante d'avoir ma belle famille si proche et je suis heureuse d'avoir pu fêter avec eux.**

Pre-Thanksgiving Celebration

A few days before Thanksgiving, the Chion-Hock sisters get together for a feast. On the actual day of Thanksgiving, they will be with their respective in-laws. One can never celebrate too much!

**Pour Thanksgiving, les soeurs Chion-Hock seront avec leurs belle-familles respectives. Alors quelques jours avant, elles se rassemblent et fête Thanksgiving entre elles. On ne peut avoir trop de fêtes!**

The Night Owl Eats the Early Bird!

Cam & I decided, on a whim, to go see the new Harry Potter at the theatre for our date the next night. It was opening night however, so of course everything was sold out! Taking a break from work at 3am the day of, Cam noticed a new showing was being offered. He got us seats. When he checked again a few hours later, it was sold out. I love my night owl!

Claire's Reading Milestone

Claire worked hard and overcame her short attention span . She finished her reading manual and earned her Love Monkey Webkinz. We're so proud of her!
I strongly recommend the "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" by Siegfried Engelmann to anyone who wants to teach their child how to read. I used it for Michael too. The book was very helpful in helping the kids link sounds together to make words.


**Claire a travaillé dur et elle a surmonté son manque d'attention. Elle a fini son manuel de lecture et a, par conséquent, reçu sa récompense: un singe en peluche rose qu'elle peut "élever" sur le site Internet de Webkinz. Nous sommes si fiers d'elle! **

Michael's Fall Clean Up / Michael nettoie le potager

I never have the heart to pull out the garden plants before the first frost because they're still thriving. And when the weather is frigid I don't want to do it either... Fortunately, I have a boy who couldn't believe his ears when I told him I'd pay him $2 to "destroy" the garden. He would have done it for free!! He pulled out the corn, the zuchinis and the tomatoe plants. He did an excellent job. Best $2 ever spent!


**Je n'arrive pas à déraciner les plantes dans le potager avant la première gelée car elles sont encore en bonne état. Mais ensuite quand il fait froid, c'est pas agréable de travailler dehors... Heureusement que j'ai un garçon qui n'en croyait pas ses oreilles quand je lui ai offert $2 pour "détruire" le potager. Il l'aurait fait gratuitement! **

Box Car Drive In / Cinéma en plein air et voitures en cartons

Our Primary just had its third annual Box Car Drive In. This time I got to help because I'm a primary teacher. I even got to sneak Gabriel in who's not techinically in Primary yet. The kids look so forward to this event. They watched "Toy Story 3" on a projector screen in the church gym while munching popcorn and candy. They are just as happy about the planning and preparing process. They came with me to get supplies and they were all bubbling with excitment. We started the assembly together but saved the painting for after they were in bed :)

**Notre Primaire vient d'avoir sa 3ième activité annuelle de cinéma en plein air avec voitures en carton. Cette fois-ci, j'ai pu aider car je suis instructrice de primaire. Et Gabriel a pu participer malgré le fait qu'il ne soit pas encore tout à fait à la Primaire. Les enfants attendent toujours cette activité avec impatience. Ils ont regardé "Toy Story 3" en grignotant des bonbons et du popcorn dans la salle culturelle de la chapelle. Les enfant sont tout aussi ravis de participer à la préparation des voitures. Débordants d'enthousiasme, ils m'ont accompagner pour acheter les quelques fournitures nécessaires. On a commencé la construction des voitures ensemble mais on a attendu que les enfants soient au lit pour les peindre.

Oliver Twist

What a sad book this was... I often thought of putting it down for good but the hope that things would improve for poor Oliver kept me going. And improve they did, at the very end. Still in my mind lingers the images of hungry, mistreated children. Those whose story did not end well or will not end well. Because such tragedies still happen today.
As a teenager, some of my favorite books were Emile Zola's. He's a French humanist writer. I don't think I would enjoy his books as much now. Having children made me a lot more sensitive to the suffering of innocent people.
The kids moderately enjoyed the book. Claire kept saying "Poor Oliver!" in echo to my own voice and all were glad to see the bad guys punished and some of the misled kids back on track.

Arabian Nights

In French it's called the Thousand and One Nights. Fifty and One Nights would have been fine with me! I actually stopped reading after seventy or so nights... The stories were beautifully written but I got somewhat bored with the recurring themes and most of all I became more and more disgusted with the foolishness and barbarism of the men portrayed in the stories. Scheherazade might have chosen those stories to help the Sultan Schariar come to the realization of his wrong doings... I don't know. I think reading just the most popular of the tales (Sinbad the Sailor, Alladin & Alibaba) is the right way to go here.

Claire's Great Loves

Binkies and Books
**Les deux grands amours de Claire: les sucettes et les livres!**















Reading "Green Eggs & Ham" to Gabriel. What a good big sister!

Master Bedroom Makeover

My neighbor came to my rescue to help me re-decorate the master bedroom. I am so amazed by the results! Go check out her website!

Halloween

Morticia, Superman, Cinderella and Army Man are ready to brave the storm outside! Trick or treat here we come!
** Morticia (la famille Addams), Superman, Cendrillion et un soldat sont prêts pour aller chercher les bonbons malgré la pluie et le vent dehors.**

Last harvest before the first frost

Disneyland!

We hadn't gone to Disneyland in 6 years. We were waiting for our youngest to be tall enough to get on most of the rides. Cam's dad came along too. It was great to have him. It wasn't a school break and the weather was overcast so crowds were very minimal. The most we waited for a ride was 20 minutes and often we walked right in. We all left with wonderful memories. Cam did a more detailed post on his blog. Go check it out!

**Ça faisait 6 ans qu'on n'était pas aller à Disneyland. On voulait que tout le monde soit assez grand pour aller sur la plupart des manèges. Le père de Cam est venu avec nous. Ça n'était pas les vacances et il faisait gris donc le parc était épargné par les foules. C'était super. On n'avait presque pas de queue! Nous sommes tous repartis la tête remplie de beaux souvenirs.**

Fall Fun