happy halloween

it's been a switch to facebook from blog land
so to get an entry this month
here are pix of FIona and her pumpkins from Halloween
vidia gal ... one of the disney pixie fairies

weird vid

no idea why the vid worked like this but it was the actual first ride...

Curious Simon Rides a Bike

Took the training wheels off and away he went!

First time riding without the training wheels quickly followed by first fall and elbow scrape from riding a bike without training wheels...

Another Year Begins

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY GLENN AND KAREN

and the celebration goes on for at least 3 more weeks!

camper girl

Fiona's off at day camp for 2 weeks. It's a nice one not too far away but all day.
They have a pool, outdoor sports, silly games as well as crafts, bible stories, lots of music and
TUCK SHOP!
the first thing we get is the new camp shirt of the year.
she arrived on day one wearing LAST year's shirt, but quickly changed into the new one.

how to be fiona's husband

Apparently there are a series of tests

the first one is on skateboards where the husbands to be have to go over ramps and stuff
then do it again on rollerskates

then they have to pass the protection test ...
protect fiona from a robber

then they have to like the colour of her bedroom

and finally, they have to be able to take care of her mom and dad when they're really old

and if they fail just one test, they're out

she's literally dreamed that up.

I think I keep changing the colour of her bedroom!!!!

Fun things to do at the OC

Of course there was checking flower pay phones for change.

-Elevators and water fountains in Sears and Eatons.

-Pinball and bingo fed gumball machines in Zellers

- and the carpet display in Sears...

I guess some things never get old.

Daddy's Girl

In the Stores now...

As she appears in the current Sears Father's Day Fashion flyer pg 4, on-line and in print.

FYI, the card is a prop based on Chloe's own drawing. I guess they didn't want to give her the artistic credit too so they made their own.

Coming soon to a flyer or catalog...

Next Week flyer
The Christmas Catalog with Dancing Bear Piano

wild weekend

the storms came through on Wednesday and the power went out. So we made it through the first 24 hours. still no power. freezers stayed tight closed, glenn went to bring home blocks of ice for the fridge. ALL filled to the brim with food - sides of lamb, all of the processed chicken. YIKES.
Lucky our neighbours down the street got their power back, we found out through facebook ... and mom spying into my account (as per my permission of course)
so we headed over for a shower (remember in the country, no power means no water)
and the offered us a generator
WIN!
so we had enough juice to keep the freezers topped off
and the phones went down
friday ... nothin and rumours it would be till sunday.
the SHEARING ... still a go and no way to contact everyone to call it off
had the gennie to allow the shears to work.
LJ and fam bring bottled drinking water
the super Hickey fam lend us the cottage again if needed.
and we manage, and the 100% rain forecast holds till after noon when we're done
lots of fun for all.
Fiona and I both took a bit off one of the sheeps. Llamas especially funny now (simon held the leash while the llama was tied to a pole)
thanks to LJ and CC for the photos.
Celebrated wee Chloe's 4th birthday too and a pre-dads day for Lj
Dave's should be on the way this week along with Benjamin's long lost power cord for his DS! (not forgotten and quite safe!)

what on said dry bread?

and spread with .....?

I like toast

Just putting that out there.

what a lovely weekend!

The weather was awesome
Lorne, Corinne and the kids came up for most of the weekend.
We had fireworks at one of the families from our Church on Friday.
The ducks have been a huge hit since they arrived on Thursday, with many duck baths enjoyed by cousins and even the kids next door.
The sandpile was well used
grass got cut and trimmed - one of my fave jobs on the farm
glenn's hair got cut and trimmed by his niece, nephew and daughter
A baby lamb surprised us by arriving on Sunday evening
sparklers were sparked
food was in abundance
kittens were obtained and went home with the right family
the apple trees were in perfect bloom
storms rolled through but didn't interrupt much
only one trip to Emerg. and that was at 2 am on sunday nite with grown-ups and all was well
got some moppet PR done at the mom2mom sale while CC looked around and the kids bounced in a bouncie castle
Forecasting a hot and dry summer
bring it on!
and take the mosquitoes away. (very nippy this weekend)
hope you had a great one too!

Planning forward for Sheep Shearing day on June 11.
Soccer starts for Fiona tomorrow.
Piano wrapping up with end of year concert on June 6
EQAO testing starts this week - grade 3 fun (not)

Chloe working oh so hard...

Here she is again, adding to that college fund.

Relaxing between shooting sessions.
I've been replaced by pretend dad Laine
"How's my hair?"
This outfit is well ventilated (Sears took swatches before the shoot).

I love this outfit!

"Why can't all these kid shoots be this easy?" -the photographer

Watch for the June week 2, Sears Father's day Flyer!

As Prizes Go...A Pretty Good One

The U.S.Small Business Administration has just chosen me as the SBA 2011 Women in Business Champion, Washington Metropolitan Area.

With Candice Bennett, Liz Cullen & Bev Gray of WPEO-DC
MBE100 Awards

The Small Business Administration's Women in Business Champion is awarded to an individual who has fulfilled a commitment to the advancement of women’s business ownership. They appreciated my years of service commitment to businesswomen, at the regional, national and international levels.

Top business leaders who were my nominators appreciated the value of my contributions including as partner and educator with Women Impacting Public Policy, volunteer and speaker for the Women's Business Enterprise National Council and WEConnect Canada, and leader of special programs on government contracts for the National Association of Women Business Owners.

Judy interviews Bridget Bean about the new 8(m) Program
for Women As Veteran Entrepreneurs Conference

“We are proud to honor Judy Bradt with a 2011 Small Business Award. Her tireless efforts on behalf of her fellow women in business are just what these awards were created to recognize. The Washington Metro Area is a better place to do business because creative and enterprising people like Judy work so hard to make it that way,” said Bridget Bean, District Director, SBA Washington Metropolitan Area District Office.

I am deeply humbled to win this award, not least because the Washington DC area is home to so many of the nation's top public and private sector advocates for businesswomen. There are a lot of very accomplished, smart women who do a LOT It's an extraordinary honor to be chosen as the torch-bearer for women in business in this region. SBA's choice of a procurement expert as 2011 Women in Business Champion underscores the importance of the new 8(m) program right now.

Government contracts can make -- or break -- a thriving business, and can really hurt a fragile one. The new 8(m) program opens the door to women business owners for high growth government business. My passion remain strong: to give all business owners the tools and support they need to make good decisions on that road to government contract success.

Couldn't do it without JJ! He'll join me -- and I hope some other friends will too -- for the award ceremony May 11th at a 3 pm at the Women in Military Service to America Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.

For more info or to register, visit http://www.sbadcawards.com.

Images from our Farm visit

BFF and haircut

Pic time. here is a pic of my BFF Ava, who you will hear a lot about while I'm in Ontario (on left) and my new haircut!!!!!(on right)

Gold!!!!

I won a gold medal in my tae kwon do tournament for sparring on saturday!!!!!!! Sadly, i didn't win anything in patterns, but a GOLD in sparring totally makes up for that! Videos will be coming soon.

Another haiku

MY FAVOURITE PLACES IN ONTARIO

I love Toronto

I get to see my cousins,

Simon and Chloe

Aunties and Uncles

And my Gramma lives there too

We visit in Spring

We visit the farm

See Aunt Karen, Fiona,

And the animals

So many things there

There’s always something to do

Lots and lots of fun

I love the cottage

It’s deep in Tobermory

Down by the cold lake

I could swim all day

Canoe with Uncle Peter

And feed the seagulls

Lastly, Owen Sound

Aunt Nonie and all her kids

And her grandkids, too

Never want to leave

I could stay there forever

But there’s cats at home

Some Haikus

Here are some haikus I wrote for school. The teacher gave us some questions, and we had to answer them and write a poem with them. Anyways, here they are:

Go catch shooting stars

On your tongue, can it be done?

I do not think so

If your hair’s dirty

Rub it with dry oatmeal

It won’t do a thing

Tolerate balloons

No matter what sense it makes

Because it makes none

Can you teach your hen

To make you some chicken soup

If it’s made from her?

Can a great big axe

Apply powder to your nose?

Maybe, maybe not

Put watermelons

In a small berry basket

But they won’t be safe

Would you, perhaps, eat

A bullet at its top speed

Streaking towards you?

If you were to shrink

To the size of a pea, are

Your feet your first thought?

If you were to sprout

A tail, where would you keep it?

Not in your pocket

tinkerbell reveal

Fiona sees her new room for the first time! the ultimate reveal.

Simon's Story Book

Simon made a story book while he and Chloe visited Grandma today.

THE STORY OF THE CANTALOUPE WHO RAN AWAY

Written by Simon,

Illustrated by Simon

Once upon a time there was a cantaloupe who lived in a jungle and Mr. Cantaloupe went to a Shopping Mall.

People came and took the cantaloupe and the cantaloupe jumped out of the bag and ran away.

Fin.

Miss You All!

I miss the whole family so much. I have made an awesome screensaver for my computer with pix of the whole family. I can't wait to see everybody. 18 more days till we fly out!!! this is the only pic I have of the whole family, taken after Lorne and Corinne's wedding.

The Heritage Classic

So Natalie and I got an unexpected opportunity to go to the Heritage classic NHL game yesterday. Two tickets landed in our laps on Saturday afternoon, so we couldn't say no. It was cold. we stayed for the first period, and decided to leave before the sun went down. More than 40,000 fans meant there was a crush of people during intermissions. We made the right decision.
the tickets themselves are the most expensive tickets I've ever seen for a sporting event.


We were near the end, but certainly there were people much higher up, and much furhter away.

here's a view from our seats, about 10 minutes before puck drop (Click to enlarge the panorama!)








And here's us:

Blast from the past

Take 2 min. to look at this.

You may be back for an hour...

http://myochs.blogspot.com

done by Ken Bodnar.

Names and old shots that take you waaaayyy back.

passing of Anthony

Marg's brother, Anthony Vanderholst, who was in fact my date for Grade 12 graduation, passed away from complications due to cancer today. He around Dave's age, with 3 children in their late teens. A fire fighter for most of his life, the funeral will no doubt be a large one on Tuesday in Kingston.

Cosmic Zoom for the Web age...

http://www.powersof10.com/

the decade of wonder

0 to 10 was the decade of childhood
10 to 20 of growing up (if I ever did)
20 to 30 of discovering who I was
30 to 40 was marriage and glenn
40 - 50 was all about fiona
so I declare 50 to be the decade of wonder!

It's the 27th of January, so we're having Ice Cream!

It's Calgary, so it doesn't have to make sense. the weather seldom does.

We broke an all time record for the high temperature on the 27th of January: 12.4 degrees. So we sent for ice cream and ate it in the sunshine.

Because We Can.

poet Fiona's poem THE WIND

I am the wind
blowing strong and hard
I am good for flying kites in.
I am also good for blowing flowers.
I am good for trees.
Even though you can hear me,
you can't see me.
I am God's breath.
But do not worry,
I am not dangerous.
I am cold,
I am the wind.

by Fiona Woolley
Spring 2010