Horrifying? You be the judge.

Hey Everyone,

First bit of news is a bit disturbing. You see, the previous Special Ed teacher has been re-assigned to an full time grade 3 classroom and because there is literally nobody else to do the job, the Sp. Ed. torch has now been passed to me. That's right, the guy who hasn't done any English grammar in WELL over a decade is now going to teach children who are struggling. Since I honestly could not remember the difference between an adjective and a pronoun at first, I decided to embark on some intense studying for the sake of the 12 poor souls that have been put in my care. After much reading, hours and hours and hours of online research, remembering that I did take a course in Waterloo titled "Children's Acquisition of language", I've now got some pretty good phonics games, reading activities and even know the difference between a synonym and a homophone. So far I haven't done any irreparable damage, but there's still lots of time left before the end of the year.

In other news, the wedding plans are now starting to consume a much greater part of our lives. Between picking out tuxes, music, invitations, chalets for visiting family and about a billion other things we could be spending all day every day worrying about every little thing. Good thing we're not picky.

I'm also happy to report that we're both keeping active and trying desperately to make up for the outrageous amounts of food we had to eat over the holidays. Sunday volleyball games are finally happening again, and when you combine that with Badminton night, Floor Hockey night, Bowflex and Tae Bo, I'd have to say that we're doing pretty good.

In any case, I'm going to stop this rambling and let you get on with your much more interesting lives. The only thing I ask is that if you have any great wedding song ideas, don't be shy in recommending them!

Later,

Markus

Oh, before I forget this has the potential to be really good news. Check it out.

Horrifying? You be the judge.

Hey Everyone,

First bit of news is a bit disturbing. You see, the previous Special Ed teacher has been re-assigned to an full time grade 3 classroom and because there is literally nobody else to do the job, the Sp. Ed. torch has now been passed to me. That's right, the guy who hasn't done any English grammar in WELL over a decade is now going to teach children who are struggling. Since I honestly could not remember the difference between an adjective and a pronoun at first, I decided to embark on some intense studying for the sake of the 12 poor souls that have been put in my care. After much reading, hours and hours and hours of online research, remembering that I did take a course in Waterloo titled "Children's Acquisition of language", I've now got some pretty good phonics games, reading activities and even know the difference between a synonym and a homophone. So far I haven't done any irreparable damage, but there's still lots of time left before the end of the year.

In other news, the wedding plans are now starting to consume a much greater part of our lives. Between picking out tuxes, music, invitations, chalets for visiting family and about a billion other things we could be spending all day every day worrying about every little thing. Good thing we're not picky.

I'm also happy to report that we're both keeping active and trying desperately to make up for the outrageous amounts of food we had to eat over the holidays. Sunday volleyball games are finally happening again, and when you combine that with Badminton night, Floor Hockey night, Bowflex and Tae Bo, I'd have to say that we're doing pretty good.

In any case, I'm going to stop this rambling and let you get on with your much more interesting lives. The only thing I ask is that if you have any great wedding song ideas, don't be shy in recommending them!

Later,

Markus

Oh, before I forget this has the potential to be really good news. Check it out.

Romantic Idea # 391

For those of you that find relationships difficult and never know how to take things to the next level, never fear, the love doctor is here.

Here's an idea that's guaranteed to get results. Just have your date put on windbreaker pants and then go out for a romantic walk in -37 degree weather. After a few minutes those pants will start cracking and breaking apart from the extreme cold giving you a nice gradual transition from all pants, to some pants, to NO pants. Awwww yeah. That's what I'm talkin' about.

Remember not to attempt this too far from some kind of warm shelter since extreme frostbite may ruin the mood.

This tip has been brought to you by Colleen, who decided that she was too cool for snow pants, but luckily realized the folly of her ways early enough so that no damage was done to her poor chilled legs.

Alas, the pants did not survive.

Markus

I am exhausted! First day back at school went fairly smoothly but I am really, really tired. My body liked getting up after 9... oh vacation how I miss you already. I think the other thing that my body is having a tough time with is the cold. While we were away things got a little bit chillier up here. This whole week it looks like we'll be lucky if we get a high of -15 degrees celcius! To say the least, it feels a bit more like winter up here.

I miss everyone already but I am also really glad to be getting away from the incredible amount of goodies at home. I think that was the other reason I was so tired after school today - my blood sugar wasn't constantly soaring. Fingers crossed, I will stay away from the sweets so I can still get my bottom into a wedding dress this summer.

Tootles,
Colleen

The Best Things In Life

I love Christmas. No matter how much my life has changed in the last year, coming home always brings things that are familiar and pleasant. Sometimes there’s a surprise or two waiting, like your 6’ 4” youngest brother towering over you at the airport, but by and large, the important things never change.

Here's Mikey, our friend Adam who's 6' 7" and Daniel all towering over me, and I'm far older than all of them.

I was extremely relieved to see that unlike Colleen’s neck of the woods, there’s still snow up here. Living in Inukjuak I had forgotten how beautiful the combination of snow and trees could be.

This is just outside our front window. I love trees.

You might think this is just a nice picture, but in actual fact I'm showing off the snowman I made. OK, I guess the kids helped too.

I have to admit that two weeks of relaxing, eating, sleeping, eating and then eating again may have spoiled me a little. Like every other year, my mom has done a formidable job of making every moment of the holidays a gorging opportunity. After the first week I started to feel a little guilty about it, but then again what fun is it starting a new year without the challenge of shedding those extra holiday pounds. To give us a “rolling” start, Daniel, Sonja, Mikey and I have been heading to the gym for some squash and cardio action. Bernie couldn’t join us since he’s busy forming his own German yodeling band. At least that’s the impression he gives dressed in his fine new Lederhosen which were generously given to him by our grandparents and Christine this Christmas.

Yo-de-lay-de-hooooooo.

Of course, when Daniel isn’t at the gym he’s got his alternate workout routine. It’s a complete multi-step program that consists mostly of acting like a jungle-gym for the foster kids. Here’s what the routine looks like:

This is the motivation stage which consists mostly of the kids jumping and yelling at the top of their lungs.

Once Daniel is able to roll off the couch and onto the floor it’s time for advanced upper body strength training consisting of 1, 2 and finally 3 children increments.

Now it’s time for lower body endurance training. For this segment Nala barks to give motivation and encouragement as Daniel struggles to make it to the couch.

Having made it to the couch, Daniel is allowed a brief respite before the screaming motivation has begun anew.

In any case, all of us at the Wolski house have had an amazing break. Unfortunately, all breaks must eventually end and yesterday Bernie had to return to Brandon to start practicing for a concert next week. This meant that we had to snap family Christmas shots in record time before his bus came to whisk him away.

Just us zany kids.

The whole crazy family.

I’ll be heading out on Friday to spend a day with the Dielemans before Colleen and I return to Inukjuak for the next 6 months.

I hope that all of you had just as good a time as we did at the Wolski house, and don’t worry about those extra holiday pounds. We have a whole year to work it off now.

Happy New Year everyone!

Markus