It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Reports cards are finished, parent teacher interviews (until 9pm!) are finished, and yesterday was one of the best days ever! I woke up at 6:45am (this is after the 7:30am-9pm workday on Thursday) and got ready for work. I left my house and noticed the stairs were super duper slippery, as was the rest of the sidewalk and street. I start walking down to meet my lovely friend who gives me a ride to school everyday and my phone rings. I wish I remembered what song I was listening to at the time. Probably 'Empire State of Mind' by Alicia Keys. I LOVE that song! It puts me in the best mood and is so inspiring. So I clicked on my headphones to switch to the call (oh how I love technology) and MM (my first grade teacher colleague) says, 'Have you heard? The school's closed!'.... ahhh the joy! So I turned around and went back home. I had already had too much coffee for my own good, so going back to sleep was not an option. I watched mindless TV instead and waited for Paul to wake up. He did and we decided to go for coffee. Second Cup on St. Laurent, two eggnog lattes and chocolatines later, we were in deep conversations about the world and our lives and our future together. I can't start to describe how much I love him! Then we stopped at the Dollar Store (I took advantage of my day off to buy lots of stickers, Christmas stuff, etc. for my students). There is a sale going on at Jacob right now (it's the best clothing store for all non-Canadians reading this) where you bring your old clothes and each item is worth 25% off a new item you purchase. They then donate your old clothes to the needy. I brought two old pairs of pants and two old T-shirts and off to Jacob we went. Well... it was American Black Friday, which meant sales in Canada as well!!! Yay for me, instead of 25% off, it was 40% off all last marked prices. I got new pants and a new turtleneck kind of shirt. We then went to the Gap because Paul needed new jeans. Now we both have what I like to think of as our new 'Christmas' outfits. Who knows whether we'll actually wear our outfits for Christmas or not, but you know what I mean... I had a lunch date with a friend I hadn't seen in far too long, and we had fun catching up at a cute vegetarian restaurant on Milton by McGill. It reminded me of the good old days of being an undergrad student. Snow started falling, gently and beautifully. It was just perfect. Paul and I then went to the movies (if you remember from a previous post, I LOVE going to the movies) and saw 'Love and other drugs' which I recommend. It's a tear-jerker, though, so bring your kleenex and wear as little makeup as possible. Oh and I probably haven't posted about this yet but 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1' is AMAZING! It is so true to the book, the actors are great, and the views are just breath-taking. So there you have it, my first 'snow' day of the year. There is now about an inch of snow on the ground and I am probably one of the happiest people around!

A question a day keeps the doctor away?

I have this amazing student who is just too cute and always asks me the most random questions. I'll try to remember most of them and the context they were asked in (it's way cuter that way).

#1 - We were doing an activity about Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the telephone. As he colours, he raises his hand and asks:

 "Who invented shoes?"

"That's a great questions, we'll have to look it up" I answered (turns out shoes have been around for quite a while, basically since human beings realized rocks could hurt our feet, but running shoes have been around since rubber has been around and some say the first were made for basketball (I got my info from Wikipedia))

#2 - Literally out of the blue one day:

"Where did our universe come from?"

"I'm not too sure I understand your question, what do you mean exactly?"

"Well, did someone invent the universe, or did it come from somewhere else?"

(keep in my I teach at a nondenominational school)

"mmm..... have you asked your parents?"

"ya, but they don't know"

"mmm... ok, well let me think about it"

---A day goes by---

"I know who we can ask because he knows EVERYTHING!!!!"

"Really, who's this?"

"My kindergarten teacher"

"Sounds like a plan, you should ask him"

---Time passes---

"So did you ask your kindergarten teacher?"

"Yup"

"So, where did the universe come from?"

"Well, there are lots of different ideas, but lots of people think that there was this big explosion that happened and then BOOM, there was the universe."

"Sounds really interesting."

---More time passes (this was evidently a question that required lots of time and thought in order to be answered to this student's content)---

"You know, some people think God created the universe."

"Ya, I know. What do you think?"

"I don't know."

"I think it's OK not to know, but you've already got two great answers to your question!"

#3 - During center time, when the students can choose their activity, he comes over to me and asks:

"Who invented school?"

"Do you mean the idea of school or our school?"

"No, no, just our school." 

(I'm thinking: phew, an easy one I can look up on our school's website)

"Oh I'll look it up and let you know."

---weeks pass by---

"You still haven't told me who invented the school."

(um ooops, I still haven't told him!)

#4 - While doing a calligraphy assignment, he raises his hand:

"But how can Spiderman see?"

"Um, sorry, what?"

"Well, Spiderman has a mask, but there aren't any holes for his eyes, so how can he see?"

"Oh Ok I understand, come here"

(we have those blinds that are perfect to use as an example, if you look at them from further away they look opaque, but if you get closer, you can see through them because they have little holes)

Ok that's all I can think of right now, but I'll post more if he comes up with more great questions, which I'm sure he will!

This might be the best weekend ever...

Friday night: dinner at an Italian restaurant, the Hangover guy's new comedy Due Date (funny but not as funny as the Hangover)

Saturday: super productive correcting, cutting and pasting, planning etc. morning, late lunch at Santropol (I think this may be my favourite cafe in the world), Toy Story 3 and E. T. movie night

Sunday: baking blueberry muffins (from scratch from this recipe), www.stumbleupon.com for the better part of the lazy day, and perhaps going to an authentic taco place for lunch later today

What makes it the best weekend ever? (please be prepared for the gross, gooey, cheesiness that is about to take place) Sharing it all with my hilarious, thoughtful, curious, intelligent best friend who just happens to be my husband.