Guess the Caption and Win!

My mom bought this wedding dress for Shannon (at a yard sale for $5). She has had soooo much fun dressing up in it. We've even had "aisle walking lessons" in the living room with Opa, while I played the wedding march on the piano.

The other day she had it on, and said ... to Lisa. It was so cute I had to snap the shot to preserve the moment.

What did she say?!? That's where you come in. Post your guess in the comments section. In a week or so (because I know my blog isn't worth checking every day) I'll post her quote and offer a prize to the winner. What are you playing for? Win and find out!!!! (just giving myself some thinking time) Come on, be a sport! Think like a 4 year old.

A Dutchman's Dream

Is it a racist comment if you belong to that race?

Back in the fall Lisa and I were in the city for a doctor's appointment and went to Wendy's for lunch. In her kid's meal, Lisa got a coupon for a free ticket to a 67's game (Ottawa's Jr A hockey team).

Hmmmm. We like to try to take the kids to a game each year (unless we're feeling exceptionally generous and take them to see the Sens). So seeing a coupon for a FREE ticket got my Dutch-money-saving-mind working over time. A kid's meal costs roughly $4.50. A ticket to the game costs $11.00; $15.00 for adults. Sounds like a money making venture.

I had to take all the kids into the city for another appointment in a few days. Guess where we went for lunch?! Another 4 kid's meals, 4 more coupons, and we were all off to the game for free!!! ('cause Shannon would stay home)

We finally found a night that suited our schedule, and invited Omoe, Opa and a couple of friends to come along (should have thought of that in the fall and bought more kid's meals...)

When I went to the box office, I needed 5 adult, and 4 kid tickets. They let me use the coupons for all of the adult tickets, and just pay for the 4 kids at the lower price! Completely unheard of in the coupon world. I'm beside myself!!

We enjoyed the game, along with the popcorn and juiceboxes we brought from home, and resisted spending $5 for a hot dog or piece of cheese pizza. The boys don't even ask anymore. They've learned our ways.

THEN...during the second intermission the announcer reminds us all to take our ticket stubs to the nearest Wendy's for (are you sitting down!?!?!!?) a FREE KIDS' MEAL!!!!

WOOOO HOOOOOO!

Of course we had to stop on the way home! As it turns out we had to buy an adult meal and then we got the kid's meal for free...but...they accepted my ticket stub that clearly showed I didn't pay a dime for it.

I should figure out exactly how much I saved (being the math mind I am) but maybe I'll save that for another contest... And I just like thinking of it as "LOTS"

Now if only the Sens would partner up with Quizno's on such a deal...

Our Jesse Tree (for Advent)

I know...a little out of season, but before I put it away I thought I'd take a picture of it. And then I thought it would make a good blog post, but I'd never remember to post it just before advent '08 so I thought...no time like the present...
So this year for advent (well, actually I guess it was last year) we decorated a Jesse Tree. A Jesse Tree is a tree branch (we used a mini Christmas tree...actually a mini-singing-Christmas tree) decorated with symbols representing the stories of people in Jesus' family tree, and other important persons from the Old Testament. The symbols remind us that our belief grows out of deep roots of thousands of years of ancestors in the faith. Each day you hang a new symbol and read a corresponding Bible passage. You can get as creative as you'd like with the symbols, and there are a variety of web sites that offer Bible passages and/or devotionals.

Here's a link to the one we used... http://www.rca.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?&pid=1628&srcid=1602 (or just Google "Jesse Tree" )

What exactly did you think would happen?

Brent and Shannon took the recycling out this morning and declared it "Beautiful" outside; they just had to go for recess right away! Being the evil tyrant I am and not willing to be so easily swayed on this just the 2nd day back after holidays, I insisted that Brent finish his school work first.
He quickly sat down to work then asked, "Mom, my calendar (which is another whole blog post topic) says that spring starts on the 21rst of March. Soooo, (because he never just says "so") why is the snow melting?" Good question...
Once the work was done the 3 of them quickly got dressed and headed outside. 15 minutes later I heard the pitter patter of sloppy boots on the deck, and they all entered declaring "My feet are cold!"
They took off their winter boots. "No wonder! I've got ice cubes in my boots!" Shannon announces. Brent turns his boot upside down and water pours out. Devin declares he has no idea how the water got in! They're boots, aren't they? Great time for discussion on permeable and non-permeable fabrics.
We pulled off all 6 water laden socks, replaced them with nice warm "grandma socks" (of the knitted variety) dug the rubber boots (non-permeable) out of the basement and sent them back out to enjoy the spring weather, in winter.
Like one of my old work mates used to say, "Don't live in Eastern Ontario if you can't take a joke!"

Happy New Year!!!!!