Merry Christmas to Charlene and Alvin

We miss you guys and look forward to seeing you here soon!
love all of us!

Gerald and I took our turn making a meal. For our Christmas dinner we ate spaghetti with white sauce, fried onions, bacon, carrots and salad. We were all fed and satisfied.

It is a bit chilly, but we are so enjoying relaxing, visiting and being together. The pool is heated and some of us went swimming and had a great time.

Flight to Pensacola

Wow! What an experience we had flying to Pensacola. First our flight was slightly delayed, that's fine, but our first flight couldn't land in Minneapolis so we had to refuel in Fargo. When we finally arrived in Minneapolis it was about midnight. We missed both our connections in Minneapolis and Memphis, so we got to sleep in the airport for night. A bit cold, and not much sleep, but we were rebooked for first class to Dallas, so that was okay. But, when we arrived in Dallas, things went downhill fast. We were told we were booked to a flight to Pensacola previously, but when we got to Dallas we were told we were on standby and nothing was guaranteed. We were led on one big goosechase after another. If you want to hear the full story, I'm writing a book on this one. It was quite crazy with one flight agent after another telling us different things. Finally, we ended up at NWA ticket counter asking kindly and FIRMLY to please straighten out our mess. We were booked on a first class flight to Atlanta and then Pensacola - finally!!!! We received some food coupons and some travel vouchers as well. I'm not sure how helpful they were be. So we arrived in Pensacola 24 hours after we originally should have. But now we are here and happy!

This is for all you southerners.

Here's a glimpse of the fun we get in Manitoba with our snow and winters. The snowmobilers seem to be quite happy though. The toboggan hill is doing quite well too.

NO SCHOOL!

Here's what a no school day looks like at the Brandt house. There were some road closures around here, and zero visiblity for a while, so the kids and I got to sleep in. They also got to help me out with some house chores like laundry and dishes. They are hoping for another one tomorrow. I'm not sure if I am.

Feed-Rite Kids Party

Gerald and I had fun taking Felix to the Feed-Rite kids party that was at the Children's Museum. We had hot dogs for lunch, and Felix got a motorcycle that is powered by air, kind of neat. We're having a hard time making it work properly though. It was fun going through the museum too.

Tired in the Brandt home.

Relaxing after a hard days work! Gerald works long hours, and sometimes has a bit of time to relax on the couch. Our kids are all hard workers too. Celine has jazz band at 8 a.m. wednesdays and friday mornings, basketball on Mondays 5:30 - 6:30 pm, piano lessons to practice and tenor sax to practice and homework. Jonas' schedule is a bit lighter this semester, but now with his job, he works three to four shifts a week. He also takes guitar lessons, and practices guitar and should practice jazz drumming. He regularly plays in church for worship teams too. Felix is in grade four, so most of his homework he can do at school. He does have piano and voice lessons to practice. Him and a friend, Brayden Epp have their own little "clubs" each wednesday night at our house.

So, there's a taste of life in our home. I'm busy too with teaching close to 30 piano and voice students on Mondays - Wednesdays, trying to cook supper sometimes, keeping things organized around here, doing my festival job, and volunteering at Ten Thousand Villages - usually a shift every other week, although right now I'm taking a short break from that because my festival job is too busy.

Boy, this must be the longest post I've written. Hope somebody finds it interesting.

Volleyball Tournament in Winkler

Celine is #4 with the ponytail.

Celine had a volleyball tournament last Saturday with her grade 8 volleyball team. They had a good time together and we really enjoyed watching her and her team play. Go Knights!

Entering the work force

Ready to greet the customer.

Well, it's happened. Jonas has entered the work force. A & W - here he comes! Here he is just before leaving for his first official work shift. Likely bussing tables, scrubbling toilets - maybe even flipping a burger or two. Maybe that will come with his first promotion. Well, we're proud of Jonas, and wish him many happy work hours at A & W. mmm, onion rings and rootbeer...

40th Birthday

Gerald bought me this lovely hand carved bowl with salad spoon/fork and necklace/earrings from Ten Thousand Villages. Thanks!!!

Notice the lovely picture on the wall? A chalk drawing of us on our honeymoon at Stanley Park.

See my lovely Gimme my timmies Shirt (and no one gets hurt)? I received some lovely gifts from friends and family. But, the best present was that so many people came to celebrate my birthday with me. Thanks everyone - I love you all!

Costume fun

Red Fall

Here's some red leaves for you Charlene. Most of my englemen ivy leaves were already gone, but one plant still had the leaves on it. We have another tree with beautiful red leaves, but they are all shriveled up already.

FALL

Fall is Gerald's favorite season, so he took some pictures. There's lots of pretty leaves everywhere.

THE PIPE-O-PHONE

Felix did a great job on his sound project for school. Mom and Dad helped along a bit too.

Thanksgiving

Waiting to chow down on ham, mashed potatoes and gravy and carrots. Delish!

















The jacket looks and fits great!

Thanksgiving

Looks like there's lots of Gabrielle pictures. Well, we were doing some birthday celebrating. For Mom and Gabrielle.

I even attempted to make a ladybug cake, even though it turned out to be a pink ladybug.

The Back 2.75

Looks like a pro at mowing the lawn.

The garden did pretty good for the first year. Pumpkins, potatoes, peas, carrots, onions, some corn...

Helping with the carrots and potatoes. A beautiful day for harvesting some garden produce.

Fun at Fall on the Farm

The museum kitties are so much fun to play with.

All right - treats from the general store.

Celine did a great job taking all the pictures and keeping the kiddies entertained too.

Fall on the Farm

Stirring the meagrope.

Jonas was helping out by chopping wood to keep the fires going, and had a minor mishap. A paramedic was on hand to help with the situation.

The reactions from the crowd were the usual - from "That's how we did it too", to "That's not how we did it", to "What are you doing?" to "Gross, what's that?". All the sausage, crackles, rebspea, head cheese were auctioned off at the end of the afternoon as a museum fundraiser.