Hey, it's been a while - or at least I feel like that as a few things have happened recently. First, my new puppy Quito (pronounced Keeto). She is now 18 weeks and we got her at 10 weeks from a breeder in Enderby. She is a beagle from some quality show lines but I don't care about that, she is just the cutest puppy ever! And from all the smiles we get when we're out, I'm sure others agree. She is super trying though. First it was the seperation anxiety (which is better but not the best still), then it was the biting/chewing everything (which she's still doing but we're puppy proofed better), and now it's the barking because you won't play with me. I tell you, I am so not ready to have kids. This puppy is just way to much work! And the horror I went through a few weeks ago when she ate a bit of IB Profeun tablet. I had to make her vomit and to do so I had to feed her hydrogen peroxide, it was just so awful for me to do! Over the weekend we discovered she has cherry eye, which means her third eyelid has popped out and is all red and gross looking. So she's off to surgery in a couple of weeks. Also, we've started puppy classes but the instructor is just so rude and mean. We'll be signing up through a different company next time. Overall I am definitely enjoying having her with nice walks, playing fetch, her tail wagging everytime she sees me, and my favourite - puppy cuddles.

Other exciting news, my sister had her baby on Sept. 18, a boy, just as I had predicted. James Richard. It was a pretty crazy delivery with an emergency c-section but both my sister and baby are fine. I was able to go up to 150 Mile last weekend for Thanksgiving to meet him. What a chilled out little guy he is. Yay a nephew! I get to buy cute boy clothes now!

Oh, my summertime travels! First it was out to Calgary to be with Kyla and Isabelle. Isabelle who is 2 now is just the cutest little talker now. And Kyla is doing just fine now after the scary hospital thing. She is still on anti-biotics and will be until her kidneys realign themselves but all is fine for now. She is so plump!

Then it was off to Ecuador with Shane and my parents. What an amazing trip!!! We went to some awesome markets, saw a ton of volcanoes (even saw one erupt), saw so many llamas, and were able to see a lot of people wearing their traditional dress. Different ones for each place you went in Ecuador, and it's not that big a country. We stayed in some very old hacienda's, which were just so cold! Even though Ecuador is on the equator, it's very cold there, especially at night because the elevation is so high. And yes, standing in both the north and south hemisphere at the same time is a bit cool. We also visited an Inca site. As part of our trip we went over to the Galapagos Islands. Such an amazing place! A bit pricey to get there but so worth it! The animals, landscapes, sand - it's all so surreal.

Now I'm back at school. Same school as last year. Shorter hours (I'm not doing afterschool care) and I have an assistant in the class with me. Actually I'm onto my 3rd now and she wants to be more of a co-teacher than an assistant so I've decided to let her do some things as I want the stability in the classroom and don't want another new person. So far the year is going pretty well. It's taking longer to establish ground rules as it was difficult having 3 different people but the kids are great. Parent meetings have had good attendance so hopefully some good families to work with this year.