Brenna's 10th Birthday

The biggest issue Brenna had about our move back south was that she would miss having her birthday in Sarnia with her friends.  So, despite the craziness of living apart, managing a move, and building a house from another country, we decided to throw party planning into the mix and celebrate her birthday early so that we could enjoy it with her friends.  

Like every year, she settled on a theme, we designed an invitation, and the planning began.  This year she wanted Neon Glow in Dark.  We decorated the upstairs party table, had neon tie-died t-shirts for a party craft, and built a curtain over the basement entrance to block the light for the 100s of neon bracelets and necklaces that were waiting for the kids.

The party was a chaotic success.  Things got a little crazy during the craft.  There are no pictures of the 15 girls all covered in plastics bags, spritzing tie-die all over the kitchen because it was literally all hands on deck to contain the permanent color.  A mom may have been surprised when she found that her blond-haired daughter now had pink highlights.  They moved the party into the basement where there was lots of screaming in the dark.  It was definitely the loudest party so far.  The girls were covered with glow-in-dark jewelry on the their necks, arms, legs, and heads.

Despite the extra stress it placed on the move situation, I'm very glad we had her party in Sarnia before we left.  This group of girls have been together since 1st grade and it has been such a great group.  Some of these girls have been a permanent fixture at our house since the first week we moved in and they came knocking on the door asking if Brenna could come out and play.  We were very blessed in the house and school that God placed us in and these girls were a big reason for that. 

Wrapping up 4th Grade

EDIT:  By the time this post gets published I will be far behind on updates, we will have made yet another move, and life in general will have turned upside down and then right-side up.  Due to my inability to post while the things were fresh in my mind and the fact that a lot has happened between then and now, the posts that follow will likely be heavy on pictures and light on words.

In May we took our final class trip to a recreation of a First Nations village (or some would say Native Americans, but that only applies if you live in America.  First Nations is the Canadian descriptor), complete with defensive wall fort and longhouses.  There was a lot of running through the woods in the rain, but fun was had by all none the less.  We heard stories about the First Nations history, how they lived in long houses, and we got to view First Nations crafts and weapons

Christian Education Week and the Celebration of Learning

Each year we celebrate Christian Education Week with a list of fun activities for the kids through the week and wrap things up with Grandfriends Day on Friday.  This year the school did a Spring Festival for the community that was themed Celebration of Learning on Wednesday night with a repeat performance on Friday for Grandfriends Day.  Brenna loves being a part of the Junior Choir and had been practicing the songs for weeks singing in the shower, at dinner, and during homework sessions.    

Basketball, Basketball, and More Basketball

At the end of April we wrapped up what has been our longest run of basketball ever.  It started back in October with the Huron Lakers.  After finishing that season we immediately jumped into Upward Basketball, which is a christian-based league sponsored by one of the area churches.  Shortly before Upward finished it's season, Brenna was given the opportunity to play for our schools Girls Junior Basketball Team.  All together this accounted for seven straight months of weekdays practices and weekend games, sometimes as often as three time a week.  I even served as assistant coach for the school team.  But, as much as I love to watch our girl play, it was tiresome by the end of April.  I didn't get a lot of video or photos from the Upward or SCS Junior Team, but I did manage to get some video of their pregame routines.  The kids love the intro as much as the game itself.

The Run Down

Here's a random assortment for the Run Down from our fall and winter!  There were school plays, church campouts, a Dancing Under the Stars Gala, arts and crafts, hockey, a long 3-week span that Jacob was away for work, and lots of snow!

Easter

Brenna's class lead the Easter Chapel with a dance routine to God's Not Dead.  Brenna is always excited to perform and I thought they did a great job.  Also, Brenna was chosen to give the closing prayer for the chapel.

Christmas 2016

At least the first post of 2017 is the Christmas post, even if it doesn't show up until the end of February.  Christmas was alittle different than we had planned for this year.  Jacob was away for work the first three weeks of December, so it was just me and Brenna leading up to Christmas.  The original plan was that once Jacob returned we would enjoy a quiet Christmas here and then afterward we would fly back home to Mississippi to visit with his family.  Unfortunately, the plant has some significant issues and it impacted our plans.  Our two-week holiday turned into weeks of work with no down-time and a lot of stress, for Jacob of course.  Brenna and I, while disappointed about the sudden change of plans, still enjoyed the break and the time off school.

We did all of our usual Christmas activities here in Sarnia.  Brenna kicked off the season with her Girls Alive Christmas Tea.  She enjoyed getting all dressed up for a fun and fancy tea party with her church friends and favorite stuffy.  We made a shopping trip to Detroit to check out the Christmas decorations and finish up our Christmas lists.  This year we even marched in the Santa Parade and collected canned goods and donations for the Inn of the Good Shepherd, our local soup kitchen.  It was Brenna's first parade to actually be a part of.

McAlister Disney Vacation 2017

After three years in Canada, we've learned that it helps everyones perspective on life to take a little break in the winter, find some warmer weather, and leave the dreary cold behind.  So, way back in January we got away for a Disney World vacation.  The weather was perfect, the crowds were low, and we had a wonderful time.

We surprised Brenna with a limo ride from the airport to Disney World!

Huron Laker's Basketball 2016

I'm squeezing one last post into 2016!  At the end of November we finished off our basketball season with the Huron Lakers.  Moving into this more competitive league definitely pushed Brenna on her basketball skills.  She continues to grow in her abilities and I'm so proud of the effort she puts out on the court!  Here's a quick video of her 2016 season!

Family Portraits 2016

As much as I love pictures, I've done a terrible job of regularly scheduling family portraits.  I originally intended to do family portraits every two years.  I managed this for 2007, 2009, and 2011.  It was a good run while it lasted.  Since I've now skipped 5 years, I was determined to have family portraits taken this year.  My original thought was to have pictures taken in the snow to remember our time here in Sarnia, but truth be told I'm not exactly fond of winter.  Instead, I decided that something to mark the beautiful falls we've spent here would definitely spark fond memories later in life.  So, one afternoon in October we met up with a photographer at Wawanosh Wetlands Conservation Park and had family portraits taken.

Fourth Grade School Pictures

Brigden Fair Field Trip

It's not unusual that I'm very behind on blogging, but for the first time ever, it's not my fault!  Despite having posts lined up all the way back to October, I've been unable to update the blog due to an on-going maintenance issue with my image hosting site.  I'll spare you the technical details, but it's prompted me to invest in a new management system for this blog.  My entire digital profile now rests with the giant Google, so let's hope I put my eggs in the right basket for long term security.

Anyway, way back at the beginning of the school year we took a field trip to the Brigden Fair.  We spent the day touring the barns, visiting the animals, and enjoying several "How To" lectures on farming and agriculture.  The kids had a great time and we came home with lots of corn in our pockets.  

First Day of Fourth Grade

What can I really say?  The time is going by entirely too quickly.  What's funny is while I'd like to slow it down in some areas of our life, I'd like to speed it up in others.  Either way, another school year has begun and it's hard to believe that Brenna is in 4th grade.  She was more than happy to kick off another school year, after what felt like the shortest summer so far.  Sometimes I wish I could be more like her in that aspect; always happy to move ahead to the next step.

She's excited about moving up to be a Reading Buddy to one of the little kids, instead of being the little kid that gets read to.  She's excited about trying out her first musical instrument, the recorder, in music class.  They're all excited about the new library, band hall, and art room that they get to break in this year.   And I have to admit that her excitement is contagious.

Halloween 2016

This year for Halloween Brenna randomly decided to be a pirate.  I don't know where the idea came from, but after a quick search she was set on pink pirate costume!  As a christian school, our school doesn't officially recognize the holiday.  So there's no halloween parties and no costume day.  But one of our bus drivers wouldn't let Halloween slip by without alittle fun.

Bermuda Cruise Vacation

We enjoyed our NCL Getaway cruise vacation so much last year, that I immediately booked another vacation on her sister ship, the Breakaway for the next summer.  We would have more than twelve months to wait!  The cruise was booked for Aug 28th, our last week of summer, and this would be our first time to cruise in late August/early September, which is prime hurricane season.  After much consideration, I felt it was safest to book another cruise to Bermuda, since it rarely sees hurricane activity.  It's just a tiny speck of an island all alone in the middle of the North Atlantic.  And of course, with only five days before sail away, Hurricane Gaston began slowly making it's way to Bermuda!  We closely followed its track, knowing there was a possibility that our cruise could be delayed or rerouted.  Lucky for us, with two days to spare, Gatson took a sharp turn east and carried away from the island.  We thought we'd averted the crisis and were off to enjoy a hurricane free vacation.  The only other potential for hurricane activity was just an invest east of the Caribbean that had the potential of getting into the Gulf of Mexico and strengthening.  We knew it may cause some adjustments to the Caribbean itineraries but it would have no impact on our trip......or so we thought!  More on that later.

We kicked off our vacation with a Mom and Me Day!  Brenna and I usually have our annual Mom and Me Day just before her birthday.  This year, because of travel and summer camps, we had to postpone and decided to save it for a trip to the nail salon just before our vacation.  The day before we left for vacation we both got manicures and pedicures followed by a pancake breakfast at McDonald's.  Then it was back home to pack-up for an early morning departure.