Read a notice at the boys' school today. A Nintendo GameBoy was lost and a reward has been offered to anyone who returns it or provides information on the whereabouts of it.

Last Wednesday, Nolan's shoes went missing in school, then mysterious appeared in the middle of the hallway a couple of days later. I did talk to the school secretary about it. Not demanding an investigation. Just to make enquiry on where I could possibly find missing items. As expected, the response was something like: we can't really do anything about it, except to keep an eye out for the shoes, in case they show up. Okay. It a pair of $15 Walmart shoes. However, the fact that someone would take them, knowing that a fellow student needed their shoes to get home, annoyed me.

We made a special trip to town to buy Nolan another pair of shoes only for him to wear them to school for one day before his old shoes(which was actually quite new, by the way) showed up. When I reported to the school that we had got the shoes back, the reponse was the same: we can't really do anything about it. However, a confession was made: similar incidences have occurred before; probably just some mischievous behaviour.

Although, the monetary values are different, taking a Nintendo DS from a fellow student is just another mischief. How come the school will go as far as to offering a reward to find it for the student who should not have taken such expensive toy to school in the first place? Is the school authority silently giving students permission to take valuable things to school? Will we soon see the school notice board covered with "Reward Offered" posters, and teachers searching students backpacks because so and so has lost a $100 watch?

We could hardly believe our eyes when we saw snowflakes flying outside. Afterall, it was Easter weekend. It can still be a bit chilly. But snow? If I remember correctly, this is the first time in my 12 years of living in Canada that I have seen snow fall and stay in April. The boys would have loved some warmer weather so we could go out for a bike ride. However, building snowman in the yard was fine by them, too. Inspired by a character in Flushed Away, Nolan carved the snowman into a frog-like creature and gave it a French name.

I used to be very afraid of balloons, to the extend that I could not stand less than 3 feet away from one. Then along came the children. Almost every special event we took them to, there would be a clown or somebody handing out balloons. A brithday party would be no fun without them. It became a choice between my curing myself from some kind of phobia and depriving my children of some essential element of a happy childhood.

The choice was clear. The first time we took Nolan to a Santa Claus Parade, we drove home with a balloon tied to the handle of the passenger seat right behind me. I had goosebumps the whole drive home.

Gradually, I grew brave enough to handle them. Yes, BRAVE is the appropriate word. 3 years ago, Kaelin became interested in balloon animals and wanted to learn to make them. That was a challenge. Not only did I have to touch, hold, pass, throw and pick up balloons, I now had to blow them up, then twist, squeeze and bend them into all sorts of shapes. I managed to did it somehow.

In the process of learning how to make balloon animals, I have had quite a few balloons blow up in my hands and at my face. The loud pop still gives me shock. Every time I bend or twist a balloon, it gives me goosebumps. But I am not afraid of balloons anymore. My phobia has been cured.

Love has once again overcome fear.

Lucky for us, the temperature dropped considerably yesterday --- from middle teens on Tuesday down to 2 yesterday morning --- and remained at ideal "maple sap collecting" range. We yielded 2/3 of a 10 litre jug. The boys class is having a popcorn party tomorrow. Maybe after having some with waffles tomorrow morning, there will be enough to make maple syrup popcorn for them to take to the party.

Today's weather has been more or less like it was yesterday, but with nice sunshine instead of clouds. Gary and I checked just now and could not believe how full the pals were. Our 3rd bottle of maple syrup is definitely on the way! Judging by the weather forecast, we may even get our 4th and 5th.

Thank you Mother Nature! Thank you maple trees!

In 2 days, we yielded about 10 litres of sap. After a total boiling time of about 12 hours, we have made enough maple syrup to have with waffles tomorrow morning. We left the pals on the trees after collecting the final batch this morning for the boiling process. By 5 o'clock this afternoon, we collected about 3 litres of sap. At the current rate, we may be able to make the same amount of maple syrup in a couple of days.

Nolan and Kaelin are still very enthusiastic. They checked the pals as soon as they came home from school. When I told them that it was time to go collect the sap, they jumped right into their boots. I guess they just cannot resist the reward which they have to work hard for: sweet, refreshing home-made maple syrup. Let's just say that we have all had a little taste of it and are looking forward to having the rest with our breakfast tomorrow.