Inspiring videos

Gives me goosebumps every time I watch it...

It's a great reminder of how fortunate and lucky I am and that we can do whatever we put our minds to if we choose to.

Darryl

Exciting playoff games

No matter what the sport, there is nothing better than watching a great playoff game! Warriors trailing most of the game, come back for an exciting win to clinch the series against OKC, who no one thought would put up this much of a fight against the record breaking Warriors lead by Steph Curry.

Think I might wear my Curry jersey to school tomorrow!

Cavs vs Warriors in the Finals! Should be a great series!

Kids softball tournaments

Win some, lose some. In the end it doesn't matter when the girls are all having fun!

Good times and good weather!

Go Fighting Saints!

Coach D

Noah

What can I say? I LOVE this kid!

Awesome in so many ways and I was lucky to have a special daddy son night with my little guy while his sister went to a friends place for a sleepover.

Amazing football game today! 2 TD's, 2 pt convert and threw for a td! A couple of good runs too! Defensively, forced a safety and was a flag pulling, run stopping machine!

Tonight it was build a model light together, pizza, movie and popcorn, and watching the Gooden State Warriors in an unbelievable come from behind win to force a game 7! Woohoo!

Did I mention I love this kid?

Well, I do!

Thankful for my little guy...aka NIB, Noah, my special little guy.

Love Daddy

Taking kids shopping for books

Yup, it's the librarian in me coming out again....I love to see kids reading. Ok, correction...I love to see anyone reading! It doesn't need to be a book, it could be a magazine, a driver training manual, the newspaper, an ebook, something online, you name it. If it's something they enjoy reading and want to read, let them read it! Heck it could even be reading the backs of hockey cards!

No matter what age you are or what you're reading, reading stimulates the brain, makes you smarter and heck, even makes you look more sophisticated, more intelligent, and yes, even makes you look sexy!

One of the best parts of my job is that I get to buy books. Today I took some students to Chapters and they each got to pick out 2 books they'd like to read and I bought them for them (ok, they get added to my library when they're done with them, but hey get to pick what they want to read. How cool is that? Now we're not talking about the keen readers of the school, these are some of the kids who you wouldn't think would pick up a book and read in their spare time. But what I'm doing is giving them choice and the opportunity to pick something that  hopefully engages them and makes them want to read not only today but also the next day, and the day after that, and so on. 

Pretty cool and rewarding when you see a kid pick a book they want to read and it puts a smile on their face!

T-l Darryl

Swings

It doesn't matter how old you are, swings are fun!

😊

D, A & N

Bocce Ball

Kind of a drizzly day/evening. Noah was bummed that his tennis was cancelled so I suggested we go to the park and play some bocce ball.

"What's that dad?"

"I don't know how to play!"

"Don't worry, it's easy....lets go!"

So we laced up the shoes and headed across the street with our brand new $20 Bocce Ball set courtesy of Walmart!

What a hoot! Up and down the park, over the path, beside the storm drain, uphill, downhill, side hills, flat field. You name it, we covered it with Bocce! 

Not bad for his first game ever (team blue was Noah!)

We all had our good shots, our in between shots, and our "that was terrible" belly laugh shots. In the end, we all won!

Top it off with some time on the play structure and swings, and it was a great night!

Can't wait to play round 2 of the Bussiere Bocce Pro Tour!

D

Crazy kids!

Belly laughs and tickling matches! And the threat of a smooch from his sister is enough to ensue full out giggling, chasing, laughing, tackling fun for all! Absolutely priceless!

Love these 2 like nothing else in the world!

D

Long runs

By far my longest run in quite some time. The best part was that I felt great through the whole run! 

Not bad if I do say so myself! It's days like these where I'm thankful that I have that extra day off (May long weekend) and nothing that I needed to get done. So, after breakfast and doing s few things around the house I decided to lace up the old sneakers and go for a bit longer of a run. Not really planning where I was going to go, I just took off and ran like Forrest.

At the end of the run I felt great and thought I could have kept on going for a few more km's but figured I'd better get home and refuel instead. As I was making my way home I had 1 thing on my mind....today is a Slurpee day!

Lunch first, then an invite to play a little catch in the park, a quick trip to the LBS, a few groceries and then finally, 7-11.

I don't have them very well often but today it was magical, perfect, a syrupy delight! Top it off with some chips and dill pickle dip and I can pretty much cancel out those 1800'ish calories I burnt on that run.

Top it off with some sports hi lights on tv and I might as well be in heaven!

#totallyworthit

#doingitagainsoonerratherthanlater

#victoriadayrocks

Speedy D

Long weekend projects done early!

7 yards of crusher dust....yup, I crushed it! Done phase 1 of deck prep. Now I just need to finalize my deck project and order the lumber!

Bring it on!

Gonna need some help with phase 2!

The best part is, I still have tomorrow off! A running I will go!

DB

Last minute supper inspiration

Hmmmm.....chicken that needs to be cooked. Gale force wind outside so BBQ'ing isn't the best option. What to do....hey, I think I have some taco stuff on the pantry. 

Cheese...check

Lettuce....check

Tomato....check

Tacos...check

Taco seasoning....check

Beer...check

Throw it all together and Voilà!

Raptors game on...check

Delicious!

D

Productive days off....landscaping part 1

7:30 am...7 yards of crusher dust delivered....unfortunately because of the tight tight opening and lamp post in the alley, the truck wasn't able to back up as far as I'd have liked it to. Not a big deal, could be worse.

8:00 am...off to Rona to get some landscaping felt.

8:30 am...time to get to work!

My wheel barrow and shovel...tools of the trade for the day!

Before...

After...

Took a bit of a dent out of the crusher dust!

Tampered it down by hand and ready for layer 2 Saturday....after flag football games.

Getting it done Darryl

Professional Development Days

PD days we teachers call them...days without students. While working with kids is the reason we do this job, it's safe to say that teachers do enjoy PD days where we don't have students in the building to teach. 

Whether it's prep time, meetings, division inservice or the cinnamon buns at the staff meeting in the morning, these days are golden! Sure they aren't always the most productive and sometimes the meetings and inservice you sit in on are not the best PD, but regardless, we're still getting paid and we get a break from the day to day grind that wears a teacher down and makes us look forward to those sacred long weekends and summer holidays!

Other times, the PD days fly by and the info you get truly inspires you with new ideas and gets you excited about getting back into he classroom with your students to try something new. 

Regardless, I, along with many other teachers look forward to these days where you can kick your feet up a little, take that little longer lunch with those colleagues that you don't always get to chat with when you'd like, and just breathe!

Just over a month until summer holidays...but who's counting?

ME!

Helpful people

I want to build a deck and do some landscaping this summer. So, step 1 was to call to get some base to put under the deck. But, what do I get? There are varying opinions out there so I just called a landscaping supply place to get some prices and see what they have to say. I was expecting some gruff, constructiony type of guy on the phone but instead I had a great conversation with likely one of the most helpful people I've encountered in a while. He told me the benefits of various different products and then did all the calculations on he spit for me. Ready to say I'd call them back other, I thought quickly to myself, why bother? His guy knows his stuff and was about as friendly and helpful as I could have possibly wanted.

So, Friday morning at 7:30, I have 7 yards of crusher dust being delivered. Let's get my deck started!

Ready to roll up the sleeves and do some hard core wheel barrowing,

Darryl

Field trips...Pasqua Reservation

Today I accompanied a grade 10 Native Studies class out to Pasqua Reservation high school. What a great way to spend the day. Teepee raising, elder talk, a couple of fun activities and some free time at the beach @ Echo.

Lots of sunshine and fresh air and a great opportunity to meet some new people.

Another tough day at the office!

Mr. B

Bonus nights with my boy!

Beautiful evening...perfect for tennis....green light to go play tennis with my little man.

Think he was happy to spend nearly 2 hours on the court with his dad?

I think so! Almost as happy as his dad was to spend some extra 1 on 1 time with his favourite little guy in the world! 

Perfect night with an awesome kid!

Love you Noah!

D

Sunday evening walks

Still warm enough for shorts...gotta love spring! The sun sinking in the prairie sky and a nice walk in the park to cap off a great weekend. Always a nice time to reflect on all that I have in my life and all that I'm thankful for. So, much to be thankful for, including beautiful evening walks like tonight.

Darryl

Football filled weekends

It was kickoff weekend for the flag football season. And what a great weekend it was! 

Noah's Dolphins started off the season with 2 convincing wins, 1 over the Seahawks and the other Texans. Very proud of these boys as they've come together very quickly after only 4 practices. Way to go Dolphins!

Abi's 49ers also had a great start to the season. They started it off with a 1 sided tilt against the GITG Cowboys. The girls were amazing considering we've only had 6 girls at each practice so far. The second game today was a more challenging one. The female 49'ers were leading the all boy Redskins at the half with some great efforts by the entire team. Unfortunately the Redskins had a couple of scores in the second half to seal the victory. All in all, I was very proud of the effort of all the girls from the first snap to the final play. Way to go girls!

A beautiful day for football in Saskatchewan!

Coach Darryl

Outlook reminders

So I'm having lunch with a colleague and my email is open. The clock strikes 1:00 and my computer "dings". My 1:00 meeting is about to begin! Crap! Totally thought it was next Friday and not his Friday. Quickly pack up and jet off to my meeting...fashionably late but at least I made it!

Thanks outlook!

D

Thursday's

Why be thankful for Thursday's you might ask? Because the day after them is always a Friday! And after a week like this one, I really needed Friday to come sooner rather than later!

Darryl

Smart students

Yesterday I had to administer a French Language and Culture AP exam for 8 students. The exam was quite gruelling for them. A multiple choice section, respond to prompt section, persuasive essay, email response, and an oral section where they had to speak in French in response to several prompts. All in all, the kids were there for 4 hours. 

That being said, they were all awesome and didn't complain at all. They all tried wit best and showed why they are some of the top students at my school. I was very proud of all of them!

Go French Immersion Go!

Mr. B

Rainy days

Sometimes it's nice to have those good old fashioned rainy days. 

It's been dry around here. Real dry. How dry is it?

It's so dry that the swimming pool closed two of its lanes!

It's so dry that the cows are giving evaporated milk!

It's so dry that dogs are marking their territory with chalk lines!

It's so dry that the river is only running twice a week!

Ok, you get the idea. Well, today changed everything. It's been raining non stop since mid football practice last night. Of course I just washed my car, but I'm not complaining. The grass is turning green, the trees and flowers are budding and the dusty brown fields are going to come alive as soon as the sun comes out again!

With the rain also means no softball practice for Abi which means we've got some time to hang out while Noah is over at a buddy's house. So.....

After running through a few parking lots and jumping around the puddles (socks are a little squishy), we headed home and got busy!

Crank up the music, bust out the dance moves, open the recipe box and get our epically amazing chocolate chip cookies going!

Mmmm...nothing better than some cookie dough is there Abi?

Wait a minute, I'd better sample some too!

Get them in the oven so we can get them out and into their proper place...in our BELLIES!

Delicious!

We even shared some with Noah's friend and his family. Sharing is caring, isn't it Abs and Nono!

Guess what's in their lunches for desert tomorrow?

D

Finding that cool way to display your kids art

Ahhh, the Google machine. What did we ever do without it?

Abi and Noah are proud of the art work they produce. Unfortunately that only lasts as long as when they show it to me and hen it gets added to the pile in a Rubbermaid bin. 

Well, no longer is that the case! VIOLA!

Thank you IKEA! ( with a little help from my IKEA supplier Trevor in Edmonton...thanks for picking it up buddy!)

Finally had a little time to hang it last night on our art wall and the kids were just beaming when they were hanging their art. 

Can't wait to see what else they create for our wall! I think I'm going to need a bigger wall!

Pablo Bussiere

My mom

Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there, especially my own.

Today, and every day, I am thankful for my mom. She truly is an amazing woman. She is the reason I have become the person I am today. She has always been there for me through the thick and thin. She knows how to listen and knows when to offer her advice to me. She's known when to hold my hand and known when to let go and let me figure out things for myself. Sure we've had our moments where we haven't seen eye to eye but regardless, I know that she loves me unconditionally as do I love her. I've learned how to parent, how to be independent and how to be a better person from our times together and our times apart. I know I don't say it nearly enough, but I love you mom! 

Thank you for being the perfect mom for me and I'm so glad that you are such an important part of my, and my kids lives. We love you so much!

Happy Mother's Day

Love,

Darryl

Good home made BBQ burgers

I LOVE a good burger! Today was the perfect day to make some home made burgers for supper with my parents in town visiting me and the kids.

Load 'em up. Lettuce, tomato, pickles, cheese, BBQ sauce, & ketchup! Mmmm good! And there are leftovers for tomorrow! Woohoo!

Going to be another good day for a BBQ tomorrow. 

I love burgers!

DB

Friday night football practices...and post practice fun!

What a night! 4:30 practice for the Dolphins flag football team.

Now I'm no Don Shula but I'm liking our squad this year and I'm thinking if all goes well, we have a pretty good chance to put some W's up in the win column. An hour flies by with these boys as they're full of energy and wanting to get at it! After warming up, they rotated through stations of passing/route running, hand-off and snap practice, and flag pulling. Fun was had by all and the boys responded very positively to their coaching. Then the real fun came! Scrimmage!

The boys rotated through positions and did a great job learning the plays that we practiced. Can't wait until our next practice on Monday so we can further fine tune those skills!

5:40...quick supper and get ready for the 49ers practice (Abi's team). Once again we had a pretty thin showing (only 6 of 11 girls were there), but a couple of new faces added to the fun. The girls had a blast just warming up, chit-chatting and getting to know one another.

Looks like we have a couple of good additions to our team this year so far. Ran through the same drills as the boys did and it was great to see them taking this so seriously. These girls are sponges. They're so attentive and so want to please and do everything "right". A pleasure to work with. Got a chance to run through plays with the girls as well and they had a blast too! Looking forward to getting the whole squad out on Monday!

To top the evening off, one of Abi's friends (along with a couple of her friends), joined us along with our neighbours from the football game last week too for  a little game of touch football. Why not eh? The old saying "time flies when you're having fun" was perfect for the evening! Our touch football game turned into a soccer game and before we knew it, it was almost dark out!

Fantastic evening and fun was had by all!

Can't wait to do it again!

Darryl

Hot spring days

Wow! And it's only the first week of May!

Let's hope it sticks around for summer holidays!

D

McHappy Day

Today was McHappy Day! $1 from every Happy Meal, Big Mac Meal and hot beverage goes towards Ronald McDonald House. Couldn't think of a much better cause than helping out families who have sick kids in the hospital. A small price to pay for consuming some fast food! 

I feel very fortunate that I have never needed a great place like this but know that there are 1000's of families who have been in a situation where they have used the Ronald McDonald house. There is nothing worse than sick kids and I can't imagine what it would be like to be in a position where I would need external help such as this while a child needs medical care. 

I'm thankful that organizations/charities such as this exist and the it helps lessen the burden that families feel when their child needs such medical care.

Darryl

My paddle board

1st time out this year! +27 and little wind. Quickly zip home after work, grab my board and paddle and off to Wascana Lake I go!

What a perfect day to be out on the lake. I came across the Wascana canoe and kayak racing club, some group kayak lessons for kids, some leisurely kayakers, and a handful of fellow paddle boarders!

Can't wait to take her out on Shell Lake this summer!

Up the creek with a paddle,

Darryl

Opening Day

Game 1 of the softball season for the Fighting Saints. What a beautiful evening for the season opener. It was about +21 at first pitch with barely a breath of wind. An absolutely perfect night for ball! The smell of the grass, the fresh chalk lines, and the shout of "play ball" from the ump officially signals the beginning of spring! 

My daughter got the nod as the starting pitcher and I was a very proud dad, coach, and fan. 

It was a tight one to start the season off against the Cubs and even though the Fighting Saints came up 1 run short in the end, the girls all left the field with big grins on their faces. Truly the reason they play!

Great start to the season girls!

Coach Darryl

Days that make you think about how things all began

Today was one of those! Puts a smile on my face when I think about it. Look how far we've come!

Darryl

Making up stories that put a smile on your kids faces!

"Hey dad, how's Bubbles doing?"

"I haven't seen him all weekend until today. He said he was on an adventure and ate a king for lunch and a princess for breakfast"

"Bwahahahhha!

FYI....Bubbles is the dragon. Freddy is the polar bear.

Spinning a mean tale,

Prince Daddy

Weekends full of basketball

Last tournament of the club bball season! 4 games for Noah and 3 for Abi. The competition was tough but a great weekend for both kids!

Next up, flag football!

Coach D