Mon ami Andre

Andre VanHauvermat
Il y a 5 ans que je m'etais probablement assis au tour de la table de la familly VanHauvermat en train de manger la bonne nourriture que Georgette avais prepare. Andre m'avais beaucoup appris au tour de sa table. Je m'en souviens qu'il m'a toujours dit, "on rompt la pain" et il a souvent essaye de me corriger quand j'ai mal dit une phrase. C'est dans cette maniere que j'ai appris le francais bien parler. J'ai passe beaucoup de temps avec Andre dans les quelques annees que je lui avais connu. Chaque fois que j'ai visite, je devais passer chez eux pour jouer aux cartes! Mes memoires les plus speciales d'Andre serront toujours les moments quand on a joue aux cartes ensembles. Il etait toujours poli et humble meme quand Georgette, Pascal et moi faisaient les betises autour de lui. Alors, j'ai recu la nouvelle aujourd'hui qu'il est mort de la cancer. Ca fait quelques mois qu'il a battit pour sa vie et quelques annees qu'il a habite avec la maladie. Je me demande si c'est mieux pour lui a rester sur terre ou si c'est mieux de passer a l'autre vie? C'est une grande question. Je ne doute pas qu'il est maintenant dans la paix mais je sais aussi qu'il nous manque. A ce moment, il y a des coeur qui sont brise a cause de sa mort. On pleur du fait qu'il nous a quitte pour l'instant. Personnellement, je suis triste que la prochaine fois que j'ai l'occasion de voyager a France, je ne vais pas pouvoir parler avec Andre ni jouer aux cartes ni lui aider dans son jardin. Un jour je le verrai encore et ce jour serai un jour joyeux et heureux pour moi. Je vous aime Andre et vous me manquerai!

Tutoring

I have been tutoring with the Bruce Wells Upperbound Program for over a year now and sometimes I wonder if it is worth my time and effort and more importantly the time that I lose that I should be studying for school. It's been on my mind a lot lately but I can never reach any conclusion. On one hand, it can be very annoying and useless when I go and sit around for two hours because the students don't have any questions on their homework. Last week I went and all the students were in the computer lab. Obviously a bad place to be if you want to get any homework accomplished (believe me I know from personal experience). Most of the kids were occupied with their myspace accounts and the other students had no homework. I sat their for 2 hours wishing I was home doing my own homework. On the other hand, it can be extremely rewarding when I help the students understand concepts that they will use over and over again in the years to come. Today was one of those days. Luckily we had a class room to work in today and the moment I walked through the doors a student came up to me and asked me for help. I helped the kid with his algebra for nearly the whole two hours. I also got to help some other kids on the side. The best part about it all is that moment when you can tell that the student understands the concept and will be able to do the problem again on their own. I love that! So, I guess maybe for now I will stick with it:)

Good Times

My first week of school is over and I am starting to feel the pressure that will hang over me for the next few months. However, I managed to get away from all that crap and go to the Mountain to snow board last night. It was great company, great weather, icy conditions and just a whole lot of fun!! I must say that I am getting a lot better at it and I am becoming more confident with turning toward the front edge of the board rather than riding down sideways the entire time. I also think that with water skiing this can be my new hobbie and I can be set to ski all year round. That's what I call fun. So, if any of you need a nice break and a breath of fresh air, here is the recipe for a great time:
1-Find a great girl/guy whichever applies to you
2-Go to the mountain at night (it's cheaper and pretty fun)
3-Snow Board; try a few summersaults and flips, cause even if you don't try you're bound to do some tumbling and get some snow in your face
4-It is essential to fall down while getting off the chair lift and if you are lucky the person you are with will push you down and cause a pile up as all the other chairs behind you try to get off as well
5-As you're riding the lift make sure to watch all below so that you can learn from their mistakes and laugh a little bit (it's okay to laugh at them because they laugh at you when they watch you from the lift)
6-Finish off the night with some hot chocolate and go to bed happy

Back to Boston

With a SNOW DAY! These are quite the thing for me this winter and I must say that I really enjoy them. I love that the day that was to be my first day back at school was cancelled. It's pretty sweet. I have waisted away yet another day. Add this to the previous three weeks of nothing and you would think that I was the laziest kid on earth. Also pretty sweet. Anyway, I love being back for a new year and I know it's gonna be a lot of fun. Already I have played the wii (tennis, golf and bowling) which has paralyzed my arm and truly brought out my competitive nature, sang in the choir at church, saw all my long lost friends in boston, slept in on a snow day, plowed the driveway (1 foot of snow) and started doing my homework again. So, I guess it all really starts tomorrow, better get ready for it.

Happy Holidays

I've been so lazy lately that I haven't even blogged the holidays. Besides being sick for both Christmas and the New Year celebrations I had such a great time! Christmas is so great when your family is all adults. My family didn't even open presents until like 2:00 in the afternoon, which didn't bother me in the least. My brothers and I decided to buy the nephews a PS2 so that was really the highlight for me. I also rang in 2008 with my family. We started a new tradition last year of having a party on New Year's Eve. We played games, ate yummy prime rib, watched football and had a good time. My favorite part is throwing confetti everywhere when it hits midnight. There is just something about it that is fun.
CJ, Tania, Shannon and Tyler

Christmas afternoon

Mom and Lisel

Our Christmas tree with presents

The boys and their presents

My dad playing guitar hero

Shannon playing guitar hero

Tyler playing guitar hero

Happy New Year

The boys made it to midnight and also loved the noise makers and the confetti

After putting confetti down his pants, Ty got mad at me and shoved confetti all over my face!

In the last two weeks I have done a lot of sleeping in, played a little guitar hero, played borroco with Ty, played other games with the fam, worked a little, seen my good friends, watched a lot of tv, seen several movies and sat on my butt a ton. A much needed break that has felt so good:)

CJ and Tania

I guess my soon to be sister-in-law was a little offended that she was not included in my blog entry about my trip to Las Vegas and Halloween. So, here I include a picture of her and my brother who just recently got engaged. They are getting married on Feb. 9th and I am really excited for them. Congratulations CJ and Tania!

Sunday Snow Day

Who ever heard of having a snow day from church? I don't think I have ever had one, but last sunday was a great time! We had a big snow storm in MA and as a result they cancelled church and I was able to play outside in the snow instead. It was so much fun. We made a big pile of snow and my cousins and I jumped off the treehouse into the pile of snow. Here are some videos of the jumping. I can't figure out how to get the videos to be right side up, sorry about that.

Keaton trying a flip

Bentley hesitated a little but finally jumped

Cutler gives it a go

My sweet front flip