happy halloween!

here are some of my halloween costumes of the past... my miss piggy one is the costume i remember fondly. i also remember it quite clearly, although that may be because we have a very funny home video of josh & i on that halloween. it's my favorite video because we're not doing much, but it's a glimpse into the life of the klassen's in anola. 

happy halloween, may it be a fun day with all of your kids, dressing up and getting treats! 

OK

OK - stands for 2 things in this post
Olga Klassen - my most wonderful grandma, who I miss constantly and am so thankful for.
and OK - is how I'm doing, today it has been one year without her, and it feels like it was just yesterday and also like it has been much longer.
i keep a picture of her hands in my office at work. they were so representative of who she is.
they were calloused from a lot of hard work. they were strong. they were used to make endless meals and buns "something to bite" (as grandpa always said..) for her family. they were serving. they were loving. they were constantly folded in prayer & thanksgiving.
one thing i really miss is how she used to hold my hand when i was telling her something serious or hard. there is so much i wish i could be telling her now. but, one thing i have no regret about, is that i have NO DOUBT that my grandma knew how much i loved her. and i know it was mutual.

here is the slide show my auntie made for grandma's funeral. watch it if you have a minute, and see a little glimpse into the life of my wonderful grandma

winter memories

so i realize it may be too soon for some of you to see a photo of snow.. i mean, it's only october!

but i have winter memories on the brain today. 

when i woke up and looked out the window i couldn't get over how beautiful it was outside

there was a layer of frost over everything, and there was a heavy, thick fog. not the easiest for driving, but hey, it was beautiful. and my drive to work is only 5 minutes so i could afford to go extra slow. 

i love the crispness in the air, and the way the ground was crunching under my shoes

i love that i get to wear a nice warm sweater today and drink a hot mug of tea.

and this afternoon i'm going to go to michaels for a little shopping trip.. to get stuff to make christmas cards. winter is just around the corner.

when i was walking to get my tea i had to pass through a bunch of cars idling in the drive thru, the smell of the exhaust and the near by gas station in the air made my mind fill with memories of winter, specifically the smell of the exhaust from snowmobiling with my dad. being snuggled up in my warm winter coat, snow pants, scarves, mittens.. waiting for my dad to pull up with the sled. building forts with my brother and digging tunnels in the ditches. seeing the frost build up on my dad's mustache. coming inside for a warm drink with my mom. and.. getting stuck in the middle of a stack of haybales...  winter is full of good memories and adventures. 

i'm not looking forward to the endless cold, come january... but the crisp air only brought back the good memories for now :)

music brain

i have music on the brain

and my brain is tired!

with michael away all weekend I tried to fill up all of my time studying
i have my dreaded music history (studies in 19th century music) midterm tomorrow
my prof is a musical genius. he knows everything there is to know about music history, and i genuinely think that every day that he gets to teach, his head pops off his pillow with excitement that he gets to share his love of music with another sleepy eyed class. that's probably what gives him the energy to bike to school on the coldest days (and he bikes in jeans, a dress shirt and a blazer. the best!)
sadly, my head does not pop off the pillow with the same enthusiasm
i'm probably the one "music student" that strongly dislikes the study of music
but i want to finish my degree, and 2 music history courses are standing in my way, so i've chosen to just take them, head on. but i'm just tired.

we finally convinced my prof to give us a list of terms & composers to learn for the test. his first answer was "but then you will only learn those terms. i want you to know the whole text book!" hmm not going to happen! Instead he gave us about 40 terms/composers and 19 songs to learn as well. we have a listening portion as part of the test, he plays a 30 second clip and you have to identify the title, composer, year, genre & 4 characteristics of the piece. more than one of the 19 pieces we have to know is over an hour long... it's been a long weekend!

in just over 12 hours I will be writing the exam, and I will be so glad when it is over. i want to do well, but right now i'm frazzled. i have been having to take breaks, or else my eyes just glaze over my cue cards. right now i'm typing as i listen to one of the hour long pieces.

my plan is to try and be in bed around 10:30, wake up around 6, get a big starbucks americano, drive to the school, and glaze over my cue cards right up until the minute my prof says we can start writing. i'm a crammer all the way :)

cue cards and coffee. necessities for music students.

hope everyone else's weekend has been more fun.

2 wonderful klassens.

on thursday next week it will be one year since life without grandma

i miss her so incredibly much

this year has been without her, physically

but she has left such an impact on my life

and I think on the lives of everyone in our family

we had a klassen birthday party last weekend

and we talked about grandma, and grandpa

my auntie had brought some old photo albums to give to everyone

and this was one of the pictures in my album

which made me think of both of them all that much more

we were showing the pictures to everett

pointing people out and telling him who they were

he seemed quite confused when we showed him a picture of daddy & auntie.. where we were both little kids. he said "auntie??" and "daddy??" looking at us like, really??

but the thing that stood out for me was that without any prompting

Ev kept pointing at my grandpa saying "poppa!" (what he calls my dad)

it made me smile because Ev never knew grandpa, yet he knows grandpas character

through my dad

just like my grandpa, my dad is a hard worker. with a gracious spirit

quiet strength and a LOT of patience

just like my dad, my grandpa could do anything

and always encouraged us that we can be anything

before grandpa died he asked us to do 2 things as a family

1. take care of grandma

2. stay united as a family

so much to learn from grandpa

this weekend the klassen boys are going on their annual "klassen canoe trip" although, they won't be canoeing much this weekend, since it's so cold. but they will be camping together, spending time, united, as a family. i think grandpa would be so proud

grandma has been very present in my life this year

in showing me how to live graciously

and to be a hard worker, servant hearted

and to know how to laugh easily.

i miss so much about her.

i am so thankful that they are both happy & strong in heaven

cancer free!

but I still wish they were here.