January 2018

Say it isn't so - THREE blog posts in one week?!?! Yup, Nathan for sure must be gone......;) But before he comes home, let's do January.

We welcomed the New Year like we have since, well, I have no idea for how long: with Jenn and Jay. It is always a fun-filled night and day (we sleep over).

We then headed up to Owen Sound to visit some dear friends of ours. There was so much snow, and it was SO cold, but the company kept us warm and cozy. We spent lots of time playing games, chatting, snowmobiling, chatting, playing and chatting. It was so nice!!

 

 

 Lincoln was quite outnumbered, as there were 4 girls and he was the only boy. The advantage of that is he went on a snowmobile "trip" for an hour or so, while the girls enjoyed sledding down the driveway.

"So, if I push this button, what will happen?"

 

We then combined the snowmobiling with the sledding, by pulling the sleds behind the machines. So much fun!!

 

These two are in the same grade. It took a bit before they were comfortable with each other, but once they discovered they both liked games, the shyness slipped away.

 The gang under 9 years of age...

Back home, we enjoyed the rest of our Christmas Break. Lincoln had this friend over for the first time and they got along amazingly well.

 

Once done playing outside, they played games for quite some time..

 

Lincoln roped in Opa, the opa that has played maybe 3 games in all his life, into a game...good ol' Connect4 :)

Lincoln loves playing games so much that even when he can't find anyone to play with him, he'll play by himself but as if there are two people playing! Love this!!

Lincoln was Star of the Week, which involved filling up a bristol board of pictures of him from the last 6 years. Man, he was so cute!

Nathan had received a 3D puzzle for Christmas. First, all the pieces had to be put together, and then it was ready to be put into 3D.

 

 Ta-da!! This is one puzzle that has not been taken apart yet....

This girl - the flashy and more patterns put together, the better. She thought her outfit she put together herself looked pretty good.....;)

Having some fun with slime!

 

These two have been such good friends since Kindergarten. They got along very well.

Apparently they had to share a chair together, too!!

Trying to beat mom...

Crazy Hair Day!!

 

 

My two goofs.

And that was January!! We had lots of snow, and some very cold days - but lots of sun as well. It was a good month :)

Fantabulous February

Before March is behind us, let me update you with what kept us busy in February. It was another month without snow. This winter, other than December, has been short on snow so far!! I actually don't mind the snow, but I'll take the mild February weather that we enjoyed as well.....maybe if I knew what March had in store for us, I would have enjoyed those mild temperatures even more!!

Fun around the house. This girl and her creativity. She always is making some fin-angled thingamajig, an idea that pops in her head and away she goes, creating, twisting, gluing, tying, stretching, bending - using things around the house in other forms than what they were made for. Below she came up with the idea of using bracelets and pipe cleaners to make herself some glasses. She walked around with these one for the better part of the day. What a clown!! I love it!!

 Oh, and things are not just made for herself....she made sure she had one for her stuffie as well.

Nathan and I managed to get away for 2 nights and 3 days. Not a long time but a blissful time!! We went back to where we went for our honeymoon 18.5 years ago: Sir Sam's Inn. Unlike back at home, there was a tonne of snow here! So we took the opportunity to frolick in it, first by going dog sledding and then the next day by going downhill skiing.

 

 

 I am not usually a dog fan (make that an animal fan), but certain dogs I have an instant connection to and I could take them home. I love these dogs.

 

 

The Sir Sam's ski resort isn't large, but that was just fine for us. Neither one of us had been on skis in quite some time.

 

I feel so incredibly blessed to walk life with this man.

Thank you to my parents who had the kids for a few days!! Speaking of my parents, way back when they celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary, us kids got some trains made as a gift. You see, trains are one of my dad's most favourite things in the world. And seeing that we know a very gifted man that does amazing things with wood, we asked him to make a number of train sets - one for each family. The idea was that the names and birth dates would be burned on and then it could all be displayed.

It took a number of years to actually get the display up, but alas, up it went in February. My parents have this hanging on the wall in their cottage. What do you think?! Doesn't that look pretty cool?!

Ours is the second from the top, on the right. Here is a close up....

 

I notice that everyone in the family has been posted in the above pictures except for one. This monkey of a boy......mischievous, I tell ya! But oh so fun!!

Looks like I'll be back next week as March comes to a close. Enjoy these days, savouring each moment at a time, knowing you'll never get it back. See ya soon!

More of December

January. Wow. Usually it's a month filled with temperatures that are so far under 0, it competes with my age, thanks to the windchill. It's also usually a month filled with bright sun-shiney days. Not this January!! I don't remember having so many grey, foggy, dreary and bleak days in a row like we had this past month. I am so thankful I am occupied with teaching and running my house, or else I would have been in a total different state of mind - and not a good one at that!!

But before January, we had December. Yes, we did have a week of sun (oh, that feels so long ago!), and we even got some snow  as well. Going to the Dominican wasn't the only thing we did. We set up the tree, decorated cookies and the  home, opened up some presents with family, enjoyed some snow-eating, puzzling together, checking out some of the fancy light displays in the neighbourhood are a few of the things that kept us busy.

 

 

 Checking to see if snow still tasted the same as last year.....

 Yup, he's in this picture.....somewhere.....can you spot him?!

Don't worry, a shotgun has been ordered.... :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ack!! Look at all that snow!!!! I am honest when I say I sure hope February will bring with some more white stuff. Looks like I am not the only one that hopes for it....

 

 

A rare treat - enjoying the hot tub. Lincoln and Keziah aren't usually in it as the water is set too high. Nathan and I claim it as ours :)

 

 

Leave it to daddy to be the crazy one!!

Cheering Opa on as he plays hockey.

How the kids sometimes spend their mornings, waiting for the rest of the kids to come to school....loving my smartboard!

 

 Keziah continues to love her music class every week, and one day she decided to compose her own music. We are so proud of her!!

And then, just before our trip to Dominican, like 6 days before, I was loving my favourite snack: roasted chickpeas. Do you know that some can be rock hard?! Yeah, while chomping and savouring, I chomped down on a chickpea and heard a crack. My back molar cracked right in half!! In fact, I went to the dentist the next day and it had cracked completely to the roots. It came right out :( That left me with hardly a tooth yet all the roots.

The dentist took the "chip" out......

 ....and sent me to here....for oral surgery! I was put out so they could get the rest of the tooth out and then did a bone graft from my jaw so that it was prepped for when I am healed for an implant.

It was AWFUL!!!!! I would so much rather give birth!! Oh wait....never mind :) But seriously - it was terrible. I couldn't handle the pain killers but that wasn't the worst of it. The worst of it was the smell of my breath and how my mouth "tasted" for almost a week. It was so disgusting. 

Thankfully, it all healed well and the pounds I lost from not eating much at all were quickly gained before the week was out, thanks to the buffets at our resort :)

(and yes, I still eat those blasted chickpeas........just more carefully)

There. December in a chickpea shell  nutshell. It was a fun month! Also a month where my baby turned 5. 5!!!!! How did that happen?! But I am thankful it did!! 

Next time!! Take care!