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!

Happy New Year!!!

Where have you been?! I've missed you!! :)

Not only has December come and gone, so has the year 2016. I can't believe I haven't written on here since the end of November. I do miss writing and sharing. Not only has my writing slowed down a bit now that I am teaching part-time, so has my picture-taking! Previously I was taking on average 250 pictures a month (I know, I know.....). Now? I am lucky if I hit 100!

However, for the last month of December, I managed to take over 300 pictures. Why? Well, this may have something to do with it: we surprised the kids by taking them to Punta Cana, Dominican of the Republic over Christmas.

We didn't tell them until they were done school, with just a few days left before we went. They were pretty excited! The night before, we got "ready" by spending a good hour doing this:

 

Early the next morning, we were up and at the airport, eager for some warmth! We got it near the end of the day, when we arrived at our resort: Grand Bahia Principe Fantasia.

Of course, Lincoln was in his glory, what with all the food he could eat whenever he wanted! Ice cream was a staple at least twice a day!

 

The resort had a small water park, much to the delight of this girl, who spent a lot of time there.

Lincoln on the other hand wanted nothing to do with the water slides.

Jumping the waves on our first day...

Life is great, huh?!

 

 

The dessert cart for kids at the buffet :)

Lots of games of Spot It and Uno played poolside:

 

My handsome men on Christmas Eve:

My beautiful daughter:

 

Don't let the above picture fool you - he wasn't always that chipper at suppertime. Typically he looked like this at dinner time. There's even dessert in front of him in the second picture!!

 

Although we spent most of the time at the pool, we would hit the beach for an hour or so to play in the waves and enjoy the soft sand.

I just love this picture of Keziah running to Nathan.

Nathan is teaching Keziah how to ride the surf....

 Waiting for a good wave.....

This one will do!!

Gotta love the goggles :)

 

Fun in the pool! It was getting to the point I was wondering if I should also put sun screen on the bottom of this girl's feet as they seemed to be more in the sun than her face!

Santa came to visit at our resort - not that our kids would go anywhere near him. But it was fun to see how he arrived when there wasn't any snow. Via helicopter!!

 

 

 

Another picture I absolutely love:

Lincoln LOVED the long and skinny breadsticks :)

 

Keziah waited in line every single day for a new balloon animal. She adored each one:

These two had such a great time together.

 

 

This diva girl worked up enough nerve to have a small live monkey placed on her head!! I wasn't allowed to take pictures as they want you to buy the ones they take, but this happened on our last day so we couldn't buy one as the pictures weren't ready yet. Oh well. She knows she did it and that's what counts!!

Lincoln found sand in the planters by the pool - a great spot to play with his cars and trucks!

 

We sure didn't read our average of 9 books when we go away for a week - not with the kids with us! But at least we got to read 2 each....

But alas, it was time to go home. Despite a 3 hour delay due to this....

....we were thankful we actually even made it to the airport as our bus broke down 4 kms from it! We got home much later that night than anticipated but the kids travelled so well. Having non-stop TV may have had something to do with it... :)

We actually came home so late, we could say Happy Birthday to the youngest member of our family! But it didn't really register with him as he was so tired.

Overall we had such a great time as a family. While the service was absolutely terrible at this resort, everything else was great! We kept telling ourselves we'd prefer awful service than awful food. It was hard though at times as we knew what we paid for the trip, which includes paying for the service.

We loved taking the kids but the next time it'll be just the two of us again! We missed our time together. However, if these are the kids that come with us, we are thankful it's them - they were fantastic and a pleasure to take.

I know it's a little bit late but from our family to yours: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! :)