Quitter

Okay, so I gave up on the December photo challenge.  I have many excellent excuses!  It was super busy at our place over Christmas as we had Keith's sister and family to our place for five nights.  It was great to have them...easy guests are wonderful!  We had some great chats, late night hot-tubbing, walks, and lots of fun. 
We wrapped up Christmas officially with the tree coming down yesterday and a final Klassen gathering in Vancouver.
The next big event will be New Year's Eve.  In 2013, I will endevour to speak more kindly to my children.  Less bark!
Today the sun is shining brightly which is a great treat on the grey, west coast and I do believe we will be spending a good part of it outdoors.  A nice long walk somewhere and a chance for Liam to practice riding his new bike.  He's over the moon with it!

Photo Challenge Day 26 ~ Grateful

I'm grateful for my neighbors.  They rock.  And you have to laugh at Granny in the middle holding the cat.  It's not her cat...what a good sport!

Photo Challenge Day 25 ~ Morning

Spending Christmas morning watching Barrett's first Christmas was pretty cool!  He's such a sweet little boy. 

Photo Challenge Day 24 - Favorite Part of Christmas Eve

Spending it with family!

Photo Challenge Day 23 ~ Scarf

William's parents gifted me this gorgeous wool scarf this summer when they brought him to our home.  It's so soft and luxurious.  I wish that I had more occasion to wear it...it's really long and I'm not quite sure how to wrap it properly.
Anyone care to show me?!

Photo Challenge Day 22 ~ Tradition

This is a picture of our beloved church home.  The tradition of coming here for Christmas Eve service is not one I would ever consider missing. 

Photo Challenge Day 21 ~ Peace

Tomorrow William leaves for a visit to China for two weeks.  It will be a peaceful feeling for me to have him away for a while.  Don't get me wrong, he's really a great student but it's a different dynamic when he's here. 

I hope he has a great trip and eats lots of meat.  I think he's been missing eating large amounts of it!

Photo Challenge Day 20 ~ Tree Topper

This is the tree topper that I wish I had.  I don't like mine one little bit.  It's an ugly star.  So, in the post-Christmas sales I'll just have to keep my eyes open for something similar to this cute rusty angel.

Photo Challenge Day 19 ~ Candy Cane

That is the only candy cane I could find in our house.  It's little and lame!

But look at the snow in the back ground!  Yippee!  It's been a snow day but wouldn't you know it...it's my regular day off anyhow.

Pffft.

Photo Challenge Day 18 ~ Stockings

Our home lacks a mantle.  One day my dear husband will build one for me but it's not really high on the priority list.
Until then, our stockings are hung by the bannister with care!

Photo Challenge Day 17 ~ Presents

I'll be perfectly honest and admit I was wrapping gifts last night JUST so I could have something to post on today's challenge.  Like I have admitted previously, wrapping isn't my thing so it is generally something that gets put off until the last minute.  So maybe this was a good thing all around.  Mind you I still have some large awkward things to wrap up.  I think those will be Keith's job to do!

Photo Challenge Day 16 ~ Outside Christmas Lights

Our lights are humble.
We hope to add a little bit each year and then in about 25 years or so charge admission for a Christmas light extravaganza! 
No.
I have wonderful childhood memories of my dad taking us driving at night to see Christmas lights on houses after church on Christmas Eve.  It would help prolong that long anticipated gift opening time that was coming.

Photo Challenge Day 15 ~ Favorite Holiday Song

 

Without a doubt, 'O Holy Night' is my favorite song.  And it must be sung beautifully and simply.  No vocal gymnastics please!

Photo Challenge Day 14 ~ Christmas Tree

Well, I had already posted a picture of my Christmas tree in the early days of the photo challenge so here it is again but a lovelier sight is that of my 14 year old young man all dressed up for MEI's Christmas banquet.
I wonder if next year he'll bring a date?  Yikes!!!

Photo Challenge Day 13 ~ Family

Family by definition is your spouse, children, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and so on.

Family in reality is really much bigger than that.

I consider so many people in my life as 'family'.

I have my work family, my previous job work family, my church family, my friends which are like family and so forth and so on!

The people in my life that really matter to me are my family!

Photo Challenge Day 12 ~ A Beautiful Sight

There is nothing better than watching my boys grow up.  Raising these guys has got to be the most challenging but rewarding thing I have ever done.  Watching Keith be an awesome father to them is pretty cool too.  My boys will always be my favorite sight.

Photo Challenge Day 11 ~ Green

Nathan's character in 'The Grinch Project' was Professor Green.  He was a tree-hugging environmentalist (we've come to a mutual agreement that afros are not a good look for him!).  He played it well and provided a perfect post for 'green'!

Another ACT play is behind us.  Stay tuned to hear which part he gets in the upcoming 'Wizard of Oz'!

 

Photo Challenge Day 10 ~ Wrapping Paper

Tis no secret that I lack creativity.  And therefore I do not enjoy wrapping gifts.  Heck, I don't even LIKE buying gifts.  I find it very stressful.  Sometimes when I just happen to see something in a store that would be perfect for someone (any time of the year)...now that is a happy moment.  The pressure of buying stuff for Christmas just creates so much anxiety.  ANYHOW...I do get past it but once all the gifts are bought it's time to wrap.  Generally, Keith and I wrap the presents together.  You can certainly tell which ones are his.  The paper is cut straight, the tape is perfect, the folding impecable.  Mine are lumpy, bumpy and just plain messy!  The two-sided wrapping paper you see below has been the same massive roll from Costco we've been using for a few years now.  No bows, no ribbon, no gift bags.  Just plainly wrapped gifts are under our tree come Christmas morning!

 

Photo Challenge Day 9 ~ Something You're Reading

I read these numbers every couple of days.

It's my own dang fault I'm in this predicament!  But the good news is that I can do something about it.  So far I am down 20 lbs and exactly half way to my goal.

Oh Christmas, please be kind to my waistline.

PS.  The dial cover is cracked from me dropping my blow dryer on it, NOT from excessive weight!

Photo Challenge Day 8 ~ Ornament

Right after Christmas last year I went shopping for some new tree ornaments (on clearance). They went straight into storage and it was most delightful to discover them this year when I decorated our tree.  I had forgotten all about them!  I love these little ice skates I bought the best.  My tree would never win any awards for beauty or theme but it's country, cozy and just what I like!

Photo Challenge Day 7 - BRIGHT

The set of Nathan's latest production 'The Grinch Project' was bright.  Very bright indeed.  It looked like a dollar store exploded on stage.

 

Two other bright spots in my week were attending Chad's first band and choir concert at MEI and learning that Nathan was cast in 'The Sound of Music'!
Wow...my boys make me bust my buttons.

Photo Challenge Day 6 ~ Shopping

 

Christmas shopping has spilled onto my dining room table making it very and awfully messy!

Photo Challenge Day 5 ~ Today's Temperature

 

This what 8 degrees celcius looks like through Nathan's window.

Photo Challenge Day 4 ~ Joyous

Photo Challenge Day 3 ~ RED

This is my tree skirt.  It's not super pretty. Actually it's a wee bit ugly and rather plain but it's something my mom made out of her old bedspread a long time ago.  Growing up, I thought my parents had the most beautiful red velour bedspread.  When my mom updated their room from the sleezy velour look she couldn't simply toss out this material but had to remake it into something else.  She is Mennonite and we are the pioneers of reduce, reuse, recycle system!  So this tree skirt is nostalgic and therefore it happily will sit under my tree until I can part with it!

Christmas Challenge

I got this idea from another friend and blogger, Sonya.  I am a litle late starting so I'll have to post Day 1 & 2 together. 

 

 Day 1 is my view in the living room on Saturday as I took a few moments to sit and read.

 

Day 2 would be the Sound of Music.  I do realize that this movie hardly qualifies as a holiday film but when I was a young thing it was shown on TV every Christmas and so therefore it's a Christmas memory for me.  I remember laying on my Grandma's red shag carpet and watching it on her console TV while the adults all visited and laughed in the background.  Extremely fond memories!  I love every song in this movie and will torture my children often by breaking into a Sound of Music tune when they least expect it.

 

Production Week!

I will  not be available physically or mentally next week. 

The chaos otherwise knows as production week begins Monday!

Pulling Pranks...the Conclusion

And so, Nathan came home from school yesterday bearing a gift card from Starbucks.  Mrs Drew had told him to take me on a date to make up for such antics.
Ahhhh...I love Mrs. Drew!

Pulling Pranks!

Today Nate's French teacher phoned me at my desk and told me that he was not doing well.  Not handing in assignments...really she was quite disappointed in his behaviour.  She even said that she was considering changing his report card grades!

I was really quite speechless and stammered my way through the conversation.  I was trying to think of why this might be happening as so far Grade 9 has been so great for him!

All of a sudden she told me that Nate was standing beside her and he totally had me pranked!!!!

WELL...this called for revenge so I hustled over to the secondary school to plant a big wet kiss on Nate.

Gosh I love that silly kid!  And I found out he brought his fart machine to school and had gotten few teachers.  Is this my quiet boy?!

My VP came along for video evidence :)

Photo Booth

We finally got to be a part of the latest craze at my cousin's wedding reception.  Very fun!

My cousins Daryl and Teresa were our zany cohorts.

Slowly But Surely

Down 15 lbs.

25 lbs to go.

Can I do it by Spring Break?
That is the goal!

Laundry 101

My Asian son, William does boggle my mind when it comes to his laundry.  His job is to bring his hamper down to the laundry room every Saturday and my job is to wash and dry his clothes.  I've been quite perplexed at the lack of clothes in the hamper on laundry day.  Very few 'underwears' and socks.  Rarely more than one top.  But his most frequent items are coats.  He has at least 12 coats (yes, I counted them in his closet!).  He loves his hoodies, jackets and coats washed.  We have told him before that it's okay to wash hoodies but wool, felt or heavy duty winter coats are not meant to be washed often and usually need to be dry-cleaned.  I was pretty sure we had made this clear last week but it appears he's still trying.  I found his expensive 'Roots' coat (with leather sleeves!) in the wash this morning.

Sigh.

 

A New Way to Read

It's been a while since I received my new Kobo but I am now just reading my first book with it.  Nathan had to load it for me since I am becoming technologically lame in my advanced age.  It's different to read on a screen and I am not quite ready to say if I love it or not just yet.  One thing that I know I do love is reading with it in bed.  No heavy book to prop up....very handy!

Now I need to get back to reading as it's a borrowed book and time is running out.

Bowling

My little buddy had a 'first' yesterday.

 

 

 

His preschool class went bowling.  He really enjoyed himself and after a little lesson in 'rolling' the ball as opposed to 'throwing' the ball he did quite well...even scoring a spare!

Missing the Hot Days of Summer?

Life Changing

As you probably know my longest and most bestest friends are Keri and Kori.  We have been fast friends since we were 13 years old.  I know them very well.  I know their family very well.  As a teen I ate at their dinner table, slept over at their house and went on numerous adventures with them.  They are the closest things I have to sisters.
My friends are hurting right now.  Their older sister Kristin is battling cancer and has a very big surgery coming up on Wednesday to remove her kidney. 
Could you please remember her in prayer?  She needs lots of prayer, her husband, four children and entire family need to be covered in peace as they begin this overwhelming journey.

Thank you.

Kristin is a self confessed 'word' girl and you can follow her thoughts, feelings and progress on her personal blog.

http://canadiankristinconnected.blogspot.ca/

Warm As Toast

I went downstairs on Friday morning and thought the house seemed a bit chilly.  I put the thermostat up to 20 degrees and after a few minutes nothing happened.  So I furiously started pushing all the buttons and decided that our programmable thermostat probably needed fresh batteries.  So amidst the morning rush of getting out the door I was prying off the cover and popping in new batteries.  At this point the program on the furnace was going to put the temperature back down for the day so off we went and I didn't give it another thought. 

When I got home that afternoon I noticed the house had a definite chill.  I went to check the read-out and it was a brisk 18 degrees.  Keith had been in and out all day and hadn't really noticed the house being so cold.  At this point I knew it was not good news.  We went to actually go and look at the old beast to find the pilot light out.  After calling my friend (who's hubby is a HVAC technician) and trying his advice we were still without our furnace.  The pilot light would NOT stay lit.  Thankfully we have our gas fireplace and our bedrooms upstairs all have electric baseboard heaters.  This morning Keith did a bit more research on the internet (what ever did we DO before Google?!) and found that it could simply be a case of needing a new thermocoupler.  Not sure what that is precisely but I do know that one's furnace needs one to work!  This part cost us all of $10 and Keith was able to replace it easily.  Thank goodness!  So we are all toasty warm and happy that we avoided a nasty expense right before Christmas.

The End.

 

Szechuan Shredded Beef Stir-Fry

Szechuan Shredded Beef Stir-Fry recipe at Kraftcanada.com

I made this last night for dinner and I have to say it enthusiastically received.  It was delicious, comforting and economical.
It's most definitely going into my recipe repertoire!
PS.  For our family of six, I doubled the recipe and tripled the sauce.

Cute Times Three!

I may have found a 'work around' for the picture issue.

Look at this cute little boy!  We have to choose one pose for his preschool picture package and it's been tough but we're going with the first pose. 

Which is your favorite?

Blogging Difficulties

Even though I just deleted my entire 2006 archives, blogger says my storage capacity is full and I cannot post anymore photos.
A post without a picture is dull.
Therefore I won't be posting until either this self-corrects or someone sponsors more storage for my blog!

Ciao.

Slow Speed Blogging

I've lost my blogging mojo.

It's been a heavy few weeks. 

I'll hope to be posting a bit more regularly.

Here's just a bit of an update.

 

 We've been doing family walks to enjoy the beautiful fall colors whenever there's a dry weekend.  Almost all the leaves are down now.  It's such a short but brilliantly gorgeous time!

 

 I made my first ever batch of homemade chicken soup.  Thank you Kori for the recipe.  It was so delicious.  The family just raved and raved about it!

 Liam's having some chest issues and is on two puffers right now.  Sadly his cough is crackly and his breathing is too rapid and shallow.  He's also on an antibiotic just in case of infection.  We received some excellent care at our local clinic and very speedy service at the x-ray department of the hospital last night.  He's been perky through it all which is a bonus.  I think that starting preschool has been a bit of an onslaught on his immune system.  Lots of new germs to fight off!

 These running shoes have had a LOT of kilometers put on them since late August.  I have been walking either on the treadmill or outside 6 days a week!  I can walk very fast now and Keith doesn't really like walking with me so much because he says I go too fast.  Since mid-July I have lost 13 lbs so the weight is coming off VERY slowly but that's okay.  I am committed and not going to give up. 

Nothing magical about it.  Basically, the formula has been 'move more, eat less'. 

 Which leads to me to trying to avoid the last of Liam's Halloween candy!

 

 

Today at work I had to make sure that Marci's skirt was regulation length!  Happily it was exactly 10 cm above the knee and she didn't have to go home and change.  All in a day's work!

 

Soggy Halloween

I can't remember the last time we had such a wet Halloween.  For years and years it's be clear and frightfully cold.   This time it was mild so we didn't freeze but we got soaked to the skin. 

Liam was the only one walking the streets as Chad declared himself too old to go out.  Nate hasn't gone out for years as he's never liked Halloween.  They stayed home and answered the door since Keith was out working...aka chasing down fire setters!

The same costume from last year was recycled.  Liam has a closet full of wonderful costumes but insisted on the pumpkin again.  Fine by me.  It's a nice warm outfit and the hood kept his little head warm and mostly dry.

 

The evening before Halloween we introduced William to pumpkin carving.  He did a pretty good job for a first timer and we were even happier that he didn't slice off any fingers in the process.