journal your christmas

Another fun project I am going to try... :) For the past few Christmases I have seen this Journal Your Christmas class and loved the results that people posted from their work. It includes journaling prompts about Christmas memories, preparations and events that we're doing during December. I think it will be fun to look back on what we were doing in December 08. You pay for the class once and then you can do it every year for free!

Here's the link: Journal Your Christmas

p.s. by posting this on my blog I might win my class fee back plus a free class for a friend :)

girlfriends on the go

Some of my girlfriends and I decided to try a "make-ahead meals" group where we each get a recipe from this book, make one for each member of the group, then meet up for a fun night of chatting, relaxing and exchanging meals. For this first round I picked Chicken Pot Pie and I must say I thought it was a simple recipe but really good! It's so nice to know that I have a bunch of ready-made meals in the freezer. I'm looking forward to round 2! :)

a little holiday magic ;)

This weekend we had tickets to Rudolph's Pancake breakfast and the Dufflebag Theatre's performance of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I have seen this group perform several times at school and they are fantastic, I knew Delaney would love it. The kids loved that they could have candy on their pancakes. :)

Delaney has not wanted to sit with Santa for the past few years so I was surprised when she hopped right up with him on his sleigh. Dav, as you can see, was not as enthusiastic. :)

There were ice sculptures and a guy making balloon animals - Delaney got a swan.

snow!

Thursday morning I woke to the sound of Delaney yelling "SNOW!" as she looked out her window. The kids had a great time playing in it while we waited for the bus. It's COLD. I definitely take the warmth of summer for granted.

christmas is coming

It's been a busy couple of weeks but I have very few pictures to show for it. I had some friends over for a dinner party (forgot to take out the camera), and went to Watertown with the girls to shop (too rainy for photos) but I DID bring the camera to the Santa Claus parade and managed to take a few. The weather was GREAT and we met up with the gang to watch the parade together. Davin ate candy cane after candy cane and our friend Derk had the foresight to bring a thermos of hot chocolate, cups and marshmellows so that all the kids could have some - nice! A great night.

skating

Sunday was a church wide skating day at the Yardmen and it was Dav's first time on skates. He LOVED it. He had a goofy grin and giggled the whole time. Delaney has really improved too and was able to skate a bit by herself.

As for me, I think I need a new pair of skates. I've always figured that for the number of times I actually go, my old ones are fine, but they are looking pretty old - I think I've had them since grade eight! Yikes!

a happy birthday

We had a fun and busy weekend with Halloween, my birthday and some activities on Sunday too. This year, with the kids so excited about Halloween it brought back many fond memories of birthday parties on Halloween where my friends came over and we would dress up and trick or treat together.
On Saturday we set up Davin's new bedroom furniture (very exciting - more on that later) and then Jen, Bryan and Dad came over for dinner.

And although I figured that our trip to IKEA on Thursday was present enough for me, Stephen surprised me with an ipod! I have been wanting one, especially for running with. Woo hoo!

dress up and candy

The kids were so excited about going out on Halloween and we went to more houses this year. Delaney did most of the "pumpkin-gucking" as Dav didn't want to touch any of it. :) She drew the cat on her pumpkin and I cut it out - she did a great job! Dav wanted a "happy guy". Now if I can just stop eating their candy...

monkey business

I've often been disapointed at Halloween that my photos are dark and blurry so this year I decided to make sure to take photos ahead of time during the day.
Anyone who knows this kid will know that this is a very appropriate costume. ;) I love the ears, the banana and the little monkey belly button (click to see bigger).

bat girl

Delaney decided she wanted something scary for Halloween this year. She was determined that she was going to be a bat. I was sure that I would NEVER find any costume that remotely looked like a bat, but lo and behold I walked into the Walmart costume section and there it was. We did a little trial run on Saturday of her costume and makeup. She was pretty happy. :)

excited

It's been exciting for me this fall to have more time to do little projects that I wouldn't otherwise have time for. There have always been online courses that I've wanted to try and I stumbled upon this one last week. The best part... it's free!
More info here.

wish

I so admire people who are talented writers. There are quite a few blogs I read for this very reason. But this entry is the best one I've read in a while, beautifully written and I can relate.

week in the life photos

Here is a sampling of photos so far this week. It's been interesting to focus on the everyday stuff we do. I'm supposed to do a self-portrait each day as well so it's been fun to experiment with the camera.

Photos are: 1. Dav on the trampoline at gymnastics, 2. on our way out to meet the bus, 3. looking down :) 4. Dav saying grace at supper, 5. the kids at church, 6. Sunday self-portrait