The Key to the Rest of Our Lives

Here it is!  This is what we have been dreaming of for years ... the key to our "forever" house.  The place where we will grow our own food, raise happy and healthy children (hopefully), and some animals too, entertain friends old and new, laugh and learn together, and much, much more ... and it all starts here with this key!

We took possession on Friday and decided that, although we won't be moving in for a few weeks, we would spend this first night in the new house!  The boys got to work right away exploring our backyard.  One suggested it would make a good baseball field and off they went, stopping briefly to examine the little stream (boys do not possess the ability to walk by water without at least stopping briefly ... it's a well documented fact!).

While looking around, we discovered deer tracks by our back door and are anxiously awaiting the first sighting -- boy, is that deer in for a surprise when it realizes that 4 kids and a dog have moved in!

The boys really wanted to play hide and go seek in the empty house, so everybody joined in and it turned out to be a ton of fun!  It turns out that Laurel is a surprisingly good hider!

The sunset was spectacular for our first night's stay.

6 sleeping bags in one room ... sounded like a good idea at the time ... not much sleep was had by anyone.  But it will be a night that we will remember for a long time.

So, here we are at the beginning of a new journey and we are all very excited.  There is much work to do, but no longer will we have the excuse "when we get a new house".  The house is ours, and I have the keys to prove it!

the cottage

Sun, sand, water ... what could be better?  We have just returned from celebrating family and summer at my family's cottage.  This cottage has been in my family for as long as I can remember and each time I return (which isn't nearly as often as I might wish), I am flooded with happy memories from my childhood.  I now live a little too far away to visit more than a couple of times a summer, but my boys are always excited about visiting this favourite place of mine, and are now making memories of their own.

This year I got to share this place with my husband's family as a sort of family reunion.  With siblings scattered from coast to coast (literally), the chance for all of their clan to gather in one place is rare (and cozy).  The boys loved having older cousins to play with, splashing in the water, building sand castles, fires on the beach ... they loved it all!  And I loved having others make the meals (it pays to marry into a family who loves to cook!).  And with all those "babysitters" around you would think that I would have polished off a whole pile of books, but I didn't even finish one!  Too many other fun things to do, I guess.

Summer has arrived!

My Finishing Project

"There are two kinds of people, those who finish what they start and so on."  Robert Byrne

If your house is anything like mine, you have half done projects scattered around the house -- I'm not the only one, right?  I even have projects that I want to do that I've gathered supplies for, just waiting for "the right time".  The problem is that "the right time" never seems to find me.  There are always other things that seem to be more important, or there is not enough time to start something new, because you know that you will get called away to some emergency.  You know ... a missing piece of Lego (gasp!), or a zipper that just won't zip, or (my personal favourite) somebody did something to somebody else for absolutely no reason -- they were just standing there minding their own business -- and an impartial witness is required to pass judgement ... you know how it goes.  Before you know it, it's time to get supper ready and you need to clean the table off again because eating on the floor would be uncivilized (sigh!).

My point? ... um, I've lost it -- I've already been interrupted three times while writing this.  Right, My Finishing Project -- that's what I'm calling this.  My goal is to finish 4 projects this week that have been sitting around the house mocking me every time I walk by them.  I'm not going to tell you what there are yet (just in case regular life gets in the way), but I hope to have something to share with you everyday this week starting on Monday, with Friday reserved for "happiness".

I would love to have some company on this journey.  So pull out a project that you've been putting off and join me!  There are no rules, guidelines or even suggestions -- it's whatever you want it to be.  Please be sure to post a comment or send me a picture so that we can all celebrate our accomplishments!

Happy Finishing!

"He who begins many things finishes but few."   Italian Proverb

(I think that I'm in trouble!)

Things That Make Me Happy # 6

Strolling around the Internet one day, I came across a blog post entitled "100 Things That Make Me Happy".  What a great idea, I thought as I scanned the list, so Fridays are now dedicated to things that make me happy!

Things That Make Me Happy!
# 6 Aunt Linda

My Aunt Linda will celebrate her 65th birthday on Monday -- how appropriate for someone who has given me (and many others) so much love to share her birthday with St. Valentine. I was unable to make it to the party, which was today, but was still asked to contribute to the scrapbook that was being put together in her honour. This is what I came up with.

Aunt Linda and the Green Milkshake

"As a young girl, peering across the street, there were times when I wished that I could live at your house -- there always seemed to be something fun or interesting going on. One day, I got the chance to be your temporary daughter and I was super excited. It must have been one of the first couple of years Brenda was away at school and you were missing her, so you called me. You asked if I would join you for an activity that you usually did with her. Intrigued, I agreed immediately and hoped that I was up to the job. You picked me up and we went to McDonald's for green milkshakes -- how fun is that! I don't remember what we talked about, but I was so thrilled to have some special time with you.

You have done so much for me and my family over the years. Thank you for making me feel welcome in your home, a valued part of the family, and the various quilting projects around our house are great too! Happy Birthday!"

Skating

We've really been enjoying skating recently, with everybody, except Laurel, on their feet -- well, most of the time anyway!  Yesterday we were at the university rink and everybody had a great time.  We snuck in during the parent and tot / senior time -- hey we have tots, some of them are just bigger than others! -- but nobody seemed to mind.  The boys are all improving and, although they tire quickly, are eager to go back.  

This is Owen's first year on skates, so he has inherited the bob skates.  I love that they fit right over his boots and require no lacing and he loves that he can be on the ice with everyone else with a little bit of extra stability.  It also means that I (or Dada) am not holding him up and dragging him around -- ouch, that gets hard on the back.

Aidan, Mr. I can buckle my skates myself, has improved the most since last year.  He is even confident enough to go off on his own which is a BIG step for him.  He's not much of a sports guy, but seems to really enjoy skating -- maybe he has found his niche (aside from Lego!).

Isaac is in his first pair of lace up skates.  I really need to remember to add lots of extra time for lacing up!  The year that he was in school, they took the kids skating weekly (the rink was next door to the school), so he got a lot of  good practice that year and has continued to improve.  Falling is almost as fun as skating and he is always up for a race!

One of the great things about the university rink is that nobody protests the use of strollers.  How else is Laurel supposed to participate is these activities if not from the comfort of a stroller?  Let's keep practising our walking first, then we'll work on skating.  But we have run into some opposition at our local rink as well as the Oval in Halifax.  The "mobile ice monitors" (my made up job title) stopped us when we were only a quarter of the way around and told us that having a stroller on the ice was too dangerous -- I thought that I was doing a good thing by not carrying her.  Anyway, we were escorted around the rest of the way and that was the end of that.  Here are a couple of pictures from our one lap around the Oval.

 

Oh well, we were getting cold anyway.  So we shared a Beavertail (soooo yummy -- don't think that I've had one since we left Ottawa!), took our skates, and went home.

80!

Okay, I know that it is Friday and I'll get to that later today, I hope, but first I have tell about what we have been up to the last couple of days.  

The matriarch of the Winter family turned 80 yesterday!  The word "matriarch" sounds so old and stuffy, but my mother in law is anything but.  She welcomed me into her family from the very beginning and has loved, cared and prayed for my family in that experienced way that we are all so grateful for.  So, in honour of such a great woman, we've been busy preparing and celebrating!

One thing I've learned about this family is that they like to surprise each other.  I, myself, have been "victim" to a bridal shower and two baby showers, all surprises.  All this secret keeping -- skirting the truth, sneaking around, secret conversations -- gets confusing.  Trying to remember who knows what, who am I allowed to say what to, and how much to tell the boys (their secret keeping abilities sometimes aren't the best).  I've learned it's easiest to just keep quiet and plead innocence when the truth comes out.  So, with a big occasion like an 80th birthday coming up, secret emails, conversations and plans were a-buzzing.  Surprise gifts that arrived during a planned phone conversation, and surprise guests that almost didn't make it on account of the weather -- more secret conversations! -- all came together in the end and were well worth the reaction of the birthday girl!

My contribution was the cake, probably not much of a surprise, but the theme always is (especially when you let little ones pick the theme -- "No, not a truck, something that Grandma would like!").  In honour of our recent tobogganing outing, they agreed that we should make a sledding cake and set about to find a picture of one that we liked.  We found one on blog called "Serena's Sweets", but there were no instructions, so we decided to wing it.  I don't know who Serena is, but thanks to her, wherever she is.  I think that this is one my favourites of all the cakes that I have made over the years!

Happy 80th Birthday Grandma!

Tobogganning!

This year for Christmas, our family received a good old fashioned toboggan (thanks Grandma and Grandpa!).  This classic Canadian winter activity is very popular in our house (well, not actually in our house) and, as you can see, everyone was pretty excited.  It is a six foot, wooden sled, complete with a red pad (probably more to protect the older bones and butts that hope to also get a turn)!  We couldn't wait to try it out on our favourite hill.  

Well, today was the day!  We headed out after lunch with high spirits, warm clothes and our back-up plastic sleds (just in case).  It was a great day -- not too cold, not too sunny -- and we had the hill to ourselves.  The snow was a little too wet to go very fast or very far, but we left with wet mittens, big smiles and plans for the next time (like how to fit all 6 of us on the toboggan)!  What a great day and they are calling for more snow tomorrow!