And here are the tree pictures...

This evening we stopped at Art's Nursery to look for a Christmas tree. Isn't it pretty there?


We love going there. Remember when we went in the spring and got to ride the golf carts around? Great place.

Family picture time :)
Elisabeth thought this little guy would be the perfect tree.


Andy liked this one with the funny tiers.

But we finally decided on this guy.

Uh, I look pretty excited, hunh?

Then, while daddy put the tree on the roof, we checked out the Christmas Store.

They had a lot of pretty trees. Like this white tree with the black and silver decorations.

And this silvery green one with the white decorations.

And check out this cute little owl. awwww....

Almost looks like it's snowing, doesn't it? Yeah, just rain. Our liquid snow.

Stay d

I love how God cares about the little things.

If you haven't noticed by now, I love Christmas. And because I'm really idealistic, there are certain things that I have to have for Christmas to be Christmas.

One of those things is the perfect (real) Christmas tree. 8 years ago Andrew and I started the tradition of having a real tree. There was one year where we couldn't afford a tree, and that year we got given a coupon for a free tree.

That's why this year, another year where we don't have money for a real tree, I knew God was going to make a way.

Now, the silly thing is that last year, when we were both working and flush, we bought an imitation tree. But it's the tree for the den. And also, as I said before, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a real tree. Yes, it's that important to me.

So, my Christmas miracle starts with an email. From a certain nursery inviting us to their Christmas open house. And a side note saying this nursery would be getting live Christmas trees on November 27.

That's when I remembered that in May when we bought a couple of trees for our yard, we got a $30 gift card for that same nursery. Hmn, I thought, maybe we could get a tree at this nursery.

The first year we bought a tree, we got it at a nursery and it was around $30. But since then, nursery trees have sky rocketed in price. Two years ago when we looked, the cheapest trees were $60. Still, just maybe there would be a tree for us.

So today we piled in the car and headed to Art's Nursery. Have you been there yet? We didn't make it to their open house on Thursday. But their gift shop and Christmas Market were open today and it was amazing. I'll take one of everything, please. But the Christmas trees...

...the cheapest ones were $50. And that was for a dinky little one. But we kept looking.

And looking (who knew trees were so expensive).

And looking. And finally we found three trees. And they were all $24.99. So I got my tree, and change.

And that's how I know that God cares about the little things.

Skaters

Back near the beginning of the month, Andrew took David and Elisabeth skating. David was a pro with the skating bar, whizzing around all over the place. Elisabeth preferred to skate on her own power, but she did great too.

See how excited they were to be there?

And here are some pictures from their Monday evening skating lessons...they love going.

Elisabeth spent her last lesson wandering around sucking on her gloves. It's related to her love of eating snow.

Then afterwards we let them play on the snow pile out back.

Elisabeth bagged up some snow to bring home to eat later.

And David with his snow.

Heading to Ontario...

This morning as we were getting ready to head out, Davey rushed upstairs to grab some socks. Moments later, he reappeared with his arms full of clothes. "I've got all the clothes I'll need to go to Ontario" he said.

"Great," I replied. "And do you have your socks for now too?"

"Yup. And everything I'm going to need for the next time we go to Ontario." And with that he dropped the clothes on the floor and dashed off for the laundry room. Moments later he reappeared, "Do you know where my suitcase is?"

"Uh, sure. I'll get it for you. So you're really going to Ontario then, hunh?"

"Uh hunh. I have everything I'll need. See? I even brought socks and underwear. We're going for a long time this time. Fifteen days! But I didn't pack toys. They have nice toys there already."

We got into the car and I asked him, "So, when are we heading to Ontario?"

"Oh. Just as soon as we're back from doing the groceries. And when Daddy's here."

*******************************

We stopped by Andrew's work to grab a bank card and I told Andrew about our travel plans. "Oh," he said. "Do you have our tickets already, David?"

"No. You have to get them for us. Cause you need to pay for them."

******************************

Later on we're at Grandma's house and David picks up his gumboots from where he'd left them a few days ago. "I'd better take these. I'm not sure what shoes I'm going to need since we're going to be in Ontario for such a long time. So I'm going to pack all of them."

Grandma made a sad face and said, "So you're really going? I'm going to miss you if you go to Ontario for a long time."

"Yeah," He called over his shoulder as he rushed out the door. "I'll write you a card."

What we've been up to here...

I tried my level best to hold out till November 15 before we did any Christmas decorating, I really did. But we finally broke down and did the den on November 11. The kids decorated the tree. They did a good job of spacing things evenly this year. Remember last year?


Considering I'm a red and green Christmas purist, it's amazing how much I love our blue and white tree. But the kids keep asking when we can do the red one. Sooooon.


Once the kids were tired of decorating, we did crafts. Oh the things I have stowed away for us. I'm glad we're working on some of them. David can't get enough of Christmas crafts.

I had these letters and decided to cover them with paper. First, I painted the sides blue:

This is David's snowman.

Elisabeth made paper chains.
And wore them while she ate halloween candy.

Then she put the glue on my letters while I cut out the Christmas paper.

Here they are all glued and dried and ready to be sanded. The sanding is not my favorite part. Which is why two letters have been sanded and aged and two are waiting to be finished. I will try to bribe Andrew to sand them for me. He likes that. In the meantime, I made this.


Libby looks like she's been up to something.

Davey, vegging.

And the starbucks bears, wearing our shoes.

The other night Elisabeth was having trouble sleeping. It might have had something to do with the fact that she drank my afternoon coffee, I dunno.

Anyway, after trying several times to get her to go to sleep, she was still up and reading at 11 pm. So I told her she might as well just come and sleep in my bed. We got into bed and Elisabeth took my face in both her little hands and turned it towards her. "Mummy, before you go to bed you need to get on your knees and pray."

"Oh, you're right, Elisabeth. I should always pray."

"No mummy, GET OUT OF BED AND GET ON YOUR KNEES AND PRAY."

*****************************************************************

Yesterday David, Elisabeth and Jade were watching TV while I got their lunch ready. I had to run over to my mum's house so I told the kids where I was going and left. When I got back, the kids were no where to be seen. I called for them a few times, but they didn't answer so I continued making lunch. I guess they heard me in the kitchen because all of a sudden I heard what sounded like the three of them hopping off a piece of furniture. Before long I could hear whispers:

"I think it's mummy."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's mummy."

"well, let's go look...and remember...God is with us!"

Turns out the wind had kicked up and was making some noise. Which scared them. So they were all hiding in David's bed upstairs. Covers over their heads and repeating, "God is with us. God is with us."

Turns out those Veggie Tales videos are good for something after all!

If you’re a follower of this blog, you’ll be aware of David’s concern over finding a wife. The other day we were out doing errands and David’s thoughts once again turned to the subject of marriage.

We pulled into the parking lot for M&M Meat Shop (somewhat fitting if you ask me) and David let out a big sigh. “Mum, I’ve made up mind. I’ve decided I’m going to take Tinky as my wife when I grow up.”

I tried not to laugh as Elisabeth exclaimed, “But I’m going to marry mommy!”

“Well,” says David, obviously thinking, “maybe mommy can live with us when we’re married.”

“What about Daddy, where’s he going to live?”

“I don’t know,” shrugged David (with an implied and I don’t really care.)

I suggested maybe he could live with us all too.

David thought about this for a minute, then said, “But there’s going to be six people in our family.”

No problem I thought. “Exactly. You, Tinky, Me, Daddy…and your two kids?”

“Yeah. Except we’re going to have four boys and two girls.”

“You’re going to have six kids? Four boys and two girls??”

“Yeah.” (No wonder there’s no room for daddy!)

We’ve finished our errands and we’re driving to pick Daddy up. I decided to ask some more questions about this family. “So, what are you going to call your kids?”

Elisabeth pipes up with, “I’m going to call my girl Tinky like me.”

A few days later we’re in Costco. Elisabeth was being a bit whiney so I grabbed a shopping cart and put her in it. The cart happened to have a box in it, so to be funny, I sat Elisabeth right in the box. David noticed and asked me why Elisabeth was in the box.

“Because we’re going to buy her. Well, actually,” I said, “that’s not true. I’m pretending I’m going to buy her, but I think we’ve decided we’ll leave her at the till. She’s too whiney for us.”

“NOOooOOO!” David wailed. “But I love her. You can’t leave her here. I want her to be my wife when she grows up.”

My mum has gotten David hooked on the Oakridge Boys. In particular he loves the song, Jesus is coming soon (Morning or night or noon, MANY WILL MEET THEIR DOOM!) always at the top of his voice.

Both the kids started skating lessons this afternoon. David took a few classes this summer before we began our travels. I was a bit worried about this round because the kids are so much more tired in the evenings then they were in the summer. But I shouldn’t have worried.

David took to the ice like a pro. Last round, he was an expert at falling. No fear whatsoever of crashing down. But he couldn’t get back up on his feet. This time he still likes to fall, in fact, he will often throw himself on the ice for no reason at all (I think he’s going to make a great goalie!) But he’s also back up on his feet before you can even blink your eyes. And by the end of this lesson, he was actually skating, not just stepping on the ice. Where he spent most of the summer on his belly or his butt on the ice, this time he’s easily the best in his class. And the least fearful.

Elisabeth was amazing. I honestly expected this to be a bust for her. She’s never ever even stepped foot on the ice, let alone worn skates. I thought she would hate the skates, be terrified of falling and not like how cold it was. Instead, she laughed at the skates, “I’m wobbly!” got straight out on the ice and skated to the blue line to wait for the rest of her class, and didn’t fall until her instructors finally sat her on the ice. For the rest of her class, she did an amazing job of stepping around on the ice, falling only a few times, and she seemed to absolutely love it out there.

They were both so excited when we met them off the ice. It’s awesome to have found an activity they love so much.

We met Anne Murray this evening.

After standing in line for almost two hours, Andrew was struck dumb. I was struck stupid. And David decided to throw himself flat on his stomach at her feet. I think we made a great impression.

Kathi and I wanted to get some shots of the kids for my mum's annual Christmas card. The weather here has been a bit iffy lately, but the lighting in our houses is not good enough for inside shots. After some discussion, we decided to make a day trip to Lucerne. After all, it's always beautiful there.


I think we made the right choice.

Lately, round here...

Yesterday we're all sitting 'round the dinner table when Davey looks over at me. "What are you dressed up as mum? Frankenstein?"

Yeah, you guessed it. No costume.

****************

Today everyone is outside doing yardwork, except me. I was spring cleaning when my mum called me to come over to her house. I came back and Elisabeth is in the house. At first I couldn't hear where she'd gotten to, then suddenly the sweet strains of ABBA fill the entire house. Ah yes. My teenaged daughter up in her room, blaring her music. Right.


Moments later, there's a crash and crying. I race upstairs to find her lying on the floor. She'd been standing on a stool singing a long when the stool tipped and she fell. I gave her some kisses, turned the music down slightly and was crouched beside her (wondering if she was feeling okay and could I leave?) when she turns to me and says, "You can go now."


Cute now, but what's it gonna be like when they're teenagers?? :(

October 31st

We decided to carve the last of our pumpkins yesterday. As you can see, the kids have become experts at this:

(Meanwhile, Andrew cleaned gutters).
The perfect spot was found for each and every pumpkin.

And some people spent exhorbitant amounts of time on each pumpkin (I'm sure the effort was worth it in the end though!)


Andrew, still on the roof of mum's house.

I happened to watch the morning news (a very rare occurence) and learned how to make arms for my 'kin.

Then, after dinner, it was time to costume up and go out a calling.

My two munchkins at grandma's house.


And our first visitors (almost!)

Davey's Kindergarten trip to Aldor Acres

Thank goodness we're done with pumpkin patching for the year! Three times in ten days is more than enough for me! That said, it was a good day for pumpkin patching. Lots of icky mud, wet, goopy pumpkins, and smokey bonfires, but NO RAIN! This momma was very glad!

One reason to keep my kids in their current school forever (as opposed to switching them to Fundy once a spot becomes available) is that my sister and neices are both there. And how awesome is it to have a friendly face greet you every morning? And someone to hang out with on almost every field trip?!

We were just missing Ashlie. Maybe next year we'll revive the old practice of pumpkin patching for David's birthday.

David grabbed a tractor and headed out to the field with his pumpkins.

Tink hijacked the tractor and brought it back again.

How do ya like them apples?!

(sorry, couldn't resist ;P)

Adorable piggies sleeping.

And here are David and Jade with their AWESOME teacher!

She gave each child an apple and some carrots. The idea was that they'd eat the apple and feed the core to the animals. And maybe some carrots too.


Some of the K-kids and Mrs. R right before we headed back to school.

Then we had a group lunch.



And carved our pumpkins!
Libby's 'kin!
And Davey's!