Christmas has come and gone and it was another great one. On the 26th, some pretty heavy construction started up here. Santa had left a couple of dress-up outfits, one being for a construction worker. I had to wear my reflective vest I use for walking at night in order to run a digger. I was told we were Bev and Allan (the owners of Dutchman Construction here) and we were doing some pretty intense Boxing Day work, let me tell you.
On the 28th, my family (minus my brother, sister-in-law and newest niece) and Brady's girlfriend Rylee all gathered at my grandmother's for our annual Chinese Feast/String Game Night. The Chinese feast part is pretty self-explanatory. The string game is something we started when Brady and his cousins were very young, probably two or so. The parents wrap and hide a stocking-type gift somewhere in Nana's house while the kids stay out in the playroom. The end of a ball of leftover yarn is then tied around the gift and the yarn is unravelled around the house. The age of the child determines how difficult the tangle is, of course. The kids follow the free end of whichever color yarn is theirs and wind it up until they find their hidden gift. Once the gifts have all been found, everybody sits in the livingroom and the youngest opens their gift first and so on. This year we had nine strings winding around Nana's house, upstairs and downstairs, around people, through clothes hanging in the closets, outside etc. Believe me, it made for very tricky walking through the house. We love this family tradition and its something our kids look forward to every year.
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| EATING WITH BRYNN |
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| SOME OF THE BIG KIDS |
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| SOME MORE OF THE BIG KIDS |
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| BRADY AND BRYNN |
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| POOR NANA, SHE LOOKS TRAPPED, BUT... |
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| WHERE THERE'S A WILL THERE'S A WAY |
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| OK, HERE WE GO |
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| MAYBE IF WE JUST PULL REALLY HARD... |
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| HERE COME THE TROOPS |
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| HARD WORK |
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| UPSTAIR HELPING EMILY |
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| OH BOY, ELMO |
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| AND A NEW DIGGER! |
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| BRADE LOVIN' HIS CHIA HEAD (AND HIS MOVIE) |
It was fun to have my oldest nieces Ainsley and Brynn here for a few days. There was lots of playing and even some sliding going on. We then went to Moncton over the break to see the newest addition to our family, Caisie Lynn. She's pretty beautiful and growing like crazy, I know. I can't wait to see her again.
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| FUN WATCHING BUBBLE GUPPIES |
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| WORKERS - WORKING |
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| SLEEPY BOYS AND A FULL CAR ON OUR WAY BACK FROM MONCTON |
We like to make homemade icecream in the winter and so I tried a batch with almond milk just for him. He loved it. And he loved helping me make it.
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| HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE ICECREAM - YUM |
Hockey is in full swing at our house. Brady and I have been playing and he's been coaching since October, but Sherman had to wait until lobster fishing started and then quieted down again. Brady moved up to A this year so he and Sherman don't play together anymore. It means one or two of us has hockey at some time every day. Needless to say, we're all the the rink lots, watching or playing. Next year all four of us will be playing, as IP starts at age 4. He can't wait! "I pay hockey I big, I four?" You sure can sweetheart.
Brady leaves next month for Ottawa. He was accepted to RCMP Week through Encounters With Canada. A couple of days before Christmas, the president of Minor Hockey here on GM came to our house with a card for Brady. It said that they really appreciated the time he's put in coaching and attending clinics over the past couple years. They also gave him a cheque for $200 toward his trip. It was pretty generous, and it meant a lot to Brade.
So, we're back in the swing of school and daycare. It took me a few days to remember how I managed to get out of my house by 7:50 and have supper pretty much ready by 5:00, but I came around again. Winter seems to go quickly when you're busy, and that we are. Before you know it Spring will be here...
