January

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.

EATING WITH BRYNN

SOME OF THE BIG KIDS

SOME MORE OF THE BIG KIDS

BRADY AND BRYNN

POOR NANA, SHE LOOKS TRAPPED, BUT...

 WHERE THERE'S A WILL THERE'S A WAY

 

OK, HERE WE GO

MAYBE IF WE JUST PULL REALLY HARD...

HERE COME THE TROOPS

 

HARD WORK

UPSTAIR HELPING EMILY

OH BOY, ELMO

AND A NEW DIGGER!

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.

 

FUN WATCHING BUBBLE GUPPIES

WORKERS - WORKING

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.

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...

 



CHRISTMAS 2013

Here comes Christmas...
It's Christmas Eve 2013, our second Christmas all together. I'll write some now, and then add to it tomorrow sometime.

We had a blast in the snow that fell last week. As you can see, we made a snowman and went for a slide or two in our front yard. It was great to have some snow before Christmas this year! We've been very fortunate to not be affected by the nasty weather people have had to deal with over this past weekend.

OUR FIRST SNOWMAN OF THE SEASON

SLIDING DOWN OUR LITTLE HILL
 

The countdown to Christmas has been on here for a bit. Now that he understands our Christmas books and takes in the Christmas shows on TV, he's a bit more excited this year. He likes to know whose present is whose when they come in. But he doesn't try to open them and is quite content to look at them all wrapped - this year. I'm sure tomorrow morning will be lots of fun though.

ALL THIS BEFORE SANTA ARRIVED
 

We have a special supper every Christmas Eve (something Brady picked years ago) so we spent the day making lasagne, french bread and caesar salad dressing. Sherman's mom came for supper and the boys had their big gingerbread boys that we save for Christmas Eve. There's also always one for Santa.

SWEETNESS - THIS NEEDS TO BE IN A MAGAZINE OR SOMETHING!

AHHH - SHOWING OFF THE BITE OF COOKIE IN HIS MOUTH

After supper the boys opened one gift each, and then we went to the candlelight service at our church. It was very special. After we got home it was time to write a note to Santa, reminding him of a love for diggers and chocolate chips, and adding a last-minute "tar" (guitar) to the list. Then it was off to bed.

BOY SILLINESS

NEW JAMMIES
 

 

CHILLIN' BEFORE CHURCH

 

ALL READY FOR SANTA

Christmas morning:
We were all up at 6:30, which on many days around here would be considered sleeping in. The snow was so beautiful and Christmas-y. Santa remembered about the digger (in fact he brought two), and the chocolate chips. He even left a "tar" and some extra things he thought a little boy might like. There were so many gifts that it took a few hours to open them all because you know you have to play with everything before you can open something else. Thank-you to everyone who sent over presents. They will all be well used and enjoyed.

OPEN MY DIGGER, PLEASE

WORKING HARD ALREADY

WE'LL HAVE TO START UP A BAND

 

EVERYTHING HE ASKED SANTA FOR

 

BRADY AND SHERMAN GOT NEW JERSEYS

 

NEW TRUCKS ALL LINED UP

STRUMMING THE TAR

CHECKING OUT HIS STOCKING

TAKING A BREAK FROM CHECKING OUT HIS STOCKING TO PLAY WITH HIS DIGGER

ABSOLUTE CHRISTMAS MORNING CUTENESS!

 

LIKING HIS NEW CHAIR

We always have company Christmas morning - my parents and my aunt and uncle. Dad and I cooked a big breakfast and we all just really enjoyed the morning together. It was pretty special for all of us. Now I just have to figure out what to do with all of this stuff...

SHOWING NEEN AND PA HIS DIGGERS

JAM ON THE TOAST, CAN YOU TELL?

FINISHING OFF HIS COFFEE CAKE - WITH HIS DIGGERS

LOVES HIS NEW HOCKEY SHIRT, ALSO SEEMS TO LIKE HIS NEW DIGGERS...

Merry Christmas!



DECEMBER

I hope everyone is enjoying this month of Christmas. We started off with our second annual "new Christmas book tradition", given on December 1st. This year it was Thomas Saves Christmas and it's been read a ton so far. The boys do their advent calendars each night together, one usually ends up with both chocolates though. They each also received a new Christmas tree ornament on December 1st, possibly another new tradition.

Last Saturday night was the Boy's and Girl's Club telethon. The daycare kids did a couple of little songs. It was recorded and will air on Bell on the community channel at some point throughout the month. I don't have any dates or times. I guess we just have to try to catch it.

Lights are going up around the island and its fun to go for drives at night to see them. We went last night after the Santa Claus parade.  There was a cement mixer all lit up in the parade so you can guess which float was the favorite.
Today was a good snow day. Besides plowing and playing in the snow, we made a tent in the kitchen which was really cozy and Brady was a good sport about.

I had lots of "help" making two kinds of gluten-free Christmas cookies today. Our family always has gingerbread boys and shortbreads at Christmas so I found two recipes I thought might work and gave them a try. Brady says they're actually pretty good so that was good news. Gluten-free baking isn't always the best. We saved three big gingerbread boys, decorated with Smarties, for Christmas Eve - one for each boy and one for Santa.

 

A couple of notes of excitement for our family from this month: Brady was accepted into the Police Foundations course in the Miramichi for next fall (which is actually happy/sad - happy for him, sad for me), and, I have a new niece. Her name is Caisie Lynn, and she was born 11/12/13. We're hoping to go to Moncton sometime this coming week to see her beautiful little baby-ness. Merry Christmas to our family!

November

So, let's see. What's happened since my last post? Well...
The men finally got their traps in the water. Sherman's gone nonstop of course, but Brady's been out a few times too, missing a little school here and there to earn some extra money. We got up and left the house at 6:30 on setting day (and then again on the day they actually did set) to see Brady and Sherman off. One of us was a lot more chipper than the other at being out in the cold at 6:30. I was better after my coffee :)

We went to the dentist for the first time last week. He sat on my lap and was very good and let Dr. Van count his teeth. The prize was a new toothbrush. It was all good. Next comes his flu shot - I'm not looking forward to that :(

Brady helps coach an Atom hockey team, so he's been away a few weekends lately. He always comes home with Timbits for a certain someone. "Donits - yeah!"

It's cute, he has this little suitcase that has a handle and wheels. He plays with it a lot. Sometimes it's a golf bag, sometimes it's a hockey bag. It just depends on the season around here, I guess. He also has Sherman's old cell phone. We've had to work on imaginative play quite a bit, it hasn't come easy for him. But now he'll take his phone and "call" Keely on it. It goes something like this, "Hawoe Keeyee. A doe in da woader? Sure, sure, sure. Otay, bye."
He went to a birthday party on Saturday for his twin friends Austin and Ryan and that was fun.
We've had visits with a speech-language pathologist the last two months, and she's really pleased with his progress from one month to the next. He had his hearing checked and that was perfect. We continue to see Early Intervention twice a month. His 3&1/2 year assessment will be coming up shortly, I presume.

I've been trimming for Christmas. Brady asked last Sunday if we could put up our tree. We have an artificial one so up it went. We did our annual tradition of trimming while watching The Polar Express and having cocoa and snacks. It was a good evening and our tree is loaded and beautiful. Plus, there was a chance to help Sherman fix the "lopsidedness" of the tree, and a chance to crawl around on Brady. FUN!

 We also have a tradtion of a new Christmas book on December 1st, so that will be coming right up, along with the advent calendar. We have our church concert to look forward to, and a little someone is going to be in the Boy's and Girl's Club annual telethon with his daycare friends (that's the plan anyway). I will try to do two posts next month because of all the action.
Christmas here we come!!!