O Canada

One thing I will really miss when we return to Tennessee is the beautiful snow in the Great White North.

Just look at that face.  She was thinking, "No, Graham.  You cannot just throw a snowball at me and get away with it."  This girl can take care of herself.

We have been having lots of fun around our house this week as my cousin, Andrew, was in town.  Somehow he always seems to make me laugh.  By the end of the week, Graham kept looking at us and telling us to stop laughing.

Unfortunately, Tim had to be out of town most of the time at two different auto shows, and Andrew had purposely picked this week to come so he could help me while Tim was gone.  Just shows you what a great guy he is!

We have gotten some snow which has been fun.  I was glad Andrew got to see some of the white stuff.  We also had a fun adventure going into Toronto last night and ice skating at an outdoor rink that overlooks Lake Ontario.  It is such a great place with a live DJ on Saturday nights and the CN tower glowing in the background.  We were having some mild temps so the place was very crowded, and we got a few giggles from watching a lady who was very serious about practicing her figure skating among the rest of us who were just trying to keep from falling.  Andrew, Graham and I skated although Lidiyanna would have been out there too if they had skates in her size.  Graham is finally getting the hang of it and but still spends lots of time laying on the ice mainly because he thinks that's fun.

We are continuing with our motto: If you gotta live in Canada, you might as well embrace the Winter and enjoy it.

 Love those rosy cheeks!

 Put this picture in so you could see Tim's "authentic" Canadian hat.  We are prepared here!!

Bringing in the New Year

After Tim's family went home and we came back from Blue Mountain, we quickly did laundry and repacked our bags to head to Tyler to visit my family.  What a challenging day we had trying to get there.  We got up at 5am to make our 8:30am flight that did not leave the ground until 1pm.  We sat on the run way for five hours because of some problems involving the deicing fluid.  Thankfully the airplane had TVs and movies to help keep the kids entertained, but I got especially annoyed by the long delay.  We finally arrived in Houston late in the afternoon only to have more delays.  We had missed our connecting flight and there were no more flights to Tyler that day.  So, we rented a car and arrived at my mom's house exhausted and a bit grouchy around midnight.  To top it all off, our bag was lost and remains lost to this day.

Oh, well.  We were finally there and I was very glad to see my family as I had not been back in a year.  Earlier that week, my dad had passed out from the flu and damaged his eye so badly that it required two surgeries and several more procedures.  I am thankful he is doing much better now and his eye is healing.  He's had to be very patient as he's been on strict bed rest for over two weeks.

I was glad to visit with my granddad and spend some time with him but I was saddened to see how much his body and mind have gone downhill.  His short term memory has really declined so that it is no longer safe for him to live independently.  After I left Texas, he has been moved into an assisted living home.

Unfortunately, I took no pictures while in Tyler.  We did have a great time with my family, and I loved being pampered by my mom.  She cooked delicious food and helped so much with my kids.  She also watched the kids overnight so Tim and I could enjoy a night out on New Year's Eve.

It's always hard to say good-bye to my family and I felt a bit disappointed that our trip ended up being a bit stressful.  Canada is a long way from Texas and it is very challenging trying to travel there with three kids.  I think I have a greater appreciation for living in a place where I can drive to see my family in one day.

And, if you are wondering about when we will move back to Tennessee, we still don't know.  We could be moving back this coming summer or the move might not take place for another year.  We are still waiting.

Christmas in Blue Mountain

It's hard to believe my last post was at the beginning of November. I guess December was so busy that it just flew right by.

Tim's family came up to Canada for Christmas and we spent our time together in a condo in Blue Mountain, a ski village a few hours north of where we live.  They had a little snow when we arrived and a lot of snow when we left, so the kids enjoyed lots of sledding and playing in the snow.  Graham, Hayley, and Davis took ski lessons one afternoon while I took Wesley and Lidiyanna swimming.  It was a different way to spend Christmas and I think we all enjoyed our white holiday together.

Road 2 Hope Race

One thing I like about parenting is that your children sometimes push you to do things you would normally not do.  Although I have always tried to have some type of exercise in my weekly routine, running was never something I enjoyed.  I have never had the desire to run, never participated in any races, and never really even tried to run.  This changed a few months ago when Graham and I heard about Road 2 Hope from a friend.  Graham is naturally a pretty good runner and has been interested in running and finding a race to try out.  I think it's the boundless energy inside his little body that helps him excel in running.  When we heard about this 5K race not far from where we live and how it raises money for an inner city kid's ministry and orphans in Haiti, Graham and I both became interested in it.  I encouraged him to run it with Tim, but since Tim has had an issue with his foot, I was drafted into running the race with Graham.  My dad has gotten into running over the last six months, so I asked him if he'd like to join us.

Graham and I started practicing a month or so ago and would just run/walk for about 45 minutes on the weekends.  Yesterday was the day of the race and after seven days of rain, we finally saw the sun.  We had such a great time participating in this race together.  I was amazed at Graham and how he ran the entire race with a smile on his face.  My dad was one of the older participants and Graham was one of the younger, and I was inspired by their diligence in running.  It was great fun running alongside my dad and my son.  I think it's a neat activity to do with family, and I'd like to see us participate in more races in the future.

Halloween at our house!

Despite the chilly, rainy weather, we made it up and down a few streets in our neighborhood.  The boys were ninjas and Lidiyanna was a fairy princess.  Unfortunately, her outfit was a little altered by her coat and rain boots, but I still think she was the cutest fairy around.  As the boys were making their ninja poses, she looked over and decided she needed to make a pose of her own.  Too cute!!  We were happy to have my dad with us this week to share in the fun.

Jack-o-lanterns

Tim helped the kids carve their pumpkins in preparation for Halloween.  Graham loved getting his hands messy, but Wesley was content just to watch.  It has been raining here since Saturday, and we are hoping we will get a break tonight so it will be dry for the trick-or-treaters.

 Does she fit?

Fall has heavily descended on us up here in Canada and its beautiful colors are so vibrant.  I think when you live in a climate where Winter's harsh winds blow strongly, you hold onto every bit of Fall's beauty as long as possible.  If you've been up to visit us, you know our backyard is very small and the houses are close together.  So, I am thankful for the lovely maple tree in my neighbor's yard that blazes its oranges and reds into my line of sight blocking the view of my neighbor's house.  I remembering enjoying this view last Fall, and I am treasuring it again this year.

I have not been as good about keeping up with the blog over the past few months.  Our camera has been having some issues so I find myself taking less pictures these days.  We have also been quite busy.  Our weekends have been full of visits from friends and camping trips.  The camper is being prepared by my handy husband to be placed in storage so our camping trips have come to an end until next Summer.

The boys are continuing to enjoy school, and we've started participating and helping in Awana on Tuesday nights.  Awana is a program for kids to learn more about God's word, memorize scripture, and get wild and crazy running around the gym at our church.  I've been asking myself lately why I signed up to help.  No, not really.  It's a great opportunity to serve.

Recently, a friend told me about how her family picks a different country once a week to focus on at dinner.  She prepares or buys some type of food from that country and they listen to a prayer for that country on this website:  http://www.operationworld.org/.  It's a great website that gives information on lots of countries and includes ways to pray for each country.  When I expressed my interest in trying this with my family, she encouraged me to keep it simple.  She said that if I waited until I had all the details perfect, it would never happen.  I took her advice and our family had our first Operation World night last night.  We focused on Korea simply because I had a Korean chicken dish in my freezer and my kids love rice.  I also had some clothing and a game from when we lived in Korea when I was a child.  Korea is a special country to me, and  it touched my heart to hear a Korean woman praying earnestly for her country on the website.  I hope we can have Operation World night often as I think it's important to teach our children that God has a passion for this world that He created, and this world is so much bigger than what my children see here in North America.  So often, I get lost in my own little world as well, and I want God to open my eyes to see the greater picture.

Finally, I will end with a few shots of my favorite little girl!

A Little Update

School has been off to a good start.  Both of the boys seem to really like their teachers and have made friends in their classes.  Graham is in Grade Two and Wesley is in Senior Kindergarten.  So, Lidiyanna has mommy all to herself while the boys are at school.  I think she is rather enjoying this.  Below is a picture of us doing very "girly things"...tea parties and baby dolls.  Tomorrow she'll start a gymnastics class.

The week before school started, the boys participated in a four-day art camp.  They had a blast and got very messy.  Maybe the messy part was why they had so much fun.  They studied abstract art and got to do some serious splatter paint.  Here they are with some of their creations.

PEI trip (part 4 and final post)

 The sunsets in PEI were truly beautiful.

 playing on the beach on the north shore of PEI

 We took a boat tour around Charlottetown, the capital of PEI, and learned about lobster and how they catch them.

PEI trip (part 3)

Star fish, star fish, wonder what you are fish

Time and tide go washing by, and you don't even care.

 Peaceful creature, come and be my teacher

Flotsam, jetsam swish and swirl

and you don't even care.

No, you don't even care.

Sara Groves

The boys had lots of fun exploring on the red sands of the PEI shoreline.  Because of the traumatic changes in tides, it was easy to find different sea creatures at low tide.  Starfish, crabs, muscles, and razor clams were some of their finds.