A Few Things....

Some random pictures from the happenings at our house this week...

After pretty close to a year of waiting, my orchid has finally bloomed again - I seriously thought I killed it, but it came back (Esther thought I was crazy when I came home to find it blooming - I got all excited and then ran to grab the camera for proof that I can keep some plants alive and well!!)

Anna's favourite thing to do lately - puzzles - she'll sit on the couch for an hour doing the same 3 puzzles over and over again - Caleb has also gotten into it (thanks to Oma!), so there have been some pretty intensely quiet afternoons here lately :)

What NOT to dry your clothes on....I needed a flat spot for my sweater to dry...apparently the old computer desk is not a good choice - oops - left a bit of a mark,eh! Anyone know where I can buy a drying rack (specifically for sweaters?)

I'm sure everyone was outside at some point today - who wouldn't be at 16 degrees!! The kids were out a couple times - soaking up the sun

And what's warm weather without a freezie!!! I know, I know...a little bit early for that, but I couldn't help it and the kids thought it was great too :)

No More Carpet

Well, we finally did it - took the old, dirty carpet out of our living room. We've been talking about it for a lllloooonnnnggg time - but were always waiting for the 'right' time. No time like the present ;) We are hoping to paint our living room (and the hall, bedrooms etc) - so while we wait for the quote, we started the preparations (no sense in getting a nice paint job with ugly carpet on the floor!). So Alvar and the kids went to work on Saturday, taking it all out - the kids had a blast....doesn't take much to entertain! They all had their "jobs" to do - Esther hammered down nails, Caleb took the under padding off the floor (piece by piece) and Anna vacuumed up the remnants of staples, nails and other stuff off the floor. They were all very helpful - and Alvar's pretty sure they helped to make the job quite a bit shorter in the end!

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Once all the carpet was up and the floor cleaned - it was pretty easy to see that the hardwood was not going to be useful anymore (if you need about a million nails - come on over - that's about how many have been used to nail the wood down - a real pity!!). So, now we wait till the laminate is on sale at Home Depot - then we finish off the floor (living room, hallway and our bedroom) - pretty soon we'll have a "grown-up" house with real paint (sorry, I don't consider pink paint in the living room a proper colour!!) and a nice floor too - we can't wait!!
One section at a time

The master "nail-hitter"

The master under padding destroyer

The master pony-player - oops...well, Anna did vacuum, I just didn't catch with the camera! The vacuuming didn't last too long , playing with toys is a little more fun I guess!

Yah, sure, they look all innocent on their own - but put a million of these nails together

and you have quite the army!

And the aftermath - not too bad - we find it completely changes the look in the living room - makes us look forward even more to getting the floor done 'right' and the walls painted!

Happy 40th Anniversary!!

This past weekend we enjoyed celebrating with Alvar's parents their 40th Wedding Anniversary. We spent the day in Fergus CanRef Church, meeting LOTS of people at the open house in the afternoon, and then a nice dinner with close family and friends for the evening. Everyone had an enjoyable time - the kids ran around like crazy kids - playing in the nursery and having fun with their cousins. Boy, were they all tired when the day was done (us too!).

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So congratulations again to Alvar's parents! 40 years is such a blessing from God - and something that we can strive for in our marriage too - in a broken world it is so refreshing to see that yes, couples can make it together - it may take work, and there are always bumps on the road - but with God as our Rock, it can happen :)

The Happily Married Couple

The whole family - not easy getting this shot! In the next month or so we look forward to getting a professional to do the job of getting us organized for some nice family shots.

Our nieces and nephews

Our rugrats - oh, and you just gotta love Anna's "less-than-thrilled" expression here - she was not impressed that we dared to ask her to stop running for a minute to get this shot...I mean, what kind of parents would do that to their children??? :)

Mmmm....cake :)

Steady stream of people coming to the open house that afternoon

The M.C. Extraordinaire - mine truly...Alvar :)

Our delicious dinner

Alvar and I did a little skit - we "acted out" the song "When I'm 64" by the Beatles - don't we look fantastic, I especially loved Alvar's hat!!

Caleb's hi-light of the evening, using a knife to butter his bun (and Anna's and Alvar's too - things couldn't possibly get much better for him!)

I Can't Believe It!!!!

After a busy day of running around, I came home this afternoon to a box in my door. I couldn't quite figure out what I had signed up for until I actually opened it up. And much to my surprise and delight - I got a DIAPER BAG in the mail!!! I actually got a free diaper bag - and on the first try - no problems what-so-ever! I could hardly believe it (see here for my "troubles" with earlier attempts at getting a similar freebie), I've finally succeeded in a bag of my own without help from my Mom ;) So, here it is - I thought I'd share my joy with all of you - it's the little things in life like this that just make my day!

Nice blue colour - bigger inside then the other bag I have too - plus, the best part - there's a zipper at the top - no chance of anything falling out of this baby!!

And how handy is this!?! Both a backpack and handles...so depending on your day...you're ready to carry it anyway you want ;)

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P.S. This is a different company then the first one I tried to sign up for...so if you're interested, I can send you the link

Ice

On our way back from Niagara Falls to pick up the kids in Fergus - we came across a field full of ice. Now, ice is nothing special around here - especially in winter when it is definitely in abundance! But this ice made me ask Alvar to turn around so I could get a picture or two. The field was full of little shrubs - and was flooded a couple days before because of the mild weather. My guess is that the water drained very quickly leaving a layer of ice suspended on the shrubs. As I was taking the pictures (which I wish I had gotten a little closer for) I could hear tinking sounds, the ice was cracking and falling across the field. It was pretty neat - something I hadn't

seen before! (click on the pictures to see them in full)

Niagara Falls Getaway

Alvar and I were able to get away for a couple days this past weekend. Thursday morning we packed up the kids, hopped in the van (yes, hopped...I think we were all pretty excited about the weekend!) and made our way first to Fergus to drop off the kids at Alvar's parents house. The kids were quite excited to spend 2 whole nights with Oma and Opa - away from the regular routines of home. From there Alvar and I left for Niagara Falls. We had booked a 2-night package online that was pretty much all inclusive - hotel, meals, snacks and entertainment too. We made it to the Howard Johnson Hotel in good time - and were happy to be able to have some away time with each other again!

Our very nice hotel suite

Mmm...well, the view wasn't that great - but oh well - the room itself made up for that!

Dinner the first night was at the Keg - over looking the Falls - we were even able to get some window seats - perfect view of everything!

View of the Falls from our dinner seats

Breakfast - I didn't actually get a shot of the Denny's Restaurant from the outside, so a sugar packet from our table is going to have to be "proof" enough!

Wow - that looks really good! But, unfortunately it was a tad early for dessert - although very tempting....we opted for eggs, sausage, pancakes and toast instead :)

Part of our package deal was the Fun Pass - we got to do all the things on the pass - kept us busy enough for the days we were there!

The Skywheel - really neat - but VERY high up! As much as I enjoyed the ride over all (and would even recommend it) - I was pretty nervous at the top - I'm not a huge fan of heights - and this kind of ride just confirms that all the more in my mind!

Alvar enjoying the Skywheel

Yup, even me enjoying it, after the first full loop anyway ;)

View of Niagara Falls from the Skywheel

And also the American Falls too

This was in the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum - lots of very interesting facts etc - you definitely walk out of there wondering about a lot of the displays in this museum!

My turn in the big comfy chair

Never fails - always a rainbow in site at Niagara Falls!

A couple stopped us on our walk past the falls and asked us to take their picture for them - then they did the same for us!

Although no ice build up on the railings by the falls - the bottom of the gorge had no shortage of snow and ice - just a little build up here at the bottom of the American Falls

See, I told you the Skywheel was high up!!

What a lotta water!!

Enjoying the rainbow again

It's Johnny!!! Or, I mean Jack Sparrow...we got to meet a bunch of interesting movie characters at the Movie Land Museum - some of them were not so well done...but others, like this one was pretty good (at least we thought so!)

And here's Orlando - or Will Turner

One of Alvar's favourites here...Gandolf - Gollum is in the back there and of course Frodo Baggins too (who in my opinion had a little too much red lipstick on!)

Chocolates anyone?

And the most famous of all...yup, that middle guy there...the one with the scour on his face - gotta watch out for that one... ;)

A Little Glimpse

"For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me

were written in your book

before one of them came to be."

Psalm 139: 13-16

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This passage has always meant a lot to me - especially over the past year and a half it has so much more meaning to me then ever before. It reminds again me that every single day of life has been ordained by God since before the beginning of time - and that's both inside and outside of the womb! What a blessing - what a beautiful promise He has given us!

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Today we had a glimpse of God's handi-work. Alvar and I were able to have a peek at our little "Pipsqueak" (a very carefully name chosen by a good friend of mine!) - we were able to see him/her move around, stretch out the limbs a bit - and even see the heart beating. What an amazing thing to see - it never gets "repetitive" - no matter how many children you have! I am only 12 and a half weeks at this point (the ultra sound was for "dating" purposes only) and so I look forward to another one in about 8 weeks time :)

Habits

Habits - we all have them. Some of them are life-long, some are only short-lived. Some of them are really good to have - while others are preferably short and forgotten nice and fast! Anna has picked up a new habit lately - and much to my dismay it's of the latter type. I guess it could be worse - but it's all about timing with this one. For example, this particular habit would be ok I guess, if done discreetly - I can understand the need to do it - I'll even admit that I've done it myself from time to time, as I'm sure many others have - just not in front of guests. I had a friend over the other day - we each took one end of the couch to sit on, leaving the middle empty. Well, Anna plunked herself down right in between us, proceeded to pull of her socks and remove that lovely toe-lint right in the middle of our conversation, leaving the lint pieces all over the couch. Ok, I'll admit I did chuckle a bit - but I do hope that this is a short-lived habit - or a habit we curb to more "discreet" times of the day!