Family Photo

Boy is it handy having a laptop. Who knew? I'm here in my hotel in Fargo! Jeff and I decided to get away for a weekend, do some shopping, some for Christmas. We got a bit done today. I would love to get my Christmas shopping done early this year, If I'm not too late for early. It's kind of hard deciding what to get everyone though. And it's not always easy finding the gifts I do think of. If anybody has some different ideas they would like to share, I would love to hear them!

Well, it's getting late, I'm going to go watch some TV before I go to sleep. Gotta get ready for another day of shopping tomorrow!

My boys Jamin and Aaron share a bedroom. We had started them out in the basement when we first moved here, but it wasn't long and I moved them back upstairs. One night I happened to get up to use the bathroom and when I opened my bedroom door I could hear one of the boys crying down in their room. I couldn't hear them when the door was closed, so after that I decided they needed to come up. Their room upstairs has been a bit cluttered, there were a couple of shelves, a can of paint and a large picture frame that were helping with the clutter. Today I finally got it organized, moved out the stuff that didn't belong and even unpacked a couple of boxes. Yep, still have stuff to unpack. Now I just need to move some of this stuff out of my hallway. Out of one room and into the hallway. Maybe I'll get this place organized yet!

Blogtober Day 10

10 days in a row! Not bad for me, especially this year!

Last night I went to the city to spend some time with Heather. Of course it went by way too fast, time always flies when you are having fun. We went for supper and did a bit of shopping and then went for coffee/dessert at a little coffee house. I had this Italian soda that tasted like slightly flavored club soda. I have no idea what Italian soda is supposed to taste like, but this stuff didn't taste like much. It was fun anyway and we stayed until the music stopped playing so we knew it was closing time. I got home kinda late, but it was worth it.

On the way home I ran over what appeared to be a skunk. It was dark and all of a sudden there was something that was black and white just laying in the middle of my lane of the two lane highway. I didn't have much time to react, so I just kept going. I heard the thunk thunk thunk and knew I had hit him. I felt pretty bad. I hope he was killed and wasn't laying there suffering. Every time I drive down these two lane highways I worry I'm going to hit something. I almost hit a deer one day driving from Southport to Oakville. I hit the brakes (thankfully nobody was behind me) and barely missed it.

So that's my excitement for this week so far! Until next time.....

latest project

I've been wanting to post some pictures on here, but the thing is, I'm too lazy to upload the pictures onto my computer. It's not hard to do, but for some reason I just don't like doing it. If I wait long enough maybe Jeff will take care of that for me. I want to post some pictures of our latest project. I say "our" as if I'm somehow actually involved in this project. Jeff is building a garden shed this week so we can store all our junk for the winter. His dad was here helping yesterday and is here again today, and Heather was here yesterday helping us too. So thankful for all the help! Heather and I moved a tree that was in the way and planted another one, so I guess I might be involved in it after all. :)

Anyway, so once I get around to actually uploading the pictures, I'll post them on here. Exciting times in Winkler, eh?

A few favorite things

1. favorite song - Shameless by Garth Brooks
2. dessert - caramel chocolate pecan cheesecake from Sobeys
3. animal - hippopotamus
4. flower - Lily, Gerbera Daisy
5. movie - Robin Hood Men in Tights
6. vegetable - broccoli
7. favorite t-shirt saying - If life gives you lemons, keep em, cause hey, free lemons (and one about hedge hogs)
8. commercial - the one with the house hippos
9. Favorite Christmas song - O Come O Come Emmanuel
10. clothing store - Rickis

I'm so tired, this is going to be short. We just got back from our weekend of Thanksgiving gatherings and I am full. It was a delicious couple of days and I should probably fast for a week or two to compensate. It won't happen but I probably should. I hope everyone had/is having a good Thanksgiving. We had another good day with family today. I am blessed to be a part of 2 awesome families.

Sorry for the shortness of this. I am just too tired to think tonight.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving

What a busy day today. I spent the morning getting ready for our Thanksgiving gatherings this weekend. Today we had supper at my parent's place and tomorrow we're going to go to our church in Portage and then after that we'll head to my in-laws for supper. Today was a good day and went by way too fast. We were missing a few people today, but we had a good time visiting and reminiscing and telling some funny stories from years ago. Hopefully next time the rest of them will be here too. I love my family, I love the time I get to spend with them and I only wish we could do this more often. I'm looking forward to more family time tomorrow! So this year I just want to say how thankful I am for our family. We've had to learn this year just how short life can be, so I'm just going to cherish every moment I get to spend with the ones I love. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Mommy brag moment

So my kids have started a new school this year. I had a hard time with it the week before school started. Everything was starting up again, school, nursery school, diaper gym, Awana, all the things we were involved with and here we were, strangers in a new town. I kept thinking of everyone back home and how we were missing out on all this stuff. Everything was going on without us there. But you know what, my kids really like their new school. Aaron started Kindergarten this year and his teacher is super nice, he loves it. He kept coming home and telling me that he made a new friend that day, although he couldn't always remember their names. One day he came home and told me he was now friends with every kid in his class. Jamin says he now has 13 (i think it is) friends. A few times when I would walk Aaron to school after lunch, I would see a circle of boys sitting outside playing Beyblade, and Jamin was among them. He just had to buy a Beyblade so he could play with his friends at recess, and so he used his own money to buy one. I can't tell you how happy it made me to see my boy playing outside with his new friends.

We also signed the boys up at an Awana club at a nearby church. They seem to be enjoying that as well. We're still looking for a church to regularly attend. It seems this summer and fall have been busy and we haven't always made it to church on Sunday, but that should change once things slow down a bit and hopefully we'll find a church to call home.

I can't tell you how proud I am of my kids. They have just made this whole moving thing a lot easier. It's still not easy to be away from our family and friends, but knowing my kids are doing good has made it a lot easier than it could have been. They really seem to like it here. And there are a lot of things to like about this town, although I have to remind myself of that when I'm missing home. (or grocery shopping)

And Jamin has been getting 100% on his spelling tests! (big mommy brag moment) So proud! And he joined choir, they practice two noon hours a week and he'll be performing at different events throughout the year. He told me today that he has to learn Latin. Can't wait to hear that!

Aaron's teacher told me the other day that he does talk in Kindergarten. He was so shy when we first met her, and wouldn't say much, but she says he puts his hand up and does actually talk. That kid amazes me. He's always so quiet around other people, not so quiet at home, and he was a late talker. You would think he is super shy, but I've never had a problem leaving him at school, he stayed at Awana no problem and he didn't know anyone. He's not nearly as shy as he looks.

And since I haven't said anything yet about Ethan, only because he hasn't started school yet, I'll tell you what he said one night. It was bed time and so I was in his room tucking him in. I turned to leave the room and said "Good night turkey-lurkey" and his response was "good night Bob"! I laughed and he laughed and so now we sometimes call each other Bob or Bobby! That boy cracks me up!

I just love these boys, they make my life interesting that's for sure!

10 things I did today

1. Woke up at 7:30. Way too early this morning, I didn't sleep well last night. Partly because the wind was blowing and I kept thinking of that darned trampoline blowing away. I wasn't sure where I would find it in the morning. Turns out, it didn't go anywhere.

2. Took my boys to school, one in the morning and one after lunch, then I picked them up again. There are just over 500 kids in their school and I think most of the parents came to pick up their kids today. There is hardly any parking there so you can imagine the traffic. It was brutal. I'm so looking forward to winter. (insert sarcasm here) Normally I walk to get them but today it was cold and rainy and windy so we drove. Which brings me to number 3.

3. Nearly froze to death today. Brrr..... it's cold out there. And I've been refusing to turn the heat on in here. So I sit here on my sofa covered in a blanket. The heat may come on tonight, I don't want my kids to freeze, or me.

4. I ate some cheese and crackers for lunch. So exciting eh? If anybody has some interesting lunch ideas please feel free to pass them along to me. I always have a hard time with lunch.

5. Went for a walk/run on my treadmill.

6. Made some apple fritters using a recipe I found on Pinterest. May need to find a new recipe, they weren't all that terrific. But I just love Pinterest, there are so many absolutely delicious looking recipes I want to try, not to mention all the other fabulous ideas you can find on there.

7. Almost found a hotel room for our weekend away. The room turned out to be a smoking room so we decided against it. Still working on it.

8. Went to get some groceries after supper. Again, was it ever cold out there.

9. Watched Grey's Anatomy. Is anyone else not super impressed with where this season is going?

10. And now I'm currently blogging and watching X-Factor. I kind of like that show. There are some people out there who sure can sing. I'm thinking maybe I should go on that show, what do you think? lol Probably better stick to my day job.

11. Just thought of one more, don't want you all to think I just watch tv all day. I cleaned both my bathrooms! I hate that job so I consider this a major accomplishment! :) Good Night everyone!

So Jeff and I have been thinking of going to Fargo for a weekend. We've been wanting to do this for a while now, and it just hasn't worked out for us to go. We finally picked a weekend to go and lined up a babysitter. Turns out there is something big going on in Grand Forks and I can't find a decent hotel for a decent price anywhere. There are some real iffy kind of hotels for cheaper, but all the ones that I would enjoy staying at are just super expensive and I just can't bring myself to pay that, just for a place to sleep. And I don't want to risk getting bed bugs so I won't stay at a dive either.

(side note: we found a hotel in Jamestown, and the description on google maps read "this hotel smells like someone pooped in the toilet and didn't flush it for 16 years". No word of a lie, that was on google maps)

So now I'm not sure what to do. We still have one more option to check out so we'll see what happens. Fingers crossed that we can find something.


I just changed a setting so now I can leave lines between paragraphs. Woo hoo! Look at me go! lol

Can anybody tell me what happened? When I was writing my last post I had left lines between paragraphs and when I published it, the spaces were gone and it's one big paragraph.

Random babbling......

A couple of weeks ago we had a really windy day. As I passed the living room window I noticed our trampoline was in a different spot. It usually sits on the north side of our yard and now it was in front of our living room window. A little while later it was on the South side of our yard. Thankfully, the neighbors fence stopped it from going any further. Today was another windy day. The wind was blowing from the other direction this time so I thought I should keep an eye on our trampoline again. When I checked it had moved but not too far, a little while later I checked again and it had been moved further, but thankfully stopped by our other neighbors shed. Turns out those safety enclosures act like a big sail in the wind. Thank goodness for fences and sheds or who knows where we would find the darned thing. Anyway, that's about the most exciting thing that happened around here today. I lead such an exciting life, I know. Yesterday I was half watching a show that was on TV and Judge Judy was a guest on that show. She kind of annoyed me by saying that people who watch daytime television want to be educated. Yes, I sit around here all day just wishing someone would come along and educate me. I know, she probably didn't mean it the way I took it but it irked me all the same. It really is kind of boring around here, that's all I got. Trampolines and Judge Judy. I should post some really cute pictures of some really cute kids. Maybe some corn maze pictures, there are some really cute kids in those pictures. Some are mine, some are my awesome great nieces and nephews. We had a great time at the corn maze on Sunday with our friends. Hi Tiffany! Wow, 2 days in a row. How awesome of me! I'm almost positive tomorrow will be even more exciting than today. Well, hopeful at least. Until then, happy blogging!

Blogtober: Day 1

I had this grand idea that to kick off getting back into blogging I would participate in Blogtober. Now it's day one and I have no clue what to write about. I mean, I'm sure there is a lot that I could/should blog about, but as I sit here, nothing comes to mind. Perhaps it's because I'm watching The Talk at the same time, that might be why my mind won't focus. I got home from taking my boy to school and thought of something that I needed my laptop for, but once I got sitting at it I couldn't remember what it was that I needed it for. Maybe it's because it's Monday. That's it, it's Monday. Anyway, just thought I would say hi to you all, and we'll see how far this blogtober thing goes. I've never actually made it through the whole month, and we will be away for some of these days so I'm not sure if I'll get every day. But I'll try. Happy blogging everybody. Hopefully tomorrow's post will be better.

I have some news that I thought I would share with you all. Some of you will already know this, some maybe not. But we will be moving to the Morden/Winkler area come this summer. Jeff got a new job with Buhler Industries in Morden. Last Thursday was his last day of work, this week he is off and then come Monday morning he will be starting his new job. This is a big change for us, especially since I have never lived anywhere but Portage and Austin, but we feel this is where we are being led and are excited for some new opportunities. (and completely scared and freaking out at the same time) I will miss my friends and family we have here, but I keep telling myself it's just a car ride away, and not all that long of one. But please come and visit us, we'll be out here visiting lots too! The past few weeks have been a whirlwind and busy with getting our house ready to sell and all the fun stuff that comes with moving! Just wanted to fill you all in, sorry I didn't do it sooner, like I said it's been a whirlwind. Late last night we put our house up for sale, we are going to try to sell it privately. If you need a house in Portage or know of someone who does, send them our way! I will try to keep you posted on things that are happening with us! I'm hoping the kids will adjust well, they seem to be okay with it for now! Okay, gotta go get some more stuff done!

100 things, part 2

26. I have no plants in my house, except for what's left of my valentine's flowers
27. I hate that my van is rusty around the wheels
28. I love Reese peanut butter cup blizzards
29. And the peach ice-cream thingy from that place in Winnipeg, you know the one
30. My toe nails are painted purple right now
31. I've always thought it would be awesome to adopt a child, like a 2-4 year old
32. I might want to re-think that one after the past few diaper gym experiences with my own 2 & 4 year olds
33. I would love to take my kids on a road trip some day
34. I like watching curling, especially with my dad
35. We (Jeff) built a new fence around our yard last summer
36. It's broken, thanks to a guy who hit Jeff's truck while it was parked in the drive-way and pushed it into the fence
37. Thankfully he left his licence plate in our driveway and the police caught him right away
38. I have never had a broken bone
39. I love girls nights and moms nights out
40. I think my kids are awesome, I'm so blessed
41. My baby will be 3 in less than 2 months, sniff
42. I would love to have a huge yard some day
43. I haven't mowed the grass since I lived with my parents
44. My favorite drink is Coke, and NOT diet
45. I hate cleaning the bathroom, it's the worst job in the house
46. For that reason it's nice to have just one, for other reasons, it would be nice to have another one
47. I'm a Vancouver Canucks fan
48. I'm planning on redecorating my bedroom, just need to find some new bedding first
49. I play the piano, not well, but I play
50. I discovered that tobogganing IS fun, at least when the weather is mild

Winter Fun

We took the boys out tobogganing yesterday and we all had a blast! Who knew that you could have fun in winter. It helped of course that we had gorgeous weather for this time of year!

When we got home Jamin said that maybe we could do this again next year. I told him that maybe we could do it again this year and he was pretty excited about that. I think I need to get them outside more. Once a year? lol

Towards the end of the video you might notice Ethan going down the hill too. He's on the left.

100 things about me part 1

I'll give it my best shot at finishing this year. Sorry if there are repeats from other years, but there's only so much to know about me. Here we go.

1. I love my new Kitchenaid Mixer
2. I'm thinking of giving it a name
3. The pictures of my kids hanging on my wall are 2 years old. I have 2 sets of newer ones just haven't changed them.
4. I love Cherry Cheesecake Pie from this site.
5. Last year I got my haircut 2 times. That was twice as often as the year before.
6. Last year my hubby and I traveled to Las Vegas for the very first time.
7. I didn't even blog about it.
8. I'm scared of heights.
9. I blame that on my mom, she scared me when I was little and now I'm afraid. Love you mom!
10. Fish creep me out.
11. I blame that on the fish wallpaper I had on my wall as a kid, my parents had to remove it.
12. My middle name is Patricia, after my mommy.
13. I love to go to the movies. It's my favorite.
14. I love roller coasters. The bigger the better.
15. I hardly ever take pictures of my kids. I always forget to.
16. I always meant to start photo albums for my kids, haven't done that either.
17. I'm only 7 years behind on that project.
18. Last weekend I went on a women's retreat and I knew only one of the women.
19. That was huge for me, I'm kinda shy.
20. I have 2 great nieces and 2 great nephews!!!
21. I turned the big 3-0 last year and it wasn't even as scary as I thought it would be.
22. I love to wear my comfy grey sweater.
23. I love points, club sobeys, optimum, air miles, scene.
24. On that note, I love getting free stuff from all my points.
25. At Christmas I got $250 worth of free groceries and a movie theater gift certificate from some of my points.

New Years Resolutions

I'm a few days late, but I figure since it's still the first week in January that it's okay. Here's my 2012 resolution list. I love lists!

1. Read at least 26 books this year. I haven't been much of a reader in years, but this year Tiffany got me reading a series of books that I couldn't put down, and since the end of September I've read 16 books and I'm working on 2 more right now. I'm really starting to love reading, so I think I should be able to accomplish this goal!

2. 1000 miles in a year, again. Last year I did really well at this one. I ended the year with 1651 miles of walking and running. This may sound strange, but this year I don't want to do quite so many. I need to start adding in some other types of exercise and pushing myself with some strength training. This will be the hard part.

3. Lose 10 pounds. I lost a total of 12 pounds last year, and I'm getting close to my goal, so to get there would feel so great.

4. Spend more time reading my Bible. A few years ago I started reading the Bible in a year, but when my youngest son was born I fell off the wagon. I've always wanted to go back and continue and finish what I started, so maybe this will be the year.

Well, that's it for now. I'm sure I'll think of more things I want to accomplish this year, but this is a start. Don't want to make it too unattainable.

Happy New Year everyone!