My head hurts. My neck hurts. I can't think. I've spent the last two days sleeping. And today, I attempted to function. Now I have a head ache. Was it worth it? Yeah. It's hard now but I got up, went out the door with the family,sat in a chair at Dean's house and we did the second Story. The kids are the highlight of storying. They love to retell it and the love to discuss it. Aahhhh. Very Nice. THen we adults did some talk about it sans kids and talk about what each couple were looking at in terms of living missionally and how we could join and encourage each other in that. Lovely. Yes, now I have a headache...but it's a small price to pay for being in the company of passionate people who are challenging me to live a life of transformational change as Jesus did.

Remember Christmas?

Look! Pictures!!! How exciting! Here are some from Christmas:

Nathan got Emily a stroller/highchair etc. combo thing for her dolls. Paul assembled it as his curious audience watched in eagerness.

The test drive went well. She scared the cat, got the dog to move and didn't open any other presents for about half and hour!

We travelled to my parent's house on Christmas day and stayed for the first part of the week. We then went to London to visit our university friends and their family.

Paul loves to read to kids. Jen and Ed were surpised to find their couch was a 6-seater!

So, I knew Paul liked crokinoe. But I didn't know he was a closet champion. It was New Year's Eve and we took a break from Carcassone. I gave Jen a massage and they played while we cheered on our men.

Emily and Julia became fast friends, with Nathan tagging along anytime he wanted to play "Home Home" with them. We all had a huge amount of fun and it tooks us a couple of weeks to recover!

All right, that it. Maybe one day I'll put together last year's outtakes. Maybe!

Ready for CAMPING!!!!

I was just thinking I should throw in a reluctant acknowledgement of the New Year....and it slowly dawned on me that there has been so much we've done and seen this year already. I must get some pictures up. No promises, though.
What momentous things have we done in the past two weeks. Well, we've had our first family games night. Boy, were the kids wired! They took an hour longer than normal to settle for bed. Maybe it was the family night treat! It's so special to build these rhythms into our family. A regular games night with a "traditional" dessert that Paul's family enjoyed when they began their family night rhythm. I find it a powerful idea to follow in an established rhythm set by a previous generation that reinforces the ideas of choosing to behave as a community and taking time to play together.
What else? Oh yes, Paul came home one night with STUFF. Some assorted plumbing things, a new phone, batteries - all spoils from the Damaged Goods sale that Canadian Tire holds for its employees. The piece de resistance was the tent. My tent.
I mean, Paul got the very tent I fell in love with and prayed for in the summer! God is so extravagent, faithful and timely. Yes, I know it's winter. However, there are daily requests by Emily for a camping excursion. Now we can plan one or ten with her this summer. We are all very happy to have a tent. It's enormous (yup, we're stuck with car camping for a while), but perfect for us.

To be continued....as I have to go hug and kiss munchkins goodnight.

What a nice Saturday at home...

Emily gave us another example of her ingenuity today. It's hard to see, but the string is threaded through the holes in the support post. Yippee, she's three!

We' ve had such a nice day today. The house is clean. Aunt Ana is here. Most of our clothes are packed for Christmas travelling. A gingerbread house was 'mantled' and dismantled (see picture below). We've had the most beautiful, restful, yet productive, day. Now there are just a few last presents to wrap. And an early start to tomorrow as I am producing.









Our first gingerbread house. Made from scratch, decorated by all. The only thing missing is the lovely smokestack that Paul created out of Ovation sticks. How fun. We had it for dessert. Not all of it! We've saved the rest for tomorrow.
That's the idea, anyway. I'm not sure why, because we still have butter cake to eat tomorrow. Oy! Christmas is so fun!

Well, must go light advent candles.
How amazing that He would come to us.

Emptying Groceries

I asked her to take the groceries out of the bag and just put them on the floor. She is such a treasure. Here's her interpretation of "on the floor". If I left her long enough, she probably would have made a tower out of the cans, too!

What a treasure.

Overheard during supper last night...

Emily : " I don't want to eat this. I don't like it."

Nathan : "If you don't eat it, then you won't grow big. Do you want to grow big?"

Emily : "Will I grow little?"

Bizarre

It's just occuring to me how ridiculous it all was. Two newlyweds, already pregnant, some shephards rattling on about vast amounts of angels in the sky and some rich guys with presents worshipping a baby that was born and placed in a feeding trough. I've spent some time trying to find the right word. One that conveys the idea of supernatural invading the natural. And the idea of how perfectly confusing yet appropriate were the circumstances of His birth. And therefore, His Death.

Foolish things that confound the wise.

I like Christmas. It makes me think.

Retail Schooling

Today we covered the subjects of math and science.
As we waited to check out at Michael's, Nathan worked on number recognition and sequence while observing the Soduku booklets (numbered 1 thru 8).
As we meandered through Home Depot, we observed the various plants which are transformed into Christmas greenery, such as rosemary trees. Nathan reviewed his Science lessons by naming the parts of an Amaryllis flower and describing what happens after a plant is pollinated (makes seeds) and how it protects it seeds (makes fruit).

This school day has been brought to you by the letter A and the numbers 1 thru 8.
We would like to thank our unwitting sponsors, Michael's and Home Depot.

Have a great day!

Remember Thanksgiving?

Remember the trip to Sarnia?

Brooding

Oh how I wish I had more to say.
I frequently get frustrated with blogging. I have so much up in my head and
it's so much work to get it out into words.
I've just started to read a Kierkkegaard anthology and I'm struck how people
can just write down their thoughts. I read blogs, letter, journals and
emails and I'm struck how so many people write so coherently. I just flit
from thought to thought, never quite slowing down enough so others can see
what I'm thinking. It's also that it's terrifying to share. But K. was an
original thinker, shamed and ridiculed for his thoughts which are now
heralded as RIGHT THINKING. So, I'm considering being braver. We'll see.

Will there ever be pictures?

Well, still so much to say! But pictures would be ever so much nicer. A
birthday cake, a tent, a few beautiful little girls and a very happy Emily.
Yup. She's three.
We had her party yesterday, but today was her big day. It was quite a
bummer for her compared to yesterday. Hopefully the trip to McDonald's for
supper helped!

Ah, so here's the truth: I'm trying to see if I can email to my blog.
Here goes!

Quite Cute Quotes

I've been trying to get some pictures up, from our trip to Sarnia and Thanksgiving...not quite working out yet. Oh well. I'll try some Quite Cute Quotes instead.

Earlier this week...
Nathan: "Mommy, I heard on the news that the giants were going to meet the cowboys."
Eyes on Mommy with an inquiring gaze.
Mommy stifles guffaw.
Mommy: "Oh, really?"
Nathan gives up his unsuccessful attempt to read Mommy's expression.
Nathan: "Yes, isn't that silly?"

Oh the things that they put in the news these days! Ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa (breathe) ha ha ha ha!
I haven't explained it to him yet. I just handed him my cell phone and let him tell his daddy. Daddy didn't explain it either. It's just too precious.

Mommy: "How do you want me to decorate your birthday cake, Emily?"
Emily, with great frustration: "I don't want you to decorate my cake, Mommy. I want to EAT it."
Long pause while Mommy is laughing.
Emily, using a Mommy-you're-so-dull-I-guess-I-have-to-spell-it-out-for-you tone of voice:
"I want a BIRTHDAY cake, with SPRINKLES on it. And I want CANDLES. And I want people to sing happy birthday to ME."
Some time later: "And I want to EAT my birthday cake."

Hee hee, I'll guess I'll just enjoy the ride as we careen wildly towards the Age of 3.

And here's the latest from Nathan:
"Mommy, can you help me read this part?"

Yippee!Yippee!Yippee!Yippee!Yippee!Yippee!
We now have a Beginning Reader! WaHOO!

Paul and I are heading to Stratford on Saturday to make use of our Christmas gift certificate (Christmas '05). I don't know what we are going to see, I'm not trying to find out, but it shall be glorious! Wonderful Aunt Ana is hanging out with the kids.

That's it for now!

32 years, up in smoke

I have embarked on the journey of a lifetime....no, a journey of a year. My 33rd year, to be exact. Not much to report so far, wandered in the woods, danced in the snow, yelled at some kids. I know there is a deeper thing going on in all these activities. I know that God is at work and right here with me. Sometimes the daily life I see with my eyes filters the reality of His Son's life in me. It really should be the other way round.

ReJoy!

I have Rediscovered the Joy of being at home! I went from "grump, grump, ho hum, not-so-how" to "wheee, this IS fun!" in the space of, oh, about 1 second. I was in my kitchen. I was miming. I was holding a cucumber in my hand. Blue Man Group was playing on the stereo. You figure it out!

Yippee! Just gotta find those pearls.

Amy

Some pictures we DID take!

See the excited groom? See the groomsman on the right? He's mine!















Al and Nadine cutting the cake - "Lebanese stye"













Aboard the ferry, approaching Centre Island. They still don't know Centreville exists...we just walked around the island!

















Nathan's new friend. He lives at the lighthouse with his family. He didn't talk much.

Our trip to the Library

I asked Nathan tonight if he wanted to go to the library. He suggested I could walk and he could ride his bike. He got a two-wheeler avec training wheels last week and there's been no stopping him. That is, until Paul put air in his tires yesterday! After a bit of clever and loud Mommy negotiating ("Nathan, GO! Yes it's more wobbly....GO! NOW!") followed by some logic (Nathan...you can do it), he got going and has gotten used to his now wobbly bike. So off we went to the library.

This involved crossing at two intersections with lights and one with a 4-way stop. He did super well and pedalled his little heart out. Once at the library, we discovered it was closed ( I didn't check before leaving as I thought it was a worthwhile excursion anyway). We figured out how to lock his bike to the bike rack, went pee and came back out. After a small but traumatic mishap on the ramp downhill, he pedalled his little heart out back home. Oh the proud mommy moment!

When we got home, we found that Paul had begun to give Emily a bath. How great that was! He got to ride to the library and is now clean to boot!

It was fabulous. He's really tired and his bum hurts, but he is so happy.

Bikes. Hee!

We go ALL OUT!

Yup. Just couldn't stay home. Nope. Needed to get to higher ground. Ahem. Sky? Concrete?
Whatever.
We went to the CN tower today. Kids loved it. Nathan's fave: the Lego Racer simulator ride. ( I think he liked looking out from the SkyPod too).
It was quite all right, even the long line for the elevator up to the SkyPod.
Once we were finished, we exited the tower and walked in the direction of the old roundhouse just south of the tower. We were distracted by the OPP display of various cars and such and the bipedal furry dog and elephant. The kids got a couple of photo ops (not with our camera - which I left conveniently attached to the computer in an attempt to download pictures before we left this morning - HA!). And THEN, this cop lady asked if we got any treats. Then she got us the treats : hockey puck, tattoos, OPP badge AND a Junior OPP cap - in stylish black plastic! They were thrilled. The cops AND the kids.

When we finally made our way over to the round house we stopped to eat our lunch on a bench. We sat down with the CN Tower in the center of our view with the 'roger centre' off to the left. Emily's fave memory of the day was watching the elevators go up and down in the glass shaft. After lunch, Paul and Nathan disappeared into the tall grass in order to check out the roundhouse. Emily and I climbed some concrete thing while we waited for the boys to reappear.

While we were walking back to Union we saw a crew which was putting down some new track. Twenty minutes later, we finally got to Union, bought some candy and headed onto the subway.

It's so good to be back home. I've really enjoyed the extra special events but it was especially nice to get home, give them naps, do some errands and sit down to a nice dinner. Home is good.

Anniversary at the AGO.

It was just like 9 years ago. A little rainy, a little sunny and just the right temperature. We drove down to the AGO, just the two of us and wandered around the downright limited selection of the AGO's holdings. But it meant that we did the gallery in an hour ( it was free from 6-9pm!) and got to wander in the gift shop. We bought a fun looking card game for the kids where they get to build snakes!
Then we drove around trying to find a new parking spot ( the garage we had originally parked in was being used for filming) and ended up right in front of the CHUM City building at Queen and John at the ONLY parking meter directly in front of the Breakfast television/CityLine studio. It was a little weird. AND we didn't even have to pay because it was after 9pm.
We wandered east on Queen and found ourselves at the Indian Palace which was a simple but welcoming restaurant with very yummy food. It was such a nice evening.
And, Paul, "Happy Anniversary! Thanks for wandering the gallery with me. I love you!"

Spontaneous adventure

It was Sunday, around 11am. We had just come back from church. The children were playing happily but we, the parents, were unsettled. So we made a decision.
About an hour and a half later we found ourselves at Black Creek Pioneer Village.
What Fun!
Trouncing around on gravel paths ( much gentler on the feet), smelling spices, watching how to card and spin wool --oh so much fun! It amazed me how they just glowed as they ran around.
Nathan is just the right age to take in the information the village-people (non-YMCA types) shared. Emily enjoyedthe sheer energy of the excursion.
Paul and I found it wonderfully relaxing.
But, we didn't bring the camera.
Maybe next time!