Remembering...

Dani came home the other day asking about her Great-Grandpa Lou who had been a soldier. We talked about his adventures as a tank driver, and that branched out into stories about Remembrance Day.  She had obviously been talking about this at school too, and was very concerned about all the soldiers who died during the war. 

She has such a tender caring heart this, little one does.

She picked up her crayons and set to putting her feeling down on paper.

Of course I had to run for the camera and capture the picture in progress.

Finished product. 

JJ sat on the other side of the table, and drew pictures of Spiderman fighting the bad guys with magic webs instead of soldiers with bullets.    Don't you wish we could actually do that?  Webs instead of bullets sounds like a good idea to me.

More Halloween

I was sorting through my file pictures this morning and found these leftover Halloween pics that Grandmama might like.  So here they are.  The kids came home from school that day in their Halloween t-shirts, so we had to get a pictures of them with the pumpkin.

Cute little pumpkins huh?

After the photo shoot they chowed down on these after-school snacks.   They thought it was great fun to eat lips and teeth.

We also gave them a quick and easy dinner that night, so they would be ready early to get into their costumes and head out the door.

Someone was more than pleased to be wearing make-up! 

JJ's turn for a sleepover

Big sister came one week for a sleepover, so JJ had his turn the next week.

He got to be our first passenger in the new car.  I think he was pretty pleased about that.

He got to choose anything her wanted for dinner, and he chose hot dogs and chips.  Yuck!  I tried to talk him out of that, but that's what he wanted, so that's what he got. 

I saw this neat idea on FB to make hot-dog/spaghetti spiders.  Above you see my attempt.  They don't look like spiders at all.  Sigh!  JJ thought they were neat though, so they were a hit. 

Buppa doesn't mind hot dogs either, so he joined JJ in the treat.  I have to be pretty close to starving to have a hot dog, so I opted for a cheese and lettuce sandwich instead.  We all chowed down on chips though..  

After dinner and a movie, he settled down happily in the guest room, and was soon asleep.

Next morning he helped Buppa make breakfast. 

After breakfast he had some TV time.  The boy does like to watch Power Rangers.  He doesn't sit quietly on the couch and just watch the show though.  He is up and helping the Power Rangers fight the bad guys.

The sword was his sleep- over treat, and he put it to good use I must say.  Those bad buys didn't stand a chance.

Saluting his buddies on the TV.

Enough TV, time for a rousing game of snakes and ladders.

Almost as much fun as watching Power Rangers. 

Halloween fun - 2013

I know AC has posted lots of pics of the goings on last night, but thought I would add more for Grandmama in Montreal.  Enjoy!

They have the posing down pat.

Mommy got in on the act too.

Snuggles with Buppa

It was a windy rainy night, but not cold.  The pumpkins were on the porch so the kids joined them for a pic before setting off Trick-or-treating.

Ready to fight the bad guys.

Ready to dance at the palace ball.

Daddy doesn't look happy in these pics, but I think it was because he got home late and didn't have any supper

Someone very happy to have make-up on.  A princess indeed.

It was fun to share the excitement with the kids, but I had some physio on my neck and back that day, and was one tired granny at the end of the evening.  Physio helps, but it hurts before the helping part kicks in.

New Skill

Danica came for a sleepover last week, and I always try to stay one step ahead of her to keep her busy and entertained.  She noticed that I was crocheting a new afghan for the living room, and wanted to learn how to do it too.  We tried with some wool and a crochet hook, but it was just too much for her at this age, so we went to the store to see if we could find a corking set for her.  We couldn't find one anywhere, but we did find this set of knitting rings and decided to give them a try. 

She picked out some colourful wool, and started with the smallest ring to practice on.

She was very pleased with herself once she got the hang of it.

Concentration plus.

I had to stay close by to help her with some of the steps, but she soon was doing most of it herself.

Happy happy times indeed.

She was up early the next morning, and the first thing she wanted to do was more knitting.   Looks good doesn't it?

Time for a big smile and the finished project. It was big enough to make a  hat for one of her dolls

But she decided to make a friendship cuff with the practice piece of knitting. 

She already has another cuff started for one of her friends.  Such sweet memories we are making together.

Sad endings and new beginnings.

It is a frosty October morning, and emotions are swirling in the air all around me,  like the autumn leaves tumbling around outside.  Almost a month has passed since the car accident that took our car, and shook up my old bones.  Thankfully, we are slowly but surely moving back towards normal, whatever "normal" is.  A new car was picked up last week, and physio for this old body will start this week.  So, we are making progress.

This might sound silly, but I was more than a tad upset when I was told that our old CRV could not be repaired.  In the past, we had always purchased  smaller, second hand cars, but when AC retired, we opted for a bigger new car, as we planned on doing a lot of traveling during our retirement, and we wanted a solid car, with lots of room for camping gear.

Our old car, Corrie the Corolla, served us well, but was a tad small for what we had planned for our future.  When it was time to take the plunge and replace her, we looked at a number of  RV's, and we both felt like the Honda CRV fit us best, and we liked the look of it too.  We were the first owners of this little gem, and we named our new family member Harriet the Chariot.  Yes, we name our cars....strange I know...but true. This was going to be the car to take us on lots of exciting adventures and we looked forward to what we would find at the end of each new road we traveled down inside her safe cocoon.

We planned on keeping her for 15 years at least, so we didn't miss a service appt and treated her with tender loving care.   After her 10th BD, AC had a run-in with a rowdy tree, so a bit of body work was called for, and normal things like brakes, muffler and some other suspension thing had to be replaced. But other than that, she didn't give us an ounce of trouble.  Not bad for a 10 year old car.  She still looked good, and gave us a comfy ride; well, as comfortable as these old bodies could be when backs and hips started to yell at us after a couple of hours in any car. 

She took us out West, down East, and all around Ontario along many a new road. It was so nice to see her waiting for us at the side of a new road, where we parked her, so we could ramble around in the woods to take some pictures or enjoy a picnic along the way.   I also felt safe when we walked towards her in a dark parking lot at night, and she winked her lights at us when we approached.  Yes, I do have a vivid imagination, and it does make life interesting and fun.

One of our favorite places to travel to was Riverwood.  Harriet carried us and all our winter snowshoeing gear, there many times.  She waited for us at the end of frosty winter walks, and soon warmed us up as soon as we got inside.  Even when she was parked outside overnight at the farm, in -41 conditions, she started like a charm the next morning.  Yes, she was a gem of a car.

So, when we got the news that she couldn't be fixed after keeping us safe in the accident, I was more than sad.  We drove to the car repair shop to gather up our belongings and prepare for the trip home without her for the first time in ten years.  When we drove into the parking lot, I almost burst into tears when I saw her parked all alone at the back of the parking lot at this strange place.  She had taken such good care of us during all of our adventures over the past 10 years, and now here she was all alone and we would have to leave her behind when we went home. Sigh!

We emptied out nooks and crannies inside the car, cleaned under seats, and other out-of-sight  out-of-mind areas, then piled all our belongings in the rental car.  Sad, sad, sad.  I was really struggling to hold back the tears, and when we finally drove away leaving Harriet in that strange place, the tears did start to flow. I think the trauma of the accident finally hit home at that point, and I was a teary mess.

Thankfully the pain meds for my back and neck pain have been decreased, and I am not an emotional mess over a car any more.  Onward and forward.  I do have lots of happy memories of vacations taken in Harriet, so I will dwell on those.  One especially memorable "Silly Camping" adventure we had with Daughter #2 shortly after we purchased Harriet comes to mind, so I'll write more about that later this week.   Stay tuned...

And so it begins...

Fours years old and....look who is playing hockey!

All suited up and ready to go

Such a cute little Timbit.

He is still not sure of himself on his skates, so spend a lot of time on his knees and back.

Yep, that's him in the middle of the rink all by himself on his knees.

The coach soon came to see how he was doing, and he was not a happy camper.  His nose was running, and he couldn't wipe it with his gloves on and his mask in place.  He was a soggy, uncomfortable Timbit.

He got a pep talk from his coach, and got another lesson in how to get back on his feet once he had fallen.

Ahh, that's better.  Nose has been wiped, feet regained and he is ready to fly.

Took a shot at the glass.

More coaching in front of the net. 

While brother played, sister ran around the rink.  Up and down the stairs, and round and round and round.

We spent some time out in the warm lobby, and then headed back into the very cold rink area.

I had a good view from the top row...

..and from that vantage point was able to keep a close eye on sister too.

It was a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon.  We will go again for sure, but I will take something warm to sit on next time.  That rink sure is cold.