Merry Christmas

This year we hosted Christmas for my family here in our home. It was amazing having my parents, brother, sister in law, niece and cousin here. Not everything went according to plan, C, who is my baker extraordinaire, came down with pneumonia 4 days before Christmas which really threw a spanner into his baking plans. Mass on Christmas eve started later than we were expecting and ran longer than we were expecting, so our réveillons started later than planned. We were still wrapping gifts at 2am Christmas morning. The 23lb turkey barely fit in my oven and left no room for side dishes. Freezing rain pelted the house Christmas day and half of boxing day. But we were snug inside, together. The bits got everything their hearts desired, a Nintendo DS each and a Wii for the family to share. We all amused ourselves bowling and racing mario kart, took turns smooching sweet baby Maya, ate tons of cheese and nuts and tourtière and talked and laughed.

Best Christmas ever.

Flew...

Yup, I caught the flu. Almost 2 weeks later and I'm still worn down and raspy, but mostly healed. Trying to catch up on many different projects... including my blog.

Oh the good old hockey game is the best game you can name...

C was too sick to take little J to Beavers tonight so I subbed. It was hockey theme night, the boys played a bit of ball hockey, made miniature Stanley Cups and sang The Hockey Song (which really should be on the Canadian citizenship test don't you think?)

Proof positive that I'm just as much of a little boy as the guys with the sticks? Every time their leader wanted them to stop playing hockey he'd yell 'grab your balls boys!'. And I'd giggle like mad every time :)

Happy Hallowe'en

A quiet Hallowe'en around these parts. The rain stopped and the evening was quite pleasant, but the kids were tired and barely did a block before they just wanted to come home. And that's just fine by me :) They still got a decent amount of loot even so...

Will you remember me?

I'm not the universe's most outgoing person. I've been shy my entire life, and while I pride myself on being a good observer and excellent listener it doesn't exactly make me memorable. I joke with C that I could rob a bank, then come back 15 minutes later and stand in line for a teller and no one would recognise me. Of course, I won't rob a bank, but I'm quite serious about my anonymity. Generally it doesn't bother me (I'm an introvert by nature) but lately I've been thinking about how people will remember me in the future, or if they'll remember me at all.

My inlaws are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this week. My sister in law suggested compiling a scrapbook of well wishes and memories from their friends and family members. I collected the stories and assembled the book. Reading the memories and the sweet things people said, and especially how many of them had known my inlaws more than 50 years got me wondering - if my future daughter-in-law was to compile a book like that in 39 years how many pages would it have?

My husband is an extrovert, the kind of guy you meet once and remember forever. So many people know us as 'C and C's wife' (or C and that stranger with him). Will future book be full of messages remembering the funny things that C has said and the great times our friends have had with him? Will anyone remember anything about me?

I don't mean it in a woe is me way, rather in a pragmatic 'is there something I should change before it's too late' way. Should I push myself to get more involved in the community, or in the kids' activities... it's tough because I'm not displeased with my life except for the lingering frustration that nobody knows who I am...

Do you notice the shy/reserved people in your life?

(As an aside, the inlaws received their book at a special dinner and they were very pleased :) )

The last bit of fall

Fall came swiftly, and damply this year. It's been so cold and so wet that it's been near impossible to enjoy the changing of the leaves... until today anyway. Dry and brilliantly sunny, we drove out to pick little J up from Beaver Camp and arrived too early (they were still eating lunch), so Katie, C and I wandered the walking trails and enjoyed the sights.

Proofs

School picture proofs. I should be annoyed that J-man's tie is crooked and his shirt is untucked, but instead I totally love it! It's just so HIM! Katie looks adorable, as always, child seldom takes a bad picture. VERY pleased this year!

a card

My other crafty love - paper craft. Been a long time since I've had the stamps and twinkling H2Os out. Really need to rectify that...

Thankful

My parents drove up to spend Thanksgiving with us. It was a wonderful, laid-back weekend, lots of food and good conversation. I'm thankful that I have a good relationship with my parents, and with my extended family, I'm thankful for a warm home, a good marriage and beautiful, sweet children. I'm thankful for my happy heart, a full belly and good health.

Happy Thanksgiving.

So very proud

A note from J-man's teacher today. I really have amazing, fantastic kids :)

(for my anglo friends it says 'just a little note to let you know that Jonah is always polite... he's a sweetheart'... more or less anyway, French is weird)

Another baby quilt

Yeah, I have a couple on the go now (in my defense I need a backing for one) and yeah, I seem to be stuck in a pinwheel rut, but they're so cute (and really forgiving of my inability to sew a straight 1/4 inch seam), but there's someone at work who neeeeeeeds a baby quilt so....

Picture Day

I swear, every single year it rains on school picture day. My cuties looked adorable on their way out the door, but both had gym class BEFORE pictures, so who knows what they'll look like when I get the proofs. Plus I have no idea where J-man's cute tie disappeared to...

Dental surgery

My poor princess. Both my family and C's are cursed with small jaws, and Katie has inheirited the smallest of them all. I'll spare you the graphic details but she has a mouth full of cracked teeth and tiny interdental cavities. The pediatric dental surgeon basically told us we can drug and freeze your baby 4 times to do all of this work, or we can do it all in one fell swoop under a general anaesthetic. Katie herself made the decision to get it done all at once.

Yesterday was the big day. She was a little nervous, and very miserable for having been denied real food an awfully long time (her appointment wasn't until after lunch so she was allowed only jello for breakfast and nothing at all after 10am). They let me stay with her while they gave her the anaesthetic and until she was asleep. I kind of wanted to take a picture of her laying there with her little hair net and peaceful expression but I just didn't have the balls to ask :) He ended up having to do more work than originally expected but it still only took a little over an hour (which feels like about 50 years while you're waiting)

She was really loopy when she first came out of the anaesthetic and ripped out her IV when she first woke up so when they brought us in to see her in recovery it was a little bit of a horror scene (the blood mixes with the saline from the IV bag and makes it look like there's 10 times more blood), but after sleeping the whole drive home and eating some soft pasta for dinner she was feeling pretty good. She even went to school today. She's a trooper.

Journée du drapeau franco-ontarien

While I was away in Mississauga the kids' school celebrated Journée du drapeau franco-ontarien, which meant my poor long-suffering C had to play craft-mama and help the bits create crazy hats in the colours of the franco-ontarien flag (green and white) for the crazy hat parade at school.

I think he did an amazing job, and he even picked up perfect green shirts to complete their outfits.

A visit

After finishing my training in Mississauga I stopped in to see my grandparents. The problem with moving away (in this case from the GTA) is that you leave people and things behind, and Gam and Bumpa can't come visit me in Ottawa.

Though it's been almost 20 years since I was last in the cemetery I remembered immediately exactly where their grave was. I've been thinking about them a lot lately, in part I think because my brand new niece has the same middle name as my grandmother. I was a young teen when they died, far more interested in my own shallow life than in their rich stories. I deeply regret that they died before I had matured into someone who could ask them about their lives, their dreams, their triumphs and regrets. They left precious little written record behind, and what they did leave was, I believe, destroyed by their children when my grandfather died. Too many painful things. I don't know exactly, but I have so many questions that will never be answered.

This is a big part of the reason why I scrapbook. Putting my story into words and images so that if I leave this mortal world prematurely the people I love will still hear me.

More Maya

I got sent to Toronto, again, for training, again. This time with only 3 days notice. And for a whole flipping week! Ahem. Anyway, the only part of the trip that didn't suck was being able to spend the week with my brother, sister-in-law and my precious little niece Maya.

More pinwheels

I can't help it, I really like pinwheels :) The fabric is from a bunch of remnants I purchased on Etsy (from an Ottawa seller - yay local!) and the leftovers from Maya's quilt. It's based on this tutorial (though if I'd read it more carefully instead of jumping in head first my prairie points might line up better!)

This is intended for the niece of a dear friend. It still needs to be squared up, a backing made, quilted and bound, but this is a good start :)

Maya

My brother and his wife had their first baby on September 1st, a beautiful baby girl :) We drove out to meet little Maya today. She's sporting a wee bit of a George Hamilton tan (jaundice) but it does nothing to detract from how adorable she is :) I'm not biased either ;)

Typical Day

A giant turtle flying over the highway, pooping out a basket. Yup, just another commute into the city...

Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival

Could it be?

Could it be that Summer has finally arrived??? Just in time for Fall? Alas, Canadian weather, if we couldn't complain about it what else would we have to talk about?

Finished!

I finished Little J's quilt!  I really really really love it :)  And - it's completely reversible!  Yay me :)  The batting is called warm and natural, it's a midweight so the quilt feels fairly light but should be decently warm.  And he loves it, he likes pointing out all of the aliens :)

It felt really huge when I was quilting it but you can see it turned out to be a good size for a twin bed, a little wider than a typical twin but that gives it a nice overhang.

Various prints from David Walker and Timeless Treasures.

Back to school

The school bus was late (and I mean LATE) but they're gone, first day at their new school. Katie immediately found little friends on the bus. Jonah blew kisses and tried to hide his tears. My stoic little guy.

Little miracles

I've always been a believer in little miracles. Not the big cancer curing lottery winning plane crash surviving sort of miracle, although I believe in those too, but the little gifts that come just when you need them, the little reminders that God (or fate, or Allah, or the force, or Gaia, or whomever or whatever you choose to believe directs these things) is there.

I won a giveaway at Becky Higgins' blog, a sweet laptop bag. I don't really need a laptop bag, the old plain black bag my laptop lives in now works just fine, but what I really did need was a pick me up after a couple of weeks of trying times. And this is just such a lovely pick me up indeed. A little miracle.

Return of the two-tone clematis

I wrote, briefly, about it last year, how the clematis outside of my home office window appeared to have two different colours of flowers.

This year, after a really late start, the two different colours are WAY more obvious. Is this a fluke? Is there actually 2 different plants growing here?

edited to add: my mom (who knows everything botanical) says these aren't clematis but are instead morning glory and two colours isn't unusual. Wish she'd move closer and help me figure out what is what in my garden... and maybe weed it for me too :)

Getting braver...

For the very first time Wookie jumped into the pool (and not just once, and not just off the side into the shallow end, but repeatedly and off the diving board). Yes, he would only jump with floaties or noodles (eventually just with 1), but he was getting his head and face wet, and that's just a HUGE leap for him. Pun intended :)

Why my daughter is cooler than I am

The kids were invited to a birthday party that featured a visit from Little Ray's Reptiles. Jonah didn't care much (there was a trampoline in the yard!) but Katie LOVED it! She patted or held every gross creepy slimy squirmy thing they brought!

That alligator thingy (a cayman apparently) tried to make a break for it. Instead of saving my daughter (front and centre of course) I took off across the yard like a bat out of hell. Mother of the year, here I come...

Kitty's very bad day...

Jonah (accidentally!) slammed Binou's tail in the door Saturday. We really had no
idea it was serious, but it was such a deep cut C took her to the emergency vet in the city figuring she needed stitches or an antibiotic. Instead they needed to amputate 1/3 of her tail (from just above the injury). Katie was near inconsolable. Jonah was guilt-wracked, though he doesn't really understand.

With her first, smaller, cone she managed to get the bandaging off her tail, so after re-wrapping it the vet put her in a ridiculous huge dog-sized collar. She can barely walk it's so heavy, but when we take it off for her to eat she's VERY interested in her bandages, so the cone will have to stay.

Poor kitty :(

You're beautiful it's true...

I know I'm a teensy bit biased but really, my children are the most beautiful children on the planet...

really likes pogos

(Or as my American friends call them - corn dogs)

I often amuse myself by peeking in other peoples' carts at the grocery (and wonder what they must think of my shopping habits too!) but this one had me giggling. There were more than 50 boxes in this cart (at the Costco) and each box has 40 pogos in it. That'a lot o' corn dogs!

C guesses they must own a chip truck.

Goodness from the garden

My first two zucchinis, fat and firm (but really thin skinned, I don't know why they're so thin skinned compared to the zucchinis I buy at the market?). So far these, and a handful of strawberries, are all I've gotten from the garden. The cucumbers and squash are rotting on the vine it's been soooooo wet, and the tomatoes won't ripen in the absence of sun. Oh well, there's still a few more weeks before the frost returns. I hope.

The forecast: all bad

That might be a bit of an exaggeration (as well as blatantly stolen from C) but this really feels like the year summer forgot us. How will I get through the winter if I'm not receiving my sunshine quotient now?

Stippling

Still working on little J's quilt, at 66 x 90 it's whopping HUGE (for me) and I really feel it in my shoulders and wrist (this endless rain doesn't help either). I'm about 1/3 done with stippling it, so I should have that part done by the weekend. Then I'll have to bind it (which I'm incredibly slow at). It seems likely he'll get it before he's 40 :)

Stretching her wings

Off she goes to sleepaway camp. She comes home weekends (camp runs from Sunday evening to Friday afternoon) but that's still 5 sleeps away from us. It's hard, especially in this day and age where it feels more and more difficult to keep our kids safe. I miss her already.

Rhythm

Little time to blog with the everyday rhythm of work and commute and family. More rainy weather too, which tends to drain my creativity. Perhaps summer will finally join us soon in earnest. In the meantime, during a rare sunny break I strolled to the market with my SIL and encountered this lovely little band of mounties playing across from Parliament. Life in this crazy city.