February 2, 2015 Winter

I was born in winter so you would think I would rather enjoy this season but that couldn't be further from the truth (much like being a sun sign but yearning to be near water). Where I grew up, -40 was typical winter weather. Whether I celebrated my birthday with friends depended on whether or not the car would start (yes, we had to plug in our car every day in winter). 

I just assumed frigid winters were the norm everywhere in Canada until I started watching weather reports from across the country. Mild temperatures, rain even in some places?! I was flabbergasted. Snow and winter jackets while trick or treating wasn't common? Children everywhere didn't go to school from November to March wearing skidoo pants, toques, parkas and scarves wrapped around their foreheads? 

Well, I grew up and moved away but strangely I didn't pick my new city based on better winter conditions (what was I thinking?). The winters are generally milder here but there is a greater accumulation of snow. Still, winter is winter - cold, dark, snowy, dull. Spring, summer and fall are so full of color, life, bird song, thunderstorms, boat rides, outdoor living, relaxing, gardening. I could go on and on.....winter? shovelling, freezing, white-knuckled driving, shovelling, shovelling, shovelling. Did I mention shovelling?

I have tried to love enjoy winter. I've snowshoed (way too much work!), skied downhill (when I was young!), snowmobiled, ice fished, skated. Nothing has worked, well maybe tobagganing - that's probably the funnest thing you can do in winter.

That's not to say I don't encourage my children to get outside in the winter - they skate, tobaggan, ride horses and downhill ski. We did have one beautiful evening in January this year - the one mild night of 2015. The snow was falling and it was beautiful. My husband and youngest girl tried downhill skiing for the first time in their lives - kudos. My oldest was off on her own, she is a little pro. I pulled baby in his sleigh with one hand and towed one or the other girls with my other from time to time so it was fun and I got a work out too. Then we got home and because it was so nice the girls and I pulled out the sled and tobagganed down our hill in the dark for half an hour (here' a picture from the top of it). It was fun I have to admit. The girls had a blast - great memories! 

Still, I am counting the days until we can hit the campground and get out on the water together!

Beautiful?

April 13, 2014 A New Life Begins

I am in my early forties and was settling into mid-life with our two girls ages 8 and 4. Life is easy at this age -no diapers, no baby bags and we can go places and do things easily. Given this, we finally bought a boat last summer to really enjoy the many lakes and rivers around here. There is nothing more disheartening than spending summer after summer waving to passing boaters from the dock. 

But, life is funny that way. Just when you think you've moved into a new phase and accept you are getting older, it throws you a curve ball. Our curve ball came in the form of an overnight trip to Montreal last July long weekend. The girls and grandma in one room, Hunter and I alone in another. We normally have one of the girls in our bed on any given night, and with Grandma living far away, this was a real treat and we enjoyed ourselves! Don't really need to say more do I?

Fast forward to March of this year.....and we are the proud parents of a new baby boy! Unexpected but no less cherished. He is adorable and of course fawned over by his sisters and us. I think three times is the charm. Being pregnant and more than just a little over 40, I was concerned how this pregnancy would go. My OB told me to stay in shape, my family doctor told my husband and I that pregnancy is tough at my age and she wouldn't want to be pregnant at 40. However it was my best pregnany of all three. Yes, I needed some Diclectin early on for nausea but I don't think I threw up once. Now with my girls, the morning sickness was horrendous and long-lived. Yet here I was and 40+, 9 months pregnant and I can't tell you how many people told me how good I looked! 

The delivery was slick....I was at 2cm which I had been for a few days.  I was napping just before my nurse went on morning break. While she was gone, my contractions became progressively closer together until I felt his head moving down. Another nurse who was watching my monitor came in and checked me - fully dilated! When my nurse came back from coffee break, I was already pushing. Ten minutes later and baby was in my arms.

It was been three weeks since we transitioned to a Family of 5 and it has gone smoothly. I have learned to appreciate and relish every moment of babyhood (our first baby just celebrated her 8th birthday!). Sure we may not get out on the boat much this summer, if at all, but he'll be outfishing his Dad before you know it.

Life is good!

December 26, 2012 Boxing Day

It is appropriate that today is Boxing Day, I still feel like I've gone several rounds in the ring with a middle weight champion. Sick! At Christmas of all the times. We didn't even have turkey dinner but I did manage to get the bird in the oven on Christmas Day. So we had warmed up turkey and stuffing from a nice red box and gravy from a package today. But the four of us were together and hey, it tasted pretty good just the same.

Simmerin' Summer - August 8, 2012

With August now begun, we are already starting  the last month of summer vacation and I will have both girls at home with me until  school starts in late August (my next post will focus on sibling rivalry!).

It has been the hottest and driest summer I have ever known. Perhaps one good rainstorm over the last two or more months. Our grass is fried brown, many of the trees have turned color and dropped their leaves. It looks like October. We are worried about our water supply - with no rain to recharge the well we are conscious of every drop we use. The  girls so want to use their slippy slide mat but that  requires a running hose and we just can 't waste the water like that.

Grandma is coming to visit next week for Breeze's third birthday. We are going to rent a pontoon boat for the day on a big lake a few hours south of here. I hope Mother Nature keeps her humor in check and doesn't decide to finally send rain on that one particular day!

June 30 2012 Summer Vacation Begins

I feel like a school girl again! Summer vacation has officially begun  for both Storm and myself - I took the summer off!! This is a first....and it hasn't really sunk in yet. We're in another transition period though so it won't be a typical restful summer. My husband has been laid-off and we may be relocating so there could end up being a lot of things to accomplish....but there is still time to read:

Currently, it is Diana Gabaldon's Scottish Prisoner - one of the Lord John Gray novels but with Jamie Fraser having a central role. I miss Claire though who only surfaces through Jamie's memories of her.
Still, with the Jamie and Claire series having come to an end, I am delighted to find Jamie once again. I have been reading these novels since at least the early 90s - now that's hard to believe!!

February 4, 2012

It has been far too long since I last made a blog entry. Lots has happened over the last year - new jobs for both my husband and I. Our oldest started Kindergarten and the youngest daycare. We still have our two cats and two dogs although one has been quite sick lately. Up every night to let him out, at least once usually more, it is like having a baby in the house again.

I am still searching for that perfect job - rewarding, enjoyable, and one that makes a difference. I dabbled with trying to start my own bookstore last year and it was close but it did not happen. It wasn't meant to be I guess, at least not right now. Do you watch the Cupcake Girls on the Oprah Network? It's my new favorite show and everytime I watch it, my entrepeneurial fire flares up. Not to mention it is filmed on the west coast - I so want us to live there - next to the ocean, mild winter, majestic mountains. What's not to like? Well okay the housing prices are outrageous but you have to think of it as an investment. Buy now and the kids will inherit something substantial. Until then, I have to tolerate the cold, the snow, and the icky winter - icy roads, darkness, and being stuck inside until spring. Blah.

July 19, 2011 A quiet day at home

A head cold has given me a day at home alone. Ahhhhh. The first few hours were nice, synced my iphone, found my BB, sent out an "update email" and some photos of the kids to friends and family (long overdue!), caught up on a few blogs, read some old emails - who said computers would make less work?

The thing is there are so many more things I could do but as I contemplate which to do first the day wears away....swim, read, clean, eat, write, cook, bake, get outside...what I should be doing is absolutely nothing - just resting which is all I want to do when the whole family is home. Now that I have the time I feel I need to make better use of it than resting......