Catch up number 2

Well, I really had good intentions over the past few weeks, but again, time slipped by me.  Today has been a stay at home day (more about that later).  This post will be photo heavy, so beware!

March 7th was Norah's first birthday.  We actually celebrated it two days later on the Saturday as Adam & Alicia came down for the weekend from Toronto.  Poor little Norah was so sick that day with a bad cold, but she soldiered on and was civil with everyone (including Adam, who she wouldn't go near at Christmas because of his beard!!)  Here are some photos of the day.

With Aunty Alicia and her beloved "Scout" who was a Christmas gift from Adam & Alicia

With Uncle Alex

Brother & Sister doting over their niece

So sick, you can see it in her eyes!

Mommy & Daddy enjoying the day!

Being encouraged to rip paper!

Adam & Alicia

We put her gift ribbon on her head

First taste of cake

Having a wake up cuddle with Grandma

Fast asleep on Aunty Alicia

Blow out the candle Norah! Happy birthday sweetheart - we love you so much!

 Now for another matter.  Did anyone tell Mother Nature that Spring arrives tomorrow?!!

This is what I woke up to this morning.  Wendell left Sunday night for a business trip until Thursday night.  Our Snowblower is in the garage and I have no idea how to use it!  This snow was heavy and wet and the drifts were up to my knees in parts.  All I can say is God bless our neighbour across the street who helped me out and blew the drive.  There is no way I could have shoveled it all myself.  We have a big driveway that gets wider at the bottom and I would have broke my back trying to shovel. Just after he'd finished the driveway, the snowplow went by and left a huge pile at the end of it.  My next door neighbour then blew out the end of my drive as that stuff gets hard fast and is immovable!!

 So I baked some banana bread and sent some over to our wonderful neighbours!

We got a new Island in the kitchen.  We used to have a round table and chairs in the window, but I have wanted an island for some time as I am desperately short of work space in my kitchen. As it will just be Wendell & I at home after Rebekah gets married, we figured we'd do it now.  This works for breakfasts and we have dinner in the dining room.

The opposite side has open shelving so I freed up some of my large drawers which had my Le Creuset and mixing bowls and I love that everything is handy now.

Tomorrow I'll show you something I'm working on for Rebekah.

Catch up

It's been about a month since I last posted on my blog and life just seems to have been very busy lately.  I do have a good excuse though.  Jan 19th Rebekah & Alex got engaged!!  He had asked Wendell the Monday night prior for her hand in marriage and we had to keep the secret for the week until he gave her a ring in Montreal at our temple on the 19th.  It was a long week let me tell you!!

Here is the beautiful solitaire he chose for her.  She is so happy and we have been busy planning a wedding for July 4th.

They will be married in the Toronto temple and we will have a reception here in Ottawa two nights later and then there will also be one a week later in Winnipeg (Alex's hometown).

Our little Norah is fast approaching her first birthday next month.  We had her overnight on Friday as Kelsi wanted to surprise Andrew with a night away.  I will post some photos of our weekend later, but in the meantime, here are a couple which were taken a week or so ago.

We had a real cold snap and Mom had put TWO snowsuits on her this day and she looked like the Michelin man!!

Oh Norah, we love you!

Back to normal

I don't know about you, but I always find the first few days after the Christmas holidays, rather slow moving.    It is always hard seeing everyone go back to regular routines and the house feels so quiet.

Yesterday we celebrated Rebekah's birthday, which made me realize that it's a year since I started this blog. Time sure flies.  We had a lovely evening with friends and family at a local restaurant.  Twenty two years seem to have flown!  Here she is with her Alex.

Alex flew home to Winnipeg for Christmas and New Year, and as an early birthday gift for Rebekah, we flew her out to Winnipeg to surprise Alex for New Year.  Here they are on New Year's Eve, just before leaving for the church dance.

 We are enjoying watching them together.  

Here are some more photos taken last night

Rebekah with the Larson kids.  We have been friends for many years and they have grown up together.

Norah had fun at the party and was an angel.

Grandma & Grandad enjoying themselves!

Andrew & Kelsi

I promised that I would post photos of the quilt I made for Norah.

The top left hand corner has a little frog prince applique which is so cute.

I am really pleased with how it turned out.

Well, back to the regular routine now.  Exercising and healthy eating are still on the bill for this year.  We want to maintain our weight loss and feel good.  I am not a maker of resolutions, but I do set goals, and will work on a few this year as well.  Hope you are settling back into "normal" life again.

Happy New Year!

We had a lovely Christmas and couldn't have asked for better.  Christmas Eve we had our usual tradition of watching "It's a wonderful life" and having a finger food buffet.  Adam & Alicia arrived around 4.30pm and we had a nice evening together.

Christmas day we started on the presents around 9am and it took a while.  Everyone loved their gifts and we had a lovely morning.  Andrew, Kelsi & Norah arrived around noon and we had round two of gift giving.  I had made both couples a quilt.  This one was for Adam & Alicia

And this one was for Andrew & Kelsi

They loved them and both girls were cuddled under them on Christmas night.

I made a baby quilt for Norah but forgot to take a photo, so I will get one soon and post that as well.

Wendell bought all of us girls a lovely hand crafted bracelet with swarovski elements and pearls.  Each was slightly different in the shape and colour of the stones, but they were all the same design.  Here's mine

 We both also got Ipad minis, which we are having fun with.

Here are some photos taken during Christmas day.

Kelsi & I in the kitchen putting the finishing touches to dinner.

Norah wasn't too sure about Uncle Adam because of the facial hair!

Aunty Bekah with her "favourite" niece!

She would sit on Aunty Alicia's lap, but this is about as close as Adam could get!

Boxing day evening we all went over to Andrew & Kelsi's for a buffet and games. 

With my sweetheart at the end of the day!

We are on our own for New Year's Eve as Adam & Alicia left on Friday and Andrew, Kelsi & Norah also left that day to go to visit Kelsi's family.  We put Bekah on a flight to Winnipeg Saturday morning to surprise Alex so they could be together New Year's Eve.  She is staying with his Parents until Wednesday. So tonight, we are having Lebanese takeout and watching Season 3 plus the Christmas special of Downton Abbey.  It doesn't start here until next week, but Alicia downloaded it (bless that darling girl!) and we watched two episodes with her before they left.  I know what happens, but I haven't told Wendell, so it should be a kleenex night ahead!

Wherever you are, I hope you have a safe evening and that 2013 is a great year for everyone!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I will sign off for the next few days to enjoy time with family. Just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas and hope that we all remember the reason for the season
Enjoy this little video!

I'm not dreaming of a white Christmas anymore.....

It's a reality now!!  Look what we woke up to this morning!!

So, so pretty.  Nothing like freshly falling snow.  By the end of day, we're supposed to get over 30cm! Today was planned as my baking day, so it's a perfect day to do it.

One week to go!

This was my bedside table last week.  Hot lemon & honey and lots of kleenex!  I picked up a bug, which quickly went through the house!  That set me back a week in preparations, but things are back on track now.

I love Christmas books

This one is one of my favourites. I love Rosamunde Pilcher and every year my husband and I read "Winter Solstice" in the run up to Christmas.  It's a wonderful story.  This book below, is all about how Rosamunde celebrates Christmas and it brings back great memories as Christmas as a child in England. (Although we certainly didn't live in the kind of house she lives in!)

Look at the delicious Christmas diner on the dresser!  I always have a huge bowl of roast potatoes with our dinner and lots of brussels sprouts too

Lots of baking going on

This painting has been in our home at Christmas for many years.  The artist is Trisha Romance and she lives in a little town called Niagara-On-The-Lake which is near Niagara Falls.  When we were first married we lived in St. Catharines, Ontario, which is very close to Niagara-On-The-Lake. All of Trisha's work is centered around family and also the town and we love it.  The painting below is called "Christmas morning"

This one is a vignette of a larger painting called "Evening Skaters" and we have this one up at Christmas as well.

She has written a children's Christmas book which is just darling.

With the most beautiful artwork.

And of course, we mustn't forget Norman Rockwell.  His art is timeless.

I still have my baking to do and will make a start on that tomorrow.  We are getting really excited about having everyone home this year.

Tomorrow, Rebekah has to say goodbye to her Alex for 2 1/2 weeks as he flies home to Winnipeg for Christmas holidays.  I know she will miss him, but they will do some facetime with their computers at least.

Can't believe this time next week we'll have had our dinner and will be enjoying family time!