On the seventh day of Christmas...........

"Alcohol, cut through life's mess
Reflect instead newfound success"



Kea washed all of our mirrors with rubbing alcohol while we cleaned the house in preparation for the new year. Of course, we didn't quite get to every corner we wanted to, but we managed to unclog all the drains, scrub out the stove, clean the fridge and sort through all our own clothes, on top of vaccuming and bathroom cleaning - now off to a party with friends, and then a sleepover with family, a perfect combination to bring in a new year! Happy 2010 to all of you!!!!!

On the sixth day of Christmas...........

we spent a very relaxing day at home! Still fighting this cold a bit, so today I pulled out some of my favourite herbal books and made an elderberry syrup......very delicious and hopefully it'll help us fight this bug!

Kea's been really interested in herbal healing these days, and I've found some great resources. A friend here in Ottawa highly recommended a book by Rosemary Gladstar so we've been really enjoying reading her stuff and trying out a bunch of her recipes. I've also found this blog with neat activities, and then this blog has been a GREAT resource with a fabulous monthly newsletter that we've been devouring - so much fun! Of course there's the Wildcraft Board Game that is lots of fun to play, and the first book we ever started using together - A Kids Herb Book which I *HIGHLY* recommend to anyone who is interested in getting to know more about herbs! And feel free to let me know of any other resources, we're always keen to learn more!

On the fifth day of Christmas...........

Today we braved the very chilly weather and bundled up in order to feed our poor bird friends living in Mud Lake! What a difference the snow makes in our favourite park - and how beautiful it is coated in ice. I can't get over how musical it all sounds, with ice tinkling everywhere. We saw quite a few chickadees, saw many rabbit footprints and noticed that even the birds were decorating their nests for the holidays with blue strings! We lasted about 35 minutes, and then we brought our numb hands and feet home for hot cocoa and a nice bath!

On the fourth day of Christmas...........

we made our way out to the property, to play a bit in the snow and check in on the yurt. We kind of wondered if it would still be standing, given all the stormy weather we've been having lately, but it looked great. A wee bit of heavy, crusty snow had accumulated on top, so we were able to get rid of any possible aggression we might have been feeling lately, by punching it down! And now it looks great again - next time we'll have to plan our trip for a time when it's not blowing snow so we can actually get the wool felt up around it, then plan a winter sleepover.

The property is looking really beautiful, the branches all encased in ice and the leaves left with a light dusting of snow. I couldn't stop taking photos, and they look so different from the ones I took in autumn. Every time we make our way out there we fall in love with it again, and just can't wait to move out there!












P.S. The photo of Jamie standing in the trees (where you can hardly see him for the trees!) is the spot where we'll likely build our house in the spring, for those who are interested in such details!

On the third day of Christmas...........

We lined the inside of an old, and therefore slightly musty-smelling trunk with old magazines and mod-podge. The hope is that we'll be able to convert it into a funky costume trunk for the kids' room. Though we've learned that a) giving the kids their own tubs of glue is NOT a good idea as then you end up with far too much glue everywhere, b) if we want things to stick *we* shouldn't dilute the glue 10:1 and c) we need to install safety hinges so that the lid cannot slam down on little fingers. Poor Ryland :-( So far, it's looking great though!

Otherwise, it was a quiet day at home, including hot baths, hot teas, herbal gargles and copious amounts of vitamin C - I'm really hoping this cold does not take hold for long, I have far too many other things I want to be doing!!!!!!

On the second day of Christmas...........

We woke up to a world encased in ice!!!! Despite the annoyance factor (we had a date to visit with family from out of town in the morning), it made for a very magical world around us!

On the first day of Christmas...........

Merry Christmas everyone!

Thought I would share a couple of shots of our very homemade tree, and also the cat warriors territory that I made for Kea's gift. I love the ways the trees turned out, and I'm definitely addicted to this new craft! We had a wonderful day today - very mellow morning with a few thoughtful gifts, hot baths and hanging out, then over to Meg and Ian's for more festivities and a delicious turkey dinner. I love celebrating holidays with delicious foods, definitely my favourite part of the season! And the reason I'm going to need to start fasting in the new year! But I won't think about that for another week or so:-)

December 23, 2009

Today was this kind of day......



I love days like this, where the mood is quiet and everyone is just working on their own projects. Santa's workshop is in full swing, and we'll see what gets finished in time - whatever is not will be let go of for now, perhaps hung onto for birthday gifts!!!!

Here's a few photos that we took of our evening of caroling at Sean and Chloe's housing complex - a great, if not especially cold, way to spend the solstice!!!!!!

Having a productive day today.....amazing what a full night of sleep will do for a body!!!! Santa's workshop is in full swing, finishing up various projects. I declared that Christmas should be all about homemade gifts for the family, and now I'm kind of cursing that!!!!!!! But it'll all be good, come midnight tomorrow night!:-)

Jamie just came back from the doctor appointment for the kids this morning - it turns out Kea and Tiegan continue to be smaller than average, though now they're much closer to the 50th percentile than 30th percentile. Obviously not surprising at all, given the size of Jamie and I. However, Ryland continues to confound us - everyone seems shocked that he's only 2 1/2 by his size, and it turns out he's almost off the charts for both height and weight, in over the 95th percentile! Where did this kid come from?!!!!!! So anyways, now we have a family doctor and are in the system at the clinic - next step to source out a dentist. This moving thing is such hard work!

December 22, 2009

I'm posting this a day late, I know!

Yesterday was a day full of errands in the freezing cold. Fighting traffic, Jamie and I going to meet our new doctor and having full physicals, sharing a date over lunch, dropping off and picking up kids from their various playdates, etc. We got home and spent an hour trying to warm up our house, shared some nachos with black beans and avocado for dinner, watched another version of the grinch together and then put the kids to bed with the idea of getting a bunch more done in the evening. But we both ended up falling asleep with the kids!!!! And so although I feel VERY rested this morning, I also feel a wee bit behind on all the things I want to do today! AGH! However, the kids are at a friends' house all day long, so that should give me a chance to get the workshop in full swing!

The other thing we did on our list of errands yesterday was drop by to check on the Barth - she looks pretty good despite the cold! Unfortunately, our stockings are not in there either....one more day to find them!!!!!!!

December 21, 2009

Happy Winter Solstice!



Thank goodness for the sun! It is so beautiful to see it streaming across the snow in the backyard. It might be cold here in Ottawa, but it hardly rains in the winter!

So, I was going to stop doing the countdown today for winter solstice, but I'm really enjoying doing a photo a day so perhaps I'll continue doing this for the month of December.
The next photo I'm going to share is of two of the many herons that surround us in our borrowed house. The woman who lives here obviously really likes herons, as there is artwork in every nook and cranny with the beautiful birds - and when we hang out in the backyard we see these statues.

December 20, 2009

Had a lovely family dinner tonight, and celebrated the solstice a night early with a fire in the backyard, lots of candles and a late-night sled/ski in the backyards for the kids!

December 19, 2009

We got ourselves a little Christmas tree today!




It's chilly here right now, but today was a beautiful sunny day - perfect for a romp in the snow to pick out our own trees! Here's a few more shots from the day, because it turns out it's harder for me to pick just ONE photo than it is to provide photos every day!!!!!!