Birthday purchases.....

Tiegan went shopping with her Aunty Meg for her birthday gift, and came home with these groovy glasses.  They've been a huge hit with all the kids:-)  Before she went, I was silly enough to suggest to Tiegan that she look for practical items that she might need for this winter - fun tights or a winter dress.  She came home with fish net gloves, mustache glasses and sparkly, glittery party shoes.  THAT'S my girl:-)  And really, birthday gifts are not for practicalities now, are they?!!!!

Thanksgiving Dinner -

We had the crew over to our house for Thanksgiving dinner.  We shared the cost of the turkey with Meg and her family, though they cooked it and made stuffing and gravy.  We roasted brussel sprouts with pears, made mashed yams and cranberry sauce, Heather brought mashed potatoes, broccoli salad and wine, and then Meg made a pumpkin pie and a pear pie.  As always we were stuffed to the brim with deeeee-licious foods -wish you could have all come by to share a bite with us!!!! xo

We brought a few rocks home with us from our road trip to the ocean this summer.  And now the family is constantly practicing their rock balancing, determined to compete in a local festival!

I happened to find the perfect shirt for Thanksgiving at our local thrift store:-)  

 I think Tiegan is showing this turkey lots of lovin' :-)

Jamie made a great new harvest table for the evening (and well, for our dining room in general) but he didn't have time to finish it so we just covered it with a cloth.  Once he has a chance to sand it properly and seal it, I'll take some photos and share - it's rather gorgeous, and I'm super excited to have doubled the size of our dining room table!!!!!!!

And finally, THIS is the real reason that I send my kids to school.  LOVE the cheezy art they bring home with them!!!!!  

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch.......

Well, it's that time of the year once again, when Farmer James (the farmer who supplied our straw bales for the house) opens up his pumpkin patch each weekend for everyone to find the perfect pumpkin for carving - and also to find some fun decorative gourds and colourful corn cobs to decorate the house with:-)  We always love spending an hour or two here, running through the maze, climbing through the barn to see if there are any new kittens, taking a wagon ride through the maple bush in full fall colours, and then of course, finding the PERFECT pumpkin!  

Eat My Balls.....

By the way, my friend Anja is participating in the 'Day in the Life' project alongside me, and you can check her post for Oct. 3rd here!  And you can check out the funky beard Vernon's sporting these days:-)

Day in the Life - October 3rd, 2012 (part two!)

I had plans to head out for the afternoon, so put together a lunch for the road (I love it when we have leftover makings for buddha bowl, such a great travel lunch!)

Grabbed my audio books from the library (my salvation, I have to say, when we live so far from everything that we end up doing a lot more driving than I would like)

Jamie had the car at work, so I was in the van.  Luckily it seems to start okay these days, and as long as we can drive straight onto the highway and let it run at 80km/hour for a good 10 minutes, it gets warmed up and ceases to stall after that!

First stop was to get a few groceries

And then I was off to a friends' house to do a family shoot for them.

Z is super adorable, and was continually bringing out favourite toys to share with me

and H has a crazy amount of dolls and spent a lot of time telling me the names of each and every one!

After visiting with them for about an hour and a half, it was time to head home, to meet the kids after school......

Kea was already home when I get there - she gets home at 3, since school gets out at about 2:15.

Time to make my afternoon pick-me-up green juice

and to put a fire on as the days are getting a bit chillier these days.

I had a few minutes to put my feet up, so decided to pull out my knitting.  Seems like a perfect thing to do while sitting by a fire:-)

And then two little monkeys came home and joined me on the couch for a cuddle!

Ry pulled out all the papers and 'homework' (book to read with his parents before bed each night) and spread it all over the front entrance, which seems to be his after school ritual

and then Cam and Keane came over to play Playmobile.  

Kea settled in to do her homework.  Her teacher LOVES LOVES LOVES giving homework.  It kind of gives me a headache.

After Cam and Keane went home, Ry was caught up in his world of knights for a long chunk of time - I love it when this happens:-)

Jamie usually gets home from work around 4-4:30 giving us time to enjoy dinner and then Kea and I had out for my yoga at 5:45 and Kea's violin at 6.  Unfortunately tonight he got hung up at the office, and barely made it home by 5:45.....JUST enough time for him to jump out of the car and me to jump in to race Kea to her lesson.  I hate evenings like this, but luckily they're rare in our lives!

I love seeing this bit of driftwood on the dash - someone put it there during our camping trip on the Gaspe this summer, and every time I see it it reminds me of the beach there:-)

Kea made it to violin by 6:02, so all was good

And I was able to settle in with the other moms in the parking lot to read our novels!!!!!!

And finally it was time to head home where Jamie had dinner ready and waiting on the table.  The kids opted for scrambled eggs and toast, while we enjoyed a variation of huevos rancheros with leftover roasted root vegetables, and leftover roasted brussel sprouts with pears.  YUM!

Jamie was exhausted, and tried to convince Ry that it was time to go to bed rather than time to wrestle on the bed.........with limited success.

Kea checked her facebook before going to bed, and 'chatted' with a couple of friends (long gone are the days when pre-teen girls tied up your phone lines!!!!)

Story time.....

And while Jamie reads, I decide to tackle the dishes so we can go to bed shortly after the kids.

Ahhhhhhh, a hot water bottle and a fluff book to read, not much is better in life!

Goodnight, my friends - another day is done:-)