November 17, 2012

Our front door has a glass door, in front of the storm door, and often during the day, I will open it to allow the sun to shine in.  Maverick loves to lay down in front of the door, in the sun, watching the cars and people go by.  However, a little while ago the weather stripping broke off leaving a two inch gap at the bottom allowing all the cold air to come in.  It hasn't been fixed yet, so Maverick has found a new spot, at the front window, resting his chin on the window frame.

November 16, 2012

With the warmer air during the day and the cold air at night, we have had beautiful frosty mornings the last couple of days.  This was outside our house this morning before Claire got on the bus for school.

November 15, 2012

Mike and i went out for a run together today and just as we were about to leave, we heard what sounded like a little kitten meowing.  We looked around quickly, but couldn't see anything, so we continued on our run.  When we returned, we heard the same noise and Mike did some further investigating.  It turns out the meowing was coming from my mom's car!  And when were opened up the hood to the engine compartment, this little guy was curled up inside sitting on the panel that covers the bottom of the car!  Turns out he is one of the kittens that my mum has been feeding at the farm and he hitched a ride from Blenheim to Brights Grove!  Mike was finally able to get him out and other than being cold, from spending the night in the car and hungry, he seemed to be fine!  We guess he is only about eight weeks old and a cute little guy!  Within an hour we had already found a new home for him.  My friend Abby's parents have a horse farm and he would fit right in with the other barn cats!

November 14, 2012

For the past month, Mike has been seconded to the Dignitary Protection Unit located out of Queens Park in Toronto.  He is out of uniform and into a suit.  And on his suit, he gets to wear this fancy OPP Security pin.  This also means he is away alot, and stays with my Aunt Shelia and Uncle Ron in Newmarket, who have graciously opened their house to him.  He has a few days off coming up so he came home today and we were thrilled to have him home early for dinner!

November 13, 2012

I finished the painting today and am so happy with the results.  The walls are now a nice soft yellow with a light green accent wall.  It is so pretty and bright and cheery.  Such a change from the brown walls from before.  Now, with the new colour, I may need some new accent pieces....

November 12, 2012

We are in the middle of painting our family room.  It has been a nice chocolate brown suede finish for the past six years and it's time for a change.  The first step was to prime the walls because of the texture and dark colour.  All the furniture was pushed into the middle of the room and just before bedtime, I found Claire curled in the couch reading a book, in the middle of all the mess.

November 11, 2012

Today is Remembrance Day and I am thinking of the sacrifices that my Opa and Pappy made while fighting in the war, thankful for what they did, for us.

Every year, Mike gets out his parade gloss and shines his shoes, puts on his #1 uniform and marches in the Forest Remembrance Day parade.  We went to watch him and spent some time with him at the Legion afterwards, before he went to the nursing home in Forest to sit and chat with some of the vetrans there.  It was a beautiful day today, almost 20 degrees!  Most years, it is cold and we are usually shivering by the time the outdoor service is over.  The warmth of the sun was welcomed today!

November 10, 2012

After my shift ended this morning at 7am, I drove straight to London to meet Wes and my Mum for breakfast!  Wes was in town on business for a cross country meet and only had a few spare hours for socializing.  It was so nice to see him, even though it was for a short time!

November 9, 2012

It's Friday night, the start of my three night weekend.  I have lots planned and there isn't a whole lot of time for sleeping this weekend.  So I am really hoping that our envelope stays like this all night!

November 8, 2012

It was "movie night" at our house tonight and tonight's showing was Madagascar!  Mike made special popcorn bags for the girls, they got in their jammies, we turned on the surround sound and lowered the lights and it was showtime! 

November 7, 2012

Today was the last day of gymnastics.  Both Claire and Ava have really enjoyed it however, with the ski season approaching, I am committed to getting them both skiing at least one or two times a week.  And with only so much of Mummy to go around, I didn't want to spread myself too thin and overwhelm myself.  So we are taking the next session of gymnastics off.

I think Ava's favourite piece of equipment was the trampoline!  It was hard to get her off most days...

Ava was part of the Gymtots program and I had to stay with her at all times and help her on all of the equipment.  Claire was part of the Kindergym and had her own class and routines that they followed.  At the end of her class today, we were able to take pictures.  Each child was given their certificate and then they were able to go and stand on the podium and do a "ta-da".  Poor Claire was not really a fan of getting up in front of everyone, especially when she couldn't find me in the crowd.  I had to fight my way to the front, just to get this picture...



November 6, 2012

I went for a run today and it was nice to see the lake calm again, with gentle little waves.  I sat down to reflect on the changes of this year and changes that are to come, missing my Dad right now and advice he would have given.

November 5, 2012

I have been trying to either walk or run with Maverick more often.  It hasn't been as much as I used to, but at least it's something.  And the extra exercise sure does tire him out!

November 4, 2012

I have been trying to experiment a little bit with light and black and white photos.  Perhaps next year I will do a lifestyle black and white book of daily photos of the girls.  Now I am always looking for contrast and how the light falls on their faces.  This is one from today.

November 3, 2012

While we were out shopping today, Claire picked out a package of nail polish.  It has 24 different colours complete with glitter!  Fun!  As soon as we returned home, the package was opened and she painting her own nails. I almost asked her to stop, so that I could paint them for her, in order to avoid getting nail polish everywhere, but I hestitated.  I watched her as she very carefully and meticulously painted each one of her nails, barely getting any polish on the surrounding skin.

November 2, 2012

It is still cold and rainy, the last little bits of Hurricane Sandy still coming through.  Kind of a miserable day and I am here at work.  This was taken this afternoon, I was sitting in my chair waiting for a call, when the sun finally started to peak out and made all the raindrops on the window glisten.

November 1, 2012

My mom has joined the Run for God group at Lakeshore Community Church.  It is a 10 week course designed to get you off the couch and running or walking a 5km race.  Initially she had started with the runners and was doing really well too.  However, she developed problems with her knee, and received advice from her doctor to stop running and start walking.  So here are the walkers tonight, all bundled up, walking along the lake
.

October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween!!  It's still raining but the winds have died down in time for trick or treating!  It was cold and wet and we only made it to about five houses.  Claire still wasn't too keen on ringing strangers doorbells and asking for candy, but Ava got right into it saying "may I have a trick or treat" at each door.  Both of them still much prefer handing out the candy and it was a race to the door each time the doorbell rang.

Usually Daddy carves the pumpkins, but this year he wasn't home, so we went on the computer and both girls got to pick out a pattern for their pumpkin.  Ava wanted a scary one, so hers is the flaming face and Claire wanted a ghost.  Her's is the ghost peaking around a door.  I underestimated yesterday, just how long this task would take...and without having dinner prepared, it was grilled cheese for dinner.  I think I'll leave this job to Daddy from now on.

And here's a picture of the girls in their costumes taken a few days ago when it was warm and nice out!

October 30, 2012

Sandy arrived in full force last night.  The winds howled and the lights flickered as wind gusts up to 120km/hour shook our house.  Mike is away in Toronto and I must say, it was a little unnerving being home alone with the girls.  Needless to say, none of us slept well. Claire crawled in with me from 4:30 on, as the noise of the winds had her scared.  I welcomed the company.  The hydro was out at the Brights Grove Public School, so the school was closed and Claire was so disappointed that she had to miss a day.  After dropping Ava off at preschool we went for a little drive to survey the damage.  Trees were down, fences were blown over, there was a trampoline in the middle of Lakeshore Road and my neighbours fence landed in their pool.  I braved the wind to get this picture of our beach.  Unbelievable.  I have never felt wind so strong before or seen the waves so big.  I actually had to brace myself with a pole behind me so I wouldn't get blown across the road.  Wow.  I can't imagine how the people in New Jersey and New York felt with the direct hit.  It would have been a scary night for them.

October 29, 2012

Today, Claire and I made some special treats for the kids in her class.  She counted out all eight legs for the spider and separated the googly eyes and then I attached everything to the lollipop.  She was pretty excited to be able to give these to all her friends. 

October 28, 2012

Home from work and my little ones are already asleep.  Sigh.  I don't like it when my job runs late and I am unable to see my girls.  I do however, love watching them sleep.  They always look so peaceful.  I just love how she is all snuggled in with her blanket tucked under her arm.  I could sit here for hours.

October 27, 2012

It's dark and dreary today.  On every news station the top weather story is the looming "Frankenstorm" or Hurricane Sandy as she heads towards the US eastern seaboard.  The skies are grey here too and the wind is picking up, as we prepare for the remnants of the storm.

 

October 26, 2012

Another long quiet day shift, surfing the web and "dreaming".  This in particular is what I am dreaming of today.  A nice, shiny, new carbon road bike.  For being carbon and ultegra components, the price tag of $3,200 isn't too bad....  If only money were to grow on trees....  Now, I must work on being content with my  aluminum frame, 5 year old bike.  It's hard some days.

October 25, 2012

With the warm weather we were having, I though it would be a great time to get some fall pictures of the girls without being super cold.   I need to rethink how I photograph the two of them together...trying to get them to smile at the same time is no easy task...especially when they are a little tired. 

October 24, 2012

What a fantastic day we are having today!  It's warm enough for a t-shirt and when Ava got up from her nap, we went out for a bike ride!  Claire is doing so well now on her yellow bike and likes to show us now how fast she can go and how she can stand up and pedal to get over little hills.  So proud of her!

October 23, 2012

We made up for the slowness of yesterday today.  What a day!  A couple of "good" calls for us and the staff in the ER saved two people this morning.  All the driving on wet roads, made for one dirty truck!

October 22, 2012

Another long, slow boring day at work, that involved alot of TV watching.  Pretty sure I am all caught up on the HGTV shows now.

October 21, 2012

After church today, everyone headed over to Korny Korners for a hot dog lunch and festivities.  We had a great time playing in the hay tower and tunnel, the corn maze and the playground.  The weather was warm and the girls had a great time!

October 20, 2012

Today we headed down to the farm to help my Mum with a few things and to take some photos of Mike dressed in his ERT gear.  He has put his resignation in for his Emergency Response Team position and in the spring he will be giving up his pager.  So we loaded up all his gear and found a spot in the bush to take his pictures all "cam'd up".  He won't let me post those pictures on the internet, so here's one of Claire during our photo shoot doing one of her silly faces.

October 19, 2012

Today we went over to America to get some new dress clothes for Mike as he is starting his 3 month temporary position in the Dignitary Protection Unit at Queens Park.  Being the Premier of Ontario's bodyguard/driver requires Mike to look good everyday.  So off we went to Khol's and scored huge with the sale's.  I like seeing those numbers!

October 18, 2012

Tragedy struck 2 days ago when Claire's favourite headband was left in the library at school.  Before she left for school this morning, I had told her to ask her teacher if she had seen it.  Sure enough, Mrs. Arthur had spotted the headband in the library near the computer and had picked it up for her.  This afternoon Claire was all smiles getting off the bus wearing this!