January Blues

January is always a tough month for my family.    The excitement of Christmas has worn off, school is in full force again, and the winter weather is not going away any time soon.    I've got 4 bored little kids around here, and it doesn't help that we have made TV off limits on weekdays.    (They aren't sure they'll survive the torture, but I'm willing to take that risk;)    

To curb the boredom, Jessica has taken to odd and random craft projects.   One day she made a bouquet of flowers out of a Kraft dinner box, construction paper flowers, and uncooked spaghetti noodle "stems."   She had wanted to give this bouquet to her Aunt who was visiting, but it somehow mysteriously made it's way into the garbage before she had the chance to.    (I have no idea how that happened!;)        

This was a mouse she made one day after inhaling an entire can of mandarin oranges all on her own.     

She's taking our goal to "reuse and recycle" to a whole new adorable level!    I love her creativity!

Knowing that January is always a slow and sluggish month, I signed Abby and Sam up for Ultra kids (a running club offered to elementary aged boys and girls.)      This group actually began running back before Christmas, and though it has taken a few weeks for my kids to catch the vision of it, they have been running every day now!    On Saturday John even ran with them, and they doubled their miles!   (I've always known it helps to take a buddy along;)

And when all else fails-   when the crafts have all been done, and the kids have run their little hearts out - they have taken to dressing their little brother up in dresses and taking pictures.   

Say what!!!???   

I know I shouldn't be okay with this, and I do worry about what kind of permanent damage this might be causing....BUT...it brings the kids together on a common cause.  Not to mention the fact that Nate LOVES the laughter it invokes, and it buys me a few minutes of uninterrupted quieter then normal time.    Win Win!

It would appear as though my kids aren't the only ones suffering from a case of January boredom blues.    On Saturday morning, as we were having breakfast, our doorbell rang and this is what greeted us:

I seriously laughed until it hurt, as I clearly was not expecting this.    Apparently we laughed a little too much, because our poor neighbour went home upset, and came back later to tell us that "it isn't nice to laugh at people!"   And she is so.so.right!    I humbly apologized and tried to take her seriously from that point on.   It was pretty cute!

It has been a challenging couple of months as we have listed our house and then debated back and forth what it is we really want to do with it once we move.   Do we use it as a rental, or sell it?    I don't think I could handle the stress of being a landlord, but I also worry that I will regret giving this home up, and all of the neighbours that I love so much.    However, after a very helpful conversation with a member of my ward, (who conveniently happens to be a realtor) we have decided to stop being fence sitters and forge ahead.   

I'm already tired of trying to keep this house clean 24/7 and my kids think I'm the meanest mom ever, so here's hoping this home sells sooner then later!  

(sob...sob)   ;(

The kids' "worst day" ever!

My family had big plans to get together over the holidays for some cross country skiing.   Unfortunately, unforeseen circumstances, and sad events made it impossible for a couple of my siblings to join us, so we all but decided to postpone for another time.  

On the last day of our school break though Jewel and I decided to get our two families out there and give it a try.    John and I have been enjoying this sport for a couple of years now, but bringing kids along...?    Well, that's a whole other experience!!!!

At some point during the drive out I actually took a second to pray that we would see a wolf.    It was just moments later that we all pulled over to watch this little guy.   

...which actually turned out to probably be a coyote, but still - that's a prayer that was almost answered;)

Waterton that day was a little chilly.   As in, the thermostat on my brother in laws truck was registering at -18 kind of chilly!

But the cold weather made for a beautiful backdrop.  I actually think that the coldest days make for the prettiest days. 

It was a very pretty drive!

And I was immensely grateful for our warm van.   And hot chocolate;)

But eventually, the pretty drive had to come to an end, and we all had to get out...into the cold.  

I'm pretty sure that Jewel and Kendall appreciated having to stand around and wait for us to get all our kids bundled up, and wrangle Nathan into his sled.    (To say we had an unwilling participant would be an understatement.)     Finally though- we were off!!

...and 10 minutes later (at best) we were headed back the way we came.   

Cold.  Frozen.  Hungry.   Frostbit. and Frustrated.

But hey, I think it's remarkable that we braved the frigid temps that long.    Yay us!!!!

On our way down from the mountain the kids each took their turn volunteering just "why exactly" this day was the worst day ever.    And then.....

they all fell asleep!!!

I can hardly wait to get back up there again.   

(Though something tells me that it will most likely be sans children!!)   

Thriving!

What a wonderful week this has been!

It has been perfectly relaxing, with just the right amount of wild and crazy fun!   

The girls have been working so hard all week long on their paint-by-number kits that they got for Christmas.   They are quite complicated projects, and Jessica has surprised me and devoted hours and hours to the tedious work.    She says she wants to be an artist one day!

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We were so glad that Ben, Kat, Marilyn and Blythe came down for a couple of days.   The kids had so much fun playing non stop wii games, and Blythe was content to just watch everybody else.   (Though she has taken an early interest in playing board games with the cousins!;)

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 Of course John and I had to continue our traditional Lord of the Rings Marathon.    It has become (oddly enough) my favourite holiday tradition, and it has been even more enjoyable this year!

John and I also managed to work in a date this week, and celebrate our 12 year of marriage!    Yup....twelve.   

I'm pretty impressed with us;)  haha.

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Abby and I volunteered to do "Meals on Wheels" deliveries today, and I am so glad that we did.    Despite the fact that I was not feeling super great, Abby was a phenomenal delivery person, and she made sure that every person on the list received their meal.   They were so gracious to her, and it was nice to wish these dear people a Happy New Year!

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John and I almost took the kids to Calgary for New Years Eve, which would have been so fun!  However, due to previous commitments, and the fact that I got sick- we decided it'd be best to stay home.   So...I did the next best thing:   I turned our Christmas tree into a "New Years Tree" so that even though we won't be getting together with family and having fun together, the kids will still think it's a party!    Throw in some crackers, cheese and summer sausage- and oila.    Party indeed!!!

We are getting ready to welcome in  2014.   

It has been such a busy year for us in a lot of ways, and it brought a lot of new experiences to our little family.    John and I talk often about what lies in store for us as we go into this New Year, and I think it is safe to say that "Change" is going to be the name of the game.   I've begun to accept (a little bit more) the notion that "change" is a good thing, and I really am looking forward to it all!   

I feel so grateful for this choice life we live and for all that my little family is blessed with.   

We are happy, healthy and THRIVING, and my hope this year, is that we can share that with those we love most!!!

Happy New Year to you all!!!!

Christmas Day

This is what Christmas Eve looked like, after the kids had all gone to bed!   

Presents were all set out, stockings were filled, and John and I were enjoying "It's a wonderful life" together.    This is my most favourite thing about Christmas Eve!  I just love the anticipation of Christmas morning.    

(The anticipation was higher then it even normally is, because we happened to know that this year- our kids were getting royally spoiled!!!)

They woke up at 6:30 in the freakin am on Christmas Day and John and I were mean.   We made them wait until 8:00 for Grandpa to join us!    

As per our Christmas Day tradition, we took a drive out to Waterton later that day.    You never know what you are going to see when you go to Waterton in the winter.     We've seen a golden eagle feeding on something, we've watched huge herds of Elk, but on this particular day the most exciting thing we saw were these giant waves!

The wind was fierce!!!  

I could hardly walk into the wind, which is precisely what I had to do to get this shot.   However I managed to get back to the van in 3 seconds flat! ;)   It was windy!!!

Santa brought each of the kids their own fishing rod, and Sam got a bow and arrow.   Being in Waterton today only made us long for warmer summer days of fishing together.    Sigh....

But, for now, it is winter.   We'll happily spend the time cozied up in our basement with cups of hot chocolate, endless hours of wasting our brain power watching mindless television, and just flat out enjoying each other's company.

We're all about enjoying the moment around here!

Christmas Eve

I am a bit of a hermit.  Not gonna lie.  

There is a part of me that loves a good family get together, to be sure.   However, there is also a part of me that LOVES hunkering down with my family and spending quiet quality time with only them.   When those moments happen, I tend to sit back and bask in the sheer perfection that it is.  

Christmas Eve was just such a day.

We woke up early and started right in on a much anticipated game of Monopoly.     Abby insisted on wearing her shades for the entire game because she said it helped her conceal her intentions.    (You would have thought she was playing Poker the way she carried on;)   

At first she was winning.  Like, seriously kicking my butt, but then I cheated two times in a row, and that was enough to take the lead.    6 hours later I finally won.    I'm not proud of my methods.  Well...I kinda am;)

Our monopoly game was interrupted for a little while because we had to stop and enjoy an AMAZING Christmas Eve feast!   Abby and Jess both chipped in and helped from start to finish, with an enthusiasm I've never seen before.

(Jessica set this table all by herself.  And she made sure everybody knew that too!;)

Grandpa showed up just before we were ready to eat - with 2 Lobsters and some Crab Legs in tow!)

As per tradition, Christmas Eve always has to involve some tasty crustaceans.  haha

The kids were so fascinated with those little critters, and every year, they ask if we could just keep one for a pet!   This year, they took it one step further by giving both Lobsters NAMES!   They named one "Bob" and the other "Delicious."

And believe me, both Bob and Delicious were...well...DELICIOUS!!!    

Not to be out done by Bob and Delicious- I'd also prepared French Onion Soup, French Bread, Potatoes, Maple Almond Chicken,  Roasted Asparagus,  and Spaghetti Squash!   Food is just so good.  

And it makes me happy.   

That's all there is to say about that;)

We had the funnest surprise towards the end of our dinner, when Jewel, Kendall and their family came by to sing to us.    They had bells, and sheet music and ALL!    It was so fun to see them- and they sang and played BEAUtifully!!!    I love Carollers.    And I love Hardys.   So, this was perfect!!

(I don't know what impressed me more while watching them:   Their amazing musical talent, or the fact that I glanced over to my right and saw my 70 year old father in law filming the performance on his brand new iPhone!   haha.  It made me laugh;)

After dinner, we rolled ourselves down to the living room, so that we could re-enact the Nativity for Grandpa.   Abby was the wise man, Jess was our Angle, Nate played the roll of all three Shephards with perfection, and ol' MC Hammer over here portrayed Joseph.    ...kinda.   

Note to self:  In the future, prepare the costumes in advance!!

Of course, no Christmas Eve would be successful without allowing the kids to open just.one.present. 

Christmas Jammies!!!!!

And then after watching Polar Express with Grandpa...it was time.   Finally...the concluding, culminating event of the night....BEDTIME!!!

Here's to the one night a year that my kids actually go to bed without any complaining at all! 

Fast asleep and dreaming by 9:00.   Merry Christmas to ME!!!!;)   

Skating with the Hardys!!!

Dec 23rd is always a fun day in our home.   

Thanks to a neighbour that we once had who introduced this idea to our kids- they now call Dec 23rd "Christmas ADAM."    You know, because Adam came before Eve!    (badaboom!;)

Anyways, for ahem..."Christmas Adam" we decided to take the kids skating at the local ice rink.   

The last time the kids went skating was probably exactly 1 year ago, and the kids have not improved much in the time since.   Understandably;)   

Abby was confident on the ice, so long as she didn't have to make any turns, stops or direction changes.  haha

Nate made my heart melt.  He was determined to skate all.by.himself!  

When he would fall, he had to pick himself up.    When he wanted me to watch him, I'd have to go sit on the bleachers to do so.  He didn't want me any where around him.    

He's a determined little guy, that's for sure!

The funnest part about this trip of ours to the ice rink, is that we were joined by none other then Auntie Jewel and all of her Hardy Family!   Everybody in this picture are either cousins, in laws, or siblings.    Some of them are both!!!!  haha.  

John of course had to get out the GT racer and pull unsuspecting wee ones around, causing them to dangerously careen across the ice at break neck speeds!   

Luckily though, nobody got hurt, so all is well that ends well;)

It really was such a fun time, and a couple of times as I looked across the crowd, I felt so lucky that these were people that we get to be related to.    

I don't know, I kinda just feel bad for all the people in the world who don't get to be related to a Hardy!   

On a much sadder note, this is also the day that my sister in law Heather experienced a great sadness in her family.   I've been praying for her and her loved ones ever since and I was, once again, reminded to never take these special moments with our family for granted.   

Celebrating a truly amazing woman!!!

Almost a couple of weeks ago, we got the news that John's Grandma Hardy had passed away.    

Though we were initially sad to hear this, our thoughts quickly went to memories our kids were able to have with this remarkable woman, and we are so grateful for that.    

The last time we visited with her was in the summer, but sure enough, the famous jelly bean dispenser came out.  Always a highlight for the kids!

I believe that John's Grandma was 97 years old when she passed away, which is remarkable in itself, but in that span of time her family grew to include 183 great grand children and 6 great great grandchildren.    AMAZING!!!    

(I know that giant card says "75 years" on it- but in actuality John's Grandma and Grandpa just celebrated their 76th anniversary!!)   

Last Saturday (Dec 21st) many of her family members and friends gathered in Stirling to celebrate her life.   It was a lovely service, with touching Christmas music.   I was amazed at all of the family of John's that were there whom I had never even met before, and John joked often with them that there was enough family in attendance to organize a ward of our very own!  haha.   

I thought it was a brave endeavour to try and get a group photo, but wonders never cease- it can be done!!!  

Oh...ahem..excuse that unruly 4 year old in the front row.  His flaky parents obviously never taught him how to behave in public!   (yes, that is my boy;)

Cold Winter Air and the antics of an Elf

Well, it's official. Christmas is upon us, and we couldn't be more excited!  ...or busy;)

The past few days have been filled with the usual hustle and bustle that is always the 1st week of December.    (I swear, in an effort to clear up "December" everybody EVERYWHERE decides to hold EVERY function within the first week;)    It has pretty much felt like a 7 day long party around here. 

The party started on Monday morning when we woke up to a foot of snow and frigid temperatures, ...and an announcement from the school division that school would be cancelled!    (Woohooo!!)

Then that turned into a snow day on Tuesday as well, which seemed nice at first, but the novelty wore off by mid day.    Wednesday however, it was back to school, despite the fact that temperatures were hovering around -40, and have continued to stay that way.  It has been c-c-c- cold!!!!  At times I have questioned my sanity in sending my kids to school when it is so freezing outside -  but alas-  2 snow days in a row was frankly quite enough!     By Wednesday I was ready to send them to the North Pole if that's what it would take to get some peace and quiet!!! 

Thursday was our Ward Adult Christmas Party, and the responsibility for the evening had fallen on the Relief Society Presidency.   I think it is safe to say that well before that date even arrived we had all grown tired of  planning and discussing, and preparing for it.   In the end though... it was what it was;)!   haha.

Actually, it was kind of cool to help prepare the meal.    I learned a tonne of cool tips that I hope to remember, and hey - nobody got food poisoning, so... SUCCESS!!!  That may have been largely due to the fact that I pretty much asked my father in law to take over the preparation of 9 hams at the very last minute!!  (Some people might call that "backing out of my duties" - I call it "making a wise executive decision.";)   

Oh yeah, and part of the evening included an "Ugly Sweater" competition.    

Little did I know this would involve a humiliating walk of shame in front of everybody, and prizes to whoever received the loudest clap.   Had I known that was going to happen I would have stuck to something a little less dorky;)   The whole thing reminded me of the time my sister in law Rachel decided to throw an Ugly Sweater Party, and I was the only one who showed up wearing one! 
(These two parties had a lot in common in that regard.  haha;)   

On Friday afternoon, my tough and rugged husband (who, as you can observe from the picture above, rocks a turtleneck like nobodies business!) braved the arctic cold and drove out to the community pasture with Kendall and Ava to get us our Christmas tree.    Usually, John and I make this a big family event- but the weather just wasn't going to cooperate.    The three of them came back pretty stiff and frozen, but on the bright side...the tree does look good,  so thanks to them;)!

The kids have been entertained this week by the daily antics of our silly visiting Elf!

So far she has managed to toilet paper our tree, get captured by Sam's lego warriors, and accidentally photo copy herself, catch the flu and more!    

Abby likes to stay up late with me and plot all the places we could place this little elf.  

  Somehow though, come morning- she manages to still seem completely and genuinely surprised! 

On top of ALL that- the flu has run it's course around here, leaving only two of us untouched.

I've personally been trying my best to catch it and just get it out of the way.  There is nothing worse then feeling like a sitting duck, not to mention the fact that after Monday, I just really don't have time for it!

Apparently,  the only time busier then the first week of December.....is the SECOND week of December!!!!

Meanwhile in Canada...

Remember that time it snowed so much that we got a snow day?

Well...that snow day turned into TWO snow days!

We spent the time:  

* making chocolates (as mentioned previously)

* finishing up Santa's Christmas shopping

* watching movies.   ...LOTS of movies

* painting the rest of the basement.  Yippeee!!! (Good bye blue laundry room;)

* shoveling

* baking

* eating

* shoveling

* digging out giant caves in our front yard

* and more shovelling!!!

It's been a busy couple of days.   

I'm thinking I'm ready to send the kids back to school and have myself a little break!!!

Snow Day Fun!

This past week, we've had a lot of snow.   Like...a LOT!

We knew it was a lot come Monday morning, when our local superintendent cancelled school for the entire school division!   The last time that happened was 4 years ago, and is only ever really considered when we either receive an accumulated 100 ft of snow in one night or when temperatures dip down below the normally accepted arctic temperatures.   Anything short of that and school is pretty much a go, so I was pleasantly surprised when Monday morning came and we discovered that we had the entire day off!   

 Not just us- but JOHN TOO!!!  Woot Woot!!! 

  (I seriously haven't been that happy since that time a couple of years ago when Church got cancelled because of a water main break.)  Seriously, moments like that are a rare treasure, for sure!

Anyways there we were, Monday morning, wondering what we'd do with our day, when my sister called.   She had decided that she was going to tackle chocolates, and if I wanted to pop by and make some too then I could. 

If I wanted to....???!!!!   

Abby and I were town there within the hour!

We didn't dare strive to do as many as we did last year when ALL of my siblings got together for chocolate making, and we did make the mistake of letting some of the kids help us with one pan - but still, I think we deserve an "A" for effort!

I was so grateful that Jewel invited me to join her for two reasons:

1) It had been a while since we really had visited or gotten together, we are always rushing off in different directions, so that was nice.  

 2)  I'd run out of my stash of home made chocolates...oh...about 11 months ago, so it was well past time to make some more!!

Not a bad way to spend a Snow Day!!!

This post is brought to you by the Letter C!

For the past couple of months, Nate has been part of a little weekly home based play school.

(I call it "play school" because it helped Nate feel like a big boy.   Really it was much much simpler then that;)   Every Thursday these three cuties would get together at one of our homes for just a couple of hours.   

It gave me a break every once in a while.  

It gave Nate the chance to make some friends.

And it gave us both a little sanity during these long school days!!!

On our last play day of the year, the kids met at our house.   We talked about Christmas, the letter C, AND made gingerbread houses using Crackers;) 

Nate was more into it then I expected he'd be.  In fact- all the kids were!

I suppose though, it isn't hard to hold a child's attention when you hand them a bowl full of candy and a bag of sugary icing!  ;)

This is how Nate looks when all is right in his world!

When they were finished making gingerbread houses, we read a couple of books, sang some Christmas Carols, jumped on the Couches (not necessarily part of the agenda, but still fun nonetheless;) and called it a day!   haha.

They're a cute little trio - that's for sure!