Live it!

My Gram

November 26th was a sad day for our family. After a long and beautiful life, my sweet Gram passed away at the age of 98. We are all sad. Sad, because although she was ready to go - we don't know what on earth we are ever going to do without our Gram.

She was truly an amazing woman. She had a happy family life - 5 children, 13 grandchildren and scords of great-grandchildren ...and we all idolized her. She enjoyed a successful career as a teacher and affected so many in a positive way. Since her passing I have heard from strangers - people I've never met... that knew my grandmother and loved her. She was a great teacher and inspired many along her path in life.

She was most certainly a loving mom - for all her children thought she hung the moon. My dad saw his mom almost every day and I know he misses her greatly.

She was the perfect Grandmother. Growing up she was a true constant in my life. She lived just down the road from us and we would always be over at her place playing in the yard or running up and down the stairs in her home. We would climb down the tv antenna to avoid 'dishwashing duty' and we would dress up in all her fancy hats and clothes from days gone by. We always loved our Sunday dinners at Gram's and the smell of her roast beef coming out of the oven. She made the best butter tarts in the world and was very talented at everything she did. She was an independent and strong woman. She was always positive and saw the best in others. I don't remember ever hearing her say a bad thing about anyone ever. She was someone we all knew we could go to in happy times and in sad times. She was ALWAYS there to support us and bring out the best in us all. She was an inspiration.

She lived a beautiful life. She made life beautiful. I'm so thankful that I had her love for so many years and that all 3 of my children got to know and love her like they do. I will miss her and I will never forget her. She is in so many of my favourite memories.

Amongst Friends

We headed up the highway to Toronto again to get together with the Antonides, Guillaumes and Chambers. We had a great little reunion with our Vietnam travelmates and the kids are growing up and starting to remember and look forward to seeing each other again. Steph and Oli were gracious hosts and had quite the houseful. The kids played while we all visited. They made the best turkey supper complete with all the fixing's and we felt very spoiled. After the party we had an overnight at Renny and George's and Lia and Meg had a great time together. I love seeing these families - it makes me wish we all lived closer and could see eachother more often.

Thanks for another fun get-together. Let's do it again this summer.

I didn't get my camera out, so thank you Steph for sharing these ones with me.

 

The pool is closed

...somebody tell this frog his water hole is closed for the winter. We found him sitting in the middle of our pool cover - RIBBIT. He was a big lad!

Trick or Treat

It has become a tradition that we pack up the family and head to our friends (The MacDonalds) to trick or treat as a group. The kids enjoy it a lot. The moms usually take the kids out door to door while the dad's stay back at the house and partake in beer and good eats... and hand out the treats. This year we had a big gang of goblins and it was a great time.

When we got home the kids dumped out all their candy on the floor and the sorting, trading and EATING began. Meg was all over the candy... she is somewhat of a sugar addict. I think she is following in her sister Chloe's footsteps!

 

Special note: This photo is very special to me.

For years we have started our trick or treating with a trip to my Gram's to show her the kids in their costumes. We missed a few years due to the rush of the evening but it was something the kids always loved to do. This year, Gram was failing. She had just given up her apartment and moved in to Aunt Ann's. We got the whole family in to see her on Halloween night before we went trick or treating and she was very happy to see us all. She smiled at the kids costumes and chatted and posed for a photo with us before we headed out for the night. Turns out it would be the last time we would all be together with my wonderful Gram. She passed away after this. I'm so glad our last time with Gram was on this night... when her spirits seemed up and a great memory was made. I'll never forget Aunt Ann putting my witch hat on her head and the smile that came to her face. I'll cherish this photo always.

Halloween 2011

...one of my favourite holidays for sure! We have so much fun figuring out costumes.

Chloe especially gets into the 'spirit' and just had to have this costume when she saw it. I still am not 100% sure what she is supposed to be, but when people asked her she told them she was a "diva evil pirate girl". Her hair was especially fun to do except I wish I had known that the spray would not wash completely out of her hair for over 2 months! (Yes, I'm backdating this post... today is actually January 15th and I am way behind on my blogging.)

I don't know if Keaton is starting to feel too 'old' for Halloween... but he wasn't into it as much as he usually is. He just wanted to be something "easy" and wanted to use his black cloak from last year's "Scream" costume. We went with a spooky ghoulish face and he was happy to keep it simple.

 Last year Meg did not like Halloween much. This year though, it was a different story. She loved Halloween. She loved the costume, the candy and everything in between. Her bug costume is a blast from our past. Chloe wore it when we was 3 years old and it is such a funny costume - I'm so glad I saved it and Meg got to enjoy it this year.

Here is Chloe in it Halloween 2006 and Meg in it Halloween 2011.

Meg - you are such a cute little bug!

 

 

Cookie Tradition

Every year Mom makes these cookies with Chloe and then sends them home with her (for us to decorate.) The kids look forward to making their cookies and of course, eating them as they create. They are super tasty and sugarlicious and our friends always look forward to tasting them at Halloween time.

The Annual Carve

For as long as I can remember, I have loved carving pumpkins. I love coming up with new faces to carve and the kids enjoy dictating exactly what each of them want their pumpkin to look like. This year Keaton only participated in the 'eating of the pumpkin seeds' but Chloe and Meg were great helps. Meg loved digging out the seeds and would say "Oh, this is soooooooooo yucky"... with a smile on her face the entire time.

 

Here's our little posers with their creations:

 

Wild!

Chloe was invited to a friends costume party the week before Halloween. She wore her costume from last year and let me get "creative" with her hair. She looked pretty crazy - Halloween is so fun!

Tasty Toes

I love these funnies of Meg chilaxin' on our bed, watching her tv show. Meg is pretty flexible... and she puts it to good use at times... tasty toes! She'll hate me for these photos some day.

 

Nana K

Shaune's Nana passed away in September. We were all so sad to see  her go, even at the age of 97 years old. Its never a good time when it is someone special and dear to you. Nana K was so many things. She always had a smile for you. She was loving, witty, intelligent, charming, and very beautiful. She will be missed by us all.

 

Soccer Champs

Keaton's team had the Junior Boys soccer tournament on Tuesday and they did awesome. They played 4 games of round robin and then proceeded on to the semi finals and then the finals. They played 6 games and only lost the first one of the day. The Final game was exciting + the boys played so well as a team. Almost all the kids on the team got a turn scoring goals throughout the day, which was nice to see. When they played weaker teams they held back and stopped scoring as much as possible = the coach was wonderful in teaching them such awesome sportsmanship for sure!  It was a fun day of soccer. They were so excited to be the champs of the day!

It was a very cold and windy day. Brr!

Thanksgiving Part III

Holiday Monday was another beautiful day. We really did get lucky and it was one of the best weather weekends we've had for Thanksgiving in a LONG time. We took the kids over the Campbell's Orchard in the County to see all the pumpkins, apples, vegetable stands and the petting zoo too. The kids tried all kinds of treats and their favourites were the apple cider, caramel apples and the fresh Mapledale cheese curds. MMM. It made for a delicious afternoon out in the sunshine.

 

Lynn and Larry treated us to our 3rd and final feast on Monday night. Its funny though... we never get tired of turkey, dressing and all the fixings. Keaton and Shaune were in heaven all weekend long. Lynn always prepares a beautiful turkey supper and it was great getting together with the family and all the cousins had a blast playing outside while we enjoyed our pumpkin and apple pie desserts.

 

 

Thanksgiving Part II

On Sunday we got up early and headed to the final game of Keaton's Ganonoque tournament. They were in the C finals after losing their first game (it was a close game) and then tieing their 2nd game against Smith Falls.  In the final game they played great and I think the final score was 4-1 for us (vs Brockville). It was nice to see them get that win after the tight games they played earlier in the weekend.

The game was done by noon and so we rushed down the highway and made it back to Aunt Ann and Uncle T's "Emerson Thanksgiving" at 1:30pm.  I always love our time there on the river with all my aunts and uncles, cousins, etc.    Gram (who has not been feeling well) made it to the dinner and that was a nice treat for us all to get to spend Thanksgiving with her.

Thank you Aunt Ann and Uncle Terry for a beautiful afternoon and some delicious EATS!

 

 

Thanksgiving Part I

We had a busy thanksgiving 2011!

Part I started on Saturday when I picked up my brother Cory and drove back to Boulter for a gorgeous (and unusually hot) Autumn day. Keaton's hockey team was in a tournament up in Gananoque so he and Shaune missed our annual celebration back north... which sucked!

We enjoyed the unseasonably warm temps and didn't even have to wear rain coats, parkas, winter boots or mittens... some of us (not me) even wore tank tops all day. The haywagons were full (2 again this year) and we set off for our yearly trek around the lake. The scenery was beautiful and the company was grand!  I'll let the photos speak for themselves. I was sandwiched between Uncle Murray and Cory the entire ride so I only took photos of what I could see on the wagon without moving and possibly losing my seat! lol!

The turkey dinner that followed was amazing. So good and then it was late so I packed up the kids and we were homeward bound so that we could get up and head to the hockey tournament the next morning.

 

Hockeyville

Our little hometown is making a bid to win "Kraft Hockeyville" this year. There are lots of fun events planned to encourage town spirit and bring the community together. Keaton and Chloe recently participated in the kids triathalon. They did 3 different activities: skating laps in the arena, running the soccer fields outside and then doing laps around the racetrack on their bikes. Chloe thought it was a lot of work! She was huffing and puffing by the end of the race and ended up crashing her bike at the finish line - poor kid. Still she said it was 'sorta fun'. Maybe athletics just isn't her thing.  The arena is like Keaton's second home so he had a blast.