November Notes

I swore I was going to do better with the blogging but once again an entire month has gone by.  What can I say we are just always busy and then some.  Here is a look at the noteables in November:

On my last post I mentioned the worst four letter word I know, lice.  I hardly know what to say except I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.  I may have thought I was a bit of a clean freak, germaphobe, ocd-ish, etc kind of gal but I had noooooo idea just how crazy I was until that week.  I seriously cleaned, cleaned and cleaned again, combed and combed and barely slept.  Fun. I will spare you the nasty pics and just leave you with one of the oh so many laundry mtns (can't wait to get the hot water bill after running my machine 3 days straight on hot).  AL's class had a full on infestation that may or may not be gone after a full month (gah).  Thankfully she was the only one hit in this house.

 During that week of insanity we distracted ourselves by going bed shopping (hello King!).  You can bet I almost died everytime my kids heads came close to those display bed pillows lol.

 Before the kids had a very long weekend we got to enjoy an absolutely beautiful and moving Remembrance Day assembly.  They have a way of bringing me to tears at this one, even with a wiggly WR on my lap.  Heck, I even got choked up watching one of my Cubs carry up a wreath.  My gratitude just leaves my knowing that my cup is truly over flowing.

 Later that night at Cubs we set to work making beautiful Remembrance Day art work as we reflected on what it all means.  Thanks to my Cub assistant they turned out so great.  I loved hearing stories, of relatives that fought in the war, as we worked away. Makes it all so much more meaningful.

 I decided to take a route shovelling postal boxes for the winter.  My BIL and his brother had routes for years a few years ago so I knew about the idea but finally was at a place I could make it work.  You get paid for the season so it is kind of a gamble as to how much work it will be.  I was a bit shocked to get a route of 168 boxes and spent some time driving all around plotting the boxes on my map.

 On the Saturday I spent the entire day in Woodbadge training for Cubs.  It wasn't how I would ideally spend one of our precious family days but walking past the temple on my way in helped me go in with a better attitude.  And the snow started coming down that day!

 I learned a lot and managed to have lots of fun thanks to some friends and my sister being there as well.  Loved this life long Cub leader showing us all the fun found around a camp fire!

 On Remembrance Day I had the kids spend an hr in the morning watching the ceremony live from Ottawa.  This day just has a way of making me think about and missing my Grandad (my mom's Dad). (My Dad's dad was too young to go to war; my Grandma remarried after he passed away and her husband who is basically the only Grandpa I have known spent the war in a work camp in Canada because his Mennonite beliefs wouldn't allow him to take up arms)  It is his birthday on the 15th so a good opportunity to reflect.  I made Cream of Celery soup just like my Granny always did and showed my kids how Grandad would butter his crackers.

 I couldn't find his military picture but this is him on his wedding day not long after.  He spent the entire duration of the war in a military camp in BC in training.  He absolutely hated every moment of it.

 We rode the sleds over to my moms later and checked out his medal and the letter that came with it.  The medal sits never worn.  My Grandad was such a sweet, gentle soul.  His strong feelings for his hate for the war, evident in the fact that he never so much as attached the brouche clasp to wear his medal and never wore his uniform again.

 With all the snow we finally got to try out our new sled.  Let me just say this was a great purchase!  It cuts through the snow so well compared to what I used last year.

 WR can't get enough of the snow.  Almost daily after the school pick up we play outside with neighbors.  After everyone goes inside, WR heads to the back yard and keeps on playing (love my fenced yard)

 I finally tackled a project I've been meaning to take care of for way to long.  I've revinyled my fabric kitchen chairs several times.  This time I waited too long and most of the seats were stained since the vinyl had ripped.  This project was a bit nuts because I took all the chairs apart before I realized I needed new fabric too.  So after a very late night trip to the fabric store I got it all figured out.

 I'm happy with the new pop of color! (T not as much lol)

 We played musical beds once the new bed finally arrived.  JA had been sleeping on the main floor but opted to go back upstairs and switch with AL.  She loves it and inheritted our queen sized bed (she needs it just for her stuffies alone ;)

 Before our bed arrived this was the scene in our room.  We've been having major sleep issues with JA.  I refuse to let kids sleep in my bed ever and he refused to sleep on my floor.  We were sick of ending up on his floor and having a battle ensue.  After having my heart softened while reading an article about this very topic I decided to blow up the queen sized mattress and have it waiting on my floor.  The deal is that he can come hop in it anytime (after he falls asleep in his own bed) as long as he comes in without talking (win win for all of us)

 Our new bed has been one of those "best purchase" kind of things.  Love love love.  We had to reposition our bed to a new wall to fit the king and JA's queen.....hopefully it doesn't last forever! I will be on the hunt for new bedding that fits  in the spring along with making a headboard.

 We hadn't been able to make a girls craft night work out all fall so we finally got around to a Christmas one.  Originally it was planned for the day that lice took over my life so we rescheduled it for two weeks later.  We had a great turn out and made the cutest sign thanks to my talented friend.

 

 We decked the halls a bit early after our new 9ft Christmas tree arrived via the UPS man one cold day.  Love it!  The lights can switch from white to colored which the kids love.

 I finally got around to my front door but realized I should have cleaned out my pot from all the dirt way sooner.  It was rock solid and I could barely get all my greenery in ha!

 We decided to beat the crowds while visiting Santa and went a bit earlier this year.  There was only two kids ahead of us!  JA has been asking for a bow tie for a while and when our search for one came up empty handed we had this one made by a friend, he loves it.

 And the usual over priced, bad lighting photo...........all for the sake of popping it in my favorite photo frame ornaments on my tree (my absolute favorites)

 The next day we got a good 10 cm and took advatage with some sledding.  WR hated it last year but this year loved every minute of it.  The hill is huge and he squeals all the way down.

 I ended up shovelling my mail boxes after that 10 cm.  With t's help we got it done in 2.5 hrs which was awesome and honestly felt like a nice workout.  You can imagine how unexcited I was when a huge winter storm rolled in a few days later.   We are talking 40 cm of snow and winds of -37.
AL bundled up big time as the storm started that morning.

 This was the before

 And this is what it looks like a week post storm

 I love living crazy close to the school but crossing the field in that deep of snow is hard work for me let alone little people.  I lucked out and my Mom came and watched the boys so I didn't have to drag them out in the cold too.  I grabbed the shovel and literally pushed it with all my might across to the kids and then back again.

 An hr later my Dad showed up with his blower and cleared a trail.  My hero.  Sadly the snow didn't let up and the winds were strong.  When we went back to the school later that night for an auction the path was barely visible.

 The next morning my back door neighbor fired up her snow blower and started working on clearing the trail we started.
We had our church Christmas party that night and had planned to meet with a group of ladies to prep potatoe casserole dishes at a friends house across the field.  The roads were beyond insane so I packed up my sled and headed over.  Had to take my gloves off in the -37C to snap a selfie dragging all the food home.  Oh and I got bangs for the first time in forever.

 Now that the storm has settled my neighbor has blown us a sweet path and has made school travel sooooo much sweeter then last year.

 A look out the windows

 My fridge full of dishes for the church dinner (skor trifle and 3 x potatoes),  The weather couldn't have been worse but the Christmas party was so fun!  Great food, great company and a great Christmas program to get us focussed on the meaning of the season.

 Once the snow finally stopped we set out to clear boxes in the deep freeze of it all.  We took the kids along for the first couple hrs with snacks and a movie on the laptop.  This was beyond hard work.  So many boxes had the walk way cleared but the snow blowers had blown all the snow right into the boxes.  I had to chip away huge blocks of heavy snow hr after hr.

 We finally ditched the kids with my parents hooray and then T was able to help me a bit more.  These boxes that were completely untouched were so heavy in a different kind of snow drift way.  Ouch.  In total it took 3.5 hrs the first day and then another 1.5 hrs with kids in tow again the next day. But I still don't regret taking the job......yet.  This was hard stuff but the money so far is still a great deal.

 The blessing/curse of it all was that we were so well equipped to help stuck or spun out cars along our way.  Let me tell you we ran into a few, I would shovel and T would help.  It added more time to our trek but kind of leaves you feeling happier.

 This kid would shovel all day if he could!  (Maybe next year I can set his loose on the mail boxes lol)

 And one sweet note to leave November with (don't want to be haunted by all that snow and cold).  I came across these two snoring away; kind of made me wish I didn't have to wake them!

November in a large nutshell.  Stay tuned for a big birthday post!