Update from Jasper!

I finally got onto one of the kids laptops for a bit so i wanted to stop in for an update! This has been a wonderful trip! I love being surrounded by the mountains. LOVE it! I REALLY want to do a ladies trip (I know-said it before!) for a weekend of relaxation, maybe book a spa for the day. I love it here. Just going to the shops, walking around, taking drives out on the highway to see how close you can get to a mountain...the toasty warm hotel room that has a log always burning (and the SMELL of the fire!!!)...I just love it. Life feels SO much easier. THIS is how 'vacation' should feel, I LOVE it!!!!! Needless to say, I am so thankful that we are even able to experience this. There are so many families out there who cannot afford to take mini-vacations like this...I'm so grateful that we are able too.

The kids have been loving the pool! I haven't swam at all. I'm not really a pool lover...but I sit over there while my sister swims (lol) with her kids and Kennedy. Its great for them to be able to swim every night before bed...

Today we went to the Wildlife Museum...it was pretty cool for the kids (young ones). It was a small display of preserved animals, it was only 10.00 for the whole group of us...can't complain. It was cool though. We checked out the train station...many shops, then sent the kids back to the hotel with grandma and my sister and I (and our husbands!) did lunch. My moms room is right next to us, its awesome!!!! I can send the kids over for stuff we need and vice versa. My sisters room is upstairs, its weird as we use to be all next to each other..so our nephews can't just come over whevever they want...but we see them lots! Its just so nice! They are leaving tomorrow, sadly. We are still here for 3 more night. New Years eve, we aren't sure what we are going to do yet...but something lowkey.

Bandit has been loving it too! We have a pet friendly room which is GREAT as we have patio doors that are ground level. So we just tie him up and he can do his business. But we have been walking with him everywhere, so he loves it alot.

Other then that, I'm enjoying relaxing here. I wish life felt like this always. We wil be home Friday...back to reality!!! Saturday the Christmas stuff is coming doooooown!!!! Then, I cannot believe the kids are back in school Monday :o(

Well I hope everyone out there is enjoying the Christmas holidays and New Years holidays...take care!!!

Wednesday.

Well...what to say?

Tuesday I enjoyed a night out with some friends. It was certainly SO nice to get out! I brought them all a little gift...mostly made stuff. But it was nice. Nice that I had the time to do it...

Today, I got the LAST gift that I needed. Then, the girls and I headed to Walmart for my photobooks that were done. Since there, I thought that I would get the Christmas day dinner-groceries done. Then, I had a 50% off coupon from Micheals so I wanted to use that. We went there then home. My mom came by for quite some time with hot chocolate for all of us. Mack went to a friends house for a sleepover. Rikki is still here...we have been working on getting it all done..Rikki has been awesome with wrapping gifts for us too :o) She enjoy it! Tomorrow, we will pack for Jasper...thankfully I got the laundry all done so it will be easier to pack up. Tomorrow night, Christmas Eve will be at our house. Not sure what we will do...if anything. But mom and Rikki are both sleeping over! We are still going to feed the homeless on Christmas Day at 12:30pm while mom slaves away in the kitchen at our house. We will have Fabes family over and my uncle. Boxing Day we will wake up when we get up and pack up everything and stop for groceries on the way to Jasper. I know I have said it before, but I REALLY cannot wait to be there.

Today, I had some crappy news. The builder said we aren't looking like we will be moving until MARCH! I was sooooo pissed. MARCH!?!?! WTF! First they told us by Christmas then January...and now...MARCH? I know, I'm thankful to even have a house...and we all lived through the fire...I KNOW that..but I realllllly wanted to move on. Go forward. I didn't do Cuba with the kids because I thought that I would be moving...I didn't do Christmasy stuff (lots of decor, etc) because I thought I was moving in Jan. It just makes me sooooo mad. March feels like forever to me. Like I 'can't' wait any longer. Its so hard. I know I sound ungrateful. I know that. I'm sorry-but I'm just so disappointed :o( Whats 2 more months? Its just MORE time that I have to wait to live my life that I'm meant to live...sounds dumb, I know. But I just really want to move on in life and put the fire behind us and be in our own house...back in our neighborhood...oh well.

Other then that....thats about it :o)))) I haven't been doing any crafty things, no great suppers...nothing.

Blogging will be nil since I will be in Jasper. Although the hotel does have wireless, I'm not sure how much I will be on...

Kitchen cabinets!!!!

I was thrilled when they got delivered, but even more thrilled when the kitchen craft guy was there the NEXT day to start installing them :o)))) I like them so far! I really think the kitchen will look very nice! I can't wait to see it all come together...

Our bedroom! I love it so much with the nice vaulted ceiling! -------> our bathroom and the plug up on the wall will be for the tv for viewing while in the tub!!!





Our bedroom, below.

Blue room Macks. He picked out slate blue...this is all just primer.... Then the brown room is our mainbathroom. The little circle thing, is the Sol-R tube (the 'new' skylight)...its awesome for how much light it lets out...we have another going in in the loft area...

Kennedys purple room...both of the kids rooms are the same sizes 12x12 they are a decent size this time for them...compared to their old rooms of 10x10 or 8'11x10...

House so far!

Loft upstairs --------->



(below) staircase going upstairs. It will be wrought iron and wood rails...

Fabe & Kennedy in the basement>

(below spare room)

This was suppose to be my craft room. But now I'm not sure if I want to be in the basement anymore. But that closet was built double to have shelving all across it. Its actually the 5th bedroom, but I'm not sure what to do anymore?

House part 2

Kitchen, pantry is corner entry then goes the whole length of the wall to the side of it...its huge! I love it :o) --------------->



den, it will have double french doors...

Dining room, there will be pillars on each side. >

(above) from front entrance...open whole way up!

The house! I love the siding color with the contrast of the black trim !!!

Santa!!!

http://santa.sympatico.ca/watch/de9dcb6ea23aa8cb15513c60091152d6

Santa sent Kennedy a message today!!! She will be thrilled to hear it, straight from Santa :o)

My Monday!

Today was a good day! Yesturday I dropped off Kennedy at her friends house for a sleepver and decided to go visit my friend in Leduc. Her son decided he wanted to come to my house and sleepover! So I took him! He is only 4, and soooo cute! We are his Godparents and we use to take him when he was little (like under 1 year). We were very happy that he wanted to come this time, hopefully he will come often and he will be able to enjoy camping with us one day :o)

He fell asleep on the couch last night, so I carried him up to bed (which I made on our floor because I was worried he would wake up scared in the night)...he slept well. This morning, we brought up the box of toys that I have for my nephews in the basement. We played toys then we played the Wii for a while...we went to the mall then went to pick up Kennedy from her friends. It was starting to look a little scary for the roads so we headed out to Leduc...the roads were okay but forsure slow-going. We got back safely...thank God. I picked up Mack and his friend as we needed to go to Sportsmart for new ski boots for the kids. Their boots have outgrown their feet. So I took the ski's and boots out and yes, they are too small. Thinking we will just buy some new boots we brought the ski's so they would do the bindings and we would be good to go. Well, we get there and sure enough they can't adjust the bindings anymore, as they have been adjusted 2 times already, I knew that they needed new ski's but I was hoping to use these ones this year...they touched their chins, afterall. Nope, they need to be between their nose and forheads. Fine, we pick out new ski's and boots. Almost 700.00 later (I was planning to spend 250-ish on new boots!)....***sigh*** so we pick them up tomorrow and they are good for Jasper on Friday. I told them after this, they ARE getting good use of their ski's now...for real.

Came home, my throat slightly hurts...I was pooped from being busy...so I'm just relaxing...

Rikki is over. Mack has his friend over for 2 nights so far. Kennedy is home. Fabe and his friend are out shopping (haha, typical!). Tomorrow I have 2 more gifts to pick up....then I'm done. More wrapping needed...but I think I'm done. We need to buy all of our food Wednesday for Jasper and Christmas dinner. *Sigh* So much to do...I wish I could skip allllllllll of 'this' and be at Jasper. I just want to send Fabe and the kids off skiing and relax in my hotel room by the fire. I take on the cooking and I don't mind it at all there. I cook in silence...looking out to the mountains, listening to the crackling of the wood in the fireplace...its just so awesome!!!!

My sister and her family have booked Mexico. We are considering it, we haven't done a 'family' trip since last Dec...a year ago. Sure the kids just did Cuba, but I really wanted to go with them. So, I am seriously considering it...and mom said she would watch Bandit which makes it even more awesome, then I don't have to kennel him. We will see....its nice going with my sister and nephews...its fun for Fabe and my brother in law as well. My sister and I typically hang with the kids on the beach...Fabes not a sun lover (besides, why? He doesn' t need a tan-lmao!) So we will see.

Well, I am off to bed nice and early....

Have a good night :o)

Scenes from Saturday!

candle warmer, my newest favorite thing. Works with glass candles...no flame, just melts all the wax and lets out the smell of the candle.

Kennedy I did LOTS of baking today. Whipped shortbread, sugar cookies, peanut butter temptations, peanut butter and marshmallow squares. We baked for hours today...we have a Christmas party to go to later tonight so I wanted to bake some stuff to bring. I need to freeze the other stuff for Christmas dinner and leftovers for Jasper. Thats what we did all day so far.

Busy!

Heres a tiny update! But I have been busy-doing what? I really don't know!!!! (lol)

Wednesday- I got the kids off to school. Fabe wasn't feeling well, so he stayed home too. I crawled back into bed with him and we both slept for a few hours (second time I have done this!!!) until 10:30am. Then I got up, got ready. Went to Costco bought some stuff for the new house! Then, since I had a Micheals coupon I went there and bought a Crop-A-Dile. Then, I came home. Kinda tidied up. Fabe was up and feeling a bit better. I waited until Kennedy got home and we headed out to see "The Princess and the Frog". SO good! Then, her and I went to Bed Bath and Beyond...my NEW favorite store! LOOOOVE it! Bought stuff for the new house and some Christmas gifts. Kennedy wanted a santa hat for school. So I bought her one as well. Got home, Fabe had made supper. Corn beef and rice (lol).

Today (Thursday). I have Aeva. I met up with a friend and her children at the mall for a few hours. We did lunch there some shopping. We were there for like....4 hours! It was great! Came home, Aeva was tired...bathed her and got her to sleep. Fabe has both of the kids at the hairshop on the west end...and I will be dropping off Aeva at her mommies house then meeting up with my friend to (Finally) see "The Blind Side". I can't wait!. Tomorrow, I'm hosting a lunch at my house for a few friends. It will be neat. So as soon as I get the kids off, I will be power cleaning...

Tonight, I'm making cream of mushroom meatballs and rice.

The house is coming along SO good! Its all sided. The inside is all primed! The ceilings are textured! The electrical company was there putting the plugs on! Its coming along!!! I cannot wait to hear the date. As I see it coming along, I looooooove it even more!!!!!!

Kennedys Concert...

Today I watched Kennedy and her choir group at the City Hall. It was a collection of choirs from city and area schools. It was really good. CBC news was there, so maybe it will be on :o)

Terrific Tuesday.

Today I got the children off to school. I had a busy morning preparing for slowcooker supper. I had to cut the meat, veggies, potoatoes, etc and get that going. I just tided up a bit then I got ready to head downtown for Kennedys concert at City Hall. It was only 2 songs, but worth it :o) She was SO happy that I went!

When I got home, I didn't have much to do. So since I just cleaned my craft room up I decided why not go mess it up again, lol. So I made a few things (shadow box and a file folder mini album). I struggled with the mini album a little bit with trying to fold it the way that it would work. Finally I got it, and it turned out super good. I love it. I cheated using the patterned file folders Vs. The Real ones. These are from Stampin Up. I wasn't sure what to do with them, but I'm happy I found something that works good.

Its 3pm now, I need to head to Kennedys school to pick her up and drop her off at Girl Power. They are doing a gift exchange...she is excited. Then we will come back and enjoy my beef stew with yummy bread!!!! Nothing much planned tonight, maybe a movie???

Ps- the shadow box is packing material from my Martha Stewart glitter pack I bought.

My Monday...

Well, it was a productive day. I had most of my cleaning done by 9:30am So I warmed up my car (yes, let it idle-sorry!) And off I went. I went to the dayare (depressing!), the bank for daycare stuff, Sears for parcel, Candian Tire for hooks for the Christmas balls, Micheals (their storage stuff is on sale!) then to Sobeys for groceries. NOT fun hauling it all in. Ugh.

I unloaded it all (brr) then started supper (spaghetti).

Mack got home first, he did some homework.

Kennedy was next, no homework.

Rikki, never has homework.

We ate. Cleaned up from supper. I cleaned out the junk drawer...

Thats about it...

Tomorrow I'm heading downtown first thing as Kennedy has a choir concert. After that, I'm not sure what else I will do. Maybe finish my shopping. I'm almost done...sooooooo close...but Mack is killing me. He doesn't know what he want. He doesn't 'want' anything...so it will be room stuff then. I need stocking stuffer for him...and Fabe. But other then that, I do think I am done. Seems like the MORE you shop, the more you need. Or that I 'think' I am done, and then I realize I have more...so annoying!!!!

Triple 7's!

Well, since Fabe and I *love* Vegas so much I thought a slot machine would be an awesome gift. So I found one. I was so excited!!!! They are *real* slot machines from casinos in Japan. They are so neat! Anyhow, I was telling my mom about it (on the phone) but didn't say what it was...and that was that. So, then he says to me "I think I know what you bought me!" and he guessed! So I said, 'well since you know, lets open it!" LMAO! So we did...its perfect! I can't wait to set it up at our new house :o)

You can see in the one photo-7's. It came with tokens that are the exact same size as quarters..but you aren't allowed to use real money in it ;o)

Keeping warm inside this weekend :o)

Bandit posing pretty with his tree!

More scenes from the indoor weekend! Stocking are hung...Rikki working away on her cards.

The Tree is up!!!!

Well the tree is *almost* done. Today I picked up hooks for the balls..so we can complete it :o)

Its our small tree, its 7 feet. Our other tree is 9 feet, and SOOOO beautiful...but too much work to do right now! So we have opted to only put up this one..it works :o)

What the kids did this weekend...

Mack and his friend, Nick (who was at our house the whole weekend) didn't do too much. In fact, we didn't really see them until the power went out then they were 'so bored!" Technical difficulties!

Kennedy made a nativity scence with the figure from Goodwill.

Rikki made cards. Rikki is very very talented in that she can look at a photo of a scrapbook page layout or in this situation, a card..and she can make it. The snowman is a comparison from her card to the photo on the laptop screen that she wanted to make. I should photograph more, I find it really amazing. Very talented...

Sunday-Kennedy used this big box from the slot machine. She wallpapered it and attached a curtain then she glued on all of the little pieces of my scrap piles with my glue gun. Kept her busy!