HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas scrabble

K and M love scrabble. I joined in this time but I always lose. Oh well, at least the company's good. And they did deign to play Phase 10 with me.




Waiting for presents time: "But I've been waiting all day!"--we open our gifts Christmas Eve. A tradition passed down from our European ancestry.











Now we're home; it feels good. Still no snow on the ground and the kids are hoping for a snowstorm. The decorations are partly packed away, suitcases the same. In a few minutes we will run out the door to take care of EE (Essential Errands) so I'm thankful I've got a couple of minutes to put these pictures here.

Have a great day.

The weather's beautiful here in "the South." We've been enjoying sunny and warm weather. OK, so I'm not sure the people around here would call it warm. But us Cannucks think it's great.

Scrabble, Bird-Opoly, Phase 10, chocolates (not many--an unusual phenomenon in this household), turkey, tea, coffee and books. The snowshoes don't work without snow but we look forward to trying them out at home.

Most of the family is home and we speak frequently with the new Mom and Dad who aren't here. Hope you're enjoying your Christmas as much as we are!

Isn't he precious?

His name's Zachary and he's my brand new nephew!

This month is flying by. We've had family for nearly 2 weeks and are driving to visit the rest of them next week for Christmas. But not the new baby. Bummer.

Virginia in fall is as beautiful as in New Brunswick lacking only the flaming red of the sugar maples.

Costa Rica is full in our minds. A year ago we had been there for just a month and were watching "fall" there as the leaves did fall leaving trees still full of new green leaves.

We're considering a mission trip. Starting to talk with the people involved (OK, starting to make a list of the people we need to talk to.)

As we go about our daily affairs we wonder what will be our "permanent" future. Last night's comment from someone we appreciate; "I thought you liked to move. You've been doing it since I've known you." A wry yes was my reply. It's wearing thin.

Just got back from our weekly Spanish conversation. The kids and I. Had a most satisfying conversation with a Colombian. Makes me glad I speak Spanish! And the coffee shop had Costa Rican coffee on tap. Yay!

Omelette for lunch today. We get to travel south for a week to visit Virginia and I'm using up vegetables. What a yummy way to do it. We've spent the morning (before Spanish) cleaning and sorting and organizing. The kids were troopers to keep up without complaining. My goal is to get the boxes out of the dining room today. And then I can reorder the bookshelves so that they're more useful. I'm already anticipating the good feeling it'll produce.

Not today's photo. One I love from our last few weeks in Costa Rica.

It's Monday morning again. It's a dark, dreary but cozy morning. We're being a bit lazy about getting school started. But then we've got an errand to do this morning so really school first thing would mean only a few minutes. So blogging instead. The kids are still eating breakfast anyway.

A busy day yesterday. Lots of people and friends. Lots of fun. We made platanos maduros. Yum.

OK. My coffee's cold. It's already leftover from last night and reheated in our new microwave. Everyone should live for 2 weeks without a microwave. It's an interesting experience.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Satisfyingly stuffed with turkey and pie we have enjoyed a beautiful day. Friends, biking, and eating. Did I mention the mashed potatoes and gravy? It's what I make a roast for. So the kids don't like gravy...more for me! We often have turkey on Sunday instead of Monday. But we were given tickets to see Twelfth Night so enjoyed an afternoon of Shakespeare instead. Everyone enjoyed it. Thank you, L!

It's been a month at least since I've blogged. You of course know that. We are feeling somewhat settled back into Southern Ontario. Enjoying the colours of Fall. What fabulous phenomenons.

Strange to be back in some ways. Perfectly natural in others. Change seems to come more easily to us now. It doesn't carry the same shock value anymore and we're more accustomed to the feelings and signs of transition.

But what are we up to?

Well, we have found a house to rent for the winter. Friends have lovingly taken it off the market for us for this time. The majority of suitcases and boxes are unpacked or stored in the basement. We are flipping through all the possible options for the future. Regularly. We don't have anything more concrete than that. Sorry!

Time to put kids to bed. 'Night!