Monday, December 22, 2008

Christmas Letter 2008


Well,
Once again I'm late...I don't think I even sent out cards last year! Well, not like this will surprise any of you, we moved from Tuscany back to Midnapore in February this past year. Our landlords wanted to list their house for sale and we wanted to be out before it was listed...I'm not keen on housekeeping, and making it look 'perfect' for the showings was NOT something I was willing to do!!! Nope sorry, not unless I'm trying to sell my OWN house will I go through the torture of keeping my house THAT CLEAN!!!
We've enjoyed being back in Midnapore, but have had tons of landlord issues which resulted in us phoning the health inspector and then being out of a bathroom for over a month....we DID have a half bath, but had to go to friends houses for showers or the YMCA...hmmm, are they even allowed to get away with that??? Well, they did, I'm sorry to say. I am quite ready to move out, and want to find good landlords next time! Anyhow, we've had an enjoyable year as a family and enjoyed the lake a lot this past summer!!
Jamie wasn't able to get much spring cleanup done this year due to late snow so that was a huge setback but summer was business as usual....and oddly enough he missed out on most of fall cleanup as well due to leaves not co-operating and falling off before the snow came. sigh...so that also has a big impact on finances...BUT we've enjoyed lots of family time and have come to really appreciate having Dad around lots!! I'll probably go into shock when he finds work for the winter!! I must say though, I'd rather go without bells and whistles than have Jamie work so much we never see him!!
We were able to take Silas and Shyla camping for the first time this summer! The long weekend of July we joined a bunch of friends and went camping out by Strathmore. Lots of fun but boy were those nights cold! I was so glad to be able to snuggle with Shyla in the girls tent! But I really didn't enjoy her waking up with the birds at 5 am....I'm uh, not exactly an early bird myself! lol So we got dressed quickly and warmly and walked around the campground for about an hour...I was exhausted by the time we got back to our campsite...Shyla's not that heavy, but at 5am I'm not used to that sort of workout carrying her and talking quietly while we listened to the different birds and animal sounds. It was really beautiful and calm, I just wish my stomach agreed...have I mentioned yet that early mornings don't agree with me?? THEN after I had a nap and Jamie took Shyla for a truck ride with Silas, we all had breakfast and went swimming!!! yay! Unfortunately Silas stayed in the sun a little too long and ended up with heat exhaustion and was throwing up that night and all the next day....we decided to leave that day...lol But we WILL go camping again next summer! Perhaps at a campground with a little more shade.
We enjoyed a trip to Swift Current in August! The long weekend in Aug. is a closely guarded holiday for my parents and all us kids to get together...this past year we went to Swift Current and had so much fun! We all went to our cousins' wedding on the Saturday, then on Sunday we went to the Saskatchewan Landing to go swimming and hike up the highest hill you can see...I don't know WHY we thought that we would be in good enough shape to do this...we haven't done it since I was 16 or 17!! ummm yeah, so now we had a 2 yr old to drag up the hill, our camera equipment AND I was 7 weeks pregnant and stupid tired! However, we ALL did it! All of us kids and our significant others and our kids as well as my Mom and Dad! I still think we're all insane for doing it...but for some reason I think we'll probably do it again....just not this coming year! It was humbling to see our 7 yr old practically running up the hill while I'm wheezing sitting on a rock catching my breath before dodging more cactus on my trek up the hill...
then next day we all went to a park in Swift and played fun relay races with prizes and everything! It's so cool that there's enough of us to do this!!!
Sept brought in another homeschool year for us. Silas was excited to start his school year and is starting to read wonderfully! His math is doing well and he's become quite the good storyteller...sometimes he just needs to decipher his spelling...lol He loves writing cards to people...sigh, I just need to be better at mailing them! Shyla too is loving it when I come up with things for her to do for 'school' at age 2 1/2 she can recognize quite a few of her letters and she's pretty darn good at playing memory!! I'm so enjoying teaching the kids and seeing the lightbulbs turn on when they 'get it' and learn a new concept. How fun is that?!
At the end of Nov. we made another trip to Swift Current and 'helped' mom and dad, grama and grampa pack up and move from the big house to 'everest' (the project they've been working on for the past year) Was such a treat to be able to help even a little bit, goodness knows how many times mom and dad have helped us move !! We tend to move every year so it was a treat to help them for a change! haha even though they wouldn't let me do too much in my pregnant state!
I'm doing well. As I write this letter I'm 7 months pregnant, due at the end of March. It has been such a smooth wonderful and stressfree pregnancy! Only a couple days of nausea worth taking a gravol pill for! Baby is quite a gymnast and seems to love the hours between 1am and 2 am the most...lol We'll have to work on baby's sleep schedule soon....haha
We're looking forward to a quiet Christmas at home and then off to Innisfail on Boxing Day to visit with Jamie's parents and his Oma and Opa who are down from Ontario!! New Years is up in the air...but that wraps up our year!! Feel free to browse my blog or bookmark it so you can read it every now and then. I try to update it every two weeks or so.
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and your 2009 is filled with Love and Hope from our Savior!