Wednesday, 26 December 2007

Family is God's gift to us








What a wonderful way to spend the Christmas holidays. Jay and Laura and the girls came down for a couple of days. It was busy and noisy, but it sure was fun. We feel so blessed to have our family with us to celebrate Christmas and Ralph's birthday.

Unfortunately Jay and Laura were not feeling well as they are both fighting a terrible cold. I think they need some cold medication from the doctor or they won't be able to shake it. The girls were adorable and lots of fun. I can't believe how quickly they are growing up. Jordan was full of energy and talking a mile a minute while Hailey was content to sit on a blanket and play with her toys. It was so cute.

We're looking forward to our next visit together...

Wednesday, 19 December 2007

Twas the week before Christmas


Twas the week before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.



Ralph and I were sitting all snuggled in chairs

While discussions of lists and errands filled the air.

With Grace in her nightie and Ralph with a cap,

We had just started thinking of a long winters nap.



When out in the hall there arose such a clatter,

We sprang from our chairs to see what was the matter.

Away to the door we flew like a flash

Thank goodness for us, there wasn't a sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,

Gave a lustre of mid-day to hallway in tow,

When what to our wondering eyes should appear

But little Oakley without any fear.

With a tug and pull and moving quite quick

He was happy for sure because he had seen old St. Nick.



More rapid than eagles, his paws moved with speed

For to his bed he was headed to finish the deed.

His tail was a wagging, he had us all laughing

For what he had found, was Hailey's full stocking.



He thought that Christmas had come a bit early I'd say

And he was the one happy puppy for the rest of the day.

For good old St. Nick had filled the stocking with joy

And Oakley had chance to spy a small toy.



What laughter and fun it gave us that night,

That we thought right then that he must be right.

Away to the store, Ralph went with great joy

To finish the job and buy a new toy.



Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!

Tuesday, 18 December 2007

The family Christmas







The weekend arrived with a flurry of snow and we weren't sure how we were going to manage with all the plans that were set for our Christmas party. I was busy all evening on Friday and most of Saturday preparing for the family to come over on Sunday. Thankfully almost everyone arrived even though we received a temendous amount of snow. Brrrr, we aren't ready for winter yet.

We had a wonderful day together.

Tuesday, 27 November 2007

A shower for Robyn and Peanut




Isn't that a cute name!!! Robyn is affectionately calling the soon to arrive baby "Peanut". I loved it. Here are some pictures from the shower. We all can't wait to know if it's a boy or a girl. Robyn looks great. I can't wait for Bruce and Ingrid to be grandparents. A special thanks to Bruce as well for spoiling us with Chai Tea Lattes. They were great!!

The Front Hall




I'm really happy with how the front hall is turning out. Ralph plans to grout it this week.

Friday, 23 November 2007

New hall floor


The work is being done. It's going to look great!!

Proud Opapa


Check out Opapa's coat!!!

Catch up




























Sorry it's been awhile (again). I've been away with work. Montreal, London, Orillia.... you know the drill. In the past couple of weeks we've been busy. We tried out our new clubs at the driving range which was fun....We also experienced our first snowfall. Not much stayed and since then we've had more...

Wednesday, 21 November 2007

A time to remember

I'm sitting in my office and I am looking at a photograph of Billie. It's hard to believe that she has been gone for 6 years. So much has changed since she passed away. Laura is married with two children, Fred and Anna have another beautiful baby girl and Nathan is married to Robyn and expecting his first child. Ed has remarried and is enjoying his life with Christine. My how time marches on. I know that Billie would be very proud of our family and how it has grown. She was always very interested in what was happening in her extended family. We all have memories of Billie and I smile when I think of some of the fun times we had together. Lets take some time today to think of her.

Wednesday, 14 November 2007

That was fun!!


The other day we went to see the Mendelsohn Choir at the Yorkminster Church downtown. It was beautiful. It was an afternoon of hymns and chorals. We really enjoyed it. It was like a "professional" hymn sing. You got to sing along on every third song. It was so beautiful. We both really enjoyed it.

Long overdue












I know, I know, what's happening.... why haven't you updated your blog... sigh.... it is just too busy. Too busy with what? Who know's? I'm out alot, work is busy, travelling alot...the list goes on. I'll try to be better in the future.

So what has been happening during the last two weeks? Lots!! I got to spend time with Jay and Laura and the girls over halloween. The girls were so cute.

Ralph, Teresa and I went to a golf sale in early November. It was awesome. Ralph was there at the beginning of the sale (actually he stood in line for an hour). He was able to find some great deals for us. Teresa has a whole new set up clubs (Mizuno) and I am happy with a new Driver and 3 Wood. We tried them out already at the driving range and can't wait to get to the golf course.





Another amazing thing that I have to share with you is that I found an Iris in bloom. Isn't that amazing!!

Sunday, 28 October 2007

That's our girl!!













































The morning dawned crisp and clear. We were on the road bright and early with the anticipation of seeing Laura run her first 10K Marathon. We were so excited!! We got a little nervous when we discovered that the Burlington skyway was closed for roadwork. We were delayed by 20 minutes. Fortunately we arrived in time.



As parents we must have a built in homing system to Laura. It didn't take us long to find her amongst the 240 odd runners. They hadn't left yet, so we were able to wish her well before the race. We then joined Jay and many other people from St. Thomas to watch the race. How awesome it was to see so many people there. There were about 20 people from St. Thomas, many from Laura and Jay's church and several of them were running in the races as well. There was a 5K, 10K, 20K and 40K race being held today.



The weather was cool, which eventually turned to "cold".... I'm glad Ralph and I had jackets. We anxiously waited for Laura to come. All of sudden we saw her!! The crowd of us shouted encouragement as she raised across the finish line in a time of 1 hour 20 minutes. A personal best for her!!! We were so proud of her accomplishment.



It was fun to watch Laura and Jay's friends all do their best in their races. They all seemed to do do well and received a lot of encouragement from each other. What a fun day we had all together.

The Falls











Aren't the falls amazing...? It sure was cold, but we still had fun... You get hypnotized by the flow of the water as it goes by. There sure was alot of mist.



Wednesday, 24 October 2007

They're off!!











Teresa and Lawrence, Sandra and Kelli are off to Florida for a weekend cruise!! Isn't that awesome. I had the pleasure of helping them go to the airport!! Have a great vacation!!

Monday, 22 October 2007

A trip to Buffalo




On Saturday, we thought it might be nice to take a trip to Buffalo. We were up bright and early and Ralph took Oakley for a nice long walk before we left. As we pulled out of the driveway, the battery light came on. We thought it might be a good idea to have this checked out, so we went to Midas. We ended up getting a new battery and new Alternator... Sigh.....3 hours later we were done. We went back home, let Oakley out again and headed for Buffalo. We got there around noon. The Fashion outlet mall was wall to wall people. Most of my favourite shops were closed for renovations or they were moving, so we didn't have much success. I had hoped to get some Christmas shopping done. Off we went to the Walden Galleria Mall and it was just as busy. It took us a long time just to find a parking space. We shopped for a couple of hours (unsuccessfully) and then went for dinner. After dinner we went to Michaels and I'm happy to say that they were having a sale and I was able to get a new Cricut cartridge. I'm soooo excited about it, as it is called "Going Places" and it has some awesome travel ideas that you can use.


We headed for home but had to wait for 1.5 hours at the border because it was so busy. We got home around 9:00. At the mall they had a bird demonstration where I was able to take this picture of the owl. Isn't it amazing!!