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.

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!!

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!!

Sandra and Marijka

On Friday I babysat Marijka Sinke at the church. Tim and Aline lead the YIC group and they need help with babysitting. I offered to help them so it was my turn on Friday. Sandra came to visit us. Marijka loves Sandra.

Finally finished

Well it took a while, but with all the busyness of our lives, I have finally been able to finish the pants that I started knitting for Hailey. I felt a little guilty for taking so long so I quickly knit up a hat to go with it. I still have enough wool left for some mittens so if I can find a pattern maybe I'll do that as well. Laura (I'm so proud of her) has already finished 2 pairs and is well on the way to a third pair. Hailey will certainly be nice and warm this winter.

A day out with the girls

We went to visit with Laura and Jay on the weekend. Jay had his surgery and is recovering. He is in alot of pain right now and the medication that he is taking does not appear to sit well with him. Poor Jay, we all need to hold him up in our prayers. Laura is doing well although she is tired from all the work of taking care of Jay, not sleeping well and looking after the girls. Ralph and I took Jordan and Hailey out on Saturday to "Build a Bear". We not it might be a nice diversion for Jordan and give Laura and Jay a time to relax and catch up on some much needed sleep. We won't be in St. Thomas for Jordan's birthday, so we treated her to a new Bear. She got to pick out which bear and outfit she liked. Her bear's name is Lucy. It was really cute to see how well she interacted with people while the bear was being made. Hailey was a little angel. When she wasn't sleeping she would quietly watch what was going on.

Family from Holland

On Monday evening, the family got together to enjoy dinner and say "farewell" to Oom Gerrit and Mill who were visiting from Holland. It was a very nice visit and nice to see how well Oom Gerritt is doing. We had a wonderful time together. I can't believe it's been 25 years since he last visited. In that time, Laura was born (I was expecting her then, has been married and has 2 children). It's amazing how fast the time goes.

A day at the Fair

It was forecasting to be a "hot day" as we (Ralph, Anne, Ron and I) packed up to go to the Erin Fair. True to the forecast the weather turned out to be quite warm. It was a beautiful day and unseasonably warm. We enjoyed the fair and went on to Erin for a nice lunch at the local tea room. For the first time in many years, we did not pick apples or make apple pie. We have 5 in the freezer that Ralph purchased from Timothy Christian school. I'm sure that we will be fine with that. I made two pumpkim pies to supplement the apple pies. Unfortunately Ralph doesn't like Pumkin, but I thought they tasted delicious!!

The big move

Well today was the big day. Mom and Dad are moving. We got up early in the morning in anticipation of a nice and delicious breakfast at Jim and Debbies. Mmmm it was good. Everyone was in good spirits and ready to pack everything up and get it to the new apartment. Off we headed to the garage where everything was stored. Just as we started, the sky's began to rumble. We were in for a big storm. We were lucky though, everything stayed dry while we were loading up the truck.

Off we went to Tolendale. As soon as we got there the rain started. Not much at first, but it got progressively heavier and heavier. The girls were lucky as they were able to stay inside while the boy's unloaded the truck. They got soaked!!

Eventually the sun came out and we had an opportunity to walk the grounds. Tolendale is a beautiful seniors residence. I think Mom and Dad will be very happy here.

Delicious Carrot Cake

A couple of weeks ago I made this awesome carrot cake. Everyone raved about it so I thought I would share the recipe. It comes from a bookstore called - Tequila Bookworm and they serve it there at their coffee shop.



Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting



3 cups flour

3 cups granulated sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp baking soda

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cups corn oil or canola

4 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla

1 1/3 cup pureed carrots (cooked)

3/4 cup grated carrots



Cream Cheese Frosting



8 oz cream cheese at room temperature

6 tbsp unsalted butter

3 cups icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Juice of half a lemon





1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2. Grease two 9 inch square or round pans (or buntt pan)

3. Mix together flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and cinnamon. Add oil, eggs and vanilla and beat well with an electric mixed. Fold in pureed carrots and grated carrots (not for pureed, you can also use baby food to save time).

4. Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until edges have pulled away from the sides. Let cool for 3 hours before icing.

5. To make cream cheese frosting, cream together the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer. Slowly add icing sugar and beat until smooth. Mix together vanilla and lemon juice and add just enough for the frosting to be of spreading consistency. Smooth over sides and top of cake.

Enjoy!!

Creative Memories Retreat

Teresa and I enjoyed a great weekend at the Erin Country Inn and worked on our Scrapbooking Album. We attended a 3 day retreat where all you had to do was think about how you were going to set up your next page. It was a small group, but we sure had fun!!