day 365

Just like that, its done?!?!

The girls are putting up the Halloween decorations - and if you look out the window, its snowing big, fluffy flakes. Already. The snow melted right away but they were so excited to see it - and of course, we watched the Polar Express tonight because I won't let them watch it until it snows. And it did, so we did.

So, that's it. I can't believe its all done - so much has happened in a year. I won't start another 356 but I realize I've neglected my regular blog since the springtime, so I'll have to get that up and running again. There's a lot of good things happening in the months ahead - I'm sure I'll have plenty of pictures to post.

day 364

My husband making the sugar pie for Thanksgiving this year. I'll refrain from the obvious sugar pie comments to spare him the embarrassment. Like its not embarrassing enough that I posted this picture.

Anyway, it serves him right because I've been making sugar pie for Thanksgiving every year for the past several years now but of course, like with everything else, he tried making it once and made the best pie we've ever had, and his grandma was even asking us for the recipe.

day 363

The kids made pretty cupcakes at auntie's house to celebrate Annique's birthday which is next week - which is a good thing since the 365 will be done by then.

day 362

You never know what we'll wake up to in the morning - the other day we had a rainbow, today it's foggy. The girls walk to school and back with my nephew every morning now - another great thing about having them moved in next door. They're getting very good at being ready to go by 8:35 so they have enough time to walk there.

day 361

She's starting to take a lot more of an interest in this baby brother lately - the last few days she often wants to 'watch the baby' - an ultrasound video.

day 360

Another rainbow - this is a morning rainbow, the girls found it on their way to school.

day 359

Cecily's sick. Whenever she's got Advil, she's fine. Whenever the Advil wears off, she does this.

Only at the lake would you find so many colors that don't belong together, together. We obviously have no shame when it comes to our clothing and decorating choices.

day 358

We're at the lake, raking leaves. We hauled out several truckloads in a few hours - the kids were very helpful - and they had a lot of fun, too.

day 357

I ran out of energy for making salsa so I just made canned tomatoes with what I had left. Here they are going into the canner to boil for 30 minutes so we don't get botulism or whatever from eating them.

Also, I have shiny new jars with nice new matching lids. I think the last time I had a nice new case of big jars like this was the year I got married. Every year since its been a mixture of new and old jars with assorted dented rusty-looking lids and last year's date written on the sealer over top of the year before, etc. Shiny new jars are worthy of a photo.

day 356

Tuesdays are soccer, Thursdays are dance. This is Cecily's first dance class - I missed it because I was in Denver. She had dance class today also, and I brought my camera planning to take pictures - but I also brought Annique, who clung to my leg and cried for most of her class, forcing my pregnant self to hold her hand and do all the dancing with her, which was not attractive, and so I am glad nobody else thought to bring their cameras.

So, - this is dance class. And this picture will have to do.

day 355

Working on the first batch of salsa for this year - usually I prefer to make salsa with other people since its a long drawn-out process and its better to have company. But the tomatoes are in the garage and aren't going to be looking any better three days from now - so its time to get going on the salsa. This year the tomatoes, green peppers and onions are all from our own little garden. I always grow tomatoes but haven't really had much luck since moving from the old house a few years ago - this year we finally found a perfect sunny spot and they grew like crazy.

day 354

An action shot from Madeleine's soccer game. I think she's the only girl out there - for sure she's the only girl on her team, they're wearing blue shirts.

day 353

Awwwwww. One of the drawbacks to having her in a toddler bed is that she can get out. She didn't quite make it to my bed though - I found her sleeping in the hall halfway between her room and mine. And, yes - that's a pacifier, and NO, she hasn't given it up at night, yet. I like my sleep, thanks.

day 352

The infamous 'Amish bread' - one of those chain-letter like things where a friend drops off a batch of batter and you babysit it and add stuff to it for ten days, and then make something out of it. In this case, its a loaf not unlike a coffee cake. I had some doubts that the Amish would really use 'Jello Instant Vanilla Pudding' in their traditional bread - but went along with it anyway.

The thing about these bread chain-letter things is that unlike email chain letters - something bad really DOES happen if you don't forward it on to your friends. You end up with enough batter to make 12 loaves of bread. I did my best to get 10 ziploc bags of batter sent out of this house because as good as the bread is - I didn't need 40 batches lying around 10 days from now!

day 351

Somebody's really happy to have her dad home for the weekend.

day 350

Ok, so its blurry but if you know my husband, you know he's not slowing down to pose for a picture. We're going to visit our neighbors who are finally moved in behind us. My kids are especially thrilled to have their cousins living just a few steps away.

day 349

Annique enjoying the swings at the park.

day 348

This oughta do it. The notorious speed bump outside my house, seems to be hated by everyone except those of us who have kids who live on this street. I don't think its too much to ask for people to stop at the stop sign on the corner, and to respect the speed limit - but it was - so we thought a speed bump might remind them. And they spin their tires on it and fly right over it, and go around it, and go through the ditch - and PEE on it in broad daylight (that was nice) and knock down the fences on either side to prevent people from going around it and through the ditch - there's really no way to win.

I'm sure someone will figure out how to vandalize the cement planters and boulders at the side, and lots of people will continue to fly over it at breakneck speed. Whatever. My kids live here. I'm sorry if it inconveniences you to obey the law, and sorry if you don't like these things we've installed to help you out with that. We've even painted them orange and put reflectors on for your safety. Because we care and don't want you hurting yourselves.

day 347

The day I left for my trip, I stopped in to see my sister in law to tell her not to have her baby until I get back. And, because she doesn't listen - she immediately went into labor and had the baby later that same night. This is my newest nephew, Emanuel.

day 346

One face I was glad to see when I got out of the van at the lake - and two more will be coming around the corner in about 3 seconds. They were playing at the park with Grandpa when I arrived.

day 345

We're just getting ready to leave the house on Sunday morning - this is my favorite picture of the weekend - the whole reason why plan these trips in the first place. It's so good to see your friends -but hard to leave especially knowing how long it will be and how far we'll need to go before the next get-together.

day 344

My friend and roommate Sue - trying to figure out how to use the canister of oxygen she bought to alleviate 'altitude sickness' - it looks like a little bottle of hairspray. And it didn't come with any special breathing instructions.

Several of us really felt quite crappy for awhile, especially the first night. I felt really awful, couldn't sleep and often felt like I could barely breathe. Drinking lots and lots and lots of water finally cured it.

day 343

After several relaxing hours at the spa, we decided to do just a little bit of sightseeing. I thought there had better be something worth seeing at the end of this little path seeing as I hauled my pregnant self down the trail wearing flip-flops. Turns out, there was! I even survived the hike back to the car.

day 342

Loading up and heading out - its a beautiful day in Denver, and we're headed for the mountains. This is about half of us, we're taking five vehicles, packed to the brim with luggage and groceries and crap. Thanks to a lovely hour-long traffic jam just outside Denver, we all arrived at the same time.

day 341

Direct flights are beautiful and so - here is a picture of my direct flight. I had a window seat, obviously. I don't know why people take pictures out of the window of the airplane. They never turn out to look like anything - but anyway, here's Saskatchewan from whateverhowmanyfeetup. It was a 2 hour flight to Denver, and I've never been so happy in my life to be on a DIRECT flight. Direct. As in, it doesn't stop, you don't have to get off the plane, lose your luggage, find your luggage, get told you missed your next flight, cry until someone helps you get on another flight, go through customs, fly to Chicago, get off the plane, wait in that airport for 2.5 hours, board a new plane.... etc. So, it was beautiful, as this photo clearly illustrates.

day 340

Here I am, packed and ready to leave for my holiday without my children. I'm just going to get in the van, and drive away. That's right. My mom's got my kids for a few days and I am out of here!

It was pretty hard to let this one go.

day 339

Excuses, excuses!! So, what's keeping me from keeping this thing updated? I lost my camera. Not the big camera, but the little one I haul around in my purse. I curse the thing almost daily, but when I actually need it - where is it?

With things like this - car keys, bank cards, cats, etc. I usually don't panic and they turn up in the next day or so. But its been three weeks and still no sign of the crappy Nikon. And its been so long I'd be hard-pressed to say exactly when I remember having it last, but I do remember that this particular photo, for day 339, was on that camera and I just thought I'd wait until it turns up to update.

So this space will remain empty until the Nikon shows up, or until I give up completely and see what's on the Canon for that day.