a hippie with a minivan

Feeling a little strange…

A few days ago I passed the date that I would have been due if I hadn’t had a miscarriage… though now I am only a few weeks from my present “due date” it still feels strange to think of what could have been especially since my neighbours daughter was due a week or two later than me and has already had her little one…

Those extra 5 weeks feel like almost an extension of this pregnancy in a way… not having much more than heavy spotting, not having any bleeding before I got pregnant again… For most of this pregnancy I was also measuring exactly the amount that followed the earlier due date… just little things that remind me that there was a potential for a life that we missed.

I feel lucky though that I got pregnant right away, and though a may mourn what could have been, soon I will have a baby in my arms and I feel that it will feel a lot better when that happens…

First snow storm of the year…

We got our first snow storm on Wednesday and the boys have been having a blast… They have been spending hours in the snow, yesterday going out in the morning, coming in for lunch and then heading out for a few more hours in the afternoon and coming in when it started to get dark…

having them outside gives me a little more energy to get a few things done in the house or just relax with some quiet time of my own.

Here are some pics from my little snowmen… (we got a little more than 30cm in my area, so a bit more than a foot)

Of course having this snow means that the tractor comes to clear our driveway which in turn is the return of “snowy mountain” in our front yard… which at its peak, is usually about twice the height of the accumulated snow fall…

In the past it has looked like this…

2 years ago…

last year…

The boys can spend hours sliding and falling and hiding in the big pine tree etc…they can’t wait for more snow now!

More Drawing…

Colin is truly the little artist in the family. He draws pretty much every day and when he starts he doesn’t stop…

He loves white paper and because I don’t print much we don’t have much scrap paper so I found some 100% recycled paper at the local “Bureau en Gros” (Staples)… It is a bit off white, but perfect for printing for me and drawing for him…

He doesn’t like crayons much, nor wood pencils… his favourite are markers and every few months I need to buy more because he uses them so much… I found out early on not to skimp with the markers. When he draws, he gets the hands of an artist. Crayola is the best washable marker 😉

Sometimes his drawing are inspired by things he has seen or watched but more often they are straight out of his imagination…

Like this Lava Monster…

Or Harry Potter next to a Tornado Monster…

This one here is a Clone Game, the clones have targets that the Droid needs to shoot…

Often his drawings are a bit hard to make out because once he draws something, he often then animates it with a marker. So the magic coming from Harry Potters wand will literally wipe out the Dementor…

At the end of most days our kitchen table looks like this… Drawings from the day scattered all over…

(the pile in the back was from the day before)

When Simon gets home, he often spends a few minutes explaining his favourite drawings of the day…

a little time to touch base for both of them…

Trimming the tree…

Though DH and I are both Atheists we do celebrate the holidays. For us, Xmas is 100% secular having roots in pagan traditions… though technically we could find another name for it, or not do it the same day etc… we like what we have made it for us…

For me, the magic is the holidays is the lights glittering in the long dark nights, the crisp white snow, getting cozy in our home, sharing time with each other, baking and making the house smell good, watching holiday cartoons and listening to music, sharing gifts and seeing the magic of the holidays reflect in our children’s faces.

On Xmas eve we have a long standing tradition of having people over for a Fondue supper… Often it is my mom, Simon’s mom, sometimes Simon’s Sister and sometimes various other people. What is great about a fondue supper is that there is little preparation and a long time at the table talking and sharing a meal.

The boys are getting so excited… in the last years we have had Playmobil calendars counting down the days to Xmas, everyday you get a little box to open which completes a scene…

(OK, OK, I added the mom with the sling 😉 )

last year one of them became part of our playmobil toys while the other got put away again for this year. Instead of buying another this year since each of the boys wants to do something, I found a tree that is perfect for the occasion. Though I could have made one easily, the price was good and I just don’t have the energy for such a project at the moment…

So we have been gearing up towards the holidays, counting down the days… The lights are up outside, and Sunday we trimmed the tree…

Holiday Cartoons in the background, and hot chocolate with homemade marshmallows…

All done up…

I love the ornaments in our tree… most have a story… all make me smile…

You can see a closeup of my some favourites on Flickr if you click on the pictures below…

Yay!

My oven has been repaired 🙂

After a month of not having a reliably working oven it finally has a new computer and sensor.

The guy that came was really nice and surprised by the delay but said that with the computer it sometimes happens because they often don’t have the piece ready. It is over with, that is all that matters for me.

He was also really interested in why the kids were not at school and then had quite a few questions about homeschooling, but thought that it was cool that the boys were able to play outside whenever they wanted.

I am glad that it is finally over though and to celebrate, I am making a batch bread and a Roast Beef tonight.