Welcome to 2012

Wow, we are at the middle of January already.  Christmas was wonderful with time spent with family and enjoying the excitement of our grandchildren.  Watching the smiles and hearing the giggles of the girls while they opened their gifts and played with their new toys was wonderful.  Watching Everett opening his gifts which he seemed to catch onto very quickly and enjoyed doing so was super fun too.  His excitement with seeing new cars and trucks and books makes Christmas so special.  The kiddos certainly got lots of new and fun toys that is for sure.

I rec'd lots of wonderful gifts including gift card for Old Navy, panties, Iphone, a sweater, handknit fingerless gloves, ornaments, knit project bag and pattern holder, a gift card for hubby and I to go to a very nice restaurant in town, gift cards for Shall we Knit (LYS), Timmies Gift Card, some items from Lush and then for my birthday I got a new coat and boots! 

Since Christmas we have all had a bout with the stomach flu with the exception of my husband who somehow missed it (lucky him). It wasn't as horrible as other flubugs but still not something you want to go through.  Now, we are hoping that the rest of 2012 will be free of any sicknesses.

My husband had been laid off from his job in Dec and man it has been a struggle so far.  He picked up a job with a framer who also did work for the company he was working for so that helped and he also does weekend work with another guy as well.  It's been stressful for both of us but certainly on my husband.  He is not one to sit around doing nothing and he likes the stability of knowing he has a good job and one he enjoys going to although as with any job there are always the stresses that come with it.  Hopefully, in Feb he will get called back to his original job.  Fingers crossed!

This year I am hoping to spend more time knitting and posting more here about my passion.  I would like to try new and challenging patterns this year, maybe try my hand at using my daughters drop spindle, do some crocheting (christmas ornaments).  I am starting the year off by choosing to knit a really nice pattern that I won as part of giveaway from Friends of Tangledknits, a group on Ravelry.  Along with the pattern which was gifted to me by Kandice of Tangledknits I also won pattern magnets from Slipped Stitch Studios and a skein of handspun from The Wacky Windmill.  I was so excited to have won a great prize like this.  Yay for me!  So that pattern I choose was The Hitchiker by Martina Behm.  I went to Shall we Knit and used one of my GC's from Christmas to get some beautiful Fleece Artist yarn in a gorgeous colourway and started knitting today!  I'll take pictures and show my progress here.  I'm so excited!

I'm looking forward to a great year after the ending of 2011! 

It's the weekend and i'm...

resting in bed after having a knee scope done yesterday.  Everything went well, and i've been able to get around more than I thought I would be.  I'm only putting a limited amount of weight on that leg and they had me start exercises today as well.  I've done those only 1 time today but will do them again shortly.  I know they want me to start with 3 times a day but I tell you they take a lot out of me to do them.  I'm icing it lots too to help with the inflammation and taking tylenol 3 and ibuprofen as well.  I'm trying to stay on top of the pain so it doesn't get out of hand but today I ended up sleeping for a couple of hours and when I woke I knew I had missed a dose. 

I will be working on my knitting this weekend hoping to get this project done as it is a Christmas gift.  It seems to be taking me a while but I've never done something like this and therefore I'm still learning.  It seems to be turning out pretty nicely and I know if I continue to work on items like this I will get better at them.

I'm almost done our Christmas shopping although there are a few things yet to get.  I had hoped to be done before my surgery but it didn't work out that way.  I'm more worried though about my husbands family christmas get together at my daughters house next Sat.  I feel bad that everything got switched to her place due to not knowing how I would be feeling and how much I will be getting around by then.  I will have to try to get out with her this week sometime if possible so we can get the groceries we will be needing and help her with as much as I can.  Thank you Kandi for doing this on such short notice, I really appreciate it!

Well, just wanted to stop in and do a quick post!  Have a good weekend and great week!

It's almost Christmas

Here we are already the 4th of December.  Where did this year go?  Where did the last month go?  Seems like we were just giving out candy at the door on Halloween and now we are headed towards Christmas.

The little ones are getting so excited with each passing day.  The decorations have been placed, the trees are decorated and the gifts are being bought.  With all this happening they can't help but get excited.  Today we did our annual Family Christmas Tree decorating here at our house.  It is so fun to get together and enjoy each others company and talk and joke around and just have a lot of fun.  Everett is only 13 months old and taking it all in.  He helped to decorate the tree today even though he took a few decorations off the tree too! LOL...what a cutie.  Hannah and Keira love to place the ornaments in just the "right" spot and sometimes forget that the top of the tree also needs some ornaments as well....talk about sweethearts.  These are all precious moments that we will look back on in years to come.

I wonder sometimes if it is time to set this tradition aside being the family is growing and it becomes harder to arrange time with so much else on the go but then, I stop and think of the girls and how excited they are when they ask nana "when are we going to your house to decorate your tree?" 

I got some pictures of the tree decorating that I want to post here

Grandpa, Kandice, Everett, Adrian, Keira and Krystal

Chris and Hannah

Grandpa and Everett placing the angel!

I've  been busy working on a couple of knitting projects for Christmas gifts and babysitting the kiddos each day.  Having fun with them but realizing I'm not 20 anymore.  They sure do keep me busy.  I am almost done babysitting until the new year as Kandice managed to get some time off with vacation time that added up for her while off on mat leave.  I am having minor knee surgery on Friday (9th) to help repair a tear and hopefully relieve some of the knee pain.  We are having our Family Christmas on Boxing Day this year and the Veltkamp Family Christmas on the 17th.  Looking forward to both of those days but Christmas morning is what is exciting when grandpa and I head over to the kids house to spend the day there while we celebrate our Christmas.

I think today it is time for me to change my blog background to a nice Christmas one as well.

I am still around...

Wow, where does time go?  It has been ages since I last posted here.  I've just been busy with life and even though I stopped in many times to write a post I just didn't do it.  Call it lazy, busy, bored, not that into it I"m not really sure.  I think mainly because I just don't have a lot to write about that when I do get in here it's like "what do I post?" 

I am starting to babysit for my daughter next week.  Everett has turned 1 today (Happy Birthday Ev) and that means it is time for mommy to head back to work.  Actually, she took a weeks holidays already so she extended her mat leave.  So I will be spending most of my days over there and not so sure how much computer time I will have after that, coming home and getting dinner ready and doing anything that needs to be done here at home before heading to bed.  It will be fun spending time with Ev though and on monday, wednesday and friday I will also have Hannah too.  Not sure if I will be watching Keira after school or not but really when you think of it her daddy will be home anyways by the time we get home from school most likely.

Krystal has started working at a new job which for the most part I think she enjoys it!  Seems like a good place to work and she has gotten lots of perks with the job which is GREAT too.  Good luck Krystal!  You will do awesome!

As for my knitting, I"m working on a pair of Thigh High Socks for my daughter (shhhh dont' tell her...lol) yep she picked them out so she knows!!!  They are going well, although I question whether I will get them done being I'm slow and not always knitting when I should be. There are other things I wanted to knit as well but unlike Kandice I can't seem to be working on more than one project at a time. 

Our trip to Tennessee was the best!  We had such a great time and absolutely loved every part of it!  The cabin was unbelievable, beautiful and large.  The kids loved it and the first time Keira spotted a bear lurking around our cabin she reacted as a little girl would....she went running into the cabin screaming that there was a bear outside, which of course got everyone out on the deck checking it out and sure enough there it was looking up at us!  At the time mommy, nana and grandpa were just getting back to the cabin from the grocery store so we missed her initial response but got to enjoy the bear anyways. 

We toured Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, Cade's Cove and saw lots of bears.  The guys got out fishing with no luck unfortunately but enjoyed it just the same.  We shopped at the outlet mall or should I say the girls did and the guys shopped at Pro Bass and of course enjoyed that.  They took the kiddos so that the mommies could enjoy relaxing shopping time.  Then Kandi, hubby and I all bought new cowboy boots.  Love that store...Stages West!!! Awesome array of boots for every member of the family and the lady that waited on all of us was great!  We also did the Ripleys Aquarium in Gatlinburg, which was really cool.  Everyone loved it as well.

We are planning a very large family vacation in Pigeon Forge-Gatlinburg area for August 2013!  So looking forward to that trip.

I have a few pics I will try to add here later from our trip.  Have to see if I can do it right this time!

where did the summer go?

So, it's Sept 1st and the last long weekend of the summer is upon us.  Wow, where did the summer months go?  Seems like we just got started and here it is almost over.  The kids are getting ready to head back to school on Tues and moms and dads getting ready to change back into the daily routine that will keep them on their toes for the next 10 months. I know my granddaughter who is heading to grade 2 this year is looking forward to getting back to school.  My other granddaughter has been attending pre-school all summer long and will continue on starting Tues.  I can only imagine the excitement in that household (they all live in the same house) when Tues morning rolls around and both of them are getting ready for school at the same time and possibly heading out the door together as well.  Won't that just be the cutest?

So we had a beautiful summer although it took a while to get it started.  We had heat like you wouldn't believe for the month of July and several storms that ravished areas around us.  Of course the biggest one hitting Goderich (previous post).  The girls experienced their first bigger storm at the trailer that managed to send them running to the concrete building that is the public washroom for our area of the park.  The lightening from this storm had to be the worst I have ever seen.  It was scary.   Part of Cambridge got hit that night with an F1 tornado which of course isn't as severe as Goderich but still it affected a lot of people.

We are all looking forward to our trip to Pigeon Forge, TN to the mountians.  We have rented a cabin for a week and are so excited to hit the road and start our adventure. 

Hope you enjoy your long weekend, stay safe and have lots of fun. 

A week of destruction, sadness and loss for Canada

	Why is Goderich called Canada's Prettiest Town? Legend has it that a relative of Queen Victoria once visited Goderich and told her what a beautiful town it was, whereupon Queen Victoria stated, "Surely that must be the prettiest town in Canada!"

A very sad day on Sunday for the town of Goderich.  A tornado ripped through the downtown core and obliterated almost the whole town square.  I'm not sure if you are aware of what the town square looked like before the tornado but to see it after the fact you would wonder if it is the same town.  Here are some pics of before and after.

Look at all the beautiful trees surrounding the court house

and after the tornado ripped through!

It is hard to believe when you see the damage is destruction throughout the town that only one person, a man working at the salt mines was killed.  I worked in Goderich for 6 months and visited there often when we lived in Kincardine.  A favourite place for us to go was The Bedford Hotel and eat at Paddy O'Neils.  Looks like it has been very badly damaged as well.

A look here will give you an idea through photos what damage has been done. 

Truly a very sad time for the Town of Goderich.

On another sad note we lost a truly great Canadian this week.  Jack Layton, leader of the NDP party in Canada.  I've never much been into politics but Jack Layton had a way of talking to Canadians and getting their attention.  In 2011 Layton became leader of the largest Official Opposition in 31 years—and the first formed by New Democrats. With 59 Quebec MPs, Layton’s team emerged not only as a credible government-in-waiting, but as a force for Canadian unity.

He had hopes and dreams of one day becoming Prime Minister aof Canada and I believe he could have done it!  Two days before Jack Layton passed away he wrote a letter to Canada, not just any letter but a very strong letter of love and encouragement for us to become better people and work towards a better Canada.  If you haven't already read the letter you can find it here.  Even during his last days he was thinking of Canada and her people.  We should find encouragement in his strength and work to make Canada a better place for all.

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.

Great Back to School Giveaway at my daughters blog...

What a great giveaway just in time for school.  It is open to Canada and US.  Check it out and enter, you may win this great prize!

http://gethealthymomma.blogspot.com/search/label/Giveaways

Click on the comments link to take you to the entry section.