An Ox, a Moose, and...

AKH! Who I am assuming is Alisha Karn Horvath. If not, who are you my friend? Anyway, YOU are the lucky winner of my little give-away. Soon you'll receive a cute little Ox figurine in commemoration of the year and some Canadian Moose Droppings. Don't worry they're delicious (they're chocolate coated almonds). Originally I was going to get some authentic maple syrup, but then I saw the cute Moose and the syrup just couldn't compare. Please

e-mail me your new address again (my address box is still unorganized and I can't find where I wrote it down), and I will get this out in the mail to you ASAP!

Thanks to all the rest of you who participated. I enjoyed learning about your favorite traditions, and I hope you win next time! For those of you who didn't enter, why not? Trust me the chocolate covered almonds are GOO-OOD (pronounced with 2 syllables).

Over the hump!

Yep, my Mr. Sweet Cheeks is 6 months old and on his way to his first birthday. The only thing is I want him to stay a baby longer. Isn't he cute? He's so sweet too. Love him!

It's that time again...

for a GIVE-AWAY!! Yep, today is my 2nd anniversary of blogging (and seriously, the time has flown.) Anyway, I want to give away a couple of little souvenirs- one from Taiwan and one from Canada. To enter, just leave me a comment telling me about your favorite holiday tradition. I'll pick the winner next Friday at noon (eastern time). When I announce the winner, I'll also post a picture of the gifts, until then it will be a surprise!

Traditions

Last week we had a long weekend and went on our 4th annual (well the years we've lived in Ottawa) nature walk along Aviation Parkway. I'll get more to that in a minute.
Friday, the kids were off school, but Len had to work. It seems my kids misbehave when they're all home and daddy's not (or maybe I can handle it better when I have a help mate). Anyway, I admit I was dreading it, and that made me really sad. So on Thursday, I had made some plans to keep us all happy and entertained: bake cookies, play board games, read stories, dance to music, go to the park, and maybe even go shopping for snowsuits. Friday morning arrived and it was POURING down rain. I told the kids that we were all going to do a quick tidy of the house, then we'd get started on our day of fun. It wasn't 2 minutes before all He** broke loose and Kaleb and Noe were screaming at each other over (is it ever anything really important). This is when I lose it. Yes, being the adult I need to stay calm to show them how to properly deal with their emotions, but I'm not perfect either, so away I start yelling too. After the ordeal was over of course I felt terrible and sad for the rest of the day. We did end up making cookies, then we all watched "Annie" together. We missed out on our Ward Family Fun Night, but I just wasn't up to it (all the kids were coughing and had yucky noses too), so we'll just have to make it up next month. I'm reminded by a quote from Pearl S. Buck, "Some are kissing mothers and some are scolding mothers, but it is love just the same, and most mothers kiss and scold together." So I guess I'm normal- tee hee.
On Saturday the big kids played with a classmate and her brothers who live across the street, while the rest of us shopped till we dropped! I think we went to 7 stores. The major purchase was for the snowsuits, boots, and gloves (you can't get away with just coats here- and we had our first flurries 2 days ago- yikes!)
On Sunday we all went to church and afterwards had our Canadian Thanksgiving celebration. Since we'll be doing it again next month we changed it up a bit. We had chicken breasts, stuffing, mashed potatoes & gravy, and of course our green bean and sweet potato casseroles. We finished it off with a yummy (store bought) apple cranberry caramel crisp served ala mode- delish. We also watched our Charlie Brown Thanksgiving specials, so hopefully next month we'll be able to stay awake for Miracle on 34th Street.
Now Monday was technically Thanksgiving, but I have only met one Canadian who had the feast on the Monday while growing up. Everyone else I know has it on the Sunday and some on the Saturday. Since we already had our feast, we drove down Rockcliff Parkway and then took a nice stroll through the tree tunnel that is also known as Aviation Pathway. I love this tradition of ours and hope to do it every year we live here. Now on to the pictures- enjoy!

We noticed these bright red leaves from far back, but when we approached them we discovered they were spray painted, what the?

Kaleb loved his red, yellow, and green maple leaf, while Noe adored her hot pink one.

I love this family of mine. Even though I do scold, I also kiss lots and lots!

I hope my Canadian friends had a great Thanksgiving, and I hope my American friends had a nice Columbus day, and I hope all my friends are having a warm fall!

Truth or Myth?

Did you ever hear that Mormons have horns?

Truth, but ain't he a cute little devil?

Did you ever hear that nursing babies won't take a binky?

Myth, happy day! he took it for me today (but let's see how long it lasts.)

Did you ever hear that twins are turkeys?

One little,


Two little,

Twin little turkey-kins.

Truth, they are turkeys or at least silly geese!

Did you ever hear that Jen was washing laundry today?

Truth! In between loads of washing, drying, folding, and putting away I got to ignore the settling in for a bit and spend time on my favorite, but recently neglected hobby- blogging. Let's hope this trend will continue weekly!

Form and Function

I am not a utilitarian person. I like things to be practical and beautiful. So when we needed to get a new alarm clock, this little old-fashioned number won me over. In the store it looked so bright and shiny in it's little box. However, after I got it home and got it wound up it became my new nemesis. It's little tick-tock is not so little. I feel like Donald Duck in that old cartoon. Every night I have to tuck it in to the bathroom or our closet and close the door tight and I can still hear it. In the morning when it goes off, it sounds like our house is going to crash in it is SO loud! Now I'm wondering how long our little relationship is going to last with our daily and nightly dance on and off the nightstand, or if I'm ready to trade him in for this year's model.


We really enjoyed living in Ottawa before and are happy that it is our "home base" in between postings. However, there were 2 things I was not looking forward to with our move. 1- the 6+ months of snow and 2- how milk is sold here. Ontario seems to be a pretty "green" place and I admire everyone's efforts with recycling and composting, etc. But the milk is ridiculous! It's sold in these big 4L bags that have 3 smaller bags inside. You then put one of the smaller bags into a plastic jug and snip the tip to pour. It is such a pain in the neck when you run out in the middle of pouring milk on your cereal. I just don't get it. Yes, it saves on packaging, but you can't recycle the plastic bags. The gallon-size plastic milk jugs that I'm used to CAN be, but you can not find those here. You can find the cardboard milk cartons, but they are literally twice as expensive. If people are that concerned for the environment maybe we should go back to milk bottles that we just wash and reuse!

Now that I've vented here are some things I am loving! We went through a jillion can openers while in Taiwan, they were just not good quality. After being fed up for 4 years we finally purchased the Starfrit opener and it is so lovely. I hope to keep him around for a long time.

And this little beauty is my new Black & Decker steamer. Since I now wear the "family chef" hat (thanks Len for wearing it for most of the past 12 years) I needed a new tool to help me make quick and healthy meals. This guy has 3 stackable baskets that can make your entire meal in one go. Step 1- fill basket with chicken breasts. Step 2- stack 2nd basket on top and fill with broccoli. Step 3- stack final basket on and fill with rice and cover with lid. Step 4- fill base with water and turn on. Step 5- 30 minutes later enjoy a healthy, moist, tasty meal! Where have you been all my life? I'm so glad I've found you now!

Fall Colors

Lovin' the fall colors and warm, soft clothes.

Lovin' the snugglin' to ward off the cold!

Corn Roast in Cumberland

Our ward had its annual corn roast at the Cumberland Heritage Village Museum. When we visited before 4 years ago the buildings were closed. This year we got to tour them and I was mesmerized by the life and times of those who lived yesteryear.


The previous picture is the back of the General Store and here is the front.


Another shot, inside. Do you recognize some of the brand names? Campbell's, Kraft, Jell-o, and Post Grape Nuts!

Our crew having fun exploring.

The smallest house on the premises. I wonder how many people used to live inside that one room?

This house was much larger with a living room and dining room at the front of the house; the kitchen and mother-in-law's bedroom at the back; and three more small bedrooms upstairs. Then I learned that the family had like 14 children. Those bedrooms were tiny, I don't know how they all fit to sleep!

The old gas station.

The gazebo surrounded by a rainbow in bloom.

Gavin playing with the scarecrow.

Lil' smilin' eyes- I see you!

The old schoolhouse with the British flag inside. Is this school really older than Canada?

Time to learn.

Time to play.

I love old white churches. Inside there was a needlepoint of a really pretty prayer about remembering our heritage. I am grateful for those who paved the way for me to enjoy the wonderful lifestyle I do today.

I think this was the first house built in Orleans back in the day. It was deceptively small inside, but still pretty.

I have a picture of Kaleb & Noe posing here 4 years ago, and now here are my 4 kiddos.

Silly and sweet. I sure love 'em!

This house was sold in a kit from a mail-order catalog. I wish building a house now-a-days was so easy.

Check out the punched-tin ceiling.

The museum is a living experience complete with gardens to harvest (which Leonard helped with that morning at the service project.)

There is also all the livestock you can imagine- cows, pigs, goats, mules, horses, chickens, turkeys, ducks. The kids loved all the animals!

Whenever I get sentimental about the good ol' days and wished I could have lived back then, I see this and think, "I'd rather have my flushing toilet, thank you very much."

But I still like to let my imagination travel to distant places.