Gingerbread

A tradition: an unwritten body of beliefs, facts, handed down from generation to generation; custom, practice of long standing...

It has been a tradition in my family to build a gingerbread house every Christmas season. I don't remember when it started, but I don't remember a year without it. I have fond memories as a child creating the gingerbread. Deciding where the gingerbread people go around the house, baby Jesus in a little cradle inside the house with a gingerbread angel, the candy all over especially the smarties all over the roof. Our house smelling of the gingerbread baking...cooling yet mom having to work quickly to cut out the shapes for the creation. The gingerbread house taking form as the icing quickly draws hard as rock.

My favorite year was the year of the CHOCOLATE house. It didn't smell of gingerbread but it was soooo yummy.

I have tried to continue this tradition within our little family too. One year Mom came for her visit and we created a gingerbread train. It wasn't the same yet close enough to the same. We brought it to our playgroup and all the smiles on the kids faces as we smashed the train and everyone got a piece of candy, hard rock icing and a piece of gingerbread cookie cutout as something.

To keep with tradition, my mom was here again this year for the creation. We allowed the kids to help decorate. One wall broke and we talked about how the kids might be a bit too young to help with the actual creation but maybe better to have them just decorate.

Even Kyla got to use the piping bag to decorate a few of the cookies to go with the house. Each of us had a gingerbread created person. The kids decided where candy would be placed and the house came together.


Mom actually made a sled for each of the kids to take to school this year with a gingerbread person on the side of the sled with their teachers initials on them.

Yesterday we invited a few friends over for the annual SMASHING OF THE GINGERBREAD!!

Everyone gathered around the table. The house is placed in the middle and fists are raised in the air...1, 2, 3 SMASH!!!!

Gingerbread pieces everywhere, candy grabbed, rock hard icing is painfully pulled apart.OH the JOYs of sharing our family Tradition with friends.

Visit with Mom

Grandma came for a early Christmas. We love and enjoy the short visits. The chance to visit and hang out. It started with going to Living Nativity at our church. We have lived here 4 Christmas' and mom has seen 3 years worth of Living Nativities. I love that thought - that she is so far away most of the year but she is here for special memories.

The kids loved the chance to break open a few Christmas presents early. Some how it makes waiting for the rest a bit easier. Lego was the "theme" for the weekend. Mark loves all the new things he can create. The race car ramp was attempted over and over again and finally he had to be convinced that the race car doesn't actually need a ramp to be fun. The Helicopter was his favorite as he can build it himself over and over again. Kyla entered the world of "big kid" lego and is delighted with the PINK lego! There were a few other things from Grandma that they love as well, but that was the main event.

While Mark was at School, Kyla and Mom and I enjoyed the nice 'warm' winter weather. A walk in the park seemed like Fall. Kyla took her exploring the upper section of the park. Through the paths. Up and around the corner. Following the footsteps of a three year old. Stopping to see bird seeds and berries. Listening to the bird chirping. Although there is green on the trees there is Winter all around.

Reflection

Ever had a day when so much made you stop and reflect?

Christmas music playing in the stores I shopped in today reminded of Christmas' past. Traditions and hopes and dreams of Christmas' to come.
The real meaning of Christmas and the grace we have been given.
Whether or not our kids understand that yet?
How much we have worked on not being selfish and still struggle with it.
How much I struggle with the materialism in this world and wish we could skip the Worldly Christmas as we had hoped to.
Looking forward to family time, family that is visiting...

Looking at my cousins pictures of his new baby girl on his face book, and sitting in the hospital with my two sister-in-laws reminiscing about our childbirth experiences made me think about how much our children have grown in such a short period of time.
It made me think of all that has happened in only 3 or 5 years.
It makes you wonder why things happen at the timing that it does...
Our little baby girl sleeping in my arms during the service, how much I love her and how much little things can annoy me and yet they wouldn't be the same without them. How much we love them and protect them. Are we raising them up to be Godly children of God?

God knows every day in our lives before one of them even occurs. He knits us together. He knows what we will go through and yet it is up to us to decide how much we will let Him into each and every situation life gives us. People wonder why things happen and yet we appreciate that God gave us free choice. Everything can be given to God for His work to be completed through us.

This whole month I have been struggling with the idea of journaling. Some times I wonder why people do it, and why it has come into so many of my conversations lately. Why can I not get over my fears of it. I think I have burned all of my past journals. Maybe this is like journaling...maybe my scrapbook is like a photo journal...
What good is journaling? Do I feel relief while I write? Does it really help me sort out my thoughts? It makes me think back at all my past journals. What would it be like to read them now?

The smells of yeast rising in my kitchen reminds me of my Nana, and the fact that she would make loaves of fresh bread. That she was the one that taught me how to make it. I am reminded of her, the happy moments and the sad ones. Her marriage and her relationship with God, her friends, her own family and my own mom and dad. Wondering how she is doing and does God speak to people with that late of a stage of Alzheimer's?...I believe He does, until we go to live with Him...and on and on I have thought!
I love that I am carrying on at least one of her skills. I love the fresh buns rising on the counter and remember her counters full of rolls, cinnamon buns, tea rings and more. A full days worth of a labour of love. I love that my husband is right beside me in this labour of love. That he remembers cooking and baking with his mom and wants to share these moments with me. That it is a team effort in this house!

Tonight at church we were asked to think about our own funerals...to imagine ourselves watching and being at our own funeral. It is often wondered what people will think of us after we have died. It's a morbid thought, and yet how we live each day is a reflection on ourselves. It's a reflection of how we love and live for our God...

What will my family think of my life? What will I be remembered for? Honestly, I don't want to think of it. I want to live my life for now. I want to lean on Him in all my worst situations. I want to learn from them. I want to be able to look back and see how much I have learned from life and grown. Sure, I will make mistakes along the way. I will look back and reflect, and see that I could have done things differently, but can't.

I want to be a prayer warrior and yet feel far from one. I want to use my gifts for God. I want to be an encourager. I want to be remembered as a friend people can count on. A lover and supporter of my husband. Someone my family could count on in times of need. I know I'm a people pleaser and as much as that has caused me pain, I hope that it has also been a blessing.

Today has been a day of reflection...there is so much to think about...not enough words to describe it all, not sure if journaling is my way of expressing it. So this has been my attempt...

Puzzled??

Some people are born to be puzzlers. We got into the discussion the other day if someone could be trained to be a good puzzler? Some people have the patience to sit for hours and love to gaze over a thousand or more, small unique pieces of cardboard looking for the exact piece they need. Others, like myself love to puzzle and can sit for a long time but my eyes need to take breaks once in awhile to refocus. Some times I come back and the piece I've been searching for was right in front of me the whole time. After I came back from our church women's retreat, we still had still two days before the week of work began. We took out a puzzle. For the last few years our own children have been too young to trust not to destroy a puzzle. Now that they are old enough to know better, my daycare kids are too young. Needless to say we scattered the 1000 pieces all over the table and started our fun. Our kids played near by and sooner then later Mark had 10 puzzles out himself and worked on the floor beside us putting his own puzzles together. He started with all his 24 piece puzzles as he can whip through them like nothing. Next he did one 48 piece and 3 49 piece puzzles. He spread the completed puzzles on the floor telling Kyla to for a walk through his museum of puzzles. Finally, he started on a 100 piece puzzle and said "I need help with this one". We started our puzzle Sunday afternoon and at about 1am Tuesday I was done for the day and Ray stayed up to put the last few pieces in, it was completed by 1:30am on Tuesday morning. It was a tough puzzle right to the last few pieces he said. The blues in the sky were so realistic. I would say it wasn't our toughest puzzle yet, but it was difficult. I love doing puzzles that are actual photos. So here to starting a puzzle season. Our first Winter (1st year of marriage and prior to children) we completed 8 puzzles, we've had a number of years with only one puzzle a year (at Grandmas house or visiting family in Calgary), we hope to complete at least one or two more this year and bring back our tradition.

Pear season

Often I look at other people's blogs and think of how unique theirs are. I think majority of my blogs have been on our kids. That is the stage of life we are in and really what consumes majority of our time and energy. I think I need to start taking more pictures of what else happens in our day. Stop and smell the roses sort of idea. It's just so hard when a day consists of dropping kids off or picking up, cleaning the house, going to one playground or another, playing with the kids or making meals. One thing we love about living here is the fruit. We have our own fruit monster - KYLA. She will eat fruit constantly if allowed. Ray's favorite fruit is pears. We love all the others too. I made 18 jars of strawberry jam this year. Froze a bunch for smoothies as well as peaches. I have canned cherries and one pie - Thanks to my sister I love my new cherry pitter. Blueberries we froze as they are great for muffins later on. When it's pear season and then apple season we can and freeze a lot. I canned 18 jars of pears this year. Same as last year. I though 40lbs would have gone further but I think we ate quite a bit of them before I got the chance to can the rest. I have pear crisp too. I guess it's not only pear season, it's now plum season and the beginning of apple season too. I have a bunch of plums that would go great with those pears in a crisp too. I need to make my plum plots and freeze those too. I love all the fruit, enjoy doing the work to save it all and look forward to enjoying it all through the year.

more school pictures

Mark and his class made flowers with their names on them. He was very proud of his sunflower. This is the calendar in his classroom. He comes home telling us a lot about his school day. Very different then the boy we once knew. He is learning all the names of the kids in his class very quickly and seems to love all the different things they do there.










Lunch today was another creative creation. I realized we've never taken pictures of our many pictures. We were all taught not to play with our food. Something about creative creations before they begin eating seems to follow different rules! Lunch tastes better when a picture is created. It's made lunch prep a bit more fun!

More Pictures from the first week of school

Mark and Cady (neighbour)


Mark

Mark in the "coat room" with new techer Mrs. Shiskin.

First Day of School

This week has been the beginnings of our family entering the public school system. What an exciting change and yet overwhelming all at the same time. Here is the typical 1st day of school photo shot. Stand at the door and say cheese! Got to love how easy it is to take a picture of two very excited kids!!












Our kid is old enough for Kindergarten and the other is old enough to go to preschool. Is that not scary in itself? I think we're both ready for him to go to school and learn. I know he is. Mark started asking a month ago when he would start learning to read. He loved the idea that he was already starting by learning his letters and the sounds. It's a four step process I told him; 1. learn your letters. 2. learn the sounds the letters make. 3. put the sounds together. 4 memorize the words that you know. Kyla loves that she is going to school too. Especially that it's Mark's old school. She wanted to go last year already and was thrilled to enter the classroom. Mark loves that he has 3 other friends before he even started school. Two of them are girls and last year he didn't play with Cady at school anyways so it didn't seem such a big deal. Kaden his cousin on the other hand was huge to be in his class. Mark's sad that the teacher won't let him play with his cousin but he's excited to met new friends. Kyla is also excited to have our neighbour and her little boyfriend to go to school with also. I still have a daycare kid that goes to the same preschool as Kyla on a different day. Mommy's favorite day is Friday. I have no daycare kids and both our kids are in school. I have 2 hours. To do whatever I need. I asked Mark how his first day of school was and he said. Great. The best part was that your friend was my gym teacher. The gym teacher is a lady from our church. He's not a kid that comes home all excited to tell me what he did at school. Rather I hear bits and pieces as he remembers them. Like right now. He just interupted me to tell me the teacher had two baby dolls in Square time (I was corrected when I asked about circle time). The baby dolls burped and drank water and slept in the kids arms. They all got a turn holding the dolls. Out of no where...and We're supose to understand what they learn about??? I'm guessing that was apart of the Family topic??? I guess we're in for an interesting year with Both kids!!

This LIttle Piggy...

Ever tried teaching a kid about money? It's not that easy. Sure you start with the names of the coins and work on the values. Most children learn from the pictures of the coins (at least here in Canada). The problem is that the quarter keeps changing the picture. Great but, harder to teach..."look for the moose" or "sails" or "beaver".

Have you ever gone to the store and had a kid say "I want that!". I think we've found the solution to the problem. I read a book this summer; actually I read a few, the one I'm referring to, talked about Piggy Banks. It teaches you how to budget. Really anyone could use the concept whether you actually go out and buy little piggies is your decision. The kids each got a few different little piggies. This little piggy is for "Super Savor Piggy" this one you fill then put in the bank. This little piggy is for "The Big Prize Piggy" you fill this one for one big toy that the kids get to decide. This little piggy is for "Fun Pig" - spend on anything they want, whenever they want, no questions asked. The final little piggy is for - Kids Helping Kids. It can be for any charity or church. For each bank, as parents we decide the percentage that the kids get to put into. Our kids don't get an allowance so the only change they find is their to put into the piggy of their choice. The kids do have a "Job" as they call it. They recycle the pop and juice boxes we have and take them in for money. I love that our province has this option. It's great and it's a job they understand. The problem is we don't drink a lot of pop or juice boxes so they actually don't get a lot of money. Needless to say they have loved it so far. The best part is now we can go to the store and all I have to say is, "did you bring your money? or do you have enough?"

The swing

I love our swing. It has been hours of rest and relaxation. The kids love it too. I love the chance to sit and watch the kids play and yet in actual fact I think I am playing more then I am sitting. Try going outside without being asked to play badmonton, bocce, croquet and catch. I love that the kids love to play with us but at some point when I have had my turn with each of the activities (of course with each of the kids too) I will get a chance to sit. The best was when they were playing in the kiddy pool. Since I didn't fit I had a fair excuse to not have to play. Although we discovered that a bucket of water for my feet to cool off was also fun for them. They had somewhere to get buckets of water and fill up my bucket. Each time I rocked on the swing the water would slosh therefor needing to be refilled. I love making everything a game!

Kyla turns 3

Kyla has really become a princess in this last year. Her 3rd birthday party was a princess party. She wore the dress she got from Grandpa Ernie and choose her own 'my little ponies'. she loved her princess colour wonder book and got princess toys as well. Auntie Lisa also found a beautiful pink princess dress for her. Her girly side has really begun to shine through with 'Barbies', 'my little ponies' and 'littlest pet shop'. We had invited our small group and family but it turned out mostly family. We were so blessed to have Grandma Joan here for the first time for one of kyla's birthdays. Uncle Ernie and Claire also came which was so much fun for kyla. Claire and kyla met the last time we went to vancouver and even though they are a year apart they hit it off like two best friends. It was so fun to have them here for hte weekend. Also funny about that is our lack of bedroom space. We used or tent trailer as our spare room and it worked great. Now we can have guests anytime (spring to fall) and have space for them. I think for next time Grandma comes we'll have to find a way for a tv to be in there for her. Birthday's are so important to me to celebrate the individual life of a person. A card or a phone call is all that really matters and yet growing up I loved having parties too. Why do we put so much pressure on the party itself? I think I have realized lately that since my love language is quality time I love the party celebration, especially with lots of people. Word of affirmation is the middle which means gifts are my bottom rank and therefore harder to give out. What has been interesting is how to learn to love in a different love language. Feeling ok about the gifts even though it's not the reason for the party. Interesting enough Ray's birthday is only 2 days before kyla's and yet his got a bit overlooked this year. That might be the case in our family having 2 birthdays in March and 2 birthdays in August.

House swap

The adventure of a house swap was fun and exciting. It all started with me doing respite for a friend while their family was enjoying a family wedding in the tropics of Mexico. Since we would be staying at their house we opened our house our sister-in-law's sister's family to come visit them. What an experience!! I think living in someone else's house for a week allows for a different perspective into their lives. 8 bedrooms is alot of space but it also is a lot more to keep clean. The biggest challenge of a house swap of any kind is finding everything. I'm sure Wendy had fun finding things in my kitchen too! Ray and I both say we're not "dog people" and as you can see from the photo these were not small dogs that came with the house. I think Ray is more of a dog person than he wants to admit. Those dogs were waiting for him everyday to play with him. His "dog person" only comes out in short spurts though, and after a few licks he's done playing fetch. The kids loved the house full of different toys and especially enjoyed the toys outside and the trampoline. There is a kids pool in the front 'yard' that even I enjoyed being able to splash around with them. I say "yard" in brackets as the house is surrounded in concrete with newly lay ed patch of grass. Full time respite was a new experience and that went amazingly well. We both enjoyed it, it in our own house might be a very different feel. We are finally finished all of the interview stages of becoming respite/foster parent approved and wait now as the recommendation goes through. Our plan is to stick to respite for now but the process is the same.
From this adventure we headed straight onto a week of camping...

The Myra Canyon

A long awaited trip to the Myra Canyon was just as I had imagined. After living here for 3 years we finally took a trip up the mountain of the famous 16 trestles. The fires of 2003 had destroyed many of the trestles. After years of Restoration they opened up this summer. We took mom who just got back from her 5 mths China excursions. The views were incredible. I loved that we could walk for an hour and see so much - 8 trestles and a tunnel. If we took our bikes next time we would see more but it was great just to see it and take our time walking along the path. Amazing and highly recommended for hikers and bikers.

Our summer outdoors

Our summer has been filled with outside activities. Many hours at all the local parks and playgrounds. It has been my mission this summer to go to as many different parks/ playgrounds as possible. This challenge has forced me to really get to know this city better too. There are so many cool little hidden parks in different neighbourhoods I would not know of otherwise. Our backyard has been Ray's challenge this year. He really prides himself in details of the backyard. The garden has been both of us. I love the planting and weeding and he loves watering and watching it grow. He works on the grass, and killing the weeds (a huge undertaking alone). Kids have loads of fun there with all there toys if we're not at a park. For our anniversary Dad and Carolyn helped us get my dream come true 3 person swing. I love just sitting in the shade while the kids run through the slip and slide. The beach has been not as much as last year for some reason but we are often there at least for evenings and suppers.

I love camping

Our first camping trip of the season with our new tent trailer. I love how much more comfortable it is and just the idea of being off the floor. I love that my dishes and food is all organized and can be found easy. I love that we can play games inside if we are cold. I loved that it didn't rain when we were awake and what rain that did come was so little. I didn't love the fluff that seemed to get everywhere 'cause it looked like snow in June. I love that there is a stove inside and outside and that Ray loves to cook that much more when we're camping. I love that our bed is off limits therefore there was no sand in our bed. I love that family came out for supper for "father's day" on the Saturday. I love that Grandma has a freezer in their trailer so she could share popsicles with all of us. I love that our kids did so well on the hike and not only that, they were the ones encouraging us to keep going. I love that the kids played so well together. To say the least, we had a great time. I love that we have a few places we go to every year and the kids already have such fond memories of them all.

The hike was just about an hour and Mark was the tour guide keeping us moving...wanted little to no time at the rest stops, just enough to see the sight then keep going. Oh, he did want his picture take all along the way though. he was the best est hiker ever especially with his cool walking stick (like grandma's). many pictures were taken and thank goodness for digital camera's over half can be deleted. We counted all 283 stairs along the way. played in the beach sand building castles and at the park for a long time. There were huge tires the kids could hide inside of which was very for a long time. The big boys actually fit inside on the top side of the tire. Peek-a-boo!

The boys' played bocce for awhile and the kids tried too. I'm impressed kyla could even pick up the ball.

I LOVE CAMPING AND ALL THE COMES WITH IT!!

tent trailer

I haven't blogged in awhile but it's about time to do another update. We are looking forward to our summer as we adventure out into the wild. We started our camping experience off this year with a huge success. We went camping in our tent with friends and family at our traditional may long weekend get-a-way. I love that Ray grew up with a traditional spot where friends and family have years of memories. When we moved back it was Ray's determination to start that tradition again. Three years in the making we are slowly gathering more and more people back into going as well as bringing newbies along the way. As word got out to people who missed out, there sounds to be like more coming next year!
Our great news since the may long weekend is that we bought our first tent trailer. YEAH FOR US!! Ray and I both grew up with camping in trailers so it's not new. We love tenting and we love the outdoors but come on people, with little feet running around, the disorganized back of our van trying to find lost cutlery/ food. And we won't even talk about peeing on my bed before the weekend begins, there is much to be said about a tent trailer. Our bed is off limits - you have your own to put sand in if you wish!! There are cupboards to put food and dishes away in that can be relocated at ease. And most importantly there is a roof over our heads if the rain comes and we don't have to get wet. We are looking forward to trying out this new toy this coming weekend. We figured since we have 6 straight nights booked for the summer holidays we should at least try it out for a night or two close by. Learning to hitch it to our van, pulling it, setting up and taking down. What we will need to remember on our long trip, ect.... it's like a real trail run! It's also father's day so where else would Ray rather be??? oh, maybe golfing but that's where he is right now and not really a family thing to do!!
Our first week with the trailer the kids invited their neighbour friends and cousins for a "picnic" in the trailer. Oh the joys of five children and two adults crammed into a trailer for lunch parked in the driveway only 10 steps away to a comfortable dinning room table. Want to join us next time??? just kidding. The kids loved it. They loved it even more when we had company last weekend and the trailer acted as the "guest" room. That was a hoot. not only was it a guest room it was our family who was sleeping out there. Since the kids are too little to sleep out there by themselves, our guests had the whole house to themselves!! It was fun and we didn't mind. So we are no longer hard core campers of the past (h-core) as some call it. We are not 3 star campers. Can't say we moved up to 5 star as Grandma and Grandpa are camping with us and they have the works including the microwave...... on that note really, what do you call those crazy campers that have everything ???? can't say it's really camping then can you?? They're the ones that make me think of my friend... I have to quote my friend the non-camper whose response to me when I asked her to camp with us was...
why? I pay a mortgage. I have everything I need under my roof. Why would I choose to do that???


BECAUSE WE LOVE THE OUTDOORS AND SOMETIMES YOU NEED TO GET AWAY FROM ALL THIS TECHNOLOGY STUFF!!!

Learning another culture

Many of our friends and family have had the privilege to visit other cultures or even live elsewhere to learn about other cultures. Although I have had a brief glimpse into the UK or even shorter time in Cuba I think I have learned the most through missions fests or missions weeks at church over the years. Not to say that I haven't loved living in a country where we are becoming a minority. There is a lot more to be said about learning a culture through immersion but cultural awareness is very much eye opening too. We are curently learning about China as Grandma is there right now, and we have learned about India through Grandpa and Grandma going two years ago.

This last week was missions week across our city (5 major churches involved). I really enjoyed the concerts and speakers but the biggest impact on me was going to the Sikh temple - seeing, learning and participating in a grand opening and memorial service. Friday we also went to a Sat Sung put on by our church. It was fun to get dressed up in a Punjab cur ta(spelling???). We listened to classical Punjab music in a christian worship setting. Aradia did an amazing job. Crossing two cultures together.

The food was a great way to end the night with a Indian restaurant providing the samosas and sweets.

The vine

This week Mark's sermon used the verses in John 15. It seems even more fitting that my sister Marianne and I went to the Mission winery for a tour while she was visiting for the weekend. We came up as a family and it was a beautiful day but Marianne and I came back for the tour as it was too much for the kids. Living in wine country it doesn't take long to drive to a vinyard and see the vines. They are just showing new growth at this stage but as the season changes it will be covered with beautiful fruit.

John 15:2 "He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."...vs4 "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." ...vs16&17 "You did not choose me, but I choose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other."

Angel

Every day we need to look into the mirror and see ourselves as God sees us!!