Remembering India

This week I volunteered to go to Keithan's class and share something about India since they are studying about it.  A lot has happened in the last 12 plus years so I had to sweep a few cobwebs from my brain to revive some India memories.  It is amazing what you can remember when you try ... and when you ask your husband who forgets little :)  For those who don't know, this trip was part of our honeymoon.  It is amazing I remember anything - it was rather overwhelming! Another part of the story is that my friend Angie met up with us in India ... it was a unique honeymoon!

Of course the pictures were pre-digital era so I chose a few from the album to scan and share with the class.  Since they are now on the computer I thought why not keep on sharing them with you. 

You should note the pictures are not professionally scanned ... in fact it was done moments before the presentation so if you wondering if your eyes are working properly you can rest assured that your eyes are fine and it is the pictures that are askew!  I had LOTS and LOTS of pictures of forts but I had very few details and facts to share about them so I didn't scan many.  I might have to borrow Angie's guidebook when I get around to scrapbooking this trip in another 12 years.

The memories of India that stick out in my mind: 

smog, Delhi belly (have never been so sick in my life and hope never will be again), dirty hotel rooms with cockroaches, Angie always referring to her guidebook (the forts were her idea, ha!),  paying to use the public washrooms, and wondering why people would eat with their hands when there were knives and forks available!   One other thing I remember was that I didn't have to pay to get into the Taj Mahal because kids 15 and under were free.  Our tour guide was sure I looked 15 and then of course he wanted a BIG tip!   

In case you are wondering:  Yes, I enjoyed my trip but I don't have a burning desire to go back to northern India.  The south however was greener and not so smoggy ... and we went to an English church convention there so I would do that again.  BUT, next time I'd take a little extra money so we wouldn't have to live like backpackers and maybe find nicer accommodations! 

Agra Fort (I think)

Taj Mahal

Royal Highness addressing the commoners

Time for a bath

Modes of transportation

Elephant ride to the fort

Red Fort

Jaipur ... "Pink City"

A Sari that I didn't buy

laundry drying

There were no A&W restaurants there!!  And, of course no beef!

 So .... other than a few photos of monkeys, camels and an upside down brightly painted truck in the ditch ... this is the gist of what I shared with the kids.  I have a Sari but I didn't even want to pretend that I knew how to put it on!  I just wore my slightly tighter than it used to be Shalwar Kameez, but I think it did the trick to make it an authentic presentation (even though that is the traditional Pakistani attire)!  The whole thing was kind of fun!!

Now I want to scan ALL my pictures.  Wonder how long that would take?! 
 

second cousins

We recently enjoyed an impromptu visit from some second cousins.  It was a little short but very sweet!  We found some time to skate and some ventured out to the toboggan hill and Michelle and I almost finished a game of Scrabble.   On Saturday night we had a birthday party to celebrate everyone's birthday at once at the start of the year.  The idea of cake was appealing to all, but the kids weren't sold on the idea of this one time party.  

p.s. Thanks for the DQ cake Michelle :)

THE party of the year

The best picture of 6 attempts; Can you believe it?!  Me too.

AND ... some fun with an air pump and a Tyvek suit

NOTE:  We hope that the road trip was worth it .... and that you'll come again!

Home for the Holidays

The original plan for Christmas 2012 was to all meet at the new ski cottage.  That's ALL as in dad, mom, my family, Jarv's family and Carla's family.  However, it was nowhere near ready for inhabitants ... so now we will wait patiently for next year!  

It will be worth the wait I know.  I took the kids skiing here last week. Wish I could have taken pictures and videos, but my hands were full trying to keep a hold on Grady and my ski poles (which I wish I didn't have but I didn't want to set them down in case someone else took them and I had to pay for them, although I was tempted to try)!  Get the picture?!  My dad made it look so easy when he helped all 3 older kids ski for the first time a couple years ago.  Eventually I let him go down independently for the last half of the bunny hill where it wasn't so steep.  He did well for a bit and then just wiped out big time.  When I got to him as he was struggling to get up, the first thing he says, with wonder in his voice, was "THAT WAS AWESOME"!  We are going to enjoy that ski cabin for sure :)

Getting back to holiday news ... 

Mom and dad and Grandma came up here to spend a few days with us.  In fact, I think it was the longest they ever stayed.  It was GREAT.  The kids were so happy:  Grandpa took them skating and swimming, Grandma was always ready to play Rummikub with them and Great Grandma made them fresh buns and cinnamon buns.  

We had more friends over for Christmas eve and played a few games and of course ate some sugary food. Then on Christmas day we had turkey for supper so that we didn't have to get up early to put the turkey in the oven!  My kind of relaxing holiday =)  

Oh, and did I mention I gained 10 pounds and 5 inches?  Well, I actually didn't weigh myself or measure, because I didn't want to confirm it.  SHUDDER!  It is a new year and I have already exercised 3 times.  4 times, if you count tomorrow!  Anyway, here are a few photos: 

That's all!  No collages this time :)

Birthday Bash

It was the perfect year for a toboggan birthday party to celebrate being 7.  

December is kind of a difficult month to have a birthday party!  It is nice when you get close to 40 though, because you hope people are too busy to remember your age.  That's how I feel anyway!!  I'm 31 by the way ... for any who lost track. Ha ha!

 But, when you are SEVEN you want to have a party even though everyone else is in Christmas mode, and you want to have it on your birthday month ... not November and not January!  So, as it turned out I phoned his friends on a Thursday night and on the Saturday we had a party ... and ALL his friends came.  It just proves to me again that procrastination isn't all bad and it mostly works for me :) 

I am sorry I am having so much fun with these collages!!!  I know it is not cool to mix effects and such so I will try and refrain in future posts.  For now you just have to grin and bear it :)

 

Okay, I'm done for now with all the clashing styles!  It was fun while it lasted and I learned that I like the first one the best.  Outside pictures always turn out better for me.  

Happy birthday (belated now) to my boy who doesn't like to smile but loves to wear a dress shirt and tie!!  I am just noticing now that he changed shirts at some point ... not sure what happened there.  No wonder I have never ending laundry.

beginning to look a lot like December

I FINALLY spent a few minutes playing around with photo editing and collages!  Of course I should be doing 103 other things, starting with washing dishes and then making the cookies for the kids' teachers that I told them I would.  At 10:40pm the night is still young and that is how I roll!  So, I wanted to share my first attempt at collaging (not really a verb, but you know what I mean). 

family picture follow up

I felt like the blog needed a change of look.  The black background seemed hard for me to read sometimes.  Might just be my age ... yet another sign of getting older (or a sign I should get my eyes checked).   One can never be sure about the TRUE signs of aging!  Take yesterday for instance ... in my attempt to exercise in morning at the local track, I pulled a muscle in my hip and gave myself a Charlie Horse that lasted for at least 5 minutes ... in public of course!  Then last night I ran myself a bath, went to check on the water level 10 minutes later, and I had forgotten to plug the drain :(

I just wanted to share the new family photo that I was deliberating about a few posts ago.  I am SOOOO happy with how the pictures turned out.  Melissa did such a fantastic job considering the subjects she had to work with!  The family picture is a 20x30 canvas.  It is a smaller than the previous picture so I had to do a little re-arranging in the living room space to make it work out.  This is how it turned out:

sorry about the glare :(

a little Pinterest touch!

Yes, I still have my fall decor up!  That is on my list of things to do this week - change up the decor to fit the season!

My office project

11x14 wall plaques (photography by Melissa)

Just love how this turned out ... I bought Damask wall stickers to put behind the fabulous photos since these are plaques that don't need a frame.  By themselves the pictures didn't really pop out on the new white wall in the office, but now I just love it!  I mean REALLY love it ... I go in and look at it about 5 times a day.  Ha!!!

New wall paper for the office

 I will follow up with another post on the office project when it is finished more finished!  And, the Oreo cream cheese truffles are almost gone.  I guess I better exercise now ....

school

Yes, it is December and Christmas break is around the corner, but this post is about "Back to School". I continue to stick with my mantra of "better late than never". So, this finds me at my lap top with my second cup of coffee and the after effects of a delicious cream cheese truffle that I received from a cookie exchange on Saturday. Really wish I hadn't tried them :(   I did exercise today for a few minutes so MAYBE I burned half of it off already.  One can always hope.

Back to the topic of school:

• Samara - is in a grade 5 in a 5/6 split class this year.  She still mostly loves school but being 10 going on 16 is adding some challenges.  She is still in piano lessons and is back at gymnastics and now basketball has started up again.  She is also doing some reading with a grade 3 boy once a week (not her brother)! 

• Keithan - is in grade 3 this year.  He is in indoor soccer this year.  It is 2 nights a week and since he lives, breathes and even dreams and talks in his sleep about soccer (true story) it is a great motivational tool for getting homework and reading done.  

• Rhett - is in grade 1 this year.  He isn't in any after school activities, thankfully.  He just had a birthday on Friday so he is waiting for his birthday party.  He wanted a bowling party or a skating party but when he has a mom who leaves  things until  last minute he will have to settle for less unless he wants to wait a month or two for his party.  I am hoping the weather holds because we have great snow for a tobogganing party.  Still working on that idea.

• Grady - is in Preschool this year.  He LOVES it, but I understand he and his new best friend have had a few time outs on the time out chair!  The teacher has never mentioned it to me but he brought it up once ... and now I ask almost every time ... and yes, it happened again.  Good thing they don't have report cards in Preschool!!  They must be minor offenses ... one can always hope (again). 

p.s we are looking forward to Grandpa and Grandma's visit on Christmas break.