Valley Winter

Yeah...so this valley winter thing is wearing out it's welcome...we will have another 20-25 cms today and Halifax is only getting 10-15cms...how is that fair? More snow tomorrow night as well. Still room on the Sears card for a snow blower but trying to be practical--agh!!

Mike is home with the kiddies today. I feel better about that, not keen on leaving them alone in a snow storm but they are pretty good when they need to be. Graham bought a sliding tube yesterday with the money his Nan and Auntie Collette sent him (and some video games too, of course). He went up and down the back yard most of the day with that thing and had a ball, he cannot wait to take it to Auntie Josee's big farm hill. We fetched Elysia back from Halifax yesterday, she had some money and gift cards burning a hole in her pocket. Sarah and Josee came as well since Sarah wanted to get to American Eagle. Sarah had gift cards and one of those cards that if you spend over 50 dollars (which is pretty easy in that store) you get 10 dollars off. The girl at the cash register told her she couldn't use the card because she didn't present it at the beginning (which, I might add, it didn't say on the card). So she paid with her money. When she told Josee and I, I told her to give me the bag, the receipt and the card. I went in and asked for the manager and told him what happened and that I was disapointed that the cashier would take advantage of a 14 yr old spending her Christmas money...I got her money back. Don't mess with the bull!!

It's Over

Well, it's over...the kids had fun!

We had a great meal last night with family and friends. 17 in total, 15 for the meal and two straglers. Lots of food and fun but all of us had a pc of our hearts in another spot, whether it was an ill family member, a family member no longer with us, or family in another part of the country or world, they may not have been at the table physically but they were there spiritually...that's my deep thoughts for the season!

Elysia is off to Halifax armed with gift cards and money she received....look out Halifax, I always think of Betty and Wilma from the Flintstones and "Charge it"...she'll have fun, I'm sure.

More Pictures

It's Christmas

It's Christmas morning and my tree threw up in the living room. We told the kids they were not allowed up until 7. I heard Graham coughing about 6:55 and actually thought he threw up so I went to his room and Elysia was sitting on his bed with him, reading to him...it's a Christmas miracle.

Last night we went to Josee's annual Christmas Eve soiree....lots of people and lots of food, all the people seemed to arrive at once and then leave at once. Diane's (Josee's sister in law) daughter was on Norad and saw that Santa was in NFLD so that was it for her, it was time to go home and get to bed. We came home and the kids opened their Christmas Eve gift (aka pj's) and we let them open their stocking that Grandma gives them. Graham and Elysia then prepared the treats for Santa and the reindeer and Graham left a note he had made for Timid the elf who use to visit his grade two class.

The kids loved their gifts...totally spoiled! Elysia's IPOD is charging and Graham said his MTL jersey from Grandma was "gold". When Graham opened the John Deere hat from Uncle Jeff, he said he was a "true farmer" now...watch out Jeff, you're job is in jeopardy. Elysia loved her Aberchrombie and Fitch gear that Grandma had found for her.

Josee's mother in law was kind and invited us to her Christmas day meal today, we will head over a little early to see what haul Sarah and Connor had.

Talked to Hannah and Kaylie last night, I always call them when Santa leaves our house to let them know he's on his way. They were pretty excited.

Christmas Village

Over the years, Mike has bought me pcs for a Christmas village...I set it up this year and love it!! My friend, Janet came in and saw it and said how she loved it. I told her Mike had given it to me over the years, so she shot her husband "the look" and he in turn, hit Mike in the arm...hmmm...

Nieces

Last night we had to say goodbye to my beautiful nieces, Kaylie and Hannah. Their dad was arriving last night so they were going with him to his parent's house for an early Christmas so we wouldn't get to see them again before they left. My kids ditched school yesterday to spend some extra time with their cousins. They were both crying when we got in the car last night but they were happy with the time we did get to spend with them.

Tonight the "Roy girls" are going for supper, just me, Josee, Tracey and Mom...should be fun. I just don't want to go to a place that offers a toy with the meal. Just a place to sit with my sisters and mother and have a few laughs.

Ditch

Last night Mike's truck was parked at the end of the driveway as we had mom, Tracey and Josee visiting. I had to leave to go and get the girls at dance. I decided to take the truck since it was at the end anyway. So I go to leave and the driveway was a little slippery so rather than back right up the incline, it slides sideways into the ditch...one of my finer moments. So Josee took her vehicle to get the girls, I took the rest of the cars out of the driveway and was able to drive it out of the ditch...apparently my husband pushed it out for me, by his telling of the story, he lifted it with his pinkie finger and moved it like the bionic man...of course, I blame the person who parked the truck...haha.

The Neck

A wise woman told me today...a man may think he's the head of the household but the woman is the neck...good one, Janet!

Graham had his Christmas concert last night...it was the best yet, only half an hour...perfect! He takes these very seriously. Of course when he spotted me, he had to pull on his earlobe, his father taught him that one. Then we went to Grandma's house to decorate her tree, the kids had fun. They are really enjoying the visit with Auntie Tracey, Kaylie and Hannah. We will sure miss them when they go back.

Fire Alarm

The funniest thing happened last night...

We were having a birthday party for mom, who turned the big 6-0 last week. It was great fun...all her kids, grandchildren and close friends were there. The kids wanted to put 60 candles in her cake as well as sparklers...I might want to mention it was an ice cream cake which doesn't like heat so much. They put the candles all around the outside of the cake and the sparklers in the middle. When the candles on the cake were lit they ignited the sparklers before the cake made it upstairs (must have been the intense heat) and guess what? The smoke detector went off, it couldn't have been better if we planned it. Each grandchild made Grandma a card and gave it to her. The kids all did some crazy dancing in the rec room as well. My kids passed out on the way home last night.

Snow

Another snow day in the valley...Elysia and Graham stayed at Auntie Josee and Uncle Jeff's last night. As did Hannah and Kaylie...poor Josee, I'm sure she enjoyed it but I know she was tired. It was 2:30 Sun morning before we got settled from our trip from the airport to get mom, Tracey, Kaylie and Hannah and then Josee had to be up to work for 7:00. She said she did feel her head bob a couple of times through the day, glad I didn't have bloodwork done that day...haha.

Mom and Tracey's flights were both delayed a couple of hours but they finally made it. The girls were very excited and ran through the doors when they arrived. They were a little groggy yesterday and poor Hannah was not feeling the best. They were funny when they realized how cold it was outside the airport and trust me, it was cold! Kaylie says "how do you people live here?" Although I think they are enjoying the snow today, I know the cousins are enjoying their day off school.

We are having a little party for mom's 60th birthday tonight. When she arrived home from BC, her friends had decorated her house with 60 bras and panties...apparently you can rent them from Frenchies'...who would have thunk it. Plus there was a R rated decoration on her garage door. She is also finding lots of "60" confetti through her drawers...guess that's what happens when you leave Liz your keys.

Together again!!

Need I say more!! Try to get six silly kids to smile nicely...PS check out Hannah's teeth or lack there of... We have Connor, Sarah, Elysia, Hannah, Graham and Kaylie.

Birthday Girl

My mother is 60 years young today!!

If I was better organized, I would put her picture up here, yes...she would be thrilled!

Happy Birthday mom, Grandma and Mema!!

Miss you and cannot wait to see you on Saturday, I wonder if you will look any older--haha!!

Boonieville

I have determined that I work in Boonieville...it snowed a little last night but the road to my work after you pass Kentville doesn't seem to see a snowplow...little greasy but at least there's not much traffic, of course, then I could spend half the day in a ditch and no one would come looking for me.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix came out on DVD yesterday so I picked it up last night, I have no doubt of what the kids will be doing after school today. Elysia has her band Christmas concert tonight...looking forward to seeing all the hard work pay off.

Elysia and the Spider

I know this will not sound as funny as it was but here goes...

Last night Elysia was playing on the computer, she was funny to watch because it was like a guitar rock game and she had the headphones on, "playing" the guitar. She starts freaking out because there is a spider...she did try to kill it herself but her reaction was hysterical. I finally went over expecting to see a spider the size of a tooney or something...it was the size of a pin head and that included it's legs...it was more like a spider mite...so I saved her and killed it and then chased her around the basement with the corpse...my big, brave teenager!!

Paul Anka

Mike is on his way to Halifax today to cook for Paul Anka...originally I was going to go to the concert. Mike asked me if I would be upset if we didn't go and he just drove back when he was done cooking...trust me, I am not upset about that...not that I won't miss sitting there listening to such classics as "Puppy Love"...yeah, not quite. I promise I won't sleep in the middle of the bed tonight while you are in Halifax, Mike...

Not much on the weekend. Went to Connor's hockey game on Sat, the ref let those kids get away with alot especially after the whistle, so kids being kids, they will push to see how far they can get, and there was alot of pushing and shoving around. Anyway, Connor's team lost by a goal but I still enjoyed watching them play.

Did get a little Christmas shopping done on Friday. Gotta get organized this week, Tracey and the girls are suppose to be arriving on Sat and I cannot wait...I have hugs galore for them all!!

It amazes me!!

I amazes me how many little things play in your life...

We are waiting for Graham to have a nuclear heart scan to check out how the blood is flowing to his heart but now that is put off indefinitely because the nuclear facility in Ontario that produces 2/3 of the world's supply of radioactive isotopes for this test is closed. It closed for annual maintenance but has stayed close for safety concerns. These isotopes have a short shelf life so they cannot be stock piled. Now hospitals are scrambling to find more...

D-Day

It's dentist day...and I could puke just thinking about it.

Graham started his higher dose of his new medicine last night and one of the side effects is nightmares or very vivid dreams and we have never told him this...this morning he told me that he can wake himself up when he wants to, like last night, he was having a bad dream and woke himself up to start a new one that was much better...wonder if it was that Australian girl on the beach in the commercial that says "so where the bloody hell are you"...he seems to like her.

Elysia has a soccer game tonight at 7 but first we go to the school for their open house, parent night, book sale...last night we picked up the pies we sold...if my freezer wasn't full before, it certainly is now!!

Phone

We finally got our phone service back...it went out Sunday morning, then the internet went out on Monday (yes, poor Elysia couldn't get on Facebook, that's why it stormed). Anyway the guy finally got there yesterday and fixed it, something about a power thing.

The kids had no school yesterday so Josee sent Uncle Jeff to get my kids around noon. They had a great day at Auntie Josee's house, playing in the snow, going in the barn. For those who do not know, Graham thinks Uncle Jeff is perfect (aw....the deluded eyes of the child--haha). That road up at Josee's is horrible in the winter, it's not salted, it blows up there...yuck!

Winterwonderland

Lots of snow last night, I'm thinking 20 plus cms. Mike and I were up early to shovel the driveway...I'm thinking a snowblower is looking pretty good, especially after we saw our neighbor come flying out of his garage with his ATV with a snow plow attachment and Mike says "I know what I want for Christmas". Graham got up too and was "helping" and then worked on his snowman, he loves the snow. He and Elysia are home with their first "Kings County" snow day, they have been waiting for a while because they would always see no school in Kings County on the news but Halifax would still have it.

The drive to work was not great...I guess when you work out in the middle of no where you cannot expect it to be wonderful. The last part of the drive after you got up the hill in Kentville was definitely the worst. Oh well, I brought my lunch so I will just batten down the hatches and eat here. Hope the kids don't kill each other today...

Dentist

I hate the dentist...there is no other way to put it that would even remotely sound nice...maybe I don't hate the dentist personally but certainly professionally. I will put off going for as long as I can and I know I shouldn't but that's me...do as I say not as I do. So I had a filling that was cracked for a while and guess what happened this morning...it came out in a pc of Quality Street, so now I have a gaping hole in my tooth and it's Sunday...I have left messages at two offices and I will have to go. The last two times I had any dental work done, I had consciousness problems...yes, that's right I almost passed out in the chair. I have to try the deep breathing thing, it's pathetic, I know.

Went to a craft night last night with some of the ladies in the neighborhood, the company and food were great. One lady made homemade Irish Cream...OMG, it was good, I could have drank the whole thing, but that would not have been good in sooooo many ways. Someone also brought Bailey's. I slept until 8:30 this morning and that never happens, I guess all it takes is some alcohol.

It's December

It's the first day of December and that means many things

• Christmas is almost here


• It's the official start to winter for me and it snowed last night so that's definitely a sign


• My kids get to start their chocolate Christmas calendars, which is a big deal because they can have the pc of chocolate as soon as they get up in the morning so that means that Graham was up at 6 this morning, sitting on the chair in the living room waiting for one of us to come down, so when we did at 7:30, he was all excited to eat this tiny pc of chocolate shaped like a train.

Graham decorated the front window in our house yesterday, he used a pc of paper for each letter of the words Merry Christmas and taped them to the window...looks lovely. Then Elysia took his picture and printed it for him so he taped that up too...see the photo. For a small fee, you too, could have these highly sought after decorations adhered to your windows. Also included free are many small finger prints all over the remaining window.