December's Photo Challenge

Well, I'm getting this in just under the wire. I just picked up my pictures and thought I'd better post them before heading over to Cathy and Don's to ring in the New Year. I'm submitting three for this month.

I also just got back these pictures of my friend, Michele's, birthday party. I will refrain from telling you how old she is, but I will say that she is older than me!! Anyway, her husband planned a big surprise birthday for her and Deb and I went. Although she knew something was up, she was very surprised to see us walk in the room (we were late due to the fact that Kitchener is not that easy to get around! ... at least that's our story and were sticking to it!

Michele is one of my scrapping buddies and is a hoot to hang around with. You know that you will have a lot of fun if Michele is there. The party was a blast and it was so much fun to meet Michele's family and see what tree she dropped from.

Happy birthday Michele!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things Found Under Our Tree On Christmas Morning 1. Portable DVD player for Spencer 2. DVDs for Matthew and Spencer 3. Digital Camera for Matthew 4. Digital Camera for Grandpa 5. Lego passenger train for Cameron 6. Science kit for Cameron 7. Com[uterized chess game for Matt 8. Calendars for the Grandmothers 9. gloves for the grandpas 10. leather coats for John and I 11. Money for grandparents 12. video game for Spencer 13. Oliver, the cat, once all the presents were gone. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. Barbara H 2. Chickadee 3. Melissa 4. The German Girl 5. Such Pretty Colors 6. Jo 7. Jenny Ryan 8. Christine 9. Teena

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

I can't beleive that Christmas is over already. On Christmas Eve both John and I said that it really didn't feel like Christmas and I got John to admit that it was because it was so warm and no snow.

By the morning, however, it felt like it and we enjoyed out Christmas Day and Boxing Day that we spent with our parents and family. It was a wonderful time. The boys were thrilled with what they got and we enjoyed the day with both sets of parents. I don't have any pics yet as they are in the camera still.

Boxing Day was another good day as we went to London to share the day with my side of the family. It was good to be together. Joanne, my sister, flew in from Calgary on Christmas Day. It was great.

I'm stealing some pics from my niece's, Jenn, Blog. I hop she doesn't mind.

The last two pictures are from our annual game of Spoons. As you can tell it is a free-for-all.

This is a video of my brother Rick (who has Down's Syndrome) showing his preference for his Christmas gifts:

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends

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OK! I'm ready.

I'm ready for Christmas. Yesterday I finished the last of my shopping, including my own Christmas present. (I was hoping to find the Rebel XTi under the tree, but decided on a new coat instead. The XTi will have to wait.)

The boys were hard to buy for this year. They didn't really know what they wanted, and what they really did want, I couldn't get ... like a wii, and Cameron wanted a lego passenger plane that is sold out everywhere. Still, I'm confident we will have happy boys on Christmas morning because they are fairly easy to please.

Matt's big ticket item is a digital camera (which he wanted) So he's getting this:

Spencer's big ticket item is a portable dvd player:

And Cameron is getting the lego passenger train:

Wanna see my new coat? It's leather. The pockets and collar are a little different than in the picture. Oh, and BTW, that's me inside my new coat. It makes me look younger don't you think?

So the presents are wrapped. All I need to do is get some more stocking stuffers.

Well, yesterday I did a big Thursday Thirteen post, and then for some reason, it disappeared. Arggggggg! After spending a long time on it I wasn't about to do it all again.

My TT was 13 things living with Rick (my brother with down's syndrome) has taught me. On Sunday his group home had a Christmas open house so my parents, and Cathy and I went over to visit for a while. Rick wasn't too happy and kept pushing mom to the door. He's not used to us going to visit him there. Every time we show up it's to take him home for a few days so he wasn't too happy with us.

Growing up with a brother with special needs has certainly impacted the lives of each family member in every way. Rick has taught me so much about love, and loving unconditionally. I marvel when I look at how each of us have turned out and the fields we all went into. We all ended up in fields ministering to people. The life of one person impacted 6 others (not to mention my parents) so profoundly. God has a purpose for each life ... no matter the value we, as humans, put on that life.

Looking back, I can see how God has used the life of one little boy to prepare me to raise another little boy. Growing up with one child with disabilities gave me what I needed to raise another child with a disability. I guess Rick has been the best teacher I have ever had.

The Nutcrackers

In my last Thursday Thirteen, I had my collection of Nutcrackers as one of my favorite ornaments at Christmas. Well, it would seem that I have passed this love for nutcrackers along to Cameron. He has his own collection that his Nana has started him on and keeps adding to. When Nana came to visit on Sunday she brought along three more. Cameron was very excited to add these to his collection and has given them all places of honour around the house. Between the two of us now, we have quite a few ... the only problem is that I think he may now have more than I do.

Our new bathroom

Well, the bathroom is officially finished. The last thing, the sink, was installed on Saturday. Finally! It took about three weeks from start to finish, although, it would have been much quicker if we worked consistently.

If you don't remember what it looked like after demolition, you can find the post here: http://boysareus.blogspot.com/2006/11/so-what-do-you-do-with-all-your-time.html.

This is what it looks like now. The pictures make the walls look pink, but they are really brownish mauve. Don't tell John, but I will likely be repainting it when we do the rest of the house, because I don't really like it that much.

So, I decided to put up this little shelf above the toilet with some letters on it that spell out the word "relax." John was thinking we needed to take it down because when you are "relaxing" and look in the mirror, it spells backwards. So every time I went back in, he switched them around so they would look right in the mirror. Well, now the boys have joined him, and every time I go in, there is a new word spelled out of the letters. Funny, boys! Very Funny!

The PD Day

Yesterday was a day off school for a PD day (or are they called PA days now? I don't know.) It was parent-teacher interviews for the primary schools. I didn't even get to take advantage of it and sleep in, as our interview was for 9:15 in the morning. It was probably better that way because it made sure that we were up and out early.

The interview went well. Cameron is having a much better year this year and is a lot happier. I really like his teacher and she loves him. Even though he hasn't been identified, he struggles in some areas. She said that he is so smart and is wonderful to listen to in class because he has tonnes of great ideas ... he just has a hard time getting them on paper. She's willing to make allowances for that, even though he doesn't have an identification. Anyway, it was a very possitive interview and we all came away feeling that we are moving in the right direction for him.



After the interview I told the boys that I was going out Christmas shopping. Cameron asked if he could come along. I was shocked as this boy loves being home without parents around. The two of us headed out. We went to the mall and had a wonderful afternoon together. We talked, joked, giggled, and enjoyed each other's company. The whole afternoon I didn't hear "Can we go home now" at all. We enjoyed a leisurly lunch, went for a tea later in the afternoon, and topped the day off at Toys R Us to look around. He even helped me make dinner last night! It was a great day! These are the moments I cherish.

This past week I got the house all decorated for Christmas. This is usually a job I enjoy as I carefully unwrap the decorations and place them on the tree or around the house. It's like Christmas Day. Some of my decorations are very special to me and really make me smile when I unwrap them.

Thirteen Thingsthat make me smile when I unpack my Christmas Decorations 1. This is my favorite of all my decorations. My mom gave this too me the year that Matthew was born. 2. This is another special decoration for me. A friend of mine gave it to me when we were living in Barbados and everytime I look at it I think of her. 3. Two of my nutcracker collection. I could never have too many of these. 4. 5. What can I say, I was a hockey mom for a few years. 6. Every year as soon as these hats are out, the boys wear them everywhere ... Cameron even wore it to Church! 7. My Santa collection. I have a lot of these too. 8. 9. The boys' stockings 10. 11. This is Cameron's village. He loves this and sets it up every year. And then spends the season changing it around constantly. 12. Enough said. 13. I have a few glass ornaments that I love. My sister, Joanne, gave these too me when I was getting married. They are special to me. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. Becky 2. Cindy 3. Gina 4. Susan Helene Gottfried 5. Bubba 6. Lunastone 7. Joely Sue Burkhart 8. Dane Bramage 9. Tony 10. Marisa 11. Laurie

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Saturday night was John's work party. As usual I wasn't looking forward to it. I have to go out and buy a new dress (one which will only be worn once or twice) and all the accessories to match. Then I spend a couple of hours getting myself all dolled up. This is the one and only night of the year in which I can really dress up like a girl. After fighting the traffic into the city I have to spend the evening making small talk with a group of people that I don't really know. The dinner part isn't too bad, but once the dancing starts and the music is turned up, it's hard to talk to anyone.

This year it was very different. A couple of weeks ago, the company found out that the new company that recently purchased them is planning on moving the entire operation to Dallas. Most of the people will be out of work. John was asked if he would consider going to Dallas but we can't make that kind of move at this point in our lives. Matt only has one year after this one in high school and his school is wonderful at meeting any and all his needs. I know that there's no way we would find a school for him that would equal what he has. Spencer is also loving high school at the same school and is thriving musically, socially, and academically. We're not worried, however, because John will be able to find employment easily in his field. What we are hoping for is that he will get a package right before the summer and he will take two or three months off over the summer.

The mood at the party was pretty low-keyed, as you can imagine.

December Photo Challenge

Due to the business of the month, let's keep this one simple. Take a photo of Christmas lights in some shape or form. Can be with people or without, but try to be creative.

Post your photos by the end of the month.

Who's in?

Photo Challenge a little late.

I'm a little late posting my photo for this past month's challenge. The challenge was to do a self portrait. It couldn't be of yourself, however, but of an object that symbolizes who you are. It took me a while to figure out what object to use, and this is what I came up with:



This is my front door. I feel that this symbolizes so much of who I am. As a stay-at-home-mom, my life revolves around what is on the other side of this door. My family. Inside this door rest all my hopes and dreams. My dreams are to raise my boys to be the men that God wants them to be, and my hopes are that I can be the mother that they need to become wonderful men.

Through this door I strive to make my home a sanctuary where each member of our family can recharge weary spirits after being on the outside of the door all day. The door, much like myself, can provide some shelter from the harsh conditions outside.