My Year in Review

We're coming to the end of yet another year. It seems that with the passing of every year that life just seems to move faster and faster. One of my goals this year is to try and figure out how to slow time down!

Anyway, here's my year in review:


January - Back in January, I followed Ali's lead and chose a word for the year. That word was EMBRACE. My goal was

This year I want to embrace life, and all is coming my way, good or bad. I want
to embrace my children for who they are and the challenges they have and help
them to be able to learn to embrace them too. I want to accept the things I
can't change.I want to embrace opportunites that come my way and not just sit
back.I want to embrace a healthier lifestyle (not always so easy for me).

So? How did I do this year? Ummmmm ... not the best. I think I did a better job at embracing my boys and celebrating who they are but I didn't take the time to stop and smell the roses. As far as my healthier lifestyle ... that went out the window somewhere around the summertime. Sheesh!

February - Another quiet month. I don't think a lot happened.

March - We went to Florida to spend time with my parents for the March Break.

April - I spent a weekend scrapbooking with some friends in Syracuse, New York.
-both us, and the school, have seen great progress in Matthew ... particularly in the socialization department. (since then, we have seen more strides and he has developed some friendships at school) -this would definately be a highlight for the year for me!

May - Spencer was enrolled as a Senior Soldier
-My laptop came to live with me
-we opened the trailer
-Spencer went on a band trip to Ottawa
-spent a weekend at the scrapbooking retreat
-my sister hosted a family reunion for my Dad's family.

June - we spent one night and two days celebrating Matt's 18th birthday in Niagara Falls. - this was another highlight of the year. It was a great two days!
-we went to the Blue Jays game for Father's Day
-spent some time at Jackson's point in the trailer

July - spent a lot of time at the trailer
-Junior Music Camp
-time at Tom's cottage
-spent a weekend in Detroit with the girls

August - Joanne accepted a job back in Ontario and started making plans to move back
-more time at the trailer
-spent a week with my guys in the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee -another highlight

September - spent a glorious week in Virginia Beach with 17 other addicted scrapbookers - another highlight. (and I got to spend some time with David while I was there.)

October - Thanksgiving with my family
-took Cameron and three of his buddies to Great Wolfe Lodge to celebrate his birthday
-Cameron made it into the Halton Junior Jazz Band
-Lisa (John's neice) got married to Doug in a beautiful ceremony at Hawkley Valley Resort
-sadly we had to close the trailer

November - ran my final scrapbooking retreat. (I will still be attending them, I just handed over the reigns to Pat and Carol ... I'm looking forward to being an attendee now)
- spent some time with my sisters in Kingston

December - a busy month as usual
-enjoyed a lot of family time

The year flew by but it was a good one. I spent a lot of time with family and friends (which is what I love to do most!)

Over the next year, I know things around here will start to change as we will be sending our first born off to post-secondary education. It will be a big growing experience for all of us ... and I know there will be many highs and lows that will come with the territory.

Happy New Year everyone. I hope it is a year filled with family, friends and good health.

Woosh! Was that Christmas that flew by?

Wow! What a whirlwind!

We had a great Christmas here. On Christmas Eve John's parents, my parents. my brother Rick, and my sister and brother-in-law all arrived. We spent a wonderful evening together and then everyone stayed over. (I love having a houseful on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.) The boys very happily gave up their rooms to our company as they love having everyone there.

On Christmas morning I had to get up at 6 a.m. to get the turkey in the oven (I use the cook-from-frozen, pre-stuffed kind.) After it was in the oven, I sat with a cup of tea, in front of the fireplace with the lights on. The house was so silent. Cameron and John were the first ones up ... and they weren't up until about 8 a.m. By the time everyone else was up and ready to open presents it was after 8:30.

The boys were thrilled with their gifts. I think Santa did a good job this year.

The rest of the day was spent breaking in all the new items that were opened that morning, reading instruction manuals, charging up batteries, and checking out each other's gifts.

On Boxing Day we usually head to my parents' house in London to have my family Christmas, but due to all the snow that had fallen and the road conditions, we ended up hosting it at our house. So, for the third day in a row, we had a houseful and we loved it. It was another great day spent with all my family. I really missed not having both Stephen and David and their families there, though.

Saturday I woke up with a huge back ache (too much activity I guess). We packed up and went to London to spend the weekend with my parents before they head off to Florida for three months. It was a perfect way to end our celebrations as it was a nice quiet couple of days.

Anyway, I guess I've been a very good girl this year because look what Santa brought me.

Yes, I got my ipod touch! ...and this thing is even cooler than I thought it was. I've been having so much fun playing around with it. The coolest thing is that it is WiFi so I can hook up to the internet with it and surf the web anywhere that I can pick up a wifi connection. Now I can check up on blogs and other sites while I'm trying to kill time while waiting around for the boys.

OK, time for bed now! I have a lot of sleep to catch up on!

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas!

My brother, David, posted a blog challenge to post two pictures of our Christmas. The first one I saw on the two peas site and knew I had to do my own version.


Wishing you all Peace on Earth and a Silent Night!

A Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY (December 22)...
Outside my window...

I am thinking...

of how much I need to get done in the next three days to get the house ready for company.

I am thankful for...

that we have wonderful family to be able to share the Holidays with. I know we are very blessed.

From the Scraproom ...

I haven't been able to make it in there in a while. I'm looking forward to getting in there once Christmas is over.

From the kitchen...

I really wish I was more into baking. It's not something I enjoy doing, but I always enjoy eating it. I don't mind cooking, however, and love trying out new recipies.

I am wearing...

My PJs. I love wearing my PJs.

I am creating...

a big mess. The more I try and clean the house, the bigger the mess I seem to be making. How does that happen?

I am going...

Spencer has a piano concert tonight. It should be interesting as all the kids are advanced players (some being on the concert circuit) and he's not as confident as he used to be. It's a good experience for him.

I am reading...

A new book I bought. It's called "Photo Shop Elements 7: The Missing Manual". It's really making it a lot easier to understand Photo shop. Photo shop scares me!

I am hoping...

that there's no snow fall on December 24th so that family can get here safely.

I am hearing...

the weather report.

One of my favorite things...

my quiet time at the beginning of the day. I love to sit have have my breakfast and a cup of tea with my lap top and check out all my favorite sites and blogs. It's a little piece of Heaven before I start running around.

A few plans for the rest of the week:

tonight is Spencer's piano concert

tomorrow I have a Christmas party with my scrapping friends.

Tomorrow night we will be doing our family present wrapping party. The boys always look forward to it.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday will be celebrating with family.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing... why does this seem like yesterday?

http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

OK, I'm not one for laughing at other people's misfortunes, but you gotta watch this and if you can watch it through a couple of times without laughing, then you're good. The announcers will make sure that you're in stitches!
(thanks Ian for posting this to my facebook page. It had me in stitches.)

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things that will be under our tree on Christmas morning 1. A TV set for an 18 year old in this house (he will be very surprised!) 2. a world war II video series for same 18 year old. (I have a feeling we won't be seeing him much on Christmas Day. 3. A video gaming chair 4. An iPod nano 5. a telescope 6. an astronomy book 7. some hoodies 8. Axis and Allies board game 9. Wall-E DVD 10. The Dark Knight DVD 11. Blade Star (some kind of flying toy) 12. an iPod touch (please, please, please Santa. I've been a very good girl this year!) 13. The cat (assuming we leave him his favorite spot open under the tree.)

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We've been Elfed!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

The Simple Woman's Daybook

Here's a fun weekly meme I found in the blogging world. It's the same questions everyweek and done on Monday. I thought I would join in this week as I really don't have much on my mind right now. (and that's a good thing!)



FOR TODAY December 15th, 2008
Outside my window...
It is dark right now. There isn't any snow on the ground which isn't making it feel a lot like Christmas time.

I am thinking...
that life doesn't get much better than this.

I am thankful for...
time that I get to spend with my family.

From the kitchen...
I love cooking for my boys. No matter what I make they always make me feel that I'm the best cook on Earth. They always devour their food and eat every morsel. It's great having teenage boys.

I am wearing...
Yoga pants (not that I do yoga in them) and top. I love being comfortable!

I am creating...
a Christmas time that will last for years to come with great memories of wonderful family time (at least, that's what I'm trying to create for my family.)

I am going...
to spend the day with some wonderful friends tomorrow. First I will scrapbook with my scrapping buddies, and then I will be going for dinner with a couple of more friends.

I am reading...
absolutely nothing.

I am hoping...
that time slows down for the next couple of weeks so I can savour every moment.

I am hearing...
Matthew's laughter coming from my scrapbook room as he watches videos on you tube. I love his gut-busting laughter. No one else in the house can laugh like he can.

Around the house...
it's finally getting a good cleaning. I've had to neglect this poor house over the last couple of weeks as I tried to get all my shopping done. Now that it's done, I can get everything back into order ... now if it could just stay that way!

One of my favorite things...
right now is listening to Christmas music on one of my favourite radio stations.

A few plans for the rest of the week:
basically just getting ready for company over Christmas, and getting the presents wrapped.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...
(this is what I wish it looked like outside right now.)


If you want to join it, go HERE

I'm done!

Yay! I'm finally done my Christmas shopping! After two days of shopping last week and four days shopping this week, I can now say I'm done.

However, the boys still need to go out and do their's. Tomorrow we have to stay in Toronto after Church as we have the Carol and Candles service at 4. We'll kill time by going to Walmart so they can shop. Every year we do this and it's a nightmare! The Walmart down there is always wall to wall people! Wish us luck!

All I have to do now is to wrap the presents, clean this poor neglected house, and shop for groceries (which is a never ending task for me!)

I'm so happy!!!! I might actually get to spend some time in my scrapbook room next week!

I'll leave you with another recent layout. I love this series of pictures I captured of Spencer last summer. He doesn't know how to "pose nicely" for pictures so I love it when I can actually capture a natural moment and his real personality.

Thirteen Things that are sitting on my desk right now 1. My planner 2. picture cds from our trip out to Calgary two and a half years ago (I was looking for a picture the other day) 3. plastic dividers from a container that I purchased at Ikea last week. 4. Four Chatelaine magaizines that my mother brought to me last week (not sure if I will actually have time to sit and look through them.) 5. Two pairs of earings that someone gave my mother and she passed them along to me (she doesn't have pearced ears) 6. a container of paper scraps (Ummmmm .... I think that has been there for a while!) 7. Photoshop Elements 7 that John gave me for my birthday that I haven't gotten around to installing on my laptop yet. (I wonder how long that will take me ... I think I'm secretly afraid of photoshop) 8. My laptop case. 9. Some paint I just picked up for scrapbooking. (of course, I just had to have it!) 10. A new laser ruler that I've been looking for and couldn't find anywhere. My friend found it for me. (I actually had a chance to try it out. It's pretty cool.) 11. The packaging from said ruler. 12. a desk lamp. 13. a calculator. Hmmmm ... I think it's time to clear off my desk! So What's on your's?

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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! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Ignor me while I rant a little!

Every time I go to a school concert I come out shaking my head. It's all very well done. It's all sweet. The Grade 1s get up and do an adorable rendition of something followed by the dance club (made up mostly of the younger kids). The Grade 2s perform, the Choir performs, and the grade 3s perform. We all ooooh and aaaaah, and remark at how cute it all is. Then, finally, the school band performs (made up of grade 7 and 8 students.) I look around the gym to see it a quarter full ... when it started out packed with many parents standing in the aisles and at the back as there weren't enough chairs. You see, the parents get up and leave as soon as their own child is finished performing so that by the time the band plays, most of the parents have left. ARGGGGGG!

I know people are busy. I know little ones need to get home and into bed, but really! Would it really make that much difference to stay for another 15 minutes more to support a music group that spends hours, and hours practising. These students are at school at 7 a.m. twice a week to rehearse, and give up a nutrition break twice a week for the same thing. They take their instruments home to practise their parts.

I really feel bad for the music teacher who has dedicated soooo much time, money, and effort into creating a great music programme for the kids. Yesterday, he was at school by 7 a.m. for a practise. After a full day of teaching, he had to rush off to Burlington for a Halton Junior Jazz Band rehearsal (board run, but he volunteers his time to direct the band). The rehearsal was from 4 - 6. Then he had to rush back to Oakville, to the school, for the school's Christmas concert which started at 7. After all that, 3/4 of the parent population leave the concert before the band even played! ARRRRRRGGGGG!

OK, rant over.

The Meeting

Yesterday I went to the meeting at school to go over Cameron's informal IEP. As I posted in an earlier post, Cameron was tested three years ago and there was nothing that they could identify as a learning disability. This year, however, with increased demands in the writing department, he is really having a lot of struggles so his teacher and the SERT (special education resource teacher) have taken his name to the school team and he now has an informal IEP. (informal due to the fact that he isn't identified.)

The meeting was very effective ... just what school meetings should be like. Everyone was on the same page and working towards making things easier for Cameron so that he can shine academically.

So, Cameron officially has some accomodations to help him with the writing aspect of school. He is to have access to a computer, he's allowed extra time for copying, increased task completion time, notes will be photocopied (or scribed for him) so he doesn't have to try and copy them himself, his writen work can be done on the computer, he can present things orally when appropriate (instead of writen form), and he will have reduced writen demands in his output.

All of this will go a long way to ease the frustration and difficulty that he has been experiencing whenever he has had to put pen to paper.

The best part is that the Occupational Therapist will be writing a prescription (to the school board) so that he will be provided a laptop. The laptop will be his and will go with him as he moved up in grades. Funny thing is that he doesn't want it as he feels that kids will think he's "dumb" but he started to feel better when his brothers were green with envy when they found out that Cameron was going to be getting one.

...the laptop will take something like 8 months (from when the script is written) to come so we have lots of time to work on the keyboarding skills.

Well, I'm off to start a very busy weekend. I'll leave you with a recent layout that I did. (I still need to write in the journaling.)

Thursday Thirteen - Random thoughts

Thirteen Random Thoughts bouncing around my head

1. I can't seem to focus my brain enough this morning to figure out a good topic for Thursday Thirteen.

2. I officially started my Christmas shopping yesterday. I spent a few hours going from store to store, crossing items off my list. I was pretty successful. Now I just need to find somewhere to hide the loot so that certain people around here don't "stumble" across them over the next few weeks. It's getting harder and harder finding good hiding spots.

3. Why are teenagers so hard to get out of bed! (Ok, I do know why .... but, why me??) There has to be an easier way than yelling!

4. My Parents will be over this afternoon. Tonight we have a Christmas party to go to with my brother, Ricky.

5. Yay! I actually get to dress up like a girl today! I get to shed my jeans, do my hair, put on some make-up and jewelry, and some heals. (I hope I don't fall off my heals and break my ankle!)

6. John's Christmas party is this weekend so that means I get to dress like a girl two days this week.

7. I don't enjoy going to his Christmas parties. I know, I'm bad. I'm an introvert and so I find it very difficult sitting at a table for two hours, talking to people I don't know ... making small talk. The thought of the reception before hand, and having to mingle around, is really making me nervous!

8. Apparently I have too much time on my hands. I really hate it when someone tells me that! We all have the same amount of time people, we just choose to use it differently. In the same vane I really hate it when someone says "It must be nice to have the time to do that". Again, it's a choice! We all make time for the things we love to do!

9. I'm so happy right now as Matt has been making some friends at school and has gone out after school with them to get something to eat. (this is a big deal in the life of someone who has a disorder that makes relating to others very difficult ... he has Nonverbal Learning Disorder.) He's even been texting with a girl!

10. Still on the Matthew front, he has some direction for next year (finally, whew!) He's interested in taking a chemistry programme at Seneca. This is a huge step for him. Now we can start to move forward.

11. Cameron got his report card yesterday. We were pleased with what we saw. I'm looking forward to the parent/tacher interview tomorrow when we will be discussing the accomodations for him. He's been working so hard both at school and at home.

12. We went to see Four Christmases last weekend. I love movies where I can laugh a lot ... and I did. It was very funny.

13. I seem to be having a hard time finishing the decorations for Christmas. I got the tree up, the main floor decorated. Now I need to put the tree up in the basement family room and decorate that room and hang some garland outside. An hour's worth of work and I'd be done, but I can't get motivated.



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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! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Busy Season is now upon us!

I know a lot of my family know what December means in the life of a Salvationist ... and more specifically a member of a Salvation Army Band.

Let me share a glimps, for the rest of you. Tonight, actually in two hours, we will all head into Toronto in our uniforms with our instruments in our hands, to play for two hours at Sunnybrook hospital. While there we will be visiting a lot of different hospital wards to play and deliver some little gift bags. Thursday is band practise night (although this week we won't be making that as we have a conflict on three accounts). Saturday we will be heading into Toronto to play on the Christmas Kettles at Yonge and Eglinton. Sunday we will be playing at Church in Toronto, then we need to rush to Guelph for a family Christmas, and then rush back into Toronto to play at a Christmas concert at a United Church. That will end week one of our December.

It's just beginning ... but I love it. There's just something about playing at this time of the year. It really is special ... and I love that all five of us share in this together.

On a scrapping note, I have unpacked my stuff and set up my room again. I have started spending more time scrapping at home and I'm loving it! Here are a couple of recent layouts. These layouts are from a family reunion last May. I love the pics in the second layout. Matt was showing his little cousin how to play his game. He picked her up and put her on the chair with him and the two of them sat quietly chatting and sharing a special moment together.