Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has a great Christmas!

O Christmas Tree!

We had a fantastic time decorating. Simeon was a great helper and Felicity offered little coos of advice as she watched us.
Simeon thought that my blue and silver theme was a little too snobby and insisted on putting a red one in there. It was a nice touch (but I immediately took it down when he wasn't looking - I guess I am a snob!)

Snow days

Simeon LOVES the snow. The first time he went out this year he shuffled around the yard for about 10 minutes making little trails.Felicity would have joined in the fun, but she was busy having a staring contest with hippo.Today was another beautiful snowy day; flakes gently falling to the earth. Perfect weather for picking out our Christmas tree!! We turned it into quite a quest, I think we looked over every tree on the lot. But behind us is the beaut we decided on:Sean cut it down while Simeon acted as supervisor. It's in our living room thawing out and we're going to have a little decorating party tomorrow. Can't wait!

Birthdays

November has a busy couple of weeks in it for my family. Simeon's birthday is followed by mine (Ruth) and then my mother's. So it's only now that I'm starting to get in the Christmas spirit - who can think about Christmas when you've got two weeks of cake and ice cream???
This year's celebrations were fantastic. My parents hosted Simeon's birthday so all I had to do was make a cake and for my birthday we went to our friend's place for supper - easy peasy :) My parents and sister came over and let me do mom's birthday which was a lot of fun. I love playing the host and hopefully she enjoyed a meal that she didn't have to prepare herself.
Sean gave me a shopping trip to Ten Thousand Villages' annual sale. That's what we did last year as well and I'm a big fan of the tradition.
I'm so glad that my birthday falls in November because (I will finally admit) November is probably the most miserable month of the year - March is strong competition. It usually has terrible calendar photos because even professional photographers can't find anything worth shooting. BUT when you've got presents and great food to look forward to; the weather doesn't matter so much. And once the Great Birthday Bonanza is over and the dust has settled: Wham! It's Christmas season and everybody's happy again.
I apologize since I know this doesn't help you, but try to find your own silver lining to November. It really is a great month. You just have to look a bit harder.
Simeon, of course, wasn't pondering any of this. He just wanted to dig in to his cake!

He was very enthusiastic about blowing out his candle, in fact we had to relight it because he did it as soon as the cake was set down. I guess he wanted dessert.My oldest sister was home for a visit and Simeon got to see his cousins, who were very good at showing him how to rip into those presents. 3 years old!

Catching up on holidays

As promised (almost a month ago) here are a couple pictures from Thanksgiving. We got to spend time with both our families and enjoyed VERY yummy meals. At the Carroll's everyone went for a canoe paddle before dinner. Here's Simeon trying to look busy while everybody else is unloading the gear.He had a great time skimming his fingers through the water - while Grampy did all the paddling. He's a smart boy.

This year was the first time that Simeon went trick-or-treating. He only went to a few houses but made out like a bandit none the less. He was pretty good about saying "trick or treat" but his favourite part of the routine was giving everyone a big ROAR! After all, he is a very scary lion. Felicity was dressed as either a duck or a chicken, her costume was a bit ambiguous but she looked pretty darn cute whichever she was.
We had some of Sean's students come to our door and they were intensely disappointed when I answered the door. I explained that Sean had our son out and they'd probably meet him up the street when I spotted Sean heading back to the house. They turned around and (no joke) started screaming "Mr. Carroll, Mr. Carroll!!!!". I had no idea that I was married to such a rock star lol.

A good day.

I started off with an early morning walk before Sean had to leave for work - which meant before the sun came up. Yikes! Winter is coming! Anyway, after a shower I did my homework from the bible study I joined last night. Then a miscellany of housework and childcare stuff and then... here it comes... YARDWORK! It might sound dorky but I'm very excited that I burnt a bunch of scrap wood that Sean's been piling up in the crawl space. He's still working on insulating down there and has been fixing a bunch of small things that are cropping up - it has turned into a much bigger project than he anticipated. But it's going into the home stretch now (we think) and I've been pretty bummed that I haven't contributed at all. So here was my big chance :) I got a fire going in our firepit out back and bye bye wood.
I took some time out for bubbles and a photo-op, of course. Who could say no to these faces?
Gotta go make supper! Will post some thanksgiving pictures soon. Hope you all had a great one.

Apple Picking

Two Sundays ago we went apple picking on the Kingston Peninsula with some friends. We had a fantastic time and it was a perfect day for it. It was nice to get some nice pictures of the kids as well as some fruit.Simeon was a great helper, Felicity felt a little overwhelmed at times : )After the orchard we headed off to a country store to pick out some pumpkins.Simeon looked high and low until he found the perfect one. Felicity and I were happy to leave the search in his capable hands.And to end the day we stopped in at an Anglican church with an interesting 2-tier pulpit.Does anyone know what the purpose of the 2 levels are? I've been told that Catholic churches sometimes have two pulpits on opposite sides of the sanctuary, one being for visiting Bishops, etc. to preach from, but this was an Anglican church and the second pulpit was eye level with the balcony. Just curious.

Hope that you're enjoying the fall and have a happy thanksgiving!

Words fail me...

So last night we checked on Simeon (who I'd put to bed hours earlier) before we went to bed. And this is what we found:

Who sleeps standing up?

It's important to keep those lions out.

Sean was under the house again today just trying to get to the point where he can do the work he originally intended to do. Thankfully he had his supervisor to keep him on track. No, not me. Simeon was there to make sure Sean did a good job sealing up some new mouse-sized holes he found. Or as Simeon put it: "Fill the hole daddy. Don't let the lions get in." I guess the lion population is something to consider before moving to Saint John.After Simeon was satisfied with Sean's progress he took a break for some well-deserved playtime. He loves to "climb" the apple tree in out backyard - he's a whopping 2 feet off the ground in this picture, but well pleased with himself nevertheless.Felicity woke up from her nap and wanted to hang out with her brother for a bit. And get a few cuddles too.She's been cooing a lot more lately, maybe telling her well-intentioned bro she needs some personal space?And we finished off the day with a bath. Going to church tomorrow to see all her peeps!

Busy bee

Well, Sean has been either at work or under the house for the last couple weeks. He's trying to get the crawl space insulated before the cold weather hits and once he got working down there one project turned into several. But he's made a lot of progress. The old, ratty, useless insulation has been removed, a few wiring/pipe issues have been taken care of, the rotten support posts have been replaced and the pipes have been insulated. Not too bad in my opinion.
All that's left is to put vapor barrier down on the floor and put insulation up, which a friend has very kindly offered to help with. I confess that there isn't really a point to this post other than to brag about my husband, but I think he deserves it. After the supper dishes are cleared away I generally feel like my work for the day is done. I don't think I'd be too eager to crawl under the house to work after I just got done my other job.
But I'm sure glad he doesn't feel the same way. It'd be a cold winter if he did :)

Renos!

Well, we've finally got some projects completed....mostly.

The garage was the first thing we tackled this summer. Before and after.

We wanted to paint it to match the house - painting was very hot work for a very pregnant lady, but Sean did the high parts and it was definitely worth the effort.

Next up was getting rid of the stump in the middle of our lawn. When we moved in there was a maple tree in the backyard, which I loved - until I found out that it was half rotted. So down it went! (Thanks to mom and dad for all their hard work, expertise and equipment) Sean decided to burn the stump out as that is easier, and less destructive, than digging it up. So up went a makeshift furnace and cue the flames:Now we just need to spread some topsoil, plant grass seed and hopefully next summer the stump will just be a distant memory.And now Felicity's room! Here's the before:

Sean took out the ceiling because it had that swirly plaster deco going on and it was also in pretty rough shape. Kevin came over to help Sean put up new drywall - a testament to the generosity of friends as it was a difficult, messy job and that's probably his boat calling saying: "Seriously, drywall? You do know the sun is shining right?"As well, Sean took out the rickety closet, the ugly carpet, the warped baseboard and made a sad little room into a top notch nursery. We went with a Beatrix Potter theme.

Sean still has to build a closet next to the crib and I have to make curtains and order a few more prints to hang on the other wall, but we're really happy to have the furniture moved in and the dust cleared out :)Thanks Krista for letting me copy your paint colour, thanks Angelique for helping us get the paint on the walls and thanks Simeon for being daddy's supervisor.

Working hard

Sean has been working day and night, literally. When he comes home from work he's been heading upstairs to finish the nursery and his efforts are really paying off. He's installing the baseboard as I type and hopefully we'll have pictures to show you soon! I'm looking forward to having the furniture back in the room and not piled out here in the office all around me.
Sean's parents and brothers were here on Sunday afternoon for a visit. Simeon loved having the boys to play with and Grammy and Grampy were only too happy to hold Felicity at every opportunity.
Grammy even got a smile or two. At this point they're probably due to gas, but they still look just as cute.We'll be posting more when the nursery gets finished. Maybe in the next couple days! Can't wait!

Anchors away!

Last weekend was beautiful - especially on the water. Saturday a friend of ours kindly invited us out on his boat and the next day Sean's uncle had Sean and Simeon out on his boat! (Felicity and I opted to stay home for some quiet time.)
Suffice it to say, it was an AWESOME couple of days. We took a few pictures on Saturday just maxin' and relaxin' on the motorboat.We stopped at Crystal Beach where Sean came up with his horror movie idea: Attack of the Mutant Baby!Apparently Simeon is trying out for the "terrified bystander" role.Coming soon to a theatre near you.

Felicity

In case you haven't heard- we've got a little girl living with us now. She's been here since July 22nd, 1:29pm and weighs 9lbs, 1oz. She's been a pretty good house guest. Doesn't take up too much space and tends to sleep a lot. :)
Simeon is adjusting very well. He's very gentle with her and doesn't seem too jealous. However, he has had his Aunt Beth doting on him for the last few days, so we'll see if it's different when she's gone. It's been a HUGE help having Beth here and I can't say what a relief it's been to be able to focus on Felicity and not have to worry about meals and dishes, etc.
Tomorrow she'll be a week old and it'll just be our little family for the first time since her birth. A little nervous but also excited. The adventure begins....

Good meal, bad timing.

Yesterday I woke up to rain and fog and I thought "hey, the heat has finally broken - Sean would love a hot, hearty meal tonight". By 3pm it was 25 degrees and crazy humid ~ I had the best of intentions though :(
If it ever should cool off though I recommend Ham & Potato soup with a side of cornbread. I find it salty enough without adding the salt (b/c of the ham) and it's a great way to use leftover ham. According to online opinions it's not recommended to freeze ham unless you slice it very thinly and put paper towels in between each slice. Sounds to me like a lot more work than I'm willing to put into it. But I've found that you can cube it for quiches or soup like this one and it tastes great (and saves time).


Tonight though I'm going for bbq and a cool broccoli salad!

Our little guy is growing up!

About a month ago we bought bunk beds for Simeon. He had a great time building them with dad and he was a great help of course! LOL.

He wasn't too sure about sleeping in the bed the first night, but since then he's settled in and loves to stand at the top of the stairs every morning and announce with gusto: "I'm awake!"