November

November has been good, although it has gone by so quickly I am amazed.

We have had a good start on winter, with a fair bit of snow and other winter weather, but for the last week it has warmed up to above freezing and I find I am missing the colder temperatures. When it is colder, I don't feel so cold, I think it has to do with the moisture in the air, but the last few days I have been freezing!

We are feeling the Christmas season coming... it has been difficult not to go ahead and decorate for Christmas yet. It feels like Christmas with the white landscape.

We went to the Santa Claus parade one evening, which was fun, although THAT was cold. We have also been doing a lot of sledding and other snow sports... speaking of which, I find it very cool that Maria's school supplies sleds for the kids to play on at lunch time and they also have cross-country skis for the older grades... now I just have to convince them to let me use them!

But most of all, we are having fun and enjoying the winter... who would have thought?!?

Maria, Brock and Allan waiting for the Santa Claus Parade to begin

It Is Winter...

In every way except by the calendar!

We have had four more snowfalls since I last logged in here and the kids have enjoyed everyone of them. I haven't minded them either... now that I know my van will function just fine on the snowy/slippery roads, a lot of my apprehension about winter is gone. Shovelling has been WAY easier than on the coast since the snow is light and fluffy for the most part.


The part that hasn't been as much fun has been the freezing rain, apparently a common early/late winter occurrence up here... We have several times gone out to our van and found it encased in ice... it is almost impossible to scrape off the windows until the van has defrosted it... but first you have to try to get IN to the van to turn it on!


Anyhow, two snowmen later (we did get some snowman snow!) and several snow forts and sledding excursions later, the novelty hasn't worn off yet... mind you it is still warm enough that we can go out and play in it!

Guess What!?!

It snowed! We woke up this morning to about 4-5 inches of snow, and it was still snowing. The finest, smallest, flakes of snow... but it added up.

Maria's little fairies were too busy playing and forgot to hibernate for winter! My plants finally decided to pack it in too...

Hubby had a heck of a time coming home from work this morning, his truck is still a work in progress and the 4x4 part of it isn't hooked up. But my van did pretty well. I was concerned since my van was terrible last winter, to the point where we could not go anywhere if it was snowy or icy... and that just wouldn't do, living where we are now! So we got really good winter tires for it and so far, so good.

Later in the morning the snow had all stopped and the sun came out and it turned into a fabulously, beautiful day. The sun also helped to melt the snow down a fair bit, although not too much as I think the high temperature today was about -3! I shovelled the driveway, which seemed like a piece of cake with the sun shining, the snow light as feathers, and a paved driveway to boot! I am sure I won't be too thrilled with it come March, or April for that matter, but for now... it is good.

I don't think there is a square inch of snow left untouched in our yard... the kids has a BLAST!

I Am Now a Time Zone Away...

This part of B.C. doesn't follow the daylight savings time changes so I am now on Alberta time. Which on one hand feels a bit strange as my clocks are now different from all my family and friends on the coast.

However, for me personally it is excellent. I am horrible with time-changes. If I wasn't over-sleeping after the time changes, I had insomnia, my body just did not adjust well at all. One year I had plans to change all that and be organized and had my clocks set and ready to go, I went to bed early so I wouldn't sleep in - in the morning , I was prepared. So, I woke up in the morning and was all ready to go (I must have been 17) and I went to pick-up Michael in the morning for school... I was quite surprised to have his dad answer the door-bell in his housecoat and tell me that Michael was still asleep... I had changed my clocks in the wrong direction and was two hours early!

So, I am happy to not have to change my clocks for once... just forgive me if I call you and forget what time it is!

Hey, Wait a Minute!

Well, last night was Halloween... and it was FUN! BUT... the one thing I was not prepared for on Halloween up here, was RAIN. Snow, I was prepared for but I thought rainy Halloween's were a thing of the past. Well that is o.k. though because it was only drizzling and the kids had a blast.

My Beautiful Butterfly...

There were all the usual Halloween activities going on up here... parties in the kids classes (I made spiderweb cookies for Allan's class and helped out at the pool for Maria's class), and the costumes, trick-or-treating and of course the candy.

Spiderman explaining how he got his powers...

There was a little surprise for us too... the day before Halloween, upon opening the front door, there was a little package waiting for us. It was a pumpkin filled with some goodies and treats for the kids along with a poem. Basically a chain-letter, but a fun one. It advised us to anonymously leave small packages of goodies on two peoples door-steps on our street. You put a little ghost up on your door to let others know that you have already been "ghosted"... it was a lot of fun for the kids and to be honest, it was fun for Hubby and I too... It had everyone on our street guessing "who was it".

Our surprise package that we found on the front porch

Anyway, after the trick-or-treating and the following gorge-fest, we went up the street to a friends house to watch some fireworks and have a visit. We got home at about 10:30 and had kids who were exhausted and happy... what more could you ask for.

Happy Halloween!