Two posts in one day!

After only making one post in January, here is my second post of the day!

Finally, Maddy has somewhere to sleep during the day. Our new couch was delivered today.  It arrived this morning from Brantford (Sleep N Comfort is the name of the company). The full leather couch was made in Winnipeg (Palliser). It has a table in the middle and mechanical recliners on both ends.

Slightly smaller than our old couch

...with the table down.

Maddy is not happy about winter

Although our winter has been snow free for the most part, we finally got a good storm on Sunday night. Maddy was definitely not impressed when we told her that she had to go out before bed.

"I am NOT going out there!"

We had to shovel out the door so she would even consider going out. As it was, she only went 2 feet, did what she needed to do, then jumped back to safety.

Overnight, the storm raged. The wind blew and it was almost assured that Monday would be a snow day. The kids (and I) were not disappointed. Wendy, however had to go to work, so Adam got out the snowblower for the first time this year and did the driveway. Maddy again was faced with her nemesis at the back door. 

Not quite so afraid, she waited for me to shovel a path

With over a foot of snow in the back yard, Parker had to make a racetrack set of paths/tunnels for Maddy to have a place to run. Although it works for her, when she goes outside we can't see her when she is "in the zone" since the snow banks are too tall.

The snow drifted quite a bit out front, so it seems it will be sticking around for a while. We are expecting more snow over the next few weeks, so it is finally not green everywhere.

At least we don't have to shovel this area...

How does one get a "boxer's fracture" at school?

Parker knows.  

And it is NOT a badge of honour. 

Thursday,  Parker was having his first bad day at school since grade 5 on Thursday. He was irritated at the world and another kid decided that this would be the perfect day to further irritate Parker. Bad choice on both parts. Parker ended up suspended until Monday, the other kid had a bloodied nose,  and Parker has a broken bone. 

Of course, he didn't really complain until after his hockey game this afternoon in which he smacked into the boards and had to come off the ice! 

No more piano, hockey, handwriting, etc. for at least 2 weeks, likely more...

I say he very much deserves it. 

We've finally cut the cord!

No, Adam hasn't moved out of the house.. today is the day that we have cut the "cable TV" cord.

After disconnecting one of the cable boxes in the late fall without anyone noticing, we decided that paying for cable TV was not a justifiable expense. We would periodically watch a few shows, but mostly on a computer several days after they were aired.  I would connect my laptop to the TV and all would be fine.

In the meantime, we are going to use our smaller screens as well as the Chromecast I've had for over a year. Soon, though, we are planning on getting an Android TV box to turn our TV into a Smart TV. This will give us far more options of what/when to watch the bigger screen in the house and will save us $75 per month!

Who knows, next time we Skype with family, your faces may appear in high def on our big screen TV. All things are possible in a post-cable world.

Someone who doesn't like hockey?

Apparently,  Maddy doesn't like hockey.

Last night and this evening we noticed that she would run into and hide in the closet during the World Juniors hockey games.

I wonder if it has anything to do with all the cheering...?

Well, at least it isn't Valentine's Day yet!

We finally put together our annual Christmas letter and, as usual, it was completed in January! We have now decided to call it our Year in Review, mostly to honour (hide) the fact that we don't usually get around to it until all the hustle and bustle of the new year has settled. Click on the link below the image to open the pdf file.

Click here to read our annual newsletter

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwZyqom6DVjOQ2dUYXgxdnB4SDg/view?usp=sharing

Although we didn't include it in our newsletter this year, just for fun Wendy decided to ask a series of questions of the kids that we had asked them 6 years ago for one of our previous Christmas letters. Check out their answers below:

	ADAM		PARKER
QUESTION	AGE 12	AGE 18	AGE 8	AGE 14
What is your favourite colour?	Blue & Yellow	Blue & Yellow	Blue	Orange
What is your favourite food?	Cookies	Wings	Ice Cream	Pizza
Where do you want to travel to?	Paris to see the Eiffel Tower	A Caribbean place to go Scuba Diving	Disney	Nowhere
How much money is a lot of money?	$1,000	$2,000	$51	$100,000
Who is your hero?	Stephen Hawking	Don't have one	Daddy	Frankie (A You Tuber)
How old is “old”?	50	55	57	46 (Mom's age)
What will you be when you grow up?	A pyrotechnic	An engineer of some sort	A policeman	I don't know
How old is "grown up"?	n/a	23	n/a	21

Interesting...

Happy New Year everyone!!

Spring has sprung!!!!....err, Merry Christmas...

After the stockings were stuffed on Christmas eve, I glanced at the thermometer before heading to bed. I don't think we have seen a Christmas eve temperature of 10.5 C before!

10.5 C on Christmas eve? Come on... this is Canada!

That clinched it. It was guaranteed to be a green Christmas this year. I sure hope we won't have to get out the lawnmower again. 

Haven't been posting much lately, but now I have the time off to putter on the computer and do a little stained glass. Below is a piece that I made for Wendy after we sold one to a good stained glass customer a few days before. 

Finished two of these just before Christmas

The next piece we are working on will be a large transom window for our friends. When I say large, I mean 64 inches wide.  It will take some time but we have designed the pattern and already have all the glass. Will post some photos when it is done.

Christmas itself this year has been a whirlwind. Although Wendy and I are both off until the new year, there was always something to do. Now that Christmas is over, things have slowed to a crawl and it is sometimes a little to quiet for us. 

Christmas tree 2014

Stockings all filled Christmas eve

Parker trying to keep his eyes open when my flash goes off...

...Adam trying not to have any expression at all...

...and Stanley, who does not mind smiling!

We opened presents in the morning at our house then packed up at 10:30 and did the same at Wendy's parents. Round 2 begins...

Maddy received a bone - seems to just be compressed dog food

Stanley and Wendy opening presents

Parker handed out presents to everyone

Adam didn't get much, except a car.

Yes, you read that correctly.  Adam didn't get as much as he usually does for Christmas because he will be getting his grandfather's car when he upgrades in the next few months. Adam had to do a long and involved treasure hunt and eventually got the news that his new GPS and bumper sticker would not really need to be installed in Wendy's car. 

Here is a link to an auto generated movie that Google made of Adam's treasure hunt. 

After a short time at home for some cooking and a nap, Adam drove us up to Mel and Murray's for more presents and a big Christmas dinner. Here is round 3...

I got some scotch glasses to go with some good scotch

Murray also got some liquids

Parker really wanted white hot chocolate - he got enough to last a year or two

Adam got Advanced Scuba lessons on the island of Roatan (in February)

Everyone got into the action!

As with every year, Wendy got a Coca Cola item!

Turkey dinner with family

Murray, the chef

More pictures to follow as the holidays continue!