Winter Holidays

 Well, we are into the last few days of our winter holidays. The kids are not looking forward to going back to school. We are all enjoying sleeping until sunrise and in some cases much longer and staying up late.
Dad took the two young ones up to the ski hill once so far. There has been some fresh powder in the last few days and they are itching to get back out there. Although with the mood swings mother nature has been having you can never be sure what its going to be like. Day before last it was raining at the top of hill.......not typical for end of December.

 Yahoo!!

I'm sure it won't be long before these two are following the other Kootenay ski kids down through the trees and over the jumps and drop offs. Yikes! a mothers night mare.

We all had a grand Christmas! We missed seeing everyone at the Manitoba gatherings and thought of you all even if we didn't chat with you. We also send love and well wishes to all our family and friends spread farther and wider especially all you in Ontario. We had a quiet close to home time. Played our two new board games (Killer Bunnies, and the Settlers of Catan) and feasted. The feasting however felt a little like over indulging but the feeling is starting to pass.

 Archery and snowforts...some more winter fun.

The house is plugging along. The dry wallers took most of the week off for Christmas but now are back at it. Terr and I have painted the back furnace/storage room. Today he's working on putting up shelving so we can start storing some stuff in there thus making some room in the garage for a work space.

Terry built a groovy bookshelf in the master bedroom. We will add some wood shelves as well. I am all about bookshelves, and books of course. Thank you my master builder husband.

We are off for a drive and perhaps a dip in a hot spring........St. Leon Hot spring.

Peace to you all.

Christmas Eve.....

Quiet country Christmas......beautiful snowy day.......nice family meal.......cookie baking and an evening skate.

Sweet dreams all!

Only Five More Days.........

Only five more days 'til Christmas.......that's the mantra around here. Terry and Julian picked a small tree from our yard. They tried to pick one that would be cut down by hydro or highways due to proximity to the road. They come along every once in awhile and mow the sides of the road down, judging by the mangled trees in the ditch by the road.
This little one is now our Christmas tree. Due to obvious lack of space we went small. It is quite lovely.

The dry wallers continue to tape the house this week. There isn't a lot else to do while that is happening. Terry has been taping closets and storage rooms leaving the large living spaces and ceilings to the professionals.

The kids were done school on the 16th and go back on the 2nd (I think). The downhill ski program starts on the 6th, they are looking forward to that.

Nik has a piece of art in some sort of show in Nelson. His art teacher picked out a couple of pieces from class and his was one. It is a painted teacup. I haven't seen it yet. When/if I ever do I will post a pic of it.

He has been spending time drawing quite a bit lately, well that and playing guitar and hanging out with his girlfriend!! This manages to keep him busy....although we do try to get him to work over at the house some. Its a bit like pulling teeth really.
The other two have been playing video games for the past few days. I finally broke out the Wii. I had told Julian to wait until Christmas holidays, and he certainly didn't let me forget. Yesterday we took a break and went toboganning up the hill from us. Julian's friend Freya has a crazy long luge like driveway...fun!!

 Ahhh.....the construction scrap bonfire. Always controversial.......I dislike burning scraps of plywood and OSB.....Terry dislikes the time and/or money to haul it away and dump it in a landfill. Guess who won the debate. The good part is that the house is all cleared out. I am finding it quite odd to walk through the house...it seems so much like being in the Sands.....until you look out the window.

We will try to post a couple more times over the holiday season. We will miss spending time with family but hope to have a cozy Christmas building some new traditions. We send lots of love to you all and wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas!

Concert Day

 Grandparents today's post is for you........well and all those Aunties and Uncles out there as well.  Today was the Christmas concert at the kids school. Julian's class sang The Giving Tree and Santa Claus is coming to town. They did an awesome job, very free form. There is no music program in this tiny school aside from what the teachers do with their class. This is a stark contrast  to our old school where the kids had a fabulously strict music teacher and program. No seriously she was/is very good.

Shasta's class  sang and danced to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. They choreographed it themselves. They also did a version of the 12 Days of Christmas. In their own student written version their teacher gave to them 12 horses running, 11 days of skiing,
10 sharpened pencils, 9 chubby penguins, 8 rubber chickens, 7 fries a frying, 6 red Ferraris, 5  g-o-l-d-e-n   c-o-o-k-i-e-s, 4 candy canes, 3 bags of candy, 2 chubby snowmen, and a text book in a plum tree.
All the kids did a great job and as always the Kindergartens stole the show forgetting the words and waving and calling out to their parents mid performance.

The school Christmas tree was decorated with handmade ornaments. One made by each child in the school. The snowman is Julians and the black and white one beside it is Shastas.
The PAC put on a fabulous table of sweets, coffee, tea and hot apple cider. The Gym was full and a good time was had by all.









If any computer savvy people have noticed I am still having a hard time figuring out how to manipulate these photos and text. They don't always seem to want to go where I want them to be. I am figuring it out as I go. I'm not going to win any design awards but I hope people are enjoying the content and keeping up with us in our new community.

Before we left for home there was some sliding on the ice slides in the school yard. The kids line up at recess and slide over and over again. Its nice to get some runs in without the line ups. There used to be crazy carpets at recess but I think they were presenting some safety issues, so now its bum sliding........feet first!!

Then its time to go home and get supper going cause Mom has a Threads Guild meeting tonight. Time to draw the winner for the Quilt Raffle and see what exciting events are coming up in the months ahead.
Pine Needle Baskets, Eco Dying India Flint style, Acid Dyeing Wool..........fun.

A Peek at Frog Peak

Well, another crazy busy week here with all kinds of goings on. Tuesday night was Nik's band concert at school....we forgot the camera but I found this pic at the school website.This picture isn't from the performance we saw.....they must have taken it during a rehersal.  I believe that's Nik in the back with the fedora on.
They sounded really great and the Stage band which is a jazz ensemble are planning to go to the  Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in February. If your into Jazz at all check out the link...the kids get to play and there are amazing jazz musicians playing as well. An awesome opportunity for young musicians.
Nik has two music teachers at the moment...one at school and one private. They both have such good things to say about him, how talented he is, how much they enjoy teaching him, and amazed at his age and where he could be in time, because he still has lots of it. Its nice to hear...proud mama.

The house has taken some great leaps this week. Drywall hanging has begun....and continues.

Laundry room

The rooms are looking smaller now that you can't see through all the walls. This and the first one are the kitchen. Terry built a funky curved bulkhead in the ceiling. He wants to build a curved island to match up to it.
We have a couple of drywallers working as well as Terry, Kenny, James and sometimes myself. hopefully the drywall will be all hung midweek and then the taping will start in earnest.

Terr and I have a bit of a cold this week. I have made some spicy garlic soup to battle it and am trying to get lots of sleep. I wish I didn't have to get up before the sun to get the kids ready for school. Can't wait for winter solstice. I think that is my favorite day of the year. Just knowing that the days are getting longer is bit of a relief.

Frog Peak

 Yesterday we went into Nelson to run some errands and actually begin some Christmas shopping. This was part of the view on the way. Frog Peak (Airy Mountain) There is a S'inixt legend about how the people were saved from starving during a harsh drought and winter thanks to Shawarakin, the frog. The mountain stands as a reminder that even the smallest of creatures can be very important in the big picture. Here is a link to the Frog Peak Story.
It was such a beautiful sunny day I was playing with the camera.

Didn't see any turkeys today.

This morning I got up and went to the local craft fare to sell raffle tickets. I am a member of the Threads Guild as I previously mentioned and every year they create something and raffle it off to raise money to keep the building we use warm and up kept. This year the item is a quilt. This is only the top portion, it is a full queen size. Looks like Frog Peak to me.

We draw the winner this Wednesday!

When I got home Terry and James were blowing insulation into the attic. I got to climb up the big scary ladder into the hatch and be the hose manager. Aside from stepping on the drywall and almost breaking into Shasta bedroom it was fun.

Now all the insulation is finished so our house is warm and toasty inside even though the furnace is not on  yet. We are using construction heaters at this point. The heating system is yet to come.

Well that's all for this time.....except for this crazy add we saw in the Pennywise this week that we had to share........

...........only in the Kootenays.

The Morning After......

Well its Monday and I am very tired......  I guess I'm too old to party anymore. My desire to feel good and energetic outweighs my desire to stay out late and overindulge.  Every once in a while though I have to go out and remind myself of why I choose to lead a quiet home centered existence. I had a lot of fun this weekend visiting and celebrating, hearing awesome musicians, making chocolate truffles and nibbling on the never ending supply of fresh pizza. Getting up this morning to get the kids off to school was a challenge and all day I have just wanted to curl up and nap, but alas there are things to be done. Can't wait until six o'clock cause I'm punching the time clock and hitting the couch.
Hope everyone else had a great weekend and a relaxing Monday.
Tracy