2008 - A Year of Change

I'm just going to round out the old year with a thought or two of what has happened over this past year. This has definitely been a year of change not only for our family but many others I know. From jobs to families and health to almost every other aspect, 2008 has been a year to remember.

I know within our family the grandkids count has either doubled or tripled... depending on which side of the family you are talking about. My Brother-in-law and his wife were blessed with the birth of their first son Noah on Mother's Day weekend, and within 17 days of his birth he was facing what we hope will be known as the most serious days of the rest of his life, as he had open heart surgery, thankfully he has since recovered fully and is doing wonderfully well.

We were also blessed with the birth of our second son David days before his granddad's birthday in July and he has helped to brighten our days ever since.

I have made many new friends this year because of David and I am grateful for the new friends, and I look forward to the years ahead to learning more from all my friends, both new and not-so-new.

Many of my other friends have also had changes over the past year, some good and others not so good. Changes of jobs and job titles and again additions to the family, or family loss. Thankfully this year it seems there have been more additions than losses, but I have known many more years of loss than additions, so it all somewhat evens out in the end I suppose.

My new Year's wish to each and everyone of you reading this is for a year of peace and well-being and a year of growth in yourself and of those around you. I hope your ups be greater than your downs and gains out number your losses and for 2009 be better than 2008.

Take care my friends and I look forward to talking to you all again in the near future.

Merry Christmas!

Well, the hustle and bustle and wrapping paper flying has settled for now. Alun cleaned house on presents and David didn't do too badly either. Wow, who knew he would have such a plethora of gifts this year. I got the digital keychain photo holder I've been wanting since back in September, and again I didn't get my Kitchen Aid stand mixer, but I guess that is going to be one of those items I'll be wishing for for a few more years. I mean I've only been wanting it now for over 15 years, what's a few more right? Hopefully I'll have it before a full 20 goes by.

Daddy Alan got a compound mitre saw with laser guide, he's been wanting one of those now for a few years. David didn't get a whole lot of things, but he's young enough that he doesn't really need anything right now, he'll 'need' more later and we'll make sure Santa knows.

All in all things went very well for us this year, David is napping and we are trying to keep Alun out of all the wrapping paper and noisy toys while he naps.

With luck the weather will hold up and we will be able to go and visit the rest of the family tomorrow. Currently we are supposed to be getting snow in the morning and it changes to rain later in the day, Saturday going up to +11?!? can that be for real that is insane for this time of year but 25-35mm of rain goes with that... who cares it gets rid of all this snow!

Anyway, Alun wants me to play some games with him and I promised I would, I better get off the computer for a while.

Snow, snow and more snow

Today I didn't dare venture out, we had quite the snow storm today. I'm not sure how much snow we have as I write, but I do know that Alan went out a few times today to see with his tape measure how much we had and the last time I remember him saying we were almost 1 foot of snow in less than 24 hours. Alan used the snow blower yesterday morning while I had the boys at the early years centre for crafts and treats to occupy us so Alun wouldn't be trying to 'help' daddy and end up in the way, and possibly in the snow blower. As much as I would like to see Daddy Alan go to work tomorrow, as it would help on the pay cheque, I won't be able to snow blower with the boys in the house, and I most certainly won't snow blower with both of them outside with me either. I will need to have Alan home so that any snowblowering can be done safely and effectively. Maybe I'll get him to watch the boys while I play outside.

On a happy note, I've been wrapping a few presents every night and adding them to the presents under the tree, at this rate I MIGHT get everything wrapped in time for Christmas Eve Wednesday night. At last count I still had about 14 presents to wrap, but I did 3 tonight, so I SHOULD only have 11 more. Batman (a.k.a. Alun) over by the Christmas tree checking out the gifts.

8 of them are for 'the boys' so they are little more bulky, but the rest are quite small and should take no time at all. I just hope I can find enough time between now and Boxing day to get my mom's present completed, it's taking more yarn than I had originally planned on, I'm working on ball of yarn #2 right now and by the looks of it, it will take at least another 1/2 ball of yarn to complete. I was able to get almost 1 full ball of yarn crochetted while travelling last weekend, so with luck I can get to the point where I am ready to attach ball #3 and work on it while travelling for dinner with the rest of the family later this week.... if the weather co operates and we are actually able to drive. The weather network is calling for snow, rain, then snow again, then rain/snow mix then more rain over the up coming week. We are supposed to be playing peek-a-boo with the freezing point all week, some days we are above freezing for a few hours, and others are almost there but not quite. Rather annoying as we don't know if it will be safe enough for us with everyone else on the roads for us to venture out. I guess only time will really tell.
Time to get the coffee maker ready for tomorrow and to make sure that Alan's work clothes in the dryer are actually nice and dry for him tomorrow morning (if he goes to work)I would hate for his pants or sweater to still be slightly damp.

Santa Calus Parade

Well, tonight was the Santa Calus parade for our town, it was quite nice and the snow falling was a nice added bonus. Much better than the cold wind we had last year.
Alun fell asleep on the couch at 5:00 and David was sleeping by 6:30, so I left daddy in charge of watching the boys and I went out to see the parade myself.
I know Alun would have wanted to have seen the cement mixer 'dressed up' like rudolph. I snapped a picture on the cell phone and I'll see if I can transfer it over. It was neat.
Earlier today I had an Epicure party, and for 5 or 6 attendees I think it went over quite well. I have to collect 2 more orders before I find out if I had enough sales to qualify as a 'party' I hope I did, but I had fun having it over here regardless. Perhaps next time I can have it on a weekend that does seem to work for everyone.
Anyway, I have to get to bed while I can, Alun has been waking me through the night again lately, and then he wakes me super early in the morning.