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Coffee...best served free!

10 out of the last 14 days I enjoyed a large double double for free, compliments of McD's! Don't know if any of you were able to take advantage of the deal but if not you missed out! I saved myself $16.90 over the course of the two weeks. LOL! I love free stuff! Plus I really enjoy the coffee at McDonald's...i actually think it's better than Tim Horton's...and they give you more PLUS you don't have to deal with the ridiculous line ups they constantly have at Timmy's.

Now the deal is over and I'm going to try to drink the free coffee that's here in the office. We'll see how long that lasts!

Hope you all have a fantastic week...only 25 days until Christmas...yikes! I better get shopping!

Penny

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All Decked Out

Christmas season has officially arrived at our household! Today we spent the day pulling out our decorations and we set up the tree. This year we set up Scott's childhood tree...it's all covered in snowy fluff...it's quite pretty with the lights on and Christmas music playing.

We love christmas time! It's a great time to gather family and friends together and enjoy visiting...and of course delicious treats, too! Hard to believe how quick this year went. You blink, and the year is over and you're setting your resolutions and preparing your tax return...lol!

Enjoy the start of the holiday season. Hope you have the opportunity to spend quality time with those you love...and maybe even some time just for you!

Penny

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Snack time

Annika loves feeding herself...and she's getting so god at it! This morning's snack was yogurt and pear...and she did an awesome job of eating that little tub of yogurt!

Now my little helper and I are going to vacuum and wash the floors! Happy Friday all!
Penny

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Journey to Jamaica

Our journey started with a red-eye flight from Edmonton-Toronto. We thought initially it was a great time to fly since that's normally a time when we're all sleeping and so Annika would probably be exhausted and sleep the entire way, right? Errr...wrong. She was up pretty much the entire way! But she was pretty happy and not too badly behaved the whole way to Montego Bay. (It was a completely different story on the trip home!)



Annika hanging out with Aunty Sheri at the airport in Toronto!


















When we got to Montego Bay we were met with some serious wind, the tail-end of hurricane Thomas...boy was it windy and there were some real waves!


You can't tell how big the waves were...but they were pretty big!



Our home-away-from-home for the week



Splish-splashin with Daddy in the pool!
They had a spa section with warmer pools...these were the ones
Annika didn't mind playing in. The main pool was way too cold for her!




By the wedding day the winds had calmed down considerably,
as you can see in this picture...ahhh wouldn't it be nice to be there
on a day like today!?




Beautiful bride Vicki walking down to meet her groom

Gary waiting for his bride

The big exchange...

Signed and sealed - it's official!

Stroll on the beach as Mr & Mrs

Mommy & Annika hanging out

What a massive pool...pretty spectacular!

Life is good in Jamaica

Hubby taking it easy

What vacation is complete without a self-taken snapshot?!

Our family

She loved playing on the beach and having the waves come in over her feet

I love those little legs and sandaled feet

Daddy took off her sandals so she could play
in the sand and water with her bare feet

Wow...look at me go!

Waiting for the waves

Annika made a friend at the airport

And that's a quick look at some moments from our trip! We had a great time - it was so nice to be away for a while.

Now I'm off to warm up under a blanket with a cup of tea. It's cold here!! BRRRRR! I think I'm even colder looking at the pictures and remembering how beautiful it was just a couple weeks ago...

Stay warm all...
Penny

Excitement...and not the good kind!

What a weekend. Not only was it unproductive (I didn't get ANYTHING done) our poor little princess had a rough time. Thursday when I picked her up from dayhome she was running a fever and was feeling pretty yucky. Not sure if she was fighting something or maybe the fever was connected to her teething...but she had a rough couple days. She was pretty miserable Friday as well and I managed to see two tiny little teeth starting to work their way through. Soon she'll have 6 teeth...wow! :)

Friday evening things took an unexpected turn when Annika burnt two of her little fingers on her right hand. We applied a cold, wet towel for 15 minutes and then put some ointment on to take the sting out. It seemed to help, although she was still pretty sore. Her fingers turned really red but we didn't see any blisters so it seemed the burn was limited to the 1st degree. Friday night Annika cried and was obviously in discomfort for most of the night, so neither of us got that much sleep. Not sure if it was the burn or her teeth or the combination of the two, but it was a rough night. :(

Saturday things picked up and she was in good spirits and had a great day at home just hanging out with Mommy & Daddy. She also slept better and today went smoothly until early this evening when I was getting supper ready I noticed that her fingers had blistered. Her pointer finger had a huge blister and she was developing more on her middle finger as well. Annika was playing with a garbage can and was pushing it along when she fell and hit her mouth (either on the garbage can or tile floor). I picked her up and checked her mouth and could tell there was quite a bit of swelling in her gums and it looked kind of like her teeth had been pushed up. ARGH!! That's before I caught a glance of her hand and saw that her giant blister had popped in the fall and she had a big raw patch of skin exposed on her finger. Sigh. I could've cried...my poor little baby did not have a good evening at all.

So after a phone call to Health Link, trip to the medi centre, fingers tended to and bandaged, and visit to dentist recommended, Annika is now in bed, asleep. And I think that's what I ned to do to now...go to bed.

G'nite y'all. It's amazing that our little ones manage to get through their first few years intact with all the accidents, trips and spills!
Penny

I do have pics to post of our vacation...coming soon! Here's a teaser...

Reality

So we're back. Back to reality. To work, winter road conditions, hectic schedules and all the responsibilities life throws at us. And it's great! A nice as vacations are, coming home is just as nice, in my opinion. Today was my day off, and so far I've got a big load of nothing done on my list of things to do! Annika's not feeling well so there's been a fair bit of cuddling and just hanging out, which is just fine by me. So this post may be short, but at least it's a post. And on my new phone...yay! I'll be back soon to share pictures,stories, and more.

Have a good one...
Penny

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Jamaica, Here We Come

Hey all!

Just a quick bye before we head out. I'm trying to get all our stuff together and packed.ready for our trip. Still have LOTS to do before we jet off into the night...literally. Our plane leaves around midnight on Friday night so hopefully that's a good thing and Annika is able to sleep the whole flight to Toronto. We'll be changing planes in Toronto and then moving on to Montego Bay from there! Yay!

Here are a few shots from Halloween...check out our little lamb. Nevermind...can't seem to upload more than this one right now! She enjoyed sucking on that sucker through the plastic...haha!

Penny

Crazy Busy!

This post is loooooong overdue. It's the end of October - where did the month go? I'm sitting here mentally listing all of the things I still have to do today but I figure I'll take a little time to leave an update here.

Work has been super busy for me. I'm in the middle of closing out our project and the pressure is on to meet our super tight deadlines and get all the accounting cleaned up so that we can have the books closed for year end. So these last few weeks have been filled with work, work, work! We've also had a couple gatherings here at our place which always makes for a busy time - cleaning, cooking, etc. In any case, we're almost there. I was working on finishing one part of the closeout (included sifting through thousands of lines of data from over a year ago - eek!) this week...and it's all done - what a relief! I told my friend that I would've done a jig of happiness except I was too tired!

Annika's been pretty sick this week as well, so Scott and I were juggling staying home with her with work. I think she's finally on the mend though, thank goodness. Poor little thing was just miserable and had a horrible raw throat (pediatrician said) so I'm glad to see she's starting to perk up a bit. Particularly since we're taking her to another country next week!

I need to get some packing done, but first I think I'll head over to the mall to see if I can find a last minute deal on a bathing suit for Annika (and maybe one for me too!) I also intend to rake the leaves today (at least in the front yard) if I can find a rake. Haha! That's one of the problems with owning two places...half our outdoor stuff is still at the old place so I may have to go buy another rake so that I don't have to drive across the city to get our old rake.

Tomorrow we'll have a busy day as well. We're going to meet up with Scott's folks for brunch in the morning then I think we'll be having some wonderful family friends over in the afternoon for a visit. I'm looking forward to seeing Tom & Maureen and Trevor and his fiancee Joanne! Trevor & Joanne are in town for a week visiting and I would love the chance to meet Joanne and congratulate them on their upcoming wedding. They're going to Mexico in March - oh boy would I love to tag along, but I think our vacation in Jamaica next week will have to be it for us for a little while!

After their visit we're going to dress up our little lamb (she's being a lamb for Halloween - pictures to follow) and take her around the block so that she can show off her little costume. Then I think we'll hand out candy for the rest of the evening and get ready for another busy week at work.

There's a quick update from us for now. If I don't post before I head off on vacation I'll be sure to show some pics of our island vacation once I'm home! :)

Happy Halloween all!!
Penny

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

The long weekend has arrived. It's a weekend we set aside to remember how good life is and how thankful we should be for all the blessings we have. And there are many! I'm thankful for my little family. I'm blessed with a wonderful husband who is a rock for me. Someone I can always depend on, no matter what. We are both so very thankful for our baby girl who has truly made our lives more interesting, love-filled, and exciting. We're blessed with great parents, a fantastic Grandma and so many extended family members and wonderful friends.

It's going to be a good weekend. We're taking in a movie tonight while our friend watches the little one. Tomorrow is a full day of celebrating Scott's Birthday! We plan to have a nice supper out with some friends and take it easy. Monday is turkey and all the trimmings at Grandma's place. Yum. My mouth is already watering thinking about the meal. It'll be finished off with delicious pumpkin pie...mmmm!

We'll also be working at the old place in our free time, but it's ok. Needs to be done and we'll just think of how thankful we'll be when we're all done the work! :)

Hope you and your families have a wonderful weekend enjoying the beautiful weather and all the things you're thankful for.
Penny

Butterfly cake...yum!

It's been a busy summer...and I never got a chance to post pictures of our little one's big birthday! She turned 1 in August and here are some shots of our little celebrations as well as a couple random pictures of Annika talking on the phone.



I've got teeth now!







Daddy and his baby girl!




My attempt at a butterfly birthday cake! Well...I'm no Martha Stewart,
but I had fun making this!




Cake #2



Annika was thrilled with her laughing dolly! She still loves to hug Dolly
and takes her in the van for the long trip to the dayhome.



Supper was delicious...




...and the cake wasn't too bad, either!




After birthday party #2 and nummy cupcakes, she's all photoed out!




So many presents to open...love the tissue paper!




Annika is quite popular and is on the phone every day...sometimes she
gets her little hands on the real phone too and before you know it she's
dialed Daddy at work...oops!




Love how she "talks" on the phone...it's always halfway down her back.
Too cute.



Better late than never?

My poor, neglected little blog. It's been a lonely month...no posts for a loooong time! Well, that's changing (for tonight, anyway). There's been so much on the go I'm finding it difficult to get time to do things I enjoy - such as blogging. I haven't had time to make any cards either, despite all of the fabulous space I have now in my craft area. I just hope this silly craziness lets up once we're done our old place. Undoubtedly, something else will take the place of our renovations. I'm certain some new project will come up to steal all my free time.

Work is busy. It's definitely challenging being a working mom - must tip my hat to all of the hard-working mothers out there who work full-time in the workplace as well as full-time at home! ;) The next month is going to be ridiculously busy at work and I expect to have to put in my share of overtime on the weekends. Sigh. Christmas is just a few months away though. OH, and even better...we'll be escaping on an island getaway in November. Yay! Palm trees, tropical drinks, beaches and relaxation await. I can almost hear the ocean now. Ahhhhh! :)

It's been way too long since I've posted pictures. I think a picture post is long overdue. That will be coming soon!

I'm off to watch Glee though...I've become hooked with the show! Tee hee!
Have a great evening all....
Penny

Remember

Today is my Mom's Birthday...and although she isn't here to enjoy her special day (I believe she's having a much better time celebrating her birthday in heaven) my family and I will be remembering her and thanking God for blessing us with a wonderful daughter, wife, mother, and grandmother for the short time that we had her here with us.

Many who met my Mom described her as a generous, enthusiastic woman with a passion for learning and teaching - I'm so fortunate to have reaped the many benefits of having this woman as my mother and friend. Just over a month ago, I received an email from one of my mom's close friends. In her email she told me that I have my mom's thoughtfulness, conscientiousness and energy. That one little sentence made my day. I like to think that I have some of my Mom's traits and characteristics...I hope I take on many more of her parenting skills as I develop as a mother myself.

Happy Birthday Mom...I think of you so often and miss you always.
Penny

Can't wait to Craft!

I've finally started unpacking and setting up my craft room! It's exciting to see all the craft supplies out on display and soon I'll have it functional. I'm revisiting the craft rooms I was eyeing up last fall...maybe now I can figure out a way to make this craft room functional and pretty! I definitely prefer unpacking to packing. It's exciting to figure out how you want rooms to look.

I have a lot of pictures that have been taken over the past month that I need to share. Pictures from Annika's birthday parties and other get-togethers...there's lots to share. Now that we're really starting to settle in here at home, I'm beginning to feel a bit more like blogging. The stress of the move is pretty much behind us now. (There's just the stress of what to do with our old place hanging over our heads!)

Hope you're all having a fabulous week, despite the weather. There's a chill in the air - it feels like winter will make its appearance long before it should!! Brrr....time for a hot chocolate.

Penny

Home, Sweet Home

Well, we're moved in! It's been a hectic week of packing, prepping, and planning...and whatever other "p" words go along with moving...maybe "Pain in the you-know-what"!! We're sitting on our sofas watching some boob tube right now, relaxing after a full day of shopping and unpacking. I'm surrounding by empty boxes (which is a good thing, right?) and pockets of chaos are everywhere. But it's happy chaos, and we can see our home taking shape in the midst of the mess. And it's nice.

I've shared with some of you that the move was more emotional than I expected. I cried for a while on Thursday/Friday, thinking of the little home that we started our family in together. They were partly tears of sadness at the thought of leaving our first home but they were due also in part to trepidation about the future. I've mentioned before that I tend to fret, and boy did I fret...about moving to such a HUGE house (it's going to be a lot more expensive to heat this sucker!) and about moving so far away from where we've lived forever. (Both of us have always lived on the north side). It's funny though...as soon as the movers started lugging in our furniture and boxes into the new place, the nervousness and sadness were very quickly displaced with excitement for the new memories we'll be making in our new family home. We hope to hold many family gatherings and enjoy the company of great friends in our new space. It's going to be good.

So now we have reached the end of our moving long weekend, and what have we accomplished? Well, we've set up our home office/sunroom area. We need to get some area rugs and some accessories to finish off the space, but it's off to a great start. I like how it's coming together. Scott spent a lot of time putting books into the shelving units he and my dad built yesterday. It's looking good! The kitchen is unpacked, thanks to help from my Aunty Audrey and Heather. Our front den is set up with our tv and sofas, but we've still got some work before this area is set up. And our dining room table now boasts our new table and chairs...they look great!

Next step: area rugs, pictures/art up, sectional for the family room. Oh yeah, and clean up!! Fun times ahead!
This update is dedicated to my good friend JIAB. This one's for you... :)

Have a great week all...back to work tomorrow. Let's see how long my drive to Sherwood Park will take...sigh.
Penny

Just a Couple Days

Moving day is looming on the horizon...one full day to really get the packing finished, loose ends tied up and ready myself for the movers. Friday we get the keys so we'll be over to the new place to refamiliarize ourselves with our new home. Maybe we'll do some measuring, start figuring out where we'll put our things. It's exciting - I'm really looking forward to getting in there!

We're tired. it's been a long month getting ready to move while renovating our place. But we have lots to look forward to...living in our new home PLUS a warm, relaxing vacation in Jamaica two months from now!

OH, and I'm in my last 9 days of being in my twenties!! YIKES! :) I'm into my fourth decade in a little over a week! I'm ok with it...it's just another day, another year. As long as I am able to spend my days with my family and friends...I'm happy.

Enjoy your long weekend all! My next post will likely be from our new digs.

Penny

Christmas...only 4 months away!

I LOVE Christmas time!! I know this will probably tick a bunch of people off, but I just had to say that I'm so excited to spend our first Christmas in our new home! We've already figured out the ideal place to put our tree. Haha...sad, I know. This doesn't mean I'm wishing away the summer...trust me, I enjoy our summer months (or is it weeks?) as much as the next person. But time sure does fly and it's something to look forward, I guess!

Tomorrow is a day I hope to get much accomplished. I have a hair appointment at 10, packing to do in the afternoon, and cooking to do for a supper at our friends place. Should be plenty to do for the next couple days!

Have a great weekend all!
Penny

Working Hard

Well, it's a lot harder to get things accomplished when you're working outside the home as well as in it with a baby...I'm learning this firsthand. However, we've gotten a lot done - Scott has moved along quite nicely in the home reno area. The crown molding is up (yay!) and the microwave range hood is installed and looks fabulous. He's also been quite busy in the bathroom reno...although so far we mainly see the results of the demolition. The window is out and is boarded up with plywood and the tub surround has been torn out and is stripped to the 2x4's. Yikes. Big work ahead. Kind of scary...especially considering that we're moving in LESS than 2 weeks! ARGH! I've managed to get a pile of boxes all packed up - they're sitting in the corner of the living room. I'll keep chipping away at it and hope that I'm ready to go next week!!

Ta ta for now...
Penny

3 Weeks & Counting

Oh boy, not much time left until we're on the move across the city! I'm going to miss my 5 minute commute to work. It'll soon be a half hour (probably at least) to get to the office/dayhome. But it's do-able. I used to work out at the airport and had around a 40 minute commute each way then, so I'm sure I can suck it up and do it again.

So...I'm back to work. It's going ok. I'd say the situation is less than ideal, but it's a job and I'm happy to be back with my foot in the door. Hopefully things pan out...I'd love to stay working here for a few more years. We'll see what happens!

Yesterday I was on the phone for most of the day. I booked movers (so excited to have movers), scheduled utility changes/hookups, etc., booked my car in for a tune-up, and picked up a huge load of reno supplies from the tile place. Boy was that a heavy load. My poor van was just about doing a wheelie! haha! Next week Scott is off work and he'll be working hard (poor guy...no vacation for him) at finishing the kitchen and redoing our bathroom. I'm going to try and cram most of my work hours into Monday and Tuesday so that I can take Wed/Thurs to help out as much as possible while Annika is at the dayhome.

We're double booked for birthday parties tomorrow (we'll be trying to attend both) and then I think we'll be jumping right into our renovations on Sunday, if we can. So much to do. Tonight I'm going to do my cleaning and maybe even try and get some packing done! Whew! Just typing it out exhausts me! LOL!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend...let's hope the weather picks up!
Happy Friday...
Penny

Happy Birthday Princess!

Annika turned 1 today!! Scott and I were thinking about how one year ago our lives were completely changed, when at 4:50 pm, our beautiful baby girl entered the world. She was so tiny and had a great set of lungs on her even then. It's hard to believe she weighed 7 1/2 lbs...it's so teensy compared to our almost 22 lb baby now.

She's a precious gift, our Annika. She was a ray of sunshine that broke through the clouds of despair and grief that had surrounded our family with the loss of my Mom. And although the pain of losing her is never gone, having Annika here has helped...she's been a constant distraction! I've spent some time crying these last few days...missing my Mom so very much. She would have been so thrilled with Annika. What joy she would've felt to see her little grand-daughter toddle around the room. Maybe she's taking little peeks from heaven...

I thank God for blessing my family with Annika. So...Happy Birthday to my little ray of sunshine!
Penny

I Owe, I Owe, It's Back to Work I Go!

Well, it's that time. Time to leave my baby girl with her little friends at the dayhome and head back to the ol' grind. I guess it's not so bad...I'll only be at the office 3 or 4 days a week, which is pretty good. I'm still a bit apprehensive about what lies ahead for me. I'm going back to a different role for a few months and I think it'll take some time to adjust to that on its own. Then there's the uncertainty of what's going to happen after these first months are over. We'll see what happens!

Today we had a family Birthday BBQ for our Annika. It was a lovely time...we had a pretty laid back meal (burgers/hot dogs/baked beans/salads) and I made her a little butterfly birthday cake. It was pretty amateur-ish, but it came out ok! I will post pics of our bash soon. Annika received some wonderful gifts!! Books, new clothes, toys....wow, she's a blessed little girl with lots of family and friends who love her.

Hope you all have a great week after a nice, warm long weekend.
Penny

My 100th Post

Wow...I've made it to my 100th post. I guess I've managed to come up with enough bits and pieces to fill up my blog. Hope you are all enjoying visiting every so often. This whole blog thing is a pretty cool way to stay connected with folks, that's for sure.

As a special 100th post, I am sharing with you some precious footage of our mobile little monkey! Look at her go!! She's walking short distances all on her own. What a big girl!

Hope you all have been enjoying a fabulous long weekend. We've worked on some housecleaning and been prepping for Annika's family birthday party. Today we had a nice afternoon out at Heritage Days...but boy, was it hot! Felt good to get in an air conditioned vehicle after we were done.

Have a great evening!
Penny

Welcome to our (soon-to-be) Home!

Here are some pictures I took during our home inspection...enjoy your tour of our new home!

Welcoming front entrance

Beautiful Dining Room

Family Room (LOVE the brick fireplace!)

Sunroom

Lovely Backyard

Well, that's it for now. I have plenty more pictures but no time! Hope you liked these few that I was able to post. Have a great evening all.

Penny