Tag Archives: kids

happiness

Skiing out the back door

I cam home this afternoon from running some errands in town to find ski tracks leading from the road right up to our back door.

I stood in the yard and spent  some time attempting to put together what happened from looking at the snow tracks. As far as I can tell, Jenna put on her cross-country skis inside our mudroom and skied right out from there to the road, joining her cousin. There were ski tracks from the cousin’s place down to the road where the two tracks met up.

The fields around the houses are filled with memories of family, both young and old, enjoying outdoor activities – skiing, sledding, walking, riding, walking, the list goes on… I am grateful that my kids are now a part of that memory footprint.

My happiness moment today – coming home to see the ski tracks leading right out from our back door.

 

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Dashing through the snow 

Today’s happiness moment is a very simple one because it was a simple kind of day. We seemed to all be pretty tired and there wasn’t a lot of movement. That’s happiness in and of itself, as I feel like we are always on the go. 

It snowed off and on all day which made for a beautiful winter silence. Jenna and I drove over to my cousin’s place in my city car, pretty unsure we were going to make it safely. But that little car dug deep (literally in some places) and we powered through. 

My happiness moment was driving through the snow with my girl as we looked at the deer in the fields. It was a beautiful moment. 

  

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The Hills Are Alive

I woke up today feeling a little agitated, I’m not really sure why – probably has something to do with not enough sleep and too much sugar the past few days (plus a few wild emotions thrown in). I decided to really take the time this morning to take care of that and calm myself as much as possible. I spent some time on my elliptical and then did a wonderfully peaceful90 minute yoga class. I was feeling pretty good about myself until I had an encounter with another human being. Unfortunately for him, it was my son who came home all upset about something. Tempers flared and soon we were yelling at each other. Fortunately Jacob and I are pretty fair and kind fighters with each other and we each quickly put ourselves in a time out to calm down before coming back together and working it out.

Somehow during all of this it seemed that my sister was picking up on my vibes of needing to get outside and blow off some steam. She texted me that she was going for a walk and invited me to come. That was exactly what I needed. We headed out on the ridge where we used to walk with Dad, and where some of his ashes are scattered. It is still kind of emotional for me to walk along there, but it also helps me to feel closer to him. Gill and I ended up having the exact kind of talk that I used to have with Dad on that walk… we talked about the kinds of people we wanted to be, a little about our faith, a little about our friends, mostly we just shared company.

We walked up and down the ridge until we were both feeling relaxed and happy and then we went home. I went over to see what my kids were doing and was delighted to find them watching The Sound of Music, my all time favourite movie. I got to sit down and watch the end of it with them, and we were joined by my mom and sister and her kids. A family viewing.

A double happiness moment today, first being out in our hills walking with my sister and then watching Maria and family escape across theirs to safety.

  

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On Christmas Day (2015)

We went into Christmas Day a little unsure as to how we would feel about it. I was glad I’d already had my huge melt down cry about missing Dad last night at church while singing Silent Night. Still though, I just wasn’t quite sure what a Christmas  would look like without him. 

I felt his presence here so strongly today that for the first time in forever I kept forgetting he isn’t here in body with us anymore. 

And oh did we manage to pack a lot of fun into the day. We ripped into Santa stuff by 6am and shortly after that into the presents. The cousins played, I pulled kids on their sleds…and we ate.  Oh my did we eat!

 Rear view picture 

There was a lot of happiness to be had on this beautiful Christmas Day. We were surrounded by loved ones in the place that my heart loves the most of all… Home. 
I saw happiness everywhere I looked  today. Happiness on the face of my child though is something that brings me joy and delight right to the core of my soul. Seeing their joy today was my happiness moment. That and hearing their giggles as I pulled them down the driveway on their sleds. 

What happiness looks like 

 
This has been a year of deep spiritual growth for me and I am blessed that we were here to celebrate the birth of Jesus with our loved ones. 

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Ski time

  

I had three happiness moments today. First, I came home to find my daughter and my niece cross country skiing in the yard. How lovely that it was warm enough that they could play outside in the snow all afternoon. 

With the kids out of the house I was able to wrap presents, this has left me bit happy and relieved. 

And perhaps the greatest happiness of all is the fact that  for the first time since Thursday night, as of this evening we have running water again. I have no idea how my ancestors survived without it, but I’m sure it was with more patience and grace than I showed these past few days. I’m so thankful it’s up and running again! 

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To Grandmother’s house we go

We don’t have water at our house right now, which is one of the side effects of living in an old house in the country (still wouldn’t trade it for anything, I love our home). Fortunately, what we do have is a hero in cowboy boots in the form of my cousin’s husband who has been working hard the last 2 days (in -15 to -20C temperatures) to rectify the situation. It all falls under that Life is an adventure thing. 

Because I don’t do well without showering (and OMG the smell of teens and tweens), we headed into Grandmas for a visit and a shower. She has an endless hot water tank so it was pretty sweet. 

Speaking of sweet, when I got out of the shower I walked into a baking extravaganza in the kitchen. Jenna was rolling and shaping shortbread 

   
On the side of the baking sheet is Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus. 

  Jacob walked right over to the fresh bread and made a grilled cheese. As he does whenever he’s in to see grandma.   
Not to be left out, he then jumped in and made gingerbread cookies. 

 
There’s something so special about the relationship kids have with grandparents. I have such fond memories of fun times with my Grandma, I am so happy they get to build memories of their own with their grandmas. I’m extra grateful they were able to make memories with my dad, they’ll cherish those forever as well. 

My happiness moment; hearing my son say life is good as he rolls out gingerbread while his sister hovers behind waiting her turn.  

Grandparents rock!

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Feel the Force 

My happiness moment today was the look on Jacob’s face when we showed him the Yoda Santa Christmas lights that we had to get for him. 

I love it when something so simple can make someone so happy. 

   
 
Saturday will be a very exciting day in our house. Normally it would be regular excitement about the beginning of Christmas break, this time it’s all about going to see the new Star Wars movie with his cousin. 

Truly wonderful the mind of a child is (Master Yoda)

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O Christmas Tree

Yesterday we went out for our annual Family Christmas Tree Hunt  so today was tree decorating time. I realized when we pulled out what boxes I could find crammed in the back of the mud room (where I had stuffed them when we moved here last spring), that the last time we had used our decorations was likely in 2011. If we put up a tree in Virginia in the years since then I don’t remember it. We were always packing and coming home for the holidays and getting a tree for a couple of days enjoyment didn’t make sense, not when we were going out to get one here.

Because of that, it was kind of fun to find some of the old treasures we had forgotten about. Lots of ornaments that Grandma had given to the kids (she was smart enough to write on the back of each one who it belonged to… smart lady she is). There also were ornaments the kids made when they were little (a little wreath made by Jacob with a story written inside it about how Jenna ate an ornament when she was little).  Both kids really enjoyed the little trip down memory lane.

We cranked on the Christmas Carols and dressed up our tree. My favourite Carol may be Mary’s Boy Child (Jann Arden, why didn’t you put that on your Christmas album, I can only imagine how wonderful you must sound singing that one), but I had to fight for it to play over Jacob’s favourite O Christmas Tree and Jenna’s Feliz Navidad.

When we had put up all the decorations we could find we headed over to my Mom’s to decorate her tree. She had offered to get her assistant to put up the lights so we wouldn’t have to deal with them, but Jacob very strongly responded no, putting lights on the tree is part of the ritual. We are going to do it ALL. And do it all we did.

It was a different decorating experience without Dad there guiding us, and without my sister and her family helping. But, it’s a different Christmas and we are going to enjoy all the beautiful parts of it. I think we got the best tree we have had in years and it was really fun decorating it with Mom and the kids.

While my happiness moment today was decorating the trees with the family, we had a little side happiness moment while walking back and forth to Mom’s. It’s a beautiful, clear, bright night tonight. The moon is small, but shining strongly, there’s enough snow to really reflect those moonbeams, and my cousin has lit up the yard with their Christmas decorations (which I love) so the walk was amazing. We stopped part way and looked up at the constellations. Both kids can find the big and little dipper, we all need to work on a lot of the other ones. It was a beautiful time in nature, so healing for the soul.

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Christmas tree hunt 2015

Going for the annual Christmas Tree hunt is a big deal in my family. It’s a tradition dating back  before my time, and one I’ve participated in every year that I’ve been home for the holidays. This year we were extra lucky because it was really nice out. I think back on years when it has been -30 and we have shivered through the fields trying to find a tree as quickly as we could.

This year we only had to worry about being done while there was still daylight, it was pretty sweet to be able to slowly walk around and check out all the options.

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As you can tell, everyone was busy looking in different directions for their perfect tree. Somewhere along this ridge they looked at me and said that they would see this moment in my blog as the happiness moment (it’s like these people know me or something).

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It was so nice to have so many great tree options to choose from. I think everyone got their own perfect tree this year.

The girls were looking for little Charlie Brown trees. Jenna picked this little one out to sit in the sunroom at her Nana’s. Photobomb courtesy of Echo the dog.

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Jacob not only picked out the tree for our house, but with a little help from his uncle he cut it down as well. He was the saw man last year too. I’m more than happy to pass that torch over to him.

The tree

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Photobomb by Jenna

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It was so lovely to get out on the ranch and breathe in some nature (and the Christmas-y smell of the trees) and spend some time with family. I am so grateful that we are home again. I love it here, it’s a heart happy place for me.

My happiness moment, being in a place I love surrounded by people I love. We are blessed.

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Wrestling Santa

Today was a fun-busy day chasing around doing our activities. It was the city finals for Jacob’s wrestling and even though he wanted to spend the morning sleeping in he went and did his thing. He’s gotten so much stronger than he was last year it’s amazing. He came in second in his division, nice to get a reward for all his hard work and training. 

  
This evening the Santa Parade went through Cochrane. While it was only -8 or so it still was a lot colder than the ones we have enjoyed in Virginia the last few years. Still, it was nice to be a part of the Christmas celebration in our town where we feel rooted. 

 Waiting, waiting, waiting. It felt like it took forever (really we waited 15 minutes and the parade started exactly on time).   
Yay!!! It’s started. 

 
And finally…. The man himself!!

  
Double happiness moment day today. Getting to go cheer on Jacob and see him become so much more confident in a sport he loves, and enjoying the parade with Jenna this evening. 

Now for some Home Alone with the girl before bed. Life is good! 

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