adventures in walking...

 

Our beloved trail that we used to hike at our last house has an entrance just at the end of a street near our new house. Needless to say, when days are crazy, I head that way with the boys as I find spending time in the nature God provided soothing to the soul.

On this day, J was driving me bonkers so I decided to take the boys for a walk and minutes before leaving my friend asked if I would take her two older foster girls so she could go grocery shopping. So off I went with a 5 year old, a 3 year old and two 2 year olds. (My 2 year old being a grump as usual these days...part way down the road to get to the trail, J turned around and headed home)

but once out there it was lovely!

(yes the two littlest one's head fit between those bars)

oh yeah...Fred joined us too.

two little girls warming up in the stroller

grumpy J

more grumpy J

view...nice...

grumpy J (note to self...not everyone picks up poop when hiking the trail...so one needs to check the ground before giving time outs...eww)

 

'tis the season...

We are getting in the festive spirit in our house. I started playing Christmas Carols after we got home from my birthday vacation. Which has inspired some of the snowman decorations to be put up around the house and on the doors.

One of our traditions is we stick our nutcrackers in the window.

(photo from this site)

It started after we went to Ottawa one year for Christmas and CO's grandmother has LOTS of nutcrackers. The next year leading up to Christmas he saw one at Walmart and REALLY wanted it because Nana had them. So he brought it home and put it in the windowsill in the bathroom.  He played with it alot and talked to it and often he would arrange it so he was looking out the window. CO decided he was looking for snow. Because of course Nutcrackers love snow just as much as he does.
Thursday we unpacked our three nutcrackers (we now have two little ones that Nana gave from her collection for the two boys last year) and put them in the bathroom window upstairs to watch for snow.

Friday evening after supper we were preparing to take Fred for a walk and CO was SO excited to see some snowflakes in the air! The first snowfall is so magical especially when you can share it with your kids.

He was probably thrilled to wake up this morning to a white winter wonderland.

home again...

I had a much needed break from my reality! for a whole week I was able to catch up on sleep, spend time with family and forget about the crap that is the whole situation surrounding J.  We celebrated 3 family birthdays, Thanksgiving and an anniversary.
On the way up, CO and I stopped to pick up some toys in St. Jacobs. He selected this helmet for himself.

CO found a gravel pile at my Uncle's, he spent LOTS of time digging and 'mixing cement' in the bucket beside it and then filling the dump truck and spreading it out along the gravel driveway.

Cousins at the mall. Very little shopping was done with these two peas in a pod. The moms gave up quickly on thier plan to spend the day shopping and decided to take the boys for Pizza instead. Where my son managed to pack away 9 pieces of pizza...it scares me how much he can eat at only 5.

This is Carter's selection for his birthday cake. He wanted a hunter in a tree and a deer. I had a hard time with his selection. I wanted the deer to be running away :)

 

we did a family trip to the honey house. YUM YUM. We got lots of goodies and got my cupboards refilled with honey.

We also celebrated my parent's 40th wedding anniversary.

One of my favorite days was Monday where I got to spend the whole day (until 5), relaxing at the spa with two lovely ladies. It was nice having so much adult conversation. :) CO got to spend his day at 'daycare' for the first time ever. He said it was fun but too long. And I agree, casuse I missed him too.
CO has been saving his money (birthday & paper route) to spend at Jolley's. It touched my heart that after selecting a fork lift for himself, he decided to spend the rest of his money on something for his brother :(  Having J in our lives has been great for CO, having him to think about someone other than himself is a HUGE step for him.

Yesterday we woke up to a small amount of snow. CO was SO SO SO excited. He shoveled the deck and worked hard at sweeping off the vehicles.

Now, we are home. Within an hour of arriving home, J arrived too. I have enjoyed listening to the sound of happy brothers again. We have decided to not go out to our Wednesday night activities so they can 'play' together. They missed eachother. This is going to be hard on them come the end of the month.

goodbye...for 4 days or 14?

A month ago I told J's SW that I was going to go away in November for a week. We discussed that this would be a good opportunity for J to have a LONG visit with his grandparents to give them a better idea what it would be like to have him full time. We discussed dates. Two weeks later we talked about it again...

I just put him in the driver's car to go for his visit. I have NO idea if I said goodbye for 4 days or 14...sigh

His SW called this morning and appologized for forgetting and would said she would get back to me this afternoon to let me know...

sigh

first day - november

 

linking up for the 1st of the Month....