John's new camera

John got a new Fisher Price digital camera for Christmas, we now have to be careful at all time you never know when he'll snap a shot. Thankfully you can delete any inappropriate ones or the hundreds of our feet.

An object lesson

This morning in church our Pastor had a wonderful object lesson. He held up a brand new blank calender. He told us to look at the little blank squares as the new days of the year. He asked how we were going to fill them. That at the end of 2008 each of the little squares would be filled, the decision with what was up to us. You know that it is really a simple analogy but it really hit home, both Michael and I made that comment on the way home.

Let it snow!

It has been a very slow starting Saturday morning. I slept in which is so nice. Wallace is old enough to get John a bowl of raisins and Cheerios and they watch TV. Saturday is their TV day, most of the rest of the week they don't watch any. We don't have cable and we don't pull in many stations so there is really only one appropriate station for them which is PBS out of Boston. We don't get CBC out of the city but we can pull in a station all the way from Boston.



I got up and puttered. I put slow cooked ribs in the oven. Michael doesn't usually like ribs, too much work for too little meat, but he saw them in the grocery store on a big sale so he suggested it. I jumped at the chance because I love ribs but there isn't much sense in cooking something that Michael isn't fond of or it just sits around. I learned that lesson the hard way a couple of winters ago when I was on a chili kick. We are going to have ribs, mashed potatoes and oriental coleslaw for supper. Which we will eat before Michael heads out to work, he needs a good meal before heading out into the snow.

edit: The meal was a great success, whew! He said it could even be done again.

We're back.....

It was a long trip to say the least, 22hours. We had sore backs and sore butts but we got there and we did it in one stretch. Michael got off duty at 4am and we were on the road by 5am. We only stopped to get gas, get coffee (or tea), use the washroom and let the dog go pee. She is such a good traveller she rides in her kennel and we wouldn't even know she is there. I drove the first leg and then Michael and I switched off every few hours. We finally arrived at my mom and dad's place at 2am (or 3am our time as we past through a time zone).
We had a wonderful time, it was the first Christmas I had been home for in 5 years. For some people that may not be that big of a deal but for me it was huge and really hard each year. This is our Christmas eve picture. I thought about getting it blown up to an 8x10 for my mom but John was just being silly.
My boys with their Papa, Wallace and my dad are very close. We lived with Mom and Dad when Michael was out at Depot training. He really misses his Papa.
Each year on Christmas eve we have a Birthday cake for Baby Jesus. It is a tradition started when Yemmy (my boys name for my sister), this year it was a Yule Log and homemade ice cream.

We had a great time, really too much to blog about in one entry. We ate turkey, opened gifts, went shopping, went tobogganing and visited with friends. My sister is getting married in August so we talked wedding as well. Only downside was that my brother and his family weren't able to be there, so Wallace and John didn't get to see their cousins.

Then we got back in the car and drove home....it was an eventful trip and Michael learned never to drive by a gas station when your gas light is on just because it isn't the kind of gas you usually buy. We were blesses with very good driving weather, except for the last 3hours which we are very grateful for. Last night we unpacked the car and fell into bed. Today has been a busy day of unpacking, laundry, and grocery shopping. The boys are in bed, I'm headed that way and Michael is out getting the bad guys.

A new blanket for a new baby

Well, here it is. Doesn't it look soft a cuddly. Wallace said it was so soft, but then I think he's comparing it to his which is a well worn 9 years old.

Are we on our way?

The car carrier is on the car and is packed. So I guess we are already to go. Michael is sleeping right now, he has to work at 6pm and then we will leave when he gets off. I'm going to bed with the boys tonight so that I can be well rested to take the first shift of driving. The driving forecast looks good, which we are very thankful for. We haven't decided for sure if we are driving straight through or not, it is a 20 hour drive so we will play it by ear, it certainly would be more frugal to drive straight but I'm sure falling asleep could be very expensive.

The boys are very excited. John keeps asking if we are leaving soon. I told him we have to go to bed and then get up in the middle of the night and leave. Wallace is so antsy he is driving me crazy.

We have a portable DVD player and a separate monitor for the car so the boys get to watch movies while we are travelling. They both have to watch the same movie but they can watch their own screen. We save this for trips that are longer than 3 hours, for this trip we took few DVDs out of the library so they would be new to boys, we got a season of Gilligan's Island, a season of Hogan's Heroes, a season of The Dukes of Hazard, and a season of The A Team so we should be all set.

I need to go down stairs and make a blanket for my niece. It should only take me about a 1/2 hour if all goes OK, but with my luck something will happen. I best get started.

Our Christmas Plans

Christmas this year is going to be special, it will be the first time in 5 years that we will be at home for Christmas.

Christmas Eve we will be going to Church for their service. It is a tradition that we go to service however where has always been up for discussion. One year John was Baby Jesus in the the Living Nativity at the church we attended Christmas Eve service, it was such fun and great memories. This year we will be attending the service at my home church. We will have our traditional meal of Rouladin, Speatzle and Rot Kohl. It is a German meal and I don't cook them often for Michael so this will be special. We always have a birthday cake and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. This has been a tradition since my sister was little. We will hang the stocking and sit a visit with each other until late.

Christmas morning we will get up and open our stockings. This is a time for a free for all. This is about the only way that we celebrate Santa but it is fun and filled with memories from when I was a child. Then we sit around the tree and the youngest person present gets to play Santa and delivers the present one at a time to its recipient and we all watch as that person opens the gift. Yes this draw out the process but we enjoy it. One time I was at my in laws and they all opened there presents all at once and I just sat there and looked around, I was too busy watching other to open any of my own at the end I was left with a stack to open, some things are just hard to change. Then we have a big breakfast; fresh made bread, breakfast casserole, and a fresh fruit salad. The rest of the day is spent playing with our gifts, visiting and preparing for our Christmas dinner. I'm not sure when that will be this year as my sister has to work from 4-8pm and the old age home. It is usually a very relaxing day, nobody is in a rush to do too much.

We will be leaving late on Boxing Day, which is a much a holiday as Christmas day for a lot of Canadians. We usually get together with friends on Boxing Day, this year my friend is coming up to my mom's to visit and we will be taking the kids to Chuckie Cheese's so they can play. Hopefully my brother will be able to change his family's plans and come up too so that we can see the new baby and the cousins will be able to play.

We are leaving to come home late on Boxing day and driving through the night. We are praying for good weather.

Pictures of the Boys

We need to get ready....

I don't know why when we are going on a trip that I alway procrastinate to get everything done. I am not a procrastinater most of the other time but when we have a big trip planned well then yes I procrastinate.
I hope the Michael has a better day at work than it started out. He had his new cruiser home and couldn't get up our driveway.....it is a sheet of ice and for some reason he's always had trouble with them on our icy driveway. To make matters worse he locked his keys in the car too and the spare set was on the same ring. He just got the cruiser yesterday, it is for the new unit that he has been transferred to. He in on the new dangerous driving enforcement unit, I think it will be a good fit for him. He has been under so much stress at work of late, a new supervisor came in in September and nobody in the office is happy. I'm thanking the Lord that he was able to get out from under it. I know the job is stressful in itself but I have never seen it this bad and the stress wasn't coming from the job itself but directly from this new supervisor. It is a big day for Michael, it is the official launch of the unit and all the dignitaries are going to be there to show there faces for the media. I do think it is an important unit though we've had a rash of accidents caused by speed and drunk drivers and this needs to stop it is just so senseless.

Wallace (and I) are on Christmas break so there won't be any official learning going on. He and John are down stairs playing Lego one of their favourite pass times.

There is a lot for me to do today....laundry, general house keeping, packing, etc. I'm making a list of all the things that we need to take with us, there are a few unusual thing as we need all of Christmas acutraments that don't need to be packed. Two more sleeps and we get to leave....watch out Grandma and Papa here we come.

By Way of Introduction

This is going to be a very eclectic blog. I have so many different interests that I couldn't possibly stay with just one topic.

My name is Christina. I am married to a wonderful man Michael who happens to work for the RCMP, thus the title of the Blog. I have two boys Wallace is 9 and John has just turned 4.

I have a very strong faith which is the core of who I am but this blog won't just be about that. I homeschool Wallace, grade 4 and will starting John in January, junior kindergarten. I love to cook and knit, so I hope to share recipes and items that I have made. I am also on a jounery to a more frugal and simple lifestyle.

I hope to be honest with who I am and what I am learning on this journey we call life.