Christmas is Coming!

December is 'finally' here and we're gearing up for Christmas! A week ago we had our annual Tree Trimming Party, for this we had to get all of our decorations out. Pip and Ben were great helpers to Mummy in setting up the lights and indoor decorations. Mummy and Ben have been making yummy cookies. We're all preparing for Christmas performances hopefully I'll get a post up about that. We have snow which always makes it feel more christmasy especially with Christmas lights.

Here are some of the things decorating our house:

Pretty Ponsettia

Our Advent Calender

Everybody needs a tree!

Don't forget the Stockings

Yummy! Gingerbread cookies for the tree.

Decorations are fun and cookies are yummy, but we can't forget why we're celebrating; Jesus took on human form to come and save us.

Merry Christmas
Emily

Mister Transmission London is open!

 

 

 

The researching is over - the franchise agreement has been signed, the equipment purchased, the shop painted, signs are up, new hiring done... And the opening day for the newest Mister Transmission has come! It has been quite a journey as a family, and we are very excited! All of us have helped in getting to this place. We've done a lot of cleaning (of the shop), window washing, painting, moving of equipment, painting, and praying. Of course, David has done the lion's share of the work, but that's why he gets the cool shirts now:

Many of you have been walking with us on this journey - through prayer and encouragement. A big thank you to you all!

Recital Time is here again!

The school year is winding up, and today it was piano recital day for the piano students in our home. Our piano teacher holds the recital in her home and all of us parents and grandparents sit in the dining room on rows of chairs (dining room table having been removed) and look into her living room, which is also the piano room. She has 2 pianos, and most weeks the children get their lessons at the upright piano, but today they got to play her Steinway baby grand!

It's not the children's favourite day, but there are always great snacks afterwards!

 

Emmi played a grade 6 piece that I used to play (a list A), and a grade 7 study. Tim played a grade 3 study and a grade 3 list C piece. Ben played a grade 1 study and a list B. Pip played 2 pieces out of his pre-grade 1 book.

 

 

 

Everyone played very well, including the other students! Our only some-what unfortunate moment was Tim walking into the chandelier that usually hangs over the dining room table - he is so tall now! However, nothing was harmed and it gave the chance for Grandpa to make a few terrible puns.

 

We keeping going with our lessons into June, though Pip did ask if he could skip his practice tomorrow as he played so much today! I'm thankful my children are able to take lessons, and for our fantastic teacher. It's such a blessing to hear the "polished" pieces in the house; the music enriches not just them, but all of us!

Rhubarb!



 A very good thing happened to me today. I went to a friend's house, and when I got there I noticed a large and abundant rhubarb patch near the driveway. I complimented my friend on her rhubarb and she said, "take what you want!". Wow!

In Port Robinson we had a fantastic across-the-road neighbour who had a very large rhubarb patch. Every year he would coax us to come and pick rhubarb. But we didn't need much coaxing! We got spoiled with his rhubarb and had many tasty desserts with it in the spring, and then in the winter we enjoyed pulling it out of the freezer. In fact, last year, as a parting gift he brought a box of rhubarb over as we were loading the moving van. I froze it (because in the chaos of the move I had no time to deal with it!) and we enjoyed Mr. Ryan's Rhubarb through the winter, always with nostalgic feelings.

This spring I was resigned - no rhubarb. I did see some in Sobeys, and had some sticker-shock. No way was I paying that for rhubarb! Grandma has planted some at their new house, but it's the first year so you can't harvest it yet.

So what a joy to find another source! My friend's daughter even picked it for me and loaded it into the car. I came home and told Tim I had a surprise in the trunk. He was delighted to see the stalks and immediately asked, "rhubarb crisp?". While I made the supper, he made a rhubarb crisp - and let me tell you, it was pretty tasty!

It's a taste that says spring - whether you're eating it in the midst of verdant green or just remembering. It's little things like finding a rhubarb patch to raid that let me know we're really settling in here!

Happy Anniversary!

Well it's been a year since we moved here! It was Victoria Day weekend last year that we "moved in", and it's neat to look around the house and see what's been accomplished, and think over the year and see how far we've come.

There are a lot fewer boxes, and those that are still around are generally out of public view, like in the crawl space! A fair bit of painting has been done. Those of you who visited early in our year here may remember a lot of pink, well the quest to "de-pink" the house continues, but there's a lot less of it!

We've made friends, and found a church home, and joined a lot of activities to discover where we fit.

David is opening a new Mr. Transmission franchise in London (ON) and right now the family is all-systems-go on getting the shop physically ready to open. He is still working on staffing and a myriad of administrative details that need to fall into place.

So it feels like we've come a long way from a year ago when we first arrived. Back then I didn't know where things were in the kitchen, or even if they were in the kitchen yet. I could get to the Zehrs at the end of the street, but my world didn't extend much past that. We attended church on the Sunday and didn't know who to talk to, or where to sit. We weren't sure what David would do for employment. I couldn't go anywhere in town without my GPS and a full address of where I was going. I could call my in-laws, but didn't know anyone else here.

The Lord has been good to us this year; there's been a lot we've been able to sort out and figure out. He's taken very good care of us while we transplanted and enabled us to start putting down roots.

There's still settling in to be done. Those last few boxes! (Although I have some friends who have boxes far older than mine - you've inspired me to get ours finished with before the 10 year anniversary of moving in!) Transforming the house into our home. Turning acquaintances into good friends. I'm excited to see how the second year goes!

Moving Day - Part Two

Pip and Ben in the truck before it was filled

Part two of our move involved (on a different day) renting a large U-Haul and convincing a bunch of friends to come and help us move all our boxes. We had a great turn-out, and people seemed to have a good time!

Here come the boxes!

More boxes to load!

 We wondered if we'd be able to fit it all in the truck - but it did fit thanks to some friends who stayed inside the truck and packed it as tightly as possible.


Maximizing the space!

It took about 2 hours to pack the truck, our van, some friend's vehicles who were coming up to Waterloo, and another friend's trailer.

Packed!

The drive to Waterloo was thankfully uneventful, nothing fell over, and the truck looked pretty much the same way when the door was opened at the new house. Another group of friends had assembled here to help us unload. It was about another two hours to unload, and then we were able to enjoy one of the amenities of the new house - our deck.

Thanks to all the great people who were a part of our move! We sure appreciate it!


Moving Day - Part One

We moved to our new house in two stages. The first stage was the moving of the furniture and piano by a moving company. This was very exciting! I and the children were not at the old house when the truck was loaded (David was) but we were at the new house when a large truck pulled up in front!

 

 

 

Granny and Granddad were also on hand, and soon a cheering section had set themselves up on the front lawn!

 

 

 

It was fun to watch the movers. They were amazing, they knew just how to handle the furniture and to get it to fit around corners in the new house. They even set up our beds and assembled the dining room furniture.

 



 

Here comes the piano!

 

Everything arrived just fine, and at the end of the day we had our furniture, but nothing else. No books for the bookcases, no dishes for the china cabinet, no Lego for the table in the hobby room...

 

We would have to wait for moving day part 2!



Momentous Days

Today was the day that David and I visited the lawyer and signed all the paperwork. Another step on the journey! We also are racking up a lot of "lasts" here in Niagara: last swim lesson, last church service at Thorold South Gospel Chapel, last track and field practice, and last visit to the library. The last library visit required a bit of work in hunting down all the books that were out. Thankfully, Emmi found them all! Even the two hiding under Pip's bed!

In the house you can really tell we're moving too. Sights like this:

Faded picture mark

 



 and this:

Empty shelves in pantry

 

are making it hit home that this is really happening!

We're looking forward to getting the new house on Friday and starting our list of "firsts"!

An update and Packing!

 

 

So this is what the school room looks like right now! I know it's been a REALLY long time since I updated this blog, but I thought that moving was a good time to get back into the groove.

 

To catch y'all up, the house SOLD! (Hooray!) And then we went and bought a new house in Waterloo.

 

 

Here's what our new house looks like! WOW! It's so.... modern! Our current home here in Port Robinson was built in 1879, and the new house was built in 1961. So we've leapt forward almost a whole century in house innovation, and it's amazing what they have thought of in those 82 years - like closets in every bedroom. And full basements!

 

We are currently packing like crazy, and getting very excited. This coming Friday is the closing date on the new house! I can't believe how close it is now!

 

I hope to keep the blog a little more updated, so stay tuned! Thanks for your patience!!

Pelham Robics Teams lead the way to Ontario Finals

Timothy and I are part of a FLL Robics Team. Our team is the LEGO da VINCIS.We went with the rest of the team to the qualifying tournament in Niagara. We finished in the top five along with two other Pelham teams. We will be competing in Oshawa on January 12 at the provincial level.
Here is a link to a article about us.

New Contributing Author to Marshwiggles Blog!

Hi! It's Emmi, and I am going to help Mummy write the Marshwiggles blog because she does't have much time. I am very excited to help write the blog, and for Christmas!

Nature Walk at Heartland Forest

 As our house is on the market now and we have finished the work of preparing it, we have started doing other things - like going on field trips! These pictures are from a trip the younger boys and I went on to Heartland Forest which is near our home. We actually went in May, and we were able to see some May apples! The boys are looking at the flower of the May apple above, and here is what they saw:

We walked on Heartland Forest's trail, which is notable because it is wheelchair accessible. It has many signs labelling trees, and other features of the forest like this vernal pond. A vernal pond we all learned is a pond that dries up in the summer, so no fish live in it. It is a great hatching ground for frogs because the tadpoles can grow without worrying about being fish food!

 After our nature walk, the boys were able to dig some worms out of the compost area and try some fishing.

There is a larger (not vernal!) pond near the entrance and helpful volunteers are around to help you fish! You don't even need to bring your own rods! Ben lost several worms to hungry fish, but finally managed to catch one.

 Pip was pretty excited to catch a fish too! Both fish got thrown back into the pond for others to catch.

We learned some new things, and tried something new (fishing!) and left wanting to go back again!

More Working Pics

Tim getting the porch freshened up.

 For all of you who love seeing Marshwiggles hard at work, here are some more pictures of our "in progress" getting ready for listing time.

Emmi did our high dusting. Cobwebs - begone!

Ben met Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser to try to minimize the artwork in the schoolroom.



Pip painting.



A rare photo of me in painting action.

And now we have this on the front lawn:

Picture Day

Today was picture day for our house! After all our painting, cleaning, and decluttering work the place looked great, if I may say so myself! This is our realator, Steve Dube:

Here he is taking a photo of our schoolroom. He is going to call it the "family room". The listing should be up on Monday, the sign on Tuesday, and then we should start showing the house on Wednesday. Wow!

Spray Stain Remover to Squid Skewers

It was another busy, working day at the end of a busy, working week. This morning started in the basement, which had been overhauled on Wednesday evening with a close friend, with me realizing I have 3 bottles of spray on stain remover. Now that all the like items are grouped with like I can see these things!

It has been a very humbling process getting the house ready to sell - I am finding a bunch of these little things (who needs THREE bottles of the same thing? - Someone who can't keep track of where the first two went!) which tell me I have not been paying enough attention to parts of the home. It has been humbling to generate boxes and boxes of stuff that is going to Goodwill or different friend's garage sales, and also to have to buy garbage tags (and they just put the price up here as of May 1st!). However it has been a good process - therapeutic in some ways, to have to go through the house room by room and really evaluate everything in it. And I realize that I haven't finished this process, we've just done the things that are visible - there are drawers and boxes that will need sorting, which will of necessity happen when we actually move.

It was a productive week and day - the porch is back together and I've started painting it. Tim and Ben put on the final touch carpentry-wise, the quarter-round at the base of the walls. Emily did a mighty work for me in the Tupperware cupboard ("Mummy! You don't need all this Tupperware!" - maybe we have a natural organizer in the household?) and Pip was a general go-fer. We were joined by my mother and father who have put our front garden in shape. In fact, the day was so busy I didn't have a chance to take any pictures!

To celebrate all this work my parents took us out to dinner at an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant, which is where I encountered a little squid, eyes and all, at the end of a squid skewer. Ben said "Mummy! There are his eyes!". And down the hatch he went! I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight, but I wonder if the little squid will visit me in my dreams.

Hard at Work

 We are still hard at work on preparing the house. The weather was lovely this past Saturday, so we did a lot of outdoor work. David has been repairing the porch, you can see here that the floor is done, and he is just getting ready to put the bases back on the pillars (you can see the one on the left "floating"). Now the pillars are done, so the porch will pass back to me to do the painting.

The whole family was involved in our work day. Pip and Ben were taking old lattice work off the front of the porch:

 Tim got to use a drill for the first time! He put up three curtain rods inside the house, and then helped David and I take down the storm windows and put up a lot of the shutters.

Emily did work indoors as well as out. Here she is packing DVDs and listing on the computer which DVDs are in which box, so when we want to watch the Muppet Show (for example), we know which box to look in!

Moving - In Process

We are getting there! Parts of the house are in chaos (we like to think an organized chaos), but parts of it are starting to look really good. Things are getting checked off of the list of things to do before listing - so far we have:

- painting the shutters - check

- decluttering upstairs - check

- cleaning upstairs carpet - check

- painting upstairs hallways - check

Lots still to come! This week's focus is the downstairs - hopefully next Saturday I can take some more enticing pictures of our home!!

In between we are still celebrating birthdays, visiting friends, coaching mathletes (for a math contest), taking music lessons, eating, sleeping and making lots of laundy; and are trying to keep making time for one another and for God. Busy times, but good times.