The unpacking continues...Yup, it's going real good!




Please Note: The above photo is completely fictional and in no way reflects real life

But Here In The Real World It's Not That Easy At All

Good Morning Everyone!

This kids and I were just having some breakfast (coffee for me) and I thought I'd put up a little update. We made it through our weekend without Jay. He got everything done with the old house and today he locks it up for the last time and hands the keys over to our realtor.

While he was gone I continued to get things settled in. All of the sorting methods we used in the den at the previous house are packed into boxes so the kids and I went to Wal-Mart to get one of those portable accordion filing cases. That way I can keep track of all the important move-related papers, bills, and other documents between now and getting the office set up in the new house.

I've wandered around Guelph enough now that I can find my way to Wal-Mart, Tim Horton's (possibly the most important thing, HA HA), Zehr's (which is our version of an Extra Foods) and the post office. So for Grandma Shirley, if you want to send anything to the kids, I know where to go to get it.

Speaking of the post office, if anyone doesn't have our new address or phone number, please e-mail me or give me a call on my cell phone. Jay and I haven't changed our cell phone numbers yet, so you can still reach us that way if needed.

The kids have been spending a lot of time outside. They have their Little Tikes mini van from Grandma Shirley and they push it up and down the back sidewalk constantly (usually Sydnie riding in it and Lincoln pushing). We also set up their sandbox in the back and they really enjoy playing in that. We don't have too much of an are for them to play, but they don't seem to mind. They generally obey the rules (no going past the end of the garage, since there is a busy 'alley' behind us and no going into anyone else's yard, since there are not fences between houses). I can watch them easily from the dining room table while I sort things or make phone calls.

They both know that this is not our long-term house. Lincoln often talks about the new house with the 'big back yard' which is his main concern, HA HA. Once they start building it (which should be soon) I plan to take them over there every few days to check out the progress. Of course I'll take pictures for this site too so that everyone can see.

Jay and I are talking about taking the train to Ottawa this weekend, since he has Monday off. I've never been on a train, and we know how excited the kids would be! Via rail is also having a special right now so that the kids can ride free. Jay and I would just have to pay for our tickets (and I get a reduced rate because I am under 25). It would be so neat to take the train! Jay has a good friend in Ottawa, Tina, who he grew up with. I've never been to Ottawa so it would sure be neat to see it. If we take the train then we will just take transit everywhere because they have a really good public transit system there, and Tina knows her way around. With the move and all we think it might be nice to take a bit of a family vacation during the summer since we didn't get a chance to go camping or anything with the kids.

If we do end up going I'll take a lot of pictures of the kids on the train and of Ottawa, and I'll update you all once we get back :)

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I am already looking forward to next summer and planting new things in the yard at the new house. I drove by a greenhouse here the other day and saw that they were advertising a sale on fruit trees. Specifically pear, peach, and apple. Apparently we can grow peach trees here! Wow! I knew we could grow apples, but I am thinking I will buy a peach tree too.

Speaking of plants, I decided to try growing a mango tree from a seed. Apparently it is possible (they have to be kept indoors of course) so I saved the seed out of the last mango I ate and wrapped it in wet paper towel and left it in the cupboard. After a week of checking it and occasionally adding moisture, it began to send out a shoot. Yesterday I stuck it in a pot of dirt and I am hoping it will grow.

All of our houseplants survived the trip, if anyone was curious. We brought with us the jade plant that my mum gave me (it's 32 years old), a couple of aloe vera plants, a big spider plant, and a really small hoya that I'm growing from a cutting. What I did to move them is get the most enormous plastic garbage bags I could find. Then I put the plant in the bag, misted it really well, and packed balls of damp packing paper in around it. I sealed the bags and then we put each plant into an appropriately sized box (the jade needed a wardrobe box) and taped them shut.

All of the plants made it here in good shape. The jade was a little worse for wear. They are so delicate you know, it lost loads of leaves because they fall off at the slightest touch. However, I cleaned it all up, removed all the fallen leaves from the pot and propped up the branches which sort of fell over from the trauma. I think that it will be fine. The spider plant it excellent and has already started sending off new 'babies' as I call them (if you have a spider plant you'll know what I mean). The hoya and the aloe vera actually loved being in their little makeshift 'greenhouses' and grew quite a bit during the trip. I was really only concerned about the jade making it here, since it's something of a family heirloom.

* * * * *

Sydnie must know what a pushover her mum is. The two nights that Jay was gone she wandered into my room asking if she could sleep in 'Daddy's Spot'. We generally really discourage that sort of thing, we don't want to encourage them to be crawling into bed with us. Even all the weeks that Jay was here for work and we were at the old house I didn't let her sleep with me.

Last night though, I wasn't feeling inclined to say no, and she's just so sweet and snuggly. I relented and she cuddled up quite happily. I often refer to her as my little bed bug because no matter how hard I try to keep her out of our room, some mornings we still wake up with her in there. She has learned to be really quiet and sneaky about it, HA HA.

I also allowed it because the other day I overheard her telling Lincoln about a nightmare she had, that a bad man had taken me away and told her that she wasn't going to have a mommy anymore. Things like that just make my heart break. I think she is just feeling insecure and uprooted right now. I also noticed that with Jay being gone so much she developed a bit of an abandonment issue and was constantly asking me if I was going to leave them too. It's harder for her to understand at this age, so she's been having some nightmares about her fears. She is much better now that we are all together again though, so hopefully in a few months she won't be having bad dreams.

Anyway, I think that is enough of an update for now! Take care all :)

Huzzah! Photos!

Finally found the camera dock in one of the boxes (I had to open a dozen of them first but I suppose it was good motivation to unpack, HA HA). Here's a little slide show I put together of photos from our first weeks here. I hope you enjoy.

If you just want to view my photos at your own leisure, you can check them out here.

I Think Of That Day Sittin' Down At The Pier

Finally an update! The crazier things become the harder it is to write about it, LOL.

I'll start with the weekend!

Saturday Jason took the kids and I to our first ever major league baseball game! We drove into Toronto to see the Blue Jays play at Rogers Center. Now even though I find baseball pretty boring on TV it was so much better to watch in real life. The whole atmosphere was fun and exciting. We had some popcorn and other snacks, the kids liked all the clapping and cheering, and the Blue Jays won the game. Thankfully it was a much shorter than normal game (the end score was 1 - 0) which was nice for our first time. We also didn't arrive until the beginning of the 5th inning, which was likely best. I think if we had been there too long the kids would have gotten bored and restless.

After the game Jay took us to one of his coworkers condos so that we could do laundry and we had planned a BBQ and then bowling after (the building she is staying in has it's own little bowling alley). One of his other coworkers, Craig, and Craig's girlfriend came over as well so there were five of us, plus the kids.

We had a really nice BBQ and then we went bowling. The kids loved it! Silly me though, I forgot to take any pictures of that part. At any rate, Lincoln caught onto it really quick and did very well for such a little guy and being his first time bowling. Sydnie and I bowled together and she did pretty good too, although every five seconds she told me that she didn't want me to help her, LOL. Little Miss Independent at the tender age of 3. Heaven help me when she becomes a teenager!

After bowling we headed home as it was quite late. The kids were exhausted from all the fun they had.

Sunday Jay took us down to St. Catharine's to visit Paul and Valerie (some of our cousins on Jay's side) who have a gorgeous little place right next door to a winery. I hadn't met Paul before, so that was really nice and their house and yard are beautiful. There is a vineyard right beyond their back yard and I thought it was so neat because I've never seen one that up close before.

We sat on their really nice patio and had such a great visit. The kids absolutely adored Paul and he took them all over the place, much to their delight. Alyssa was there as well, and Greg and Terri stopped in with their kids to say hi. That was so nice of them because I'd never been able to meet them before either.

Alyssa took me over to the winery next door to get some wine for dinner. I've never been to a winery before so that was really neat. Jay told me to pick up a bottle of something for us too while I was there. Hernder Winery is really a gorgeous place on the outside. We didn't tour the inside but hopefully sometime I'll get to.

I picked up a bottle of 2003 Riesling Reserve that was a pretty reasonable price and then we headed back to the house for supper.

Valerie and Paul made us a really yummy BBQ and we talked a lot about Niagara and Alyssa told us some funny stories about her job. We really had such a great time there.

It was 8pm before we headed for home. We passed though the town of Lincoln which I thought was pretty neat!

One additional note, over the weekend we got a conditional sale on the house in Airdrie! The paperwork and so forth is still in progress but one way or the other everything will be settled out here shortly. We are getting a little more than the guaranteed offer from Jay's company, so that's nice. A few extra bucks never hurts.

We got the drawings from the builders for our new house as well. Jay sent them to me but they are in PDF format and I am not totally sure how to convert them to JPEGS so that I can post them here. I'm working on it though :) I'll post them here as soon as I can.

So yesterday was the big moving day!

The truck arrived around 8am filled with our stuff. I found out we moved approximately 16,000 pounds according to the moving company, WOW! That's a lot of stuff, ha ha.

There were three men doing all the moving, and it took them most of the day to get it done. I say outside and checked off boxes as they unloaded and directed them to either the town house or the garage. We are keeping everything that is not essential to survival in storage in the garage and basement here until the next move. There is no room for it all in here anyway.

After they finished unloading everything and putting together some of the furniture (beds, tables, etc) they left and we looked around and the house full of boxes. Oh my! This is going to take a while to unpack, HA HA.

Another guy came later on and hooked up the washer and dryer so now we can do laundry which is excellent. We also unpacked our plates and glasses so no more plastic beer cups and Styrofoam plates.

Today the kids and I ventured out for a drive. I found my way to the Waterloo Airport, since I have to pick Jay up there on Sunday when he gets back from Calgary. He's going back this weekend to surrender our house keys and tie up the rest of the loose ends there.

Since the kids and I are going to be alone this weekend here I think we will go check out the Farmers Market on Saturday morning and then drive around trying not to get lost while I learn to navigate this city.

The kids seem to be adjusting well, although Lincoln asks for Calgary and the old house once in a while. We explained to him that it's pretty far away and we have to take a plane to get there, which is expensive, so we can't go back right now. He seems to understand that, although he has the odd moment of sadness. Sydnie is too young to understand the distance aspect. She isn't bothered at all by the move and doesn't really talk about the old house or anything. I think they will both be happier now that their stuff is here.

Sorry this update is so long! Once I unpack my camera hook up I have a lot of great photos to share so hopefully before the end of the week those will be up.

We miss you all a great deal and we send our love to everyone.

Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream

All of our stuff arrived today on the truck. It took most of the day for them to haul it all in, put some stuff back together, etc. What a long and exhausting day.

Our weekend was fantastic. I'll post more details about it as soon as I have a little more time and energy. Likely tomorrow or the next day. I just wanted to let everyone know that we are doing fine and that our things made it here.

Lots of love to you all!

There's No Way But Up From Here

Wow it gets hot and humid here! While I enjoy it very much (I love the heat) I know that Jay doesn't particularly like it, and I think it makes the kids a little grouchy. Yesterday was the first fairly hot day we've had yet, and today looks like it's going to be really sunny and warm as well. I can't wait for my truck to arrive, so that I can take the kiddos to the beach on hot days! There is a lake only 2-3 minutes away and it has a lovely sandy beach and swimming areas, which I think the kids will enjoy a lot.

Our house in Airdrie STILL has not sold. Oy! We dropped the price again on Monday, so it's now listed at $459,900 and our realtor has been getting a lot of calls and we've been having a lot of showings. However, not even an offer yet. At this point, to be honest, I don't even care. The company takes it over on the 1st of August, and since it doesn't look like we're going to make substantially more than the guaranteed offer, I'm just as happy to let them have it and not have to worry about negotiating a sale.

This weekend Jay was thinking of taking us to a Blue Jays Baseball game! That could be really exciting, even though I find baseball terribly dull. It's more about the experience than actually watching the game, and I doubt the kids could sit through all those innings, so we wouldn't plan to stay for the entire thing. Even if we don't go this weekend, we will eventually get tickets for at least one game this summer.

Today is our first 'garbage day' here and let me tell you, their system is interesting.

Guelph has a city-wide curb side recycling program. All costs involved are included in our monthly garbage fee and apparently our new city has it's very own recycling plant for certain materials.

So here's how their system works:

We buy three different kinds of garbage bags - clear green, clear blue, and regular clear.

Compostable stuff (this includes all food scraps/diapers/tissues/etc) goes into the green bag. Also known as 'wet recycling materials'

Recyclables (all plastics/tin/cardboard/glass/etc) goes into the blue bag. Also known as 'dry recycling materials'

All the rest (such as fabrics/grocery bags/dryer lint/etc) goes in the clear bag. Also known as 'waste'

Wet and Dry bags are picked up every week. Waste bags are only picked up every second week. There is a weight limit for each bag, but you can put out as many bags as you want (provided they each fall within the weight limit) unlike Airdrie, which only allowed two bags per week.

They also have special rules for things like light bulbs, broken glass, and batteries.

Personally I think this system, while it takes some getting used to (standing over the garbage bags for half an hour trying to remember what goes where) is actually really awesome. I like that they use food waste for composting and it doesn't just go to waste. I also appreciate not having to sort my recycling and take it in myself.

Guelph also promotes back yard composting for residents and you can buy your own back yard composter right from the city services building at a reasonable price. They even have all the instructions for getting started and maintaining your composter right on the city website. I plan to get one for our yard next summer, and I can use the compost for our trees and flower beds.

All in all things are going well here. It's starting to feel a little more like 'home' and less like a foreign land, HA HA.

A Little Bitty House And A Little Bitty Yard

I am sure some of you are wondering how we are managing here in the new place (especially with no furniture yet). So far it's going pretty well. On Sunday Jay took the kids and I to his office building, to show the kids where he works now. Lincoln was certainly impressed, and they really liked that Daddy had a bag of cheesies in his desk for them.

We also went grocery shopping, which was a different experience for sure. I am going to miss my Superstore, since they don't have one here in Guelph. We have a Zehr's which is similar, but not quite the same. Instead of being able to do all of my shopping in one store it appears I will have to 'shop around'.

Yesterday the kids and I spent the day relaxing. I made some phone calls and that was about it. The Nitro hasn't arrived yet, so I am without a vehicle, which limits what the kids and I can do here during the day. There isn't a heck of a lot within walking distance. I am going to call today and find out where the truck is and when we might expect it to arrive.

Well according to the vehicle shipping company, we won't be getting our truck until Friday! Gah! I am going to have a hard time being stuck here with no vehicle all week. I wanted to start finding my way around with the kiddos. We are right on the edge of town, and walking to anything of interest to them would likely be too far for Sydnie, so I am not sure what we will do yet. Perhaps I will look into the public transportation system here and we can take a bus or something.

All in all we are managing quite well. The weather has been nice, neither too hot nor too cold. I am hoping it stays that way at least until we get the truck. The townhouse has no air conditioning so if the weather gets unbearable I want to be able to take the kids to the beach or at least for a drive in the air conditioned car!

I have been taking photos, but I have to wait for our stuff to get here before I can get them on the computer. Although this week I may just nip over to Wal-Mart and have them put all the recent photos onto a CD for me so that I can share them on here.

The kids are finding ways to amuse themselves, even though we only have a TV and two lawn chairs for furniture. We did pack them a few toys, but they mostly make forts out of the lawn chairs or watch movies.

I'm sure I'll have more interesting things to report once we get out and go places!

Just Give Me A Road And A Little Gasoline

I'm writing this quick update from the plane. We are about 2 hours into the flight, and while the first hour went quite well, over the last hour the kids have become increasingly restless and irritable. Syndie in particular, who is seriously over-tired from being up late last night. I did get some cute photos of their first plane trip, which I will post as soon as my camera dock gets unpacked and I can upload them.

The loading of boxes onto the truck proved to go rather smoothly. The movers were efficient and attentive. It was so hot out yesterday that I spent most of the day hiding in the basement while boxes and furniture were shuffled to and fro.

Our things are due to arrive around the 23rd, according to the driver of the moving truck. That means just under 10 days of living out of a suitcase and getting by without cooking utensils and real beds. It'll be like camping, except less fun, Ha Ha.

Jay starts back at work on Monday, and the children and I will spend the days exploring Guelph and learning our way around. Grocery shopping will be the first order of business since I suspect that Jay has been living on pizza pops and lemonade.

My best friend, Veronica, saw us off at the airport this morning. There were only a few minutes to say goodbye before we had to clear security, but it was good to see her once more before catching our plane.

We are hoping to make our first trip back to visit in October, for Jay's Grandma's 100th Birthday. After we celebrate with her, we will spend a few days in Edmonton and then go on to Rocky Mountain House to finish off the week. That way we will get in a little visit with both sets of Grandparents and any other relatives that happen to be around.

I will be sure to take lots of pictures of our townhouse and the beginning stages of the new house!

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend :D More updates to come.

Maybe I'll Hide In This Box

I've had about enough of this move! It's not over yet unfortunately, but I'm ready to just crawl under a rock and stay there until our plane leaves for Kitchener.

Apparently neither Jay nor myself deal with the stress (or each other!) particularly well. He and I rarely squabble generally speaking, but I think today we each had a few moments where we wanted to throttle the other.

Not seriously of course. Both of us being sad, over-tired, and pushed to the limits of sanity takes it's toll and there is not nearly enough patience to go around.

Watching the movers pack stuff isn't the hard part. It's the fact that we have to leave. Neither of us want to go very badly and it's difficult not to be irritable and upset.

Tonight we are going out for a nice dinner in Bragg Creek. One last evening of peace before we have to trek across the country and settle into the townhouse. Before I know it Lincoln will be starting school and the new house will be done and Christmas will be upon us. It seems unlikely that Jay and I will have a chance to have an evening alone between now and then, so we are talking advantage of it.

Please don't worry about us. We'll make it alright.

Lots of love to you all!

Packing It In...

The movers are here while I write this. They are packing our things into boxes and bins. I'm finding myself a little more emotional over it all than I expected. In many ways it's hard to let go of this house, and of the plans we had for this place. I'm sad, but it's ok. I still know that it's for the best.

We dropped the kids off at my mom's on Monday. We got to say goodbye to my Grandma and my aunt and my sister. It was difficult to say the least. I don't think we tend to realise how much we are going to miss someone until the farewells are upon us and it's time to go.

Last night Jason and I went to Stampede for a few hours with some friends. At the end of the night there were hugs and goodbyes all around. Tonight and tomorrow night will be more of the same as we try to get in a little more time with the people here before we leave.

Packing proceeds quite efficiently. Although it seems that everything is put into boxes with little consideration of the content. By that I do not mean that they are not gentle with our things, but that it isn't grouped together in any sort of order. Craft supplies, camping equipment, and toys all into one box, etc. I know that the focus for them is just to get it all done, but I am cringing at the thought of unpacking at the new house, once it's finished.

I suppose their method works well under normal circumstances. They pack one room at a time and then the boxes are labeled by room, not content. However, in the basement everything is sort of lumped together down there. At this point I am just letting go and allowing them to do what they are here to do. I am just going to be grateful that I don't have to do all of the work myself and enjoy letting someone else do the hard part.

3 more sleeps...

Gearing Up For The Home Stretch!

5 more sleeps and we will officially be moved to Ontario. It’s still difficult to believe that it’s real. I go back and forth from being really excited to being sad about leaving. I think that’s pretty normal, although that isn’t a particularly comforting fact.

The kids have really been enjoying time with Grandparents. They spent most of last week at Grandma and Grandpa Desjarlais house. They spent a lot of time playing and they got to visit with Aunty Reta quite a bit as well.

As I write this we are driving them to my mum’s house in Rocky, so they can spend the rest of the week there. Besides the fact that Grandma Shirley and Great Grandma Pearl are looking forward to it, we also knew it would be best for the kids to be out of the house during the packing.

We are doing our best to keep it fun and positive for them. They know we are moving to a new house far away and that we get to take a jet plane to get there. Lincoln is particularly excited about that. They have a hard time understanding distance so we aren’t focusing much on that. Really they are both happy that we will be close to ‘Daddy’s new work’ and that he’ll be home again every night. The kids have had a difficult time with Jay being gone all week.

We have assured them that their toys are going to be there and their beds as well. They seem content with that.

It’s going to be an interesting experience having the movers come to pack everything. I am not sure how it all works but I am confident that everything will go smoothly.

Just to let everyone know, I intend to keep this blog going after the move and beyond. Many friends and relatives expressed interest in continuing to read and keep up on our happenings. I will still have lots and lots to write about, such as the building of the new house and Lincoln starting school in the fall. I’ve gotten the hang of this website thing now so I promise it won’t just die off like the last one did, HA HA!

I’ve also learned how to post videos on here, so we can share snippets of the kids and different activities we are doing. I have some footage of Lincoln’s recent 5th birthday to share, so I’ll try to get that up on here in the next week or so.

The house has received a little attention lately. It’s currently listed at $479,000 and we’ve had a couple of showings. Saturday a couple came and looked at it, then came and looked at it again later that day. Apparently they love it, although they are trying to decide between our house and another house. Also they don’t have their paperwork in order for financing, so possibly an offer will be coming in this week.

We have another showing this evening. If we get an offer I’ll make sure to let you all know!

I promise pictures of the place we are renting, and construction on the new house should start soon so lots of good stuff to come :D