Aneira LOVED her New Years present!!

Aneira got her present early:)

We are hoping to stain it yet before

she gets to live in it out on the deck..

We let her try it out in the kitchen

to see if she liked it:)

She has a cute little smile on this pic!

What you can't see from these pictures is how

huge the dog house actually is;

Courtney is in there as well!!

Anyone up for some 'ball'?

Wrapping up the holidays...

The prior post picture of the presents (yesterday)

(THAT'S A LOT OF P's!!!) 

was BEFORE Costco; this one is AFTER:)

The pile more than doubled in area this afternoon!

Even Aneria gets a New Years' present;)

If we hadn't ran out of wrapping paper,

we would've wrapped it for her too yet..:)

The sun threw the last bit of its beauty

over the Valley a few minutes ago:

And the pile keeps growing and growing and..

We always do New Year's Eve presents

rather than Christmas presents...

It just keep the whole commercialisation

out of Christmas itself, prolongs the anticipation,

makes it easier on the wallet with all of the

Boxing Week sales, and just seems like a

good tradition all around;)

This is the pile today...tomorrow it'll be even bigger:)

By Saturday night, it will be complete!

Night skiing at Hemlock

It had been 3 years since the girls and I last

went skiing!  Nathan went out for the first

time last night.  It was a wonderful time

together!! There were a few spills

but no injuries, so we're thankful for that:)

Since the temperature was hovering around zero,

there was a mix of rain, slush and big snowflakes..

I took a few pictures just for memories'

sake, but the quality is compromised due to the

weather conditions;)

We pretty much had

the hill to ourselves though, so optimum

learning environment for Mak!

We were soaked by the time we got back to

the truck; two right through to the skin in places,

and the remaining just the outer layer..

No such thing as a holiday for this guy:)

I have never seen Nathan 'relax' when

there are things to do and time to do them..

He collects all the 'we should do this when we have time'

and all of the 'when the weather is right' type

suggestions in his head, and the VERY few

days a year that he is not at the shop, he puts

himself in motion here at home..

By 7:10 this morning, he was out running the dog.

When breakfast wasn't on the table at 7:40

after his shower,

he pulled out the toaster, eggs and pan

and started himself..

By 8:10 he had a few bulbs changed around the yard..

By 9:00, he had all of the speakers hooked

up in Kurt's truck, the charger on the battery,

and wiring done where needed..

 By 9:30 he had called the neighbour 

and enticed him over

to our side of the fence to work on a project

they have had long discussions about over the

 past few months..

Like....RELAX!!!

These are the pictures of a finished project

they were taking ideas from to make their 'fire stove'..

Apparently Mr. S. seen a really neat homemade

fire pit made from an old propane bottle somewhere

on one of their camping trips, and he

thought it was the Cat's Meow..

He just HAD to have one himself:)

With all this done before noon,

I wonder what will all get done

this afternoon!!

More chess parts..

Mak brought home a few more pieces!

At this rate, we will be playing a game before New Years:)

Now, the 'real' pawns will not have Mohawks,

smiling faces, or Jewish caps on their heads.

This was for 'a challenge' purpose only..

What a cute little family!

Hmmm..

Bearing in mind the request not to mention any names,

my only comment is

'I love it when motivated, competent people

who live in my house get bored:)'

Saying no more, it smells lovely in here!

My dear machinist husband...

...brought me home a 'present' again yesterday!

Every once in a while, he takes home a part that he made

that isn't perfect, whether it is the first part off, or it's a

sample, or it is slightly 'off' in regards to a measurement;

whatever the case.. I thoroughly enjoy them:)

One reason I love them is so we can educate others..

When people ask what Nathan does for a living,

we give the prompt response, "He is a machinist"..

95% of people give us a blank look.

Others say, "Oh..so you operate heavy equipment?"

or we've had, "Oh! You're a train engineer!"

or "Ok, so you weld things or make dies?"

None of the above:)

"Well what DO you do then?"

"Make parts" is the answer which does absolutely

nothing to clear it up...

Now, to be fair, I had no idea myself a few years

back.. It seems everyone has a fairly clear understanding

as to what mechanics do, or any trade for that matter,

but machinists are rarely known for what their career all entails..

Here is the 'present' I got yesterday:

I'm hoping he will make ALL of the pieces to a Chess Set!

This took him 10 minutes to make, starting out with just a piece of metal..

These are a few samples we show those interested or uninformed;)

They work with several types of steel, aluminum, Delrin

and other plastics, copper, brass, and more. 

Parts have ranged from underwater sonar equipment,

pieces for a search camera for first responders to a disaster of

sorts (it has speakers, lights, and a video camera to put

in rubble after a earthquake, for example)

compressor parts, etc etc.. The list goes on and on!

There is a wide variety of parts made there..

 I am VERY thankful Nathan's dad had the idea

years ago to start a little something for his sons in his barn:)

It is awesome to see what they all make!

A slight fright..

Kurt left for work this morning with a shot gun

and a few slugs.. apparently there were a few

big boars that needed to be taken care of..

Now all I have ever heard of so far in regards to these

beasts, is how massive and mean they are;

needless to say, I was a little apprehensive..

Two hours later, I got a text that said,

"IT GOT PHYSICAL"

Now I'm freaking out, thinking that is the way

he usually lets me know something went south..

I'm picturing a big gash in his leg, or a hole

shot through his boot, or..

This followed the text..



Another smorgasbord of talent..

I looked through some more of Courtney's pictures,

and decided they were definitely worth sharing!!

One of her little frog buddies from last summer..

A whole new perspective on Coke:)

 Isn't this a beautiful picture?

Looks like this chicken doesn't trust it at all;) Probably first photo shoot in her life!

The weekend consisted of:

• LOTS of singing..

Friday night was our Combined Choir Evening

at the school, consisting of the two Intermediate choirs

as well as our Bethel Choir singing.

We took the neighbours along with us again,

and they heard 4 of the 5 of us perform;)

There was also a bake sale held,

with proceeds going to the Holland Choir trip

planned for Spring of 2013. We came

home with way more baking than we contributed!

• More music..

At the Church Hall this morning, there was a recital for

all of Janna, Krista, and Richelle's students.

The girls went to listen only, since Courtney chose

not to play this time around..



• Still more singing..

The girls went along with the Girls Craft Club to

the Bradley Centre, which is a residential care facility

in the Chwk. Hospital. They once again handed out

poinsettias to the residents; they appreciate it SO much!

Tears in some eyes, a few asking for a hug, giving

advice to the girls, and holding their hands..

it is always a wonderful and memorable experience for all!

(These are pictures from last year to give you an idea of the event..I never went
along this year, since I'm no longer a GCC leader, and the girls are 'graduated' from it as well:)

• Some renovations..

Nathan worked on the bathroom downstairs which was never

in use since we moved in.  It badly needed to be redone!

The cabinet needed some jig saw modifications to

fit the existing plumbing:)

Oh..and more music! He had Handels Messiah

cranked down there!

Once the bathroom is complete, I will post a BEFORE and AFTER picture:)

• Some gift basket making..

For the neighbours.. full of chocolate stuff;)



• The last of the Aneira trips to the male lab..
• 
  

  Kurt working in the pig barns, oblivious to all..:)
• Both girls babysitting Saturday night..
• All of us thankful for the upcoming Christmas break and time with family & friends, food & fellowship...:)

Culinary skills test:)

Courtney had a Home Ec project due today

which involved whipping up a few things

 in the kitchen, presenting the method used,

the 'fruit of your labours', as well

as a breakdown of costs involved

and number of servings the recipe makes, etc...

Normally, these types of projects are fairly straight forward..

This one, however, seemed like a mess right from the start.

It took a long time to decide what to make, first of all.

Tuesday night consisted of running from grocery store to

grocery store, all of them out of white chocolate wafers.

Finally, at SAFEWAY, we went with the Baker's White and

Semi Sweet Chocolate squares, since the options were limited at this point.

Thinking we got a good deal at $5.03 (on sale!) each box,

we went home with our supplies.  The procedure went relatively

smooth, but it still didn't seem like that was enough to present to

the Class and Teacher.  Late Wednesday night, the Iced Capp idea popped

into her head-it just had to be done as well! The recipe she created involved

vanilla ice cream and it was rather difficult to scoop the vanilla from

between the strawberry swirls in the pail available here at home...

We 'kicked' her off of the computer at 10:45 that night, thinking

'too bad.. that is what happens when you procrastinate;)'

This morning, we made a vanilla ice cream run to the Rosedale

Grocery store before school.  She left the house

with an open container of whipping cream,

papers everywhere, yanking her USB out of the

laptop, frazzled and strapped for time..

Within a half hour, the phone rang.

"Mom, guess what I forgot...?"

The chocolate covered pretzels were still in the fridge!

Thankfully we live only a few minutes away, and I

got them there on time for the presentation.

It was all good until I seen the same product on

the Superstore shelf for $3.47 this afternoon..

That is the only part that really annoyed me from this whole episode...:)

I forgot it all though, once I tasted the white chocolate

pretzels.. What an awesome treat!

THANKS COURTNEY!!

YOU CAN MAKE THEM ANYTIME!!

(Just put the ingredients on my

SUPERSTORE list...)