winterlude

This past Saturday we played in the snow at Winterlude {Canada's Winter Celebration}, with Jill & her family, on opening day. We checked out the activities at Jacques-Cartier Park in Gatineau... We went sliding on the larger-than-life snow slides...

wound our way through a huge snow maze, visited Scooby Doo in the Teletoon area {R is a huge fan of Scooby Doo lately, when the Scooby Doo mysteries are on TV he is glued to the screen!}...

admired all the snow sculptures...

and did some tubing.

Of course, it would not be an authentic Ottawa experience without indulging in another famous tradition, the BeaverTail...


and then we headed home to warm up! We had planned on seeing the ice sculptures and doing some skating on the Canal the next day, but the warm weather and melting snow put some of the Winterlude activities on hold, I think.
I don't think Miss S minds that we decided to stay out of the snow the next day, she'd had enough of the white stuff by the time we left the park...

Happy Winter!

rocketman

I have tickets to see Elton John in concert again!!! I am SO excited...I am singing Elton to the kiddies and adding more Elton to my Playlist right now. I {heart} Elton John}!


This concert is Face 2 Face: Elton John & Billy Joel...

June 1 at Scotiabank Place. It was just announced very recently and tickets went on sale this morning. I saw Elton in concert, back home a couple years ago, and it was a fabulous show.

I can't wait for this one...

conversations with a 4 year old

The other morning R and I noticed some animal prints in our backyard. We were trying to guess what they were.




Mommy: A deer?
R: No, they are too close together. Not four legs.
Mommy: A bunny?
R: No {laughing at me}. They are all in one line.



Hmmmm....



R: I know! It's a flamingo.
Mommy: Sure. I bet there are lots of flamingos in Ontario.

{This is R, showing the footprints to Miss K and Baby G later that day, when I was baby-sitting them for Jill}

The other great conversation I had with R recently involved him trying to decide on his career path. He was sitting at the table drinking his apple juice. And he was telling me he knew how they made apple juice. It was very technical.

So R decided he wants to be 'the guy who makes apple juice' when he grows up. I said I thought that was a wise choice.

But then R changed his mind...he said he might want to be 'some one that helps people that are in trouble'. He said 'maybe a fireman'.

I would probably worry less about him as an apple juice maker than a fire fighting tough guy, but I'm good with whatever he decides!

almost done

the living room..

{we have really high ceilings all throughout this house - I think they must be 10'...maybe I should start measuring things...that would help in decorating!}

I just need to hang some art.
And chase a little monkey out of there...

And figure out what type of window covering I want on the bay window. Any suggestions...?

i love my sink

I really do.
As much as a person can love a sink...

That is my farmhouse sink {at our walk-thru, so no furniture in yet. The backsplash and sink are more of an off-white in person but look really bright in this photo}.

I have been getting requests from back home, for photos of our new house, but I do not want to take photos before the house is unpacked...and well, clean. It is taking longer than I thought to get things organized!

I also love, love, love the view of the trees in our yard {that I can stare at, while standing at my sink washing dishes}. And love my green bead board island.

I do not love the fact that I still have no stove. {It would be wrong to publicly bash GE appliances on my blog, right? So I will not do that}.

I am in desperate need of some light fixtures in my kitchen {for your viewing pleasure I have cropped the bare light bulbs out of the photo}. I am on the hunt for some vintage school house-type lights for the bulkhead above the island, and the kitchen chandelier of my dreams... I'll let you know how it goes.

Here are the new bar stools in a distressed black paint...

And here you can see our new kitchen table {a big 7' farm table, up close it is all crackly and distressed}. Please ignore the bare light bulbs and soon-to-go builder light fixture...

I designed the little hutch area you see behind the table - it has a bead board backsplash {the rest of the kitchen has off-white subway tile}. I need to figure out what I want in the hutch - right now it just has some glassware and dishes in it - but I think I am going to move that and put more decorative things behind the glass.

I love looking at photos of people's homes, in magazines and online. I hope you liked this little peek into my kitchen. As I add and change things I will update my photos here!

more kitchen

My coffee area...

I changed the door to the laundry room to a french door, to let more light through...

The last part of the kitchen is the area where we had a custom hood fan made...but I will have to take photos after {or if} our oven ever arrives!

the big chill

It has been just freezing here lately, and the snow never stops falling. But it did not stop these two...

from wanting to play outside. On Saturday, we went to Renee's for a little sledding in her backyard. Mark makes a big hill, and pathways that look like a bobsled track {only in Ontario can you sled in your own yard with the snow you shovelled off your driveway}! And you should see his tunnels in the front yard {the snow was piled higher than our SUV}...R wanted to sleep in one overnight {he might have been a bit chilly, it was -29 that day}!

Here is Mark launching R...

{I know the photo would have been better taken from in front of my child...but this was the best angle I could get, through the window, considering my location inside Renee's warm kitchen}!

Note to self: must go buy snowshoes asap...