Photo(s) of the Day November 22nd

Chris, Sophie and I don't find ourselves with a commitment-free Sunday very often, so when one popped up on our calendar this week we decided to enjoy some family time with a small road trip. We drove north out of London, stopping at Crunican Brother's for a jug of cider and a bag of Courtland apples before heading into Exeter in search of some of the white squirrels that the area is known for. Despite rattling our bag of peanuts all over the park, no squirrels came out of hiding to show us their fluffy white tails - we were lucky that the park had three foot bridges to run across, a dam to investigate and some trees to climb to help make up for missing the squirrels!

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Photo of the Day November 21st

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... especially judging by the fully decorated blue-themed tree gracing my front porch!

I am bound and determined to get myself organized for Christmas early this year. I know, I know, we all say that every year don't we? But this year I have a few extra motivators, one of which is my girlfriend Lee whose taking off for Australia in a couple short weeks to visit mutual friends of ours, and has offered to take presents and cards "down under" for me as long as I get them to her before all the space in her luggage is gone. I'm also inspired by next weekend's visit by my cousins Lisa and Sandy, who've agreed to drive back up north with whatever presents & stocking stuffers I have wrapped and ready to go. Both of these "delivery services" will save me either shipping costs or the frustration of having to lug four hundred pounds of gifts on the train at Christmas... both excellent motivators. So, the sounds of Christmas carols are ringing through my house this week as I work on Christmas crackers, decorating, wrapping and more. My hope is that getting all this work done early means I'll have the chance to sit back and enjoy some quiet time over the holidays this year. What are the odds?

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Photo of the Day November 20th

Despite the somewhat relaxed vibe of this photo-of-the-day, we enjoyed a very high-energy visit from our friends Rhys and Rowan today. While we see Rowan a couple days a week, we don't see Rhys as often so his visit was something Sophie had been looking forward to all week. Their time together certainly didn't disappoint, as it was chock full of pretending to be an assortment of creatures (here they're being bats, hanging upside down in a cave by their feet), running around like crazy people, playing board games, and generally getting into mischief. The kids all had a blast, and while I was left exhausted the day seemed to have the opposite effect on the kids, who had to practically be torn apart at the end of the day as they bounced around at full-speed-ahead high-energy! What a day...

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Photo of the Day November 19th

Chris's schedule is all over the map, with him working early mornings, mid afternoons, nights and overnight shifts that range from eight to twelve hours long - sometimes within the same week. That can make it hard to enjoy regular family time together, but we make up for it by having "family cuddles" whenever we can... it might be first thing in the morning or the middle of the afternoon, but one of us (often Sophie) will ask "who wants a family cuddle?" and we'll stop what we're doing and all pile into bed for some snuggle time. Even the cats come running (can you see the ear in the lower part of the frame?) It works out especially well if Chris is heading to bed for an afternoon nap prior to working a night shift... we can enjoy our cuddle time together before wishing him sweet dreams and sneaking off so he can get some sleep.

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Photo of the Day November 18th

A new toy has arrived in our home! As you can tell by reading this blog I enjoy photography, albeit on a purely amateur level... and while Chris and I have talked about eventually upgrading our little digital to an SLR, there's always something more pressing to take care of financially. Enter Chris's mom Shirley, who took a photography course quite some time ago and outfitted herself with a nice SLR and a great collection of lenses and filters as a result. She's taken some gorgeous pictures with it (especially nature shots) but it hasn't been used for the past several years, and since a camera like that really does want to take pictures now and again... it's taken up residence at our home for a while! Chris has been pouring over the manuals trying to figure it out, and I'll take my crack at it once he's had a turn - I'll be sure to make note of it as photos from the SLR make an appearance on this blog!

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Photo of the Day November 17th

Sophie and 2 other JK's get a push from a very helpful SK student

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It's another Skating Day at Tecumseh, so when preparing Sophie for school this morning I packed up her skates, snow pants and helmet in addition to all her other school supplies. Unfortunately Sophie's backpack can't possibly hold all that, so on Skating Days we have to bring two bags instead of one... I'm glad I attend skating to help out because I can't imagine Sophie having to carry it all by herself while successfully navigating stairs and change rooms. That said, our "lot of stuff to carry" seemed like nothing when I compare myself to one of the other Tecumseh moms I was chatting with in the change room. She has four daughters, three of which are school-aged and therefor needed all their skating supplies brought to the school today - her "lot of stuff to carry" included a mammoth hockey bag stuffed to the top with different sizes of skates, helmets, mitts, snow pants and scarves in addition to a double-wide stroller with her youngest daughter in it. Hmmm... kind of puts things in perspective, doesn't it?

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Photo of the Day November 16th

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've recently started taking part in the Cooking Club Challenge run by Food Network Canada. Each month the registered participants vote on the type of recipe they'd like to make, and Food Network tabulates the votes and lets everyone know which dish "won". The recipe is posted and as participants complete their own version they're invited to send in photos and information about what they may have changed and how the overall recipe worked for them. I think it's a neat way to introduce something into your meal plan that you may not otherwise have made - last months meatloaf was a pretty good example of that in my house. Although I haven't gotten to this month's challenge yet (Michael Smith's Cinnamon Rolls), I've decided to go back and try some of the previous challenges... which is why last night I roasted a chicken for the first time ever. Please bear in mind that I'm a vegetarian, so when I think of "family meals" they usually feature something I can actually eat... making roasts, steaks, meatloaf, etc are pretty much outside my frame of reference. I'm thrilled to say that the chicken was a hit, especially with my tried-and-true carnivore husband who said it was one of the best roast chicken dinners he'd ever had. Feel free to click here to check out the recipe. I'm looking forward to continuing this little cooking experiment, and I have every faith that Chris will support me every step, or every bite, of the way!

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