Welcome to February!

Two years ago this month we were packing and flying over to China for Katrine. Time flies.

The past month we have spent trying to get Katrine use to her single blade skates. It has been really fun watching her give it her all. She has no fear of falling, in fact she thinks that it is funny. More importantly though, she has no idea that learning to skate is hard work. To her it is simply another game. We have been very blessed in that. She is making remarkable progress. She is quite comfortable in her skates and is actually able to propel herself forward a little bit before falling down. She is also teaching herself how to regain her balance when she starts to fall. That is taking a bit though. She is really good at pushing off with her right foot (can you tell which is her dominant side?) so she tends to go to the side as opposed to straight but she is only two. She was impressed by how the boys playing hockey could “run” on their skates and that seems to have helped motivate her —either that or the fact that she gets to spend one on one time with mom or dad on the ice.

Enjoy the photos!

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Merry Christmas!

We have finished the last of our Christmas celebrations and I thought that it would be nice to take a moment to share some of the holiday highlights.

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Katrine visiting Santa

Our holidays began the first weekend of December with a visit to my parents in Victoria Harbour. My brother and his family were also up there so we had an early Tomlinson Christmas (complete with turkey dinner). On the Saturday night we trecked off to St. Marie among the Huron for their period celebrations. The kids got to stay up late and do crafts while walking around by candle light. One of the highlights of the evening was listening to the Native drummers. We would have stayed longer in the longhouse but it was too smoky. Sunday morning was gift day. It was nice to see all of the kids ripping paper and smiling at their various gifts.

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117Learning to write with a quill.

123This is the only real snow that Katrine has got to play in so far.
120 The excitement was unbearable.
Sunday, December 17th was our holiday open house. It was really nice to show off our new house while having a chance to chat with friends. It also gave me an excuse to do some gluten-free baking. I am getting much better at transfering family recipes into gluten-free concoctions. Katrine had a blast running around with all of her friends. We only wish that more families had been able to join us.

Christmas Eve was a bit quieter. Glenn, Katrine and I went to visit my Nana at her nursing home and too drop off some presents for her. She surprised us by giving Katrine her stuffed puppy dog that sits by her bed. Katrine usually plays with it when we visit so she was tickled pink. My parents had driven down from the Harbour (my dad is recovering from kidney stones), and my mom joined us at church. Unfortunately, I missed a chunk of the service as I was dealing with a tantruming toddler. Oh well, maybe next year.

126 Had to show you Katrine’s Christmas dress; just in case she never wears it again.
On Christmas morning, Katrine let us sleep in until 8:00 before we journeyed downstairs to see what Santa had brought. She was still pretty calm this year because she still sees Santa as a fat, old guy who gives out candy canes if you ask nicely as opposed to the bringer of your heart’s desire. We managed to get her to eat some breakfast before we dove into the pile of gifts. We tried not to go to crazy but there still seemed to be a lot of stuff at the end of it all. After gifts Glenn and I took Katrine to visit his parents and then it was back up to the nursing home to see her Great-nana again. After the turkey and fixings we enjoyed Baby Jesus’ birthday cake. I have to tell you that Katrine actually helped to make it by pouring the various ingredients into the bowl and sprinkling the stars on top. I also have to give her the credit for thinking this tradition up. She is currently obsessed with birthdays and parties…constant topic of conversation. Well, we were trying to explain that Christmas was when Jesus was born. Then, on went the light bulb and hence the cake.

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132 Look at what Santa made for Monkey. The lengths we will go to for our kids.

135 This present thing is so taxing.

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On Boxing Day the three of us drove out to the zoo and walked around for a few hours. The fresh air and exercise were great pick-me ups after all the food. In the afternoon, we headed over to Glenn’s parents for the Attwood family Christmas. More food, more family, more gifts. It was a relaxing and fun time.

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Today, the last day of Christmas, we had the Toop family Christmas(Glenn’s mom’s side of the family). It took Katrine about an hour to truly feel comfortable but then she was off and running. She really had a great time with her cousins. It is nice that she has so many cousins close to her own age.

Now we have a few days to rest before we drive back up to Victoria Harbour to celebrate New Years with my folks. We hope that all of you have had an enjoyable December.

Another long time between updates

Well I guess that moving does take a lot out of you.  We have all been feeling under the weather (I have another upper-respiratory infection) and Katrine is feeling just about as well.  We also found out that Heather had a untreated 1st degree sprain of her foot that caused much pain and a locked ankle and calf muscle… yeah we’re really healthy over here.

Things are looking up though.  We are slowly getting unpacked and we are definitely feeling settled in that we now more often call it “The House”, rather than “The New House”.  With Christmas around the corner we should have a few new postings and maybe some pictures.

Getting settled

We have been in our house since October 25th and are making good headway into getting unpacked. It really feels like home. We are hoping to be able to start hanging pictures this week. Katrine really loves her new pink room and has adjusted to everything really quite well. Anyways, thought that you might like to see some photos of the move. Enjoy!

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Offline for a few days

Just to let you know that we will not have an internet connection for a few days untill we are all re-connected. If you need to get a hold of us On Wednesday, try our cell phones. Our landline should be operational by the end of Wednesday.

Moving Day Commeth!!

Glenn and our helpful volunteers have put in a lot of work this past weekend. With all of the help we were able to prime the hall (so it now looks clean), get the two bathrooms painted as well as Katrine’s bedroom. It is amazing how much the paint has made it feel cleaner and more like home. But then again, it is not hard to look better than mint chocolate chip green now is it? The tubs have been caulked and carpets cleaned. The windows have arrived and will be installed tomorrow which is good as we move the next day. The bad news is that inspite of my best efforts, the fridge still smells of rotten curry. So, tonight we went and bought ourselves a new fridge which will arrive on Thursday.

Katrine has been having a hard time though. She enjoys playing in the basement of the new place but aside from that calls it the skunk house because it has always smelled of cleaner, paint, etc. She is basically unpotty trained, not sleeping well and not eating (although the fact that she is cutting her molars could also account for this particular symptom). Hopefully once we get ourselves settled and back to the usual routine she will feel better.

That is pretty much where it stands now. Wish us luck with the move.

House update

Well I’ve got quite a bit done, and there is a lot more to do. So far I’ve painted the family room, living/dining room, and the master bedroom (2 coats, but it probably needs a third in the spring). The parquet floor in the family room, living/dining room was sanded, stained a dark oak, and had 4 coats of satin polyurethane applied (by a professional, not me). And the laminate is down in the master bedroom (by same said professional).

Now for the bad news. The bathrooms are in worse shape that we originally thought. There is lots of bubbling plaster and peeling paint that I chipped this evening, so I probably will not be done prep till tomorrow (Tuesday) because of spackling and sanding and washing with T.S.P. Also we talked to our window “guy” who has no news, which is definatly not good news, and is still waiting on the mill to finish production of our windows.

Things are still moving forward, the ducts and furnace will be cleaned this week, and the carpets will be cleaned next Monday. Also it looks like I’ll be getting some help from Tim, Bill, and perhaps Kris & Mark to finish off the painting this weekend (Yeah!).

more updates as they happen!

Been busy…

Sorry for the lack of updates recently, we’ve been busy getting ready to move into our new house. Actually we’re getting ready to take possession of the new place and do lots of fix-ups. New windows, new and repaired flooring, and lots of painting and cleaning will be the order of the day from October 3 until we move on October 25.

In the meantime, we managed to find time to go to the Kite Festival. We really had a good time, and wore Katrine out. She did get to fly her first kite though (it didn’t stay up for long).

We were also in and out of London last Saturday for Charles’ 4th birthday. The indoor playground was a blast for the kids, and we were sure that Katrine would sleep the whole way home, but no… 15 minutes was all she needed. Of course she looked spaced anyway.

Group 268 Meeting

Welcome to the last week of August! That means school starts next week. Sigh!

This past weekend we had the chance to get together with three families in Elspeth’s group at a park in Orillia. It was a beautiful day. The adults chatted and generally got to know a bit about each other while Katrine played with one couple’s children. The highlight of her day though was definetely the train ride around the park. Especially when the train went through the tunnel.

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The past two weeks have been pretty exciting for Katrine. We bought her a three-wheel scooter last week (they were on sale). She has been practicing using it inside the house and can get some pretty good speed. Now she just needs some practice steering. When we were up at Heather’s parents, they gave Katrine a small trike with the seat all the way down. Katrine was thrilled. Since then she has been out peddling everyday. She can peddle pretty well but can’t start when fully stopped. She can steer pretty good around corners but gets distracted by the scenery on straightaways.

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Moving on up…

Well it’s finally official, we bought a house. After a minor mix up at the bank (we take possesion Oct 16, not Aug 26), I dropped the cheque and waiver off with Karen. Now we get to stress about painting, cleaning, moving, etc. We do have 10 days overlap, so that should help. If you don’t hear from us in the latter half of October, don’t worry we’ll be coming up for air once in a while.

Oh, and if you feel like painting let us know!