Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to you!




2008 has been a wonderful year for us and for our family. The beginning of the year was a typical year. We didn't do anything crazy or exciting. We worked and waited for our little bundle to arrive.

In the spring Phil was laid off from his job (about a month before Makayla was born) and so this gave him some time to pamper me and get some things around the house looked after. Makayla was born June 9 and it was pretty exciting to have her with us. My mom was able to come and be here for the first week to cook and clean and give advice. Phil had a job lined up to begin in July which took him to BC for four weeks of training. Phil's mom and dad were also able to come out and stay with us for two weeks, taking care of all of us.

In the summer my brother got married and we were all able to go to BC for the wedding. I was able to go for two weeks as Phil was in Vancouver for training and I was home alone with a new born. It was great to see family and have them all meet Makayla.

September I went back to work, working from home and a few hours in the office a week. A good friend of ours has a 20 month old and takes Makayla for a few hours on Friday so I can get some things done without her. That has been great. Getting back to work has been hard as I delegated a lot of things and so there hasn't been too much for me to do, so I have been able to do a lot of planning for this coming year. We are excited about some things that will be coming up at church. It has been tough to balance work time, family time, clean house time, etc. Phil has been working very hard and has also begun a course through NAIT for Power Engineering. So, needless to say, life has been pretty busy for all of us.

Makayla has begun to do a lot more now, like eating (very little and she really isn't into things like carrots or bananas), rolling over, sitting up, etc. It has been so much fun to watch her grow and now our life revolves around her. She has quite the little personality and can give a little attitude every now and again (I am not looking forward to her turning two or becoming a teenager!). Overall she is a lot of fun and such a joy to have in our life!

We are celebrating Christmas with my brother and his family and a friend from church who's family are overseas missionaries and are not home for the holidays. Phil's family will celebrate in Toronto and my parents will celebrate at their new place in Terrace, BC with friends from church. It has been a quiet Christmas and I suppose it will be a quiet New Year as well.

At this point we don't really have any big plans for 2009. We will be venturing to Toronto for the first week of February so that Makayla can meet the family, but after that we don't really have too many plans! But we know that life is an adveture and we look forward to whatever God has in store for us!

Have a wonderful Christmas and all the best in 2009

Watch this!

This is a very interesting video. Something that came too late for this year, but maybe we will give it a try next year!

30 minute challenge

This is a little challenged inspired by blogger buddy Elizabeth.

Here we go...

Set the timer for 30 minutes and see how much cleaning/chores/tidying can be done in that time.

Started laundry (load one of three)
Cleaned out the cat's litter boxes
Took out the garbage (and checked the mail)
Emptied out the dishwasher and loaded the dirty dishes sitting by the sink in
Washed remaining dishes in sink
Wiped off counter
Water plants

Times up!

It's amazing what can be accomplished in only 30 minutes! Thank Liz!

Here's your challenge... what can you do in 30 minutes? Post in the comments and let me know.

Dinner Inspiration

I find myself bored with dinner options. I seem to cook a few things and Phil cooks a few things and then we rotate through those few things. Phil is much more creative when it comes to cooking (probably because he has taken some classes and is just creative that way). Growing up my mom taught me how to cook and those are the things that I continue to cook (pasta with meat sauce, stroganoff, chili, tacos, fajitas, chicken with rice, etc, etc.). Kinda boring. I even subscribe to the Kraft emails where they send you recipes and stuff. Phil has also requested sertain things that he likes and somehow the recipes just don't turn out right. I am nervous to try new things in case they taste terrible and I don't like it. Also, some recipes require different ingredients that we don't always carry at home. So, what am I to do? I especially have no motivation to cook and try new things as by the time dinner rolls around I am so tired the last thing I want to do is make supper. Does anyone have any ideas? What are some of your favorite things to make? I need some inspiration!