The Mayhem

Things got a little out of hand when the gifts were opened. Aunt Marion had the right idea..."get the hell out of the way". Pictures didn't turn out well...you can still make out the people which is most important.

Christmas At Mom & Dad's

Here's a few faces you will recognize...
Dad showing off his latest Christmas gift...a new digital camera...someone will have to show him how to use it...pick me!! (Donava, Paul & Kevin also in picture)
The ladies, Sheila, Florence and GG enjoy some Christmas dessert...
There he is...my lumberjack...well he certainly looks like one in his new jacket...handsome too I might add...Florence also thinks so...can't you tell by the smile on her face?
That's Aidan with Dash, his favourite character...hmm...I wonder who is so thoughtful to have gotten such a great gift for him knowing how much he loves Dash...lol

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all!
I haven't updated in a while but I still wanted to share photos from Christmas.
We had a great Christmas and I do believe everyone enjoyed themselves...don't take my word for it, see for yourself....

Just a Couple more...

Since we now live in Muskoka what's a tree without a Muskoka chair...and of course can't forget the bear....

My Favourites...

I have some favourite ornaments I wanted to share...
I put the picture of Jeff , the kids and I cutting down the tree in the tree...I think I will make that a yearly tradition. This year the majority of my tree was done in snowmen, with the exception of a few of my favourites, like the elephant pictured above.

The Little Man with the Big Man...in the Red suit

This year Aidan decided to cozy up to Santa. Last year he was not quite as brave...he stood in front of him. This year his little girlfriend Natalie was with him, though not pictured here, so he had to impress her. You know he takes after his Dad in that regard. What a sweetie. Love him to bits...

Tree Cutting Family Picture

We took a family picture before cutting the tree down...it turned out pretty good. It took longer to get this photo than it did to cut the tree down.
Jeff took this picture and he did a good job considering he had it propped on a stump. The tree may not look like much right now but just you wait....

The Chosen One...down she goes

This Sunday we went to Kilborne Tree Farm near Bracebridge to cut down our tree. We heard it was a good place with big tall trees. It was a nice place they got that right. It took us a while to find one that was nice, full and taller than Jeff...but here she is the chosen tree to be our Christmas tree...Look as the action unfolds...it may look like it took awhile for Jeff to cut through the tree but really it was a matter of seconds....  

The Holiday tree

For those of you who like to be politically correct, this is our "holiday tree" that we are going to hang ornaments on with ordinary lights not Christmas lights and sing songs around and...who am I kidding...Merry Christmas and all that other unpolitical jazz!!

The man himself with "the tree"....

Families Get Together

On Saturday we decided we would have our families over for tree trimming and dinner. The plan was we would get up early, get the tree and then come home do dinner, guests arrive and decorate the tree. Well, as anyone knows plans are always open to change and our plan changed. We did a turkey for dinner...2 actually one in the oven and one on the BBQ. So that took priority getting the turkey in the oven, then there was tidying the house and early guest arrival and well I think you know where this is going...no time to get tree. But that's ok. We had a great time anyway. We had 20 people for dinner....Jeff's parent's, his 2 brothers and there families, his sister, my parent's, Grandma, Auntie Jean, Brenda and Unlce Robert. Talk about a full house. We didn't have enought room around the table so you had to sit where you fit. No complaints though. The turkeys turned out excellent. Dad's put in a request for a BBQ turkey for Christmas day at their place. The only one missing was Marlene, Sean and Aidan. Since Marlene works weekends they couldn't be there.
Everyone had a great time, lots of food, games and cheer!
Sorry no pics I forgot to take some...
The only other thing I would do differently, besides take pics, is plan a little further ahead. I was busy a lot of the time in the kitchen so I didn't get to mingle with guests as much as I would have liked. I think I just found my New Year's Resolution...plan better...maybe I'll start with the wedding...

Holiday Cheer

This weekend we had a couple of Christmas functions to attend.
My friend Pauline had her annual Chrirstmas Open House and it was a great time as usual. She is always so organized and her house was wonderfully decorated for the holidays. We spent the evening in her newly finished basement at the bar her husband Ken did. Well, he did the whole basement and it looks excellent. It was very cozy by the fire and refreshing at the bar.
Our visit was interrupted as we had to go to Jeff's work party held at the restaurant called Crabby Joe's (how appropriate for the holidays! haha). The food was good this time but the service was a bit to be desired. Hopefully that will be enough to get it changed to somewhere different next year. We had a nice time there. We sat with Jeff's friend Eric & his wife Krista, who is expecting their second child in June. Pat & Ron, Eric's parents, were also at our table. It almost felt like the 6 of us were just out for dinner together because the company was sooo good we forgot about the rest of the bunch.
We had an invitation back to Sandy's for the after party but had to decline since we had only spent a short time at Pauline's. Back at Pauline's we had some cheer, a chat with old friends and a good time. All in all, a success.
Thanks Pauline again for inviting us and for a great time.

Here are a few other Christmas decorations in our home. Hope you like the little tour. I will post our tree once it is up and decorated. Stay tuned... 

If you put these pictures together, side by side this is the entryway into our family room. Apparently, the pillars are original to the house when it was built some 100 years ago.  

Christmas in Our New Home

Here is a look at what Christmas looks like in our new home. This is our staircase decorated for the holidays and at the bottom of the stairway is our Christmas tree...well one of our trees. We will be having a bigger and better real tree this year. Unfortunately, we don't have it up yet...but there's still a couple weeks to go...no rush yet...right?? Come one there's more for you to see...

The Little Man Turned 3!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Aidan!! Here he is the imfamous Aidan...in to everything and doing and saying just the same.
I didn't see him on his special day but a few days later. When I arrived at his house and he saw the"package" I barely got through the door and he wanted to know what it was. Well, as soon as I said it is your birthday present he wanted to open it. I said just let me get in and my coat off and you can open it. I can't tell you how many times he asked me if he could open it now. He liked his present and remembered to say Thank you. The rest of the afternoon we played with playdo and played hide n' seek. He's still learning the concept because he likes to see where you hide or when he hides you are standing right there. When he finds you he says hide again but that means in the same spot!
He's a funny little guy...obsessed with hockey and has already earned the nickname "chatterbox". It will be amazing to see what he does over the next year since he's learned so much already. 

Girls Weekend

Every year my Mom gets together with her cousins for a girls weekend. This year was special. The daughters were invited. Rosemary came up with the idea and I really thought it was great that they shared their weekend with us. Unfortunately, it was only some of us...Leslie couldn't make it and Melissa & Marlene were there part of the time. Maybe if we get invited back we could have a true Mother/Daughter weekend.
The weekend was special in another way too...since Mom has been sick the cousins didn't want her to miss out on the weekend so they brought everything to her. They took great care of her, planning activities around Mom's energy level, bringing food, fun and laughter. All the right medicine. Luckily Mom was feeling good and could really enjoy herself.
Hightlights of the weekend...shopping, eating, talking, eating, the gift exchange, more talking, followed by more eating, taking in a movie (Da Javu), dinner at Swiss Chalet and our picture with Santa.
Linda & I had a great time as the daughters and speaking for myself, I was inspired to start a get together with my cousins too!

A few more pics to give you the full effect...and what's around the corner for you! 

Our First Snow

Yes, it's true it's only November 3rd and this is what it looks like outside of our house. Pretty scary huh? Beautiful too but couldn't it wait???
It's snowing still as I type this. The joys of living up North... 

The New Babysitter

Zorro doesn't like being left alone...when or IF he is, we usually come home to some sort of mess or destruction. So leaving him alone is not something that happens very often...until now. Now that we have the fireplace there is no need to wonder where the dog is or what he is doing. You will find him 24/7 melting in front of the fireplace. This is great for us because he no longer cares if we go out and leave him alone. Who would have thought!


 

The Fireplace

Here is our fireplace. As you can see we have had it for about a month already. Boy can it put off some good heat! Jeff & I did the slate floor as you know. It turned out pretty good, if we do say so ourselves.
This should keep us warm all winter. 

Answer to "being Memed???

I don't know what being memed means but I will try and answer.
I have to come up with 5 weird or odd things about me. Some of you might have a number of things already listed but i'm struggling here...
Well, in no particular order let's start with...

I like suduko puzzles. I have a tea in the morning and do my suduko puzzles. Don't know what suduko is??? It's a grid of 9 columns and 9 rows and you have to place the numbers 1-9 in the columns and rows without duplicating a number. To make things a little more challenging there is are 9 boxes that make up the grid in which you also have to have 1-9 in them making sure not to duplicate any of the numbers. Once you get pretty good at it, the next challenge is to time your self to see how fast you can figure out the puzzle. There are 6,958,894,980,434,573 number combinations for these puzzles.

Ok that's 1. Now for 2...I've become somewhat of a clean freak. Doesn't necessarily sound weird but for those who knew me growing up they would think this is weird. I'm still working on the new house...there's still a few things out of place or in a box or needing a home and it is frustrating me to no end!!!! I want everything perfect...now.

3...This one I can't say I'm proud of but that wasn't the question. I have an uncanny ability to lie and rarely get caught. Not so much now as when I was younger and wanted to do things I wasn't allowed to. It took my mother a long time to figure this out and she was quite shocked that I was so good at it. That's all I'll say about that one.
4...I have a strong attachement to my car. She has a name, it's Audra. I have had her for 8 years. She is starting to give me trouble...the trannie is going. But I hate the thought of getting rid of her. Jeff says "it's time" and while I know he is right and I have to let go I can't. She's my first car bought and paid for all by myself, it's the car I wanted since I was 16. She's even how I met Jeff. Can I get her stuffed???

Ok 5...and I'm done. I don't know if any of these are actually weird so I'll try harder with this one...I'd like to say I can put my leg behind my head or cross my eyes (hey maybe that's weird because I can't do that unless I follow someone's finger) but all I can say on that front is I bite my cuticles, sometimes chew the inside of my cheek and I bite my lip so hard sometimes if I don't want to cry.
I don't have cable...in this day and age that is weird!!! I have bunny ears...yes, I know you remember them. But before the bunny ears I had nothing...no TV. Well, a TV but you couldn't watch anything. That's not only weird that's not normal.
some of these things may not be weird but how about eccentric now that sounds better.

Hope you enjoyed my 5 weird things my weird friend, Pauline. hahah!! Kidding. And yes I was agreeing at some of your weird things. And I think it is a bit of a control issue as well, the driving thing. But for those of us that know you well know that about you and love ya anyway!

This project was initiated by Bono of U2 (& Oprah - she is backing him apparently). Anyway, I thought it was interesting and I loved the T-shirts which are available at The Gap and the money raised goes to a good cause...HIV AIDS for women & children in Africa. Just thought I would share the news...in case you hadn't heard.

Project Red

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Project Red is not a charity, it is simply a business model. You buy Project Red stuff. (Motorola, AmEx, Gap, Armani, Converse, Apple) Project Red gets the money. It then buys the pills and distributes them. Sick people in Africa take the pills, stay alive. And continue to take care of their families and contribute socially and economically in their communities.

Presenting Leila & Jeff Verheyen

September 23, 2006 Wedding of Leila & Jeff Verheyen

Here are some pictures of my cousin's wedding. Jeff is my Godparent's son or my godbrother. Some people may think that sounds strange but we spent a lot of time together growing up. I consider them family and am proud to say that. We haven't spent a lot of time together in recent years but I'm sure that will change now that we are all in the same area code.
It was a great wedding...what more can I say. It was fun, relaxed...a great casual affair. It inspired my Jeff because of the relaxed atmosphere and simplicity. Everything was beautifully done but it seemed without the fuss. I guess you could sum it up in a couple of words "simple elegance". I think the bride was definately that.
Sometimes you get caught up in the planning and it can become more elaborate than you wanted. I think you need to get to the bare bones of what you want and do it! Do it with flair and your own style.
Jeff & Leila, I hope I captured the type of wedding you were hoping guests would describe it as. If so, you pulled it off fabulously. Thank you for letting us share in such a wonderful day. Congratulations! 

The Wedding Cake

The wedding cake was made by Jeff's Aunt Simone. She did an absolutely amazing job. I always looked forward to Jeff & Jen's birthdays as Aunt Simone always made the cake. It is a treat to have Aunt Simone's cake. I know your mouth is watering...Just to let you know yes, it was delicious.

Wedding Guests

Here's a picture of Jeff & I. We had to take it ourselves. As usual when we are dressed up we never seem to get a picture of us. Not a bad attempt.

What we've been up to...

Just thought I'd let you know what we have been up to lately. Not much really...still unpacking. Most of it is done. We are down to a few boxes and those are the ones that you wonder why you have those things and where to put them if you decide to keep them.
I have also been puttering in the garden... still trying to weed it out. I have calli lilies in my garden!! I was pretty excited. There are 3 plants but only one had a flower. I took photos but you will have to wait for the pics as I am using my film camera as I need batteries for the digital.
Let's see...what else...oh, I have finally decided to go back to school part-time for a law clerk. My first class is Civil Litigation and I start this Tuesday. I'm a bit nervous as I haven't been to school...let's just say for a while but I am excited too!
Jeff has been pretty busy at work but everything is good with him. We are starting "wedding talks" again but nothing major to report as of yet. There is a wedding show in Orillia next weekend that we will be attending. I'm sure it will spark more talk and hopefully some action too!
Well...I guess that's it. Nothing really exciting going on. Hope I didn't bore anyone...that's all for now.

First Project

For those of you that know Jeff & I very well, you would know that we cannot be idle when it comes to home improvement projects. We have been in the house about a month and a half and have already completed our portion of our first project. We had wanted a woodburning stove in our new home. Since our house didn't have one we decided at the time we purchased it we would put one in. So, the search was on for a woodstove. We went to a few places and with Melissa's help picked out a Pacific Energy woodstove in the colour "sunset red". I don't think we would have selected red if it wasn't for her saying "hey Heather check this one out". That's all it took since red is my favourite colour. Having selected the stove, the company to install we then had to take care of the flooring. We had to do an 18sq ft space in fire resistant flooring. After a bit of a search for the perfect tile, we went with slate tiles. They are multi-coloured stone and rustic...very suitable for our country home. It took about a week of laying them out to find a pattern or a flow of the various colours, cutting them, laying them and finally grouting. But it was well worth our effort as it looks awesome. Jeff was really worried because he cut our pine floors to make the tiles flush with the floor and he had never done tiling before. He didn't have to worry because he did an excellent job. We are now ready for our stove to be installed. I think it will be this coming week. Stay tuned for photos.

Is Anyone Looking??

Here's Jeff on the 9th hole of the Green Briar course at Notawasaga Resort. He is finally putting after hitting a house...yes there are houses along the course, then a tree and finally on the green. It may sound like I am making fun of him but I am not. I say this with much affection. I am sincerely happy and proud that he tried golf for me because it's something I like to do. I can't say I didn't laugh at him because I did...but we laughed at each other. We didn't take it serious and we had a great time. Laughter is definately the best medicine. Will he be out again?? That remains to be seen. I think so, for me anyway...