Just a few pictures from our annual Small Family Christmas gathering on Boxing Day (Alberta branch this year). We met up with Andy's brother Ernie & his wife Marie & their boys, Josiah & Charlie, at Grandpa's, Grandma's and Lorne's house in Red Deer. Sorry I didn't get pictures of everyone - I think I was too busy eating.....

There's Janelle in a head lock with Grandpa & laughing with (at?) Charlie (he is SO cute!), and Calvin with his bestest buddy Josiah who absolutely ADORES Calvin, and a picture of Grandpa's pride and joy - his nativity set ("Did you get a picture of the angel? I climbed up there myself to put it up. Did you get a picture? I wouldn't let Lorne put it up; he might fall. I climbed up there myself. Did you get a picture?")

Christmas Food Picture

I made a turkey dinner for the four of us for Christmas Day. That may sound very normal to you, but for me it was a very proud moment! Those who know me well know I am not a cook, and I don't like cooking really. So for me to cook a turkey (for only the second time in my life) with all the trimmings was a major accomplishment - and I actually really enjoyed doing it! After dinner I cleaned up everything and we played Simpsons Monopoly (one of Calvin's gifts), followed by a trip to see the lights on Candy Cane Lane in Edmonton - a big disappointment; it should be called "Candy Cane Lame". Oh well, we had fun in the car and the kids were laughing hysterically all the way home while tickling each other - a happy family memory!

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

The gifts are open and the turkey's in the oven. Everyone is playing with their gifts (except Andy, who's playing with Calvin's gifts!), so I thought I'd take a moment on the computer to update our blog and my Facebook page. We've had a very happy morning, and last night after the candlelight service at church, we invited over a new family whose first Sunday at the church was this past one. They moved here a week ago from Maple Ridge, and we thought we couldn't leave them all alone on Christmas Eve! We had a great time with them and their 4 children (between the ages of 2 and 6). It made Christmas Eve feel very special to share it with friends, especially ones with little children - my favourite!

We're looking forward to a fun & relaxing day at home, going out to look at Christmas lights tonight, and then tomorrow visiting with Andy's parents and brothers and their families in Red Deer.

So....Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

I was trying to take a photo of the kids in front of the Christmas tree, but Raymond the dog kept getting in the way. I just love how happy Calvin looks and how pretty Janelle is, so I thought I'd post the picture anyway, even with the big, black blob in the front!

Christmas Pageant

Yesterday was our children's Christmas pageant at church. This was a first for me - writing the script (just using verses from the Bible spoken by narrators), choosing songs, and then coordinating all the other aspects that have to come together to make it work. I was amazed at how much I LOVED doing this! We have the most amazing congregation here - I never lacked for volunteers, and in fact had people coming up to me asking how they could help! The whole service went SO well, and I was very appreciative of all the people who helped make it happen.

Calvin helped me with "crowd control" for the elementary school kids, and Janelle worked with the preschool teachers to lead "her" kids (ages 18 months to 3 years) performing a song for everyone. So cute!! (the kids as well as Janelle :-)

Comfy Cozy

I thought I'd post a picture of our home looking very Christmasy with it's lights on in the snow. Although it looks cold outside, inside it's comfy cozy.....
Yesterday afternoon after church and a nap, we built a fire in the fireplace, put out plates of cheese, crackers, & candy, and played a family game of Monopoly. We had the Christmas music playing in the background and the decorations up. It was the perfect holiday atmosphere, and the whole family had a great time playing the game and getting along so well. Janelle won - she even beat Andy!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Sunday night Andy and I came out of the home our small group was meeting in and I was surprised to find there was a couple of inches of snow on the ground that wasn't there two hours before! The weather forecast has mentioned snow almost every day for the last two or three weeks, but it never amounted to more than a centimeter and it always melted in the next day or two. Sunday it came to stay. I'm told by those in the know that this is it - no more bare ground until April!

When we got home from Bible study, the first thing I noticed were footprints in the driveway - BARE footprints! My foolish son, I thought. But no, it was Shawn & Joanne Greek's foolish son who went outside in his bare feet, just for fun! Keep in mind that it was about -17 outside, not factoring in the wind chill! The kids were inside in the process of bundling up to go sledding (at 9:30 p.m. - no school the next day). So off they went, first down our sloping driveway, then to the park 3 blocks away, which has a substantial hill. They lasted about 20 minutes before they realized that snow in Alberta is not the same as snow in Abbotsford! Janelle said she'd never seen her legs that shade of red before....

Yesterday was -27 in the middle of the day with the wind chill, and it's supposed to be getting colder over the next few days! Let me sing it again - Baby, it's cold outside!

A Unique Cultural Experience

This past week Andy's uncle (his father's brother) passed away. Although Andy hadn't seen him or talked to him in over 25 years, because the funeral was in Edmonton, we went out of respect for Andy's dad. What a unique experience!

Andy's extended family comes from a Ukranian Orthodox tradition, and the funeral was conducted by a Ukranian Orthodox priest. The entire service, with the exception of a short eulogy by Andy's cousin, was sung in Ukranian. The priest sang a portion, answered by the congregation, led by a female singer. There was plenty of sitting and standing and making the sign of the cross. Those of us who were not Catholic/Orthodox and/or who did not know Ukranian just stood there respectfully. The priest was not much older than us, but he was apparently straight from the old country, as his English was extremely limited.

The internment was at a cemetary several miles away. When we drove into the cemetary, I was stunned. I knew Edmonton and the surrounding area was home to many Ukranians who arrived here in the 1920's and 1930's, but the cemetary was like a trip to another country (actually, the whole day felt a little like that!). There were literally thousands of tombstones engraved with Ukranian names. About half were in the Ukranian alphabet, the rest were the English tranliteration of the Ukranian names. It was an incredible sight.

The funeral was great time to get together with relatives - Andy's brother Chris & his wife Melody came out from B.C., and their daughter Stefanie & her husband Justin came up from Three Hills, AB. Andy's dad and younger brother Lorne came from Red Deer. After the internment, everyone was invited to lunch at a hotel. It was a great time of meeting Andy's aunts, uncles, and cousins, and even a few of Andy's dad's cousins. I never knew Andy had all these relatives! It was a lot of fun. And of course they served cabbage rolls and perogies. We learned how to write Andy's family's original last name in Ukranian (it sounds a bit like Small, which is what Andy's great-uncle came up with when he landed in Canada), and heard lots of family history. I absolutely loved it!

And to top off the day, Andy's dad, brothers, sister-in-law, niece, and nephew-in-law all came to our house to hang out, followed by a trip to WEM for shopping and dinner - a great ending to a great day.

We went away for our anniversary...

and we didn't take any pictures!

But we thought we'd let you know we had a lovely dinner at Tony Roma's a lovely night at a hotel in Edmonton with a jacuzzi in our room, followed by brunch this morning.

It's lovely to be at that stage where the kids can stage by themselves and get themselves off to school alone too (yes, in non-union Alberta, today is not a holiday).

Halloween 2008

Calvin & his friend Connor amassed great amounts of candy trick-or-treating, while Janelle and four of her friends gathered at someone's house to watch a video, and James, Andy & I stayed home to hand out candy. James bought and carved his own pumpkin.

Hubert the cat greeted people at the door (this photo was taken from outside looking through the screen).

And here's the loot! James is....well, James didn't go trick-or-treating, but he somehow ended up with candy....

This 'n That

There were several things lately that I wanted to blog about, but I was busy, and I misplaced the camera for a while, and then we moved the office twice in order to lay the carpets and I didn't have the card reader hooked up for a while. So, in no particular order, here are a few things I wanted to share with you!



Thanksgiving weekend the Greeks came to visit us - and they brought their Segways! All of us except Janelle took a turn or two toodling around the neighbourhood. Calvin loved it the most - he and Shawn went all over town, through the cemetary(!), to the corner store for slurpies. Here's Calvin getting ready to take off. I'm not sure why I have that look on my face with my hands on my hips! Probably giving one of those motherly "be careful" lectures!


This is our mountain ash tree in the backyard. Andy thought it was so beautiful he took a picture of it. This was only a couple of weeks ago, and now it's completely bare. Fall is gorgeous here but way too short!


A couple of weeks ago Janelle went with the youth group on a "photo rally" at West Edmonton Mall (WEM for all us locals). They had to follow a series of clues to find certain stores and then take a picture of the storefront to prove they found the right one. This is Janelle with her friend and partner for the game, Marissa. They obviously were taking photos of more than just the stores they were supposed to! She had a really fun time with Marissa, who was one of the first girls she met the first Sunday we were at church. They're the same age, in the same grade, and live about a block from each other on the same street!

So how was YOUR morning??

This is what we woke up to today! Ain't Alberta grand?

He Cooks, He Cleans -- We'll Keep Him!

Tonight James made dinner for the family. He offered to do it, and I was happy to say yes! He walked to the store and bought the ingredients himself - steak done on the BBQ, couscous, rosemary foccacia bread with vinegar & oil, and chicken gumbo soup. Wow! Yesterday after dinner he got up and just starting cleaning up, including emptying the dishwasher and reloading it. And all James has to do is look at Calvin and Calvin jumps up to help him!

I could get used to having a James around here!

A Very Large Surprise Package

Today after I picked up Calvin from school I told him we had to drive to Nisku/Leduc to pick up a package. He was a bit confused, but I kept him from asking too many questions by distracting him with lots of questions about school. When we turned off the highway and headed for the airport, he said, "Okay, tell me what's going on." I said, "You guess, and I'll tell you if you're right." He replied with one word: "James." Yep, James Greek was coming to stay. We had a very large surprise package to pick up!

When the Greeks came to visit for Thanksgiving, James asked about moving here to live with us, getting a job, and starting a new life in Edmonton. We were open to the idea. Calvin was ecstatic. After the Greeks returned home to Salmon Arm, we adults had several conversations working out the details and deciding if this idea would work - if it would be the best thing to do. Then came confirmation in a couple of ways: the day after James returned home, he was laid off at his job, and the next day I discovered a seat sale on West Jet - $75 from Kelowna to Edmonton. He booked his ticket that day.

Then came the tricky part: keeping all this a secret from Calvin! Calvin was calling James every single day and telling him, "You HAVE to move here!" I finally told him to stop bugging James. Of course, by then the flight was already booked, but Calvin didn't know that!

James bought a one-way ticket, but has a general plan of staying for a couple of weeks, checking out the jobs and the community, and deciding if this is the life for him.

I'm thrilled to have one of my "other" sons here - or maybe he's a nephew? And Calvin's happiness level has just improved 100%/!

I Voted!!

This picture is from when I became a Canadian citizen this spring. Today I put my new citizenship to use and voted in Canada for the first time in our municipal elections. It was a very proud moment for me! After all these years of telling Andy how to vote, I got to do it myself.

Yep, We're Still Alive

I understand if you all stopped checking my blog! I'd give up too if the blog stayed the same for a whole month! I really have no excuse, but I do apologize!

At the moment I can't locate my camera, so this will be a photo-less blog. Here's a few highlights from the last few weeks:

- Emma came to stay with us for about 10 days, which meant we also got to see her parents briefly. We had so much fun with Emma - going to a kids' carnival at our church, jumping on the trampoline, playing at the park, going on the rides at West Edmonton Mall. We miss her and already want her to come back!

- We made new friends! I met a family at the church when they were registering their son for our children's program. After they'd come for three weeks in a row, I thought, "Somebody better invite them over so they feel welcome here!" And I thought that "somebody" should be me. We got along so well with them! I love making new friends.

- The following day we were invited to the home of more new friends, also from the church. They have a beautiful new home on a lake nearby. They own a large acreage with lots of trails and places to explore. We brought our canoe and ended up leaving it there. They can use it any time they want, and it gives us an excuse to invite ourselves over again! They also invited over another couple at the same time - a couple with a baby girl! Aahhh, my baby fix for the day....

- Janelle started a new babysitting job once a week for two little kids. It gives her a steady income of $20 a week.

- I'm totally loving fall in Alberta! It's sunshiny and crisp but not cold, and there are way more deciduous trees here than in Abbotsford, so it's beautiful. I never really cared for fall before, but I like fall here better than summer! Kind of nice not to have rain and wind and clouds. On the missing camera are photos Andy took of our trees in our yard - I'll post them soon.

So there's a bit of an update! Don't give up reading my blog - I promise to be more punctual!

Life in Beaumont

I thought I'd give you a glimpse of some of the important places in our town that make up the routine of September for us.

This is the center of our life - our house! I planted the lovely flowers in the front myself (quite a feat for me; I'm not a gardener!). Our house is a constant "work in progress". This week Janelle painted the gate to our backyard, and we bought light fixtures for downstairs. Carpet for the basement is next!

This is the reason we moved specifically to the town of Beaumont. This is our church, Eaglemont Christian Church. The building in the picture is phase one. It's our sanctuary/gym for now, and eventually we'll build an actual sanctuary in between the gym and the road at the front of the picture. This is where I work for a few hours a week typing for our pastor. Andy is on a committe planning a men's retreat, and on the rotation for setting up and taking down chairs each week (the pleasures of meeting in a gym!). Janelle has just taken over leadership of a new department created within Children's Ministries, "Tots Town" for children ages 18 months to 3 years. She was able to choose what toys to stock the room with, and each week prepares the story & craft for either her or one of the other teachers to use. She absolutely LOVES what she's doing! Calvin helps out in Janelle's class or mine, which is "Kidz City" for grades 1-6. Both kids attend the youth group, and I've recently joined together with several other ladies to begin "Connections: Coffee & Conversation", a morning coffee time for ladies. We love our church and love being a part of it. Next on our involvement: joining a small group in the next couple of weeks (just trying to decide which one).

This is "the" church in town, the Catholic church around which this town was built in the late 1880's. This is the focal point of Beaumont. It sits on the "beau mont" (beautiful mountain), which is a slight rise in elevation compared to the surrounding wheat fields! When people give directions in Beaumont, they always start by saying, "From the church you go...." and everyone knows which church they mean!

And finally, Janelle's favourite place - the high school. I took a picture of Calvin's school too, but it didn't turn out. Janelle has liked school (for the most part) since we moved here. She made friends quickly, but complains that the kids in Beaumont don't take their studies seriously enough. She came from a school of 1600 in Abbotsford to a school of 800 here, and finds that the casual atmosphere here isn't as conducive to learning. Calvin struggled with school when we moved here; the move has been a huge adjustment for him. After much prayer, I am relieved that he is off to a good start this year. He had one good friend he hung around with all summer, who is also in his class (there's only one Grade 8 French Immersion class at his school, with only 14 kids!). That made the start to the school year much easier. The first day he made friends with the only 3 girls in his class, one of whom is new to the school this year. He's very excited about some of his classes, especially Outdoor Education - biking, building snow forts, rock climbing, curling, archery, skiing, etc. He still has his moments of being sad and wanting to go "home" to Abbotsford, but he seems to be more enthusiastic about life here in Beaumont.

And there you have it - a "small" glimpse of life in Beaumont!

Pig Roast

Now here's the food picture to beat all food pictures! One whole roasted pig. We also had salad, baked potatoes, and dessert, but they weren't nearly as interesting!

One of the families from our church hosted a pig roast at their farm. We had a great time "pigging out" and playing with all the animals. Janelle went horseback riding, but somehow I missed getting a photo of her on the horse.


You'll notice that most of these pictures are of Calvin with an animal, or playing (that's my friend Dawn pushing him on the swing). There's a reason most of the pictures of of Calvin: this was the first thing since we moved to Beaumont that he's been excited about. He could hardly get to sleep the night before. He absolutely LOVED everything about the farm and he wanted to stay there. One of the girls that lives there is the same age as him and they get along well, and her mom is also becoming one of my good friends here, so we're invited to come back. I'm sure we'll take them up on that offer! It was good to see Calvin behaving like his usual crazy, happy self!

Dinner Theatre with Friends

Last Thursday night our new friends, Lyle & Denise, invited us to join them at Jubilations Dinner Theatre at West Edmonton Mall. The food was great, the entertainment was fun, and the friends were awesome! Lyle & Denise were one of the first couples we met here -- I think it was our first or second Sunday at church. They've been wonderful to us ever since, and the more we get to know them, the more we like them! We also found out they like playing cards -- that's next on our list of things to do together!

Jasper

Yesterday my long-time great friends, Lorne & Rita Forsberg & their daughter Laurie, who now live in Wetaskiwin, picked me up at 6:30 a.m. to go to Jasper for the day. Andy was working, and the kids are both currently in B.C. staying with friends.

After a picnic lunch at the base of the tram, we took the tram to the top of Whistler Mountain in Jasper. Here we are at the top. From the top of the tram, we hiked another 1.5 km up another 600 feet to the summit of Whistler Mountain. Here's what the trail to the top looked like, partway up from the tram station.

Along the way we saw some wildlife. Here's a little pika, and if you look closely in the other photo, you'll see a grey bird nestled in front of the rock. That's a ptarmigan.

The view from the top was breathtaking, of course. You can see the town of Jasper in one of the photos. The snowy mountain in the other is Mt. Edith Cavell.

And here's proof that I made it to the summit!

When I was a child and we visited Jasper, I remember a large Jasper the bear statue. Friends of ours who also remember him from childhood tried to find Jasper in the town a few weeks ago and were disappointed that he was no longer there. But I found the original Jasper at the base of the tram! Here we are, reunited at last.

After our trip on the tram, we drove to Miette Hotsprings and spent a couple of hours soaking there. After dinner in Hinton, I finally arrived home at 1:30 a.m.! I loved every minute of it, and I would love to go there again. Anybody coming to Alberta soon? Let's go!