Enjoying Some Quality Family Time

Lately we've had a lot of "quality" family time.  Christmas vacation is just behind us, this past week we had 2 snow days and our weekends have been very quiet - a lot of playing outside, watching movies and quiet dinners at home.  This is what I LOVE about the winter months.  Don't get me wrong, with an abundance of family time comes a lot of sibling rivalry and upheaval of our toys... both drive me crazy.  As soon as springtime comes, it gets very busy around here on our farm and spending time together as a family is at a premium. 
Our annual family vacation to Florida is coming up very soon and we are really looking forward to the sun, sand and pools.  We will visit Ian's parents, who spend a few months in Florida, and then we will go to St. Pete's Beach to a small family-friendly resort.  This will be our fourth year renting a spot there and our good friends and their twin babies will be meeting us there.  Last year was the first time anything about going to Disney was mentioned.  Grace wondered if we would go there as some of her friends have been.  Unfortunately for her, we are waiting until all of our children can appreciate it ie. waiting until Jean is at least 4 years old.  Grace will have to be patient for a little longer.  We have found in the past though that the kids LOVE to swim and play in the playground and on the beach and that anytime we venture away from the resort, they just want to get back there.  I'm sure they will have fun this year without a Disney experience. 
We have made so many good memories in the past with our vacations to Florida - we have been going every year since Alex we a small baby (we have driven twice with a small, nursing baby).  We have always driven to Florida, taking 3 days to get there and we try to make it a fun adventure.  This year we have decided to fly - we found some very affordable flights and will have some fun taking a plane with the kids for the first time.  We are feeling a little nostalgic about not driving because that has certainly been a good part of our vacation - seeing new things, staying in hotels, swimming in the evenings, etc.  Flying has it's perks though - less packing for mommy and daddy and avoiding the many moments in the van that are challenging.
I love quality family time... I now why my mom cherished it so much and still does.  I can imagine it becomes fleeting as the kids get older.  These are such good times. 
Stay tuned for more on our Family Vacation to Florida.

Holiday Memories

Wow - December flew by!  Our Christmas was so wonderful - full of memories.  I find December always crazy with school events (which I try to be a part of most if I can), social gatherings, shopping, and baking but this year I tried really hard to be ahead of schedule.  Well it didn't always work out that way but I did feel fairly organized once Christmas Eve rolled around.  Ian and I have made it a priority to be home here on Christmas morning and it is the nicest part of the whole season - the kids get up (Grace is the most excited so far...) and we head downstairs.  Patience is a virtue on Christmas morning as coffee needs to be made and wood put into the outdoor furnace before we can begin opening presents.  I remember having to be patient as I child to and it was agony!  As always, Santa was so generous and our livingroom was full of new toys and packaging by 9:00am.  Grandma and Grandpa McGregor, along with Aunt Beth and Uncle Lloyd can by for a visit later in the morning and we just relaxed as the day went on.  A big Christmas dinner is held at Ian's parent's home and filled with family and good cheer.  Boxing Day is hosted by Ian and I and I'm hoping that becomes a new tradition.  Ian's family always enjoys a venison meal that day and Ian makes the dish so well - yum! 
After a few more days of celebrating here in the Ottawa Valley, we head to Southern Ontario for some more Christmas fun.  Grandma and Grandpa Garner have so much space for our family to take over their home and we certainly take up a lot of room!  I love catching up with my family and hanging out with my mom in her kitchen.  We went to a really entertaining Synchro skating competition, had a big turkey dinner, opened more presents and visited a few members of my own extended family.  It is very hard to do everything and visit everyone but we try our best to squeeze in a few visits while we are there.  It was so nice to spend some time with my Uncle Jim, Aunt Susan and their 5 kids.  It always feels like home when we are there because they live where my grandparents raised their family and as a child my brother, sister and I spent a lot of time there.  I love the feeling of being in their house... makes me feel a little closer to my grandma, who is struggling with dementia in her later years.  It was also so special to chat with my grandpa - I hope we brightened his day.  Tears are coming to my eyes as I type this...
New Year's Even was spent at my sister and brother-in-law's home and their hospitality stands out!  I loved spending New Year's with our children - the first time we have done that!  It was so fun having an early New Year's countdown, then some snacks, then a dance party, then the hockey game and then bedtime.  The adults enjoyed some peace and settled into the hot tub before bed.  It was lovely.  On the way home the next day we stopped in at some good friends and Ian finally met their baby twins and then back on the road to our home.  It was a busy but fulfilling little trip.
The final week of the Christmas vacation was filled with skating on the pond, playing with new toys, visiting the new Ikea (wow), more dinner parties/socializing and just hanging out at home.  It was such a nice little break but it is time to get back to normal.  Time to shed some pounds with a better diet and some excersise (before we go on vacation again at the end of January) and time to begin preparing for the 2012 business season.  There is a lot to do but little by little it should get done.  Our family is back into our regular routine.  School started back on Monday, Grace started back at dance class and Alex will have hockey on Saturday.  Ian is doing one of his many usual jobs in the winter - filling our kitchen table with paper, a large calculator and the laptop - bookwork season!  I am reorganizing our home, planning on some little home reno projects, and doing some sewing.  I love the winter months.

Christmas cards, Christmas concerts and Christmas to-do lists.

Grace's class singing "Christmas in
the Vally".  Grace is at the top, in the middle.

Alex's class - he did
such a great job!  He is wearng a
black Senators shirt, centre in the back row

I am still trying to figure out how to set up my writing and pictures.  It usually takes me a while but I'll get it eventually.

Tonight I'm sitting in my kitchen, Ian has gone to hockey so I'm on my own for some peace of quiet.  The kids were exhausted after a week of Christmas fun at school and then an evening of skating at our neighbours beautiful rink.  We will certainly enjoy that over the winter months.  They went to bed very easily and hopefully will sleep in tomorrow morning. 

One of my favourite parts of the holiday season is writing our Christmas letter, designing our Christmas card and sending it out to so many of our family and friends - almost 100 go out!  It might seem crazy and a lot of work but it is important to us.  This year, earlier in December I just didn't have the words in me to write our annual letter.  Ian took on the task, as he does some years, and I proof read it (ha) and then off it goes.  I like to think that everyone enjoys reading it.  A little recap of our year - when I write the letter, much of it is of family life.  When Ian writes, he describes our business and farm... and then a bit of our family life.  I find that funny. 


I LOVE receiving Christmas cards to - and LOVE seeing pictures and reading letters, (no pressure to any of you) it allows me to catch up for a few minutes on the lives of people I don't get to talk to or see very often.  I take pride in my 2 bulletin boards full of cards and letters - thank you.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve.  My to-do list is sitting on the counter... I can only hope it all gets done but you never know... a good Christmas movie might be on or we might need to play outside.  Santa doesn't care if my floors need to be vacuumed or my bathroom sink needs a good clean - maybe, if I'm good, he'll do it for me!  I hope he can do a load of laundry to!

Merry Christmas from all of us at Glenroy Farm.

Finding Magic in the Christmas Season

The Christmas season is in full swing now... Jean had her Christmas concert this morning and we have the school one next week.  I love this time of year.  Every year I have more and more to do, only because I want to do more.  I take numerous deep breaths and push through while enjoying the moments - there are so many good ones.
This year we received a wonderful gift - our very own Elf.  He is a messenger to Santa and we named him Alvin.  Every night, after we go to sleep, he flies back to the North Pole to deliver his message to Santa about our day.  He talks about if we behaved, used our manners and were kind to one another.  He also is a good listener and will let Santa know if we want anything special for Christmas.  He returns to our house before we wake up and the trick is to find him in the morning.  One morning we found he got into the sugar bowl and was doing sugar angels on a platter.  This morning he was wearing Jean's nice brown boots and a little purple doll coat.  He likes to keep us guessing.  The only rule is that we cannot touch him - it will take away his magic.  Grace, Alex and Jean are very conscious of that rule...
Christmas is a time of magic and believing in the wonder of the season.  I hope you all can find magic and wonderment to! 

Alvin in Jean's boots and a little doll sweater.

Feeling Like a Good Parent

Parenting can be tricky.  With all of the coverage on bullying in the news and in schools it is scary to watch your child grow up.  Ian and I frequently talk about how we are going to try our best to raise confident and caring children and have open communication with them.  We don't really know what we are doing though because we've never done this before - I do a lot of reading and talk to other parents.  Every situation is different, every child is different - and our kids are not necessarily like we were when we were kids.  Grace might seem similar to me but she is more confident and works hard at everything she does.  Therefore she might not make the same choices as I would - she isn't me. 

As I write this, feeling good about my parenting skills, Jean is having a temper tantrum regarding her soother.  Not one of my finer moments as a parent - letting her keep her soother past 3 years old!  We'll deal with that later.

This morning Grace came to me with a friendship problem.  We talked about how she can handle it at school and I felt amazing that she came to me for support!  She is very sad but I know she is going to make some good choices and it will work itself out.  She has continued to nuture numerous friendships, which we have encouraged her to do, so when one relationship is on the rocks she can possibly count on another friend for support or at least to play with at recess.  The main reason why I am writing this is that I am so happy that she felt she could come to me to talk about the issue.  I've always had that relationship with my own mom and it was such a blessing.  I am doing something right - both Ian and I are being great parents!  Let's hope she always feels she can talk to us.

Jean's temper tantrum has subsided but I think she found her soother.  Sheesh.  Off to go and fight another parenting battle... or not.  Maybe I'll let her win this time, again.  She is the youngest, you know!

I want to stop time.

Lately I've had this feeling that I want to stop time... sortof.  As I watch the kids doing their usual kid-like activities, when we are sitting at the table playing a game or cuddling on the couch early in the morning, I have this strong yearning to make time stop.  I have never been a parent to rush through anything.  This is very evident in some of the milestones children need to meet such as potty training (every one of the kids was almost three or even well past it once they accomplished this task), taking the soother away, moving out of the crib etc.  I don't want to rush ANYTHING.  Except maybe sleeping through the night - I did want that to happen as fast as possible. 
So to help me stop time, I've decided to write down what happens around here.  I can promise that most of it won't be exciting and that you might not find it nearly has funny as we do but I'm going to record it anyways.  My purpose for my blog is to record our life with little tidbits of what happens around here at Glenroy Farm.  We know how lucky we are to live here on our beautiful farm and in our beautiful home.  We know how lucky we are to have so many great friends and family.  We know how lucky we are to have 3 wonderful, healthy kids and we know how lucky we are to have eachother.  You are now lucky to be able to read all about it!  BUT I'm not doing this for our friends and family who want to read this - I'm doing it for us.  For me.  I want to be able to look back and relive moments of our time and then stop time. 

Needless to say, enjoy!