Jammin'

On Saturday, Aunt Virginia and I decided to get some strawberries and make jam. We headed to the St. Helen's farmers market to get some berries. We were quite disappointed when we got there to find out we were too late and there were no strawberries left. The guy at the cash register was so helpful that he sent us to a neighbouring farm where he was sure there were berries, so off we went. Again we were too late as the gal there said she just sold her last quart. ggrrr
Back at the farmers market we told him she was sold out and he mentioned another farmer who might have some. We were luckier this time and got a few boxes. They too were very helpful and told us of another place to try so off we went. Each place we stopped had a few boxes and much more advice of who else might have some berries. 5 farm houses later we were set and on our way home.

The afternoon was then spent making jam. We each made 3 batches of jam which for me yielded 12 jars. As I'm putting the jam into the freezer I reminded Wayne that with only 12 jars it meant 1 a month so we don't run out. We'll see how well that works. ^.^

Blessings

Special Day

John Grant Kaufman & Sharon Ann Schwartzentruber were married 45 years ago today!
What an amazing accomplishment!

This momentous occasion definitely deserves a hearty round of applause for not everyone makes it thus far. I know that things were not always easy nor fun during the past 45 years for them. Raising three kids, buying houses, working, taking care of their aging parents and staying committed to each other as they continued to work through the 'stuff' says something about their character.

Congratulations Mom & Dad with many, many more years to come.

Blessings

365

The countdown can finally begin... it is officially one year from today that Krystle and Gerard will be married.

Anneka took this photo on Christmas Eve last year, when my kids hired her to take their pictures as part of my Christmas present.

Even though this is not the official engagement photo, those will come later, I love this picture!

It also just so happens that during the photo shoot, Gerard had 'the ring' in his pocket the whole time and later that evening, Gerard asked Krystle to marry him.

We've had alot of fun, thinking and planning the wedding so far and even though many more decisions will have to be made, it's going to be a fun year!

Blessings

Day for Dad

We celebrated Father's Day with our annual 'pizza in the park with papa' at Stratford park.

This is a wonderful place to hang out, the park offers great opportunities to sit & visit and since it has oodles of space we were able to 'play catch' & Bocci ball and of course take Miss Sasha for a walk along the river and see the ducks, swans and their signats.


It was a great time together.
Blessings

Girl's Day

This weekend Krystle, my sister Becky, my mom & I spent a girl's weekend together. We got together Friday night (after moving Krystle from dorm - but that's another post) and watched the movie "Mad Money". Saturday, after sleeping in we decided to have a day at the spa. Gathering everything together that we'd need we then spent the rest of the day at our at-home spa.










Krystle gave us french manicure,
while our feet soaked in the foot bath.












We also each had a facial...

... what a good looking bunch. ^.^

As the afternoon ended we got cleaned up and headed out to TurtleJack's for supper. Then back to the house to play a rousing game of dutch blitz. We had such a vonderful gut time. I'm definitely looking forward to next years.

Blessings

Wheels

Darcy got his first set of wheels on Tuesday. He bought the Cavalier from Kyle, after Kyle bought the Sunfire from us.

It takes a lot of paper work to get everything all settled. First Kyle & I had to go to the license office to change the ownership of the Sunfire, then we head to the insurance office to update their records. Not even a week later I do it all over again with Darcy. At the license office the lady is explaining all the ins & outs of owning a vehicle to Darcy and at the end she asks him "Is this your first car?" Darcy responds "yes", to which she replies "Welcome to the real world."

According to dictionary.com the 'real world' is described as "the realm of practical or actual experience, as opposed to the abstract, theoretical, or idealized sphere of the classroom, laboratory, etc." It also notes that it is "A bizarre dimension in which the standard dress is shirt and tie and in which a person's working hours are defined as 9 to 5."

In the Matrix a 1999 science fiction-action film describes a future in which reality perceived by humans is actually the Matrix: a simulated reality created by sentient machines in order to pacify and subdue the human population while their bodies' heat and electrical activity are used as an energy source.

So whose to decide what is real?

Blessings

G-dawg

Today is Gerard's birthday.

Krystle and Gerard have been dating for 4 years, so we've celebrated a few birthdays together and I didn't want today to pass without wishing him a "Happy Birthday!"

Blessings

Confessions of a blogaholic

Have you ever read the book "Confessions of a Shopaholic" by Sophie Kinsella?

These books follow protagonist Becky Bloomwood through her adventures in shopping and life. Though she has a load of debts on her bank overdraft and credit card, nothing stops her from buying new clothes, shoes and other things which others may think as unnecessary.
Whether your a confessed shopaholic or don't like to go shopping, you'll find these light hearted chick-lit books a guaranteed good read, I highly recommend any of the books by this author.

I must confess that while I am not a shopaholic, I am very much a blogaholic.

I absolutely love reading others blogs. On my profile I have a listing of 14 blogs that I follow regularly, checking daily to see if a new post has been entered. I also really enjoy blogging, it often becomes more than a way to just communicate; but a way to reflect on life and to capture a moment in time.

Blessings

Family Photo Shoot

Yesterday afternoon we had Anneka take photos of our family. Here's just one (more to follow) of the oodles (around 200) that she took.

We had a great time coming up with different places/poses to take different photo ops and had even a greater time laughing with the crazy antics of our kids.

Anneka is a very talented up and coming new photographer, we were honoured to have her take our photos. Thanks Anneka!

Blessings

Princess

As many will recall Krystle and Gerard are engaged to marry June 26, 2010. With her trying to finish up with school at the end of April and me working at the greenhouse plus my regular office hours, the month of May was very busy. We hadn't spent alot of time planning or talking about wedding stuff. Now that those two months are behind us, Krystle has really started to focus getting some things done. After booking their photographer - Sandra, and deciding that they were getting married at our home. We decided to go dress shopping..... omigosh what an adventure, I was overwhelmed with emotion as I stood there seeing my little girl all grown up and wearing that beautiful white dress looking like the princess she is.

I think we (girls) all dream of being a princess. I remember watching all those Disney Classics: Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Sleeping Beauty. As the new ones came out: The Littlest Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, I enjoyed watching them with Krystle. Enjoying as the princess meets her prince and they live happily ever after.

Krystle is a girl who is tremendously blessed as she has found her prince, and even though in most marriages there are ups & downs, I have great confidence that they too will live happily ever after.

Blessings

GPS

I really am going to have to get me one of these.

Yesterday MCEC (Mennonite Church of Eastern Canada) that Zurich Mennonite Church is a part of had a day for all the Administrative Assistants in the conference. It was at a church in Kitchener, so again, I trusted Mapquest to find my directions for me. All goes well as I make my way from Zurich to the Courtland Ave exit in Kitchener. As I exit, I glace at my directions and it says to take Courtland Ave East, rounding the corner I quickly glance to see which way I need to go and the sign says "north or south". ok.... um, which way is east? Having to make an instant decision I turn South. I follow the directions telling me to drive 1.0km and then make the next turn, after driving 2.5km, I finally figured out I went the wrong way. So I knew I needed to turn around and as I quickly turned into a parking lot to get turned around, I realize I'm beginning to shake as I'm starting to panic.

Finally back on track, I was able to continue "north" on Courtland and follow the rest of directions and found my location.

The day was awesome!!! There were 47 ladies and 1 guy who attended, we sat at round tables and listened to Tim Reimer a Pastor at Danforth Mennonite speak on "The Rise and Fall of the church bulletin" he gave some interesting insight. After a delicious lunch there was 4 discussion groups, each 2 to run simultaneously. The whole day was such a wonderful time, a place to connect with others, who can totally understand the joys & frustrations of the job. It was great to reconnect with friends I met two years ago when they had another day like this. I thanked the two ladies that coordinated that day and encouraged them to consider this to be an annual thing.

As it's time for me to head home I begin to think/panic about how I'm going to get home, ok you can laugh, your thinking, "um sweetie, just take your directions and go in the reverse". So I headed back the way I came talking out loud to myself reminding me that yes, if I turned right to get there then I turn left to return and so on. I was super excited that I was able to find my way.

I ended up heading East on the 7&8 as I wanted to go see Krystle who is in Cambridge. I was very proud of myself that I could find my way there. We spent the afternoon and evening together (of course we made a Starbucks stop) Krys made us supper and we spent the rest of our time together just chatting.

Returning home by midnight (I made a not so quick stop at my Mom's) I explain my travels to Wayne, but as I get to the part as to which exit to take I pause and ask him which way he would go, and of course he says North, he must have an internal GPS. So I'm thinking as I'm sure many of you are that I need to get a GPS, so it's not so daunting for me when I travel alone.

Blessings

A-V-A-L-A-N-C-H-E

Wayne has been searching for the last few months for a 4X4 truck. We`ve test driven more than our share of different trucks - Fords, Dodges, GMC`s. I was holding out for one that would seat six, but the pickings were slim.
On Saturday we went to Listowel as there were a couple trucks Wayne thought we should look at. After taking one for a test drive I started walking through the car lot and I came across this:

4X4 GMC Avalanche AND in our price range, plus it seats 6. We went out for lunch to discuss the possibility of buying it and the more we chatted the more excited I got, so much so, I couldn`t eat.

So, we did it!! We bought it,

and went back to Listowel tonight to pick it up and I had the opportunity to drive it home, oh my it gives a sweeet ride!

Blessings