Book Sharing Monday - The Pioneer Lady's Country Christmas

I really love flipping through this book and dreaming about doing some of the fun activities in it. I say "dreaming" because, let's face it, my kids are still young and making homemade lace could just be a bit too advanced for their skill level. The Pioneer Lady's Country Christmas by Jane Watson Hopping is a great book for you if you want to share with your children old traditions, food, crafts, poems, stories, and pictures of Christmas in the past. The stories and poems could be dabbled here and there with Christian ideals but even if you are secular like we are it still is well worth a read. The recipes are so interesting because they are different from our modern day meals.

I own this book now because our library took it out of their collection. It's not in print anymore so if you want to purchase it you'll have to look for a used version.

Adjusting to Our New Home.

It is an adjustment being here. Everything is foreign to us, it seems. The weather is colder and much dryer. The snow is like dust and keeps accumulating instead of melting. The days are shorter. The snow plows don't travel down our street. Transitioning from a large detached home to an apartment with thin walls. Bringing only some of our things. Getting to know what is around us and who our neighbours are. Leaving old friends behind and attempting to get into the homeschool circles in a new place to meet new friends. Moving from a small town to a City. The list just goes on and on. There is a huge transition that we need to get through.

Don't take me wrong. I'm not saying it's a negative experience. We've lived in Alberta before but farther South. There are some things that we expect when looking back at our first Alberta experience. One thing we loved about living here is the variety of food. One of the first things we ordered was a Panago Pizza. The kids enjoyed watching, up close, how they made the pizzas from scratch.

We are excited about the educational attractions that a city has to offer a homeschooling family. There are so many things to do and see here. I expect that in a city with over 8000 registered homeschoolers I will meet many unschoolers, which didn't happen much at home, in small town, Ontario.

All of these changes are taking a toll on us all. The kids both have their own rooms and with that plus all of the other changes I'm seeing much more sibling rivalry. Zoe now seems to need a nap during the day again, when she never needed that at home.

 Back in Ontario we had a nice sized yard that was fully fenced, yet Austyn rarely ever went out there by himself. It was like pulling teeth getting him to go outside. Since we've been here and Daddy has been at his new job, Austyn has been outside by himself just about every day. We have a tiny patch that is ours to use, but he is happy to be in that small spot playing. We didn't bring any shovels or our toboggan so he is using the dust pan as a snow shovel.
There are many other things to get use to. Customer service still seems low, especially at places that are reasonably priced. Daddy waited over 40 minutes in line at the grocery store, but groceries are much cheaper here than they were at home. There seems to still be a boom here, especially when comparing it to Ontario.

Christmas in Boxes

We decorated for Christmas while still living out of boxes. I'm not sure you can tell from this picture but I have latex gloves on to protect the cracks and sores on my hands that I got from handling boxes and from the dry weather of the prairies.

 

We left many boxes behind last minute but brought our tree and decorations. It was a nice break from unpacking.

With how busy we were getting, a little family time was wonderful. The only thing purchased for Christmas is what Austyn got Zoe. We need to get our shopping done, and I'm pretty sure that Santa is only visiting our kids this year. They are priority.

We're back blogging!

I finally have something set up so that I can use the kids computer. As with everytime we move, we lose things. We are missing some pieces to one of the desks so I got creative. I'm proud of my creativity! I think this is going to work just fine until we find the missing pieces.

Here is a recap of what has been happening. My hubby got a job in Edmonton. He had to start in three weeks so we frantically packed and got prepared for the move. We decided to not make the same mistake as last time. For anyone who has ever moved to Alberta you know how easy it is to get all of your identification chaned to that province. It's EASY! Returning to Ontario is another story. It could take months of going from place to place and waiting in lines up to two hours each time and sometimes even getting turned away. We have decided to go to Alberta temporarily since his contract is a year and decide if we want to stay, when the year is up.

We got some early Christmas gifts since we aren't going to be home for Christmas. This is a Zoe's new hair from the Disney movie Tangled.

We had to pack everything away so I took some last minute pictures of Austyn's Lego Creations before they are moved.

I got some pictures of our growth chart etched into the trim. Both kids have grown so much since we lived in that house.

The kids did their best to help when they could. They enjoyed using tools and took apart shelves, chairs, and a table. We rented a small trailer and only took what we needed. This meant that we had to limit what we took and disassemble anything we could.

In past trips the kids required much entertainment to maintain our sanity. Surprisingly this trip went well and the kids kept themselves entertained. We were overloaded and had our two cats with us for the four day trip. The fact that Zoe and Daddy had a fever and were under the weather may have had something to do with the quiet behaviour.

For the most part the weather was nice and driving went smoothly. It was a contrast to what was happening back home.

I did a bit of reading on the way, but after all the craziness of such a fast move I really just felt like resting my brain. I didn't even get to finish this book yet.

I was surprised how easy it was to travel with the cats. We had no trouble at the border crossings and found it easy to find pet friendly hotels. The cats enjoyed their freedom at night when we stopped and let them out of their cages. This is a picture of Zoe and Cinnamon relaxing in the night stand.

I'm glad the move and the trip are over. We are now about 90% unpacked. We are trying to adjust to city life in an apartment. We are so use to our modern, suburban bungalow, with a yard. We now have no microwave (getting one soon), no dishwasher, and the stove doesn't even have a timer. I've done well without these amenities here, but could really use a timer since I'm notorious for forgetting things in the oven.

There is little privacy here and just a small patch of grass to play on that is designated to us. We had to tape the back door shut to prevent smoke from a chain smoking neighbour down the hall from smelling up our space. I really don't mind it here though. The apartment itself seems to suit us well. We have nice neighbours on either side of us. I think we'll do fine here for the year and I'm looking forward to taking advantage of all of the educational attractions city life has to offer.

I hope to be up and running again soon.

We have moved across Canada and are temporarily (for now) residing in Edmonton, Alberta. We have chosen to not open my computer, but to have me work on the kids computer. It's a whole new world from my nice old Macintosh with all of the old, bells and whistles graphics software. I expected that there'd be some adjustment on my part, but I've not had a chance to try yet. We are missing parts of the other desk so only my hubby's desk has been assembled and set up with his computer. The kids have been falling to sleep in our bed and so I can't use that computer while they go to bed. This leaves only the day time to work on the blog or anything else I want to and with two small children that seems like an impossibility. So, I take pictures and want to share but can't, yet. Hopefully I can find a temporary solution until the rest of the pieces of that desk reappear.

Book Sharing Monday - How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

GRINCH!!! Do I need to say more?! I think we all know and love this story!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr. Seuss is a popular story. If you haven't read it yet you'll likely love it.

My favourite part is when he realized that what he had done didn't stop Christmas. 

But the sound wasn't sad!

Why, this sound sounded merry!

It couldn't be so!

But WAS merry! VERY!

He started down at Who-ville!

The Grinch popped his eyes!

Then he shook!

What he saw was a shocking surprise!

Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small,

Was singing! Without any presents at all!

He HADN'T stopped Christmas from coming!

IT CAME!

Somehoe or other, it came just the same! 

Book Sharing Monday - Library Lion

There are so many lessons to learn in life and as you can see from many of my book selections for Book Sharing Monday, we love learning life lessons in books.  Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen has a very unusual lesson to teach to children. What is the lesson you ask? Well, it's all about breaking rules and how sometimes we can break rules. Yes!! You read correctly. Rules are in place for a reason but if someone is in serious trouble or is hurt it is okay to break the rules. Miss Merriweather and Mr. McBee work at the library and are very strict about the rules that they set there. When a lion decides to visit they watch closely to be sure that no rules are being broken. However, when something terrible happens the Lion goes to the rescue the only way he knows how and ignores the rules of the library. We really enjoyed this book and the illustrations were so well done. After reading this we wanted to have this lion visit our library.

To join in on the fun of Book Sharing Monday or to read other entries visit http://canadianhomelearning.blogspot.com/