Our christmas in pictures

This ordiment is from my parents christmas tree. It was made for me and my brother when my brother was born.

Joey and his most prized possession.

My new ordiment from my mom. I think I'll hang it out all year.

Joey's first hand made ordiment from preschool. Yes, it says Pebbles.

One of the first ordiments Rob and I received as a couple. It was from Marylou and Mike and it's dated 1998.

The new ordiments I bought for the boys this year.

An ordiment from Rob's parents the year we got married.

A souviner from when we lived up North.

I bought these at a craft fair the year Colby was born.

The first ordiment Rob and I received as a couple. On the back it's dated 1997.

The first ordiment I received from Rob's side of the family. It was made my Rob's sister Nicole.

Colby's first ordiment from nursery school.

Our tree this year.

Our archway of cards.

The stockings that Kara made for us.

As 2009 ends and 2010 begins, I can't help but think how lucky we are. We have made a great life for ourselves here, and have some great friends that are almost like family. Although this holiday season has been tainted by the flu, we're still happy and for the most part healthy.

Happy 2010 to you all our blogger family. Here's hoping we get to meet a few of you in person this year!

Newish blog

Colby is back posting on his blog, and I would really appreciate if you all would leave him a comment or two. This was his idea to bring his blog back to life and I'm really trying to encourage him. You can find it at www.colbyofsaskatchewan.blogspot.com.

Playing on the ice

Could be a Ford Ad, don't ya think?

Colby on the ice Being silly. Colby wanted to take some pictures.

Skidoo whizzed by when we were playing.

Jumping on the ice.

We had to get out of the house today, to save my sanity. The ice roads are now all open, so I thought it would be fun to go take some pictures of the boys playing on the lake. I told them it would be fun to jump and try and break through, and of course being my kids, they started jumping!

Christmas at the Schwartz house

The rest of the Christmas pictures can be found HERE

For the first time in a long time, I can honestly say I'm uber glad Christmas is over. This honestly was one of the worst Christmas Days I can ever remember. It started out great enough. We were invited to friends house for Christmas eve dinner, and we had a great time. There were about 15 people there and it was very relaxed. The food was fantastic and good times were had by all. We drove around to look at Christmas lights and made it home in time for a webcam chat with Gramma and the girls. We made it to bed early and were looking forward to seeing the kid's excitment on Christmas morning.

Colby came in around 1:30 to tell me Joey was crying (they share a room). When I went in, Joey had puked in his bed. I cleaned him up, stripped his bed and brought him in bed with us. Then the puking continued. I'm sure we used all the towels in our house that night.

Colby came in around 7am, uber excited for Christmas. I didn't have the heart to stay in bed, even though we had just fallen asleep. I packed up a groggy Joey and moved to the couch. Santa had set up a treasure hunt for Colby's big gift (a Wii that was all plugged in) and I felt soo bad I couldn't follow him around as he looked for clues. Rob took pictures of him following his clues, and then as he opened his stocking and presents. We tried to get Joey to open his gifts, but he just didn't have the energy. We went back to bed and got up around 12. We managed to get some Gatorade into him and a few crackers, and he opened his presents and stocking. It's only been today that he has started eating. I will be taking more pictures over the next day or so of Joey with some of his gifts. His most treasured gifts right now are a mini daschund stuffed animal that he carries around, and a book that I found on Ebay called "Knight Rider: K.I.T.T Vanishes".

HO HO HO!!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

My hubby really is fantastic

I have been somewhat dissapointed with the town over the last month, but have been very careful not to say anything. This is our 2nd Christmas here, and I am the first to admit we are very comfortable here and have come to think of it as home. Every year the community has "Santa Anonymous", where every child in the community under a certain age (I'm thinking 6-7) receives a gift. Last year, the children went to see Santa for their gift. Well, this year the organizers of this event decided to hand the gifts out through the preschool (we had our own Santa) and the Elementary school (they also had a Santa dressed up). Albeit, neither Santa looked authentic (ours was our director, who is a woman) and the only children in the community who received a picture with Santa is our preschool, done by yours truly. I mentioned this in passing to Rob the other night, and he was really upset. He believes, as I do, that Christmas really is for the kids, and one of the biggest things about Christmas is getting your picture with Santa.

The Northwest Company (the parent company of the store Rob runs) provides each store with a Santa Suit, a portable printer and 3 packs of ink/paper for Santa Claus. This is something that is done for each store in the company. He has offered the use of both these items at no charge to the community, and did not receive a response. He has not done "Santa" in the store because this is always something that was done by the town. So, Santa is coming to the Northern today. We are bringing my Christmas backdrop and blocking off a corner of the store to take pictures of the kids. These pictures will be printed on the spot for parents to take home, and will be done free of charge (we are asking for a $2.00 donation to charity). The staff has really come together with this, and made 100 grab bags for the kids yesterday. Keep in mind, this conversation with Rob happened MONDAY night, and here it is Wednesday morning and we're ready to go. And the response from the town has been overwhelming. People are really excited about this, and more than a few adults have joked they are coming to sit on Santa's knee.

This is more than just a publicity stunt for his store. Yes, of course it will boost sales on the 2nd last day of shopping, and he is running some great last minute deals. But he's not doing it for that. He's doing it for the kids. Of course, there are kids in town that have had their picture taken with Santa when they have gone out of town with their parents. But there are many kids in this community who have never been out of town. He's doing it for them. It just shows how much we all love it here. I can feel roots settling. :)

my little bingo player

An occupational hazard of mine is to try and find ways to make learning fun for Joe. Well, I have found another one. We are working on numbers with Joe right now, and he's pretty good at it. BINGO is number recognition and matching. I'm going to have to go out and find bingo cards for him to play along with me!

I'm on vacation baby!!!

I'm now officially on vacation for the next two weeks. I love working as a teacher! I should now be back on track of updating the blog more often. Here's hoping. :)

Of course, I did the boys Christmas pics, and since they have been received by family members I'm free to post them for you all to see. If I do say so myself, I have some cute kids!

I've also been busy doing christmas pictures for people here in town. This is the granddaughter of my "Metis Mommy".

My silly little puppy. Last week it dipped as low as -54 with the windchill, so I crocheted her a jacket. I'm going to do it again in a better color but I needed a template to work from. As you can see, she wore it outside!

Joey, Sunny and Katie.

Gramma Jeannine has been anxiously waiting for me to post these pictures, so a little birdy told me!

Just to make her happy

I've learned in the past when a pregnant woman asks you to do something, you do it. So here you go Tawny.

10 things that make me happy

1.) Morning snuggles with Colby and Joey.

2.) The excited squeals of the kids at preschool when they arrive.

3.) Being called "Teacher Tina" and getting hugs from all the 3 and 4 year olds when they leave.

4.) The amazing friends and surrogate family we have made here in the North.

5.) Having people tell me how much they love the pictures I have taken of them.

6.) Have community members tell me how proud they are of Rob as the Northern Manager and hope we never leave.

7.) My blogger friends, most who I've never met in person but feel like I know them better than some people I know in real life.

8.) Getting packages from home.

9.) Fresh warm sheets on the bed.

10.) After 15 years, the way that one smile from Rob still gives me butterflies.

Now, all my blogger friends, I challenge you to do the same thing. And I'll be looking for your lists!

Just in case you thought I was making this up.. like I would!

Wind Chill Warning : Île à la Crosse and Beauval Issued at 3:30 PM CST Friday 11 December 2009

Extreme wind chills tonight. This is a warning that extreme wind chill conditions are imminent or occurring in these regions. Monitor weather conditions..Listen for updated statements. A pool of bitterly cold Arctic air has settled over Northern Saskatchewan with temperatures near minus 40. Tonight a brisk northwesterly flow will develop over the area producing extreme wind chill values in the minus fifties. The extreme wind chill values will continue on Saturday. At these extreme wind chill values frostbite on exposed skin may occur in less than 5 minutes.

BRRR that's COLD!

Current Weather Updated: Friday, December 11, 2009, 18:00 CST - Buffalo Narrows Île-à-la-Crosse, SK

Currently: -32

Light snow

Feels Like: -44

Wind: W 15km/h

I copied this right from the Enviornment Canada Website. Do you see the "Feels like"??? Tonight and tomorrow it's suppose to be as low as -50. Holy freakin' Hannah that's cold!!

Current Weather Updated: Friday, December 11, 2009, 18:00 CST - Buffalo Narrows Île-à-la-Crosse, SK -32 Light snow Feels Like: -44 Wind: W 15km/h Relative Humidity: 67% Pressure: 101.83 kPa Visibility: 16.0 km Ceiling: 2200 ft Related Links I copied this right from the Enviornment Canada Website. Do you see the "Feels like"??? Tonight and tomorrow it's suppose to be as low as -50. Holy freakin' Hannah that's cold!!

"Mommy, you lie!"

Joey has finally settled in at daycare. He has settled in so much, he gets upset when he doesn't go. Anyone who knows me and my children know that my kids are creatures of habit. They go to bed at the same time every night, not because they are told to, but because they just do. They have always done it. If we don't have supper by 5pm, Colby starts to mentally lose it. They are just funny that way.

Yesterday, the director of the daycare lost her daughter. Her daughter was born with a genetic defect and was not given much of a chance to survive. She was a fighter. She never grew much and looked like an infant, even though on the 7th of this month she turned 11 months old. She was in the daycare so we all got to see, and hear her. She may have been small, but there was nothing wrong with her lungs. She grew her angel wings early Tuesday morning, after being in the hospital for 3 days, so they closed the daycare to give all the women who worked with her the day off to grieve. I took Joey to work with me that day, and when he realized he was not going to "school" he became quite upset. When I told him that "school" was closed, he sobbed and said that it wasn't. When I told him that Beatrice (who is the woman who works with him) wasn't there, that is when he called me a liar. I couldn't help but laugh. Here is this little guy, sobbing his heart out because he couldn't go spend time with his Beatrice. Most kids would be excited to come to work with their mom's for a whole day, especially if she works in a preschool. Not my little fart. I realized today why he loves going there so much. When he gets there, all the other kids are napping, so he has Beatrice all to himself. They curl up together and read books, which is Joe's favorite thing to do. Then they have a snack and wait for the kids to wake up.

Some people I know would be jealous in this situation, but not me. I think the more people who love your kids, the better they are. I know when I leave him there, even though it's only for a few hours, he is well cared for and really happy to be there. That makes it worth it for both of us.

Canadian Blog Awards

While surfing over on the 2009 Canadian Blog Awards and voting for some of my favorites, I found that this blog is actually in a catagory! I am nominated in Overall Blog, which I think is super cool. So a big thanks to whoever threw my name in the hat, and if you're really into this kind of thing you can jump over HERE and vote for me!

Our boys

A few weeks ago I did the boys' portraits. I wanted these to be a surprise for our family back home, and truth be told I got in shit last year when I sent him Colby's school picture and didn't have a new picture of Joey. The pictures have been mailed and received by all grandparents, so now I'm free to post them for you. I'm just sweet like that. :)

He decided he wanted to dance.

I just love this. I have this enlarged in our livingroom. Joey's "school portrait", in the same pose as Colby, sort of. Colby's school portrait. I don't think I could have taken this picture any better than they did.

I'm soo excited!

It finally arrived. I ordered this off Ebay and am so happy with the quality of it. It is a hand painted muslin background and I just love it. I am going to put up signs around town tomorrow with pricing, and I have a feeling I will have less free time than I do now! :)

I went a little overboard

I went a little overboard with the flour in this batch of bread. I actually ran out of pans and had to cook one batch and re-use the pans. Luckily there are lots of people here to eat it! :)

Moments that make me proud

When I was at work today looking through some clothes, Joey found this shirt. Lately he is OBSESSED with Tinkerbell and insisted on wearing this shirt. He has his shirt off and this on before I could stop him. I convinced him to put his shirt back on and put Tinkerbell over it, seeing that this shirt is 2 sizes too small. He is in bed now, and insisted on wearing it to bed. And yes, he wore this at preschool all day, to the post office where he had to show the man there, and in the store. I figure if Kara can let her son wear his underwear over his pants and take him out in public, I'm safe with my little guy wearing a pink Tinkerbell shirt. *grin*

I can't believe I forgot to post this

My halloween costume. What better costume for a pre-k teacher than the alphabet?!

Guess what we got yesterday!!!

Season 3 baby!! We have the entire collection, so we couldn't pass up this one!

To answer your question Chris

Tinkerbell's house didn't last 24 hours.

Tinkerbell's house

I ordered these really cute cookie cutters from Avon and we wanted to try them out. Unfortunately I didn't have any white icing so we improved with chocolate. But as you can see he had fun decorating! He kept calling it "Tinkerbell's house".