Hiking in Memory of Aunty Lyne!

Just got home from a lovely morning, hiking with the Hospice at May Court in memory of Lyne. It was a 5 kilometre hike and the kids did so well - Maia's feet were hurting by the time we got back and the girls were not too happy for the last 10 minutes either but Jack was smiling all along. And despite not being overly joyful Anna and Cassidy did it and I am proud of all 4 of them for doing it without moaning and by the end of it actually feeling proud of themselves. Well done!

Cassidy is Anna's very good friend who has been on a weekend sleepover with us so she didn't get a choice but had to tag along. She didn't mind and I think the Reptile Zoo, face-painting and tons of home baked cookies made it worth it for all 4 of them.

The hospice raised over $75,000 today - such a good cause!

DFF ... Dodge-Free Forever ...

and that is a promise because how I hated that Dodge ... it was the last thing I said as I left Hyundai yesterday afternoon with the kids - THANK YOU for making me never ever having to drive that horrid Dodge again and I think every single salesman was told and there was a roar of laughter ... guess they understood my hate :)

So here is our new car

now ... we had already given back the Dodge a month ago and had been driving a rental for that month - we were known at the school for driving the British Taxi - not quite a British Taxi but still very small compared to what we have been driving over here and it was a nice little run-around but not one I'll miss

So the rental was just like 500 m from where we had to pick up the new car and with Bob away, the kids and I had to go get the new car after school so we figured - leave the rental, and then walk over to get the new car ... our salesman was just coming out to put on our licence plate as we walked in - did he ever have a good laugh - not very often they see people walking into their lot to pick up a new car

here the kids are walking to get it

so funny ...

So now we are the happy owners of a Hyundai Veracruz and it is fantastic. Well I am - Bob still hasn't even test driven this car - he totally let me pick the car, test drive the car, pick the color and then signed the papers ... only to find that it didn't arrive on the planned day and now I got to go pick it up as well - and he has to wait another week before he gets to try it out. How many husbands do you know that would trust their wives totally in buying a car ... I love my husband - because he trusts me totally :) and  I am so happy with this car. I cannot get over how much I'm enjoying driving it - well done me :)

I only have one little wish for our new car - a Danish decal, either a flag or a sticker that says "DK". Fortunately I already have one girl who's promised to help out, so hopefully soon enough I can be the proud Dane driving around in a car I actually really like :)

Here is the last photo of the day ...

Happy Easter

28 degrees today ... phew that is hot and I'm not at all enjoying it. Going from 11 - 12 degrees to this extreme heat is not for me but the sunshine is of course happy and wonderful!

Yesterday we did a bit of baking - we made Easter cookies and it is the first time we have done any serious cookie decorations (I know ... I know ... I should of course have done this a hundred times with my cake skills but ... oh well, it just hasn't worked out that way!) ... but this year, with the wonderful present I got from John, Olivia and Isabella there was no way around it and we went all out ...

before ...

during ....

while ...

and after ...

there were many many more - not sure they will be eaten but we have a pretty good idea about what we'll use them for ... they are stunning and the kids did a fabulous job!

Bob is not here this year for Easter - that breaks my heart ... and means I have to do the "Egg Hunt" which I have never ever done before - if anyone has any skills, tips or hints feel free to email ASAP as I will have to set it all up tonight!

Nancy and John will be coming over for an Easter dinner tomorrow night - actually they have agreed to come a little earlier so Maia and Nancy can do a bit of craft before dinner. Maia loves it oh so much, and I do think Nancy is enjoying herself tremendously too !

Hope you have a lovely Easter - and of course that someone gives you a big yummy

 Easter Egg! 

Finally ...

She's 40 and will you look at that ....

What a day and what a lot of spoiling ...

We really did have a fun day - if a little silly at times, but still we managed to smile and it will certainly be remembered as the birthday with the absolut worst food ever had! Oh well, it is something to laugh about in years to come and I'm sure it will be!

At least the birthday cake which Bob went to get at the European Bakery was lovely - just a shame we didn't cut it till the following day when Bob had gone back to work so he never got to try it - luckily Anna loved it and I'm happy to say I think it is the first birthday cake in a long time that was actually finished totally. She really is a "Strawberry and Cream Cake"- kind of girl!

Bob was home for a week and it was just wonderful. As always we had a lot of fun times and fortunately we also managed to do a few things around the house. He left on Thursday morning and will be home again next Thursday but of course my poor little Jack got sick yesterday - ...again it seems to happen when my hubby is far away. This time poor poor Jack is really sick. He's got some sort of a tummy bug and has been sick for the last 24 hours. At least he's drinking Gatorade which I only allow when there is a tummy bug in the house, so despite pain in his tummy and a temperature he feels spoiled somehow. Poor thing though - and I just cross my fingers he's the only one who's going to get this because it is the worst thing ever!

Spring break is over and it's back to school at least for the girls tomorrow. Anna is as always excited - and Maia is not far behind. Her reading is really coming along and I love that she is now able to read almost everything to me. There is something about it when all of a sudden they crack the code and figure out how letters work together. I enjoy her reading to me instead of me reading to her at night time!

I'll better have a chat with Jack who's lying here next to me - he needs a bit of TLC!

Thanks a bundle to everyone who made my day so very very special!

A Day in New York ...

Got an email from my brother on Thursday morning "could you meet me and Isabella in New York on Sunday?" ... sure - "You say "jump" - I say "how high"" and off we went :)

Well, actually there were all sorts of complications - like me remembering around noon on Thursday that my passport would run out in February 2010 ... argh, ran to find my passport - yep, done by February 13th, 2010. Frantic call to the Danish Embassy, but they were lovely (Danes after all!) and told me to bring it in and they would extend it for a year! So I spent a couple of hours downtown at the market while I was waiting for the stamp (amazing - it must take them 2 minuttes and 21 seconds to do it but they tell you to go away for 2 hours!) ... anyways, with passport in hand I was happy we were able to go!

Then we spent all day Friday car-shopping ... lease is up on the horrid big black Dodge in the garage (yipee!) and we are in the process of figuring out what to do next, so Bob and I had lunch in Perth while looking there. Nice.

Spent the afternoon running around finding good walking shoes/boots for the kids as I knew we'd be walking a lot and didn't want them to wear their big snowboots. It was all a bit crazy and hectic but we were so excited we'd finally be seeing New York City!

Bob and I were packing and just about ready to go to bed when I thought I should check Casper's papers for the border - and guess what - they were out of date too! (talk about us being organized - NOT!). We had planned to take him to Kirsten in NJ for him to play with her dog while we were playing with Isabella, but that was obviously not going to happen. It was late and I honestly started to panic a little - but then thought I'd try the neighbour and fortunately she was very happy to take him for the weekend. - another crisis averted!

So we were off Saturday morning - all very excited and happy to be going on yet another car trip through America - obviously I still have my issues with the border police, but for once they didn't give me any grief and it was easy peasy ... phew!

We got to NY around 6 pm and had made arrangements to see Dom, Mark and Milo for dinner. We were staying in Times Square and Dom had managed to find a Sushi/Chinese restaurant for 8 pm. We all met in the M&M store across from our hotel

obviously Bob took the photo - Dom has the one with him in the picture!

The restaurant was lovely and it was such a wonderful thing that we had a bit of time with them. Milo was great and despite being tired he managed to impress me no end with his balloon animals - very impressed with that application on the iPhone ... not enough to get the phone though!

John and Isabella showed up around 8.30 and surprised me big time - it was fantastic seeing them again and well worth the long drive. Isabella and Anna were inseperable from then on and begged all evening for a sleep-over at John's hotel - We agreed on the following night!

The evening went by way too fast and I'm so sad that we didn't have more time with Dom, Mark and Milo! As you can see the kids had a ton of fun - Jack has a big fan in Milo and I kind of think he really likes that role! I love spending time with D, M&M, always such fun and laughter - and it was of course interesting to hear who they believed would win the hockey the following night! I'm sure Mark really wanted Canada to win :)

We knew we only had one day to see and do NY - so we were up early and ready for the American Girl Store when they opened at 9 ... I haven't seen Anna this excited in a long time and watching her run up to the store was fun ... she doesn't really play with the dolls that much any more but she has been dreaming of going to this store for 3 years - a dream come true

Look at that smile!

John had already made good plans for what to see and do and we managed to go from AG to Empire State Building where everyone but me and Anna went to the top - I took Anna to Macy's for a new bag - true girl stuff ! Then Dylan's Candy Store, FAO Swartz Toy store where we were lucky enough to see a performance on the big piano from the movie "Big" with Tom Hanks, then lunch and then The Museum of Natural History. We were all DONE after that ... John wanted to take pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge by sunset so we took the kids home to our hotel where we were lucky enough to catch the last of the hockey game and saw Canada win the GOLD - it was fantastic and Jack was beyond proud (I think Bob was too and so was I)

We knew we didn't have a big window with the kids so we had dinner at Hard Rock but it was good fun if nothing special. The kids were impressed with the Beatles outfits and took in a little history lesson, so all good!

John took Isabella and Anna and went skating at Rockefeller on the way back - just as well I didn't know about that :) ... the girls apparently went to bed at 11.30!  

It was such fun and I am desperately in love with NY - I cannot wait to go back and Kirsten whom we stopped to have tea with on the way home has promised we can come for a week in the summer and she'll show us all the stuff we never got round to this time.

At least we now know what all the fuss is about!!!

We didn't take a ton of photos - what you see is what we got - camera ran out of battery and despite looking everywhere we never managed to find another one - oh well, with a photographer on tour I'm sure something will show up on John's blog eventually ;) http://www.johnagger.com/blog/

So a great weekend in our lives - fantastic to be given a day with John and Isabella - fun and full of love!

Unfortunately it feels like Bob hasn't been home and we all miss him crazy already - but at least he'll be home for a week when he gets home next time - after all it is my birthday :)

What Mrs Mote gets done in a Week ...

So I decided to take some time off from the Hospice. I have told them I'm not impressed and that I need a bit of time to "lick my wounds" ... also I'm battling a silly cold which has gone on for 12 days now - oh well, keep telling Bob that time will do it's work and eventually it will be gone.

Part of it lingering I guess, could have to do with me not resting ... at all! I had an idea and once that has happened there is no going back! I must persevere ... 

1. 
   
   Move dining room to conservatory ... check
2. 
   
   Paint same green as in old "Pretty Room" (Benjamin Moore's Historical "Hollingworth") in old dining room ... check
3. 
   
   Paint white up to where the chair rail will be (have to wait for Bob on that one!) .... check
4. 
   
   Move all the furniture from old "Pretty Room" into new "Family Room" (sounds better!) ... check
5. 
   
   Paint old "Pretty Room" (Benjamin Moore "Philadelphia Cream") ... check
6. 
   
   Move dining table from Kitchen into new "Breakfast Room" (weighs a ton and had to be taken apart) ... check
7. 
   
   Enjoy dinner last night with the kids in the new "Breakfast Room" (that sounds odd!) ... check 

Here are some before's and after's

An old sad fireplace and I never ever liked that red!

New clean lines - love the green and white!

it will get there - still need the chair rail ...

again ... needs stuff on the walls - but what a wonderful difference!

The house has a totally different flow and feel to it - it's like we've had a new extension put on it ... We never ever used the red dinning room for anything - only when we have visitors do we go in there, but it was pretty much one of those rooms that you don't even look at when you come in - now I have to remind myself to go in there and enjoy it. I knew that the green and white would lighten it up but I could never have imagined how much. I cannot wait for Bob to come home and see it all.

And so ... what to do with the kitchen because that is one big empty room now. Again - that has added a ton of light taking the dining table away, but something has to fill up that corner. I am of course looking into what IKEA can do for us and so far I have a pretty good idea. I want to make it a nice craft/homework/computer area for the kids because I do like having them around me in the kitchen when I cook - I think it is how it should be! I'll think some more - Bob comes home on midnight this Thursday so hopefully we'll figure something out together!

Maia went skating yesterday and when I came to pick her up this is what she looked like ... I was of course a bit surprised and upset to see her like that and she of course was in pain and upset that every time she needed to itch her nose it hurt a lot. Poor Maia. We put a lot of lotion on it and hopefully it'll be healed and gone soon enough. And guess what - it wasn't even the skating that did it - it was just as they left school to walk to the Canal, she was falling behind and wanted to catch up  - but she tripped and fell head first onto the sidewalk - owee ow ow!!!  

All three of them are supposed to go to the Canal today - the whole School is going. They were supposed to have an Olympic day organized by the Grade 6's but because we've had very little snow they had to cancel that and instead opted to take the whole school skating ... guess what - it has been snowing all night and is still snowing a lot ... more than I have seen for over a month - what a shame, I'm not at all sure they will be able to skate today - oh well, I'll see what they say when they all three tumble into the car at pick-up time and fight to be the first with the "Three Good Things"!

Now I shall go hang up some stuff on the walls and make the breakfast room even nicer. The kids have planned that we'll have a big chalk board on one of the walls for them to write their weekly stuff on - it's a great idea - I love that chalk board paint but I haven't told Bob about this plan - what if he hates it (not in a million years would he tell me :)

Have a good day!

Well ... That was Fun - NOT!

So I didn't write for a while thinking I'd write when I knew for sure about the job and guess what - I know for sure ... that there isn't a job to be had!!!

The Director "forgot" to get it cleared with the Board and while he was on holiday somewhere nice and warm for ten days I spent the time trying to figure out what exactly I wanted out of this position so that once he got back I was ready with my "demands" ... however, he kept changing the role, the hours and the pay and in the end I just said "Enough Already" ... and declined the offer totally.

After all - they were the ones who out of the blue offered me the position and in the end I found I was the one doing all the running and figuring out how to do things. I am disappointed and upset with the way they handled it all but I'm also happy that I now don't need to worry about the kid's being off sick or how to handle the summer holidays!

It's their loss!

On a much more positive note Kirsten and the girls have just left this morning after a fantastic four days of fun, play, shopping, decorating, chatting and wine drinking and I just wish she could have stayed another week. The kids were plotting this morning before school how to make the girls stay and go to school here instead, but they weren't fast enough and now Kirsten, Grace and Sylvie are probably at the border on their way home ... shame!

I had this fantastic idea last week that I had to move the dining room to the back of the living room and then turn what was the dining room into the front family room and what was the family room into the daily dining area - so now it's all go go go again. New paints, new brushes, new colors and lots of fun! Love it!

Last night while Bob was still here we moved the dining room furniture - Crikey that is one heavy table and we had to take it outside and through the garage as it wouldn't fit through the doors inside! However, once we were all around the table having wonderful pasta and meatballs made by Kirsten it was clear to all of us that it is perfect this way. With all the windows it is a great room to enjoy dinner and good company!

I have told Bob I need a big hole in the wall between kitchen and dinning area - he claims it is not a problem so surely all three rooms will be done just after my birthday in March since he's home that week. Can't wait.

Valentine was fun ...

... except for the the "little" blip of Casper eating the face of Sylvie's stuffie which she's had since she was 18 month. Fortunately I managed (don't quite know how!) to sew the face back together and with Sylvie's help we found fabric for his nose and made Olla Bolla (I have NO idea if that is the correct spelling!) look (sort of) like he had before Casper got his teeth into him. Oh - there were tears but with the help of pictures sent by Mark and the girl's drawing his face I managed to do a face that was approved by Sylvie and all was well after about an hour of drama!

Kids are great - we took Grace and Sylvie skating on the Canal on Saturday. They had never skated before and they did SO well. They kept on going and didn't stop for over an hour. It was good fun.

Grace spent a lot of time laughing while lying on the ground and Sylvie overcame her struggles with the figure skates - they had a great time and despite ending up with blisters I'm sure they'd come back skating on the Canal again!

Jack had been invited to an Ottawa 67's Hockey Game by the neighbor so he didn't join us. He was over the moon though and had a great time.

So ... no new job after all but lots to do and happy to do it ...