It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas

I have been overtaken by Christmas spirit, I was trying to hold off and actually this is alot

later than last year. So I guess I'm doing okay.

Our house is all decorated for Christmas.

It actually started a few weeks ago when I sat my sweet little family down for a Christmas meeting.

I had a survey to go over with them to see if what we were doing at Christmas was being enjoyed by all.

Our "meeting" lasted all of 5 minutes, apparently I've got this Christmas thing right, because there were no complaints or request.

I am on the right Christmas track.

I enjoy having all my decorating done before the season really kicks in because we get very busy, quite quickly this time of year and I love it.

Christmas is by far my most favorite time of year.

Decorating, baking, shopping...

but my most favourite is sitting by the tree snuggling with any one of my family members.

My decoration colours have always been gold and burgundy, but his year I thought I'd spice it up

a little and throw in some turquoise.

I think I like it.

         

Jillianne got a pre-Christmas, Christmas gift from my mom.

Right from the time she could walk, she has loved playing with my mom's glass nativity,

now she has her own version.

She loves it.

     

Our Nativity.

 

                                              The girls have definitely inherited my love for Christmas,
                                                                   just as I did from my mom.
                                    They have a tree of their own in their rooms, which they decorate all
                                                                           by themselves.
                                                         Here is Kerrington's tree in her room.

and of course Ireland and Jillianne's tree.

Their tree is full of ornaments, but not as much as last year.

I was afraid it would tip over,  I reminded myself it was their tree, so I stood back and appreciated their

artistic flair.

I so love being a mom but this time of year takes the cake, all the sweet wonderful memories.

So in keeping up with Christmas spirit,

Let me be the first to wish you,

Merry Christmas

Until next time,  Joceline



Our Trip Part Four

While at our hotel in Sackville,

I happened to pick up yet another magazine or brochure of things to do while in New Brunswick,

 and there was an ad for the world's longest covered bridge.

We thought that would be fun and it was right off the highway we were traveling on back to Ontario.

We all found it pretty cool, since it is not something we see everyday.

We also stopped off on the boarder of New Brunswick and Quebec to see some thundering falls.

You could feel them a whole lot.

They were gorgeous.

We then decide to go to Ottawa and see the Parliament.

We would have taken a tour but we had a luggage rack or a hamburger as my girls call it, on the roof of the van, so we didn't fit in the parking garage.

We found a parking spot two blocks away from Parliament and only had 45 minutes.

That is as long as the metre would allow.

So we scampered right to the door way, said a prayer for our government, took a few pictures and made it back before time ran out.

What a busy area!

We ended our wonderful trip with a stop off and Grandma and Grandpa's house.

This is a place of sweet relaxation.

No hustle and bustle here.

Lots of room to run and play.

A perfect place to end our wonderful vacation.

I will forever cherish the time we spent together.

  Until next time,  Joceline



Halloween Night

We had a wonderful Halloween night.

We took the kids to church for a party.

Boy oh boy, was it a par-tey

There was pony rides.



A giant slide.

A  super bouncy, bouncy castle

Sumo suits

Sweet cotton candy

Jousting fights. 

 This is were Ireland spent most of the night.

She was a little spitfire.

Face painting

and of course lots and lots of candy!

For days before all I heard the girls say was  "I can't wait for Monday."

It seriously did not disappoint.

Until next time,  Joceline

Our Trip Part Three

A little trick I am so glad I learned before our trip from Becky Higgins was to first thing each morning take a picture of your (or your daughter's in my case) electronic device with the date, so you can remember exactly what day was what on your trip

Complete Genius!

Tuesday September 8th

After partying it up at the wedding we packed our belongings and set off for a big breakfast gathering.

There was quite a large group of us from out of town,

Mark's mom and dad treated us all to breakfast.

We were already packed up so right after we ate we took a drive down the coast to catch the ferry to

Prince Edward Island.

There was a nervous excitement as soon as we pulled up the ramp onto the boat.

Jillianne was feeling a bit woosie so we prepared ourselves with a little white bag generously provided by the ferry boat company.

Once she got used to the see-saw motion of the boat she was fine, but it was really rockin!

We ventured out onto the deck as we approached the island.

It was drizzling a little and it was windy and cold, but we didn't let that stop us

from enjoying something we had looked forward to for a very long time.

The first thing the girls noticed as we were docking was the dirt, it was a rich red,

just like the movies.

What a beautiful island, so peaceful and serene.

After the busyness of the past 4 days this was exactly what we needed.

We had decided ahead of time that we were going to go to the Village of Avonlea.

The girls and I have watched this series so many times.

It is by far one of our most favorite TV series.

The girls knew ahead of time that it wasn't "thee" avonlea, but it was sweet little village to visit.

We leisurely walked the boardwalk around the village.

It was wonderful time.

I was helping the girls pick out there outfits to try on, when I turned and looked at Mark,

he had joined in on the dressing up fun.

I couldn't stop laughing.

He is so much fun to be around!

  

We bought some delicious raspberry cordial.

We had to try some because it was in Anne of Green Gables.

Another favorite around here, that was by far the best movie series for me as a young girl.

After the village we drove to Cavendish Beach and North Rustico, we went along the shore to get our feet wet in the

Gulf of St Lawrence.

We continued to drive around and this popped up from behind the trees.

The White Sands Hotel from Road to Avonlea.

It is actually called The Dalvay in real life,  the girls and I were pretty excited to see something we had seen so often on TV.

We got out of the car and Mark took our picture in front of it.

Apparently Prince William and Kate stayed here during their visit to Canada.

We left the island using the Confederation Bridge.

Holy molly it is long.

It is 10 km.

It took us 12 minutes to cross.

Stay tuned for the conclusion of our trip.

Until next time,  Joceline

Open House

Once a year the fire department that Mark is a part of holds an open house.

Sort of a meet and greet time with the firefighters and we also give the towns people

hot dogs, popcorn and drinks,

not to mention great fire trinkets and valuable information for their well being.

 Since Mark has been a firefighter for over 10 years, this is a family tradition.

Two of our girls have only known life as a fire family.

Kerrington was three and half when Mark got on the department and Ireland was one.

Jillianne wasn't even here yet.

So before they can even remember, this is the only way their life has been.

Not only is this a part of who we are, we actually enjoy rolling up our sleeves,

sort to speak and serving the public.

After all, every time the pager goes off we give up our Daddy/Husband no

matter what we are right in the middle of.

We seem to have taken on the role of popcorn people.

It started out some few years back when we knew someone who had the machine and it has just snowballed from there.

I think we now have it down to a science.

Everyone does his or her own job and it flows like hot buttered popcorn :)

Some of us just show up to look cute.

This year they added some new demonstrations.

Showing the tools used in car accident rescues and explaining what they are all used for.

I love the jaws of life. They are really powerful.

They even lit fires to show the crowd how to properly use an extinguisher.

That was awesome!

We are so proud to be a part of such a wonderful thing.

Until next time, Joceline



Our Trip Part Two

Wedding day.

This was the special reason for our trip.

Jillianne was the flower girl and Mark was a groomsmen.

Two very important roles :)

We got up nice and early, the girls and I headed to the bride's house to get their hair done.

Jillianne was very relaxed and even had time for a snack.

 The girls did a beautiful recitation taken from

 1 Corinthians 13.

They were quite nervous but they did such a fantastic job.

So proud ;)

Beautiful Bride and Groom

We went to quite a few fun and interesting locations for pictures.

Swan pond, The Bay of Fundy, in the fields, on a backhoe and on an old train bridge.

The old train bridge wasn't my favorite.

Mark being the comedian he thinks he is, played a joke on some of us.

When we pulled up to this old, broken down train bridge, I was very cautious as there was no ledge and I had three lovely daughters to look out for.

I was busy preparing myself to take a few snapshots, all the while keeping watch for my little flower girl, when out of the corner of my eye I see Mark "fall" off the bridge.

 I went into complete panic mode, my heart sank and my legs suddenly went weak.

 It is amazing how quickly the minds works.

As I was getting ready to run and see what I could do to save my husband, he peaked his head over the side of the bridge, laughing!??!

He had jumped to a ledge below, I was so relieved and yet so upset with him.

 I quickly announced to everyone not to return their tuxedos, as there was going to a funeral tomorrow.

I was going to kill Mark for scaring me so bad.

He still thinks it is funny.

I still do not.

The reception was held in a barn, not a farming barn but the Music Barn.

An old, quaint, country barn, without that barn smell!

It was so cool, the girls totally loved it.

We had a wonderful meal.

 My little flower girl turned out to be a dancing queen.

She was out on the dance floor all night long, busting out moves I have never seen.

So many people asked us how long she'd been taking dance lessons.

"Umm, six weeks of community centre ballet."

No dance teacher could teach those moves, they come all natural to our little red.

Heaven help us.

Stay tuned for part three of our trip.

Until next time,  Joceline