The Holiday in Pictures

Time to share...

These first few pictures are from our trip to Canada. Cameron's friend, Devin, joined us for this annual excursion. I had to apologize to him after, as John and I do not travel well together. He just said, yeah I've never heard you two holler like that before!



The last pics are from New Years Eve. We were joined by Cameron's girlfriend's family, who we happen to be friends with. Won't that be awkward when they stop seeing each other?!?

Looks Like We Made It...

We made it through another holiday season. Except for the annual sojourn to Canada, this was one of the simplest and peaceful holidays yet.

I expect the reason for the calm is this is the first year in over six years that John actually has a job and can take paid holidays for Christmas! We slept in almost every morning, played with our new Wii, watched every Indiana Jones Movie, and The Dark Knight, and Narnia Prince Caspian...

I have come to believe this is really what the holiday's should be. A chance to reconnect with family - not just the extended family of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and second cousins once removed - but the family you run to practices and games, music lessons and concerts, friends parties and sleepovers; the family you live with and take for granted everyday!

So here's to family - my family and yours. May we all find time to just "be" with each other in 2009!

It's Quiet...Too Quiet...

We are so used to going a million miles a minute that it becomes a huge challenge when we are between seasons. What do we do with ourselves now?!

Well....

Jackson and Caeden fight more (oh joy!)

Cameron reads more - I think this book is 800 pages, the third in a trilogy about a dragon.

John lies on the couch more and watches hockey (now that MLB baseball is over)

And I eat more because everyone is home at night and I actually have to cook dinner!

We need a sport really quick before I grow out of my jeans (again!)

The Banquet, The Birthday and The Big Date

I've been lazy about posting this week but took lots of pics over the week.

First - we had Cameron's football banquet on Thursday. We were surprised he received his first high school letter as a freshman. I have a feeling they get bigger as he moves up to Varsity. It was a nice night to cap a great week for him - we received his grades for the first nine weeks - 4.0 GPA!!! (For you Canadian's that means straight A's)

Second event of the week was Caeden's birthday party. I love these pics - the innocence and fun of just being 10!


Finally - let me introduce you to Cameron's REAL girlfriend, Erin. She came with us to the YSU football game on Saturday. They have been "dating" for about a month now - we are good friends with her family so the dates tend to center around family gatherings. I didn't think it was possible, but she is actually shyer than Cameron - in fact, he is actually the talkative one in this relationship.

A Day At The Farm

It has become our tradition to visit White House Fruit Farm two weeks before Halloween to enjoy a rare family day of fun and food. White House was one of the first places we visited when we moved here in October of 2003, personally giving me a great deal of joy as it made me recall growing up in Canada and enjoying the fall season with my family.

I love the following pictures - our simple, loving, and beautiful family...

Has It Really Been A Year?!

I am a master procrastinator.

Everyone thinks I'm this "get things done" kind of girl, but what most don't realize is that I'm a "get things done" kind of girl - at the very last minute!

That is why I have been sitting at my desk doing everything I can to put off having to write the history of one of my client's, for an event they have coming up in two weeks. My deadline is yesterday.

As my mind was wandering around the internet, I thought about this blog and realized that it has been a year since I started SportsMum. 365 days chronicling our life - as I said in my first post, the good, bad and very, very ugly.

What started as an adventure into finding another source of income (I've made a total of $63.56 over the course of the year, lost all but two of my Google Ads to some mystery computer glitch, and had almost 8,000 visits) has turned into a wonderful journal for my family.

Providing the world wide web remains a piece of our lives, I have opened a window into a year of our lives that my children can forever have access to.

So my grand adventure in making money has really turned into a grand adventure in providing my children a history of our family.

The best is yet to come...

The Voyageurs Have Returned...

We had a lovely visit to Canada, sans Cameron. Great weather, lots of time with family in Barrie, a bit of history thrown in for good measure.

These pictures are from Sainte-Marie-Among-The-Hurons; a beautiful Jesuit/Indian village that has been recreated in Midland, Ontario.

John golfed that day...

I had been lamenting the fact that all my friends were away on their own vacations, but it actually made the trip much less stressful and jam packed. We were even able to hang out at the beach for an afternoon!


The highlight would have to be the Blue Jays and Yankees game we took in on Thursday.

The boys rode the Toronto subway for the first time. For me it brought back really fond memories of my years spent going to school and working in T.O. What a great city.
By the way, I wish I could say the bottle in my hand was mine but I was holding it for the girl taking our picture! Not to say I didn't carry MANY bottles of wine on the subway in my day :)

The non-highlight was the drive home - arriving home at 3am after leaving John's nephew's wedding that ran an hour to two hours late the entire day!

Actually the real non-highlight of the trip was driving anywhere with John. We are the worst - I mean divorce court worst - at driving together. We both had serious uglies in the van. Thank God Jackson and Caeden wore headphones most of the trip.

The 1st Annual Summer Olympics

Inspired by the greatest athletes in the world, our family hosted the 1st Annual Rogers Olympiad...yesterday...in our backyard.

The nations of the world gathered to compete in swimming, track, and soccer events.

Represented by the most physically trained athletic specimens in our home, the following countries competed:
United States, featuring our lone American citizen Caeden
Canada, the Canuck cheerleader Jackson
France, the oh-so-French Cameron
Australia, the hockey playing John
Great Britain, me, because I kind-of have relatives from there!

First events - swimming. The 44 foot freestyle was a hard fought, to the wire, one-one hundreth of a second photo finish...won by FRANCE! But the 40 something mother of three was the story of this race, taking the silver medal!



Next event - football discus. The U.S. fought a hard battle but the gold medal went to...France!



Next up - the track qualifying events. The top qualifier...France!

And finally soccer qualifying won by....................france....




These Olympics will continue when the U.S., Canada, Australia and Great Britain return from an international goodwill visit to CANADA! France has to stay behind and do more training...

The Joy of the Easter Egg Hunt

I'm really not sure who enjoys Easter more...the kids, who were all up before 7 this morning for the annual Easter Egg Haul (I mean Hunt!)

...or John, who delights in finding the most ridiculous hiding places!




















My favorite part? Celebrating our Risen Lord at church with applause and praise!

Oh yeah...and taking our annual family Easter picture and marveling at the beautiful gift God gave us in our children...


Happy Easter Everyone...

Wordless Wednesday

A Boy and His Dog...
wordless wednesday

And Then There Were Three...

We are experiencing a rare occasion in our home tonight...We only have ONE child!

Cameron went to church camp for the weekend. Jackson is at a sleep-over birthday party. Caeden is the lone child occupant of our home for one night - and mighty happy about that!

He had already planned the evening when I picked him up at school..."First I want McDonalds Happy Meal WITH a chocolate shake...then can you, me and Daddy play Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader AND The Amazing Race DVD games. Oh yeah - can we have popcorn too?"

The guilt washed over me...John and I had tried so hard to pawn him off on someone else tonight so we could be alone...until we realized he has an 8AM basketball game tomorrow.

Oh - to have a grown up Friday night...just one more time before I die...:)

Demolition

We have a holiday tradition that the boys look forward to all year. It fits naturally into a boy's innate desire for chaos and destruction...

The perfect mother in me takes the time to buy just the right gingerbread house kit. I construct the walls and roof, squeeze icing over the entire structure with just perfect icicles dangling from the sides, and select colorful candy pieces with just the right Christmasy feel.

All of us used to participate in the construction of this seasonal treat; but only Caeden and I took the time this year to lovingly create our family masterpiece.

All the boys eagerly anticipate as New Years Day approaches. In keeping with family tradition, our beautiful gingerbread house was slated for DEMOLITION...

New Years Eve In Pictures

The Games Begin!
Who Needs A Shirt?...the threads just come lose anyway!

TARTUGA! (His imitation of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie...)

You can't make me look..I'm a teenager and I have to pretend I don't like my picture taken!

Friends Join The Countdown...

It's Here!


We Are SO Illegal!


Who Cares - Happy New Year!

Should Old Aquaintance Be Forgot...

I have a theory that applies only to me - every odd numbered year is generally not very good, even year's bring much more joy.

Starting in 1989, I can prove my odd year theory...
1989: New boss at work - the worse I've ever had; prompted me to hand in my resignation the end of the following year
1991: Bad leading to good - leave my home, my best-friends, my family; and move to the other side of the country. Meet John two weeks after I arrive :)
1993: John loses his first job; My Mom died
1995: John loses his next job
1997: My company refuses to compromise on my return after maternity leave, I quit and go freelance
1999: Stuff in our marriage - won't go into details
2001: REALLY bad stuff in our marriage (briefly break-up), and of course, 9/11
2003: John without work, forced to leave California for Ohio
2005: John still without permanent work, takes job in Wisconsin, we see him 4 days a month for almost two years; I take a new job at the university that I HATE!
2007: John has two jobs, second one ends unexpectedly; I quit my job earlier than planned - go deeper into debt

And the even year's:
1990: Tour with the Molson Indy circuit (a blast!), go to Vancouver, decide to quit my job and move!
1992: Marry John
1994: Cameron is born
1996: Jackson is born
1998: Caeden is born
2000: Buy new house in California; elected PTA President
2002: Marriage is GREAT; 10th Anniversary; lose lots of weight, look great!
2004: Start new job in advertising, start to settle into living in Ohio, Cameron makes first All-Star baseball team
2006: Back with advertising company, get lots of new clients, start making really good friends in Ohio
2008: My company is starting to take off, John has a new PERMANENT job he loves, boys are all very healthy, I will lose 40 pounds...(had to throw in a resolution somewhere...)

...THE BEST IS YET TO COME!

Ohhh...Christmas Tree!

A couple of days after Thanksgiving we found the PERFECT Christmas Tree...you may recall that my parents participated and greatly contributed to the discovery of this treasure.
You may also recall how beautiful it looked once home and decorated. The perfect size; the angel almost touching the ceiling.

But our beautiful tree did not react well to being chopped down and brought into our home. She started to lose her needles. Of course, all trees lose needles but not like this...

We knew she was in trouble when we left for Canada but we had hope that the copious amount of water we were putting in her pot would prolong her life until after New Years (our traditional schedule for taking down the tree). We even had our neighbor, Ken, attend to her needs in our absence.

On our return Christmas Eve, I went over to say hello, touched her delicate branches...and heard the sound of thousands of needles falling to the floor.

Alas, our beautiful tree was gone...

Yesterday was her funeral...as we carried her gently outside, she left a trail of needles through the entire processional route.

Our neighbors will be able to continue to call on her at her final resting place at the curb...until Tuesday when she turns to dust in the back of the garbage truck!

I'm Back...

Where on earth did I go? I have no idea why it has taken me THREE weeks to write a post. I would get up in the morning with the intent of writing something and then go to bed at night realizing I hadn't even logged into my account.

And it's not like I didn't have anything to write about!

Since my last post on December 3rd we have had...
Wrestling matches... (still working on learning the new camera),

Christmas concerts...
We bought a new Chrysler Town and Country...

Cameron celebrated the first snow day by building "Mt. Cameron" in our front yard!

We had our annual Christmas visit to Canada - John got to drink REAL beer (see Moosehead)
...the boys were able to snowboard with their girl cousins, Kelsy and Alana. Kelsy is "going on 14" and not so happy with cold and snow...but she's great at posing for pictures! Seriously - we are so happy that they are growing up together as friends...




On the way back from Canada, Caeden started throwing up - IN THE BRAND NEW VAN! Hence, it was the first time we weren't able to go to church as a family on Christmas Eve. By Christmas morning all was back to normal, and seeing the boys faces is always the biggest gift of all!

Long and short of it...while typical December stress created a writer's block for me, it didn't diminish my desire to celebrate my family highs and lows with all of you!

I'm back...wishing everyone a belated MERRY CHRISTMAS!