Tis the Season

We've been having fun in our new community this Christmas season. It started off with "Christmas in the Park" where we played hockey, saw Santa, drank hot chocolate, and sleigh rides singing carols.

The kids are in 2 different schools this year, so we had 2 school Christmas Concerts to attend. I seriously get so teary-eyed watching my kids in their school performances; just seeing them with all their classmates, songs they practiced for weeks, singing their hearts out - I just love it!! Jared on the other hand...well, he loves watching Carter and Hayley but would prefer to not have to sit through the 200 other kids performances haha :)

*I maaaay say inappropriate potty words to make my kids smile for pictures. Sometimes it backfires like this:

 This punk dog troubled fella thinks he is allowed to run behind our vehicle as we drive away from our house lately. One day I left to pick Hayley up from school (noticed a few pedestrians giving me funny looks along the way but didn't think too much of it), step out of my vehicle at the elementary school parking lot and who should be there to greet me but our dog Dutch. Who followed me there.We live approx. 4 km away from the school and cross a highway to get to it!! To say the least, I was shocked. I put him in the back of the truck, then snapped a picture of his (somewhat) guilty expression. Like I said: PUNK.

Carter's class drew pictures of themselves and hung them on their lockers. This is Carter's. I love it :)

The Holiday Train came to town!! I have never seen it before and it was so cool. The band was entertaining, every kid loves seeing Santa, and they raised money and food bank donations galore. What a great event! It was along the train tracks just down the road from our house.....so even Dutch decided to come check it out!! (Another wonderful surprise arrrg)

Small Dog Problems

*please ignore my high-pitched commentary. It's the embarrassing voice I reserve for cute little animals.... *

♫ Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes ♫

Okay. So let's just all start off by acknowledging how terrible I am at blogging. Like, the worst. A year? Are you kidding me? I know. I have really slacked off. And so much has happened in the past year that I figure there is absolutely no hope of ever catching up. So I am just carrying on from here! Have fun trying to follow along :)

First exciting thing is we moved! We no longer live in Elkford, but in yet another small town 40 minutes away. But it's a Bigger Small Town!! Which means I don't have to pay 4 dollars for a loaf of stale bread anymore! Holla!

We bought an acreage. Without being too dramatic (lol), this is a dream come true for our little family!! We are so excited to have Land and space to call our own. We have been here just over 3 months and Jared and I sometimes still look at each other and say "we can't believe this is all ours". 

First off we had a barn built. Because every good Farm needs a big red barn. Horses to be added soon.

A few pictures of the property:

And last but not least, the house:

 Master Bedroom

Side door coming in from the boot room

We have a few things we still want to do (stain cabinets, granite countertops, master ensuite, etc) but for the most part I love love love the main floor. I didn't take pictures of the kids rooms because they are not really set up properly yet. The basement is in the process of being re-finished and when it is done, the kids will move to the basement (2 more bedrooms, bathroom, laundry, and rec room). I will post pictures of the NEW kids rooms when they are finally done. I have some exciting Re-do plans for them :)

Also...we rescued a kitten. Cheerio, the kids named her. I have been a self-proclaimed Cat-Hater my ENTIRE LIFE. But hey, things change. And I'll tell you a little secret about this kitten....I LOVE HER. Okay so it's not a secret, but seriously, could she be any cuter?

 *And yes, I am totally THAT pet owner that takes these kind of pictures....

PS Cheerio is also legitimately CRAZY, but more on that at a different time. 

That's it for today! I will TRY to re-commit myself to this super challenging blog jibberish ;)

Europe Part 3 - When in Rome!

Our third and final destination was Rome, Italy. We were very impressed with Rome. We had an awesome hotel in a great part of town and did so much sightseeing in 3 short days.

We walked to Piazza della Repubblica, a main city square with shops all around. I just love these bigs building curving around the huge traffic circle.

 It was raining, but still nice and warm. We bought some umbrellas from street vendors.

We took a tour bus of the city to see all the main points of interest. First stop was the Colosseum, and we had a very excited 8 year old! He loves all things Roman Warriors so this was something special for him.

The Monument of Vittorio Emmanuele was massive. These pictures can't even put into perspective how gigantic these buildings truly are.

Complete with armed guards:

The Vatican was interesting. St. Peter's Basilica was beautiful inside and we even witnessed a catholic church service going on inside while we toured it.

Once again, impossible to capture how much detail is in these churches.

I tried to do a panoramic picture of the square at St. Peter's Basilica, the pillars were very cool.

And a few pictures from our hop-on-hop-off bus sightseeing tour....the best way to see the city and not need a brand new pair of feet by the end of it!

And that was the last leg of our journey. We headed back to Barcelona, relaxed for a few days and then flew home. It was a once in a lifetime trip and we hope someday to make it twice in a lifetime!

Europe Part 2 - J'aime Paris!

We flew to Paris, France for the second part of our trip and WE LOVE PARIS!! There were so many amazing things to see and do.

First stop: Notre Dame. It was even more beautiful than I expected.

There were so many pigeons out in front, the kids loved feeding them.

Stained glass inside Notre Dame

The Arc de Triomphe, it is impossible to capture the detail of these huge landmarks in any picture. Everything was just so ornate and beautiful.

Even just normal apartment buildings were there most beautiful buildings I have ever seen....and these weren't even the tourist attractions! See?

Of course the highlight was the Eiffel Tower. It is breathtaking, especially at night all lit up.

Another highlight was Montmartre. A cool neighborhood on a hill with shops, restaurants, street performers, and the beautiful church Basilica de Sacre Ceour. We loved the vibe there and joined in the throngs of people hanging out on the steps up to the church.

View of Paris from the top of Montmartre:

Hanging out by the Seine River:

Paris was absolutely amazing and exceeded anything we thought we knew about this beautiful city. We hope to go back someday