THANKSGIVING 2011

This past weekend we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving as well as Ava's first birthday.   Here are some of the highlights.


I made Avocado Shakes for the second time in two days.  So very, very, yummy!

I made this little cake for Ava (easy to do but a little time consuming).

Here she is enjoying it.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous, so summer like and yet we were into the second week of October. Lilah is in just her diaper here.  Maybe there is actually something to this global warming thing.

We had a little glitch over the weekend when we discovered that the sink was clogged just as we were about to do all the dishes from our big Thanksgiving dinner.  Ben figured he could clear it with the plunger so before he did,  I tied a tea towel around a pipe that has been known to leak slightly while being plunged. 

While Ben plunged the one side of the double sink, I held the plug down in the other.  We both felt our feet getting wet at the same time and looked down to see water running out onto the floor.  There was a panicked call for towels....

and a quick race downstairs to see if it was seeping through the floor onto the ceiling below...

...It was.

Long story short

• the whole drain is broken.
• we had to dishes in the laundry tub.
• we are still waiting for a plumber.
• I own about fifty towels.
• most were used to clean up the mess.
• I now know how fat my butt is (I need to lay off the Avocado Shakes).

After all the excitement, we went outside , sat around the fire, watched the moon come up and enjoyed some of these.

All in all, it was a nearly perfect weekend.   We just missed Daniel, Olivia, and Adam.

A BOY'S INFLUENCE

He was the one that could talk me into doing the most ridiculous things.

(Matthew to me skiing on the bunny hill with the little kids on a school trip): "Mom you are totally ready for the big run"

"I don't know Matthew... I think it's best if I just stay here."

"Mom, the hardest part is getting on and off the ski lift.  I've been watching you, I know you can do it."

"You think so?"  

"Yep, I'll talk you down."

I should mention at this point that he was only eight or nine at the time and that his idea of skiing was bombing down the hill at a breakneck speed.  I will also mention to those who have never skied before that getting on and off the ski lift is not the hardest part of skiing, stopping is.

I got about halfway down the hill, realized that I was going way too fast, tried to stop, couldn't, so decided to drop and roll (works for fires).  I rolled and slid and slid and rolled and finally came to a stop just below the lift.

 "Hi Mrs. J" called the giggling kids passing above me.

I got up and made my way to the chalet for a hot chocolate to celebrate the fact that a). I was still alive and b). I had suffered no major injury.

As I made my way to the counter, a hush descended on the lunchtime crowd and I could feel eyes following me.  I spotted my reflection in the window and saw that not only had my wool sweater collected huge snowballs as I had slid down the hill but my hair was snow caked and sticking out at all angles.   

Matthew is all grown up now and has a family of his own.  He has matured and no longer encourages or dares me to take risks.  I miss our adventures.

This is my most recent picture of him and is a huge hint in reference to my last post.  : )