Christmas 2011

I gotta say, I’m loving this holiday season without any snow so far! Just this past weekend we went for a long bike ride down the Galloping Goose Trail into downtown (almost) Victoria with the kids. It was a great day to be outside and we had plenty of fine company along the trail with many other people walking, jogging, and cycling. It’s looking like we won’t get any snow here at all this year, of course it’s only December so we’ll see what January brings.

Last year we did have snow a couple of times, but it didn’t stick around long. This year we’re off to Fernie to visit my brother Wren, his wife and their little one. My parents will join us there as well. I’m pretty sure there will be plenty of snow in Fernie, which will satisfy this year’s white Christmas urges!

This has been a long and challenging year. Erick has been swamped with his MBA studies, while I started a full time job (finally) in June. The kids are growing up fast (thank goodness!) and starting to play together, sometimes without fighting! I suspect that being in separate classrooms for daycare is helping on that front.

Erick will be starting a co-op job in January, so we’ll have to figure out how to juggle dropping off and picking up the kids for daycare. My work term has been extended until July 1st so I don’t have to start the year frantically looking for another job quite yet.

We are really looking forward to this next phase of life – no more school for either of us for awhile – as we start to settle into our new city and make it our home.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Robin

Merry Christmas

It has been quite the year for E and I. We started off 2008 with the purchase of a house in the south end of Winnipeg to renovate and sell. I was still working full time and getting started on my thesis proposal at that time. Both the house and my thesis proposal were finished by the time my due date was (thank goodness!)

K was born on June 21st and what a huge change that brought to our lives! E took the first 8 weeks off with me. K is doing great and is quite a happy little guy much of the time.

We took a trip to BC to visit friends and family in September. We are still hoping to move out to the west coast within the next couple of years. Winter in Winnipeg seems to get colder and more miserable every year. Of course, being on maternity leave this winter means I'm not forced to go out there every day!

Now we are ending off our year with the purchase of another house to renovate (we're working on it with some friends of ours) and a trip to Winnipegosis to visit family. My thesis proposal has been approved and the ethics board has approved my research.

In January I'll start my research and I hope to be finished with collecting questionnaires and doing interviews before I go back to work in April. We also hope to be done our house renovation by that time. I'd like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope your year will be filled with wonderful things!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Well, this past year has been full of changes for me. E & I bought a condo, moved in, renovated it completely, sold it, moved out, moved into an apartment, and then moved into a larger apartment down the hall. (What's my address again?!) And, purchased a house for the purposes of renovating it.

I also moved into my job on a full time, permanent basis - yay for the benefits and vacation time I now get. I just finished off all of my classes for my Masters degree - just the thesis left. And, we found out that we're going to have a baby!

I fully expect that this next year will have many more changes - especially with a baby on the way. We're really looking forward to see what this next year has in store. It's nice to have the time over the holiday break to reflect on all of this and to be with family and friends.

Enjoy!

Thoughts on the holiday season

There are things I like about the holiday season and things I don't like. I thought I'd make a little list!

I really like that I get time off.

I don't like shopping ever, and I like shopping even less when there are billions of other people cramming into tiny stores in the mall.

I like all of the yummy food.

I don't like that there is a ridiculous, wasteful, gluttonous amount of food.

I like the 'christmas' oranges.

I don't like the cold weather.

I like seeing family at all of our gatherings.

I don't like having to juggle family gathering schedules.

I like the christmas tree lights and cinnamin candles.

I don't like that it's dark for more than 12 hours every day.

I like that I have time off.

I don't like that my break has to end.

I'm sure if I sat and thought about it more, I could think of more things that I like and maybe a few more that I don't like. Regardless, I intend to make the most of my time off and enjoy my family and my time off.

Did I mention that I like the time off I get at Christmas?!