Grandma: this one is for YOU!! :)

Dear Grandma,

I am sorry that my journal has been lacking, as of late, and I hope to correct that soon. I just posted one of my favorite pictures from a photoshoot that a friend of ours did a couple weeks ago. The rest of the photos need to remain a secret, since some of them are Christmas gifts. :) I will make sure to post some after i know the gifts have been received. :)

Although i told you on the phone today that the next post I would write was going to be about the Christmas Tree Farm, I cannot. You see, I don't know how to upload photographs from my new camera (our christmas gift to each other!) , and Dave is not yet home from Volleyball. So you must wait for recent pictures of my family and our adventures out and about. I am so so so glad that we can use our technology to keep in touch this way!!

I can tell everyone about the farm, even if the pictures are missing. :) So here goes, the story of Sunday with the Naus Family:

Getting ready for Church in the morning can be a bit of a "gong show" if we choose to attend the 9 am service. I can't believe that it takes an hour to feed and clothe 5 people, but it does! (it doesn't help that the two youngest usually need to be changed twice before departure. *ahem* At least they are regular.) On this particular morning we needed to make sure that a second pair of clothing, as well as mittens, toques, neckwarmers and long johns were packed for the journey we would take after the worship service. Lunch had been organized the night before (thank you dad hillson for instilling this in me) along with the cooler, water and hot chocolate ready to be mixed up just before departure. After praising God in the congregation, we ventured out to Sloans for our Christmas tradition of tree-getting.

The Children were thrilled to see the horses, the train, the zip-line, the campfires, and the hay bale maze. As an adult, i was excited to see clean out-house-bathrooms, benches to sit on , and sausages roasting over our fire so i could eat! (the maze was really cool too. ) Music filtered through the trees, shouts of excitement came from all around and the air was warm enough to only need two layers . (instead of the usual 12) :)

After tiring ourselves out with the fun provided for us, we picked out a tree, cut it down and headed for the exit. (Julia - as we were cutting - says, "NOW we need to plant two more trees for the one we cut down." To which i responded, "yes. that is why we pay them the big bucks... they plant plenty of trees to replace this one." hahah)

NOw we have a beautiful tree to smell and gaze at. The Children helped us decorate it tonight (monday) . It is very comfy and homey looking.

ah. lovely. Well, hopefully i can add pictures for all these words very soon.

until then. love and good wishes, and to all a goodnight!

~su

Sunday at the Naus House

I made up the dough yesterday with julia... so that it could be in teh fridge for a while before we used it. So today, after a short quiet time which we had once home from church, we rolled, cut, baked, and then iced a bunch of delicious cookies! Christmas is on it's way!! (if you ignore the BRIGHT pink which doesn't look very festive!!)



I was shocked at how well Sam did with this task. He iced, by himself!! He decorated, by himself!! And i only caught him eating a couple times! haha. He was very focused. Every time he finished icing a cookie he said triumphantly, "I did it!!!!!" hahaha.


GOodbye Toys! Goodbye puzzles! Look we are all away in our homes, cleaned up and ready for anothe rday of play!
I asked the kids to clean up while i made icing for the cookies we had just rolled and cut out. This is what i was surprised by! :) They (julia directed the work) did a great job!

Cenotaph: photographs by Julia

A day of Remembrance

We visited the cenotaph in remembrance of those who served their country to protect the freedoms we enjoy here and now. Seeing the flags, hearing the bagpipes (which julia LOVES) and the bugles, watching police in uniform, soldiers and Vets decorated and standing tall - something about it all is very humbling, bringing some perspective to life. I find it fascinating: the marching, the commands, the self discipline and solemn nature of the event. The respect and honor given to those who served so selflessly, who endured a horrific era, it is so real. I find it a beautiful thing, seeing these men, boys and girls in uniform, saluting those they never met, who fought for the freedom we have now. So serious. So honoring. I guess i love it because it isn't video games, or movies, or the latest pop star or sports team.... we are so quick to be serious about such shallow things. I love to see people getting serious about something REAL. i hope to learn from them . anyway. enough ranting for today! :)

Below is a picture that you cannot talk about with Julia... it is a surprise! her Christmas gift is a 'room change' . I'm painting her headboard (this is only the beginning) in a lovely horse-theme, and hopefully doing a few other small, inexpensive things to jazz up her side of the room! :) yippeee!! i love homemade, on a "dime" type gifts that will be so very pleasant to give! Julia has been asking for a horse themed room for a while now, but she knows i cannot repaint the whole room... so i am excited to surprise her! :)

Lest we Forget

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
John McCrae

Let's remember together.

Hard work

Preparing for winter is hard work. So goes the list: Take potted plants indoors, rake 20 - 30 bags of leaves, clean up garage so that outdoor items can fit into the garage for the duration of snowy-wintery months, clean out eaves troughs so that our basement won't get water in it during heavy rainfalls, etc etc etc. whew. Good thing it is a balmy 18 degrees outside today so that it is a pleasure to get these things done! :) The last two days i dedicated to leaf raking with the kids.

Let me tell you, i like the task. Being outdoors, exercising with my kids under foot, it is lovely. But it isn't easy. Child A: helps a lot. She rakes piles for me and picks up dropped toys of child C. Child B: well, lets just say he likes being two and is very good at it! haha. He loves to pretend he is incapable of learning to rake. ("i can't doooooo it mommy. i can't dooooo it") He loves to run through the piles of freshly raked leaves, dragging the colorful things far and wide. (which i suppose is most of the fun, so i don't usually stop this action of his, instead, i use it to my own good... haha. i get him to drag the leaves toward me where ever i am filling bags, and then he ends up helping me even though his aim may be to foil my plans! And i make sure to tell him how helpful he is to get it through to him that it is GOOD and appreciated when he helps!) Child C: sits. watches. occasionally cries for dropped toys. whew! oh and while i'm supervising these three, i'm raking and bagging 20 bags of leaves!!

Now isn't the time to go into my neighbors insulting me and basically telling me i'm lazy because it took so long for me to clean up my yard (see first two paragraphs) ..... but i still have to work on not being angry about that.....God wants me to be a good neighbor... not a resentful one!! :)

Time to go enjoy this gorgeous day!!

Niagara on the Lake

thank you Lord for a refreshing weekend. good friends. great family. and time with my dave!