Canadian Christmas and montana mistetoe.

I love Christmas time, but I never seem to get any blogs in about it because December is always the busiest month of the year. Mother Nature has decided to help me out a little with my time crunch problem however, because as I write this I am stuck in a motel in tiny Dillon, Mt. A nasty storm has blown in and the highway is closed, we spent last night in a hotel in Greatfalls, drove another four hours today and are stuck again. Its okay because me honey is keeping me nice and cozy and I even have a little mistletoe packed away in my suitcase I can break out later....

Meantime, let me tell you about our Canadian Christmas. We try to make it home every other year, and this year all my sibling got it together and were there. It was so nice to be home at my parents house. We had so much fun playing with ellas cute cute cousins Anna and Wheeler. She even liked them enough that she didn't mind sharing her Nana. My cute mom made sure everything was perfect, and she does so much to make all her chickens happy. There is no place like home for the holidays.

I was a little sad at school here today, thinking about remembrance day in Canada, and how we were taught to respect the sacrifices made by those serving in the armed forces. There was no moment of silence at our school, no reciting In Fladers Fields. Every time I hear this beautiful poem I think of my grandpa Leavitt who fought in WWII. I have always felt very proud of him, and also a little bit sad, when I imagine the things he must of seen.....

My heart breaks a little when I look at old pictures of his from the war. All these handsome young men looking sharp in their uniforms, smiling for a picture home to their wives and girlfriends. How young they were to make such a commitment to serve their country, and how so many of them made the ultimate sacrifice.......loved and were loved and now we lie in Fladers Fields.

Jessie's the best in all the west.

Halloween is great for teaching me important life lessons. One I have learned repeatedly is that I am not much of a sewer... but I sure am handy with fusible webbing and a glue gun! Another is fifteen mini candy bars does not a meal make, but two in the hand is better than one in the bush.....or something like that. I loved ella's costume choice this year, Jessie has been one of her favorites for a long time. I loved making her costume, and I think it turned out much better than those crappy nylon store bought ones that looked like cheap pajamas. We had a lot of fun having a visit from my mom and dad, elle thought it was pretty awsome to have nana and papa here to go trick or treating with her.

Dear Ella

Dear Ella,

Just a couple of days ago you were only this big, but you had a lot of personality even back when you were six months old!

. Now you have gone and started kindergarten and I just can't

believe how grown up you are. I am the proudest mom in the world, and I can't think of a single thing I would rather be doing than being your mom! I hope someday you will have the whole world in your pocket, but for now, could you please stay my little girl a little while longer. I don't think I am quite ready to have you all grown up just yet. I hope some things about you never change. I hope you will always be brave like you are now. I hope you will never be afraid to do your own thing (just remember your pixie cut.) I hope you will always be kind hearted, and love animals, and think your daddy is the most handsome boy in the world, and I hope you will always know you mommy loves you more than anything.

A life without love is like a year without summer." Swedish Proverb

Ah summer time, I always find myself waiting for you with baited breath. I wait for your long hot days to turn laziness into a perfectly respectable way of being. I wait for all the fun that an extra four hours of daylight potentially brings. You summer are lakes, and laughter, roadtrips, campouts, star gazing and strawberries. This year we "summered" at the cabin, and the more time I spend there the more I believe that Echo Lake is a slice of heaven on earth. I am so thankful that my parents have such a beautiful place for us to come and enjoy the summer and each other. They are so welcoming and always do everything to make it so easy for us to come. I don't know what we would do without them. Ella loves nana and papa's cabin. She loves to waterski and throw rocks in the lake and spend time with nana and help papa drive his boat. This year she especially loved playing with her cousins Anna and Wheeler. Thanks for all the fun memories nana and papa!

Summer 2010

Top Five Tuesdays

Top Five Scents:

#5 New Baby Smell
If I suddenly snatch your newborn out of your arms and sniff the top of it's head like crazy I apologize. Clearly one of the best smells of all time, who knows why.

#4 Lemon Verbena
Light and crisp and fresh and delicious. I especially love it in lotion form from bath and body works.

#3 Cherry Blossoms
Have you ever drove around Flathead lake in the spring time, when all the cherry orchards are in blossom. If you have, then you know the millions of little blossoms mixed with the smell of lake and pine trees is pure ecstasy. I like to roll down the window and stick my head out like a golden retriever and gulp it in.


#2 Mint
I love mint anything, mint mojitos, mint ice cream, mint gum, mint lotion, mint toothpaste. I especially love that when I realized that my crazy neighbour ladies yard smells like cat pee, I could plant mint in my yard to overpower the scent. Thank-you thank-you mint for saving me from having to smell that every time I step on the front porch.

#1 My Hubby right after he gets out of the shower. Smells like soap and sexiness, and security, home, masculinity, and everything that I love.

Sandwiches

I Love this girl!

Hit the road jack.....

Wanderlust

I have a dream........ no really, I do have a dream. I want to sell everything we own and take Ella out of school for a year and travel EVERYWHERE in the United States. I think that in a former life I must have been a gypsy, because I certainly have the wanderlust. I can imagine nothing more perfectly beautiful than travelling the continent for a year with no purpose or agenda, other than just soaking it all in, the good the bad and the beautiful. I want to gasp in awe at evey peice of american scenery that anyone has ever gaped at. If you could visit any scenic place in the USA, or Canada for that matter, where would you go?

The Yard Sale Queen

Yard sales are one of my favorite things about the summer and I believe in all sincerity that I am the reigning queen. Here are a few of my recent finds and the summer has only just begun!

This chandelier is from Restoration Hardware, and is on sale on there website right now for 360.00 (425.00 normally.) I paid 30.00 dollars for it at a yard sale a couple of weeks ago, and I also got three panels of pottery barn curtains ( lined and 12 feet long, now I wish I had the high ceilings to go with the curtains,) and I paid 2.00. She was asking 3.00 and I had to talk her down a little. Yesterday I bought this darling gap kids winter coat. It will fit Ella next year perfectly and it is mint condition, any guesses? You'll never guess. 25 cents!!! Now you are ready to come with me, aren't you. Then I stoped an estate sale and these darling little bird figurines caught my eye. They are both pink, a much nicer shade than this one in the picture that I found on ebay. The asking price for this one on ebay is 36.00 dollars, gasp. I bought two of them for four dollars. Four dollars is actually really a lot for me to fork out at a yard sale, but this was an estate sale and I just couldn't resist. Now I am glad I did, I think I will put them on ebay and make myself 60.00 bucks.

Here are a few tips for those of you just getting your yard saling feet wet:

1. Be patient, there is a lot of crap out there. ( don't buy the crap!)

2. Start early, get yourself some hot chocolate, and have fun!

3. Be friendly, it goes a long ways, and I have met some really nice people at yard sales.

4. Always negotiate, I never pay the full asking price, start low and try to meet in the middle.

5. Don't be afraid to walk away if they are unwilling to negotiate. I find the negotiating the funnest part actually and if you do it with a sense of humor it goes over better. Some people do not have a sense of humor and I choose not to buy there stuff.

6. Don't look for exact addresses, it is frustrating and a waste of time to find adds online and try to find those exact yard sales. Just go to a neighborhood you like and drive around and see where the wind blow ya!

7. Carry small currency like quarters and dollar bills. You don't want to talk someone down on their price and then hand them a twenty. That's just rude.

8. Every yard saler needs to have at least one yard sale a year of there own, clear out all the junk to get ready for next year. ( this one is my husbands rule, but I still like it.)

Whats gonna work.......teammmmm work!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whew, somebody get me an easy chair, or a masseuse, or a really good therapist. We are just finishing up moving, and it was move #7. We have been married for six years. Ummm, what can I say, we really like to buy houses, this will be house purchase #4. Other than a few necessary moves for work and school, I think we might also be a little crazy. One thing positive to come out of all this is that me and Steven have really learned to work together. We are a team and a dang good one if I do say so myself. And lets not forget our littlest Flockhart who is the sweetest most helpful five year old you'll ever meet, and thankfully she never tires of picking out new paint colors for her bedroom. Lets keep our fingers crossed this will be out last move for a long long long long long time.

Spring Break in Houston

We finally made it to Houston to visit Jan and meet my new little nephew, Wheeler Swan. The weather has been fantastic, especially when I hear it has been snowing all week at home. We have soaked up plenty of sun, enjoyed the zoo, the butterfly center, blue bonnet season and given a million kisses to squishy little cheeks. (Wheelers, not Jans). We are missing daddy and hope he can play hookie with us next time. Thanks for keeping your ladies of leasure in such great style honey!

Spring Break in Houston

Sluggish and dazed Spring approaches

Winter Fun

You are the trip I did not take,
you are the pearls I did not buy.
You are my blue Italian Lake,
You are my piece of foreign sky.