Saturday, December 31, 2005
Here we are at the end of another year. I'm in Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec, with Paul and good friends Tom, Anne and Molly; we've been skiing at Le Massif and visiting the coffee shops and art galleries of the town for several days, while the boys stay with their Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Tracy in Kemptville. We call every evening and my mother reports that the boys are fine and having fun and all is well; I'm sure the boys are fine, but hope the grandparents are!
The house move was brutal, but not really much more so than expected. The new boiler wasn't installed until the day after the move, so we had a bit of a cold first night; there is still some patching and painting to be done, and the new thermostat and all the light fixtures need to be put up. Early in 2006 I'll be making a priority of getting some window coverings, mostly blinds, to mitigate both the direct sunlight problem and the goldfish bowl effect. But both boys have adapted effortlessly to the new place; Jamie likes his room and loves the playroom in the basement, and REALLY loves the backyard. Even AJ seemed to have no trouble getting used to having a bedroom of his own instead of sharing ours. And although I'll be unpacking boxes for the next couple of months, I'm very very happy with the layout of the house and all the additional space.
We left for Kemptville early on Christmas Eve day, arriving at about lunchtime, and Jamie and AJ had a really wonderful Christmas. They were spoiled rotten, of course, but we managed to keep Jamie out of the candy canes for the most part... AJ had a good time with presents, but his main focus was the staircase, which he has figured out in both directions at last.
Tomorrow we'll go and collect the boys, and after a night's sleep we'll go home and get on with the settling in - and finding places for the new playroom toys!
Happy New Year to all!
The house move was brutal, but not really much more so than expected. The new boiler wasn't installed until the day after the move, so we had a bit of a cold first night; there is still some patching and painting to be done, and the new thermostat and all the light fixtures need to be put up. Early in 2006 I'll be making a priority of getting some window coverings, mostly blinds, to mitigate both the direct sunlight problem and the goldfish bowl effect. But both boys have adapted effortlessly to the new place; Jamie likes his room and loves the playroom in the basement, and REALLY loves the backyard. Even AJ seemed to have no trouble getting used to having a bedroom of his own instead of sharing ours. And although I'll be unpacking boxes for the next couple of months, I'm very very happy with the layout of the house and all the additional space.
We left for Kemptville early on Christmas Eve day, arriving at about lunchtime, and Jamie and AJ had a really wonderful Christmas. They were spoiled rotten, of course, but we managed to keep Jamie out of the candy canes for the most part... AJ had a good time with presents, but his main focus was the staircase, which he has figured out in both directions at last.
Tomorrow we'll go and collect the boys, and after a night's sleep we'll go home and get on with the settling in - and finding places for the new playroom toys!
Happy New Year to all!
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Tomorrow is moving day.
All is chaos...but controlled chaos. We'll complete the packing today. Tonight will be the last night AJ is without his own bedroom. Tomorrow after school Jamie will come home to a playroom of his own and a backyard with a junior basketball net in it. And we'll get heat and hot water sometime on Saturday, after our new boiler is delivered and installed.
The kids are holding up pretty well, though Jamie's sort of edgy today. My mother is a godsend as always; she's helping to hold the lid on the kids and also moving the packing process along.
Our internet and phone are down; intermittently I find a wireless network I can hit to check messages, but that's about it until December 8 when we get our hookup in the new house.
Got to go pack more!
All is chaos...but controlled chaos. We'll complete the packing today. Tonight will be the last night AJ is without his own bedroom. Tomorrow after school Jamie will come home to a playroom of his own and a backyard with a junior basketball net in it. And we'll get heat and hot water sometime on Saturday, after our new boiler is delivered and installed.
The kids are holding up pretty well, though Jamie's sort of edgy today. My mother is a godsend as always; she's helping to hold the lid on the kids and also moving the packing process along.
Our internet and phone are down; intermittently I find a wireless network I can hit to check messages, but that's about it until December 8 when we get our hookup in the new house.
Got to go pack more!
