movies suck, reading rocks

uncle shawn reading to nate, quinn standing on my coffee table

nathaniel is 16 almost 17 months. he has never watched t.v. ever. not one show. no cartoons. no veggie tales. nadda. i am not a big t.v person-which is funny because we just bought 2 huge t.v's. anyways, i just never saw the need to plunk him in front of the t.v. so last week, i took out a veggie tale video to show him. his reaction? he watched the show for less than 5 mins, slid off the couch, walked over to his book box, picked out his fav book and brought it to me to read.

nate adores book, reading and snuggling on the couch with a book. over the holidays, i think every person in the family read to him, over and over and over. yep, my child is weird.

0 comments

Posted by mel at 10:46 AM

christmas time

nate helping dad play monopoly

then passing on his help to uncle jon

sooo tired but still has the energy to one hand play with his toy

quinn. one of the few pic's that are not blurry from his constant movement

nathaniel getting ready to help dad put in my new and amazing garburetor (sp??).....which RULES by the way

hummmm

he was right in there with chris. i had to pull him out a few times so chris could install it

nate and quinn having their snack at their table. note the cupboard locks that they both took off to play with jon ate wayyyy to much. he thinks by laying on the floor you could eat more.

our annual christmas eve swiss style racklette. it's a whole lotta food and pain the next day but so worth it.

our annual christmas eve self portrait

shawn and crystal with the wedding picture. shawn took my advice and had it blown up and framed for the wall. (you must click on the pic to enlarge it for full viewing pleasure :)

our christmas morning tigers.

one day they will really not like us for doing this to them

uncle jon helping nate open his prezzies

well. christmas come and gone. i can't believe it's over and chris and i kept our no gift promice to each other. we had a great time. all the family came to moncton this year and i hosted the celebrations. oh how kids change every aspect of your life. christams was about them, watching them open their presents, which they got a lot of. it's fun to have the sound of stomping toddler feet in the house.

from my house to yours...merry christmas and a wonderful new year!!!

0 comments

Posted by mel at 3:45 PM

new deck, range and nate

so, the builders were here a few days ago to finish the deck. as they hammered away nate went around the House and picked up objects to bang on the window. after choosing many different items nathaniel settled on the coaster box. why? it sounded the same as the hammering that was going on out side.

as the builders banged away outside, so did nate. he stood at the door and hammered along with them. laughing and having a grand old time. the builders thought it was quite cute too :)

new micro/range combo! whee i love it. love having the counter clear

natey got a package in the mail all the way from swissland. i let him eat it for dessert. kidding, it's sitting under the tree for christmas morning. thanks uncle rudy (who i know shopped for it) and aunty sarah!

0 comments

Posted by mel at 8:34 AM

bling, bling, jess is sporting a new ring!

wheee! my baby bro is getting hitched. jon and jess got engaged last night. they dropped by last night to give us the fab news. so happy to have jess as a sis. we adore this girl. she's perfect for jon. welcome to the fam!

0 comments

Posted by mel at 6:27 PM

nate in a basket on the coffee table. this child may have issues when he's older from all the things we do to him.

on a me note. i am having the worse issues with my sinuses. it's been a while since i have had any problems with them. they started too fill up a few days ago but on sat i started to get the worst pain in my head that spread to my jaws. i have never been in so much pain. evar. this morning i can actually feel the swelling in the roof of my mouth. just touching it with my tongue is like shooting bolts of pain all over my face. if anyone has any home remedies that i could try, i am all up for it. i won't go to the dr, they will just put me on an antibiotic which makes me sick, which makes it worse. it's like a cycle. anyho. if you know of anything i will try it!

have a wonderful day. 1 comments

Posted by mel at 10:25 AM

this is the life

this is how nathaniel like to have his books read to him. quite the life you have little boy

0 comments

Posted by mel at 10:20 AM

tree time

the tree, very simple this year. i want to add more of the glittery balls but chris says no, he thinks there is too many already. so i have a secret stash and at night when he's sleeping i add more to the tree...ha.

i cover the tree every year with swiss chocolates, wanna come over? yum

0 comments

Posted by mel at 10:25 AM

made. my. day.

anyone who knows me knows i adore disney world. i was sent this clip this morning, it made my day. funny, when you need a good laugh a close friend in right there. :)


http://www.sun7news.com/index.php?code=6qUZ229ju0bes840XI24&CMP=OTC-WWYCOVS1001 0 comments

Posted by mel at 10:19 AM

house pic's for sarah

the kitchen (note the stylin safety locks that add the element of flair)

back right wall. the shocking white microwave will be replaced on fri with a stainless steal micro/range combo

sink facing the dining/family room

back left corner and temp tea pot display

fridge and amazing amounts of storage. i was in question on the split fridge. after having it for 2 wks my verdict is WONDERFUL. i actually like it, against all the warnings of friends who do not like theirs. i likes. i organized the freezer properly. each shelf has it's own separate meat, veggies and ice cream.....on a side note i picked up my yearly tub (11.5 liters) of ice cream last sat. the flavour of the year is udderly divine

view from the living room

sorry sarah, this will have to do for now. i haven't had a chance to take any more..... :)

2 comments

Posted by mel at 10:02 AM

the great cover up

so. the kitchen was NOT the color i wanted. it was suppose to be a fun green. instead we got neon yellow. see above picture. nice and yellow

so every morning i would walk into the kitchen close my eyes and say " i love the color" then i would open my eyes and yell "i hate this color"

i think the color bugged chris more than me bec on sat chris repainted the kitchen to this wonderful, fun green (this color was my original first pic)

see the contrast from the yellow and the green

good job chris. lesson learnt. when choosing a color you like, stay with your first choice and for pity sake do not lighted the green shade...it will go into the yellow tones

not a great pic but you get the idea of the color. nathaniel was helping me bake cookies yesterday. i love the color i describe it as "appetizing"

0 comments

Posted by mel at 9:49 AM

it's SAMICHLAUS time!

ok, here is the quick story. in swissland santa does not bring the gifts. the christ child does on christmas eve. on dec 7 ( i think) santa comes to each kid's house with a book, a whip and a bag of nuts. in the book he reads out the good and bad things that each child did that year. if they are bad they get a whipping (not really), if they are good they get to fill their bag with nuts from his sack.

behind the scene. each village has a youth club. every year they get dressed up as santa and go to every house in the village. out side beside each door is a bag of nuts for the kids and a letter of the good/bad things that the child did that year-written by the parents. the parents put it out for santa. sneaky eh.

once their good and bad behavior is read out loud. the nuts (fruit, some swiss chocolate, cookies) that the parent had put outside is emptied on the table for the boys and girls to fill up their own bag. then they take the nuts to their room to enjoy.

christmas eve, the christ child brings the gifts. i should clarify, most families do 1-2 gifts and they are mostly things that the kids need, some toys. and that is it. christmas in swissland is not about gifts, toys and santa. it's about jesus.

my most favourite thing about december is my own samichlaus bag! i eagerly wait the mail, checking it daily for my box to arrive. muetti made my my own bag the 1st yr we were married. she fills each bag up with nuts, home made swiss cookies (so good) and of course swiss chocolate. she also includes some home made tree decorations that she makes (each year they are different) and branches cut off of her own christmas tree, which is adorned with a candle.

in swissland you don't use lights on the tree but candles...on live, drying trees....yeah...not a canadian thing to do eh...

any ho. we got our bags last week. chris made me (not really) wait until after dinner to open the box...which i did immediately after my last bite. ha

here they are! home made and notice nathaniel has his own bag!

nate watching the fire. ohhh

all 3 of us with out goodies....note i already opened my bag and started on the cookies

the contents of my bag. i am sad to say that i ate the whole thing in less than 2 days...and almost all of chris's.....lalala

0 comments

Posted by mel at 10:18 AM

saying good bye

i have always said that there are 2 people responsible for my amazing husband. 2 people mentored chris, directed, counseled him. as a young man, as husband to be and then husband, as a godly father and now children's pastor.

one was his natural father. vati was the one who taught chris how to be a great husband, how to love his wife, care for the house, communicate with me (it's a constant work in progress). protect, secure, love, cherish and love me continuously. chris grew up watching the best in action.

one was his spiritual father. mr. power took chris under his wing at a pivotal point in chris's life. chris has been saved for a few yrs and was looking to grow deeper. mr. power hooked his arm over chris's shoulder and guided him from a young man into adulthood. mr. power showed chris god's love in his teaching, guidance, advise, love, stories and many, many mugs of coffee. i know for a fact that chris is the man of god that he is because of mr. power's hands on influence in his life.

i was introduced to mr. power shortly after chris and i started dating. i immediately loved him and felt accepted.

for the last 5 yrs. the powers have been a huge support to us. from our newly wed days to the struggles on conceiving to our advise council as children's pastors. no one knew of the phone calls, many emails, prayers, love and laughs that mr. power gave us as we began our journey as pastors. if it was not for his godly insight, advise, wisdom and mentor ship, we would not have been able to start jump the way we did. we did more than tap into his fountain of knowledge.

mr. power went home to partay it up in heaven saturday night. i do have peace knowing where he is today but oh how i will miss him. going to ontario and stopping by was always a 'must do' on the list. how i will miss that. i will miss the emails, the calls, the advise and love.

mr. power, thank you for all that you did for us. we love you, oh how we miss you and we are looking forward to visiting with you again one day....and i am sure chris will bring the coffee and his tools to fix something for you!!

thank you for showing me how to just simply love people. 0 comments

Posted by mel at 9:50 AM

thought i would include the linky to the song :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1oHJR2g7Tw 0 comments

Posted by mel at 11:00 AM

daily thought by mel

so, tis the season and all that glittery jazz. season for what? giving? sharing? buying? going into debt? baking? cooking? having ppl over to your house that you don't really like but better invite them anyways, at least you look good.

so, things are a wee bit different this year at the e's house.

i cancelled christmas. yep, tis true ya'll. no gift buying, giving for me/ us. a few months ago chris are i were talking and we decided for many reasons to not buy a thing for each other and then to take the bigger step of telling both sides of the family that we are not buying/exchanging gifts with them. why?

some how in the mad rush of life, we/i lost the reason to why we are doing all this. on a superficial level. i have everything that i want and if don't have something -i go buy it or i save money (or better yet-post stuff on kijiji) until i have enough and go buy it.

so then what is the reason why we are doing this? to get that fizzy-wussy feel good feelings that eventually go away? to run ourselves stupid with exhaustion? to buy the perfect gift for our kiddo's that will be forgotten about next month?

in the summer i was listening to that song, mary did you know. i was really listening to the words. then it hit me like a truck. mary knew that her baby boy would one day rule the world. she knew who her son was, she knew that he would do the greatest miracles known to man, that HER son would wrap people up in their arms, wipe tears, whisper words of love during a dark hour. she KNEW. if you are a mom can you even imagine knowing all that?

imagine knowing that you are raising, training and rearing the long awaited jesus. the pressure she most have felt. we think we have it tough as moms. hahaha. not even close. so, is this christmas season, all that it involves ,what mary would want to celebrate her son's birthday? would mary be proud of what i do? not so much i think.

(we have also cut wayyyy back on the get together, parties and general christmas fluff.)

so, with christmas being what 3 weeks away. there are no gifts under my tree, no shopping to do, no "what can i buy them" pressure on me, no what will i wear to this party thoughts. how much have i spent that i don't really have....how is it different?

day and night.

i LOVE THIS! i am actually enjoying the season this year! i love the extra time i have to spend with with chris and nate. most importantly i love the extra time i have at night to sit by my simple tree and reflect on the past, seek for the future. i love the thoughts and ideas that are coming to me for JUMP. i love that i am taking the time to hear that soft voice and actually hear something.

so, i won't be opening gifts christmas morning instead we will be sharing and enjoying the simplicity of this christmas.

side notes
- i did get a few things for nate. i think it would be mean to not buy him something
-we did exchange names for christmas socks with my imed. family and set a 20 max limit
-i am hosting a first ever family night christams eve with no dinner but snacks instead
-i am only attending 1 christmas party
-i only put up 1/4 of my normal decorations
-i will bake and share with family and friends
-i will not over spend/over buy

that is my thought for the day. i know it's not every one's cup-o-tea but for me/us this has been the best pre-christmas. 1 comments

Posted by mel at 10:25 AM

after i put nathaniel to bed last night, i looked down and saw where he put his missing shoe. nathaniel loves to put things together, stack and put things in container...and take them back out....and out them back in....

nathaniel wanted to "help" me unpack. what a strong dude

working away helping me

i found this baby hat that someone knitted for him, i had to try it on him. he was not impressed.

ohh the help i get

notice all the pink. i was given a bag of baby clothes when i was pregnant. it was mostly girls stuff, i packed it away and forgot about it until this move. i always knew that i would have a boy. hence packing the girl stuff away.

we are still plugging away at the house. it's taking me forever and i am completely unmotivated to do anything. i got the fire place and i love it so much. i make chris go in there with me at night to talk, instead of the family room. it's so cosy.

i plan on putting the tree up tomorrow night. my parents are coming up for a few days to help us out. i plan on finishing the loft (painting and trims) while they are here. that way i can unpack my office stuff. we have some HUGE changes coming for JUMP this year and i have to get started on the admin stuff.

i have started a new hobby!! anyone who knows me knows i don't do hobbies. i have learnt the expensive way to just not start them. this one is one i am making $ at. i am selling my crap on kijiji. my closet is stuffed with stuff that i still have to post. i am selling stuff cheap just to get rid of it. i am buying window coverings with my cash. wheee it's actually fun!! i posted 10 items last wk and have 3 left! i hope to have enough $ by the end of this week to buy come curtains for the main level bath.

i haven't taken any pic's of the house yet. i keep forgetting. i will soon.

and with that i must go. little mr man is protesting his nap. i have to go put him in line. ha.

0 comments

Posted by mel at 2:51 PM