Christmas

I don't have all of the pics yet, but this is as close as I'll probably get to a Christmas post:) We had a great time between the two families despite managing to spread germs among both families. It snowed here the day after Christmas, so Addison had a lot of fun playing in the snow. We've enjoyed our six weeks with our families and are ready to leave early Saturday for Canada. We'll keep you posted!

Each year my mom makes a special craft with the grandchildren. This year we got a plate of Addison and Emma's hands in the shape of a Christmas tree.

Trying to get 5 kids to smile:)

Visiting great grandmother. The funniest part of our visits to grandmother was that she kept calling Emma a boy. She said she really thought a more appropriate name should be Robbie. :)

This kiddo got to eat a ton of sweets that she doesn't normally get to eat:) Lucky girl!

Poor Tara got really sick right after Christmas. Then Nana. Then Poppa. We still managed to squeeze in a little fun!

Trip to Dad's

I haven't uploaded all of my Christmas pics yet, so I don't know when I'll get around to that post! But, here's what happened this week:

My brother, sister-in-law and I drove down to Amelia Island, Florida to visit my dad and his wife, Deborah, this week. They are the owners and innkeepers of The Williams House Bed and Breakfast. We had a great time riding bikes along the beach, sleeping in, eating the most amazing breakfasts, taking a carriage ride, and just hanging out. It was 65 to 70 degrees each day, which is the perfect January temperature for me! I know, I belong in the south!

The Williams House (Main House):
http://www.williamshouse.com/

My room this time. Chocolate chip cookies waiting for me. A king size bed to myself. A cozy fire while I watched TV before bed each night. This is why I love Bed and Breakfasts so much!

Tim and Kasey's bathroom...um, pretty awesome! Unfortunately, I have always come without Scott!

Before the carriage ride around historic downtown:
All 5 of us

At the airport before leavingOh, I checked... it was around 20 degrees in Toronto when I was in Florida. Feel free to go right ahead and say a little prayer for me:)

House Hunting

We're still in Toronto watching the snow fall outside our window, so I thought I'd update you about our trip! We found a place and will sign the final papers tomorrow morning before we leave. It's been a good trip, though we didn't have as much free time to explore Toronto as we'd hoped! We went into a few scary houses at first (and then I got in the car and not so nicely asked Scott where in the world he was moving us-ha!), but ended up in a town an hour south of Toronto called Milton. It's an area that has younger families moving there with many new big master planned type neighborhoods with parks for the kids and shops on the corner. A 40 minute drive to work without much traffic, but for this area, that is not an unusual commute. A few interesting things about most homes around here:

• Most have unfinished basements and cold cellars for wine/canned goods
• Most don't have a kitchen pantry
• No one has a garbage disposal; you are given a compost container that goes out with the trash and recycle bins each week
• Limit of 3 trash bags per week
• It's not uncommon to find houses that have attached garages but no door from the garage to the house!

We are lucky to have found this cutie and feel completely blessed to be able to live in a house like it up here. I'll have pictures once we move there in a few weeks!