It's beginning to look like Christmas!

It's been awhile since I last wrote!
We had a lovely time in Dartmouth - a quiet sort of vacation. John did help Martin out at the church for a couple of days with some electrical and then some plumbing work, and he helped Martin get some electrical stuff done in the house, too.
The baptism of Maria was special -check out Martin and Emily's blogspot for pictures and the video.
I had another gall bladder attack on that Sunday night, which put me out of commission for Monday, and I didn't really start feeling myself again until late Tuesday.
I do have a large gallstone and am now opting for gall bladder removal. I finally saw my doctor this week, who has to send the referral to the surgeon, who will then set up an appointment to see me so that we can set a date for surgery. I hope I can last until then. I most likely won't be getting anything done until the new year.
So now we are into December and trying to get ready for Christmas. The guys are attempting to finish off the upstairs room next door, so that we can have the Geertsema clan over on the 27th.
I'll have to pick out some paint chips tomorrow . . . .
And I finally started cleaning house so Christmas decorations can go up! I stayed home all day today to do this!! Christmas CD's on and snow outside . . . .
My parents are coming for the weekend, and that means clearing things so there's room for more people to move around in here!! Every time we speak with them, they ask when are Martin and Emily coming to Ontario? They arrive with the baby this weekend, and will be visiting Steve and Katrina on Sunday, so there's the opportunity for them to meet Maria.
The Sunday school program will be presented during the service Sunday morning, and that will be nice for them to take in, too.

a sleepless night

After such a great day with Naomi, I was quite ready for bed and fell asleep quickly. An hour later, though, I woke up and woke up every hour thereafter. I was in pain. It felt like a vice was around the bottom of my ribs. By 8am, John took me to the Brockville General. My suspicions were correct: I was having a gall-bladder attack. After a strong dose of pain killer, x-rays, etc., I was allowed to go home, but I'm to go for an ultrasound tomorrow to find out exactly what the problem is. I am on a strong pain killer for the next couple of days, and I have to watch what I eat. No fun.

hurricanes and fun

Another Saturday, another little girl. This time, Naomi came with her Dad and spent the day with Oma. After they left, Opa said it looked like a hurricane had come through!

We first played with the Brio train track, nibbled on fruit gel candies, had no room for lunch, coloured, drew on post-it notes and stuck them on the walls, played outside while it wasn't raining, played outside when it did start raining (in the sand pile!), had a bath (to wash off the sand!) in the container that usually holds the tracks, and in between, Naomi played with the house and barn and baskets with things upstairs. We ended the afternoon with watching the heffalump movie. I watched her watching more than I watched the movie. Her giggles and excitement over the antics of the characters were delightful! As you can see in the photo, her "friends" had to watch as well, and "kitty had never seen the movie before". What really warmed Oma's heart, though, was her comment while she sat in her "tub". At that moment, she was facing the shower wall and wasn't aware that I was in the room. Her words - "I always have lots of fun when I'm here." Naomi, Oma sure loves to be with you, too.

a different kind of day -

While John and Mark worked all day on getting the heat on at Dad and Mom's, I took it easy. Which is strange for me. Typically on a Saturday, I would be doing some laundry, some baking maybe, yardwork, maybe some housework, etc. - I don't usually have much sitting down time.
Today - I checked out several things on the net, managed to do a couple of loads of laundry, and did some knitting. I finished the afternoon with Shannon. She had come along with her Dad and spent most of the day with Grandma. They made a dollhouse out of a box and they baked some carrot muffins.This afternoon, she watched some of the Heffalump movie on our tv, played around with some of the toys here, and then we did some arts and crafts. And when that was done, we sang and danced to an old LP record of Kid's Praise with Psalty the song book. The song Heaven is a Wonderful Place especially makes the feet want to move! I find that I really enjoy the kitchen island -it's great for dancing around on our slidy floor!

a precious jewel

Maria is precious - no doubt about it! I feel so blessed to be the Oma of not one, not two, but three precious girls! Thank you, Martin and Emily for letting me spend the weekend with you! Here are my favourite photos of this past weekend:

time to breathe

I had almost forgotten what it is like to be at home. I left work early yesterday, frustrated due to the lack of a personal computer and not knowing exactly which direction to go with projects. As I ran a few errands, I realized that it has been ages since I've done the things at my leisure during daytime hours!
Today, I've been taking my time with getting ready to go away for the weekend. Yes - this Oma decided 2 weeks was long enough to stay away from Maria, and of course, Martin and Emily. I'm flying out this evening and will return Monday. :) :) :) :) :)

moments to take your breath away

Today was a totally enjoyable day-who wouldn't enjoy people admiring their 15 month old grandchild!
Naomi went to school today, so I took the opportunity to go out with Petra for the day.We went to Ottawa to visit with Mom and Dad. We ended up running a couple of errands with Dad and Petra was admired everywhere. And it blessed my heart to see her reach up to hold Dad's hand to walk with him. An elderly man and his 15 month old great-granddaughter. But those moments are so fleeting that they are gone before you can even think camera!
Her journey up the halls and into the dining room at River Park was priceless. Those elderly folks just love seeing little ones!
At lunch she got to sit in a big person's chair; there are no high chairs or boosters there. But it worked out quite well. She enjoyed her yogurt of course, had some of my grilled cheese and had both jello AND ice cream for dessert. Including some of mine, and a bite of Great Grandma's! And she didn't just steal the hearts of all the elderly, the servers fell in love with her too, and didn't mind the mess she made one bit! She left with chocolate chip cookies in her hands! And one of the servers gave her a good giggle-producing kind of cuddle.
It's days like this when you realise that time flies by all too quickly, and you've got to enjoy the moments as they come along. There's a quotation I read a long time ago which today reminds me of: life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.

another reason to give thanks!

What a surprise for Martin and Emily at three weeks early! Maria Jane is our newest blessing and is a healthy 6 lb 8oz.
After all those Geertsema boys, it's fun to be having girls!!

Giving Thanks

Well my bulbs are still not planted. Tomorrow's always another day.

We picked up my parents from Ottawa after church Sunday, and took the scenic route home to take in the fall colours.

This picture from the bridge at Rideau Ferry doesn't show a lot of fall colour, but that water sure reflects the blue sky! We found that a lot of trees are already bare, and that what is left is mostly bronzes. The maples are their usual glorious golds, but there isn't much of brilliant reds.


Today Dad and Mom went with us to Stevin and Katrina's, where we had a delicious Thanksginving dinner.


Petra had some yogurt for her lunch, but when she was done, she was wearing half of it!











Petra loves her little slide!














Since there were 6 adults around the dining table, plus Petra, Naomi decided that she would have her own table. She set the table with her handmade placemat, and decorated the table with 2 oranges and a pumpkin. And of course, she was the keeper of the butter, because there was no room for it at the big table!


I'm looking forward to the day when all of the little ones will enjoy having their "own" table, just like their daddies did when they were little!









Petra's feeding apple pie to Opa. There was ice cream, too, but that was one dessert she had to eat herself!




I enjoy these two little girls so much; what a blessing they are!

energy and energized?

I actually had time to do a bit of housework this past weekend. I dusted the wood surfaces downstairs, swept and damp-mopped the floor, and cleaned the kitchen windows!
And I made some pumpkin butter - yummy!
I guess I'm finally starting to feel better. I'm into week 3 of this cold -still somewhat congested, and the occasional tickle-kind of cough that doesn't want to clear.
John's work has slowed down, so looks like he'll be home this week. I just wish that I had the time and energy to help him more. The weather is supposed to fine and warm this week, so that's a bonus for doing the outside work. I do hope that the new spring bulbs will be able to be planted this weekend - mind you, there's a pine tree lying on the ground where I want to plant these bulbs.... Guess I better find the energy!