In August, we had a long overdue visit scheduled to go to Winnipeg. The goal of this visit was of course to visit family, but also to fit in a few Naturopath/acupuncturist visits while we were there. Maelie suffered from back pain and other issues for so long, and Dr. Simms had save me from herniated discs a while back, so I figured we would ensure we get to see him while we were there. If any of my Winnipeg friends ready this, I am sorry I did not get in contact while we were there. Our time was quite limited this time around, and so I had to focus on family and health. Next time though...
Maelie was VERY excited to fly :) I personally don't enjoy flying at all anymore! It's just a way to get from point A to point B.
We were so happy that we got to see Michelle and Ryder! Ryder has gotten so big! He is such a sweet boy. He radiates pure. sweet innocence :)
We did take a few moments to go to the Forks, and to see Shrek the musical with Cindy.
This was our view every single day! They visit all the time!
Maelie and her cute little cousin Ben! We had not seen him in 3 years! He is such a smart cookie... very chatty, expressive and fun!!
Here is Grandma with 2 of her grandkids :)
We saw these birds anytime we went to town.
Our trip was enjoyable to say the least :) We appreciated every single minute! Sadly, we had to get back home to reality. This summer was certainly a busy summer.. we covered parts of eastern Canada and a bit of the west-not-so-far-west. :) I am enjoying every single trip with Maelie because soon enough she will be off on her own not wanting me to tag along!
August also brought some time at Grand-maman's.... Maelie on the beloved 4 ATV!
Our August travels also brought a trip to Toronto! We dropped by Naomie's work and surprised her first. The girls then spent the weekend going out and about. Sonia and I did our own thing as well.. went around town, and found an awesome farmers market where you can get great produce for reasonable prices :)
Of course this guy tried to secure a spot at the back :) he LOVES car rides. We did end up going around the block a bit to make him happy! We will have more time to enjoy Toronto adventures in 2017 for sure.
September long weekend came along and brought the Hot air balloon festival once again! The balloons went up quite often this year since Mother Nature was in a great mood!
I love this picture... it made me laugh. The blue bird looks like he is asking the other Hot Air Balloon directions to get where they were going :)
Here was one of the mornings. I love the green frog! The odd shapes don't take off all the time so it is a treat when you see them go by.
October came along with amazing colors of fall!
We went up to Champlain lookout to try and capture the beauty of this season. A picture never does justice to the beauty of our country!!
Maelie and I were driving back from somewhere one day, and I saw a bunch of trees that were shining red! I stopped the car and told Maelie to go through the ditch and climb into the forest! We laughed so hard at my attempt to capture the beauty! I am a crazy mama some days!! Maelie is a trooper!!
Back to the craftroom a little bit... Thanksgiving projects on the way! This little scarecrow was made with the curvy keepsake box. This die is very very versatile that's for sure!! I love getting great ideas of Pinterest :)
These little turkeys had a chocolate Hershey's nugget in the center.
This turkey was made with the fry die. It's kinda like the fry boxes at McD's.
May as well move on to Halloween right after :)
These boxes are made with the Baker's box die. They fit items like my hockey pucks perfectly!
The never house die from SU was so much fun to work with this year. I made a TON of these little houses!
The itty-bitty box die was used to make this Dracula box.
This is one of Maelie's spontaneous car selfies. If we kept all of them, you would think we are nuts! Even though this pic is blurry, it just reminds me of all the fun times we have together.
With Halloween out of the way, Nicole and I worked on our Christmas cards for the annual Christmas card sale at my workplace. Since we moved buildings, it was going to be a bit different this year. We didn't expect even half the clientele that we usually have. We were genuinely surprised though that new people came by and appreciated the cards. All the money raised went to 2 different charities. Here are a few pics of the cards we had this year!
Love this one. I made a few extras after the sale to send to some of my family members.
We actually sold about 75% of our cards in the 2 lunchtimes we set up.
After the sale, we put the cards in a vacant cubicle close to my desk, and in the end, we had 2 cards left!! Wow! Even our leftovers from the previous year were gone!!
These were made with the fox punch and stamp set... it's quite versatile as you can make cats, deer, foxes, racoons, etc...!
I lost this ornament die somewhere... but thankfully I had some precut ones from the year before. Nicole was able to make a bunch of these... also one of my faves!
More cuties :)
Sadly, you can't really appreciate the cuteness of the sweater card on here since you don't see and feel the texture. A colleague bought almost all of the sweater ones... only to find out that the sweater she knit for her daughter as a gift was quite similar to that card!
More sleigh pics... I really enjoy that die!
I had bought this stamp last year and it didn't seem to go well with any of my card samples. When I saw this sample, I knew exactly which stamp to use for the greeting! I embossed it on the white part, and it turned out extremely pretty!
More cute little racoons, holding a wreath :) I can sense a project with these racoons but holding hearts for valentines...
Nicole's reindeer :)
A new house die, houses in non traditional Christmas colors... :)
We can't see the texture... but these had brick, a door, and snow.
How many little penguins did I stamp and die cut this year? I am not sure but it is much more than all my fingers and toes!
That snowman was a remake of previous years :)
Love the Santa and reindeer!
I added a frame on this card. I never get enough of frames on cards!
The golden trees made this card very classy :)
December 1st tradition was not to be missed! I think maelie would be quite sad if I stopped making her advent calendar!! The different this year is that she didn't want to take pictures to post every day.
Here is a closer view. There was a nail beside each number (the extent of my woodworking skills without injuring myself). On each nail hung a different kind of small box or bag with a surprise inside :)
December also brought cookie baking! I made a lot of tins for family and friends and work. Cookies make people happy!
Maelie's holiday concert was in December, and so of course I made a bunch of things :) I didn't take a pic of all the tables together, but I did take a few faves.
These were Oreo truffle snowmen. The ones on Pinterest looked so much better... but these were pretty tasty from what I was told!!
Elf sixlets :)
Reindeer noses once again!
Little sleighs with Hershey's nuggets covered with Christmas paper.
Cute tiny gable boxes with treats inside :)
2 more styles:
Snowballs (sixlets and big gumballs)
Little snowmen... each circle is taped to a peppermint patty.
My mom came to the concert too and she brought a ton of goodies to sell as well!! This is her gorgeous sugar pie! Such talent!! I am definitely not a pie maker... but she is so good at it!!
A lot of money was raised for the band kids. We love helping out while doing something we love! And the concert was amazing :)
Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!!
On Dec 26th we picked up Peluche in Kingston and had him with us for a couple of weeks while our friends travelled. Here he is hoping and wishing and praying that Maelie will share her waffles!!
We also visited my mom for a couple of days, and my dad, Lucie and her kids for dinner. It was nice to see family!
So this is the end of 2016. The 4 part post was basically a recap of everything.
My goal for 2017 is to keep up with my blog a bit more for myself, and for Maelie. She will be so happy to be able to look back at our lives when she is older. Not only for pictures, but for stories :)
Wishing you well, and wishing you a great 2017!!
