Scaredy Squirrel and Friends

It appears that Scaredy Squirrel decided to venture out of his tree after all!  In the process, his parachute made a crash-landing to the ground below.  I sure hope that Scaredy Squirrel didn't have to rely on the parachute as I am sure the landing would have been quite rough!

The squirrel did a number on Lauchy's parachute! 

Oh dear!

I saw a squirrel going in and out of the tree 

several times but I never did see any babies!

Today I noticed this squirrel across the street.  She was sitting on the branch for the longest time.  Finally I noticed a squirrel head peeking out of the hole in the tree.

I didn't realize until I transferred the photos to my computer that 

there were actually two squirrels peeking out of the hole!

One of the squirrels decided to make the trek into the big, wide, world!

But then there was a noise down the street and the squirrel ran back into the hole!

The poor squirrel kept running back into the hole any time there was a noise.

We stopped watching after awhile, but it was cute at the time!

Sabbatical Stuff - 3

Things are moving right along.

The most important item crossed off the list is our Visa applications.  Jeff has spent hours and hours working on these applications and sorting out all the documents that need to be submitted along with the applications.  Yesterday, we made a trek to Toronto so that we could submit the applications and also get our photos and our fingerprints taken.  Along with the lengthy and not-easy-to-fill-out application forms (5 of them), we also had to submit: every passport that we have ever had, including our current passports, both of our original rental agreements, pay statements, and the letters from both the University of Bristol and the University of Waterloo.  The UK Border Agency does not make it easy to get into Great Britain!  Now we just wait and see if our applications get accepted!  Oh yeah, they advise you not to buy plane tickets until you get your Visas, but we might not get our Visas until July!  Fun!

Let's see what we have done so far:

• Rented our house.
• Rented a house in Bristol.
• Gotten passports for the kids. 
• Visa application complete and submitted.
• Living room, dining room and bathroom painted. 
• Checked health cards and driver's license for expiry dates. All good except for Heather's health card. 
• Fixed leaky faucet in the kitchen.
• Got rid of old car seats, gave away old double stroller and jogger stroller.
• De-cluttered the house. *On-going!
• Bought good-quality rain gear for the kids from MEC.
• Booked physical with my doctor, including blood work.
• Heather's health card form has been mailed.
• I went to the dentist.
• I got my hair cut.
• Tassie had her shots. (Photo below)
• I've made contact with the tenants regarding their move-in date and a house walk-through.
• Started packing (Photo below)

Packing started!  I got rid of several
books from this shelf a few months ago!

While packing up the photo albums I had a bit of a panic!  I started to worry about unlikely things such as, "what if there is a fire while we are gone?".  I am sure that most of the photos of the kids are backed up on a computer, but what about the photos that aren't digital?  What about all the letters and mementos from my mom and grandmother?  I cannot possibly drag all that stuff to England, but I worry for their safety!

It was going well until I ran out of boxes! 

Tassie at the vet...

...she is not impressed!

Stuff I took to the thrift store.  Many more trips to come!

What is left to do:

• Submit Visa application at the end of the month and then all go to Toronto once we get the appointment. 
• Extend our health care.
• Book flights. *We are technically not supposed to do this until we get our Visas back.
• At the end of June, send in applications for school in Bristol and hope that the kids all get into the same school!
• Look into buying a car in Bristol.
• Continue to de-clutter the house and get rid of stuff.  *On-going.
• Re-new Heather's health card.
• Get boxes.  I realized the other day that there is stuff that I am keeping, but I don't use on a regular basis (like photo albums, books) so I might as well start packing it up.
• Go through our filing cabinet and get rid of at least half of the paperwork in it! 
• Look into the house insurance here. *Jeff called the insurance company, but still waiting to hear back from them.
• Book Tassie's vet appointment and get her shots up-to-date.  We will also leave our credit card info on-file so that when the tenants go to buy her food it will automatically get billed to us.
• Contact the tenants and find out exactly what date they want to move in here.  This will determine exactly when we need to leave.
• Arrange a house walk-through with the tenants and find out which rooms they want to use (we want to use one room to store stuff) and what furniture they don't want to use.
• Start writing down things that we want the tenants to know about:  information about Tassie, what plumber we use, what we do with the outdoor furniture in the winter, where we keep the shovels and rakes, and so on. *Started.
• Book an appointment to have the furnace serviced.  The fan is making an odd noise and we want to have it looked at before we leave!
• Buy a kettle that doesn't leak.
• Buy a coffee pot (or find out if the tenants have their own).
• Finish trim around side door.
• Build closet organizer in our bedroom.
• Put baseboards back on in the family room.
• Paint the foyer.  We have no choice since we have mudded the holes there already. 
• Get new fridge and dishwasher.  These will be second-hand but I am sure a million times better than what we currently have!
• Re-do the caulking in both bathrooms.
• Replace the screen that Tassie has shredded with her claws!
• I need to go to the dentist before we leave.
• I need to buy new glasses before we leave.
• I need to see the podiatrist about my hideous bunions and get my surgery booked (there is a 2-year wait list for this surgery).
• Take the insurance off our van just before we leave.
• Get the trees in the yard pruned, especially the big, old one that has dead branches. *The tree guy will be here at the end of June.
• Eat the contents of the freezer and pantry! *This is going well - see the post I just wrote here.
• Clean, clean, clean!  *I admit that I haven't done a lot of cleaning lately.  It seems pointless to do big cleaning jobs when I know I will do them again in July!
• Put lattice on the side of the deck.
• Start packing. *Started

That's it for now! 

Birthday Boy

It is Jeff's birthday today! Our usual morning celebrations were cut a little short with a trip to Toronto, but he did manage to open his presents before we left!

I realized later that I never showed the kids what I bought Jeff for his birthday for fear of them spoiling the surprise.  I guess they think that they need to find their own presents and so each one of them went up to their rooms to make cards and to find gifts to give Jeff.  Very sweet of them!

We had to go to Toronto to submit our Visa applications and to get our finger prints done, so it wasn't the most relaxing birthday at first!  Jeff was very stressed that we wouldn't make it on-time, but as it turned out, we had lots of time to spare!

The appointment went smoothly and we walked from Eaton Centre to the ROM.  Along the way we saw these statues in front of the Sick Kids Hospital.  The kids all wanted to pose with them!

Walking to the ROM.

Happy 35th birthday Jeff!  You look great!

Mystery Foods...

...AKA Project EDTP, 2013 (Project Eat Down The Pantry)

I have no idea why we have so much unused food in the freezer and on the shelves, but I think we can get through most of it before we leave in July!

I looked through the freezer last week and found these:

Hmmmm, what is in these, I wondered?  To my delight, I found one of our favourite dishes, Yellow Curry with chicken.  I warmed up the curry on the stove and added some coconut milk.  We also used up the naan bread from the freezer and another package of rice.

The past few weeks we have used up:

• 3 containers of yellow curry
• naan bread
• rice
• mini burgers
• mini burger buns (a tad freezer-burnt, but we still ate them!)
• 2 half-full bags of french fries
• small pitas for pizza
• pizza sauce
• apple-cinnamon pitas
• apple butter
• oatmeal
• tomato soup
• crackers
• sponge cakes
• bag of store-bought wild berries
• frozen strawberries and blueberries
• whip cream
• tortellini
• pesto sauce

There is still a lot of food to go, including some chicken thighs and chicken breasts which we will BBQ.  We have lots of marinades and sauces.  Good thing BBQ season is here now!  There are also a few more mystery containers in the freezer.  I think one container is spaghetti sauce and one is pulled pork.  Yum!

Speaking of mystery foods, any idea what food this used to be?  Addie put together a "Spy Kit" several weeks ago and then forgot about it, including this container of food.

This food used to be celery and red peppers! Now, it is pure liquid!  Nice one Ads!  She created a little science project without even realizing it!

You Are Speacail!

I don't mean to brag, but I was pretty spoiled on Mother's Day! And as you can see from the title of this post, Addie thinks I'm pretty "speacail"! I love it!

I was instructed to wait in bed on Mother's Day and when I was finally allowed to come down, I found my breakfast and coffee waiting amongst a table full of goodies!

I have been looking everywhere for a cat garden ornament that we can use as a marker for Charlie's ashes, but I have had no luck.  Jeff, however, managed to score a cute cat for the garden!  He noticed that our neighbour had this cat in her garden, so he asked her where she got it from.  Unfortunately, it was bought in the US, but our neighbour insisted that Jeff take it and give it to me!  Thanks N!

I have another set of 3 children who live down the street from me!  I was so touched when they arrived mid-morning to give me beautiful cards and a gift!  The gift is an adorable metal bird that is also a bottle opener. Perfect timing now that it is Pomtini season!  Thank you J, S and E!  I love it!

Lauchy made me this sweet frame.  I love my hair!
Oh, and I love that none of us have bodies, too!

He made me this flower card, too!

Two lovely cards from Addie...

Beautiful picture and card made by Heather...

"My mom is honest because she does not tell lies"

"My mom is a good dancer because she
dances to lots of music and practices"

WORD!

A cute card from Jeff.  Sadly, I did do laundry today!

See?  Told you Addie thinks I am speacail!

Thanks to my wonderful family for making my day so speacail!

A Model Family

This made us all laugh...

Spot the family!

A few passing customers had a good laugh, too!

Steckle Woods Nature Walk

Lauchlan and I are part of a nature group that meets on Thursday mornings. We haven't made it to many of the hikes lately, but today Lauchy was keen to go. I was, too. We went to Steckle Woods, a wooded area in Kitchener that I had never been to before.

As always, there is lots to see and do.  Lauchlan never tires of looking for bugs and nature.  I like looking, too, but also appreciate chatting with the other mamas!