Easter Weekend

I guess our weekend started on Thursday - Curt actually had the day off, so he left first thing in the morning, with his dad, to go to his brothers house to work on the renovations.

I had to work, so I didn't leave until later - on the way to Acton, I picked Curt up in Toronto, so I had a chance to see my brother and sister-in-laws new house. It's nice, and I'm happy for them, but, I wouldn't last three weeks in their location! Just not a city girl, I guess.

We didn't get to Acton until after 9pm, but when we arrived, Nolan was still awake...so, I obviously had to go up to room to say hi :) And, having him jump out of bed and run into my arms to give me a big hug was the best start to a weekend!

-Friday-

Curt was off to Toronto bright and early, and my brother had to work, so it was just Krystle and I with the kids. I don't think we did much in the morning, just visited and played. Nolan and Abby went down for their naps after lunch, and then Krystle had to go out for awhile, so it was me and the kids. I knew I was going to look after the kids on my own for a bit, and have to admit, I was a little nervous about it! But, the timing worked out perfectly considering they were asleep the whole time I was alone with them...and, once they woke up, I took them straight to my mom and dad's, and Krystle was there waiting for us. We had our first of many good meals - chicken parmesan - courtesy of my mom. Once we were back at Tom and Krystle's, the three of us had a game of 'Ticket to Ride', which I'm mentioning because I won :)

-Saturday-

There was no sleeping in for us on Saturday - we were up and out the door by 7:30am!?! Not my first choice, but worth it on this day because we were going to watch Nolan play lacrosse!!! He started a few weeks ago, and Saturday was supposed to be his first game, so I was pretty excited to have the chance to watch. Once we got there, we discovered that it wasn't going to be a game, just another practice, but it was still SO FUN to see. As soon as Nolan stepped into the rink, he took off running - most of the other kids were slow getting on, and just gathered around the coach, but not Nolan, he was pumped! He did really well - and was really proud of himself because he stayed on for the whole time (one hour, which is impressive). The kids were allowed to shoot on the net throughout the practice, and every time he 'scored' he had this great celebration routine - there was some jumping up and down, and arms were thrown in the air - it was sooo cute! Curt was still in Toronto, so he didn't get to see the practice; when he heard that Nolan was starting lacrosse, he had a hard time picturing Nolan with a lacrosse stick in his hand, and not using it as a weapon - I was able to reassure him that Nolan kept things under control.

After lacrosse, I tagged along while Tom and Krystle ran some errands. One of which was getting Abby's ears pierced! She did so well - not a single tear! Krystle had put some numbing cream on her ears about half an hour before they got them done, apparently that stuff works.

After afternoon naps, which I participated in, it was back to my parents for another good meal - this time it was ribs, Curt's favourite, so he enjoyed those when he got back from Toronto.

Once we were back at Tom and Krystle's, Curt and I had a soak in the hot tub, and then we helped Tom hide eggs for the morning.

-Sunday-

We had another early morning...usually, Curt and I don't get up when everyone else in the house does, we stay in bed until after 8am, even though the kids get Tom and Krystle up a lot earlier then that...but, on Sunday morning, we wanted to watch Nolan hunt for his Easter eggs. He had a great time this year, he's at the perfect age. He found most of the eggs on his own, and only needed little clues for some of the tricky ones. Curt put a few eggs up high (on the edge of picture frames, in a wall sconce, on a shelving unit), and when Nolan saw those ones, he commented that 'the Easter bunny jumps up high sometimes'. Ha! Abby got in on the hunt too, she picked up a few of the smaller eggs, but didn't want to put them in her basket, she wanted to hold on to them.





Once all that excitement was over, we got organized and went to church to celebrate the real reason for Easter weekend - Jesus - I am so thankful to worship a God who loved us so much that he sent His only Son to die for our sins, so that we could have abundant life eternally with Him. My parents church, the church I grew up attending, is currently seeking a new minister, so they have an interim moderator until the vacancy is filled; it was my first time hearing him preach, and I really enjoyed his sermon - it was a great Easter message.

The Robertson's, all dressed up for the Easter Sunday church service.

Abby and I, ready for church.

After church, Tom and Krystle fed us a nice big brunch! We eat so well when we're in Acton, we probably put on a few pounds each time we're there!

Sunday evening, my mom hosted our family dinner - there were ten of us for dinner, and this year, my Uncle Doug and Aunt Helen joined us (my dads brother and his wife, an aunt and uncle we don't see too often). My mom out did herself again, and I think we all enjoyed the great meal and having the chance to visit and catch up.

-Monday-

Monday was our last day in Acton, so we enjoyed our favourite things...visiting with the family, playing with the kids, and a quick soak in the hot tub :)

Curt had one more little job to do at his brothers place, so we left just after lunch so we would have time to go into Toronto so Curt could get that done.

The drive home wasn't great...the roads were busy, so it was slow, and the weather wasn't great, lots of rain. So, we were glad we had lots of time and didn't have to rush home.

Recent and Upcoming Reads

Earlier this week, I finished reading the book 'Water for Elephants' by Sara Gruen.

I had been hearing/reading a lot about this book - and couldn't wait to read it! Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. I loved the way this story was told - flashing between the main character, Jacob, as an old man in a nursing home and a young man who runs away and joins the circus. The historical aspect of the novel was also really enjoyable - it made me want to go to the circus, but I don't know that today's circus compares to the circus of the past. And, one of my favourite parts of the book - Rosie, the elephant!

There were definitely some parts of the book that were a little 'crude' or 'disturbing' - but, it's easier to read when it's there for a reason, and in this case it was. I know the author did her research, so if it's in the book, it's because that type of thing used to happen on these 'circus trains'.

So, I've been wanted to read this book for awhile, but I'm glad I read it when I did. The movie is being released on April 22nd, and I can't wait to see it- and, the book will still be fresh in my mind, which is perfect.

The next book on my list is 'Sing You Home' by Jodi Picoult. I've read a lot of Jodi Picoult's novels; I would probably say she is one of my favourite authors, so I'm sure I will enjoy this one.

I actually have to put 'Sing You Home' on hold while I read 'Good to a Fault' by Marina Endicott. This is the next selection for a book club I'm in with a bunch of friends. I don't know what to expect with this one - the friend that chose it said she really enjoyed it the first time she read it, another friend in the group said it was very melancholy. I'm hoping I agree more with the friend who thought it was good enough to read again! Especially considering that I haven't even started it yet, and our book group meets on Tuesday! I couldn't buy it for my Kobo, so I was going to order it from Amazon, then I forgot. So, tonight I had to make a trip to Chapters - and, I should probably be reading right now!

Once I'm done those two books, it's on to 'The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo' - it was on sale for Kobo a few weeks ago, so I bought it for later. Another one I've heard good things about - and it's the first in a trilogy, so I know I'll have to read the other two, as well.

These are mysteries, so we'll see how that goes?!?!

Anyway, there is a little peak at what's on my Kobo/bedside table! Random, I know :)

My Two Day Weekend

This past weekend was my first two day weekend in a looooong time...and wow, was it ever enjoyable.

Actually, I had two days off last weekend...but, I was in Acton, so that's a little different. I went home so that I could attend Nolan's skating carnival; while I was in Acton, Curt was in Toronto helping his brother renovate his new house. It was a great weekend, and I'm really glad I didn't have to skate myself, so I could see Nolan in his first carnival.

But, being at home this past weekend...with nothing that I HAD to do, was AWESOME!

Friday night, after work and skating, I did some groceries, just so I wouldn't have to do them on Saturday or Sunday. Curt was back in Toronto, helping his brother, for the day/night, so I had a quiet night in.

Saturday morning I really wanted to sleep in - and I mean SLEEP IN. But, I was awake and ready to get up and start the day at 9am. I know a lot of you will think that was sleeping in...but, I was hoping for 10am, or even 10:30am!

I had a few errands to run in the morning, and then I had planned on spending the afternoon in front of the TV, watching the Masters...but, when Maria called to see if I wanted to go to Kingston with her, I thought that sounded more fun.

Maria had an errand to run, and then we went to the mall. I found an awesome deal there, and wasn't even looking...isn't that always the way! I found a pair of shoes (black flats, a short boot style) for $14.99 - they were originally $44.99, but were on clearance at the end of the season - that's an American style deal, here in Canada! I was excited, to say the least!

After going out for dinner with Maria, I came home and met Curt, and then we were off to Ike and Jeanette's for a little Rummoli - we haven't played in a long time, so it was lots of fun. And, just for the record, Curt and I won a lot of the VanHuizen's nickels!

Sunday, it was my turn to help in the church nursery...there were only 12 two year old kids, so it was a quiet morning :)

And, Sunday afternoon was all about the Masters (and a little nap, too)! The Masters was great, and having so many guys in the run for a first place finish was pretty exciting. I was really hoping Adam Scott would win - I've liked him since I saw him play at the President's Cup in Montreal...he's struggled for a few years, so I thought it would be cool for him to have a big comeback at Augusta.

But, I didn't mind seeing Charl Schwartzel (who is from South Africa) win! I thought it was pretty neat that Gary Player won the Masters exactly 50 years earlier, to the day - he is also from South Africa, and that made him the first International player to win the Masters. Pretty special to mark that anniversary with another South African winning the green jacket!

And, after such a relaxing weekend, it was a lot easier to get up for work this morning!

Tweed Carnival

Well, it's official...the Tweed & District Figure Skating Club is finished for another season! We've held our two year-end events - the carnival and our awards banquet - so, the 2010/2011 season is history. And, as much as I've been looking forward to having my Saturday's back, I think I'm going to miss it in a few weeks.

Carnival - AROUND THE WORLD - Saturday, March 26th

Our theme this year was 'Around the World' - I had to choreograph four group numbers, and chose music from Holland, India, South Africa and Canada!

My Holland number actually ended up being a lot of fun - and the costumes came together perfectly. The little hats were so cute! I just wish I could have thought of a way to create skate covers that looked like the Dutch wooden clompen (clogs)!

Left - Right: Kiley, Sierra, Shelby, Alyssa and Kendal

I was a little nervous about choreographing the India number - I selected the song 'Jai Ho', from the movie 'Slumdog Millionaire', and wasn't sure how the group would respond. They were great though - I kept it pretty simple, and they picked up most of the dance steps pretty well.

No picture :(

The South Africa number was probably my favourite - no surprise there, right?!? I'm a little biased when anything African is involved. This was a small group number, it was just my four Senior STARSkate girls, so that in itself was fun. I can only take credit for half of the choreography though; the number was only about half done, so when I had to miss skating for my Nana's funeral, I asked the girls to add a little of their own stuff....and, they did! And, they did an awesome job! The costumes for this number were pretty fun, too. Especially their head pieces. The girls really wanted to have face paint, too, but we were afraid it wouldn't come off and they would be stuck with it for their solos and other group numbers.

Left - Right: Britteny, Jillian, Kate, Leah

And then there is the Canada number - it was my 'something different' this year. This was a Father-Daughter number - I had about 15 fathers come out and skate with their daughters! I knew I was going to use this idea before we came up with our theme, and at first, wasn't sure how to tie the two together. Then, I thought of Anne Murray's song 'Could I Have This Dance' and thought it would be perfect - cute for fathers and daughters to skate to, and a good Canadian classic song.

It was difficult to schedule practices, due to the fathers' busy schedules, so, I ended up having only one practice with dads and daughters together! I practiced with the girls two or three times, so they knew what they had to do; once the fathers stepped on the ice, they just had to follow their daughters lead. I was nervous about doing it this way, but it worked in the end.

And, it didn't really matter what happened with the choreography, this was a crowd pleaser just because the dads were out there. It was also a tear jerker, according to most of the moms. The number ended with the fathers down on one knee, and the daughters sitting on their other knee - and when a few girls leaned over and hugged their dads when it was all over, it even brought a tear to my eye!

It proved VERY difficult to get this picture! It was only a few minutes after the show wrapped up, and yet when we tried to get everyone back together, we discovered some dads had already left, some had changed, and I think all of them had their skates off. So, this is the best we could do - there are a few people missing!

Funny story from the practice with fathers on the ice. Part of the choreography had the fathers doing a waltz jump (a jump from forwards to backwards) and then a spiral (gliding on one foot while raising the other leg to hip level). Well, the waltz jumps proved to be a little harder then expected - they looked horrible and resulted in multiple falls. After a few minutes of practice, one of the fathers came over to me, and, looking me straight in the eye and with all seriousness says "Mary Beth, you might better just take that waltz jump right out" Ha! I laughed out loud, but also realized he wasn't joking, so, I took a vote and went with majority - I removed the waltz jump! But, I told them there was no way I was taking out the spiral. And, when the fathers did their spirals, there was a roar of applause, so I'm glad I stuck with it.

As always, the carnival was a great day and it seemed like all the kids really enjoyed themselves. It wasn't without some hassles behind the scenes, and leading up to it, but most people don't know about that stuff. One of those hassles was discovering multiple errors in the program at 11:30pm the night before the carnival! Ugh! But, those details aren't the things I want to remember about the carnival, so enough about that.

A Few Things I Missed

Well, I let myself get way behind again...so, I'm going to cheat, and back date a few posts.

There are a few things I want to mention, so that when I look back over this in a few months (or years), I will be able to remember them. And, I want to keep things in the correct order - so, bear with me.

First of all, back on Monday, March 7th, the newest Vreugdenhil entered the world! Curt's brother Dave, and his wife, Sarah, welcomed their FIFTH baby boy! Owen David weighed 7lbs 4oz. when he was born, and wow, did he ever seem tiny when I met him a week later!

I stopped in to meet him one Saturday after skating, so I didn't have a camera with me, but here is a picture I'm 'borrowing' from facebook...


The other 'event' worth mentioning is that Curt has officially started his own engineering company...AND, completed his first job!

Three Hills Engineering, at your service...



Poor Curt, I see this picture and I feel so bad for him. First, he's working at our dining room table - that was his 'home office' for his first project. I think I had skating stuff spread out all over the workspace in our actual home office. And then there is the fact that he looks so tired here...I took this picture on a Saturday morning - I was on my way out the door for skating, and decided I should take a picture for the blog - and, because he's so tolerant, he went along with it.

So, there you have it, a few of the noteworthy events from mid-March!

Little Reminders

Last night at curling, I was talking to Patsy, the lady on our team, about my Nana's death. During our conversation, Patsy was talking about the death of her parents, in particular, her father. She mentioned that it will probably be hard for awhile, and that certain things will trigger memories of my Nana - she said that just after her father died, she would hear certain country songs that reminded her of him, and she would get all teary-eyed at the memories.

Well, Patsy didn't know it, but I had already experienced a little of that myself, and had it again this morning.

Music was really important to my Nana - and one of the things I spoke about at her funeral, something that I have great memories of, is that my Nana led the Junior Choir at our church for years...and I was part of that choir, for years!

On Sunday, I had to go into town to run some errands, and I was listening to our local Christian radio station...a song came on that I've heard before, but I can't think of the name of it. Anyway, there is a portion of the song, a bridge, that sounds a lot like the song 'Lord of the Dance' (it's just the music, not the lyrics, to the song). Well, like I said, I've heard this song before, but when I heard it that day I had to choke back tears. You see, we used to sing 'Lord of the Dance' in Junior Choir and I immediately associated it with my Nana.

And then this morning, another song that I've heard before, and always really enjoyed, came on during my drive to work. The lyrics of this song have always been very moving, but today they seemed to have a whole new meaning.

The song is by Matt Maher, and is called 'Christ is Risen'.

Here is the part that really got me...

Christ is risen from the dead
We are one with him again
Come awake, come awake!
Come and rise up from the grave

Oh death! Where is your sting?
Oh hell! Where is your victory?
Oh Church! Come stand in the light!
Our God is not dead, he's alive! He's alive!

Powerful, right? Anyone else crying? ;) What an awesome reminder that we should not let death have a 'sting', because we will all be together again - and, what a great day that will be!

A Week of Mourning

One week ago tonight, on Sunday, March 6th, I received a phone call from my mom - a call in which my mom had to tell me that my Nana had passed away earlier that evening.

I knew the call was coming - my Nana had been sick for awhile, and last Friday, my mom called to tell me that things had deteriorated, and my Nana would soon lose her battle.

It didn't matter, nothing could have prepared me for that call.

It's been a long and tiring week. Curt and I left for Acton Monday morning, after getting things at work and skating organized for the week. We spent the week at Tom and Krystle's - it was good, and necessary, to be surrounded by family for the week.

Visitation, or the wake, for my Nana was on Wednesday. The weather was horrible, wet snow and then freezing rain, so we didn't have as many people as expected.

The funeral was on Thursday. I have always been really close to my Nana, and really wanted to speak at her funeral, to share some of the special memories I have of her. It was really hard, and when I got behind the pulpit, I actually didn't think I was going to be able to do it. I got through it, but I did a horrible job - there were a lot of tears and sniffles - and there were times people probably couldn't understand what I was saying. But, I'm still really glad I did it...I know I would always regret it if I had backed out.

Following the funeral, we went to the cemetery for the burial. Again, horrible weather - there were huge puddles, it was muddy, and it rained the entire time we were there. You know that old saying, that rain is the angels in Heaven crying - if that's the case, the angels were crying happy tears on Thursday - they were celebrating the arrival of my Nana in Heaven, while those of us on earth all mourned our loss.

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Lyrics from the hymn 'Great is Thy Faithfulness' - one of the hymns my Nana had selected for the congregation to sing at her funeral.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Matthew 5:4