Family Newsletter

Dec. 31

    I'm a little late writing our holiday letter this year, but I must admit I did enjoy stressing less about getting it out before Christmas! We hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable holiday this year.

Looking back, I realized at the beginning of 2016 we still had one in diapers (if only for overnight)! It seems like ages ago. Rachel has come so far, and seems so much more grown up and capable now!
January got us off to the sleepy start to the year that it usually does. The girls resumed their swimming lessons, and Laura continued her drama classes and practicing with her 'mini' cheerleading team for their competition in February. Grandma and Grandpa Maitland came up for a visit after her competition for an early birthday celebration for Laura and myself. Laura received the video game 'Mario Party' from Santa, so she wanted to have a Mario-themed birthday party, which was a lot of work, but a lot of fun! She, too, has grown so much this year - her reading has improved markedly and she just seems so much more mature and socially capable. People are constantly remarking on what a lovely child she is, and we are inclined to agree. [wink]
We were involved in various homeschool programs in the spring: sugar bush tours and science classes, etc. Easter weekend we had dinner at my mom's and celebrated my Aunt Pat's 80th birthday with family in Hamilton. Laura lost her first tooth exactly five and a half years after it came in.
Although we had been casually looking for a new house outside of town for the last year or so, we started looking much more seriously once the snow was gone this spring. We replaced the flooring on our second floor and did a few more upgrades here and there around our house so it would be market-ready. Unfortunately, the housing market in this area is difficult for buyers right now, and we still have not found what we are looking for (or weren't quick enough! Here's hoping 2017 is a better year for that.)
We tend to get busier as the spring goes on - lots of little friend's birthday parties, and at the beginning of May we celebrate Josh's and Rachel's. Rachel turned four this year and we had a cute Teddy Bear Picnic party for her at the park. We also surprised her with a trip to Great Wolf Lodge (an indoor water park in Niagara). We were fortunate enough to have both Grandmas be able to come out for Mother's Day brunch this year, too. For our ninth anniversary Josh and I snuck away for a few hours to try the Timber Challenge high ropes course at Blue Mountain. It was certainly a challenge, but a really fun afternoon together (and a bit scary!). At the end of May, and after reading the books, Laura and I used the tickets we were gifted for our birthdays to see 'The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe' in Stratford. We enjoyed the one on one time with each other and made some fun memories.
At the beginning of the summer, Laura started playing baseball. Rachel graduated nursery school in June - an emotional milestone for Mama, for sure. We certainly miss the staff there and the program they run; they were fantastic. Josh had two gigs with his band in three weeks. Things started to get busier! The girls sold lemonade a couple times at various yard sales this summer and made some good cash! Father's Day weekend we visited StoryBook Park. There were lots of end-of-school-year parties and birthday parties and good bye parties to attend.
The first week of July, the girls attended a dance day camp, which they loved. It was weird for me to have a few hours completely to myself that week, but I managed to get through it! [wink] The following week we went on the "Girls' Annual Geography Lesson", as I have started calling it. This year we travelled to each of the five Great Lakes on a road trip with my mom. We visited various family and friends who hosted us for a few of the nights, and we also spent two nights on Mackinac Island, where there are no vehicles, just horses and bikes. It was quite a unique and memorable experience! We made our way back home through Sault Ste. Marie, Manitoulin Island, and Tobermory which were incredibly beautiful. We sure were excited to see Daddy by the time we got home, though! He had been working hard every night recording several different artists he had the house to himself. Later in the month, he also recorded the first annual Live & Original artists from a competition put on by the Town of Collingwood. It was a big project to take on while working full-time at his regular job, but the Town was impressed with his work and have already asked him back again next year. We hosted another Japanese student for a few weeks through the summer, and kept ourselves busy entertaining her, camping, visiting the zoo, etc.
Rachel started music lessons in the summer, and we had lots of park playdates with our friends that we only usually get to see in the summer.
In September, Josh escaped up North to his buddy's cabin for a week to record their band's second off the grid, solar-powered album. They set out to accomplish eight songs, and ended up doing twice that much! He had an awesome time, and when we came to pick him up, the boys performed a show for us on the dock. So much fun! After that we headed out to Brighton for Cousin's Weekend 3.0 with the Maitland branch of the family, and the following weekend to Toronto for cousin Ellery's birthday party. Laura also resumed her music lessons and cheerleading for the fall.
The first weekend in October Sam and Ruth came to visit and we had a really awesome time at Blue Mountain's 'Community Day' where all the zip-lining, rollercoaster, and mini-putt were free for locals! After the very hot summer we had endured, we were grateful for the cooler fall temperatures and enjoyed more hiking and outdoor activities. Later in October, my sister and her wife had their first baby - my first, very own niece! The girls are very excited about their first FIRST cousin! They are still living in Halifax, so we didn't get to meet her until they brought her home for Christmas (an agonizing wait for me!) For Halloween this year we dressed up as The Wizard of Oz. Daddy was the Tin Man, Mommy was the Scarecrow, our dog, Chester, was the Cowardly Lion, Laura was the Wicked Witch, and Rachel was our Dorothy. We even borrowed Grandma's little dog to be our Toto.
In November, we celebrated my mom's 60th birthday by driving down to Florida for a whirlwind trip to Disney World. We had a fun but exhausting trip - five days is not quite enough to cram everything in! Once we arrived home, everything was basically in full swing for Christmas. We enjoyed celebrating Advent again this year with our elf, Buddy, and had a lovely holiday with both my and Josh's sides of the family. Now that we are all rested up, we are looking forward to what the new year will bring us, and we hope you all are too!
Happy New Year!