1. We spent a fantastic belated honeymoon/anniversary trip in Nova Scotia in June. (See our last post.) It was wonderful!
2. We moved back to the states (Indiana) at the end of July/first of August.
3. I started teaching Computer Applications at the middle school, and love it.
4. We moved into our own place at the end of October.
5. My brother and sister-in-law had their first child — we’re now an aunt and uncle to one adorable William Herman.
6. We had our first (U.S.) Thanksgiving with Indiana family in three years.

That pretty much sums up the last few months! It’s been an exciting adjustment period getting all settled in back in Indiana. This weekend we put up our Christmas tree and today we got our first central Indiana snow… about a quarter inch in fact, which helped get me into the Christmas-y mood. (After living in Canada for three years, I’m not used to NOT having snow by now so I was having a hard time believing the holiday season was actually here.) It was hilarious driving to work this morning because it felt like everyone was driving SO SLOW over such a minuscule amount of snow. Dare I say I adjusted to driving in Calgary snow?

Our Christmas cards will be going out shortly, and I’ll post one up here closer to Christmas to share with the rest of the world. It’s a pretty cute one, if I do say so myself. Not because I made it, (I’ve got too many knitted gifts to finish this year, so we opted for a Walgreens photo Christmas card instead of my usual handmade) but because the new family photo is darling. Hope you have a wonderful holiday season!

A mama goose built a nest in one of the most unlikely places (though common downtown so I’m told) on a ledge of a tower of the office building I’m working at for the summer. Lucas comes over and we meet up for our lunch hour each day, and today we checked out the fuss over the baby geese that hatched from the nest on the ledge. The area near the window had some caution tape to keep us pesky humans at bay, but you are able to be close enough to see the little miracles. It’s like a little mini zoo off the side of my building. First there were just eggs. Now there are four little ones. They’re growing rather quickly, considering they were just hatched this week and it’s only Wednesday.  Mom and dad are always with them, keeping a watchful eye out. If you don’t see them sitting on the ledge with the babies, don’t get too comfortable… they’re definitely not far away. Today mom was down below, coaxing her little ones to go over the ledge. What seems like a deadly fall to me is apparently no big deal to birds… however, these guys aren’t quite big enough to get over the lip of the ledge to attempt flying (read: falling) yet. I took several (non-flash) photos today because while this has been really neat to witness, people came today in attempts to relocate the geese and I’m not sure if they’ll still be there tomorrow.

Want to see more photos? Of course you do. Be warned: they will make your heart melt. Especially the one where cute little yellow fuzzball has his tiny little eyes squeezed shut. Totally adorable. To see the full gallery of fuzzy cuteness, click HERE. OH! And I made a little video of the window ledge action for you, too. Don’t mind the round hole/opening on the ledge that one of the babies falls into in the beginning — it’s a shallow (but stable) drain thing (like my technical terminology?) and the other two little ones are down in there. They’re just not quite tall enough to hop back out once they fall in, lol. But I promise they’re safe and sound in there. Enjoy!

Today was our neighborhood parade of garage sales; a lot of the houses in the neighborhood registered together and set up their yards and driveways with wares from 8am to 3pm. We’ve been excited about it for awhile, because lately Lucas and I have made rollerblading our pastime. Any evening we get the chance and the weather is playing nice, we’re out doing a good 40 minute circuit through the neighborhood on wheels. I’m getting a lot more confident! Today was the perfect excuse to pull the rollerblades on and explore every inch of the neighborhood in search of good deals. And boy did we ever score some fun stuff!

First of related importance was a new set of rollerblades. While tooling through the back streets we ran into someone selling a nearly-new pair that had been worn once… by the seller’s wife, who took a nasty spill the first time she used them and from that point on swore off rollerblades. Too bad for her, but great for me! They were being sold ridiculously cheap ($15!) and even though it was a bit more expensive than the $6 we spent on the current pair of rollerblades I had been using, these new ones were in better shape and didn’t have a broken clasp on the right boot like my old ones. Score!

Another great score was a crepe maker; we actually had purchased some ingredients needed to make crepes this past week in preparation to make them this weekend. Crazy coincidence, eh? I think it was fate. It was $1, and in perfect shape. And even better… the seller had a 7 week old bichon/shih-tzu puppy hanging out with her. SO cute! I cooed over him while Lucas made the purchase. We also got a new DVD player to replace our crappy $20 Wal-Mart DVD player that stops working if you look at it funny. Somewhere in there we also got some great martini shot glasses. We really lucked out with our finds.

Nearly 3 hours later we returned home exhausted and starving. Good thing we picked up some amazing steaks fresh last night on the way home for just such an occasion. We fired up the barbecue for the first time this season and threw the steaks on. They were HUGE! The boys manned the barbecue while I whipped up some pineapple smoothies in the kitchen; a little fat free vanilla frozen yogurt, milk, and crushed pineapple blended together. Delish! Hopefully the weather will continue to stay this way so we can continue to enjoy it! Maybe tomorrow we can tote our rollerblades to McKenzie Towne and do a little tour of the area and stop for gelato. Mmmm… gelato. Hope you had a great weekend and enjoy the pleasant weather :)

This evening Lucas and I ran a few errands to get some essentials for my first week of work.  We picked up some great items for the classroom (I think my kiddos will love the giant dinosaur egg that “hatches” in water in 24-48 hours when we do our dinosaur unit) and then I picked out some sweet winter boots.  These babies have an inner insulated form fitting sock that velcros into place within the sturdy boot shoe.  We’re talking warm. I’ve never experienced a second inside piece of insulation on boots before.  Though in all fairness I’ve also never lived somewhere where it gets as cold as it does here in Calgary before, either.  The traction on these real winter boots can actually be called real traction.  No more slipping on the sidewalks!  They hang on tight.  And the best part?  They’re pink and brown. Awesome.  It’s about time I became a real Calgarian, eh?

Work is going really well.  It’s challenging, but at the end of each day I’m already looking forward to the next day. And all I do is constantly scribble down neat little lesson ideas I think will get my little guys excited and engage them.  They’re really a great bunch of kids and the support staff I have to lean on as I get acclimated to the routine and students has made all of the difference in the world. It feels great to have a meaningful position again where I truly feel like I’m changing the lives of kids for the better. I love my job :) And of course, my sweet and wonderful husband surprised me by having flowers sent to me on my first day. I am so lucky.

It seems like if you blink, several months can just fly right by before you even notice!  Here it is October, and our last post was back in July.  You’ve not missed too much, though there are a few new things going on in the Karpiuk family.

Oliver is still Oliver, and Winston is still Winston.  Oliver has turned six years old today, can you believe it?  Also today happy anniversary wishes go out to my little brother and his wife as well as our friends Joe and Jeri.  Congratulations on your first year of marriage!

Lucas recently switched jobs completely and is now working happily at Shell in web development at their big Shell Canada building downtown.  I’m still teaching; guest teaching full time until a position opens up for me.  I like it well enough — I’m teaching and it’s a new classroom every day, which keeps things fresh and exciting.  They’re really keeping me busy and I’m usually booked solid every single day, which is great! I spend a lot of time explaining especially to the elementary kids that my last name is NOT “car puke” … :groan:  I’ve really gotten to know a lot of teachers and principals as well as been able to get a taste of what each school in the division is like.  One school has already booked me for every opening they have that they know of right now up through May, lol.  I like being in demand when it comes to my work.

On a sad note, we made a trip back to Indy a few weeks ago to be with family during my grandfather’s passing.  I was able to help with the arrangements by getting pictures together, and the video slide show that the funeral home put together was beautiful.  Rest in peace, grandpa.  You will be missed.

Last weekend our little family decided we’d plan a trip out to Lake Minnewanka in Banff National Park up in the gorgeous Canadian Rockies so that we could get the boys some fresh mountain air and take photos of the pretty fall colours before they disappear or are covered in snow.  Unfortunately the weather forecast didn’t want to play nice and it rained instead, so we’ve rescheduled our day trip for this coming Saturday.  We’re really looking forward to seeing the beautiful spot Lucas chose to propose among all of the autumn colours.  When we were out there last November it was so cold and the hiking trails were blanketed in several feet of snow. Cross your fingers for better weather this weekend!

So that’s what the Karpiuk family has been up to.  I know it doesn’t seem like a whole lot in the span of  just over two months, but we’ve been busy just the same. I’ve had no troubles updating my craft blog because as my darling sister-in-law pointed out, Christmas is just two months away (eek!) and I need to get cracking on gifts.  Plus I’ve recently been trying my hand at digital art and creating digital scrapbook papers and elements for my digital scrapbooking obsession.  Check out the pages I’ve made for our digital scrapbooks here. That will give you a visual of what we’ve been doing the past couple months instead ;)   But I’ll do my best to keep things updated here a bit better, ok?

Oh and Happy Thanksgiving next week, Canada — take care everyone!

So… now that nothing else can really top that news, here are more things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving. Now I know what you’re thinking: “But Lesley, you live in Canada now and Canadian Thanksgiving was last month…” This I know. But Lucas and I missed out on turkey and pumpkin pie last month because we were back in Indiana for Herm’s wedding, so we decided to celebrate on American Thanksgivng this year. Since we didn’t have the day off on Thursday when the holiday actually took place, we decided to do it tomorrow, so that in the typical spirit of an American Thanksgiving, there’s football on TV. We sort of impromptu are having some visitors over to help us eat all of this food — there will be turkey of course, and pumpkin pie made from scratch along with mashed potatoes and a green bean casserole. Mmmmm… I am thankful for homemade food.

But seriously, I am blessed and thankful for many things in my life. I am thankful for friends and family — both here in Canada and back home in Indiana. I have many wonderful friends that make life endlessly fun and colourful. And of course my family, who love and support me. Between my little family with Lucas and Oliver to my family in Indiana and back to my future family-to-be in British Columbia, I am a lucky person to have so much love and support that it spans two countries ;)

Happy Thanksgiving! Here’s hoping that everyone else out there had a wonderful and thankful holiday, too!

Over the weekend we had a tiny wave or two of very light snow; enough to dust the ground and cold enough overnight to form little patches of ice on the sidewalk. As proud as I am of the fact that I am quite capable in heels and haven’t fallen or tripped since re-entering the business world after becoming a Permanent Resident, I don’t really want to tempt fate. There’s no sense in ruining my perfect record, right? Heels and ice with as much walking as I do back and forth to work doesn’t sound like a winning combination to me, and suddenly the business suit and tennis shoes approach makes sense. I should have been doing this ages ago anyway — forget dealing with ice, it’s just easier on the feet!

I of course discover this just in time to finish up my job downtown… I start teaching again on November 19 and will be driving back and forth to the small private school that has hired me to teach pre-K and assist in curriculum writing as they plan to expand and include school-age in their program. And besides… business suits and young children don’t really mix! I am so excited I can barely contain myself — I get to write curriculum and teach an entirely different age level than I’m used to. I worked on curriculum mapping when I was teaching in Indiana so that part won’t be entirely new, but I can’t wait to experience the younger age group of kids that I’ll be teaching now. There is a library that shares a courtyard with our school and a performing arts centre nearby, so there will be no shortage of inspiration and resources for reading to my new kids or helping them learn and develop through the arts. I’ve been busy collecting as much information as I can and even plan to take a free course through Bow Valley College to refresh my memory on early childhood development since it’s been a few years. I took early developmental psychology at IU as part of the bachelor’s in education degree program, but with as often as education trends change, it’ll be good to take advantage of this class and have it under my belt to accompany my new position. That starts soon and will keep me busy for a couple hours each weekend for the next several months, and I’m already looking forward to it.

Here’s a scary thought: There’s less than 2 months until Christmas! Lucas and I have been getting our list of gifts-to-get-or-make organized and I’ve been knitting and crafting like mad already; we’re going to be spending a week in Indiana for the holidays, so I want to get everything done for our families with plenty of time to spare so there’s no stress or last minute things to worry about before we go. That means handmaking a lot of items on top of a fairly large set of Christmas cards that I need to get cracking on. Michelle and I are planning to hit the Calgary Festival of Crafts fair that’s coming to town November 29 – December 2. I’m hoping to find a few little items for my grandparents while we’re there and maybe even get some inspiration for future gifts that I can try my hand at making… after all, I’ve taken the ‘buy handmade’ pledge this year! And somewhere in between now and then is American Thanksgiving, which we are planning to celebrate this year. We missed Canadian Thanksgiving when we went back to Indiana over that weekend to be in Herman’s wedding, so I’m making sure we don’t entirely miss out on a homemade turkey and pumpkin pie. ;)

And speaking of Herm and Holly’s wedding, today I got the website link that the professional photographer gives out to the family so that they can check out the proofs of the photos.  They are absolutely stunning!  I saved a few of my favourite proofs and have added them to the gallery (or on facebook) along with the other photos we took.  Enjoy, and have a happy November!  :)

Let’s take your typical day… like yesterday, where I trained home packed in like a can of sardines. The person over my right shoulder was reaching over my head to hold onto the hand rail on the door in front of me, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t avoid his smelly armpit in my face. I turned to my left to point my nose as far away from the BO wave as possible, only to get a deep whiff of the alcohol saturating the man over my left shoulder. The girl beside me on my left is texting so fast that I wouldn’t have been surprised if her fingers had caught fire. I think she texted the whole city of Calgary in the span of the 10 minutes I spent on the train with her. Seriously, if there was a text messaging contest that came to town, I would nominate that chick. And as we got to the last stop out of downtown and even more people packed into the limited space, I became horrifically aware of something wet that had penetrated my pant leg. Welcome to the Calgary CTrain.

I’ve already lightly toyed with the idea of driving in a station or two just to eliminate one or two stops and thus my total train travel time from the equation, but that really defeats the purpose and the enjoyment (not to mention entertainment) of being able to solely walk and use public transportation. And let’s face it, the healthy aspect of walking and training into work in the fresh air far surpasses taking the car and also trumps the nasty traffic on Deerfoot or Memorial Drive as you get closer to the downtown core.

Really, when it’s all said and done, it’s only a 15 minute ordeal, even at its worst. And in the dead of a -30 Calgary winter, I may warm up (pun intended) more to the idea of a packed train ride, especially when I look out and can see the rest of the city (slowly) fighting the daily commute — not to mention each other and the elements — during inclimate driving conditions as I effortlessly glide by. No thanks!

Here’s to hoping the novelty of the Calgary CTrain never wears off ;)