The year in review?

When did life get so busy? I wonder when I stopped having- or making- time to blog, when I actually enjoy it?

In any case, it's been nearly a whole year since I posted anything and I guess that means that I have a little catching up to do here :) Brevity is not normally my strong suit, but I will make an extra effort this time!

In October, we finished up marching season with the two girls, and in early December, the Columbine football team won the State Championship! The girls attended and played at that game- we watched it on TV.

Then came December with my birthday, some minor surgery, our holiday Open House, and Christmas with the kids and our little granddaughter! Isn't she just the sweetest thing?

We also had some sadness too, as our across-the-street neighbor was killed in a car accident just two days before Christmas, leaving behind his wife and two small children. We have tried to help out in as many ways as we can, and they have become part of our family.

Life is just so unpredictable and we always have to remember to cherish the ones we love. 

The new year rolled in quietly. In January, I joined the After Prom Committee to make the Senior Wall, and we worked all the way through April on it. And I took a mozzarella-making class at the Truffle Cheese Shop in Denver. That was SO fun!

There isn't much to write about February; Rich had eye surgery in both eyes, and recovered well.

March was rather fun; my sister Sandy and I flew to Regina, Saskatchewan to surprise our baby sister Becky for the weekend for her 40th birthday! Sandy made these t-shirts and we all wore them for the whole day.

April brought about Prom- and after Prom. This was Heidi's Senior year.

The Senior was is made up of 10 panels on each side- and each panel measures 4' wide by 10' tall. The theme was "Games Rebels Play".

Heidi turned 18 years old in May, and my eldest, Holly, turned 23. Heidi graduated from Columbine High School at the end of the month, and school ended for the year for both girls.

June saw Chloe get her braces off!

Heidi started a six-week program up at CU Boulder in June as well, which prevented her from joining us on our Canada trip in July.

We stayed in Ottawa with my sister Sandy, and had a little reunion of sorts with everyone.

Then Rich and I continued on to the Maritimes, where we spent 12 days eating all the seafood we could manage. 

We went to Halifax, Nova Scotia:

Prince Edward Island:

And St. John's, Newfoundland:

(these are statues of a Newfie and a Lab)

Back home again, it's August, and just in time to get the girls ready for a new school year. Chloe is a sophomore and in marching band again. 

We got Heidi moved up to Boulder, into her dorm room, and she loves it up there!

I have been canning up a storm since getting home from our holidays at the beginning of August. I have done tons of tomatoes, dill pickles, peach jam, peach salsa, tomato salsa, peach butter, and I have grilled corn for the freezer. I still have a lot of jam to make, but the really seasonal stuff has to be done first.

This weekend is not only Labor Day, but the baby of the family celebrates her 15th birthday :)

They say there is no rest for the wicked- and if that is true, I must be VERY wicked! 

How's that for a brief year in review???

Time really flies!

Another marching band season has come and gone- and thus explains one of the reasons I have been remiss in posting here...

The Columbine Rebel Marching Band finished its season yesterday up in Fort Collins at CSU; they competed in the state quarter-finals and though they had the best performance of their year, they didn't make it to the semi-finals. No one was disappointed though. They have a largely young band and so they really did well overall.

This year was especially fun for me, since both girls were in it together for this one and only year. Chloe entered Columbine this fall as a freshman and Heidi is a senior, off to college next year. Both girls have been really involved in music since their school days at Toniata, in Brockville, Ontario.

Heidi started in marching band playing the flute. She played flute for the remainder of the year in band class. In her sophomore year, she played mellophone (the marching version of the French horn) in marching band, then went back to flute for band class. Last year, her junior year, Heidi played mellophone in marching band, but switched to tuba for band class. This year, she marched with the sousaphone (the marching version of the tuba) and will play tuba for band class. From the smallest instrument to the biggest!  Heidi is so tiny- just a little over 5'2" and 100 lbs- carrying an instrument that is half her weight!

She had a little solo in the show this year where she played and danced around a little- it was a huge crowd pleaser!

I'm a little sad that she is done with it all. Marching band really saved her when we moved here. She knew no one, had to start high school all alone- but joining marching band gave her a community, friends, and instant belonging. It's been great.

Here are some photos of Heidi:

Tucked inside the sousaphone

Playing flute at the mall during a Christmas fundraiser for the band

Marching with the sousaphone during the Western Welcome Week parade here in Littleton

Heidi performing her solo in the field show (she is the one on the right)

Playing mellophone, Heidi is right under the One Way sign

Playing tuba during a band concert- she is the tuba on the right

Chloe has been active in music too, since moving here. At Normandy Elementary, Chloe played clarinet, tried her hand at oboe, and also was a member of the bell choir, which was very cool.

At Ken Caryl Middle School, she started off on clarinet, but switched to French horn soon after. She seems to like playing French horn, so maybe she will stay with that...

Looking all serious as the band prepares to start in the Western Welcome Week parade (Chloe is right out front)

Warming up before the Arapahoe Invitational at Littleton High School

Playing the field show (Chloe is directly behind the blocks)

Marching in the Grand Junction parade. In this competition, they had a full inspection, and they were being judged during the parade and the field show. So, full-on serious! (Chloe is on the right)

A little break from the sombre... (Chloe is in the middle)

\

Warming up before the field show at Grand Junction.

This is the first Saturday that the girls haven't given up the whole day for either a band practice or competition since the beginning of August. And they were forced to get up mid-morning to help with leaf raking and cleaning.... ahhh, gotta love autumn!

Kids' Visit

I say kids, but they really aren't anymore, at 22 and 20.

Holly and Ben spent ten days here, after we got back from our trip to Sweden and Denmark. We had a lot of fun shopping, hanging out, and just talking.

No visit would be complete without the obligatory photo shoot, so here are some photos for you to enjoy. Click on any photo to view it larger.

This time, the location was the trampoline. Which apparently Heidi doesn't like. Who knew? lol

Love those mid-air shots!

And everyone having fun! 

A pretty good photo of all four, no small feat!

Holly, 22

Ben, 20

Heidi, 17

Chloe, 13

At the end- and Heidi's face pretty much sums up how she feels about being on the trampoline... lol

Oh boy.

Has it really been THAT long since I posted something????

I don't even know where the time has gone. But I DO know that next week, I am catching up!

I actually have lots of fun things to share, and lots of updates to post.

Next week, my time is back to (mostly) my own and I will be here! :)

My BIG day!

If you visit my blog on any kind of a regular basis, you will have noticed that I have not been posting much. 

I do have some pretty good reasons, though- the new baby in our family and the trips involved with that, spring- and the work that our lawns and gardens demand, kids (need I say more?), a daughter having oral surgery, and of course the event I have been working towards and preparing for for months:

I became an American citizen yesterday!!!

I am very fortunate that being married to an American meant that my wait was shorter than some others have to go through.

Still, we have been at this since January 2007- four and half years! I have been fingerprinted and photographed (passport-style) more often in that time, than most people are in their entire lifetimes!

Mountains of paperwork, many interviews, lawyer's meetings, and endless submitting documents- it's all done!

And being in the Denver area means that everything is done the same day- I had my test and interview yesterday morning and was sworn in after lunch!

This is a very happy event for my me and my DH- who can now stop worrying that I will be deported. 

What he thought I might be deported FOR- well, that's never actually been clear...

I learned a lesson a long time ago from my Grama- and I was thinking of her too, yesterday when I took my Oath of Allegiance to my newly adopted country.

My grandparents emigrated to Canada from Holland in 1952. They had six sons and Europe was still war-torn and struggling to get back on it's feet. They wanted their sons to have opportunities and lives that they knew wouldn't be possible in their home country.

They left all of their family behind, they were not able to speak English, and literally had almost nothing when they arrived in Ontario.

What they did have was love, a desire for a better life, and a determination to learn what it meant to be a Canadian.

Grama said they believed right down to their soul that choosing a different country to live in meant you had to truly love your new country and make it your own- that the "old country" ways were meant for the old country.

Both of my grandparents learned read, write, and speak English in a relatively short time, and they didn't spend any time sitting around saying "things aren't done this way in Holland...".  They became Canadians in every sense of the word.

They were required to renounce their Dutch citizenship to become Canadians and they did. I bet it wasn't easy, but they wanted to be true Canadians and were willing to do whatever it took.

I am fortunate in that I am able to retain both Canadian and US citizenship. On the way to my test and interview yesterday morning, I thought about what I would say if I was asked to give up my Canadian citizenship.

I moved here for a better life- a life filled with love and joy and peace and contentment, shared with the man I want to be with for the rest of our lives.

I have always been proud to be a Canadian girl, and that won't ever change. But I am thrilled to be an American now, to be able to fully enjoy- and give back- to a country has been lovely and welcoming to me since I crossed the border!