To friends in the wonderful blogging world...

This post is especially for those of you I've come to know as a result of blogging.

It's a wonderful blogging world, as I call it -- with no-holds barred to who can be friends with who! And many of you have found me here first, before I found you in your space. I'm so glad we met!

You leave me comments that are words of encouragment, if not, words of wisdom! And it means a whole great deal to me, that you care enough to do that! Some of you will even nudge or 'poke' me, just to make sure I'm still here!

That's what friends are for, right? And I want to thank you for being my friend!

The Forever Friends Award

It says:
A Ball is a Circle, no beginning, no end.
It keeps us together like a circle of friends.
But the treasure inside for you to see
Is the treasure of friendship you've granted to me.

And specifically to these fellow bloggers, my more regular readers, I'm happy to pass on this circle of friendship to you! And if you have already been awarded, you deserve the double honours for what a great friend you are!

- SAHM who gave me the award (thank you, you made my day!)
- Kopi Soh
- Bkworm
- Judy
- Priscilla
- Jomel
- Yan
- Nomadic Mom

To Fay also, if you are reading this, I just want to take this opportunity to let you know it's wonderful to hear from you always, and be reminded we are not alone in our parenting journey!

God bless y'all!

To all friends, and you don't have to be a blogger...
I am grateful for old friends, too, who've not given up on me.

There are fewer and fewer pals I'm in touch with as the years go by. But those who take the trouble amidst their own busy schedules, to ask me how I am, the miles separating us notwithstanding, I am always touched!

And the even fewer who do visit this blog, they may not be into blogging themselves, or leaving comments, but when they do drop me a line, that's nearly always when they must know I need a prayer, a ear, or just for them to let me know they are here if I need them!

I can't tell you how grateful I am, blessed with friends like this!

Friends are hard to come by. It's not easy to find those to click with, and with those I don't, I try and not think it's because of me or something I said that caused them to close our communication lines. But it's something I'm learning to leave a margin around.

Having said that though, more often than not, all that friends have to do, is just be there, and be ourselves! =)

Ready, Set, SLED!

Where's mommy?

When she isn't behind hogging the camera, she tries to be the 'driving force', hehe! Not just the "schoolbus driver"... double-click on the arrow to see what I mean ;p


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Snow Day! Snow Cool!

Above: The snow-covered landscape sure makes for a winter wonderland! I especially like how the sun casts these intriguing shadows of the trees on all that blanket of white, tree trunks that are but just a coat-rack for bare branches hanging off them this time of the year.

So yes, there were lots and lots of snow -- more than that one and only other time earlier in the season, for schools to declare a Snow Day last Friday! Read: Unexpected holiday! Hooray! You should see how Jon's and Ben's faces lit up, when I told them first thing that morning!




Vern is (right now still) working on several important deadlines, but in the end, it became quite the Snow Day for him, too, when the terrific daddy he is, he took us sledding! Erm, I could have tried to take the boys myself, but if you saw how deep the snow was, you would be grateful, too, that the husband could come, for it was quite an uphill task going up and down (and especially up!) those slopes! Not to mention the fact that it's always more fun with daddy in the picture.

We picked our favourite park that didn't exactly boast any steep slopes, but it worked nicely, nice enough for us!

Up we go... notice that skip in Ben's step, as he merrily trots up the hill, and Jon takes the lead and gets to be the first one to whoosh down in style!


And one after another, each boy takes his turn nicely or not-so-nicely.


Down comes the sled... Wheeeeeee!


Jon runs after it, and can't wait for "My turn... next!"...

Back up now, for another round of sledding!


A couple more rounds...


... and daddy lends a hand to get not just the sled, but the boys back up the top of the hill...


*Trudge, trudge!* *Heave ho!*


Ben: I just want to lie here...


Ben to Jon: OK, you can have the sled. But can I stay here, like this?


Can I? (just sit here all day long, and watch the world go by)?


Jon: Will someone carry me back up?
Ben: Wait up!


So then, as you can see, some workout it did turn out to be! But with no school, plenty of snow, and all that sledding fun, we had every reason to be thankful! And because it doesn't always snow here (and I'm not surprised if there's not going to be another snowfall like this for the rest of the season), this is a big bonus for us!




THE NEXT DAY...
And before all the 'magic' started to melt away (and by Sunday, slopes everywhere were just wet and slushy), the boys played a little more in the snow on Saturday.

Ben went outside with Vern, offering whatever help he could (not much, but can't say he didn't try) with the shovelling, while Jon and I were indoors, with me trying to get him to focus on his homework. Going out to play was like an incentive for Jon, if he finished half of his worksheets.

When finally he was done and headed outside, I went and put some corn to steam (thinking it would be a nice warm snack to come back indoors to), and while I was at it, might as well, also go cook a quick lunch, and pop laundry into the washer. I didn't take my own sweet time, and when I joined the three outside, they hadn't built a snowman, but this...

Jon and Ben each had a fort to call his own!


And they were just getting ready...



... for a snowball fight, what else!



*Splat!* This mommy got whacked left, right, centre! But hey, wait a minute! Why am I the target here?


For how hard he worked to clear the driveway of all the snow, and how much harder he had to work on his assignments, Vern got this hearty portion for his lunch.


To some leftover beef stew, I simply added ingredients that would cook readily -- imitation lobster meat (made with pollock, the kind used in fishballs), tomatoes, broccoli, and mushrooms -- to beef it up, and also diluted the sauce some. It became a soup for our noodles. And the corn? A side dish!

Jon bites into his corn, in between having his noodles.


Hot food, soups and stews... just a couple of ways to keep warm in winter! But between the sun that came out after the snow and some heavy rains yesterday, the snow is pretty much all gone by now! And you know what, I like it when temperatures go back up, even if it's just for a few days, before they'll take a dive again!

Sunshine is good, yah? ;p