reflecting on the past and looking to the future

Since today is New Years Eve I did what most people do, I reflect on the past year and look forward to the new year.

Reflections from the past year:

I have achieved many of the things I wanted to this past year

I have learned alot about my children(Noah has grown in the gospel and become a great example to our family,Nesta has become an amazing artist, Paige has been a great example of friendship and Sam has started to find his own personality)

I have a greater appreciation for my husband and his many talents

I grew a garden (and figured out how to make it better next year)

I got my chickens

I stopped buying processed foods (cookies and such)

I make almost all my own bread

I have improved my baking and cooking skills

I have learned to love my home

I have made and sold many items

I have improved on my sewing skills

I learned how to knit

I have learned to HATE shopping



with all these things accomplished I still feel like I have fallen short. It took alot longer than I thought to get settled on this little island. I feel like I have finally made our house a home and have helped the kids settle in but like I said something is missing. I want to have more balance. I have always been a little obsessive compulsive so balance has always eluded me. Now I am determined to have balance. Balance is my new obsessive behavior(heehee)So looking forward to the new year I want to :

plan meals so less time is spent picking things up(which ultimately ends in picking up way too many things and spending way too much money)

spend less time worrying about my house and more time enjoying it

volunteer at least 1 day a week

get to know more of the women at church and in the community

join womens institute

serve more

worry less

enjoy more

I think if I can focus on the last 3 things I'll find balance and contentment

With all my blabbing done what do you envision for you new year?

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family who read my blog. I was a little worried about being away from family for the first time at Christmas but it turned out to be one of the best Christmas' in a long time.
Our day started at 5am. Yes I said 5AM. Thanks to Nana and Papa who live in a time zone 1 hour behind us the kids were forced to wait until 7AM to open up their presents. Once we were all settled we called Nana and Papa on Skype and they were able to watch the kids open their gifts. The kids were very happy with what they got so that was nice.
We had the missionaries for brunch and spent the morning setting up toys(as usual). We played some games, started a puzzle and cooked the turkey.
By 4:30 we were rushing out the door to head over to Rand and Liz's place for our Christmas diner. We spent a great night there with them and the Ross's. The food was great but the company was amazing:) Unfortunately we had to cut the night short on the count of being up since 5AM. But we are looking forward to getting together on Sunday night for some good food and some serious board game competition.
Now we are home. The kids are asleep, the chickens are tucked in, the dogs asleep in front of the fire and Josh and I are heading to bed to read. Life is good.

Starting over again

I have been a monster slacker when it comes to keeping up my blog but I am going to recommit to blogging on a regular basis. Our summer was soooo busy it made it very hard to make blogging a priority. During the summer we had Josh's brother came to visit, then his parents and we ended our summer with a visit from my dad and Diane. We spent a lot of time at the beach with Kristen and Monty. Our new friends who moved from Ohio.

We got rid of T.V so the kids were outside playing all day long. It reminded me of how we played as kids. Out all day, home long enough to stuff some food in their mouths and then back home to crash for the night. They had many great adventures with their neighbourhood friends. the T.V is back but it will definitely going away again come spring.

Josh worked most of the summer but took some time off to volunteer at the Canada games and do some antique browsing with me. Besides that we spent most of the time hosting guests.

The kids have started a new school year with Sam attending grade 1 and Nesta starting high school. They are all doing very well and we were very happy with their first term report cards.

To update everyone on our chickens, we have 8 laying hens and the roosters were sent to slaughter. It was a tearful morning when they left but at the same time it was a good experience for our family. We have gained a greater appreciation for where our food comes from and what is sacrificed for us. The remaining hens have been laying for a few months now and we are getting between 6-8 eggs a day. Even with me baking all our snacks and bread I have had a hard time using up all those eggs so many of our friends and neighbours have received a carton or two.

We have now reached the Christmas season and all is well in the Biggley home. The kids have emailed Santa with their wish lists and have filled us in on all their Christmas wants. This will be our first Christmas without family but we have been blessed with great friends here who have included us in their Christmas day celebrations.

So with my blog sufficiently updated I will make a new attempt at keeping it current.

Look what I made

Over the past while josh and I have been committed to buying locally, handmade and fresh. So as part of that we have decided to make as much as possible for ourselves. This has involved learning many new skills which have included bread making(without a bread maker) sewing my own clothes, raising hens, growing a garden and most recently canning. Kristen and I went berry picking on Thursday and got a ton of blueberries and raspberries. The next morning I made my first ever batches of blueberry and raspberry jam. guess what? They turned out perfectly:) I used the no sugar needed pectin and added only 1 1/2 cups of sugar per batch which is much better than the 7 cups per batch with regular pectin. We will be getting 300 lbs of peaches and 100 lbs. of pears in the next few weeks so that should keep me busy for a few days:)

crafting

Since it has been like 90 degrees(that's Fahrenheit Liz)all I've done is hang out at the beach and sew. The kids only have 3 weeks left until school starts and they all need new kit bags. So we headed to the mall to check them out and once I saw the $30+ price tags I knew I'd be making them instead of buying them. It then required a trip to the fabric store(woohoo) where I found 100% wool for $1 a meter yes that's right $1 A METER!!!! The first messenger bag I made was a little big for the kids so I guess I'll be forced to use it:) but the second turned out awesome. It is a grey wool outer with a skull and cross bones fabric on the inside. Noah loves it and thinks he looks pretty cool with his new bag. now there are only 3 more to do but since I know how they go together they should only take about an hour or two each to make. I am going to make the younger ones lunch bags too but I'll spare Nesta and let him paper bag.

I have made a few purses for myself( A girl can never have too many purses) and a few pairs of PJ pants($1.50 a pair) But the best so far has been the shirt I made for Paige last night. It was so simple, it only took me about an hour to make and all materials cost me no more than $1.50 a meter. I love bargain priced fabrics!.

Wow it's been a while

I can't belsive it has been almost a month since I last updated my blog. Things have been very busy on this little island of ours. We finished the chicken coop and moved them in. I'd say we have some pretty happy birds. We were on tv yesterday being interviewed about having chickens in the city. We were pleased to find out that our neighbours and the mayor of Charlottetown are OK with our chickens and in fact some of our neighbours are quite happy about it.

The garden is doing quite well, although some things never quite made it past the sprout stage. We do have sugar snap peas, beans,corn ,zuccini, squash, beats, turnips, cucumbers, a few brussell sprouts and brocoli but this year we have TONS of carrrots which is something we couldn't grow last year. We did decide that our garden is a little bigger than we need so we are going to move it to the side yard next year and try the square foot gardening. I love thae garden and spending time in it. I never thought I would enjoy it so much.

What kept us the bussiest was having my mom here for 10 days. We spent some time driving around, enjoying all the beauty of this little island. We had quite a bit of rain and that ment my mom was able to teach Paige and I how to knit. I have to admit that Paige is a better knitter than I am, her tension is perfect. When the sun was shinning we were at the beach. I think this was the kids favorite part of her visit. It was nice for me too. The kids got to play in the water and it gave my mom and I time to hang out and talk. Paige got a special trip with grandma. They headed downtown on the bus and while downtown they had a fish and chip lunch and did some shopping at the Anne of green gables store. It seemed that the 10 days just flew bye. Before we knew it we were dropping my mom off at the airport and saying good-bye(with just a few tears)

Now we are getting ready to have Josh's parents here for 12 days. I am looking forward to having time alone with Josh. He was able to get his vacation at the same time so we plan on making a trip to the temple and taking a day or two to do the PEI antique circuit. I am sure it is going to be another busy month!

Our Canada Day

This was the first year we celebrated Canada Day downtown. Back home we never went downtown because most of the time the streets were filled with loud drunk people so it was a nice change to be able to head downtown and enjoy the festivities. We saw some guys doing some crazy pogo stick tricks and a guy who swallowed fire. We also got to see the animals at the petting zoo and got our picture taken with the Olympic mascots. Paige was able to get her face painted and looked super cute. A trip downtown just wouldn't be complete without a trip to cows so we waited in the long line for our super duper chocolaty and bubble gummy ice cream cones. I think Sam wore more than he ate. We had a great time and I think we might plan to do even more next year.