Wow, time flies! I haven't written in ages. The renovations are complete and another Christmas is behind us. We had Art home for five months so we all went into shock after he left for his first trip back out to The Fort. I still haven't found a sitter so there has been a lot of juggling going on around here and I never felt like I got into the 'swing of things' before he was heading back home for his days off. Good or bad? I don't know. He's on a new job site and a new shift which has its good and bad points. He's only away now for 20 days at a time and then home for 8 days but unfortunately for him he's working nights.

We finished the renovations on the children's room just before Christmas so things were a little hairy leading up to the holidays. The room looks beautiful and they love it which is the most important thing. Even better--Josiah loves his new bed. He knew from the start that it was going to be his room too but I didn't have high hopes that he had any plans of moving in there--but I was wrong. From the moment we put the new mattress on the bottom bunk he was dragging everyone in to show off his new bed. And he has slept in there every night since the first night. Two and half, and made the transition from the family bed to his own all by himself without any lasting psychological issues--take that Dr. Phil! Not that he doesn't still crawl in with us in the wee hours of most mornings.

It is almost spring and it seems like it's been an awfully long winter. We're taking a mini break and going to Mexico at the end of March. We really didn't want to have to do any work on this vacation, we're both tired trying to adjust to our new schedule so I made it all about the kids. I found a place that has a kid's club from 18 months to 12 years so there's something for everyone. I'm probably going to hate the place because it is such a huge resort--but it will be nice to be in the warm sun for a week. I'm looking forward to the break. We're also planning on spending at dat at Mexico's ecological park, Xcaret. I think that will be our only excursion, otherwise it will become 'work'. Art and I have been to the ruins at Chichen Itza and Tulum before and although Hannah would probably love it I don't feel like spending 3 hours on a bus with Josiah. I think he'll have way more fun on the beach.

Natasha moved home recently so we've been spending a lot of time with her catching up. She spent the past year and a half in Ottawa working on getting together a demo cd of her music. It sounds fabulous! She had some health problems while she was away and has moved home to be near family and do some recuperating. She's been splitting her time between our place and my parent's until she can find an apartment and the children have been enjoying having her around. You can check out a sampling of her music at www.myspace.com/natashapeach