A sunday morning wake up call..

which also lead to limited power and no water..AGAIN ..a HUGE wind storm beat up our tree and knocked out one of our power lines...we spent the day removing the tree before sending everyone to Oma's for a meal and showers....thankfully Hydro restored power early this morning....24 hours after the storm.....CRAZY December weather...and did I mention that it was only CHRISTMAS just days before where we had 2 feet of snow and an ice rink for the driveway.....it now looks like spring outside.....I knew SANTA should not have bought those skis....

Merry Christmas from our Family.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

mail delivery...????

Sunday afternoon after an enjoyable breakfast at the hotel with Jo...we headed home......approaching our driveway....we noticed our MAILBOX in the ditch ..dragged about 30 feet from where it should be standing.....what the heck?..did the snowplow hit it?.....parking....we unloaded the truck...and at the front door.....it stood.....a BRAND NEW MAILBOX neatly packaged with a note.....Dear homeowner...I am so sorry but yesterday I slid off the road and took your mailbox with me....I went out today finding an exact replacement...sorry for the inconvenience and Merry Christmas......imagine someone doing something so nice...okay she wiped out our mailbox ..but to go replace it....she could have just drove away...we would have never known any different......its good to know that Christmas does bring out the best in people..........the only thing....we no longer get mail delivery to our personal box.........I called the lady....thank you for your kindness but you can return the mailbox to get your money back.......and merry Christmas to you too. :)

weekend fun...

We spent another Saturday night in downtown Toronto. Our plans included a stay over at the Delta hotel and a birthday party celebration for my Nana at my aunt's house. With Justin in charge of babysitting..we headed out to the lobby...my aunt Jo had flown in from Ottawa and was waiting for us. A quick chat in the cab ride over before getting to the party which was well underway. Kisses and hugs to all the family members and a toast to my Nana on her 90th. The rest of the evening was spent retelling old family stories while enjoying good food and sparkling wine......a great evening enjoyed by all.


( short and brief....its Christmas for heaven sakes...I don't have much time to blog!!) :)

snowed in.....

Despite the snowstorm warnings......school was a go...no snow day....well not officially.....thankfully Justin is done exams so I didn't have to tackle that road trip .....just a quick run across the street to drop off Katie and Jamie...I was due back at the school for Jamie's Christmas concert at 10:30...before I made my way to the kindergarten classroom for lunch duties. I kept the kids inside for recess watching the snow fall and wondering if the buses will be able to plow their way through to get these kids home. At 1 o'clock...I left the school with Katie and Jamie in tow ..many other parents had already started picking up their kids..hoping to start the holidays a few hours earlier. I am now stuck inside thinking of the million things I have to do.....I guess I should be grateful that we will indeed have a white Christmas. Now I have some time to clean the house...it has been waiting for me all week.... I have cancelled guitar lessons...the kids are upstairs fighting...sorry...playing video games...I just have to wait for Brian to get home safely....I wonder if it is too early to pop open the wine and watch " It's a wonderful life".....its a perfect day .....its a snow day.

more parties...

Our family spent Saturday night at the King Edward hotel in downtown Toronto. Justin was in charge of babysitting while Brian and I went to the Distillery for a Christmas Bash. There were close to 500 people at the event and running out of red wine by 8:30 pm didn't seem promising until a liquor run made way with cases of more red wine......ummm..CHEAP red wine......can you say headache and hangover......UGGG!....and I know that crashing at 2:30 in the morning didn't help matters but Nadia and I were just having too much fun.The kids woke us up at 9 am..but the room was still spinning.....I layed back down sleeping till checkout time...when the maid woke us up for housekeeping.....fast showers and a stop at TIM HORTONS for a LARGE COFFEE was in order before Brian and Justin walked over to his office for some exam studying and dockets. Valet had my car ready and I headed home with the 2 younger ones....slept for 2 more hours before I had to get my body up and ready for a BIRTHDAY SWIMMING party in Aurora.............and even though both my kids passed the swim test so I could hang out with the parents on the sidelines nursing my headache...I offered my services when Angelina arrived with floaties on her arms and a mother who doesn't swim!!!....don't worry Mrs. K will go in the pool with you honey...........headache and all......by the way...Mrs. R...you owe me a EXTRA LARGE COFFEE...lol..........we made our way home before 7...I stuck the kids in front of tv to watch the POLAR EXPRESS......and went to bed.....the moral of this story....DO NOT DRINK CHEAP RED WINE when you have to attend a birthday party the next day with 20 screaming 5 years olds who like to splash HUNGOVER mommy's who just want to go to BED. oh the pain...ouch!

The matriarch

Meet an incredible woman who beginnings were humble. Her mother was the daughter of an Indian princess,.. her father from a working class home. She was a sibling to 8 who lived on a farm in southern Manitoba. Her father liked his whiskey a little too much and her mother died giving child birth when Blanche was only 8. After raising her siblings...she married a British bloke ... had a family of her own...6 children in all ....and many grandchildren whom she also parented. Her faith kept her strong even after many challenges from God. She taught me how to be a lady, love my God and be a good mother and wife. She has now lived to see all of her family grow up,.. even outliving her spouse. She turns 90 next week ...now blind and partially deaf ...she still wakes up everyday being thankful. I know my time with her will end soon but she will always be apart of who I am. She changed my life for the better so many years ago when I was a child..an innocent victim of circumstance...she was there to wrap her arms around my broken heart and bless me with her love.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANA! I LOVE YOU!

oh christmas tree.....

Oh Christmas tree...how come you never turn out looking like a Martha Stewart tree?...Every year I have visions of white lights with silver and gold decorations and trim...but am always over-ruled with tradition and kids who will have nothing less than a tree with a million ornaments and multi colored lights....its okay though...cuz ...I enjoy you just the same....even if you look more like a Charlie Brown tree....my kids decorated you and that's all that counts!!..

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas...

This was the weekend for the official kick off for the Koscak Christmas season with the hanging of the outside Christmas lights. Brian and Justin were left in charge under my orders and thankfully there were no glitches while I finished the Christmas cards. With the snow falling later in the day...we headed to the Varsity Arena for a Christmas Skate with Santa party hosted by Daddy's law firm. It was Mommy's turn to skate this year and the kids encouraged me as I made my way around the arena one lap at a time. After pizza and hot chocolate, Santa was giving out gifts to the all the good boys and girls..a great night of fun. This morning we headed out to Horton's tree farm for our annual tradition of cutting down our tree. The weather did get the better of us though when we decided to grab a pre-cut 9 foot tree instead of going out into the bush.. which put Jamie in a mood..( notice he is not looking at the camera!).he loves tradition and he was not impressed that we were messing with it!....but with - 25 degree windchill ..we were anxious to get back to the warm car. Now this week I must start some baking along with decorating the tree and just maybe I will be ready this year for Christmas!

old is new again!

I can't help but feel like I am in a time warp. Justin took his birthday money and bought himself a TURNTABLE...yes that's right a record player. He found Brian's old albums last year and has been intriqued enough to want to listen to them...Can you believe with all the technology today and him insisting on a IPOD touch last Christmas...he suddenly has gone retro on me...in fact you can now buy ALBUMS in the music stores. For the first time in years...I listened to Trooper on vinyl..over and over again as the boys sat around the turntable watching it spin. I thought I would dedicate a video to Justin looking back on his 13th year with their favorite trooper song playing in the background..



Justin turns 14. from justanotherstayathomemom on Vimeo.