OC Transpo Strikes and Snow Days

It has been a rough week around here. As of today the public transit system (OC Transpo) has gone on strike. This affects so many people in our city!! It also affects Emily. We rely on that bus system to get her to school everyday. It is too far for her to walk and I would not let her walk alone anyway. By the time she got home It would be dark (she does not get out of school until 3:45) So e are on our own to find ways to get her there. The worst part is that we just signed her up at a tutoring place and she has to get a bus there as well. Rob is going to work from home as much as he can to help with this but it won't always be possible. Hopefully they will end this strike soon.!
To top it off they cancelled school buses today because of bad weather!! Well being the nice mom that I am...I sent my son to school anyway!!! He does not take the bus...he walks (with 2 friends) and it is only a block and a half away!! Emily went today as well...Rob took her and I am going to pick her up...with the help of a neighbour who will watch the daycare kids for me!

Whew...I am exhausted already!!! Is is summer yet?

Model Homes

Rob and I have decided that we want a new home. This one has been good to us (sort of) but we are out growing it and want a few thins from another house. I think the biggest thing is having a drive way and a garage. I am tired of walking the block from my car to my house with groceries!!!
We are also tired of living in a house that needs renovations. We think we are going to go brand new. I want the experience of picking everything and all the fun stuff. Considering this will be the last move we make until we go to a retirement home...this is my only chance to do that!! We think we have it narrowed done to 2 builders: Mattamy Homes or Richcraft.
We will keep you posted. Although this move probably will not happen until next summer!!!

Thanksgiving

We went to Listowel for Thanksgiving this year. Originally we were going to stay home...it is a long trip and were just there in August...but with Bill being sick and still not knowing the test results we decided we should make the trip. It was a long drive...7 hours each way...but we had fun. The turkey was delicious and the company was fun! We played some cards and had a few laughs. The kids got to spend time with their cousins...it was good!
Leanne took some family pictures for us while we were there. Here are a few:

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What's new?

It has been awhile since I have posted so I thought I would just fill you in on what has been going on.
*I have started running again. I am doing the running room program. Right now I am running 5 days out of 7. So far I still love it.
*Rob has been working insane amounts of hours right now...but we are getting closer to being debt free!!!
*We are going to Listowel for Thanksgiving
*Please pray for Rob's brother Bill
*I have started knitting again
*Emily left her trumpet on the city bus...but it was found...thank goodness!!!
*Noah has read 5 chapter books so far!!!
*Emily is loving "The Sisters Grimm" series...she is on book 4
*I can't believe I am going to admit this...but I think I like peas now
*We got to talk to my brother and Lauren on Skype the other day...it is cool. They are doing well in Scotland so far.
*Please pray that Lauren can find a job in Scotland soon!
*I can't decide if I should let me hair grow out again

That is it for now...I might add more later.
Mel

Hockey Season has begun!!

Rob and I had made plans to go The Keg for dinner to celebrate our Anniversary. I was out shopping for clothes for the kids when Rob called me. He said that he boss just called and offered him two free tickets to the hockey game. He wanted to make sure that I wanted to go...of course I did. We went to dinner first at Scotiabank Place and then to the game. The seats were amazing. Center Ice...12 rows up!!! Perfect view of all the guys! Dany Heatley scored the first goal!!!!! We won the game 3-2. I am so glad that hockey is back!!!!

GO SENS GO!!!

14 years!

I cannot believe that Rob and I have been married for 14 years. I feel like I have known him forever. It has been an adventure being married to Rob. We have had our good times and not so good times but over all it has been great!
I love you tons!!!
Mel

1st day

Emily and Noah both started school yesterday. Emily is in grade 8 and Noah is in grade 5. WOW...when did I get so old that I have kids this age!! They both seem to like their teachers even though they both came home with homework tonight! I am praying for a good year and 2 hard working kids!

Fast

I have found this to summer has gone by very fast. We have had fun but the time seems to have flown by. The first part of the summer was a lot of planning for camp and then camp came and went. Now we are getting ready for school. I cannot believe that Emily is going into grade 8 and Noah grade 5...WOW!!! I guess it is time to gear up for math homework and book reports!!

holidays

I have decided that 2 weeks just goes too fast. Our holidays are over and we are back to work on Monday. The first week was spent at music camp. We had an amazing time. It was the first music camp at L'Achigan in 15 years. We had 28 kids come and we had fun!! Here are a few pics:

For the second we we decided to visit some family. Ian and Lauren are moving to Scotland in September so we had a farewell BBQ with all the family on Tuesday. This is the first family picture we have had taken in many years.

After that we went to Listowel to see Rob's family and spent a few days there. We had fun until the drive home. It took 8 hours. TOO LONG! We were stuck in traffic through Toronto. But all in all we had a great holiday. Now back to work!!

weekend

My parents offered to take my kids for the weekend...of course I said yes!! Rob and I have had the weekend to ourselves. It has been glorious!! Last night we went out for dinner and then picked up a few things at IKEA. We then came home and did not have to put anyone in the shower or in bed...we just sat and talked and watched some tv!! Today we slept in until 10:30...heaven!! We went and saw The Dark Knight this afternoon. It was as good as the reviews said it would be. We were disappointed to see children there...some as young as 6-7. It is not a movie for kids. I think Emily and Noah would have nightmares after seeing it. It is a very dark movie...good though. I could not help but be sad watching Heath Ledger knowing he is no longer with us. Very sad!
Anyway...that is the weekend so far. Only one more week of work and then I am on holidays for 2 weeks!!!!!!!

great summer so far

We have had a great summer so far. We have not taken any holidays yet so I are getting tired but I only have one more week of work and then we are off!! We are going to music camp for the first week and then up to visit Rob's mom the second. We might hit up Wasaga Beach in there too.

We went up to Hamilton a couple of weeks ago. Rob's brother Dave has out in a pool and built an awesome deck. The kids had a ton of fun playing in the pool and we had a great visit with Dave and Leanne and other family. Here are some pics:


1. Grandma (Rob's Mom and the three granddaughters...Becca, Emily and Stephanie
2. Dave and Leanne's Dog Carmen and Fibi getting to know each other.
3. Rob having a moment with his Mom
4. Noah and his cousin Jake

WET!!

So I think I have finally dried out enough to post a new message. We went camping for the July long weekend...well we made it a long weekend by taking the Monday off!! It was probably the worst camping trip we have had. The company we were with was great...but the rain just would not stop. It started as we were setting up...lovely! It rained all day Saturday too! On Sunday a huge storm hit that sent us all over the edge. 2 families out of 3 went home. The other ones had a trailer so they were drier then us! Here are a few pictures:







The water outside our tent.

During the storm Fibi was really scared!

The sun came out for about an hour so the kids went for a swim...looking good Noah!!!

The princess puppy in her chair!

Almost done!!!

I cannot believe school is done tomorrow!! This was a very busy year and it went by very quickly. Now there were some nights of grade 7 math homework when I thought this year would never end...but now that we are here it seems to have flown by. Emily got her report card yesterday. She did well...passed to grade 8!! AHHHHHHH Noah gets his today.

No huge plans this summer. We are going camping this weekend. We took the Monday off to make it a 4 day weekend!! We are going with some friends. Should be fun. I am looking forward to relaxing!!
We have music camp in August and one more week off after that...not sure what we are doing that week yet.
That's it for now!

Spring

Life continues to be busy for the Gaus family. Both kids are playing soccer now. It is fun...but keeps us busy. Emily plays for 2 hours on Mondays and Noah plays 1.5 hours on Wednesdays. I will post some pictures of them soon.

Emily went on 3 trips this spring. The first was to Toronto with her band from school. The had a packed full 3 days going to places like: Playdium, Mother Tuckers, The Zoo, CN Tower, Medieval Times and Wonderland. They did play their instruments twice I think. She had a great time. It was pretty tough to put her on a bus and send her off for three days!!

The second trip was with the church YP Band. Rob and I went as chaperone's for this trip. We got to travel all the way to Toronto on a school bus. FUN!!!! My neck was a mess when I got back...the chiropractor is still trying to fix it!! But we had fun. We went to the CN Tower and hung out at the Eaton Center for awhile. No stress there...taking 50 kids to the Eaton Center in downtown Toronto!!!

Emily's 3rd trip was to Camp Arrowhead with the grade 7's. They spent 3 days boating, Kayaking, tubing, and may other sports. She participated in a talent night...she sang a solo. I was pretty impressed...you could not pay me to get up in front of a group and sing!! She also did Karaoke! She loves to sing!!

So...this has kept us busy through out the spring...packing Emily and unpacking Emily.

I am looking forward to summer for a few reasons...I am tired of making lunches and getting kids ready for school. It will be nice to have a more relaxed schedule. But with that relaxed schedule also means 4 more kids are here during the day! But that is ok...I have theme weeks planned an tons of crafts and activities. We are going to hit up a few parks that we normally don't get to. Should be fun!

Anyway...that's it for now!

Noah

Noah has been pretty hard to live with these days. We are a pretty big hockey family and Rob, Emily and I all cheer for the Ottawa Senators. Noah has chosen to cheer for the Pittsburg Penguins. Truth be told he will follow Gary Roberts anywhere. He has a Leafs shirt, a Florida Panthers Jersey (signed by Gary himself) and now this Pittsburg shirt shown above. With the Sens out and The Pens still in...he has been a bit obnoxious!! But we still love him!! The sad part is that we find ourselves cheering for them too!

April

First I have to say that I am a terrible blogger. I never know what to write so I usually write nothing at all.

So...my beloved Ottawa Senators went out in the first round. And they went out bad!! 4 straight games...4 straight loses. :( Not good! Oh well...like Leaf fans always say... there is always next year!!

Our dog Fibi is doing great. She was sick last week. They think she might have eaten something or even caught the flu...but it wasn't pretty. She is so small that she cannot get off our bed. I guess we missed the signs in our sound sleeping and she threw up over the side of the bed (Rob stepped in it) and then she pooped in the hallway. I took her to the vet and they gave her a shot of gravol and a perscription. $130.00 later she is all better. She is back at the vet today for her surgery. her previous owners had not had her spayed...we wanted it done!! Hopefully she will be ok!! I will let you know!

Rob and Emily have been busy the last few days building a structure for Emily's science project. She decided to build the CN Tower. I think it turned out great!! Good job guys.

Well that's it for now...I will try and get better at posting!!

Playoffs begin!!!

GO SENS GO!!!!!

This was me last year during the playoffs. Best game I ever went to!!

FINALLY!!!

vs.







We finally beat the Leafs last night!! Great score 8-2
GO SENS GO!!!!!

wondering

If you have a dog...I am wondering where your dog sleeps?
Thanks

We got a dog!!!!!

So after years of trying to decide if we needed a dog in our family, we have finally taken the plunge! We knew we did not want a puppy though. With the daycare I do not have time to train a dog...not did I want to. Our new dog is a 4 year old Shitzu named Fibi. She weighs a total of 8 pounds. She came from a nice family. They could not afford this years shots or getting her fixed, that is why they were selling her. She is very sweet and quiet and has a great disposition. Here are some pictures:

March Break

It is March Break for my kids this week and I took the week off as holidays. I am spending some much needed time alone with my kids. We have had a great week so far.
The week started with a huge snow storm on Saturday. I think the final count was 51 cm of snow. Needless to say we stayed in that day and the next while they plowed all the streets.
On Monday I took the kids to Cosmic Adventure. They had fun running around while I sat and read a book. Fun for all!!! We picked up Rob at work and went to Lone Star for supper!!
Today I took the kids to see Alvin and the Chipmunks!! It was all right...kinda corny but the kids liked it.
Tomorrow, Rob is taking the day off and is going to take the kids swimming...I am not a fan of swimming. I am going to get a pedicure instead!!
I will post later on in the week on what else we did!!

Busy weekend

Our YP band is doing an exchange with a band in Newmarket this year. This past weekend was their turn to come and visit us. It started out pretty rough for them. They left Newmarket at 3:00 pm. They soon discovered that the wipers did not work. SO they drove all the way into Toronto to get a new bus. They gave them a very ugly blue school bus. Not cool! By this time it was snowing quite a bit. They never got over 70 on the 401. At 11:00 that night they had only made it to Kingston. They made the decision to stop and hotel it. They finally got here on Sat morning! We did the canal thing and some get to know you games followed by a concert that evening. They all (our band too) did an amazing job! We were lucky enough to catch up with some family that we have not seen in years. 3 of their kids are in the band. That was really nice. We will get to catch up again when our band does the return trip in late May. Hopefully we will not have any snow issues...but at the rate we going you never know!!

clutter

I want to get rid of clutter. I am tired of "stuff" being everywhere. I think some serious spring cleaning is in order. I have been looking through the IKEA catalogue at what I can buy to help with the clutter. I am thinking of this desk for in the living room for my laptop. Then all my daycare files and stuff that I use on a daily basis can go in the drawers instead of my coffee table.

I am also thinkiing of getting these chairs for the basement. We have a big sectional couch down there taking a lot of room. This way the boys will still have something to sit on while they play games but it will not take up a lot of room. I am also thinking of this shelf to put all the game systems and games on beside the tv.

Finally I am thinking of this shelf to put downstairs beside Rob's desk for all his "stuff". Right now it is all over the desk and small table.

Now I just have to convince Rob that we need it all!!!

Proud

I am pretty proud of myself. I have ran 3 times already this week!!!

nothing exciting

*I am addicted to Scrabulous on Facebook!
*I am getting tired of snow and cold.
*I don't like income tax time.
*I watch The Biggest Loser....and I enjoy it!!
*Emily has passed 2 math tests in a row.
*Noah had a detention at school last week...YIKES!!!
*I always have too much laundry to do.
*my house needs to be painted from top to bottom.
*I wish the Ottawa Senators could win a game!
*I hope Dany Heatley comes back on Sat like predicted!
*I am starting my spring cleaning early.
*the kitchen is first to clean out
*I hope the canal opens back up so we can go this weekend.
*we have discovered a new family gmae...Blokus...it is great to play with all 4 of us!!

Feeling crappy

I have caught this terrible cold. I feel horrible. I haven't had a cold like this for a long time! I even took the day off work. I never take time off just because I am not feeling well. But I just couldn't deal with the kids today feeling the way that I do.
Anyway...I am going to make a tea for my sore throat.
Have a good day!

My Birthday

It was my birthday yesterday and I turned 34. I must admit I am not really enjoying getting older. I had a bit of a cry on New Years this year because my baby will be in the double digits this year (10) and Emily will be a teenager all in one year. Makes me feel old!!
Anyway...my birthday was like any day really. Life goes on even with a birthday. There was still homework and reading and practicing to get done. Rob did bring home Lone Star takeout for dinner. It was delicious!! We had chocolate fondue instead of cake for dessert. YUM!! We watched American Idol all together and then put the kids to bed. It was a great day.
Rob got me new running shoes for my birthday. I have started running again and needed a better pair. I am also getting new kitchen dishes. My old ones are looking a little worn. They are white and about 8 years old. They are yellowing a little and just look old. Time for new ones.
Anyway...good times all around!!

We won!!!

The game last night was pretty good. I have seen more exciting games but it was still good to watch. We were winning 2-0 going into the third and Buffalo tied it up near the end. We went into overtime and then a shootout. Thanks to Mike Fisher and Dean McAmmond we won the shoot out to win the game!!! It was my first time watching the shootout live. I have to say it is pretty stressful!!
GO SENS GO!!!

GO SENS GO

One of the daycare parents gave me hockey tickets for Christmas. The game is tonight. I am very excited!! We are playing Buffalo...should be a good game!!
GO SENS GO!!

January

I find January a very blah month...it doesn't help that today is very foggy and rainy. It was 10 degrees today. Crazy. Last week was -33.
On another note I was very impressed with my husbands gifts for me this Christmas. First I got jewelery. The only jewelery that I have gotten is my wedding rings. I had left some strong hints that I wanted jewelery and he came through. I got a gold necklace with 3 diamonds. It is from the past, present, future collection. It is beautiful. He gave me earrings that match but they are really not my style so we took those back and we ordered my family ring. It is something that I have wanted for awhile but he didn't want to pick one for me. It will be in in about 3 weeks. I can't wait. He also gave me a Sens jersey (that I also had to return due to a hole in it...they did not have anymore so I got a new Sens sweatshirt instead) and a Dany Heatly hat. These were from Emily. Noah gave me choc brown slipper crocs. I love them!!
Anyway...he did pretty well considering he went shopping the Sat before Christmas!!!

New Years Resolutions

I was going through my journal the other night and came across my resolutions from last year. I am embarrassed to say that I did not follow through on very many of them. But I am going to try again his year. This is my list:

1. pray more often
2. try and pay off some debt
3. start running again...I want to run the 10 km in May???
4. take the kids on a trip...possibly Disney??
5. see a chiropractor for my back
6. stop yelling at my kids as much as I do

Here's to hoping!!

Good Holidays

We had a really great Christmas this year. I have posted some pictures on facebook if you are interested. We spent Christmas Eve at Mom and Dad's again this year. We had a yummy spaghetti dinner after church and then the kids opened their traditional jammies. Christmas morning was fun but a little overwhelming. The kids got too much this stuff this year. We are going to do something about that next year!! We went sledding in the afternoon and had a blast. The walk up the hill almost killed me though...I need to get in better shape!! The turkey dinner was amazing and we ended the day very full!!
On Boxing Day my Aunt Dorothy loves going shopping. We hit Best Buy at 8:30 in the morning and then some other stores after a quick brunch back at home. Some good buys were found by all!!
Ian and Lauren came home alter that week and we have spent some goof times with them. Noah has enjoyed beating Ian on the Wii!! and Emily has enjoyed singing Karaoke with Ian and Lauren. We will all miss them when they head back to Winnipeg!
Anyway...it was back to work today but felt that I had a nice relaxing holiday spent with family. I hope all of yours was great too!!