So Thankful for Thanksgiving!

What a weekend it has been. It was Canadian Thanksgiving this past Monday and Mike and I had the opportunity to head down to Windsor for a few days to celebrate with my familia. It has been over 7 years since I have been able to have Thanksgiving with my family...and it was well worth the wait! I so look forward to my Mother's creamed carrots, sweet potato souffle, butter tarts and apple crisp. My little Mamooshka worked so hard for almost 2 days just so the 12 of us could enjoy one scrumdiddilyumpcious meal! Aren't Moms just the best! We headed down Friday night and left on Monday only to be able to come back here to Mike's parents and have yet again, another turkey dinner. Two Thanksgiving Dinners in two days = one happy and a little rounder girl! Mom Ryan sure had a lovely spread as well and I am one thankful daughter in law.

Fall is definitely here in Burlington! It's so beautiful here. I forgot how much I love the fall season. It sees like in Alberta it goes from Summer to Winter and Fall might last a total of a week or so. (I believe they already have had snow! mmmm...don't miss that part). The leaves on the trees here are so gorgeous. I'll have to take some pics. There is a tree that is completely red right outside in our backyard.

Living with the In Laws has been awesome so far. We truly do feel blessed that they have let us crash here for a year. Our original plan was that once Mike graduated from NAIT in Edmonton, we would move to Guelph Ontario so he could continue on to get his degree. Well unfortunately that just wasn't in the cards for us yet as he wasn't accepted into the program. The thing that stinks about it is this school is pretty much the only school in all of Canada that has his program (Landscape Architecture) and they only had 6 seats available this year. Come to find out that 13 people applied which doesn't make our odds very good. Mike was so disappointed and so was I as this threw our plans way off. Luckily he spoke to one of the Deans of the program who told him to contact him when he reapplies next year and he'll help him put forward the best application he can. Acceptance into this program is based on three things:

1. Grades
2. Creative Portfolio
3. An essay on the Landscape Architect job.

It's pretty tough to get in so we're hoping that next year it will work out. In the meantime, we decided that we would spend this next year saving as much moola as we can and my in laws were gracious enough to let us stay here for the year. It's been so nice being close to family. My family is only a 3 1/2 hour drive which is nice as well. We really have missed out on the little things like Sunday dinners, being able to celebrate holidays/special occasions, just hanging out playing a game or watching a movie, etc. and now with having Jack, we want them to be able to enjoy him just as much as we do. Anywho, so that is what we've been up to. Mike got a job in his field so that was a huge blessing. He's liking it so far, just not used to the commuters traffic. We live only about 40 mins from Toronto so the traffic here around rush hour is CRAZY!!!

Jack is cuter than ever. I swear he gets bigger by the day and is constantly changing. He has started the beginnings of what I believe is a laugh and it melts my heart everytime he smiles. I've told him that the only thing I ask of him is that he has to smile at me at least once a day and then I'm good to go. He's sleeping for longer stints at a time which i am soooo grateful for! I remember the first night he slept for 7 hours I about jumped out of my bed for joy! I think I had to do a triple take at the alarm clock to make sure that it really had been 7 hours. I could have kissed his cute little face off!!! He's also so happy and talkative in the morning. I can sit there and make baby talk with him for at least a good 1/2 hour. It's adorable!!