i'm here!

dear kate,
well . . . here i am in cold lake!  and what a surprise it was for you and mommy!
i drove to your house and parked outside while you and mommy were inside.
of course, you didn't even know i was there!  hee-hee!
i called mommy from my cell phone and she thought i was in ontario at my house.
while we were talking on the phone i snuck up to your front door and rang the bell!
mommy was still talking with me on the phone and she said,
"oh no!  i can't believe it!  somebody is at my door!  just a minute mom . . . "
then . . . she went to open the front door and . . .
surprise!!!!!!  there i was!!!
mommy was so surprised and so happy!  she just couldn't believe it!
she called you to come up from your play room downstairs and told you there was a surprise for you!
and up you came . . . to see nammy in your house!!!!  you were so happy!  you couldn't believe it!

and now . . . let the fun begin!  mommy is going to let you take the week off from daycare and we are going to play and go to the park and have fun together!
i'm so happy to be here with you and mommy!
this is going to be a very, very special thanksgiving for sure!
love,
nammy xox

surprise!!! it's me!!!!

dear kate,
surprise!!!!
the surprise is me!!
today, i'm getting on the plane and flying to your house in cold lake!  woo-hoo!!!
yes . . . i'm coming for a thanksgiving visit with you and mommy!
i can't wait to get there and surprise you both!
see you soon sugar plum!
love,
nammy xox

don't forget ... i told you that a surprise is coming!!

dear kate,
guess what??
a big, big surprise is coming soon!
yes!
you will know about it soon!
love,
nammy xox

thanksgiving is coming . . .

dear kate,

guess what?  

my favourite holiday is coming up soon!

do you know what it is?

no ... it's not christmas!

it's thanksgiving!

i love thanksgiving day so much.

i love decorating my house for fall and i love having friends and family over.

sometimes we have bonfires.

sometimes we have suppers together.

fall is my favourite season of the year!

i love thanksgiving day because it reminds me of all the good things i have to be thankful to God for.

and you are one of those very special good things that i am thankful for.

and so is mommy!

i thank the Lord every single day for you and for mommy 

and i ask Him to protect you and watch over you

and work out His perfect will in your lives.

on thanksgiving i always make a really big feast!

we have turkey, stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce.

and with it we have mashed potatoes, yams, beans, corn, red cabbage.

(all kinds of yummy vegetables!)

we have warm buns slithered in butter.

and pickles and beets.

and i usually make homemade pies for dessert

with ice cream and whipped cream!

sometimes i make apple.

sometimes i make pumpkin.

sometimes i make lemon.

and sometimes . . .

i make all of those!

i like to have my family and friends over on thanksgiving day

so that we can eat together, and laugh and have fun together!

but, you know what?

i wish i could have thanksgiving with you and mommy.

we would have so much fun

and take tons of pictures too!

what great memories we would have!

oh well . . . someday we will do it!

someday, you and mommy will come in the fall and 

have thanksgiving with all of us here in ontario!

love,

nammy xox

a surprise is coming!

dear kate,
i can't believe that september is almost over and it's been six whole weeks since i saw you!  
just imagine . . . six weeks ago you and i were playing together!  it was summertime and you were with your family in ontario, having so much fun!
it sure seems a lot longer than just six weeks ago to me!
i feel like i haven't seen you in sooooooo long - and i miss you so much!
i'm sending you a surprise in the mail today.  
it's a whole bunch of photos of our summer fun together.  you can hold them, and look at them whenever you want to.  i know you will be happy when you remember all of the good times we had this summer!
don't you love surprises?
i do!  that's why i like sending surprises to your home in cold lake!
so, you tell mommy to check the mail this week and you should have it by friday (i hope ...)!

when you get the mail, you can phone me - or skype me - and we can look at the pictures together!
i love you so much my sweet little sugar plum!  i can't wait to see you again and play with you and laugh and read stories and give you lots of hugs and kisses!
love,
nammy xox

great granny joy . . .

dear kate,
isn't this a nice picture of your great-granny joy?

she is so pretty!
when she was a young girl, all of the boys whistled at her!  they thought she was so beautiful!  but she only loved one boy and she married him!  
you know, great-granny joy is my mommy.
and, she is your mommy's granny.
we had fun with her this summer when we went to the mall, didn't we?
remember when we went shopping and she put money in the rides so that you could go on the helicopter and the dragon?  it was so much fun!
and then we went to the library and she read stories to you there!

great-granny joy loves you so much.
she loves it when you come to visit and she thinks about you all the time!
i love great-granny joy, and i know you do too!
love,
nammy xox

can you believe it?

dear kate,
can you believe it?
today - in the evening after supper - i saw another beautiful rainbow!
this time, it was in ontario - at my house!
i took a picture of it . . .

isn't it beautiful?
imagine ... just nine days after i took the picture of the double rainbow in alberta ... i saw this one!
i think that God put the double one in alberta to show us that He is watching over both you and mommy all the time.
He didn't want me to be sad because i was leaving and He wanted me to know that He would take care of you and mommy.
and now, this rainbow at my house is reminding me - again - of how loving and faithful God is!
He will always be with me - and He will always be with you and mommy too!
love,
nammy xox

hi sugar plum!

dear kate,
i'm just going to bed now and i'm laying here thinking about you and all the fun we had together this summer!  

i can hardly believe that the summer is almost over and fall is just ahead.
but, you know what?  
i love the fall.  one of my favourite holidays is in the fall.  do you know what that is?  it's thanksgiving!  
i love thanksgiving.  it's a time when i think about things a lot and thank God for all of His blessings in my life.
and you - my sweet little sugar plum - are one of His biggest blessings!!
i love you so much!
love,
nammy xox

missing you so much . . .

dear kate,
i miss you so much!

i haven't seen you, or talked to you since we flew back from ontario and dropped you off on the 15th of august!  it seems like so long after spending every day with you since july 29th!  i miss you like crazy.
this morning, i was up at 6am putting away all the toys that i had out while you were here.  it was so sad putting everything back away until your next visit . . .
i just love you so, so, so much and always count the months and weeks until i see you and mommy again!
i think that you will be going home this weekend (from your holiday with daddy).  he asked mommy to take you for the weekend and she misses you so much, she can't wait to see you!  she promised me that she would skype me so that we could chat online! i'm so excited to see your adorable face and hear your sweet voice again!
talk to you soon sugar plum!
love,
nammy xox

God's promises . . .

dear kate,
today i had to leave cold lake and fly home to ontario to my house.  frappy missed me and i missed him too.
so ... i guess it's 'goodbye' until we see each other again!
i was driving the car from your home in cold lake to go to the edmonton airport early this morning - and guess what i saw?
here is a picture of it!

it was a beautiful double rainbow on the side of the road!  it was so awesome, that i had to stop the car and take a photo of it!
and, you know what?  it made me remember what the Lord says in His Word (the Bible) . . .
Jesus said that a rainbow is a sign of God's promise to His children.
i remembered that and it made me think again about how faithful God is and about how much He loves us.
even when we don't understand things, we don't ever need to be afraid, because we know that He understands everything and knows the future.
it is so good to know that Jesus takes care of me - and you - and mommy.
it is so good to know that He loves us and will always protect us and be with us.
forever.
love, 
nammy xox

first "big screen" movie experience!

dear kate,
this afternoon nammy took you to your first "big screen" movie in ottawa at the rainbow cinema!  
nicholas came with us.
we were going to see Kung Fu Panda but it was playing in 3D and everyone had to wear 3D glasses to see it properly.  i just didn't think that you would last the whole movie wearing paper glasses, so we decided to see mr. popper's penguins instead!

Jim Carey was in the movie and he was really funny!

You loved the theatre, but wondered why it was so dark in there!  You sat up in your seat and ate some goldfish crackers while we watched the movie.  You were really good and stayed pretty quiet except for a few questions for nammy! after awhile, you crawled up on my knee and pretty soon, you fell asleep.  you woke up for the last 5 minutes of the movie and then it was time to go!
when i asked you if you had fun - and if you liked the movie - you said yes!  so, for the little you did see, i was happy you liked it!
nicholas and i enjoyed it all - hee-hee!
i think next summer you will enjoy the movie-going adventure much more ... and i can't wait to go with you again when you are a little older and a little more wide awake!!  
i love you so much sugar plum - and i'm happy that it was nammy who took you to your first movie - even if you did sleep through most of it!
love,
nammy xox

gum balls . . .

dear kate,
one of the good things about being at nammy's surely is my gumball machine!  there it sits on the shelf in my office - with a container of pennies right beside it!  

you are such a good girl - you get pennies all the time - and you put them into that gumball machine, turn the crank, and presto!!!  out comes a gumball!  
the best thing is that most of the time when you put one penny in - two gumballs come out!  that means that you can share!  and you always ask nammy if i want one, and if i don't, you give one to someone else!  you are so happy to share - and that makes me so happy!
i love you sugar plum!
love,
nammy xox

back to calypso!!

dear kate,
today we went back to our favourite place ... calypso!!!
some of our friends are going to come too!  your best friend, gabe, is coming with his mommy, becci!  here is a picture of gabe at calypso!

zoe is coming too!  she is bringing her mommy, naomi and her nana too!  
what a fun day at calypso!  the weather here in ontario is perfect all the time!  it is so hot and sunny again ... and the water is cool, even though it is heated a little!  this is absolutely your favourite place to be having fun on a day like this!

boy!  it's a good thing we got memberships to calypso!  i think we will be going there almost every day!
i love playing with you at the water park!  it is so much fun!
love,
nammy xox

it's monday already!

dear kate,
can you believe that it's monday already?  wow!  the time sure flies by when you are having so much fun, doesn't it?
today we are going to ottawa.  we are going to go shopping for a little while and buy some clothes and presents for you!

then, we are going to have a picnic lunch at a big park in the city!

we played on the see-saw together and went up and down!!  then i pushed you really, really high on the swing!  we said, "to infinity and beyond!!"  and then we pretended that we could fly on the swing!!

after we played for a long time, we had ice cream!  it was so hot outside that we had to eat it really fast because it was melting, melting, melting!!
what a fun day we had today!
love,
nammy xox

it's tea time!

dear kate,
today when we got back from calypso we decided to have a little tea party together!
so i got out my special tea pot and tea cups and we made tea!  you especially liked the sugar cubes, and you gave them a little lick before we stirred them into our tea!!
i love drinking tea with you sugar plum!
love,
nammy xox

guess where we are going today????

dear kate,
guess where we are went today??
calypso!!!!!

yes!  we went on an all-day picnic to the biggest water park in canada with the highest slide in north america!!!  wow!!!
this is who went:  nammy, frappy, mommy, auntie steph ... and you!

it was a perfect day - really sunny and really hot!  mommy made sure to put lots of sunscreen on you!
we played and played and played and played ... all day long!  up and down and up and down on the slides!  the water is salt water and it smells like we are at the ocean!
what fun we had!
and, guess what?  we are going back again on tuesday!  
i love playing with you sugar plum!
love, 
nammy xox

kittens!

dear kate,
today we had a big surprise!  nammy's friend came for a visit and she brought kittens!!!  they were so adorable!  some were black and white and some were grey and white!  you really like them and decided to put them in your shopping cart to take them for a little stroll!

one little kitten was all black!  that was the one that auntie beka loved - and do you know what?  auntie beka decided that she was going to keep that little black kitty!

i love you sugar plum!
love,
nammy  xox

your first day here!

dear kate,
it's your first morning at nammy's and frappy's and you know what that means!!
it's the breakfast of champions!  lucky charms!!!
you knew right away where nammy keeps your special bowl and plate!
you knew exactly which drawer it was in!
and, you know what?  nammy bought you a new bowl and plate and cup - and it has a princess face on it!

after that we had another surprise!
nammy and frappy bought a new trampoline - and it's just your size!  we had so much fun jumping up and down, up and down!  and when nammy fell down you bounced me!!

in the afternoon we went into Embrun to a big park.  frappy and nammy and auntie beka and auntie steph went.  great granny joy went too!  and so did kelly.  
when we were there you met a new friend named mackenzie!  she was the same age as you and you both played together and had so much!  you brought your dolly and pushed her down the slide and on the swing!

at suppertime great granny joy came to see you!  we had a bbq together and then great granny joy had a surprise too!  she brought you and mommy some presents!!!  yea!!!
what a fun day we had today!
i'm so happy that you are finally here sugar plum!  we are going to have a really fun holiday together!
love,
nammy xox