"Everyone we know is just giving out Candy???"

Wow, our first Halloween together as a "family"!! When Mark got home from work we dove right into the Halloween spirit. After sitting on the kitchen counter for two weeks, our rather large pumpkin finally got carved. Man, I really don't remember pumpkins being so much work!! My mom or dad must have always done the hard part of scrapping out the pumpkin guts, luckily Mark was here to do that part!! After some sweat and tears our pumpkin was successfully carved to Mark's scary-standards and we were both pretty dang proud of it. (However, both Mark and I agreed that when we have kids they'll have to go to Grandpa and Grandma's to carve pumpkins.. there is no way we're doing that again!! What a nasty job!!)

Duke however was not a big fan of Halloween. He hated his Halloween costume!! Everytime I dressed him up in his cute Kitty costume he would just lie there and mope with big, sad, puppy-dog eyes. He did however love it when all the kids would come to the door. He got several compliments on how cute he was and he even managed to sneak out of the house a time or two.

The cold weather and snow sure did take a toll on how many trick or treaters we had. We did manage to see a very pretty Tinker Belle (Janelle), a rather hungry Spongebob Squarepants (Matthew) and the cutest little chicken you ever saw!! (When I asked Brett if I could take his picture to show Robyn his costume, he blatantly told me, "No Mandee, there's no time! We have to get more candy!!")

After only about 20-25 kids we are still left with a HORRENDOUS amount of candy and chocolate. What a shame. What are we ever going to do with so much candy?? Now with Halloween behind us it's time to look forward to Christmas!!

We got dumped on!

What a nasty surprise we woke up to this morning. SNOW!!! It's everywhere!!! And it keeps coming!!! Mark woke up extra early so he could go out and shovel the sidewalks; half an hour later they were COVERED in snow again!! Needless to say that put Mark in kind of a grumpy mood. Duke loves the snow. On our morning walk Mark and I were freezing, but Duke just wanted to keep on going. He especially loves to eat it! I am worried about how the drive to work will be tonight, but even worse, the ride home at midnight! Good thing we ran out to Canadian Tire to get some snow brushes!! (Shhhh don't tell Opa that we went shopping on a Sundache.... you know what I mean.)

Update on married life...

Well, it's been about two and a half months since the "big day" and everyone keeps asking, "So, how's married life?" To be honest... its pretty dang easy. Mark and I have hardly found the time to see each other, yet alone bicker and banter over silly things like squeezing the toothpaste from the middle (which is how all the cool people do it by the way), or someone's annoying habit of leaving ALL the cupboard doors open (cough cough, that's MARK!!)

Mark leaves for work (Wagenaar's Moving) every weekday at 7:30am. He likes it a lot, and is getting to drive more and more. By the time he gets home, I have usually already left to go to work at WestJet. My shifts usually start around 3:00pm-4:30pm and end around 11:30pm-1:00am. I am really enjoying the people there and the job itself; but man do the hours suck!! Hopefully in November when repreferencing comes around I will be able to change to a day shift.

We have pretty much settled in to our new home. Majority of the pictures and curtains are hung and it is starting to feel like home. We are living in a duplex off of 49th Street in Glenbrook. Considering most of my family lives within a five minute walk, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else!! (However, it does kind of scare me that Jeff and Laura can see into our kitchen from their living room!)

Although the house is very small, both Mark and I were finding it very lonely when we were home alone without each other. So, we've added another member to our family. Meet Duke. Duke is a Golden Retriever; he is so adorable and we love him to death. And boy is he smart already!! He is only 9.5 weeks old and already he knows how to sit and he barks at the front door to let us know he needs out... but maybe he only seems smart because I'm comparing him to Peeka and Boo. heehee.

So that's what is new here with us. Hopefully I will be pretty faithful at updating this!!