New Beginnings

I have officially dropped the ball on blogging.  Argh!!  The summer absolutely flew by and the task of summarizing it all is too daunting.  Alas, I offer up the "Cole's Notes" version:

1. We (and by "we" I mean Pete) built a house (refer to last post and a few updates below);

2. Izzy turned 100 and we had a whopping celebration in Ontario with all the extended McKinnon-Corneil-Ferguson clan.  It was fantastic!

The extended family in Collingwood

Izzy on her 100th birthday

The 2015 edition of our favourite family picture

3. We attempted to sell our house privately in the softest market Saskatoon has seen in a decade (ya ya, great timing, we know!).  We did get an offer but it was conditional on the buyers selling their house.  They weren't successful in the timeframe given so we've now listed with an agent.  The saga continues... stay tuned.

Fast forward through summer camps, camping, great visits with family and friends, and here we are in October.  Yikes!  We remain in a period of transition and change.  The kids started at a new school in September and have adjusted remarkably well.  Leah is now in Grade 2, Josh in Grade 4 and Ethan in Grade 6.  Their teachers are fantastic and they are off to a great start.

First day of school

Hockey tryouts have come and gone and everyone is settled on their respective teams.  Ethan is one of 3 first year kids on his Peewee A team (the "Redwing Icehawks").  He's got a challenging year ahead but is excited to be playing with two of his best buds again.  Josh made Atom B and is on a very strong team with some great friends.  Pete is co-coaching his team - the "Redwing Fire".  Last week Leah was adamant that she'd make the switch back to ringette after giving hockey a go this year.  She is one practice in and is already starting to go back on her word.  Watch out for the "Comets Galaxy" novice girls' team... according to their coach they are "out of this world" (yes, Pete is head coach for that team too...).  By the way, if you're ever at the rink catching a Novice game, keep an eye out for the city's newest ref:

All is well on the work front for both Pete and me.  Longo Consulting Ltd had a successful first year and I just signed a new contract with Ipsos Toronto yesterday to kick off my second year on the right foot.

The light at the end of this crazy tunnel is getting brighter and we're all looking forward to getting settled into the new house in the near future.  Here's a sneak peek at some recent pictures:

The upstairs railings that I'll be staining this week.

The kitchen

The start of the much-anticipated backyard!