The End. And the Beginning.

This week, as you might know, has been quite a busy time.  Well... this week, this month, this year.

We're in a new town, with two new residences (one temporary, one permanent) and a new vision for our lives.

I'm mourning some of the parts of Ottawa life, namely people I'm missing, but I'm equally excited about what we're starting here.

It seemed, therefore, like an appropriate time to start a new blog. 

Don't worry... this one will always be here, with all it's 633 posts worth of nonsense.  I could never delete it as it's my only clear record of the early days of child-rearing. 

But, admit it, chuckwagonsworld is a mouthful.  And, at least for me, it represents my time in Ottawa.

So, if you'd care to continue reading my meaningless but well-intentioned web log, please join me at

The Chronicles of PoHo @ http://www.po-ho.blogspot.com/

More concise, non?

Hope to see you there.

xo  Lee

Packed up and ready to go!

Still alive!

A long, long week, my friends.

You know how you always read that moving your family tops the list of stressful life events?  Well... it's true!  I think Chris and I are just looking forward to the return of usual chaos.

Chris is still in Ottawa, as the house didn't close until late this afternoon.  I'm in Peterborough with my family, and back and forth to our rental house in PoHo (45 minutes away), trying to organize our stuff enough to move in there.  We take possession of our new house on Monday.

Totally, totally crazy.  There's a reason people stay in the same house/town forever. 

But!  The worst is over, in terms of stress/craziness/packing/unpacking and now we can get into the new routine of school/daycare/renovations/etc.  Doesn't sound that much less stressful, but I'm hopeful.

No new photos.  I haven't had a moment to document a single thing, but you can bet I'll be taking lots of photos of our great new place on Monday.

Thanks for sticking with me.  Regular posting to resume when regular life resumes.

xo

Dear, sweet Hannah

This is a short post, as I'm actually leaving town this morning...  FOREVER!  (Okay, that's a bit dramatic.  I know I'll be back!  But I will be a visitor after today.)

Also, elaborating on the subject will cause me to start crying again and I have a long drive ahead of me this morning.

Leave it to say that the 2 1/2 years we've spent with Hannah as part of our family has been wonderful.  I'm not sure how I will manage without her sunny self arriving every few mornings to whisk the boys off to fun.

Thanks Hannah.  We miss you already.  xo

Thanks, Uncle Phil, for taking some beautiful photos.  Smooooooooooooch.

Sorry, sorry, sorry...

I am moving after all!

The last week has been packing, cleaning, organizing and running a garage sale and hosting a going away party for 40.  Forgive the lack o' posts.

I leave for good a week today, so not much time for blogging and taking pictures.  I managed to get these ones the other day when the boys were laughing, rocking and taking apart chair cushions.

Just cute enough:

Or, should I say, 'cute' until Charley turns into a piggy-pirate.  "Oink, mateys!"

Weekend escape

We felt the need to escape the craziness of the house this weekend, so we did a day trip to Perth and Smiths Falls, about an hour south of Ottawa.  It was a great break and reminded us of all the reasons we are moving to a small town.   And we went to the train museum!  Can't beat that.

Riverside, in Perth

A serious strut for a 2 year old...

Dare I say, Charley's favourite part was the train table (nothing like the familiar!), and Daddy's favourite part was the napping.  No shame, that one...

Less than 2 weeks until Ottawa departure... Doing fun things now, like utility hookups and crawling under the attic eaves looking for bits and pieces.  Sweaty and dusty!

Doesn't this just make you tired??

It's a million degrees and these crazy kids just want to jump off ye olde vintage couch onto the beanbag chair. It's now a dare-devil sport where they see how far away they can move the chair and still land on it. Good times.

Also: Sam hasn't actually turned into a eunuch-ed Ken-doll....I was just protecting his shame, after shaming him with the hair-do photos.

Full-blown denial happening at this end... less than 3 weeks until departure and the house is still relatively un-touched by the 'moving bug'. Must really, really focus at some point. La dee dah...

When hairbrushes attack! (or: Is it just time for a haircut?)

My hair is very, very straight.  I am not one of the family members bestowed 'body' in the hair department.  I do know, however, that it's a bad idea to brush one's curly hair when it's dry.  There's a poof-phenomenon that occurs... my sister Sarah has taught me that.

Sam has been lucky enough to inherit curls from one side of the family or the other.  I'm not sure if they will last into adulthood (and they do seem to be humidity/sweaty nap induced), but for now they are quite adorable.

So, the point:  When Sammy found a hairbrush the other day (in the house, I mean... not on the street!) I couldn't resist messing with his hair. 

It is certain that he will loathe me in the future for these pictures.  He was pretty much loathing me during the actual event.  He's cool enough to know when I'm mocking him.  And laughing at him.  Really, really hard.

And so, may I present a collection of hairstyles sure to be all the rage later this year:

The Lion

The Unicorn

The Twist

And my personal favourite:

The Comb-over

(You can feel his personal shame in that last shot, right?  He could tell how weiner-ific he looked.)

Okay, okay... that's enough.  Must go and do important things like nourish my children.  And give Sammy an Alberto VO5 conditioning treatment.