I'll be honest: this was the most difficult Christmas I've ever had.

My mom, as I've mentioned on this ol' blog in the past, has gone through chemotherapy to kill the cancerous cells all over her body caused by lymphoma. Well, she made it through the heavy chemo without really getting sick at all - a major answer to prayer, because her oncologist warned her that pneumonia was a bigger threat to her than the chemo was. So, the very fact that she didn't get ONE sickness while she was so immunocompromised was a miracle.

Fast forward to two months ago... and she gets a cold. A bad one. Deep in her chest. Infecting her sinuses. Making her smell cigarette smoke at all times. "It'll just go away", they said. "Here, take these antibiotics." Three rounds of antibiotics later, and it's even worse than ever.

I don't need to go into any gory details, but she was the lowest health-wise that I've ever seen her. She couldn't even make it out of the house to do Christmas shopping, which is one of her favourite activities of the year normally. We spent the Christmas season as close to her as we could be, soaking in the moments when she was well enough to enjoy the activity around her, and had enough of an appetite to try some of the rich Christmas nosh.

Her fragile health made me so, so thankful for the time we've had with her, when we took her health and energy for granted. Every day she's gaining strength, while she waits for more and more tests to ascertain just what's going on inside of her lungs.

Prayers are appreciated!

lydia models a sweater

I've set myself the goal of knitting a sweater for everyone in my family this year, starting with Lydia's because I've had the yarn stashed for it for ages. One down, four to go!

thankful

I'm so thankful for this little family of mine!

and the new homeschool year begins...

I suppose this is technically our third year of homeschool, although the first was kind of a sounding board for what would follow. I'm not going to candy-coat it and say that homeschooling is all sparkles and glitter, but I will say this: it is the most rewarding thing I've ever done. Watching my kids learn new things and being able to compare where they ended up to where they began is just the B.E.S.T. thing as a parent.

This year, we are taking on the first grade, kindergarten, and pre-school. And, of course, I had to snap some school photos to commemorate this new beginning.

our 2016 mini family getaway

We don't get much time to spend lolling about on beaches with the job that my husband has, so we knew that if we were going to get away this summer, we would have to make it have a big impact.

We decided to check out one of Saskatchewan's gems: Prince Albert National Park. It was where I went camping a few times when I was around six years old, and I wondered if it could possibly be as sparkly and amazing as I remembered it.

Alas, it was all that and more.