christmas greetings 2017

Dear Friends and Blog Readers,

How is it that yet another year is quickly coming to a close? It seems like just yesterday I was preparing last year’s year-end review. How time flies—especially with a little one underfoot!

Here are some highlights/Olivia milestones from 2017:

Jan:        Olivia outgrows her cradle and moves into her crib in her own room

                We finally figure out Olivia is sensitive to cow’s milk

Feb:        Olivia’s 1^st word: “Da-Da”

                Olivia eats solid food

March:    Olivia gets 1st tooth, crawls forwards, and stands for 1^st time

                 Olivia says “Beppe,” “Mama,” and “Kitty”

April:     Olivia transitions to only 1 nap a day

                Olivia has lip tie surgery

May:      Landscaping and outdoor projects begin; backyard fence installed

June:     Jared installs our new lamp post 
               Olivia’s swing set assembled and sand box filled for the back yard

                Olivia celebrates 1^st birthday; starts walking 6 days later

                Surprise visit from the Ryttersgaard family-we finally meet Wade!

July:       1^st meal out in a restaurant as a family of 3!

                Spent an afternoon with Brandon & Kristin at Ferris Provincial Park

                Visited the Broekema clan twice at Wesley Acres

                Olivia starts baby signing: milk, more, all done

Aug:       Celebrated 6^th wedding anniversary

                Olivia starts drinking goat’s milk

                Olivia cuts all 4 molars

                Olivia’s first tractor and lawnmower rides

Sept:      Olivia’s 1^st beach day--took advantage of the summer-like weather and went times  this month.

Oct:        Olivia goes trick-or-treating--the first kid to hit up our neighbourhood in 20+ years!

Nov:      Olivia says her own name: “EEE-ah”

               

Dec:       Olivia finally starts sleeping through the night and using the potty!

Mr. Gryce works for the same company (7 years and counting), as a Senior Software Developer. He is currently going through John Eldredge's "Wild at Heart" with two close friends. He remains passionate about brotherhood and godly masculinity--the core focus of the series. 

I love being at home full-time with Olivia. The past 6 months have been so much better than the previous 12. Thankfully, Olivia's stomach issues and milk protein sensitivity have just about resolved themselves.  We are all much happier for it! In my spare time, I still make jams and preserves, and do online consignment sales for people. Once in a while, I get some scrapbooking done. Quite often we go next door to visit Beppe, and every few weeks we try to get over to see Grandpa Larry and Grandma. Our days are full. 

Now that Olivia is talking (55+ words!), we enjoy interacting much more.  She is very independent and outgoing, loves music like Daddy and reading books like Mommy. She is fascinated with cats of all kinds, especially her beloved Chester. 

We hope this letter finds you well. We wish you a Merry Christmas and many blessings in the New Year.

With Love,
The Gryce Family

Links to previous Christmas greetings:
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012

a day in the life

In case you all have been wondering why I haven't been posting regularly lately, life has been very busy with our precocious 18-month-old! 

Here's a little snapshot of a typical day in the life of the Gryce Family:

8:00 Wake up and get dressed

8:15 Quiet play time and/or reading

8:55 See Daddy off to work

9:00 Breakfast

9:30  Play time/chores or Errands/play date

 12:00 Lunch time, potty, and tooth brushing

1:30 Nap Time

3:30 Wake up/Snuggles with Chester

4:00 Stroller walk/visit Beppe

4:30 Play time

5:30 Chores/dinner prep/clean-up toys

6:00 Dinner time

7:00 Bath time/play time

8:15 Clean up toys/Snack time

8:45 Potty and tooth brushing

9:00 Bed Time

landscaping renos

Just when you thought our renovations were complete... we've begun again. We've had a very busy spring and summer here on the home front, but this time, all the activity has been taking place outside. From a new post lamp, to a fenced-in backyard, to a new clothesline, to a front walkway, to the removal of Pake Dykstra's old work shed, all 4 sides of our yard have seen some major changes/improvements.

First, came the lamp post. For as far back as I can remember, Mr. Gryce has always dreamed of having a house with a post lamp out front. This past spring, we set out to make that dream a reality.

First, Mr. Gryce rented an excavator to dig the hole for the actual post lamp, plus a long trench for all the electrical wire to get to the post. Our friend Andrew came to help.

Once the trench was dug, Mr. Gryce had to fill the bottom with sand before running the conduit with the wire. Then he had to cover the conduit with more sand. 

Next, Mr. Gryce and Andrew installed the base for the lamp post.

Then came the huge task of filling in the trench, without the rental excavator.

We had to get rid of a ton of rocks!

 Our yard looked pretty rough.

Mr. Gryce finally got to do what he does best: the actual electrical work.

Even though our lamp post was fully operational, we had a ton of grading work to do in order to get our yard back in shape.

We purchased a load of soil.

And graded it ourselves.

By mid-summer, we finally got some grass to grow!

 And while we were at it, we had our driveway re-done.

While all this was going on, we also planned to have a fence installed around our backyard. This meant digging up part of an old sidewalk leading to the barn, and leveling part of our vegetable garden.

The guys worked quickly and our new fence was up in two days.

Of course, the new fenced-in yard required a lot of grading and landscaping afterwards.

The solar lights look pretty neat at night.

Of course, no back yard would be complete without a swing set...

...and a turtle sandbox!

Because of the new fenced-in the backyard, we also had to move my clothesline over. Mr. Gryce had to rent a jackhammer just to get the new holes a few feet deep.

We also needed it to remove the concrete from around the old post.

Our next order of business was to remove Pake (grandpa) Dykstra's old work shed.

It stayed in the family though, because my brother removed it in once piece and ended up taking it down the road to his house!

No more eyesore!

As you can see, there is never a dull moment here! 

Here's hoping we can enjoy just one summer where we don't have any big projects.....