Happy 15th Birthday, Nathalieland!

Here's to 15 years of blogging -- 1,820 posts filled with pictures and memories! I am so grateful for these years of my life, all captured here and reachable with the click of a button. I just wish they hadn't gone by so fast.

Last year I had a hard time getting a new background for my blog (no more free backgrounds anywhere!), but I eventually figured out how to create one myself and change the html code for a background gadget. I went with blue wood tones last year, and now yellowish wood this year:

2010-2023 Backgrounds

2024 Background

2025 Background

I suspect my blogging will continue for at least a few more years, with posts about braces, birthdays, graduations, holidays, trips, hobbies, and family activities. Maybe even first dates, first jobs, and driver's licenses?! All the fun stuff of the teenage years.

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Worker Bees

It's a busy time of year for these two girls -- Emily is studying hard for her upcoming high school exams (grade 10, first semester) and Jessi has plenty of projects to work on (including Science Fair!). She also has a bit of catching up to do since she missed the first 1.5 weeks back to school after the winter break, due to her flu that turned into pneumonia. It's been a rough start to the year for Jessi! 

Steve likes to join the girls' work station, just for fun. Here he's writing a Euclid Math Contest and he's also taking online computer programming courses.

What am I busy with? Reading and making art!

Hopefully these busy times will make us appreciate the quiet breaks to come.   

3 Months of Braces

Today marks 3 months since I got my braces! That's 3 down, 18 more to go. It feels like things are progressing well, with subtle shifts happening every week or so. Here are some comparison pics:

Progress after 3 months

The blue dots are the bite pads

Tomorrow I have my second tightening appointment! The first one was fine, with just a bit of discomfort while she put the elastics on and some tenderness for a couple of days afterwards.

My main complaint with braces remains the discomforts with eating: not being able to chew properly, tenderness in some spots, and food getting stuck everywhere. But I'd already say it's been worth it! 

Holiday Happenings

Aside from the major events of the Holiday Break, here are some random things we got up to:

Watching the movie The Fault in our Stars:

Hanging out with miss Lucy:

Lunch and games with Nanny & Papa:

A screen meetup with good friends:

Baking Gingerbread cookies:

Sports at the Base Gym with cousins:

Watching the movie Me Before You:

Playing games:

And not pictured here: plenty of reading! We didn't get around to going sledding or skating, but that's probably due to the girls and Steve catching cold/flu bugs in the second half of the break. It was nice to just cozy up in the warm indoors.

Now Emily is back into the high school routine, with first-term exams coming up quickly. Sadly Jessi has missed the first three days back so far because of her phlegmy cough. Onwards and upwards!

Picture Per Hour - January

January 1, 2025

Happy New Year!

8:00am:

Grabbing breakfast

9:00am:

Re-watching Survivor 20: Heroes vs. Villains

10:00am:

Working out

11:00am:

Working/reading

12:00pm:

Drawing ♥

1:00pm:

Making bread

2:00pm:

Trying to solve a programming problem about pies

3:00pm:

Drawing/heading out to walk Lucy

4:00pm:

Hanging out with cousins

5:00pm:

Playing Telestrations

6:00pm:

Having fondue for dinner

7:00pm:

Eating dessert

8:00pm:

Washing dessert plates

9:00pm:

Hanging out with Emily

10:00pm:

Heading to bed

A nice start to 2025!

We just missed seeing Grand-Papa, who has COVID.

Did you notice we're all sleeping in a bit more?

It'll be a hard habit to break that when school starts again on Monday.