Black Eye

Evan finally let me take his picture close up today. His black eye is hardly visible anymore unless he closes his eye. The swelling has gone down and it just looks like he was experimenting with some fuchsia eye shadow! :)

I was making mac and cheese for lunch today and feeling frustrated with my lack of creativity when it comes to making lunches. I enjoy cooking supper and I like finding new recipes that my family likes. However, I struggle with lunches for some reason. I'm busy teaching the kids during the day and running back and forth to different activities and errands so I don't have an hour or more to spend making lunch like I do with dinner. I need some simple, creative ideas that are easy to make. I would love to hear what favourite things you like to make for lunch. Please leave a comment and rescue my family from another week of the same old same old! :)

Missions Week

Yesterday was the first day of Missions week at our church so it was time for the annual "parade of nations" where the kids (and some adults) dress up in costumes from different countries of the world and walk down the aisles of the church carrying flags from around the world. Here are some pics of the kids in their costumes. You can't really see Evan's very well. It's a shirt from Thailand I think. Grace is wearing a dress from India, which she picked because it was pink - of course! Rachel looked so sweet in the little silk jacket from China. I wore the kimono that our Japanese student gave me, but of course there's no pictures of me because I'm always behind the camera!

In the afternoon, we went to the wave pool - what a great family outing! I wish I could have had my camera in there, but you'll just have to use your imagination! Evan and Grace are quite good swimmers now so we don't have to worry about them as much, although I still get nervous in water, especially with so many people in the pool. I feel much more comfortable if they are within arm's reach - just in case. They loved going down the big waterslide and jumping into the water from the rope swing. Rachel still needs to be held but she had lots of fun and she is starting to get the hang of putting her face in the water and kicking her legs, which is good because she starts her first set of swimming lessons next week. :)
We had lots of fun at the pool and we also enjoyed the benefits at bedtime. There's nothing like a couple of hours in the pool to wear everyone out and help them get a good sleep!

Update

It has been way too long since I posted on here so this is my update of what we have been doing over the last little while.

Tonight I had the privilege of babysitting Lanae while James and Elise were out on a date and the boys had a "leep ober" at their Grandma's house. I enjoyed every minute of holding her and rocking her to sleep. There is something so peaceful and beautiful about time spent with a newborn. Maybe it is because they are only that small and innocent and dependent for such a short time.

It was a beautiful day today and Ryan was home from work so we went to Mill lake this afternoon. What a wonderful day. Evan and I spent some time talking to a really neat man who was feeding the birds. He knew the names of some of the different kinds of birds that I didn't recognize and he told us all about "his family" of Canada geese that have been eating out of his hand for the last three years. He told us that he recognized which ones were "his" not so much by how they looked but by their behaviour. My camera batteries died before we got to him so I didn't get any pictures of that part.

This was our little science experiment with helium. We were tying different objects to the balloons to see if the balloons would lift them. Then, we used the balloons like a parachute to slow "Mr. blue guy" down as he slid down the banister or got chucked down the stairs! :)




Last weekend, Grace and Rachel were invited to Annika's "ballet birthday." There was a ballet teacher and a room full of little girls dressed in pink tights and tutus - very sweet and GIRLY! I was never a girly-girl growing up and I don't think I really am now, but I thought it was very cute!

Last week Grace and Evan started skating lessons. They both really enjoyed themselves. I'm especially proud of Grace because she has had very little experience on skates but she was right in there trying everything with the kids who were much bigger and much better skaters than she. This week we moved her into the class with some other kids who were more at her level.

Evan is the one in the hoody so you can't see his face. I had to put a picture in of him and this was the best I could get because he kept his hood on the whole time. :) This week, he wasn't on the ice for more than 5 minutes when he fell on his face on the ice, and gave himself a nice shiner so he didn't want to skate for the rest of the time. He doesn't want me to take a picture of it because he's very self-conscious and he doesn't want people to make fun of him. Ryan and I are trying to convince him that it looks cool but so far it hasn't worked!

That's all for now!

Ray

In December my Grandma's companion, Ray Williston, passed away. Yesterday would have been his 93rd birthday so I thought I would post a few pictures in honour of Ray today.

Here's Ray meeting Evan

I'll never forget this day. Grace was only a few weeks old and she was being quite fussy. Rather than handing her back to her Mama to deal with it, Ray rocked her and sang to her (he sang Amazing Grace over and over again) until she settled down. I love this picture because it shows how she was just gazing at him while he sang.

Papa Ray holding our little Rae - Rae

Here's Ray and Grandma all dressed up to go to a dinner at UBC.

We miss you Ray!

Big Helper

Today I had a nice at home "date" with Rachel while Evan and Grace were at the swimming pool with Grandma. After her quiet time she really wanted to help me in the kitchen, so she washed dishes while I made dinner for some friends who just had a new baby. She kept talking about how she is my big helper and she's not a little girl anymore. She is so precious!




When Evan and Grace got home from swimming, we played outside in the snow. Yes, we have more snow here again! The weather in the lower mainland has been crazy this year. I'm not complaining because I love the snow but it is just strange to have so much snow here - we're definitely not used to it. But at least the schools didn't close today!

We played a game called "fox and goose," otherwise known as "line tag" or "Auntie Arlee's game." We played this game every summer out at Boundary Bay, on the sandbars with Auntie Arlee. I had never tried it in the snow before, but it's just as much fun as playing it on the sandbars!! Gracie and Evan and I had lots of fun. Rachel mostly just wanted to watch.

Sweet Man

I haven't taken a lot of pictures in the last week but I wanted to add a new post because I'm having fun with this whole blogging thing! So I'm going to tell you about the wonderful man I married. Yesterday was a very long day for me because we left the house at about 9:00 to go to Sunday school, and I just stayed st the church after the service to decorate for my friend Andi's baby shower. By the time I got home after the shower, it was 5:00. When I came in the door, Ryan had Gracie give me a little note that said, "I have hidden 50 hugs and 50 kisses upstairs. Please return the empty wrapper to me. I will exchange it for a real hug or kiss." So I went on a hunt around the house looking for hugs and kisses (of the Hershey's variety!) I had quite a bit of help, especially from Rachel who was quite pleased to show me where she had helped Daddy hide some and where Gracie had helped hide some (Evan had been at a birthday party and wasn't in on the hiding). Rachel kept pointing them out to me and saying, "I put dat dere. I a really neaky (sneaky) girl!" "Dat's a ticky (tricky) one, hey Mom?" It was very sweet. I haven't found all of the hugs and kisses yet. I think there are about 12 left. Hopefully I will find them before it gets warm and they melt!!
Anyway, I just felt the need to tell everyone how sweet my thoughtful husband is. I am very thankful to be married to him.

New Look

Our church's women's event this month was a spa theme. There was someone doing massage, someone doing hand treatments, someone doing reflexology, and someone doing hair. I was asked to be the model for Andi, the hairdresser. I told her she could do whatever she wanted with my hair - I was ready for a change! :)

Here are some pictures of before. . .

during. . .

and after!

It was a fun night and I am happy with my "new look." I have to post these pictures on here so Ryan can see them since he is still in Edmonton and won't see my new hairdo until tomorrow. I hope you like it Honey, I can't glue it back on!!

I will donate the ponytail to a place that makes wigs for kids with cancer or burns.

Snow!!

We woke up this morning to a few inches of snow and Evan was ecstatic! These pictures were taken at about 7:30 this morning while it was still dark. He was so excited about the snow that he got dressed, put on his snow stuff and went straight outside before he even had breakfast! He only lasted long enough to throw a couple of snowballs. It was still pretty cold out. By the time we went out later this morning it was pretty mild.


I had intended to write about how pathetic Abbotsford is because all of the schools were closed today even though there was just a little bit of snow and the roads were clear. However, in the last 25 minutes, it has started snowing like CRAZY! So now it looks like there's about a foot of snow on my lawn and it's coming down pretty steady so I guess it's a good thing that people aren't trying to drive school buses in it. I still think it's funny that people here see a little bit of white and everything shuts down.

Pictures for Daddy

Here are some pictures we took today to post so that Daddy can look at them when he is missing us tonight at his hotel in Edmonton. Evan, our funny boy who lost (yanked out would be more accurate) his seventh tooth last night; precious Rachel who loves to pose so I can take her picture and then she can look at it on the camera; beautiful Gracie who looks so much like her Daddy; sisters who love each other!

We love you Daddy, and we miss you already. We can't wait till you come home!

Funny Language

The other day, Evan said to me, "Mom, can you please jam my toast?" I had to laugh but then I thought about it and I wondered, why is it that when we put butter on our toast, we butter it but when we put jam on our toast we don't jam it?! The English language is a very strange one and I'm sure glad that I learned it as my first language (actually it's my only language :) )
Anyway, it made me think of this e-mail I received a while ago from the homeschool e-mail chain. I thought it was funny so I'll post it here and I hope you get a few laughs out of it. :)



You Think English is Easy??? Read to the end, a new twist to an oldie

Can you read these right the first time?

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.

2) The farm was used to produce produce.

3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

4) We must polish the Polish furniture.

5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to
present the present .

8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10) I did not object to the object.

11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

13) They were too close to the door to close it.

14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.

15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let's face it - English is a crazy language.

There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France.

Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.

We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?

If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth?

One goose, 2 geese.

So one moose, 2 meese?

One index, 2 indices?
Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a
bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?

If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.

In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?

Ship by truck and send cargo by ship?

Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy

are opposites?



You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up

as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

Why doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "quick"

You lovers of the English language might enjoy this.

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is "UP." It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report? We call UP our friends.

And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car.

At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special. And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.

We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary. In

a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and

can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.

When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP. When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP. When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP .

One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now my time is UP, so...........Time to shut UP...!

Oh...one more thing: What is the first thing you do in the morning & the last thing you do at night? (U-P)

Friends Forever

On Thursday we went for dinner at Rick and Ange's place in Surrey and had a wonderful time there (I have to get your chicken recipe Ange!) It is always a blessing to see Evan and Cam together. They have been friends since they were babies and I looked after Cam. Actually, we like to say they were friends before they were born when Ange and I were both pregnant and working at Kids Club together, before we had our babies 12 days apart!

The funny thing about Evan and Cam is that they got their teeth around the same time when they were babies and so far they have lost their teeth usually within the same week! So they both have pretty cute toothless grins right now! :)

Science World

On New Year's Day we went into Science World in Vancouver. We bought a family pass there this year and it has been well worth our money. There are always new things to do and see there. Of course the kids have favourites that they always want to do. Evan and Grace love to build with the giant rubber lego blocks. There is a model of a woman's uterus with a plastic baby there and Rachel absolutely loves the baby. This time she asked me if we could take the baby home!




We did a unit on the Human Body this Fall and it was really good hands-on review to touch the bones in the model skeleton and take out the stomach, liver, heart and brain of the model body, then put them back where they belong. Awesome, fun learning!

A visit in Seattle

On the Thursday after Christmas, Mom, Grandma, Evan, Grace, Rachel, and I piled into our van and drove down to Snohomish Washington to visit with our extended family there. It was a long day of driving but well worth it.



I'm not sure what it is with young children and the young, single male in the family. When I was growing up it was Uncle Roy. We all loved to tackle, tease and torture him. For Ryan it was his uncle Maurice. When my brother was a teenager, Lindsay and Melissa loved to chase him and steal his hat. Well, for Evan and Nicholas, David was the coolest person in the house. Not only is he really good at video games :), he also put up with them shadowing his every move and climbing all over him. Thanks for being a good sport David!

It was such a blessing to see Grandma and Auntie Ev together. They live far apart and don't see each other often so they had catching up to do and stories to tell and I enjoyed sitting back and watching and listening. I have some of their stories of their childhood on video - what a treasure(thanks Mom and Grandma for the new toy!)

Evan and Nicholas - third cousins once removed or something. Two 7 year old boys who had lots of fun together!