Hallowe'en

A ladybug, a pumpkin, and the Coke delivery guy, Troy.

Grace the duck

Benno the clown, and mommy the ladybug.


Hallowe'en tip: Buy big bag of candy. Turn off all lights at your house, and go to parents' house for dinner. Come home at 8pm. You're sure to have LOTS of leftover candy (yum, yum).

Total chaos

Tonight we had our friends Matthew and Angella, and Wayne and Larissa over for dinner. Between the six of us, there are 5 kids under 3. Need I say more? The kids spent a good part of the evening RUNNING up and down our hallway with much excitement -- 4 kids (Ben's not quite up to it yet, but give him a few (or more) months) screaming and laughing because of the pure fun of it all. It was noisy, and at dinner, there was not one moment that all six of us were sitting down at the same time, but really, it was the most fun and excitement this house has seen in a while.

Now I have a headache!
:)

Ben, the whole time, just took it all in with his usual quietness.

I just put Sarah down for bed and we said her usual night time prayer (Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, the angels watch me through the night, and keep me safe till morning light), but had to repeat it one more time, holding Elmo's hand.

So cute.

Mystery Box

Today I was rummaging through a closet, looking for something, and I came across Travis' mystery box. It's a box full of assorted papers, that I'm sure has been with us since at least UBC days. I haven't bothered to look through it, because they're all Trav's papers, nor has he needed to look through it either. Yet it stays with us. We've moved a few times (from UBC to my parents', to Murray Drive, to Government st, and now to Greenwood Dr), and this box gets moved EVERY time. I always think, "Trav needs to go through this so we can get rid of it and have a bit more space." But who am I kidding, he has barely 2 minutes to rub together. The only thing holding me back from throwing it out is the remote chance that it has something important in it, something that we haven't needed for 5 years. Wait a minute, he'd never know if it went missing..... just like his Mack jacket and ferrari poster.......

I caved

Yesterday, after I tried and tried to resist, I opened up our bag of Halloween candy. Those wunderbars were just too much to pass by. I've been having such a weakness lately for all things chocolate -- hot chocolate, halloween candy, but the worst is that I buy those chipits milk chocolate chips, and usually give them to Sarah for her peepee treats, but lately, I've been just stuffing my face with them. They're soooooo good. After all, I should be rewarded for being a big girl, too, shouldn't I? That makes me laugh though, because I was at a parenting class this morning, and the guy on the video was being a bit sarcastic, and said, "Now has anyone given YOU an M&M for going on the toilet today?" I was like, actually, yes, but it was yesterday, and it was a milk chocolate chip. That's so different. The worst part is that yesterday, as I was eating my 2nd wunderbar (they're so small, like 2 bites, so they hardly count), I was thinking, "Um Karen, this is doing more damage than a half hour at Curves can fix."

Somehow it was still worth it.

To market, to market

At the Farmer's market on Saturday morning:

Makenna



Apple juice from the Farmer's market was a huge hit, I think they're expecting us back this Saturday!

Testing out the chairs -- also a big hit, let's just say Sarah didn't leave very gracefully (or quietly)

It really wasn't as cold as Sarah is dressed up for. Well, it was when we left the house, then there was no getting that hat off of her head.

Today I....

Actually hemmed a pair of pants. No staples, pins, duct tape, packing tape, scotch tape, or iron-on binding (don't laugh, I have used ALL of the above). I actually used a needle and thread. Here's a little secret, though, I only folded up the hem, there were no scissors involved. That will be the next step. I'll tackle that one in my 40's.

:)

7 Months Old!

My baby is 7 months old today. I can remember 7 months ago so well. We had just been to Martini's for appies for Matthew's birthday (all the while, I was in labour). We were home for maybe 2 hours, when off to the hospital we went, and just about exactly an hour later, after 3 pushes, there he was, our Benjamin Evan Travis. What a blessing this boy is. His happy nature, and he's so content most of the time (excluding teething), and his sleeping! I had never known anything like it. Now, he's still having his own issues during the night, but we'll iron those out soon, but this boy actually went to bed... to sleep.... from the beginning. No rocking necessary, no fits of tears and anguish, no screaming. I can remember my disbelief when I put him down in the bassinette when I just wanted a quick shower, and he just lay there, looking at me, and when I got back, he was out like a light. I could hardly believe it.
I'm so looking forward to the future when I can see more and more of his personality. What kind of friends he'll make, what kind of cars he'll like, who his first girlfriend will be (yikes), where he will want to go to school. How our lives will be that much more fun with him in them.
Love you tons, Benben (baby Ben, Ben-a-boo, Benny).

The grass is coming!

The main project that we've had going on around this house since we moved in has been the yard. Front and back, it needed a retaining wall built, a shed moved, dumptrucks of fill added, then to be leveled, an irrigation system added, and finally seeded for grass. Well, done, done, done, done, done, done and DONE! We seeded the yard two weeks ago tomorrow, and waiting for the first sign of that grass is like being overdue when you're pregnant. You know you're going to go into labour, it's inevitable, but you just don't know WHEN. Yesterday, I saw GRASS. So exciting. In the spring, my kids will actually have a lawn to run around on, not mud. Life is good.

This one is for Grandma Bond

Thanks for all the cute clothes! Sarah got lots of compliments today on her 'big girl' outfit.

Where did this week go?

I can't believe it's Friday already. Never mind that it's the 21st of October. I also can't believe I haven't had anything to say since Monday. Just one of those weeks, I guess. We've had our fair share of action around here, what with the teachers on strike, appointments here and there, Grandparents coming to visit, Travis' schoolwork, and me making numerous trips out to Summerland to figure out this Christmas program I'm a part of.
Today Sarah had her 2 year check up with Dr. Caskey. She is a healthy 35 pounds, and 36 1/4 inches tall. Apparently, they (whoever they are) say that you can double a girls height when they're 2, and that's how tall she'll be as an adult. I guess Travis and I will be looking up to her, because apparently, she's going to be 6 feet tall. Apparently. Must be one of those recessive genes that skips generations, or come from other members of our extended family.
She's had a bit of regression with the potty training. Today when we were at the toilet, I was taking her pants and pull ups off of her, and she had already peed in them. "Sarah," I said, "You've already peed in your panties, you need to tell Mommy when you need to go." She looked up at me, right into my eyes, and said, "Ohhhhhhh, I know, yucky."
That girl just melts my heart.

Ichi-ban and tomato soup

Well, we're two weeks into this teacher's strike, with hopefully an end in sight. We have a little joke around here that we're going to be eating ichi-ban noodles and tomato soup for lunch and supper, with porridge for breakfast, of course. If we're feeling especially decadent, we might have some hot dogs because the kids need protein. I'll just say that it's a good thing that I have that chipmunk-like compulsion to stock our cubboards full of supplies so we won't be running out of food any time soon. Let's just hope this strike doesn't go on much longer. :)

Ride?

Another one of Sarah's requests today.

As cute as she is, I didn't oblige, how much energy do you think I have anyways?

That's a job for her Grandpa, thanks for teaching her that one, Dad.
:)

Tattoo?

Any time a pen of any kind crosses Sarah's path, she'll come and find one of us and say, "Tattoo? tattoo?"
It's the same tattoo every day, though the letters in the hearts alternate.
"D - Daddy,
M - Mommy,
S - yaya,
B - Ben!!!!!!"

Such a smart girl.

My room

In our house, I have my own room. It's such a treat. It's in the far corner of the house, all by itself.
Travis loves it because now all my 'crap' has a home. What I love about my room is that it has all kinds of little things that remind me of me in it. Old pictures of friends, new pictures of kids, posters from my room when I was a kid, the table that I actually bid for (well, Travis did, I was a nervous wreck) and won at an auction before I was married, my sewing machine, my piano. It's full of great things. I can just go in there and be quiet. Or noisy, if I'm playing the piano. Or creative, if I'm in the mood. Good things come out of that room.
I was able to spend some time in there last night and this morning, working on the Christmas production our church is doing this year (which actually stresses me out, but nevermind), and I'm just reminded how blessed I am with my family and in my life.

Movie Star

Just so you know, I would never have owned a pair of sunglasses like these ones (as my sister Rachel would say, 'when cheeks could see').

Mine were blue.

Overheard on Tuesday night

On Tuesday nights, once a month, I have been able to get out of the house to a 'Stampin' Up' group. Basically it's 10 of us who gather around someone's kitchen table and learn new 'techniques' for stamping, and make cards and stuff. It's one of my opportunites for some K time, and I've had a lot of fun at it the past two times.
The girl who runs the demonstration is the sister of a good old friend of mine, and it happened to be at her parents house on Tuesday. It was great to see Mrs. Nelson again (I even called her Gwen, I'm such a big girl now), and we were talking about kids (of course). She was telling me that it's great that I can get out, and I should do it as much as I can.
"Mrs. Nelson, if I got out as much as I wanted to, my kids would hardly know me when I got home!"
So, not so much overheard as I was the one who said it.

Really, I love my kids to death, but you know what they say about absence making the heart grow fonder. Does that apply to your kids?

My guilty pleasure

I love to read. Always have, and always will. To me, a perfect vacation would include somewhere hot, a comfortable chair, peace and quiet for hours and a good book to fill them. There's nothing like a good book that can get me totally preoccupied. Letting housework go, staying up until ALL hours, reading while I eat breakfast. Never mind a series of THREE books. Now, there's nothing in that to feel too guilty about, except......

I have two kids.

They need me once or twice during the day.

I have been so absorbed in the happenings of Jamie, Rose and Leanna in Scotland in the 1700's that I'm embarassed to admit how many times the TV has babysat my kids these past few days. I just need to finish this one last book, then it'll all be over, I can be a mom again.

ps. I can't believe that I'm even taking time out to be on the internet! I could be reading!!!

The wallet is FOUND!!!

If you would have phoned my house yesterday and asked what we were doing, chances are that I would have replied, "Looking for Travis' wallet."

This is not an unusual occasion in our house.

My husband, (I love him to death), is not the most organized person you'll ever meet. He has this lovely habit of taking his sweater off....... here. And then his socks off......... here. Today, I'll leave the keys.......... here. You get the idea.

We have a lovely desk near our door that has a nice little spot for our keys. Room for a wallet too.

Anyways......

I (we) spent a good part of yesterday looking for this wallet, which you've gathered by now was missing, since Tuesday. The part that frustrates me is that I don't even know where to START looking for this thing. Nevertheless, we looked high and low, in obvious and obscure places, only to come up with nada. And then....

In the couch that I had just checked, and that Trav had checked twice, he SAW IT!!!

Tucked in the couch right where he sat down when he came home from the store (the last known place of said wallet) on Tuesday.

Just one more

This is what happens when I actually get ahold of some decent pictures (like the ones off of my mom's digital). 5 posts. In half an hour. But there are just too many to put on. Pictures that I just MUST show to everyone who will look. So, I think that's it. Once again I'm off to bed, hoping for the best (8, or I'll take 6 even, hours of sleep IN A ROW). I'm sure I'll be telling you at some point how it all turned out. Good night.


(these are from today on the swings at the park)

I miss summer already!

One moment of quiet.
one.

He's not 16 yet!

see his 2 teeth?

At the end of a long, hard day.

Here's one from Labour Day this year.
Last day at the beach.

I am thankful for...

Travis
(he works so hard for our family)




Sarah-bear


Benben


And so much else. My life is full to the brim with blessings. It's so easy to get down on all the day to day hard stuff, but really, the bottom line is that I have been blessed beyone measure (more than I deserve), and I am truly thankful for every little bit.
Not just today, but every day.

Fun times on the trampoline

New look

As you can see, I'm trying out new looks for this thing. So don't be surprised if one day, nothing is here. That's my fear.... I just push a button and it's all gone.
Anyways, let me know what you think!

Apparently my kids are perfect angels when I'm not around

Thanks for watching my two turkeys, Ange.

An answer to all our weight loss problems.

Check out this site.

You can actually sweat the fat away. It's true.... Travis and I actually saw it happen on tv. Up to two inches around your waist in ONE HOUR. And, you don't even have to move. You can just sit on the couch and read a magazine.

Amazing.

Who needs exercise anyways?

Bring on the chocolate.

She loves her brother, and he adores her.

Ben just loves his sister. She can do amost anything and get a belly laugh out of him. (anything but bite him in the head -- don't laugh, it's happened.....twice) The easiest way for her to get a response is to jump up and down in front of him. He seems to like that the best but kisses do wonders, too. I can't say how nice it is that they are starting to be able to entertain each other, I feel like I can breathe a little sigh of relief. Just a little one.

Sitting up

Well, he's getting better. I have to admit, we just sort of found out that he can sit so well. Who knows how long exactly he's been able to sit like this, but he was sure proud of himself this morning when we gave it a try. My little Benben, two teeth, AND sitting? Let's work on sleeping through the night as our next milestone, k?

'a-ha' moment

We have had horrible nights this weekend, just brutal. Like Ben was up 4 times on Friday and last night, I think only a couple on Saturday. But on Saturday, Sarah decided to have an absoulute FIT for about an hour. Not just crying, but a sobbing, screaming, moaning, gasping for air fit. Needless to say, I have not had much sleep. Certainly not enough to get much done around here today.
Anyways, about the 'a-ha' moment. I figured out Ben was teething -- that one's obvious. Poor guy, I just wish that baby Tylenol would knock him out for a bit longer. Nursing is what he wants, poor me! Sarah, on the other hand, though spirited, does not usually have nights like Saturday night. So we were playing around yesterday, her new game "cuddle," where we have to sit on the couch and cuddle and read a book or sing a song, and I thought, "I wonder if she's got any teeth coming in, aren't there 2 year molars?" yup, there are. Maybe that's why she was miserable. I certainly would be.

The Love of God

Could we with ink, the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

family picture