An update from the farm

First and foremost, Sean is home safe and sound from Quadra! He just spent 6.5 weeks there at in the Gunnery Trade Group III division, learning how to be a bad (meaning good) soldier. Canoeing, hiking, camping, shooting, swimming, marching, etc. I think he got taller while he was away. I picked him up from the Vancouver airport Saturday night late and he woke up Sunday morning in time to go for a run and then go work in the trees with Don.

Today, however, wasn't quite so productive. After sleeping until nearly 11 he was woken up by a screaming banshee (me) telling him that he was 5 minutes away from doing his own laundry for the rest of his career in my house. The three loads of smelly camp laundry that I diligently did yesterday were not put away properly but instead were strewn about the floor of his room. That makes me a little angry. But he's a quick one! Five minutes later his laundry was a put away AND his bed was made. After brunch, he and Dylan are off to the mall to do some school shopping. Sean brought home nearly $300 from Quadra and he's anxious to go get some clothes, shoes, and supplies for school.

Patience is at day camp all this week! The local church up the street is running a "Narnia" themed day camp from 9-4 each day this week for kids entering grades 1-5. So, Patience is ecstatic and Jordyn is sad. But so far today she is playing very nicely with Nick, so maybe this little change-up will be good for the relationship dynamics around here. The camp provides 2 snacks a day but the kids are supposed to pack their own lunch and Patience is very excited to be able to use the new lunch pack I got her for school.

Dylan has been working 12-hour days basically since he got home from his California vacation. Today is his 3rd day off since August 6. He's exhausted and wondering what the heck summer is all about if you have to work everyday. But the upside is that he is fully funding his monetary requirements for the upcoming school year. Right now I'm sure he feels like he's working for nothing, but in February I'm sure he'll appreciate having a regular income.

Don has been working 16-hour days. Seriously. He worked all day Friday and Saturday doing a "swing migration" at a client's site, went back Sunday afternoon after doing tree work with Sean, and is back there now finishing up. He is home for a couple of hours in the evening and then works in his office until the wee hours of the morning. It's kind of crazy, really, and in the meantime the tree work is backlogging and weighing on him, but you know how hard it is to turn work down when you're a contractor.

The Chinese teachers are a pleasure to have around. Easy keepers : ) In fact, one of them cooked us authentic Chinese dinner last night and it was GOOD. And all I did was make a pot of rice. So, if you ever have the opportunity to host Chinese adults, try to get at least one who enjoys cooking. That's my bit of advice for the day.

Okay, and now I am off to do some laundry/bed-making/housework/lunch-making/etc.

Where's Nathan?

Nick misses Nathan. Hopefully they can see each other in September on Nathan's way back to Cordova!

New homestay guests coming

We had a visit by the 2 agents from our Chinese teachers who will be staying with us for 1 month and Don and I were ecstatic to hear that one of the teachers is an ENGLISH teacher! We were so relieved, as the two boys who stayed with us in July knew very little English and it really diminished the quality of interaction between us all. So we feel comfortable that these two teachers' stay with us will indeed be a cultural experience, among other things. The agents, who are from China but now live in Canada, were overwhelmed with our child-filled home and they thought it was great that we are giving the teachers the suite at the end of our house for themselves...a "child-free" zone that they can retreat to whenever they feel the need for some quiet : )

They come tomorrow, right in the middle of Nick's naptime, and Don is working offsite, so Haley is coming to watch the children for me.

Don and I have been working to reconfigure our house. We moved the girls' laptop into the playroom, my laptop up to the desk in the kithen, all of the kitchen stuff upstairs so I can prepare meals up here, and the computer for the t.v. into the basement. It's actually a great exercise because you can do a pretty thorough deep-cleaning when everything is moved out.

This morning Nick slept until 8 and Jorydn is still sleeping at 8:20! Nick has been falling asleep like a dream in my bed everynight...alone...and then I move him into his crib when I go to bed. He thinks that his crib is only good for daytime sleeping, but that the king-sized bed is where he should sleep at night.

Dylan is back in the full-time work mode. He came home Friday night and has been working at Thunderbird everyday since. He might get a day off next week : )

Sean called from Quadra on Sunday and sounds very tired. He gets home next Saturday at 9:00 p.m. and I bet he'll sleep until noon or later on Sunday.

I've gotten into a massive declutter mode and I plan, in the next three or four weeks, to declutter and organize every closet and hidden space in this house. My house looks pretty tidy when you come in but when you open a cupboard or a closet or a drawer you see chaos. For example...beach towels. Yes, we are a large family, but do we need 30 beach towels? Ten beach towels are useful, the other 20 are clutter. Etc. So, if you need beach towels, let me know before I donate them all.

Maybe I should take before and after shots! Good blog fodder.

Future NHL player of the year

Caveat: this post was requested by Nathan. If you are not a fan of Nick or hockey, you might want to just skip this video.

Welcome back Lucille!

Nathan's home away from home

I just found this picture of the USCG Cutter Sycamore online. This was taken when it was moored up in San Pedro for fuel and supplies before heading down to the Panama Canal. Nathan's been living on this boat for more than 2 months already and I'm pretty sure he's getting Island Fever.