Full House!

Jordyn's surprise

2011-12-04T19:30:00.001-08:00

Don took the Littles to the mall this afternoon and Jordyn came home with modifications! Let's hope this round of earrings goes better than the last round...

Here's a little Nick cuteness!

Our 2011 Christmas tree

2011-12-04T15:27:00.001-08:00

This is Tony's first time of having a Christmas tree!

Tony's helping Nick reach higher.

Nick and the tree.

More of the same : )

Patience and Nick.

Daddy and the Littles.

Meet Chip!

2011-12-04T15:12:00.001-08:00

This year we have started a new tradition. We now have our very own elf, Chip, who came on December 1. He shows up in a new place each morning, and at night, when the kids are sleeping, Chip flies home to the North Pole to report to Santa what he has seen and heard at the Murphy household. Santa uses this information to write his "Naughty" and "Nice" lists. I'm reading the story book that explains to the kids how this all works, and explains the rules like "no one can touch elves or they lose their magic," etc.

The kids bound out of bed to find where Chip is perched for the day. This morning he was in our Christmas tree!

Putting away Halloween

2011-11-01T10:32:00.000-07:00

This Halloween was actually the most enjoyable one I can remember for a very long time. I stayed and watched the parade at the girls' school with Nick, and it was great. Lead by their principal, all the kids through every grade paraded through the school hallways, with parents and siblings enjoying from the sidelines. They played music over the PA system like Monster Mash and other appropriate songs, and the kids all had a very good time. I realize that I'll be watching those for another 10 years : )

Then Bailey and Sean took the Littles trick-or-treating! So instead of freezing and chasing children, Don and I stayed inside enjoying a glass of wine and an opportunity to Skype with my parents who are visiting Nathan. Yessiree, I could get used to that type of Halloween!

But in the middle of the night, Nick woke up with a croupy cough and a fever : ( We gave him some motrin and some water and brought him back to bed with us to keep a sleepy eye on him. That worked fine until 2:45 when Jordyn decided that she couldn't possibly sleep alone and managed to wake up me, Don, and Patience in her quest to find a sleeping buddy. Keep in mind that Don has been waking up at 4:00 for work and this is his first opportunity to "sleep in." Grrrr.

After taking the Bigs and the girls to school, I came home and commenced cleaning up Halloween. Costumes (mangled as they are) are now hanging in the closet, trick or treat bags stored for next year, candy sorted and all Reece's peanut butter cups removed for me safety's sake, and the jack o'lanterns are now happily cooking down on the stovetop waiting to become pies and breads.

Tony's and Patience's jack-o-lanterns. Jordyn chose to just draw on hers : )

Sick baby sleeping the day away.

Happy November!

Introducing Tony Vu

2011-10-31T17:25:00.000-07:00

Tony is our international student from Viet Nam! He is here primarily to become a fluent English speaker. Right now his reading and writing skills are very high, but his pronunciation is low. He's getting better everyday! He's in grade 9 at Poppy, and plans on attending there for another 4 years. Tony is a friendly teen who gets along well with the whole family. He plans on playing basketball at Poppy, which starts pretty soon (I think). Tony's taking advantage of the international student activities...he's already attended a 4-day trip to the north end of Vancouver Island, and he's going to EUROPE (!) with the school during spring break. I'm sure you'll see lots of Tony on my blog, as he'll probably be here for the next 4 years : )

Tony arrives at our house September 1, 2011

Tony with his mom and his Canadian mom.

Tony's mom spent a month in Canada...3 weeks in August and then another week after settling Tony in with us. She speaks no English...we spoke through a translator.

Introducing Lucas Motta

2011-10-31T17:08:00.000-07:00

On August 26 we went to the airport to get our very first long-term international student, Lucas. He's from Brazil and he'll be staying with us for the first semester, which ends at the end of January. Lucas is 16 and is in grade 11 at Poppy along with Sean. He speaks excellent English, along with some Spanish and of course Portugese. He loves soccer and is on Poppy's undefeated soccer team. He's a social butterfly, with more friends in Canada than me, and he's been to Vancouver at least 20 times in the 2 months he's been here. We are enjoying hosting him, and we'll miss him very much when he returns to Brazil.

Some cute pics of Nick

2011-10-31T17:01:00.000-07:00

Nick got dressed up all by himself!

Happy birthday, Nick!

2011-10-31T16:56:00.000-07:00

Nick turned 3 years old amid very little pomp and circumstance. : ) He did, however, get a cake! And he was thrilled with it!

First day of school for the girls

2011-10-31T16:51:00.000-07:00

Jordyn starts kindergarten, and Patience is in grade 2. They both have wonderful teachers...and they both love school!

Happy birthday Haley and Tony!

2011-10-31T16:49:00.000-07:00

In the middle of October we were able to celebrate Haley's 18th birthday and Tony's 14th birthday since their birthdays are just a few days apart. We celebrated in true Murphy's fashion...with a DQ ice cream cake! Neither Tony nor Lucas had ever had an ice cream cake, and they both appreciated it! In fact Lucas mentioned opening up a Dairy Queen in Brazil...he could become a millionaire : )

Haley got a cribbage kit (board, cards, pegs) and a restaurant gift card. No sensible underwear this year : )

Ice cream cake! We couldn't decide on a theme, so we went with Cars because we knew that at least Nick would appreciate it...

Our complete family except for Nathan and Don, who took the picture. No, we don't fit around this table.

Tony received an iTunes giftcard and an Xbox controller from us, and a complete skateboard set-up from his parents. He's wanted a skateboard forever, but there was no place to ride on where he lived in Viet Nam...

Introducing Miss Bailey Quinn

2011-10-31T15:50:00.000-07:00

This year I told Sean that he was limited to 2 extra-curricular activities (not including cadets). He chose volleyball and jazz band. Until September 16, when he decided that jazz band wasn't nearly as entertaining or interesting as having a girlfriend! Bailey is also a grade 11 student at Poppy, and also has big plans for her future and is getting the grades and is involved in the activities to make those plans happen.

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T15:31:00.000-07:00

This year Patience and Jordyn are both dressed up as witches and Nick is wearing the lion costume that is now on its 6th or 7th wearing! Old Navy costumes are adorable and they will last, unlike the costumes that we've purchased recently for the girls, made out of lining instead of fabric, tearing into shreds at the least provocation.

Last night Don and I took the girls and Nick to our church's Halloween carnival, "Bucaneer's Bash." The had a great time, of course.

Today at school they wore their costumes for the Halloween parade and then wore them all day long and enjoyed Halloween parties in their class rooms. This year their school has thankfully toned down the Halloween festivities. I remember last year they nearly did me in with some contest or commitment every day of the week!

Tonight they will go trick-or-treating with Sean and Bailey in our neighborhood. Don and I will sit in a quiet, empty house drinking red wine and enjoying the unbusyness of the moment.

Happy Thanksgiving 2011

2011-10-09T19:28:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to my blog! Here is the very latest picture from the Murphy household...of Thanksgiving dinner 2011. On the left is Tony, our international student from Viet Nam, and next to him is Lucas, from Brazil. Sean was invited to eat dinner at his new girlfriend's home, so he isn't in this picture. I do plan on doing some very condensed catching up. I obviously will not be able to recreate all of August and September for you but I will try to at least list the highlights.

Preparing for the cruise

2011-08-20T19:32:00.000-07:00

The girls and I avoided spa treatments expenses by getting beautiful at home! I hauled out my foot bath and filled it up with yummy smelling salts and oils. After some soaking and polishing, our feet were ready for cruising!

Please help rescue Lilliana

2011-08-18T09:24:00.000-07:00

Dear family and friends, can you spare $5, or $10 to help rescue this child? Truly, every dollar helps...I've seen before how hundreds of $5 donations work together to equal the ransome for a desparate child in an orphange.

http://www.nogreaterjoymom.com/2011/08/because-it-is-our-problem.html

Please share this story on your social networks. Thank you.

The downside of baking sans recipes...

2011-07-15T11:06:00.000-07:00

I try to bake something for breakfast every evening so that in the morning my early risers (Dylan & Don) can take their breakfast with them. My usual fare is muffins and coffee cakes of various flavors and types. I don't use recipes. I just throw ingredients into my KitchenAid mixer until the batter looks the right consistency and then bake it up, hoping for the best. Breakfast is usually very edible. But today's coffee cake...was heavenly. I'm not sure what I did differently, but it didn't rise up like a cake, it was more dense like a brownie. And the streusel topping was perfect. If I was able to duplicate this recipe, I'm pretty sure I could sell it to Starbuck's or other hoity toity coffee shop...it is just that good!

Strawberries!

2011-07-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

Here is Haley slicing 10 pounds of strawberries that we purchased from Krause's. We enjoyed them on shortcake with whipped cream topping. So yummy!

Sand play at Krause's

2011-07-14T19:52:00.000-07:00

My parents took Jordyn and Nick for their first Krause's sand box visit of the year. When they came home my mom said the kids did really well except that Nick needed to learn some "sand box etiquette." : )

Pizza for 13!

2011-07-14T19:43:00.000-07:00

This week we've been a household of 13! In addition to the international students, my parents and Haley Smith have been visiting so we have had a very busy household! Some of the people are away during the day at school or work, but the evenings are busy, especially meal time. On Tuesday night I made SIX pizzas. That's a new record for me. At least that I can remember. Thankfully my mom and Haley are great helpers : )

Strawberry picking at Krause's

2011-07-14T19:38:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday my parents went across the street with Sean, Haley, Patience, and Jordyn to experience strawberry picking. At one point my mom asked Sean if "picking strawberries" was one of the jobs available to him while working there. He replied, "I hope not." We've been enjoying the strawberries a lot...eating them fresh instead of freezing or jamming them. I might regret that...

Old enough to play Nintendo DS...

2011-07-14T19:33:00.000-07:00

but still young enough for a pacifier. At least he thinks so. He's going to have a rude awakening after the cruise : (

Bridal Falls Waterpark

2011-07-11T10:19:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we all headed out to the Bridal Falls Waterpark and spent the day on the waterslides! Everyone had a great time, as you can see in the pictures (thank you, Lee, for being our resident photographer!).

A bike for Nick

2011-07-08T21:37:00.000-07:00

Mom and Lee arrived for a visit on Thursday, and they brought Nick this very cool and adorable bike for an early birthday present. It's all decorated like Lightning McQueen from the Cars movie, which is a favorite of Nick's. He was all smiles and we spent lots of minutes pushing him around on it...he understood the steering, but didn't get the pedaling. The first words out of his mouth this morning were, "I want to ride my bike." As of this evening, he can pedal himself and he's already an expert steerer. He LOVES this bike!

Welcome Haley!

2011-07-06T22:12:00.000-07:00

Today Haley Smith came for a week-long visit while her parents are busy touring Europe! We had a productive day: we set up the pool! And we made pizza for dinner, which Bruce, Sam, and Nick loved : )

Sam, Bruce, and Nick enjoying homemade pizza! They requested leftover pizza for their lunch tomorrow.

Nick showing Dylan where the moon is.

Haley Smith joins the Motley Crew : )

Nick loving the pool despite the Arctic temperatures.

The Littles.

"A flower for you!"

2011-07-05T16:19:00.000-07:00

That's what my darling boy said to me as he handed me this dandelion (missing most of the seeds). My heart melted. I'm not normally a gushy mom who puts dandelions in a glass of water to show my appreciation to the bearer, but I have to admit that Nick's gesture really made my heart skip a beat. I must be getting soft!

Meet our triplets!

2011-07-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Don went into Vancouver airport to pick up our international students: Bruce, Sam, and Nick. They are all 10 or 11 years old and we are pleased and surprised at how much English they can speak and understand even on their first day here. I'm sure they'll be able to learn a lot of English during their classes.

They're in the same class at school so they know each other really well and get along great. We're looking forward to a great 3 weeks!

Within 10 minutes of walking through our front door, this is what they were doing:

And then later they played Wii with the girls. They also brought their own fun electronic entertainment: Sam has an Ipad 2 (Don is jealous!) and Nick has an adorable Winnie the Pooh cell phone (Haley is jealous!).

Last night I put out a huge spread of food for our family and the three boys, not knowing exactly how much food would be consumed on a regular basis. I made some Chinese food that Jimmy taught me how to make, Don barbequed hamburgers, we had chips, veggies, and lemonade. Each boy ate 1 hamburger and that is all. We had tons of leftovers, which I normally don't have.

This morning they were up bright and early, but I think it's just that their internal clocks are still off from traveling half-way around the world. They had homemade blueberry muffins for breakfast and they ate those heartily. At 8:30 we loaded them all up into the van and drove them to their first day of school. Today they're at school all day but from this point on they'll spend the morning doing English lessons and then they'll do something fun in the afternoons. It's a great program and the boys are lucky to have such a great opportunity.

Welcome to Canada, boys!

The summer ritual: foot baths!

2011-07-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

Because the Littles play outside A LOT and sometimes don't even wear shoes out there, evening foot baths have become the norm (on non-bath nights). Last night I set Nick on the counter with his little grubby feet soaking and went to put his clothes in the laundry room. When I came back, this is what I found:

I guess this is what you call a bath during water restrictions : )

Canada Day fireworks

2011-07-02T18:54:00.000-07:00

Don and I got super brave yesterday and decided to throw caution to the wind and take the kids to the fireworks in Langley that start at 10:30. In preparation, we gave Nick a nice long nap so we knew he'd be good to go.

The girls practically vibrated with excitement all day long. Finally, at 10:00, we loaded them up in the van and headed down to the park. We had just enough time to get to the field and sit down on our bamboo mat (thank you, Edith!). The kids LOVED it. They all did great, right up to the time they had to get out of the van at home. Then Jordyn was too tired to do anything but lay down and cry. But even with that minor snafu, Don and I decided that it was a great adventure and next year we'd do some of the festivities and then stay for the fireworks!

The convenience of having readers

2011-06-25T21:03:00.000-07:00

Luckily for Nick, anyone in the family can read him a story! Here are my early risers one morning this week, reading stories while waiting for the day to start and Jordyn to wake up...

Princess party

2011-06-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

This week the girls went to Megan Sumner's princess birthday party. Patience, bless her heart, doesn't fit in the princess costumes anymore, so I let her wear her "ball" gown that we bought for her to wear on the cruise. They both looked lovely, as you can see.

Dollies and stuffies

2011-06-25T20:58:00.000-07:00

Kit says, "Hi!" and the poor Bee pillow pet is getting squashed.

Cars 2!

2011-06-25T20:54:00.000-07:00

Tonight the entire Murphy clan (except for Nathan, who was unable/unwilling to fly up for the evening) went to Colossus in Langley to watch Cars 2. We knew Nick would love it since he watches the original Cars movie every day, but we weren't sure how he would do in a movie theater environment. He did...okay. Not the greatest. He told Don he had to go to the bathroom about 10 times during the first half of the show. Then I stood up with him in the foyer and he watched the rest of the movie from there, happy as a lark. On the way there, I said we should bring his carseat in and strap him in...I still think that would have worked! In the end, Don and I decided that while it wasn't a disaster by any means, next year will be the perfect age to take Nick to the movies and have everyone enjoy themselves.

Kudos to my great husband who went to Langley to buy the movie tickets at Costco so we could all get drinks and popcorn, and then went out to Colossus to get the tickets for the show we wanted. We didn't have to stand in any lines : )

Father's Day 2011

2011-06-19T15:08:00.000-07:00

This is a banner day for Don if I do say so myself! This morning he woke up to heart-shaped pancakes, lots of hugs and kisses from the Littles, and the full entourage heading to church with him.

When we came home Don, Dylan, and Sean brought the Foosball table in from the shop. We just bought replacement balls from Ebay and they were all anxious to get the table going again.

We ate a quick lunch of deli sandwiches and finished off the ice cream cake, which had morphed from a "Happy Birthday/Congratulations on your Graduation" to a "Happy Father's Day" cake! Then Don opened this very cool gift from the kids:

And now he's downstairs walloping Dylan in a rousing game of Foosball!

Happy Father's Day, Honey, you're a great dad!

Step one of getting our house ready for international students

2011-06-18T21:30:00.000-07:00

We are opening a new chapter in our lives: hosting international students! We have hosted them before for a short stay, but this year it looks like we're getting a teen-aged boy, 2 months younger than Sean, also in Grade 11 at Poppy. He's from Brazil, and his name is Lucas. There is a possibility that we will host a second boy, from Viet Nam, who is 14 and who will also attend Poppy.

The first step in getting ready for these boys is to move all the Littles upstairs to the room next to ours, where we can keep an eye on them : )

Today Don bought this great bunk bed from a couple who had posted it on Craigslist. Then we found a brand new double mattress for the bottom bunk, also advertised on Craigslist. We spent the better part of today getting their room together, including moving furnitre from other parts of the house into their room.

Here are some pictures:

Yes, it's about 4:00 in the afternoon here, but as soon as we got the bed all put together the kids got right in! The girls had their teeth brushed and jammies on by 7:00 tonight, they were so excited to sleep in their new beds...

I think I'm going to move the doll cribs...somewhere...they're too crammed in there.

Don moved the "home theater system" in so they could watch Cars while they laid in bed. It has since been removed. The armoir holds the girls clothes, their extra (millions of) blankets, and their school stuff.

This container holds Nick's clothes and diapers (which he wears only at night now!), books, and other special stuff.

Their doll wardrobe!

When we put the bed together we left the ladder down, because Patience can climb onto the top bunk without it and we figured (hoped) that without the ladder Nick would not be able to get up there. Yeah, right.

Celebrations and trampoline fun

2011-06-17T20:47:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had the rare occurence of Dylan and Haley both being here for the evening! Haley is usually either working or playing softball, and therefore Dylan is either watching Haley play ball or is here solo. So we decided to celebrate Haley's highschool graduation and Dylan's 19th birthday tonight. We had Haley's favorite dinner (spaghetti and meatballs) and then we had a Dairy Queen ice cream cake....because that's how the Murphys celebrate! Don and I gave them each a pass to Playland in Vancouver so now they have a fun day to look forward to...outside of the cruise of course.

The first ice cream of the season

2011-06-17T20:40:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday night the weather was nice and the border lineup was non-existent, probably due to game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. So the girls and I headed to Edaleen to stock up on dairy and of course had an ice cream cone while we were there!

Morning snuggles

2011-06-17T20:37:00.000-07:00

Nick enjoys his first cup of milk while snuggling with us in the morning. This particular morning Don wasn't quite awake yet. After Nick finished drinking his milk, he set it on Don's head!

Napping Nick

2011-06-17T20:35:00.000-07:00

Nick's gotten into a new napping pattern. He'll fall asleep on my bed while watching Cars on Don's laptop, which is set up on the dresser at the end of our bed. I sure am going to miss naptime when Nick gives them up!

Nintendo DS

2011-06-17T20:33:00.000-07:00

Nathan gave Patience a Nintendo DS for her birthday and she loves it. So does Jordyn. So does Nick.

Keeping up with Ma Ingalls

2011-06-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

Not that that's even possible. But since the girls and I have been reading the Little House books they've gotten lots of ideas about how I can be more like Ma. For example, instead of making boring round pancakes, I can make pancake people like Ma did on Christmas morning. I tried. Maybe next time my pancake person will be prettier. Actually it looks more like a lop-eared bunny than a person : )

Go Bananas!

2011-06-17T20:27:00.000-07:00

This week Jordyn's preschool class had their end-of-the-year party at one of those indoor playplaces. Usually when there's something on the calendar that I'd rather not attend (like a field trip to the firehall that she's already been two twice) I just don't tell her about it. But now that she can read I can't hide anything from her. She knew from the first day of June that "Go Bananas!" was on the calendar and she asked me everyday to tell her how many more days until the party. So, on Wednesday I took Jordyn, Nick, and Patience to the newly expanded place and they had a blast. It wasn't nearly as bad as I was anticipating. The noise level was manageable because the preschool had rented the entire place for the party. Here are some pics:

The most amazing part of the entire morning is that Nick didn't have a single accident! He came to use the toilet twice while we were there. He starts preschool in the fall, so I guess we'll be going back to Go Bananas! next year.

The delicious way to not waste food

2011-06-10T11:31:00.000-07:00

In my new-found effort to not waste food, especially produce, I have recently been baking the most delicious cakes. OnTuesday I saved a couple dozen carrots from the chicken coop by peeling and grating them up. I made an amazing carrot cake and still have enough left over to make some carrot muffins later. Then today I used up six apples which were covered with "bad spots" and made this Apple Dapple cake, complete with the delicious glaze. I didn't bake mine in a bundt pan...I used a 9x13 instead. And I replaced 1 cup white flour with whole wheat flour just to raise the nutrition factor a bit. These past-their-prime fruits and veggies make for some excellent desserts!

Little House

2011-06-08T20:50:00.000-07:00

I've waited a looooong time to read this series to my daughters! I tried to start it last year but they were too young and it didn't quite hold their attention. Tonight we read the first chapter of Little House in the Big Woods and they both did great. As you can see, Patience and Jordyn have their American Girl dolls with them for storytime...

Dinner on a budget

2011-06-08T17:28:00.000-07:00

It helps the grocery budget when you have a couple of really frugal meals in your repertoire. Tonight we had this:

It's spicy black beans and rice...what half the world considers "food." I cooked about 2 pounds of black beans along with sauteed onions, garlic, celery, carrots, fresh ginger, and hot pepper. Served alongside white rice, the entire meal for 7 people cost about $3.50, but we only ate half of the beans tonight. The rest will go into the freezer for another night. Oh, and it's delicious.

"Un"shopping

2011-06-06T13:56:00.000-07:00

That's right...today I went "un"shopping in the girls' room. It's a difficult time of year here in the PNW. It's been nice...shorts and shirt weather lately, but you just can't trust that it's going to stick. So right now the girls have all their clothes...summer and winter...stuffed into their designated clothes spot. It just wasn't working. Even I had a difficult time choosing a shirt and either pants or shorts for them to wear. So today, after washing and folding every last article of clothing in the laundry room, I wen't "un"shopping. I took all their clothes, separated them into shorts, pants, short-sleeved, and long-sleeved shirts. And then I made outfits. Around 10 each. And I put the rest away in the furnace room, should I ever need to go "shopping" for more or different outfits.

I should have taken before and after shots...their clothes went from chaotic to user-friendly in less than 15 minutes!

Annual Ceremonial Review 2011

2011-06-05T21:26:00.000-07:00

Sean and the Guard marching onto the parade square.

Sean and the Guard "At Ease."

Proud parents. It was a beautiful day. I got one heck of a sunburn...but my nose is fine!

Sean receiving the Best Dressed Cadet award.

Sean receiving the Echo Alpha Leadership award.

Prom 2011

2011-06-05T21:19:00.000-07:00

Fancy nails and other news

2011-05-31T10:40:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago Dylan and Haley bought these press-on nails for the girls. They're Disney princesses. I've been ~~hiding~~ saving them in my purse but this morning Patience found them, and let's just say, she wasn't exactly living up to her name regarding waiting to put them on!

So after doing the morning chores I put them on the girls. Of course they love them! I don't know how long they're going to last as they're not exactly careful, or used to having nails of any length at all. In the meantime, they look pretty stinkin' cute!

Dylan has applied for the Business School at University of the Fraser Valley, so I'd say that he's pretty much officially changed lanes as far as a degree and career go.

Don went to the opthomalogist this morning and now his eyes are frozen and dilated. He found out that he does need some reading glasses, and is bemoaning getting old.

Nathan enjoyed his first 3-day weekend. He visited a new church which is pretty close to his condo and he plans on going back his next weekend off. He also got hooked up with some drop-in floor hockey, so he's very happy about that.

Other that that, life is pretty much going along as usual.

Menu Plan 5/29-6/4

2011-05-28T20:39:00.000-07:00

Sunday
Oatmeal
Pizza
Spaghetti and meat balls, salad, garlic bread

Monday
Muffins
Kraft Dinner
Taco bake

Tuesday
Breakfast sandwiches
Chicken noodle soup
Pizza on the barbeque, salad

Wednesday
Cream of wheat
Pasta
BBQ Beef sandwiches, salad

Thursday
Pancakes
PBJs
Hot dogs, homemade mac-n-cheese

Friday
Muffins
Toasted cheese sandwiches
Stir-fry veggies with rice

Saturday
Waffles
Smokies on the bar-b
Vegetable soup, homemade bread

Tri-service ball

2011-05-28T19:37:00.000-07:00

Tonight Sean is attending the Tri-serivce ball, which is a huge formal event for all the cadets in the Lower Mainland, whether they be sea, air, or army cadets. Sean's date is the lovely Jessica Morgan-Laing, or JML for short. They left from the CTC around 5:00 on the bus, and that same bus will bring them back to the CTC at around 1:00 A.M. Dylan, bless his heart, offered to pick them up so that his aged parents can sleep soundly through the night. Guess who my favorite is right now?

On food waste

2011-05-26T20:21:00.000-07:00

The most expensive food you'll ever buy is the food that gets wasted. I can't count the number of times that I've optomistically filled my crisper drawers with produce and piled my fruit bowls with apples and bananas, all bought at "sale" prices. I don't think I've ever used every single item. Something at the bottom of my crisper drawer is way past its prime by the time I am loading up the drawers again, and I just end up throwing it away. What a shame.

So, as of a few days ago I am going to try to be more intentional about using what I have.

The first step is knowing what's on hand.

The second step is menu planning around that.

If you have produce that is getting ready to be unusable, you can make soup! On Tuesday I found two heads of broccoli that I definitely should have used last week. So I made broccoli soup using potatoes that were already sprouting. So instead of trash, I had a meal! I usually make some homemade whole wheat bread to go along with a soup meal...then everyone seems to leave the table feeling more satisfied.

If veggies are starting to expire but aren't necessarily soup veggies, search the internet for recipes to use it up! I have found some of my best recipes this way.

If you have fruit that's expiring try using it in muffins or smoothies. Or slice and freeze it.

I'm also trying to think outside of the box about not wasting food. Like...what about the zest of oranges and lemons? I know, I know, some would consider that going overboard. But do you know you can zest a lemon in less than 2 minutes and if you add that to your regular blueberry muffin batter, all of a sudden you have an extraordinary creation. If you take an extra few minutes and add a struesel topping on your muffins, you are now competing with Starbuck's, but that's beside the point.

My goal is to not let anything go to waste...but just in case I don't meet that goal, I have a back-up plan: chickens! They happily eat anything I give them : )

Family portraits

2011-05-25T20:48:00.000-07:00

The last time we had family portraits done was in 2007. These were in dire need of updating! Since we now have a wonderful photographer who does great work and has reasonable fees, we I decided that during Nathan's leave we would take advantage of the entire family being together and get them done again. I'm so glad we took the time and effort...look at my beautiful family!

And of course we got the family portrait that I'm now using in my blog header. So now we should be good for a few years!

Nathan's contact information

2011-05-25T20:23:00.000-07:00

Here's Nathan's new information. I've decided that I'm just going to dedicate an entire page in my address book to him : )

6 S. 5th Place #6

Long Beach, Ca 90802

(home) 562-435-9682

(cell) 562-673-6864

His home phone line isn't getting installed until May 28. I'm sure he'd love to hear from family and friends!

On giving up afternoon naps...

2011-05-25T09:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon I asked Nick every 30 minutes or so if he wanted to take a nap. "Nope," was his consistent reply. He actually did really well right up to about 4:00 when he sat down with Patience to watch a t.v. show. I let him sleep about 30 minutes and then I woke him up so as to not ruin the opportunity for an early bedtime. I think this is going to be a slow, painful transition but it will make afternoon preschool easier for everyone come September.

Menu 5/22-5/28

2011-05-23T18:50:00.000-07:00

Sunday-Don's birthday bbq

Monday-Huge chef salad with lots of yummy stuff!

Tuesday-Bean and beef burritos

Wednesday-Pasta with meat sauce, garlic bread

Thursday-Meatloaf, veggies, biscuits

Friday-Use-it-up Soup, homemade whole-wheat bread

Saturday-Homemade pizza

Playground

2011-05-23T17:43:00.000-07:00

After Nick's nap I took the Littles to this playground to celebrate the sunshine!

Fort Langley Victoria Day parade

2011-05-23T13:46:00.000-07:00

This is the first year that we've been spectators at this parade since the year that Patience was born. I remember because she was a tiny newborn baby, sleeping in her stroller, and when the firetruck drove by and sounded the siren it didn't wake her up. So then my mom thought she must have hearing problems : )

Walking from where we parked to the parade route.

The girls "smiling for Nathan."

RCMP motorcycle drill team. Nick loved this!

Jordyn wearing the pirate hat that a local bank was giving out.

Nick in his "top-row" seat. The view was great from up there!

Nick didn't want to get too close to that "gug," even though it wasn't real.

He was still leary of it even though he had Jordyn to protect him : )

We took this picutre for Nathan...here is the girls' future!

Sean leading the Guard behind Coxswain John Gammeter.

It wasn't easy, but we finally got Sean to smile! And look, John's smiling too, so we got two for the price of one : )

Nick loved this as well...it was an old steam-powered tractor but it whistled JUST like a real steam engine.

Happy Birthday, Don!

2011-05-22T19:27:00.000-07:00

And what a wonderful birthday he had! It started out with the entire family attending church together which is always nice. After church, Don got to watch the Canucks wallup the Sharks. When the game was over, he went with the Littles to the school playground and then came home to open presents. Let's just say he was super spoiled this year!

Haley and Nick enjoying the swing.

Don with all his booty...

Dylan, Haley, Nick, Sean

Don's new barbque!

Tomatos! We're easing Don back into tomato gardening...

The girls help him open his new sandals.

New white jacket, new white shoes!

After opening presents, Don cooked delicious angus hamburgers for the family. They were delish! Don loved cooking on the new barbeque...it's definitely a few steps up from the old rig! And for dessert we had Lemon Cream Cheese Crisp. It was a super yummy pie that I bought at Costco. All in all it was a fantastic day...what a wonderful way to turn 45!

First campout of the season!

2011-05-20T09:19:00.000-07:00

We've (finally) been blessed with warm, sunny weather after such a cold, wet spring. Yesterday afternoon Don and the girls set up a tent in the backyard for our first campout of the season. The plan was for just Don and the girls to sleep there but at the last minute Don took Nick out, too. Don set up the laptop to play Cars. Patience fell asleep during the movie, but I heard Nick and Jordyn awake and talking after 10:00 when I headed up to bed.

Everyone was awake by 5:30. Of course it's broad daylight by then, so that doesn't help : ) It's 9:00 a.m. now and Nick is already down for his nap.

Dylan's new job is working out really well! He leaves the house around 5:30 a.m. so he has a self-imposed bedtime of 9:30 or so. He's been able to work some overtime a couple of days this week, which he's happy to do at time and a half!

Yesterday I brought up all the girls' summer clothes and washed them. The girls were so excited to be able to put on shorts and t-shirts. You would have thought that they were going to Disneyland by the way they were yelling with joy : )

We celebrated the arrival of spring by planting seeds in my new raised garden beds out back.

Haley's grad pictures are up! Another wonderful photo session by Anita...

Today Nathan starts his new job at the LA/Long Beach small boat station. He told me on the phone last night that when he visited the station last week the station really reminded him of the Boat Shed on Quadra! I imagine he'll soon be as dark as he is in these pictures. I told him not to expect a barbequed steak for dinner every night. I'll talk to him again Monday after he finishes his 72-hour shift and see what he really thinks. He told me that yesterday he played roller hockey at this nice outdoor roller hockey rink that's run by the Long Beach Parks and Rec department and then afterwards he rode his bike along the beach path all the way to Belmont Shores.

This weekend is Don's birthday as well as Victoria Day so we'll be enjoying a 3-day weekend! Hopefully the weather will continue to be this lovely.

Cheers!

On and around the farm today...

2011-05-17T09:37:00.000-07:00

Sean and his jazz band are playing at MusicFest Canada...go Red Hot Jazz!

Dylan is working his first shift at Freybe Gourmet Foods.

Haley is having her grad photoshoot with Anita Chapman, our resident favorite photographer.

Nathan and my parents continue to assemble dozens of pieces of IKEA furniture. When I called this morning to check their progress his movers were just arriving with his household goods from Alaska.

Don is working onsite today, at a business very near to Freybe's. I said he should go have lunch with Dylan : )

Today I am tackling the disaster that we refer to as a "toy room." Too many toys for the Littles to keep orderly. We'll see which ones they're willing to part with.

Tonight's dinner: Shish-kabobs with marinated beef, red bell peppers, and mushrooms. Don and I will thoroughly enjoy these. Everyone else might opt for leftover spaghetti. Oh well!

As you can see, I'm trying to ease myself back into regular blog posts...

The first week of May

2011-05-16T07:03:00.000-07:00

On Friday morning, April 29, Nathan finally made it from Cordova, Alaska to Bellingham, Washington aboard the Alaska Marine Highway System ferry. He was home by 10:00 and we were all ecstatic to see him. Sean was the only one who wasn't home (he was at school) so Nathan got a pretty good fill of family right away.

Since Nathan is moving to Long Beach, California he was in need of some new duds, having spent the past 2 years in Alaska. So on Saturday the 30th Dylan and I took him to the mall and helped him purchase an entire summer wardrobe. It was a lot of fun for Dylan and me! It was pretty painful for Nathan. He hasn't acquired a taste for trying on lots of clothes and then spending lots of money on said clothes. But in the end he got some great stuff and he's going to look awesome (and be comfortable) in southern California.

We went to church as a family on May 1 and Nathan heard "the best sermon of his life," quite probably because every sermon illustration was hockey-related.

On Wednesday May 4 my parents arrived! They flew into Seattle and rented a car to drive up here. The evening that they arrived we spent a lot of time outside because the weather was nice. We barbequed hamburgers and watched the menfolk assemble to nice porch swing that Don got me for my birthday/Mother's Day.

Thursday was my birthday! I had an early hair appointment with Nati to get my hair highlighted. She ended up doing some pretty dramatic streaks but I've gotten a lot of compliments on it, including hearing that I look 30 years old! That's a 15-year improvement!

After my hair appointment, Mom, Dylan, Nathan, and I all headed to Willowbrook mall to find some clothes for us all to wear for our upcoming family portraits. We were at Payless Shoe Source because Nathan wanted to get running shoes. He and Dylan were up toward the front of the store purchasing the shoes...Mom and I were still browsing...when we heard gun shots, screaming people, and running. Everyone in the store quickly ran into the back storeroom. There were about 20 of us in there, including 2 double strollers and several elderly people. We had a steel door shutting us in, and another steel door separating us from the back entrance. It was scary. I assumed that someone was just randomly shooting people in the mall. The people who worked at the shoe store called the mall to get information and we found out that some people had robbed one of the jewelry stores in the mall, and had shot through the glass display cases to get to the jewelry. No one was shot, although several people were sprayed with Bear Scare. We were in the back room for about 45 minutes and then a security guard led us out to the back loading area. Thankfully Nathan and Dylan were there to carry the double strollers down the stairs.

After that scare, you'd think that we would have just gone home or gone out for a cocktail! But, no, we still had a photo shoot to get clothes for. So we headed over to Old Navy and found lovely clothes for everyone. We were thankful for Mom's employee discount : )

That evening, Dylan babysat for us and Mom, Lee, Don, Nathan, and I drove down to Everson to meet some great friends and family for a delicious steak dinner. Val, Dave, and Hailey joined us as well as Marc, Leslie, and Alex Cutler. So, basically Nathan's favorite people ever : ) We had a wonderful time! Thanks, Nathan, for treating your fan club so well!

When we got home from dinner I was presented with a birthday cake that Dylan and the Littles had made while we were gone! What a great babysitter : )

On Friday May 6 we had another very busy day! We had a birthday party for both Patience and Jordyn! It was a Garden Party theme which would have worked out MUCH better if it hadn't been pouring out! Don Sr. and Waneta drove down to help with the party. Don Sr. took Nathan to Canadian Tire and helped get him outfitted with a basic toolkit. Waneta stayed and helped 8 little girls paint birdhouses!

On Saturday morning our entire family (plus other special people) gathered for family portraits! We hadn't done portraits since long before Nick was born, so we decided to take advantage of having Nathan home and just get them done again. Our favorite photographer, Anita Chapman, took them in a park in Abbotsford. Because it was pouring rain, we used a huge covered picnic area. The shots turned out great. You can see them here and here. If you would like a picture, please let me know the image number, which is listed underneath the photo and starts with the word "Murphy." I had the portraits scheduled close enough to my birthday and Mother's Day to ensure cheerful compliance by all involved and it worked great!

After the portraits, my fun and busy week came to a crashing halt. Nathan and Don drove away from that Abbotsford park and headed south to Nathan's new duty station. My parents did drive home with us, but then packed up and left for their time with their other daughter. All I can say is that I'm glad my parents didn't have 6 kids...it's hard enough for Valarie and I to share them evenly. And she usually gets the lion's share of their time in the PNW : )

Dylan and Haley ran to do errands of their own and Sean went to the basement to make up for lost time on his video games. Nick took a much-needed nap and I spent an hour or so reorganizing and cleaning from all the gifts that came with the birthday party.

And that....was the first week of May, 2011. As soon as I post about week 2 you'll be completely caught up.

Cheers!

The second week of May

2011-05-16T06:46:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was Mother's Day. So even though Nathan and Don were not home, it was a special day that I was very much looking forward to.

Dylan and Sean, bless their hearts, set their alarms for 5:30 a.m. so they were sure to be up when Nick woke up. They wanted to intercept him and let me sleep in! Unfortunately, or fortunately, Nick decided that he'd sleep in that day and didn't wake up until after 7:00! So by the time he woke up, the boys were already pretty tired : )

Dylan made breakfast: pancakes and bacon, while Sean took care of the Littles. Then the 6 of us headed off to church and listened to an excellent Mother's Day service. From church, we drove south and went to Val and Dave's to spend some time with the Richeys and my parents. We had a delicious lunch and we presented mom with her Mother's Day/birthday gift: a gift certificate to her favorite nursery. Mom and Lee really don't need much of anything, but nursery gift certficates are always useful.

While we were there my niece Hailey gave Jordyn one of her American Girl dolls, which really helped Jordyn get over the sting of seeing Patience receive Kit the day of her birthday party. Thanks, Hailey! Jordyn really likes that doll and is taking good care of her.

On Sunday Nathan and Don made their way to San Jose and were able to take in game 5 of the Detroit/San Jose series. Unfortunately, San Jose lost that game but at least now Nathan can say that he's been in the Shark Tank for a playoff game...he can check that off his bucket list.

On Monday Nathan and Don completed their drive and arrived at the Pacific Inn at Seal Beach. Our lives got completely back to normal. Dylan and Sean were thankful that Mother's Day was over : )

On Tuesday Nathan reported for duty at his new station! This took a few hours of paperwork and such so while he was gone Don took advantage of the nice weather and beach location and wondered around Seal Beach. That evening my parents arrived from Bellingham into Long Beach. They decided to head down there and help Nathan get settled. Which is really great, since it has been a HUGE undertaking!

On Wednesday Don flew back to Canada and Nathan and my parents were able to see his prospective new condo which we found on Craigslist. It looked amazing online and the owner was more than helpful in letting Nathan get a feel for the layout and location. It proved to be just as good as we thought! Doug, the owner, wanted to give it a fresh coat of paint but told Nathan he could move in on Sunday. So Nathan and my parents have been at the hotel in Seal Beach all week while they waited for the keys.

In the meantime, Nathan's car has been in the shop getting a transmission problem fixed (under warranty, YAY!) so they've been driving a brand new Armada. They've shopped at IKEA for beds, couches, dining sets, desks, etc. and Target for everything else Nathan will need for his household. It's a ~~good~~ great thing that Nathan has been so dilligent about saving money, because he's needed a lot of it to set himself up in his own place. After all the necessary, mundane things were purchased, Nathan found a huge hockey store in Anaheim and got himself fully set up to play ice or roller hockey (protective pads, etc.)

Today Nathan's IKEA order is being delivered, so there will be lots of assembly going on! And then tomorrow Nathan's household goods will be delivered from the Coast Guard. I imagine Nathan will be very busy unpacking and then will reward himself with a bike ride along the beach path that runs right outside his condo : ).

My parents are hoping to leave either Wednesday or Thursday, by which time Nathan should be fully settled. He starts work Friday for his first 3-day shift. For Nathan, weekends alternate between being a three-day (Friday-Sunday) work weekend or a three day weekend off. The other four days are work two, off two.

So Don got home Wednesday evening and got back into the swing of reality. He had a great trip with Nathan, though.

Sometime during the week, Dylan got a job offer! He's now working at Freybe Gourmet Meats right here in Aldergrove. It's a full-time job during the summer and then it goes down to part-time during the school year (perfect). The pay is very competitive and they have no problem with Dylan taking a week off for the cruise. Today is his first day (orientation). They have 2 shifts: day shifts from 6-2:30 or evening shifts from 2:30-11:00. This summer he's on days, unless they need him to cover an occasional evening shift. But during the school year he'll only be available to work 1 or 2 evening shifts each week. They're not open on weekends at all. He is very fortunate to have this job! I think I might try to get in here myself when all the Littles are in school full-time.

On Saturday Don and I took the Littles to a local mall for an outing. The idea was that the Littles could play on the play place and it would be a cheap date/outing. Except for that the Children's Place was having a sale and I spent a lot of money on a summer wardrobe for Nick. On our way to the mall, I looked in the back seat where all the Littles were (we were in the Matrix) and this is what I saw:

For those of you who haven't experienced Nick, he has this...um..."interest" in necks. He finds them comforting. If you pick him up and hold him, especially if he's upset or tired, he'll always put both hands up and hold your neck. I don't know how it started or why he finds necks comforting. But I thought it was hysterical that he was holding his sisters' necks!

Yesterday all 7 of us went to church. I can't remember the last time that has happened, but it's been a long while. After church we had some friends over for lunch. The mom offered to bring dessert. Imagine our delight when they showed up with this Dairy Queen ice cream cake!

It was a great day, topping off a great week.

And now, my blogging is all caught up! You don't know what a relief that is! I will try to be better about blogging more frequently. I know a lot of people appreciate seeing current pictures and hearing about current anecdotes. And no one appreciate them more than ME when I got back to read them a few years after the fact when I've long forgotten they ever happened.

Catching up at the Farm

2011-04-17T07:57:00.000-07:00

Here's a little post to bring you all up-to-date on the events that I apparently don't have time to blog about on a ~~daily~~ ~~weekly~~ regular basis:

Don submitted his resume for two jobs: one with University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, and another with the Township of Langley. Both would come with a nice benefits package and we're hopeful that one will come through.

Nathan found out on Friday that he will NOT be going to the Coast Guard Academy this summer. He is mildly disappointed but now he's looking 100% forward to his next 4 or 5 years in LA/Long Beach. He leaves Cordova early Tuesday morning on the Alaksa Marine Highway ferry and will arrive in Bellingham on April 29. He has a 4-day layover in Juneau.

Dylan submitted his resume for an incredible summer internship position with a museum in Fort Langley. We're hopeful that he gets hired here, as his last day at Panago is a week from today. The pay is really good at this summer job...good enough to carry Dylan through an entire school year easily.

Sean brought home an excellent report card on Friday. Lots of A's to be happy about, one little "I" to work through : )

Dylan has moved rooms yet again! We have a leak in the pipes in Dylan's small dorm room, so we moved him into the larger gray bedroom in the basement so we can do whatever repairs we need to without worrying about Dylan's stuff.

Our entire front yard is a mud pit. We had a friend with an excavator company come in and dig a huge drainage pit in our front yard to help with some leaking that happens during heavy rainfall. We found the hole during the dig and Don patched it up. And now we need to do something about making the front yard green again.

Don and I are both on a low-carb diet. It's going really well as far as not being hungry much. We've both lost some weight so we feel really good : )

Jordyn has learned how to read thanks to Pokemon on Wii. She has inherited the video game gene from her older brothers and loves to play Pokemon Park. For a long time she would ask people around her to read the words on the screen, but that gets tiring after awhile so we stopped doing it. So, she had to start reading them for herself. The same thing happened with Sean when he was about her age. Just to make sure she was really reading, and not just memorizing each dialog box, I had her read to me out of a magazine at the dentist office on Thursday. Yep, she's reading. It's hilarious.

Patience and Jordyn have 0 cavities! Nick did not think that letting the dentist see his teeth was a good idea. At all.

Speaking of the girls, they are having a combined birthday party on Friday, May 6, which is a Pro-D day. They're having a "garden party" theme, so I hope the weather cooperates and we can do at least some things outside. Like painting the birdhouses. I really don't want do to that inside. I've really got to get on the invitations.

Dylan is in the middle of his finals for the sememster.

We are scheduled to take family portraits on Saturday, May 7. Outside. We are praying that the weather cooperates.

I think that's about all the newsiness from our neck of the woods. I'll post more later!

Want to be part of a miracle?

2011-04-06T18:47:00.000-07:00

Help Vanya, an eight-year-old Eastern European orphan, find a home while he's still able to be adopted. Here's how.

Salad, anyone?

2011-03-29T14:21:00.000-07:00

While my BFF is visiting me I want to be able to serve healthy salads without slaving away in the kitchen...I'd rather be visiting! So today I put together a salad bar that will serve us well for lunches and dinners. What you don't see here is the huge tupperware bowl full of young spinach, chopped romaine, and shredded carrots. Yummy, healthy, easy, yay!

April menu

2011-03-29T14:17:00.000-07:00

3/29 Turkey and black bean burritos
3/30 (Heather arrives!) Pork cutlets, salad, couscous
3/31 Dinner out (?)
4/01 Pizza, salad
4/02 Roast, salad, broccoli, mashed potatoes
4/03 Spaghetti with meatballs, garlic bread, salad
4/04 Beef and bean burritos
4/05 Chili with corn bread
4/06 Potato soup, salad, bread
4/07 Clean-out-the-fridge soup, baked potatoes
4/08 Pizza, salad
4/09 Roast, salad, baked potatoes
4/10 Mealoaf, salad
4/11 Homemade macaroni and cheese, salad
4/12 Beef stew, biscuits
4/13 Spaghetti with meatballs, salad
4/14 Beef enchiladas
4/15 Pizza, salad
4/16 Roast, potatoes, salad
4/17 Turkey stirfry
4/18 Taco soup, quesadillas
4/19 (Nathan leaves Cordova!) Beef stew in bread bowls
4/20 White chili
4/21 Sloppy joes
4/22 Pizza and all the fixin's
4/23 Roast, salad, spuds, veggie
4/24 Meatloaf, potato soup, veggie
4/25 Beef and barley soup
4/26 Deli sandwiches
4/27 Beef and bean enchiladas
4/28 Homemade macaroni and cheese, salad
4/29 (Welcome home Nathan!) Pizza, etc.
4/30 Roast, veggies, spuds, etc.

Turning frugal fare into a feast

2011-03-28T15:02:00.000-07:00

is as easy as baking a loaf of artisan bread for each of your guests!

These lovely loaves will accompany our turkey vegetable soup tonight. This will hopefully be the last turkey meal we have for quite some time!

Our trip to Merritt

2011-03-26T22:07:00.000-07:00

Don and I bravely loaded the car and the Littles on Friday afternoon and headed to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Merritt! We took the portable DVD player (we took the Matrix, not the van) and all the kids happily watched movies all the way up. Halfway though the trip Nick fell asleep, so he had a short nap and woke up about 15 minutes before we arrived at their house.

We had a great time going for walks and quad rides, geocaching, playing cards, painting bird houses, and, of course, ~~gorging ourselves~~ enjoying Waneta's wonderful cooking. We were a little concerned about Nick, but he did really well as long as he got his "outside" quota in. But he went to bed early Friday night, allowing the adults to enjoy some card playing, and then he napped today, so we got to play this afternoon, too.

Don and Waneta have a delux GPS that is perfect for geocaching that they're letting us borrow. We're going to use it for a while and see how much better it is than the car GPS : ) In Merritt we found geocaches #5 and 6! It was a great trip and we're looking forward to going back, now that we know we can survive Nick : )

Dylan's spring recital

2011-03-21T22:45:00.000-07:00

Haley and I went to watch Dylan perform in his final recital for this school year. It was very impressive!

Here it is for you listening enjoyment : )

Miscellaneous farm news

2011-03-20T21:13:00.000-07:00

Because of the horrible tragedy in Japan, we are no longer expecting to host two Japanese international students next week. We hear that everyone is okay in their families, but that they don't feel like this is the right time to send their sons oversees, which I totally understand.
Nathan is going to be in Anchorage tomorrow, Tuesday, and Wednesday for his physical and vision exam for the US Coast Guard Academy. Nathan finds out by April 15 if he is accepted or not.
Sean has applied for a cadet trip this summer to go to Sweden for two weeks! He just found out when he went tagging (begging) for cadets on Friday night that there were open spots on this trip and he was asked if he wanted to apply. Of course he did! The miraculous thing is that it doesn't conflict with our family cruise...Sean will leave July 2 and return July 18. That will leave him plenty of time to get over his jet lag before we start our holiday : )
Speaking of Sean, the lucky duck is in California for spring break visiting with my parents. He comes home Sunday, and then it's back to the hard reality of school and cadets.
Dylan is in the process of applying for the most amazing summer job. I'm praying that he gets it because not only is it a job that he would do very well, but it pays $20/hour and that would definitely get him through his second year of university. It's a summer intern position, and they're looking for someone going into their second year of university. It's in Fort Langley, so it's very close. He's getting reference letters from two of his professors. I'll keep you posted on Dylan's dream job.
We might be going to Merritt for a couple of days to visit Don and Waneta and introduce them to geocaching. I know that once Don Sr. gets the hang of it he'll love it.
Dylan is teaching a trumpet lesson right now! It's his first real lesson and I hope that he's enjoying it and that his pupil is getting a lot out of it.

Stretching a turkey

2011-03-20T21:01:00.000-07:00

Today I roasted a turkey that I had purchased at Christmastime when the prices of turkeys were really good. It was a good sized turkey, not sure about the exact weight, but probably 20 pounds if I were to hazard a guess. And now my challenge is to stretch that turkey into a week's worth of meals. Here is what I have planned:

Tonight: Turkey Divan over pasta (yummy!)
Monday: Turkey and cheese enchiladas
Tuesday: Turkey fried rice
Wednesday: Turkey noodle soup
Thursday: Turkey pot pie
Friday: Turkey burritos
Saturday: Turkey deli-style sandwiches

Plus I'm planning on using some of the breast meat, that I've already sliced thin, for sandwiches for this week's lunches. If this goes according to plan it'll be the best $20 I ever spent : )

Geocaching

2011-03-20T20:55:00.000-07:00

Our family has started enjoying a new hobby: geocaching! Don and I have been exploring it on the internet and thought it was a great thing for our family to do together...it's active, it's outside, it's free...what more can you ask for in a hobby?

So last night when Don got home from working and it was sunny out, we loaded up the kids and drove down to Steele Park, a little park about 3/4 mile south of our house. We searched for about an hour using Don's car GPS and we didn't find any of the caches that were hidden there. But we had fun anyway! Here are some pictures of our first high tech treasure hunt.

After searching for three caches unsuccessfully, we headed down to Otter Co-op to try to locate their geocache. It was, thankfully, much easier to find!

Tonight, after Don got home from work and it was sunny again we decided to meander over and try to find the Krause Farm geocache. Because Don insisted on bringing the GPS (I didn't think we'd need it) we were able to find it fairly quickly. The kids are all excited about geocaching now and we are bound and determined to find the caches hidden in Steele Park, even if it takes all summer : )

Nathan news

2011-03-15T20:03:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if I ever mentioned here that Nathan applied, at his commanding officer's encouragement, to apply for admission to the US Coast Guard Academy. Well, he did. He jumped through many hoops to get reference letters from highschool teachers whom he hadn't seen since 2008, took the SATs, filled out umpteen pages of application, and then sent it off with a kiss and a prayer.

I had mixed feelings about this endeavor, mostly because in all the years I've known Nathan, I've never seen an overwhelming motivation to do well in an academic arena. It's not that he's not smart and capable, but he always had other interests that were more important than book learning and grades. So I had misgivings about this very academic pursuit, knowing that he'd be giving up his current Coast Guard job, which seems to be the perfect fit for him.

Anyway, Nathan just received a letter today from the Academy stating that they wanted him to have a physical and an eye exam. So, the Coast Guard is flying him to Anchorage next week for 3 days and paying for everything: the airfare, hotel, rental car, meals, you name it! So, while this doesn't mean that he got accepted, it does mean that Nathan is a candidate...a bonafide candidate.

Second-hand store treasures

2011-03-15T19:46:00.000-07:00

On Sunday Sean watched the Littles and Don and I went on a date. We went out for some retail therapy, which I wouldn't normally recommend to anyone, but especially a couple on a budget. But anyway, we stopped at Value Village and scored some awesome finds. First, we (meaning "Don") found this adorable little Canucks jersey for Nick. We couldn't pass it up! And it's a size 4, so he should be able to wear it for a while.

We found both of the girls winter coats for next year. Patience's is a Gap warmest down jacket. We also found Nick a rain coat, which he needs because he wants to go outside and play regardless of the weather. At least now we can bundle him up and send him out.

Jordyn got some jeans, which she needed, Patience got a lovely dress that will be perfect for dressing up for dinner on the cruise. And various other items that were all amazing deals. Let's just say that I had quite a few loads of laundry to do : )

Folding table!

2011-03-15T19:34:00.000-07:00

Remember how Don gave my laundry room an extreme makeover last month? And the last think that he had to do was build a folding table against the green wall? Well, that's what he did this weekend : )

He built it and painted it out in the shop and then he and Dylan moved it in this evening to finish drying (we're not exactly having good paint-drying weather here). When the paint dries I can actually use it...I can hardly wait!

Again, the room is so small that you can't really take good pictures in there, but you get the basic idea. I wonder when the kids are going to realize that this will make an excellent hide-and-go-seek spot?

March menu

2011-03-01T20:40:00.000-08:00

So you know when to fish for an invite or just pop in unexpectedly : )

Pancakes and bacon
Spaghetti and garlic bread
Minestrone soup
Pizza
Mom and Dad date night
Roast, veggies, rolls, etc.
Burritos
Potato soup
Spaghetti and garlic bread
Pork chops, mashed potatoes, corn
Pizza
Crepes
Roast, veggies, rolls, etc.
Roast beef deli sandwiches
Taco soup
Waffles with bacon
Chili with cornbread
Baked potato bar
Meatloaf, veggies
Pizza
Turkey, veggies, rolls
Chicken stir-fry
Lasagna
Broccoli soup with homemade bread
Pizza
BBQ Hamburgers
Beef and veggie stir-fry over rice
Spaghetti and garlic bread
Turkey, mashed potatoes, corn
Crepes
Pizza

Tech support, the next generation

2011-02-28T19:36:00.000-08:00

Nick and Don were trying to make Nick's Thomas the Tank DVD work on the kids' computer. After much trying, they gave up and watched it on the television. But I thought this was so cute : )

Murphy family rules

2011-02-27T22:19:00.000-08:00

Don and I did this little project together after seeing some examples on the internet that we both really liked.

Pumpkin scones

2011-02-27T22:10:00.000-08:00

Everybody's new favorite. Super yummy. Recipe is here.

Snow

2011-02-27T22:07:00.000-08:00

This is what we woke up to this morning! By the evening it had warmed up and started raining, so now most of it is gone.

Laundry room progress

2011-02-27T22:04:00.000-08:00

Don worked hard all weekend on the laundry room. He primed and painted Friday night and Saturday, and then laid down laminate flooring on Saturday and Sunday. The flooring makes the room look so much more tidy! The room is so small that it's hard to get good pictures of a whole wall, but I tried to show you some of my favorite parts.

This is a clothes hanging bar that Don installed on the south wall.

This is the green wall. Evenutally a clothes-folding table will be against this wall. That project is for another weekend : )

White on white : )

Feb Blues 2011

2011-02-27T21:53:00.000-08:00

Saturday evening the D.W. Poppy music program put on their annual fundraiser "February Blues." It was great to hear Sean sing in the accapella jazz choir...they were so awesome...and in the Senior jazz band. Dylan and Haley came. This is the first music performance at Poppy that Dylan has been in the audience instead of on stage : )

There was a silent auction that brought in lots of money. Dylan donated 4 trumpet lessons and I donated a large cheese pizza delivered to Poppy at lunch time! It was a great evening.

The first step in becoming an NHL star

2011-02-25T17:29:00.000-08:00

There you go, Nathan...we're doing everything we can to make your dream come true!

Laundry room progress

2011-02-25T17:25:00.000-08:00

Today I got completely caught up on the laundry and then started emptying the contents of the entire room (except for the appliances) so we can work on it this weekend. We're supposed to be snowed in, so Don thought it would be the perfect time to work on an inside project.

I'll hopefully have some impressive pictures to post over the weekend : )

No news is good news

2011-02-23T19:27:00.000-08:00

There's really not much to report here, except that the weather has been absolutely freezing! Today after school Haley brought Sean home (LOVE having another driver in the family) and Dylan met her here. We had hot chocolate (pictured above) and then the big kids started on their studying while I started dinner, which was Texas Toast french toast with yummy toppings and sausage from our side of pork.

For two days now, Nick has not taken an afternoon nap. So I guess there is some news! He's a very tired boy. This morning he fell asleep in front of the t.v. for about an hour, and would have easily fallen asleep this evening if it weren't for a very active bath and playtime with Daddy. The nice thing is that his bedtime is now 7:30, so we get some down time in the evening after the Littles go to bed.

Tomorrow night Dylan has a Wind Symphony concert. Sean is babysitting so that Don and I can both go. We're picking up Haley and taking her so that they'll have just one car after the concert is over.

We got an email from Mom and Lee yesterday; they are both fine in New Zealand...far away from the epicenter of the earthquake and they're planning on being home by March 3 or so depending on space availability on the flights. I am looking forward to having them only 1000 miles away instead of half a world away. : )

Sean's truck!

2011-02-18T13:01:00.000-08:00

This morning Don and Nick took Sean and me, bright and early, to the Cutler's where Nathan's truck has been parked for the better part of a year! Sean and I drove it back to Aldergrove, stopping at both the US and Canada borders to export and then import the vehicle. We still have to do an inspection tomorrow morning, and then it hopefully will be good to go, and it will get Sean through highschool!

Mother and daughter tea party

2011-02-18T12:57:00.000-08:00

Last night at Pioneer Girlz Club there was the annual Mother & Daughter night. In the fall they had the Father & Daughter Ho-Down and in the spring they do something for the moms. This year it was a "Victorian" tea. Patience got all dressed up in her (only) dressy dress and I did her hair all fancy, as you can see! She looked lovely, even if Queen Victoria probably wouldn't have approved : )

Patience and I ready to go!

The great cake they served there. It was half chocolate and half white! With a delicious cream filling...

Our friends Paige and Charlene. Paige lives a few doors down from us and went to kindergarten with Patience last year. This year she attends a different school so it's nice that the girls can still see each other every week at Pioneer Girlz. And it's nice to carpool : )

Bonafide card-carrying citizen!

2011-02-15T14:02:00.000-08:00

Today Patience got a library card! We've been using my card to get her books for reading, but then I saw an ad that if your kids get a card and they check out "juvenile" books with it, no fines will accrue even if you bring the books back late. So, even though we're pretty good about due dates, no fines are better than small fines!

Valentine's Day

2011-02-15T11:52:00.000-08:00

Jordyn had a Valentine's Day party at preschool so she got all dressed up including curly hair for school. We made rice krispie treats for her to bring to her party. After school Dylan and Haley came home and the kids opened up their presents from Don and me. Patience and Jordyn each got a Zum, which is a kind of Webkinz that they had both been coveting for a long time. Dylan and Haley each gor a Webkinz so they can now go online and play. Nick got some high-quality fruit snacks and chocolate covered raisins. And Sean, though he was still in bed most of the day yesterday, got candy and a Dairy Queen gift card.

Dylan and Haley decided that instead of going out for sushi for Valentine's Day that they would try to make it themselves...and they did! Dylan had purchased everything they'd need to make a few different types of rolls and then they looked for online instructions, etc. They were quite happy with the results and are looking forward to more practice. I was quite happy with the way they cleaned up my (upstairs) kitchen when they were done! After seeing the kitchen mid-way through the project, I wasn't feeling too hopeful. But they pleasantly surprised me : )

Birthday milkshake

2011-02-12T10:50:00.000-08:00

It is now a tradition: Don takes the Littles out to White Spot for milkshakes to celebrate their birthdays! Here's Jordyn happily digging into her chocolate shake : )

Laundry room makeover

2011-02-12T10:46:00.000-08:00

You know how we love to do renovations! It's been a long time since ~~we've~~ Don's had a project...according to my blog it was January 2010 when he painted and fixed up the upstairs bathroom.

So now we're starting the laundry room. Don woke up this morning feeling human (thank you, Lord) and he said we needed to make a list of projects around the house. I never let an opportunity like that go by so I suggested we start on the laundry room.

Here are a few "before" pics so you can be sufficiently impressed by the improvements Don is going to make using his fabulous handyman talents : )

So, on the list of project specifics, Don is going to paint the walls and ceiling, build some cabinets that will hold laundry baskets/hampers and provide a surface on which to fold clothes, and lay some new linoleum.

We did really well on our "scope-creep" problem. Normally, Don and I would go in and look at what needed doing in a room and before you know it we would decide to remove walls, install windows, add a second story, get a bigger television, etc. This time we actually decided to keep it super simple and inexpensive. Don wanted to raise the floor to be level with the hallway, but after seeing how many things (mainly: pipes and plumbing) it would affect, we decided to keep our laundry room "sunken."

I spend a lot of time in my laundry room, so I'm super happy that it's going to be more efficient and look nicer. Happy Valentine's Day to me!

The (sick) full house

2011-02-11T11:06:00.000-08:00

More than 1/2 of us have the flu!

Thankfully, 3 of the affected are of the adult or young adult variety, meaning they can make it to the bathroom to...do whatever people with the flu do.

Thankfully, the MOM is not affected. Otherwise it would make taking care of the Littles (especially the puking one) difficult or maybe impossible.

I'm praying this is the kind of flu that runs its course quickly and everyone is healthy for the weekend.

Happy 5th birthday, Jordyn!

2011-02-07T20:37:00.000-08:00

Bless her little heart. Yesterday when I reminded her that her birthday was today, she said, "Do I get to go to school? I said, Yes, and I'm going to bring cupcakes for snack time." Then she said, "And do I get to go to my ice skating lesson?" I told her she did. She started clapping her hands and saying, "This is going to be the best birthday EVER!" What an easy keeper!

So today she did have cupcakes at school, she did her skating lesson, and then she came home to a big family dinner (spaghetti), presents, and our traditional Dairy Queen ice cream cake. She was thrilled with everything, as you can see:

PASS!

2011-02-07T20:23:00.000-08:00

Both Patience and Jordyn had their last skating lesson for this session and passed on to the next level...Level 3 for each of them! I was very excited and proud. Jordyn was the only student in her class to pass and Patience was one of a very few to move on. The next level will get more challenging...it might very well take them 2 or more sessions to move onto Level 4.

Filling the freezer

2011-02-04T22:13:00.000-08:00

Christmas tree sales were strong enough this year that we were able to fill the freezer with a side of beef and a side of pork. That's obviously going to help me stick to a scaled-back grocery budget for 2011 : ) Now that the freezers are full, it's going to require a little planning to use everything up in a timely manner and not let anything get lost in the corners of the deep freeze.

Yesterday Patience read a story (to me) about a man and his cat (Mr. Putter & Tabby) who made soup. That got me thinking that we could easily make soup, too, just like in the book! We used the "meaty soupbones" from our freezer, added all the vegetables that the book mentioned, and, viola! Dinner on a dreary day!

A new favorite for our family is cheeseburger pizza. I really like it because we're not using processed meat which is unhealthy and which sometimes the Littles complain about being too "hot." Here is dinner from a few nights back, before they were cooked:

Here is the funny part. I made a large one and a small one. Dylan wasn't home for dinner so it was just the 6 of us, but the large pizza fed all of us! The small one went into the fridge for the next day. I remember not too long ago when I'd have to make at least 4 pizzas if I wanted leftovers.

Nathan's job

2011-02-04T22:00:00.000-08:00

Don't feel sorry for Nathan. When he goes to work, this is the view:

I'm beginning to think our Alaska cruise this summer won't be that impressive for Nathan!

The great Nick update

2011-02-04T15:26:00.000-08:00

What can I say? Nick continues to be cute beyond words. Entertaining. Precocious.

The one thing I can complain about is his propensity for escaping. If you turn your back for 2 minutes he'll be outside jumping on the trampoline or getting the mail. Not good. So we've turned several of our deadbolts around so we open them with a key from the inside. When we're not unlocking the door we hide the key from him. He just loves to be outside, and he can't stand these wet cold winter days where we keep him housebound. We can't wait for spring.

He's talking more, but is still difficult to understand. Maybe because he always has his pacifier in his mouth : )

He'll be attending preschool 2 afternoons/week starting in September, and I think by then he'll be good and ready for it. We'll definitely have potty trained all mastered before then. Before our cruise in August, actually!

Nick dressed for church in adorable "handy-downs," as Patience calls them.

Nick is definitely daddy's boy. He loves to play or "work" outside with his daddy!

The great Jordyn update

2011-02-04T14:01:00.000-08:00

Jordyn is going to be 5 next week. I know. I can't believe it either. She has a list of wonderful things that she wants for her birthday so we'll do our best to make her wishes come true. She chose Monday night's dinner (homemade macaroni and cheese with broccoli) and we'll have a Dairy Queen ice cream cake because that's our family tradition : ) We're not doing a "kid" birthday party this year. We'll wait until she starts kindergarten for that. But I am taking cupcakes to her school on Monday.

She's doing great in school. Her teachers are surprised at how much she's come out of her shell this year. She has discovered a new skill: video games. She's great at them...better than Patience even.

She's also picking up a lot of what I'm teaching Patience in school, so I'm sure she'll be totally ready for kindergarten in September. Kindergarten registration happens this month.

Jordyn is skating very well in her lessons and enjoys taking them. She would make a great figure skater. Or maybe a gymnast. She's built perfectly for that : )

The great Patience update

2011-02-04T13:51:00.000-08:00

Patience is doing great in her schooling. She now can read almost independently, needing help with words that are impossible to sound out, like "through" or "bought." She loves reading, and we're making great use of the library. Today I challenged her that if she got a "best time" in her math flash cards I'd give her, Nick, and Jordyn each a piece of candy. Well, now I know how to motivate that child. Her current best time was 8 minutes but today she answered them all in 6 and a 1/2 minutes! She asked if she can have candy every time she got a best time but I told her that we would do that only on Fridays.

She's still loving Pioneer Girlz Club. Last night Don had some computer work to do at the church, so he drove Patience and her friend, Paige. When it was over, he took them out to Dairy Queen for ice cream! She brought home an invitation for a "Victorian Tea" for all the girls and their moms. That's in 2 weeks, and it's a dressy occasion. Everyone is bringing their own fancy tea cups and plates, wearing gloves, etc.

The girls are finishing up their second session of ice skating on Tuesday. Patience is doing great again. Only 1 kids is faster than her in her class. I told Nathan that he needed to stop funding the girls' skating lessons and start saving his money for a house in LA and he told me, "if their instructors say they have any possibility of being good hockey players you keep them in lessons!"

Patience and Jordyn are the best of friends. They play so well together and rarely fight. The other night before Don and I turned in we went in to check on the girls and found this:

They told us the next day that sometimes they have bad dreams so they sleep together to "protect" each other. (I'm not sure what Jordyn could possibly do to protect Patience.) You can't see it in this picture, but they're holding hands : )

Patience continues to be my "right-hand-girl" around here. I tell Don that if anything happens to me Patience will be able to run the house. She'll just need someone with a driver's license to help her. She's just as sweet and funny as ever. Such a blessing.

The great Dylan update

2011-02-04T13:32:00.000-08:00

Dylan is well underway into his second semester at Kwantlen. This semester he has all the same music classes as before, but now he's taking Business Essentials instead of English. He did well grade-wise, netting a 3.77 GPA.

He's still working at Panago Pizza. They gave him a regular schedule, which is very nice for him. He works Friday and Sunday evening and all day Saturday...14 hours/week...which is the perfect schedule for earning some pocket and gas money without disrupting his studies. He did tell them that he'd be quitting in May as he's going to go back to Thunderbird for the summer. They were disappointed but they seemed to understand that he's got to make hay while the sun shines. He's not going to earn a year's worth of expenses working 14 hours/week at $8/hour! He wouldn't mind going back to that job during the school year; hopefully Panago will hire him back.

He attended a very fancy schmancy dinner last month that Kwantlen hosted for all their scholarship donors and recipients. Dylan was impressed with the dinner and the speaker they had afterward. The next week as he was reading one of his textbooks there was the name and picture of that speaker! It doesn't look like Dylan will get another $5000 scholarship for next year, as those are reserved for people just entering Kwantlen. But I'm very hopeful that he'll get some award. And he still has the $2000 scholarships he won while in highschool, so he'll be fairly close to covering his school expenses. He created a budget for 2011 that balances, so as long as he earns what he projects and spends just what he plans on spending, he'll be all set. It would be wonderful for him to get through his first two years of university with no debt.

Today he took Sean to Jazz band at Poppy and stayed and played with the band. That's so much fun for him...and for the other trumpet players in the band. One of Sean's friend told me after the last time Dylan played at their rehearsal, "I play so much better when Dylan is there." I guess you can play more confidently when you have someone to follow. After jazz rehearsal, Dylan stayed and helped teach Band 9. Mr. Ablitt let him conduct, which is a great experience for Dylan. I hope he continues to take advantage of this music program that's right around the corner, who has a teacher who is willing to let Dylan help in any capacity he wants!

Haley is doing well in her Grade 12 year. She is focusing on getting a paralegal certificate when she graduates highschool. So she's busy setting up school interviews and figuring out which school will be the best for her. Her senior prom is coming up in May; she and Dylan didn't go to his prom so they're looking forward to having a great time at this one. She's still working at Shopper's Drug Mart and baseball will start up pretty soon here. I'm not sure how she'll fit that in with school and a job : )

And....I think that's a wrap where Dylan is concerned!