Soup!

Several years ago I heard about this method for making vegetable broth but never tried it until now. The concept is simple: keep a plastic bag or some sort of container in your freezer and place all veggie scraps in there: carrot peelings, mushroom stems, green bean ends, asparagus tops, tomato tops, celery and lettuce bottoms...just stuff you'd normally toss out (or compost). When your bag is full, place it all in a stock pot with seasonings (I used onion powder, garlic powder, and peppercorns). Bring to a slow boil and then simmer for a few hours. Strain. Use in any recipe calling for stock, or make your own soup. I'm going to make a nice veggie and noodle soup, which will be lunch for a few days.

I figure that if I'm feeding my family enough veggies, I should be able to make stock every other week or so.

What are you doing to stretch your grocery dollar?

Girls in the tub...

Don gave the girls a bath last night. This picture shows how big they both are now. Bikini bottoms compliments of mom...

I'm gonna be a part of it...

New York, New York!

Dylan left this morning at 7 for his first professional music tour of New York.

Last night he asked me, "If a talent scout finds me and offers me 2 million a year to stay and play in New York, should I accept the offer?" To which I replied, "Absolutely! With your first paycheck you can buy us plane tickets to come out and visit you!" Dylan, as you can tell, is not lacking in the self confidence department. I hope he's not too disappointed if he comes back contractless...

I just found out (Dylan claims I once knew this...but I chose to forget it) that Dylan comes home Saturday morning at 3:00 a.m. Yes, that's 3:00 in the morning. I mean, in the middle of the night. We need only to pick him up at Poppy, which is light years better than Vancouver International airport, but still! I'm thinking of paying Nathan $20 to provide the chauffeur service : )

Don and Waneta are here again this weekend. Don & Don are installing fencing in the back yard. We did another ton of yard work yesterday. Don, Dylan, and Nathan worked in the trees at Radnai's yesterday morning (Don was ecstatic with the amount of work they completed in 5 short hours), and then we all worked another 4 hours on our own yard. I made a potato bed and planted about 40 seed potatoes. My other seeds are starting to germinate. It's fun to go out and see the daily progress. Yesterday I saw the beets and the peas are starting to sprout.

Not much is happening this week. At least not much is scheduled to happen! I'm trying to locate a very small flock of layers, like 4. I think I finally have Don all talked into it.

Take care! Have a wonderful week...

A very good day...

This morning I slept until 7 (that's great!)

I made French Toast for breakfast (that's yummy AND my whole family thinks I'm wonderful!)

Nathan and I made it to his photography session on time, without getting lost.

His senior portraits are going to be fantastic, and he had a wonderful time there. Being in the "eye" of the camera is a very comfortable place for him.

We had a delicious lunch at Red Robin (Nathan said it was the best burger he's had in his life!)

We stopped at Wal-Mart and I got some clothes and sandals to wear on our cruise (thank you Jim & Elmer!)

We had an ice cream cone at Edaleen Dairy on the way home.

The border waits were minimal in both directions.

The Sharks play the first game of Round 2 tonight against Dallas.

Yes, a very good day indeed!

Phew!

We all breathed a collective sigh of relief last night as the San Jose Sharks advanced to the Western Conference Semi-finals.

It was a great game and I love the fact that the 38-year-old Jeremy Roenick was the star player last night with two goals and two assists. The Sharks now go onto battle with the Dallas Stars and Nathan is happy to have more Shark hockey to watch!

Dylan leaves Sunday for New York, and we are busy with preparations for his trip. Yesterday I took him out of school (gasp!) to get his hair cut and his banking done. Thanks to very generous grandparents, he now has a respectable amount of US spending money to take with him. He'll be able to eat when his meals aren't provided for him, and he'll be able to bring home a souvenir or two. This evening after supper we're going shopping to get him some new dress shoes. He's been wearing Don's everytime he's had a band or choir performance, but we can't have him taking Don's shoes for an entire week! Hopefully Dylan's feet are done growing and he can wear the new shoes for quite some time. He also needs swim trunks and maybe some dress clothes.

Nathan is presenting his portfolio at school right now. It's his final graduation requirement. He got his hair cut yesterday as well in preparation for his senior portraits that we're having done this Friday. We're going to do some shopping in Bellingham while we're down there as Nathan thinks it's about time that he have a suit to wear to formal events. He's hoping that Kelsey will meet us and help him choose one.

Sean is still mad about paintball. It's nice that he has a hobby, and I really don't mind the whole paintball scene. He bought himself a gun, some paintballs, and some o-rings with his portion of the trailer money (each of the boys got a pay-out), so now he's raring to go to paintball battle.

Patience and Jordyn are both doing well. I'm letting their hair grow and so they've been sporting ponytails, pigtails, and french braids lately. It's fun!

Don did sell the trailer last weekend. He was so happy to see it go. We took the family out to Pizza Hut to celebrate and then took the kids shopping so they could spend their portion of the proceeds. Dylan chose to go to Michelle's house instead, since he was using his money for his New York trip.

We've been having cold, clear weather here the past few days so Don has taken advantage of it and gotten the spraying done on our trees. Just in the nick of time, as today it's raining again.

On Saturday I spent about 6 hours at cadets making lunch for 80 cadets plus officers. There were 4 of us in the morning, making soup, sandwiches, and veggie platters. After lunch, only two of us hung around to clean up. There were so many leftovers that we were able to make sack lunches for 24 cadets who ran in the Vancouver Sun Run the next day, and 10 more sack lunches for cadets who were going to the range. After those lunches were all made, the two of us split up the leftovers. I brought home so much food that we've not had to shop for anything except milk since!

Here are the kids after the Sun Run. Nathan's in the front row, and you can see Sean's head about 4 or 5 rows back:

While Don and Waneta were here last week, Don Sr. built me a new planter box for strawberries! Waneta bought us three different varieties of plants: two of June-bearing, and one everbearing, so we should be rich in strawberries this summer. Yeah!

I think that's about all the news and non-news from our neck of the woods.

Going, going, gone!

The trailer, that is.



It has served us well these past 5 years, but Don is in the process of selling it right now.
A handy-man bought it, which we are happy about, because a twenty-seven year old trailer is going to need ongoing maintenance and repairs. He brought us a $200 non-refundable deposit this morning, and will pick it up Friday or Saturday and pay the balance then. We have a few little things we want to do with the money, but the bulk of it is going in a term deposit to pay for a Carribean cruise for our 20th anniversary. Yes, that's not for two years, but you know how Don and I love to have something to look forward to!

Gotta LOVE Freecycle!

Guess what someone gave us today, for free?

People two towns over owned their pool for two years but decided that last year they didn't use it nearly enough, so the husband said, "Get rid of it!" The wife offered it on Freecycle, and I was lucky enough to be the first one to respond.

We aren't going to set it up for awhile yet. It'll go in the backyard, and so far the backyard is nothing but piles of dirt that need spreading, tamping, and seeding.

But this summer we'll have a pool, even if it is only the above-ground variety. I'm sure in August we'll appreciate it a lot!

If you haven't heard of freecycle, it's a mailing list of people who subscribe. You can either offer the things you no longer want/need to people who would still find use for them, or you can ask for something, and give someone the chance to offload something they no longer want. It works out really well. For more information, go to www.freecycle.org and search for the city closest to you.

Work Day at the Farm

We spent all day in this gorgeous weather doing outside work and projects. Dylan had "Annie" rehearsal at 11:30, so he was only here in the morning, but the rest of us (minus the girls) worked all.day.long.

When Jordyn took her nap, I took advantage of the time and planted seeds in my "square-foot-gardening" planter boxes. In this planter we have lettuce, carrots, beets, swiss chard, rutabagas, parsnips, bush beans, onions, leeks, and I think some other stuff that I can recall right now. Oh yeah, kohlrabi is in there, too.

Then I moved onto the second box and planted yellow bush beans, more lettuce, and more carrots. The rest of the squares are reserved for broccoli, cauliflower, and basil, which I'm staring indoors.

This planter box never got "sqare-footed" so I planted three rows of corn, lengthwise in it. I'm going to plant squash and cucumbers in between the rows.

This is the next bed that we got cleaned up and ready for planting. This is a Tulip tree with lovely lavendar flowers that will bloom soon. We'll plant flowers in this bed.

We spent the morning emptying our travel trailer, getting it ready for sale. Nathan washed the outside, and I put an ad on Craigslist. So far we have had 5 enquiries about it, with 2 people coming out tomorrow after church to look at it. Of course now Don is afraid that we under-priced it, but I would just as soon sell it quickly than make a few hundred more pesky dollars.

Here is another of Nathan's projects. He cleared away in front of the house and put in black rubber lawn edging, making me a nice bed to plant more flowers. Don did some work on the basement windows, which never have been properly framed after Don remodeled the basement two years ago.

Here is my little bed that I can see from my kitchen window. I planted petunias in it, and I'll also plant some taller flowers behind the petunias.

This bed is opposite the petunias. These are the blueberry bushes that Nathan transplanted a few weeks ago. Right around the corner from these two are three more. That's lots of blueberries!

After such a hard day working, we picked up Dylan at school and then we all went out to dinner in Langley. It was a nice break, but none of us were impressed with our meals. We should have just gone to Pizza Hut like Nathan requested; you can't go wrong with Pizza Hut!

Late-Breaking News!

A certain 2-year-old at our house just used the toilet for more than just pee! WooHoo! Life is getting pretty easy around here...

TGIF!

Yeah! It's Friday! Of course Friday's are decidedly less exciting when you're a stay-at-home-mom, since there really isn't a break in the routine...

Nathan took his Petty Officer 1st class boards (practical and written tests) last weekend. He figured he was wasting a day because he wasn't ready for them and would probably fail. But he didn't! Well, he did fail one area, but he can study up and then retake that portion of the test at his home corps.

I made Nathan's appointment to have his graduation portraits taken. We're going to Bellingham because that's apparently the family tradition and when I told him they scheduled him for an hour so he can do "costume changes" if he wanted, he surprised me by being excited about that. He's bringing his Sharks jersey and a hockey stick (I know you're shocked), his cadet uniform, his basketball uniform, and a cap and gown if he can borrow one from the school. It should be lots of fun.

Tonight Don and Nathan are going to Vancouver to watch a minor-league hockey game (Vancouver Giants). They are also in their playoff series just like the NHL. Go Sharks!

This weekend we thankfully have nothing on the agenda. Don and the boys are going to hopefully get some yard work done, as our backyard is pretty much a muddy shambles from when we redid the septic field. The weather is finally supposed to be nice on Saturday.

Everyone is happy, healthy, and keeping busy here.

We are now exactly 5 weeks away from setting sail with Frank and Heather to Mexico. That's a happy thought!

And I think that's all the news there is, folks. I'll try to post some pictures this weekend of our work party.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Absolutely hysterical video...

You've really got to watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IqNKz5wvEs

Saturday, April 5

This morning, both of my girls woke up at 7ish and headed downstairs to watch t.v. In other words, this could have been the beginning of a whole new world of sleeping in for Don and me. Except that we'll be having a new baby in a few months who probably won't sleep past 7 and then be content to watch television until mommy and daddy get up. Oh well, sleep is overrated.
Nathan left before 6 this morning to go to an all-day cadet test. He got promoted to Petty Officer 1st Class on Tuesday night and now he has to go take a practical exam to "get qualified." He'll be teaching classes and showing what he knows in all sorts of subject matter, because when you're a P.O., you're expected to do most of the teaching at the corps. Which is good. Nathan doesn't feel very confident about today, which is unusual for him, but I hope he is pleasantly surprised.
Sean and a group of friends went paintballing yesterday after school. Paintballing is Sean's new hobby and passion, after having been invited to a paintballing birthday party last weekend. He now owns Cody's old paintball gun.
Dylan had girlfriend Michelle over yesterday evening. Not much new to report there. She's still a really nice girl, and Dylan is still a very polite and agreeable child just so long as everything is going his way.
Don and his dad (and a couple of friends with an excavator) put in a new septic field for us last weekend out in the backyard. Now the area that used to be the parking lot is a big muddy field. Our plan is to actually have a lawn out there, so Don had 4 or 5 dump-truck loads (lots) of topsoil delivered yesterday. It came from the church property, where they're finally excavating for the church building. So, Don and the boys have a pretty big day of work ahead of them spreading out this topsoil, which is really in rough condition (rocks, roots). When it's pretty much spread out, our equipment friend will come back with a special tractor that's used to tamp down the soil. Then we'll seed it and (hopefully) have a lawn in a couple of months!
Dorothy called yesterday morning and asked if she could come visit, which prompted me to kick it into high gear and start doing some of the things on my list from yesterday! I should have visitors more often : )
Today I've got to plan my menu and then do some grocery shopping. And laundry (always). Fun times here in Aldergrove : )
Have a wonderful day!

Things I SHOULD be doing right now...

instead of sitting at my computer:

vaccuming
switching the laundry
making my bed
loading the dishwasher
dusting
straightening up the girls' playroom

I could easily accomplish this all in the 30 minutes I have before I have to pick up Patience from school. Don took Jordyn to run some errands, so I wouldn't even have her "help." But I am apparently glued to this chair...

Baby News...

I had my first prenatal appointment for this baby today. Here in Canada, you go to your regular family doctor for the first 20-24 weeks unless you have a high-risk pregnancy, which I think is a great way of keeping medical expenses in check. Dr. Morgan did all the regular stuff: weight, blood pressure, blah, blah, blah. He found the heartbeat right away; it was 160 bpm. Then we started discussing who I wanted for an OB/GYN this time around. I told him that I wanted to go see any doctor who would be willing to give me a scheduled c-section. I was kind of expecting a little resistance to this plan, so I had my laundry list of great reasons to have a scheduled c-section all ready. But to my surprise, he said, "I think that's a very logical and reasonable request for your sixth baby, and I think any OB/GYN in the area would agree." So we chose the one who I thought is most amenable to high-intervention births, Dr. Dornan. He's a very nice, grandfatherly gentleman, who has the most lovely Irish accent! So, it looks like I'll be having this baby in late September (they always schedule c-sections for 38 weeks) and now I can start planning and preparing. It's really a huge relief to know that I won't be sitting around waiting for contractions, and that I won't be enduring another drug-free labor. Those suck.

Farm Girls

Yes, they have a swing set with a slide to play on, and bikes to ride, but what could be more fun than climbing on huge stack of cedar shakes?

Good things are happening!

Here are some blessings that have been showered on me recently:

• my trip to California


• my best friend from highschool, Heather, sent me a care package with some lovely spa treatments inside! What a fun surprise!


• We were able to spend Easter with my sister and her family. It was a wonderful time. Unfortunately I took only 1 not-blurry photo. Fortunately all three generations are represented here:

• My sister made 95% of Easter dinner AND got my girls Easter baskets filled with lots of goodies including jump ropes, gardening gloves and seeds, and bubbles! And she got plastic eggs and filled them with M&Ms for an egg hunt! Valarie rocks!


• I got to have lunch with Val yesterday. She let me choose the restaurant (Japanese) and she even tried sushi (half a bite only but she was pretty brave anyway!).


• My husband has been letting me go to bed whenever I feel like it in the evening. This is anywhere from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. Ahhh...it feels so good to get a lot of sleep.


• The other night, Don set me up in bed with a laptop so I could watch Extreme Home Makeover which he had recorded. Talk about the lap of luxury!


• My man-child, Nathan, moved two more blueberry bushes for me from what used to be our property to what now is our property. It's a hard, long job, as the bushes are mature with lots of big roots, but they are definitely worth keeping because they produce lots of blueberries!

Yes, life is very good for me : )

5 Days in Paradise...

Is how I would describe my trip to California last week! It started on Friday afternoon, when I met my sister, my niece, and my GRAND NIECE (good grief!) for a delicious Mexican lunch before I hopped on the plane heading south. Here is a picture of Madilyn Rae and me at the restaurant:





Yes, she is just adorable, and such a good baby! Lindsay is so very lucky, and Valarie is about as smitten a Grandma as they come!

Two flights and about 4 hours later, I arrived in San Francisco. My very thin mother met me at the security checkpoint (which was very nice of her...I told her just to pick me up at the curb!). We went to Trader Joe's where she let me pick out anything that sounded good! We did indeed get a cartful of food, and then we were off to her lovely little cottage by the sea.

We ate a delicious chicken salad for supper, and then sat and chatted for awhile until Lee got home from Grover Beach, where he was staying with his father. After Lee got home, we chatted until what felt like the wee hours of the morning, but in reality was about 11:00...the latest hour I've seen in a long time!

The next morning we lazed around, showered, drank coffee, and visited until it was time to go get Nathan from the airport. We met him at security as well (this is apparently a tradition of my mother's) and then went to Costco where we got gasoline, something to eat for a very hungry man-child, and some more groceries (do you see a reccuring theme here?). From Costco, we headed south to Hillsdale Mall, where we each bought Paul Potts' CD, and some maternity clothes that we found on sale at Old Navy (thanks, Mom!). After shopping came dinner at Macaroni Grill, and then we headed further south to San Jose, where we got to see Cirque du Soleil, which is every bit as wonderful as you may have heard. It was another late evening, but worth the loss of sleep!

Sunday we had another quiet, uneventful morning. We had a late lunch/early supper of barbequed marinated mahi mahi steaks (out of this world!), salad, artichokes, and artichoke raviolis. After that feast, Lee, Nathan, and I headed to San Jose to my first-ever live Sharks game. It was a good game, and a lot of fun, but they did lose in overtime to end an 11-game winning streak. Nathan was mildly disappointed until we headed out back behind the Shark Tank and waited (for an hour) for the players to come out. That was the highlight of Nathan's entire day, or maybe week, or even life! He got autographs and pictures with some of his favorite players. Here are a couple:

Nathan with Joe Thorton

Nathan with Brian Campbell, who apparently isn't a natural smiler

After we immortalized Nathan with the likes of Joe Thorton and Brian Campbell, we took him to my dad's place in Mountain View, where he spent the night. The next morning at 5:30 he had to be at the Military Entrance Physical Station (or something like that) to do all of his Coast Guard entrance stuff. It turns out that my dad lives minutes away from MEPS, so he graciously offered to have Nathan overnight and deliver him ontime the next morning. (Thanks, Dad!) That allowed Lee and I to travel back to the coast that evening and have a nice relaxing morning on Monday.

I headed back to my dad's place Monday to wait for Nathan's processing to be finished. It took a little longer than we thought it would, but that allowed Dad, Carmen and I to take a nice walk in the beautiful sunshiny weather, and then enjoy some Subway sandwiches for lunch. While Nathan was in processing, he had his physical, took the ASVAB test. He surprised everyone, including himself, by scoring 88/99 on it! That score qualifies him for any job the Coast Guard offers, so the sky is the limit for Nathan's Coast Guard career. He also got sworn in that morning/afternoon.

Nathan and I went straight to the recruiters from there, where we spent some more time talking about Nathan's options and we watched a video about boot camp. The recruiter was having some technical difficulties, so he wasn't able to print out Nathan's contract at that time. Nathan and I then walked three blocks to the Shark Tank, where we looked for a Nabokov t-shirt at the Shark Store. We couldn't find one!

After that we headed to our good friends, the Walshes, where we had a delicious meal and spent many hours visiting and catching up on the past several years. Their girls are beautiful and growing up quickly! We had a wonderful time there. Nathan tried to get everyone rallied to go ice skating, but they had a difficult time finding a rink with public skate on Monday evening.

On Tuesday my Mom took half a day off work and the two of us headed back to Hillsdale Mall where we found some adorable matching outfits for the girls, and then my mom purchased Patience's entire summer wardrobe at Old Navy, and then we discovered some very cool maternity clothes at Motherhood which we also brought home! All in all it was a very productive trip, and we were pretty convinced that Nathan and Lee would have had a horrible time : )

We came home to the smell of dinner cooking! Lee roasted a marinated pork loin roast and made a big salad. We cooked up some pesto tortellini and had the most delicious meal... After dinner my mom introduced me to Dancing with the Stars, and then I headed off to bed because the next day I had to leave : (

On Wednesday I had an uneventful day traveling back to reality. Thankfully Mom had sent a good read with me, so I was occupied almost all the way to Bellingham! I picked up a pizza in Lynden, and headed north-o'-the border to my eagerly awaiting family. We had a lovely reunion, with Jordyn hugging me tight, patting my back, and saying "Mama" over and over.

Nathan, since he is without any responsibilities, got to stay 5 more days! During which, he saw another Sharks game live, and one on t.v. at a local sports bar. Lee took him back to the recruiter's to sign his contract and finish his paperwork, so now he's all ready to leave for bootcamp in the Sept/Oct timeframe. Nathan got to go on bikerides and to get ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery, and basically was spoiled further : )

Thank you, Mom and Lee, for this wonderful break from reality! And thank you for taking care of Nathan and allowing him to get all his loose ends tied up for the Coast Guard. Thank you for the lovely clothes for me and the girlies and the delicious meals. That bit of paradise will cover a multitude of "reality" days. I love you!

Renovation: Phase 1 Done!

Phase 1, to us, means "good enough to live in and now it can wait until we have more time/money/motivation to work on it some more... "

Here is the nearly complete "Boys' Lair." It's a far cry from the dungeon!

They spent every free moment this weekend in here watching hockey, playing video games, playing Foosball, just hanging out...

The wall that I did not photograph is still in need of painting. We're going to try to drum up some time and energy this coming weekend to really finish this room and the hallway. Oh, and there's some trim work left to do in this room, as you can see looking at the sliding glass door.

After that, only the bathroom requires work for this end of the house. Unfortunately, it's not just cosmetic. It looks like we'll need to hire a plumber ($), so that might get postponed for a bit...

Because the boys got all moved into the "East Wing," the girls' space got upgraded, too! They are now downstairs with the "big-to-them" t.v. and now the Sean's-room-turned-Foosball-table-room is their toy room. Yes, it's a tad bit crowded right now. Eventually, the girls will have the bedroom in the basement (currently Nathan's) and at that point, some of this stuff can go in their room.

The only other room that's very different is my living/dining room, which used to house all these blasted toys! It's now plain and bare as can be. Ahhhhh..... At some point we will focus our reno efforts in this room, with new paint and getting the carpets cleaned. Hopefully in the next few months.

Renovation continued...

Here's the t.v. wall with the little cubby that will hold the t.v. and its accoutrements. Don built the cable and a couple of outlets in there so it will (hopefully) look tidy. Two sconces will go in those two circles on either side of the t.v. The hanging lamp will be moved...



Here are the other two walls, just to give you an idea of the color of the room. It's a taupe-y color, definitely with a hint of pink. I think it looks great with the flooring, as well as the kitchen counters.

Don needs to trim the windows and the put the baseboards back in, and the room will at least be usable. There is still painting to do in that room, and then we'll work on furnishing it.

Our other project...

I know this will come as a shock to most people. In fact, no one could have been more shocked than Don or me, or the urologist who just did Don's vasectomy in October!

We knew we were expecting for awhile, but didn't know how far along I was until I had my ultrasound appointment this afternoon. I am around 7 1/2 weeks along, and due around October 11.

Don and I are slowly finding peace with our new reality, and we're firm in our faith that God is in control and knows what He is doing.

Scope Creep

If there's one thing that Don and I are really good at, it's scope creep. As in, you start with a minor, easy, inexpesive, short, simple construction project. Then, you slowly but surely improve your project until it's difficult, expensive, lengthy, and complicated! Oh, and better. Much better.

Now, to be honest, I am the one who is usual guilty of coming up with the brilliant ideas that add to the scope creep. Don, who wants nothing more than to make me happy, and who is capable of just about anything construction-wise, always manages to make my ideas actually happen.

This is our new living area, in the suite that Don and Waneta recently vacated. They had the windows replaced a year ago, but never finished the sheetrock because they didn't want to put up with the construction mess. Who could blame them?

So, Don and I started out with this list of what we had to do to finish this room: tape and mud the sheetrock, sand, prime, paint. Voila!

Until I decided that it would be cool to get a flat-screen tv and hang it on the wall, making this the boys' ultimate hang-out room. I asked Don to remove several windows on one wall and turn that into a real wall. It was Don's idea to build a little nook in the wall for the t.v. and components to sit in, so they wouldn't take up any space in the little room.

We decided to get a small big t.v. to keep the expenses down, etc. We decided 32 inch. The boys are used to a 27 inch t.v., so we figured that was plenty big. But there was scope creep there, too. Yesterday Don went into town around noon. At four, I started getting nervous and suspicious. Sure enough, he came home all sheepish with a 42-inch t.v. from Costco. Apparently a great deal, not that he would tell me the price, but I'm thinking it was considerably more than the 32-inch.

We'll be working on this house forever.

Dinner with Madilyn Rae

Oh yeah, and all of her adoring public!

She was absolutely perfect last night. She slept soundly all through supper. We had to wake her up at the very end so that we could snuggle her up and take these photos. She's very cuddly. And wonderful. Ahhhhh....

Food

In case you didn't know, I'm in the middle of a "Biggest Loser" contest at an internet message board that I post at. Just like the t.v. program, the stakes are high. Everyone chipped in $20 at the beginning, bringing the pot to a whopping $300. Everyone sent in initial weights, and then we weigh in every Monday a.m. The person to lose the biggest percentage of their body weight by the end of the 12th week wins the pot.

I am currently in the lead at the end of the 6th week, but not by a wide margin! I have lost a little over 8.5%, and another woman is right behind me at almost 8%.

My strategy is simple. I eat according to the South Beach diet principles. And I don't cheat. Okay, I cheated one time in the past 6 weeks, so it's not even worth mentioning, right?

Here's what I eat: breakfast is always steel-cut oats cooked in water and skim milk, topped with splend, plus coffee with skim milk; lunch is a sandwich with cheddar cheese, avacado, tomato, lettuce, and peppers on either 1/2 bagel or 2 pieces of whole-grain bread, depending on what's for supper; supper is some sort of yummy protein (tonight is roast in the crock pot), a salad, a veggie, and a grain. I only eat the grain if it is brown rice, or whole-grain pasta. If I'm hungry in the afternoon, I'll eat a piece of whole-grain toast with peanut butter.

So, I'm basically limiting my grains to 2 or 3 servins/day, and avoiding all white flour. No potatoes, no white rice, and no grains alone. The idea behind SBD is that you want to keep your stomach busy digesting as long as possible. Adding a protein, like the peanut butter on the toast, slows down the digestion process considerably.

I'm eating lots of calories, and I'm not hungry. But I am losing weight...I've averaged 2 pounds/week during this contest. And I feel great. Cutting the refined sugars and flours helps you lose weight and feel better.

Wish me luck on the home stretch of my Biggest Loser contest! The money will come in very handy on this weekend.

Valentine's Fun

This morning I took the girls to Storytime at the Library. They heard stories, sang songs, did some crafts (including making these glasses), and then all got stamps on their hands and a goody-bag of candy! If we go again, I think the girls are going to have pretty high expectations from that candy bag. Afterward, we played on the playground for just a few minutes because, even though the sun was out, it was freezing.

Don is out running errands with Jordyn. Dylan and Nathan are getting haircuts after school, and the rest of us are just hanging out here.

Music to a Mom's Ears...

...is wafting upstairs from the wee room that now houses the Foosball table. At the table, Nathan and Dylan are screaming and yelling, but not swearing, through a viscious Foosball battle. It's so nice that they're able to enjoy each other's company like this. We are fortunate.

Our Magnificent Weekend of 2008

Remember our lovely Victoria weekend that we spent with Frank and Heather last year? Remember how it nearly killed our childcare providers? Remember how we (as in the 4 who were in Victoria) had so much fun we decided that we needed to spend another long weekend together in 2008?

Well, guess what Heather and I just did this evening?

Here's a hint:

That's right! We just booked a 3-day Carnival cruise to Mexico in May. Ahhhhh....I'm already starting to relax just knowing that in three short months we'll be living the good life off the shore of Baja California.

We're using airmiles to fly from Seattle to Los Angeles, so it really will be a whirl-wind trip. We leave Friday a.m. and get back Monday night.

More good news on the subject: my incredible, magnificent parents are returning to take care of the girls. Don and I were willing to just leave the girls with the boys, but Mom and Lee didn't feel comfortable with that. Now, I know that if we left the girls with the boys, no one would have a good weekend (except Don and me), and none of the kids would like each other by Monday night, and the house would be a disaster area, but really, I think the girls would be okay. Like, they wouldn't be needing medical attention or anything... But really and truly, everyone will be happier to have Grandma and Grandpa here.

Whole foods at my fingertips...

Now, I know this won't be an interesting entry for many people, so feel free to skip it and go watch Jordyn's montage below : )


I used to store all of these foods in my pantry in Tupperware canisters, but I found it cumbersome to make several trips back and forth from the pantry to the counter. So when I got gift cards to Ikea for Christmas, I started a collection of these glass apothecary canisters and put my most-used ingredients in them. This morning Dylan and I went shopping at Canadian SuperStore and I bought some more for a great price.

With this setup, I can whip up pancakes, waffles, bread dough, and even lots of dinners without stepping away from the counter once. And, because I want my canisters and their beautiful contents to be the focal-point of my kitchen, it motivates me to keep the counters clean.

In addition to this little bit of organization and the grocery shopping, I covered my grey, chauffered Sean from a cadet activity to a birthday party, and dyed Nathan's comforter covers teal to help his room look more like a Shark Tank. And all this while Don puts in his second 10-hour day in a row. Tonight's supper: leftovers.

Have a lovely weekend.

Happy Birthday, Miss Jordyn!

Here, for your viewing pleasure, is Jordyn's first two years in photos.

Enjoy!

Guess who won...

...the Best New Entry award at the cadets semi-annual review last night?




OC Murphy! This award has been given out since 1961 and there are three names on the trophy from cadets who are now commanders in the Canadian Navy. It's very cool that Sean's name will be among them!

BIG HOUSE!

Last week was bittersweet in that Don and Waneta came back to Aldergrove to pack up the last of their stuff. It was sad to see them go and we will miss them very much. Patience went into their empty suite and said, "Where's Grandpa's chair?" There is NO furniture at all anywhere, and she asked about the chair that she sat in with her grandpa. I told her that all of their stuff was now in their big house, and she said, "I don't want them to move to their big house. I want them to stay in their little house down the hall." She always enjoyed visiting Waneta and having "tea," or sitting with Don and watching t.v.

We moved Dylan in during the week last week. He had no school Thursday or Friday due to semester break.

On Saturday, Don and Nathan went to Langley to pick up the double bed that Dorothy gave us for Sean's room. He was gone all day to a cadet self-defense workshop, so he came home to his room all ready to move into.

I did some shopping in Langley on Saturday to buy a birthday gift, and I ended up in Michael's in their art/frame section. They were having a 60% off sale on their large frames so I purchased quite a few. Now all the kids' posters and pictures are in proper frames instead of just being taped to the wall. Looks much better. I framed Dylan's trumpet picture and bought him two other prints and frames. They look fantastic in his moss-colored room. I bought Sean frames for his swimming and basketball frames and purchased him another gorgeous print and frame that match his teal-colored room perfectly. Framed artwork make their rooms look so much more put together.

Yesterday after church we had a "Murphy family work party" and made some changes to the basement that used to house all three boys.

The little room that used to be Sean's was empty. So we moved the Foosball table from the shop, where it had been stored for two years, into that room. And that's all that's in there! How funny going from practically stacking our children to now having a room dedicated to a Foosball table!

The room that Dylan and Nathan used to share is now Nathan's. He has two twin beds and two armoirs, so he has lots of room for his "stuff." We framed and hung his Sharks posters, hung up a coat rack for him, and just generally got him organized. It's a shame he has so little time to enjoy having his own space, but we're encouraging him to make the most of it during his last five months at home.

Renovations continue as quickly as Don can fit in the work, as he's already working full-time at the computer stuff. He's concentrating on finishing the living space of the suite right now. When we had the windows replaced two Christmases ago, the sheetrock never did get mudded and taped. So he'll do that and then we'll paint the rest of the suite and hallway. The bathroom down there (now the boys' bathroom) needs a bit of work. Then we'll move upstairs and do some work up here. More on that later.

Last night when we went to bed, I told Don that it felt so strange to have our family so spread out!

A couple of pictures...

Patience and Nathan play hockey together. Patience got this little hockey stick for Christmas. Jordyn got a Diego one, but she's not as much of a hockey aficionado as Patience is. When Nathan was in California a couple of weeks ago, he found a smiliar stick, but a Shark stick, of course. So he and Patience play in the hallway pretty much on a daily basis. Here she is "in net." Notice how difficult it will be for Nathan to score?

Nathan really really really wants to get Patience into hockey. He says she'll make a great defender based on her ballet class.

Here's Jordyn very focused on feeding Danica's dolly. Danica got this baby doll for her birthday and brought it to our house yesterday. All three girls took turns looking after this very realistic baby (it must weigh at least 5 pounds, and feels pretty real when you're holding it).

It's been very cold here. Like minus 10, or 20 F, however you think of temperature. We woke up this a.m. to about 4 inches of snow, and it was still falling. But because this is a Provincial Exam day, schools were open regardless. Except for the preschool. The girls can't understand why I won't let them play outside... It reminds me of the time when Val and I begged and begged and pleaded to go swimming in my grandparents' outdoor swimming pool...in March or some silly month like that. My mom finally broke down and let us get in while my grandmother ran a hot tub for us. Yep, it wasn't much fun and we decided maybe we didn't want to go swimming anymore after about 60 seconds or so!

Saturday, January 26, 2008

I couldn't think of a catchy title : )

Last night Sean had four friends from school over for a small birthday party. These are the same four who came over last year. They are all a year older, but not any quieter! But at least I am a year smarter and demanded that it would not be a "slumber" party like he had last year. Don drove the guests home at 10:00 although they were all so wired and hyper I'm sure sleep was a loooooong way off. Oh well, at least they were at their own homes : )

You can go back to my January 2007 entries to see this same shot last year.

This morning I took Patience to "ballet school." She did great! As she told her dad when he asked how school was, "It was good! I didn't knock anyone over!"

After ballet we went grocery shopping. Both girls are napping right now, and Patience is going to Danica's 3rd birthday party this afternoon. Let's hope she doesn't knock anyone over there, either. As far as I can remember, this is her first birthday party!

While Patience and I were gone this a.m., Don showed Dylan how to change electrical outlets. We wanted to replace all the outlets in their new rooms from offwhite to white, to match the white trim. Dylan was able to do them all! I told him it was a good skill to have, because someday his wife was going to want to change all their outlets to suit her fancy and he could either do it himself for $20 or he could hire an electrician to do it for around $500. He said that since he would be busy working, he would just teach his wife to do it herself! That's my boy. Chivalry is not dead...

Nathan has three provincial exams this week and Dylan has two. They both have Thursday and Friday off, but Don has work scheduled for both of them, so it'll be a "working holiday." Oh well, they can both use the money so it's nice they have a source for work.

That's all for now!

Cathi

iPod update...

There is only one person on this planet who could have taken that iPod back to Best Buy because it was within the 30-day purchase period: Don.

Technically, it wasn't even in the 30-day period because we purchased it on the 19th, but Don reasoned with the manager that it was a Christmas present so it wasn't opened until the 25th, etc.

I told Dylan he had used up all his good luck and to not even bother playing the lottery any time soon!

iPods no longer work...

...when you put them through the washer and dryer.

Two in a row!

Amazing, I know : )

Today was pajama day at Patience and Danica's preschool so here they are all ready to go with jammies and their Max and Ruby stuffed animals:

I have a picture of the two of them awhile back on this blog holding the same toys...they sure have grown up!

Tonight is Cadets and Sean would like Don and I to go watch the Colors Parade (where they march and raise the flags, etc) because he is now officially a member of the guard and will be marching (hopefully in unison) with them.

Recently I made homemade syrup! We were running low, and I remembered how my mom always made her own. Sure enough, Google will bring up hundreds of recipes and it's easy as all get out! I did have to buy maple flavoring, but I can make for 80 cents syrup that would cost more than $3 to buy. Oh, and the kids think it's better than the store-bought stuff...bonus!

First entry of the year...

Pretty embarassing considering it's the 21st today!

My mother gently reminded me that it was Sean's 13th birthday yesterday, so surely I could at least post a picture? Of course...here is Sean guarding his birthday cake from Jordyn:





Notice how he's holding her hand in an attempt to guard his oreos?

So, other news about Sean's birthday: he got pancakes for breakfast, lovely gifts including an MP3 player, more software for his FLY pen, office supplies and cash from Grandma and Grandpa Lee, candy from Nathan and Dylan, and cash from Grandma and Grandpa Murphy. He's going to bank most of the cash, and buy a Nintendo memory card with the rest.

We went to church yesterday, and then came home to homemade pizza and a play date with Sean's good friend Daniel. Dinner was crepes, and then we had this lovely cake with ice cream for dessert.

On other subjects, Don and I spent a lot of time this weekend painting Dylan's and Sean's new bedrooms in the east wing of the house. They turned out really well and we're hoping to have them moved in next weekend. We're just priming and painting the trim and doors right now. I'll post pictures as soon as we're done.

Here is a picture of Jordyn with her clown nose that Don brought home from his trip to California last weekend:




And here's a picture of Patience and Jordyn all ready for bed recently:




Patience started ballet classes on Saturday. It's a Parks and Rec class for 3-6 year olds. It's very cute and very funny to watch the girls "dance." I had to explain to Patience after the class that ballet is not a contact sport. The teacher had all the girls "dance" to the music and all the other girls danced in a clockwise direction around the room. Patience danced counter-clockwise. With her eyes closed, because she thinks that is how ballerinas dance. That's probably how Angelina Ballerina does it on t.v. Anyway, it looked like a game of pinball, with little tiny girls in tutus getting flattened by Patience the Huge. The other parents thankfully didn't seem to hold it against her because a) their tiny daughters didn't seem to get hurt, and b) it was so darn funny. I told Don he's taking her next week.


So, yeah, the renovations are taking most of our spare time and money.


Nathan is working hard to get back on track with school. He promised (again) that he was all caught up in his classes and was passing them all. But this time I told him I needed written proof from his teachers before he sets foot on the basketball court. On a bright note, Nathan is really getting set up to join the Coast Guard. He ordered a set of books that will help him get through bootcamp and he's been doing a lot of online research. I think he'll do well regardless because he's in such awesome physical shape, he's got his Sea Cadet background so much of what he'll learn there (seamanship wise) he'll already know, and he's used to living with strict rules and people who will yell if the rules arent' followed. In fact, he'll probably feel right at home.

Dyland and Nathan are in their last week of school fo this semester. Dylan is working hard to improve his science grade by 2 percent to bump him from a B to an A.


I'll post more later. I promise!