No news is good news

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!

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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!

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

The great Nate update!

Do you see a pattern? : )

Nathan has been back in Cordova since December 31 after experiencing, in his words, "the best Christmas ever." Cordova has been enjoying a very temperate winter. Nathan's been taking advantage of his new ice skates at the gravel pit in Cordova and has even played some ice hockey with Coast Guard friends.

Today Nathan is officially reinlisting, a formality that has to be done before the CG goes through the expense of moving him all the way to Los Angeles.

In preperation for the move and his new duty station, Nathan has been going through all his stuff with a fine-tooth comb and donating books and clothes to the Good Will. His goal is to have all his belongings fit in his car for the move. His car's not that big.... and he will (hopefully) be traveling with his very best friend Alex. Speaking of his car, he got the car registered in Alaska and the title is now in his name. Phew. I'm so glad that's all taken care of, and now he can turn around and do it again when he moves to LA.

Also in preparation for his new duty station, Nathan is trying to learn California's second official language. He purchased Rosetta Stone and is using it to become fluent in Spanish. One of his superiors told him that if he could speak Spanish in LA he'd likely get promoted faster, as your coxswain qualificaiton is based, among other things, on how many boat trips you've made, and if you can speak Spanish fluently you'll get chosen to go on boat trips. Kudos to him; hopefully he remembers some of what I tried to teach him in Grade 8.

He hasn't been snowboarding yet this year, mostly because of the weather and his work schedule. And because it costs money to snowboard, but he can ice skate for free : ) He's on a basketball team with his shipmates and they're currently playing in a tournament in Cordova. Last night didn't go so well for them, but they're hopeful to get the #2 spot in the tournament.

Nathan mailed off his application for the CG Academy last week. Now we wait to hear whether he'll be moving to LA or to Connecticut. He'll know by April 15.

The only other thing I can think in the area of "Nathan News" is that his ship will be drydocked for three months, but they're not sure of the location. They better figure it out soon, though, as they're going to be underway for 12 days starting Monday, and when they get back from that trip they'll start transitting to the drydock port. Nathan is still hoping for Alameda, but he is hearing rumors of being in Seward, which is supposed to be worse than Cordova in terms of "things to do."

The great Sean update

Surprise! First of all, please forgive me for my nearly month-long sabbatical from blogging. But here are some updates of what happened in January and some things that we're looking forward to. First, Sean, because January was such an important month for him!

He turned 16 on January 20th! As is the custom in our family, Don went and took him out of school early to take his driver's test. He passed on the first try, so he now has his L and is driving every opportunity he can. He's doing well but I forget how stressful it is to drive with a new driver. You can't relax or anything while you're "supervising."

Speaking of driving, Sean has arranged to buy Nathan's truck from him, and we're in the process of "importing" it to Canada. We're going to target Friday, Feb. 18 to do the actual importing, because Sean has a Pro-D day that day. Nathan, in his characteristic generosity, is giving Sean a great price on the truck.

Sean finished his first semester of Grade 10 last week. We don't have his report card yet but as far as we know he got the grades he was trying for. This week he started his second semester classes and I'm sure he's going to have a full plate: Math 10, Science 10, French 10, Socials 10, Band 10, and three other music classes that happen outside of the timetable.

Last week Sean took 4 friends to the Toby Mac Winter Wonderslam for his birthday. They all came to our house around 1 p.m., hung out and watched movies, played video games, and then had a spaghetti feed before I took them to the concert in Abbotsford. They all really enjoyed it.

On Tuesday night Sean's cadet corps had their semi-annual ceremonial review. During the ceremony, Sean and 3 other cadets got promoted from Petty Officer 2nd class to Petty Officer 1st class! We were all surprised. Normally cadets have some idea that they're up for promotion, but that was not the case. Additionally, Sean's friend John Gammeter got promoted to Chief Petty Officer 2nd class and is now the corps' coxswain, which won't mean anything to anybody except Nathan : ).

Sean's on a great roll right now of handling all his responsibilities. He's showing a lot of maturity. He's a pleasure to raise. I'll be sure to let you know if that changes : P.  Here are some great pictures of Sean in his various elements.



Sean standing front and center as Guard Commander. Notice the cutlass.



Sean getting promoted to Petty Officer 1st class. I'm pretty sure this means Nathan will have to salute him now : )

Nick and Sean



Comfort



Sean and Patience

Woody's round-up

Last night, instead of cleaning up the Toy Story toys that she was playing with, Patience set them all up in this little display by the fireplace. She wanted to make sure that everyone saw them before cleaning them up. I assured her that everyone had. She reminded me that Nathan hadn't see her display. I assured her I would put this picture on my blog so that Nathan could see it, too. So, Nathan, here you go.

Katana with the Furses

We've been so furtunate this year to have Russ Furse, Justin's dad and a teacher at D.W. Poppy, drive Sean to and from school everyday there is an early morning music class or an afterschool music class. We told Russ and Kari that we were taking the money we'd saved by not buying a bus pass for Sean this year and taking them out to our favorite restaurant in Canada. We took them to Katana and they loved it. They'd never been to this type of restaurant before and they enjoyed the food, the show...everything!  After dinner we stopped at Dairy Queen and bought an ice cream cake and brought it home to share with the kids. Sean, bless his heart, babysat the Littles for us. Dylan and Haley were working, but came home before we did so they got some, too. Even the girls, who were in bed but not asleep, got up to have a piece. After dessert Russ and Kari stayed into the wee hours of Saturday playing cards and just having a heck of a great time. We are super fortunate.

Nathan's orders

Nathan just got his orders for his next duty station: He got choice #3 on his list (but #1 on mine!):

Los Angeles/Long Beach!

He wants lots of visitors, so please try to work Disneyland into your schedule sometime in the next 4 years, and visit Nathan while you're there : )

Intentionality

Is my new buzz word.

In 2011 I need to be more intentional in many areas, specifically homeschooling and scheduling my day. With very few time commitments it's easy to rush through my chores and then peter away the rest of the day. But I know that Patience will be returning to school in the fall, and if she can't read, write, and add at least as good at the kids who stayed in school, then what was the point in homeschooling her? Other than, of course, to enjoy her very sweet and helpful company for one year longer : )

So, here is my goal for the rest of the school year. Please hold me accountable.
Bible reading (I gave Jordyn Sean's old bible and I gave Patience Dylan's old bible) I read aloud. We started in Matthew.
Penmanship
Math
Spelling
Reading (Starfall on the computer)
Physical Activity (Wii Fit Nickelodian version, ice skating on Mondays)
Reading (weekly library trip, check out and read 7 books)
There!

A cold, cold night

Snow predicted tonight...blanket sleepers all around!