Patience's pool party

Last night we spent 2 fun hours at the pool celebrating Patience's 8th birthday. I think all the kids had a great time, and Don and I were so thankful for Sean, Bailey, and Dylan coming and helping out with our kids. Don and I didn't have to even get in the water. (Yay, big kids!)

Our awesome Nick-sitters

Yes, she caught him

Patience and Morgan

Patience and Ethan (apparently there's a crush going on here)

Patience and Scarlett

Patience and Tomas

Patience and Darwin

Patience and Taylor

Patience and Carmen

Patience and Charlotte

Paige and Patience

Patience and Anaya

Patience and Miranda

Patience and Marlena

Patience and Sarah

Patience and Alexandra

Patience trying to blow out her sparkler : )

The first hour of the party was spent with two rec leaders who played games with the kids in the pool. Then the hungry hoard of soaking children came into the poolside party area and had some snacks (fruit, veggies, chips) and drinks. Patience opened her presents, we had cupcakes, and then they all went back into the pool until their parents came to fish them out. It was a very easy party! And all the kids had a great time. Don and I had fun visiting with the parents who chose to stay...thanks to our big kids we really didn't have a care in the world!

Happy birthday, Patience! We love you more than you'll ever know.

Who needs training wheels?

Apparently, not Nick!

This morning Don and I went to a local thrift store because they were having a clearance sale. We found this bike marked down to 22.50 and Don said to get it because it was a Schwinn and it would be a great bike for Nick to grow into. Well, this afternoon Patience went out to look at Nick's new bike and in 5 minutes he was riding it around the driveway! No training wheels, and it's even a bit too big for him, but he loves it.

Don then took his trainign wheels off of his little CARS bike, and he tore around on that thing for awhile, but in the end his new bike won out. Good job, Nick!

Academic Excellence Award Ceremony

What a wonderful evening we had tonight at Sean's award ceremony! It was at a beautiful venue and there were thousands of yummy desserts for us. We sat with 4 other grade 11 students from Poppy and their parents and had a nice visit. Then we got to hear a little bio on each of the 87 students who got the award. Let me tell you, we were in a room full of geniuses. And well-rounded geniuses. Amazing children.

Here is Sean receiving his award. The speaker is our Superintendent of Schools. Also on stage is the Education Board president and three principals from Sean's school.

And here is Shelby Blankstein! If anyone remembers Sean's first couple of years of swimming, Shelby was Sean's female counterpart. They swam in the same division, attended that swanky swim coaching at SFU, and even medaled at the same Provincials. I wish I had a digital picture from way back then so we could see the difference 10 years makes!

Congratulations, Sean! You have made Dad and me very proud. Thanks for a wonderful evening.

Langley Children's Choir

Patience will be auditioning for a spot in this choir on June 5! Generally they don't take children until they reach Grade 4, but they will occasionally take a very talented Grade 3 student. Our fingers are crossed...she'd love to sing on a weekly basis! If she doesn't make it this year, she'll try again next year.
Her audition piece is O Canada and Dylan said he would help her prepare.

Weekly menu plan 5/20-5/26

Sunday- BBQ beef sandwiches with homemade sandwich rolls

Monday- Chicken fajitas

Tuesday- Chow mein

Wednesday- BBQ smokies and hot dogs

Thursday- Baked pizza casserole

Friday- Clam chowder

Saturday- Submarine sandwiches (with homemade sandwich rolls again)

I'm linking this up at Orgjunkie.com. Hundreds of mamas share their menu ideas there if you need some menu ideas.

Swimming with Daddy

Today after weed-eating, mowing, and blowing the yard, Don took the kids to the wave pool to go swimming. Patience is taking her new snorkle and mask, one of the many things she bought with her birthday Toys R Us giftcard, and Nick is sporting his new "floatie" Cars swimsuit. Very happy children. Very nice daddy. Very lucky mommy.

A new home for Nathan

Yesterday Nathan called us from Virginia to let us know that in his absence his 3 future-roommate buddies found a place for them to move into! That means that when Nathan returns to Long Beach on May 26 he won't be homeless...for this I am very thankful.

The apartment/condo is in a very nice neighborhood, smack in the middle of the triangle made up of Nathan's church, Nathan's work, and Nathan's hockey rink. So basically the location couldn't be better. It's in the Signal Hill area of Long Beach.

It's also a huge place, 1900 square feet, so 4 guys should have no problem living there together, especially considering their work schedules, which will probably prevent them from all 4 being home at the same time save for 2 weekends/month. Then it will be party on : )

And for all this great space and location, the rent for Nathan will be less than half of what he's paying for his current place. Yes, I think he'll miss the sand at his doorstep, but the beach will be a short drive away so he can still visit it when he wants to.

Farming on a small scale

This is the area to the right of our gate as you're looking onto 248 Street. Several weeks ago we cleared it and then we got 2 loads of great compost delivered for free! (Actually, it was in trade for the "kissing booth" shed.) And then yesterday the blueberry farmers behind us gave Don about 20 extra blueberry plants from the final acre of the old tree farm that they're converting. We can't expect any bounty this year as we're supposed to nip all the buds and let the plants focus their energy on the root system, but in the future we hope to get ENOUGH blueberries for fresh eating and for the freezer.

Outstanding Grade 11 student

Yesterday we received an invitation from the Langley School District to come to an awards ceremony for the top five Grade 11 and Grade 12 students from each of the secondary schools in Langley.
Sean is getting recognized for his outstanding academic achievement. We're so proud of him and happy for him.

The great thing is that the awards ceremony falls on Don's birthday so he had a great excuse to call in "unavailable" for that night, and we'll be able to go to dinner to celebrate both of them. And Dylan is kindly babysitting the remaining children.

Quadra Staff!

At Cadets last night Sean found out that he is indeed going to be a staff cadet at Quadra this summer! We don't have any paperwork yet for dates, but he does know that he will be in the PERI (physical education) department, which is most likely the obstacle course. Life was very good for Sean yesterday!

Annual Ceremonial Review, June 2011, Sean leading the Guard

Sean with proud parents

Menu plan 5/13-5/19

There will be more good eating at Mama's cafe this week!

Sunday-Homemade pizza (Hawaiian and pepperoni), tropical fruit salad

Monday-Taco salad

Tuesday-Teriyaki chicken stir-fry

Wednesday-BBQ hamburgers (the weather has finally warmed up here in the PNW!)

Thursday-Spaghetti with meatballs and Caesar salad

Friday-Beef kabobs with peppers and onions, over rice

If you need menu inspiration, head over to the orgjunkie.com, where dozens of mamas share their plan!

Padawan Nick

Here you go, Nathan!

Mother's Day

Lately I've been frustrated with my kitchen. Specifically how unorganized it is. I am blessed to have 2 kitchens, but lately I've found myself going downstairs frequently to get something I need. It's only in the downstairs kitchen because my upstairs cabinets are full of things that I really don't use that often. Obviously, it'd be a big job to reorganize my kitchen. Too big for one person. So this year I asked Dylan and Sean if they would help my with this daunting task.

First Dylan and Mark emptied every drawer and cabinet while the rest of us were at church. Except the pantry. I organized that yesterday and was satisfied with it. They vacuumed and wiped them all out with cleaner. When we got home from church, this was the condition of my kitchen:

Don took the Littles to McDonald's and then to Toys R Us so Patience could spend her gift card, and the boys and I spent the next two hours putting this back together in an organized, streamlined way. Much was sent to the downstairs kitchen, some was recycled, and some was thrown away. The boys were ruthless very helpful in keeping me on task and in getting me to part with things I don't use.

I'm so excited and thankful to have a much better kitchen to work in...this is going to be the gift that keeps on giving! Thanks, boys!

North Otter Family Fun Day

Today the girls' school was hosting a "Family Fun Day" fundraiser for new playground equipment. I took the kids to school to enjoy the day. The weather was gorgeous, bordering on HOT, as you can see by our outfits!

Nick in the firetruck! He was right at home!

Patience in the fire truck...

and Jordyn in the fire truck!

Nick loving life in front of the fire truck!

The kids got to ride in the "hamster balls," and they loved them! Even Nick was able to make it go! You can see Jordyn in this ball.

And here's the back of Nick in this ball.

Here's Patience.

And here are all three of them, having a "ball." : )

Happy Birthday, Patience!

Here is my beautiful 8-year-old, just woken up on her birthday. Patience is my sunshiny child, always smiling and positive, helpful and friendly. Such a treasure!

And here she is, ready to make the long trek to school.

With her faithful side-kick, Jordyn.

And here's Nick to round things out.

That evening, enjoying a delicious (if I do say so myself!) chocolate cake with caramel frosting! After cake she opened her presents. She got a pogo stick from her parents, a Toys R Us giftcard from Don and Waneta, and some American Girl goodies from Pat and Lee. She was very excited about everything. On the 25th she's having a big birthday party at the pool, inviting 21 guests! So we intentionally let her actual birthday be a little low-key.

Happy birthday, Patience! You are very loved!

Menu plan 4/29

This weekend I defrosted a turkey that I bought at a rock-bottom price (it might have actually been free!) and decided to plan my menu around it. Instead of roasting it whole, I cut it up. The legs and thighs went into a pot on the stove. I cooked them and then shredded the meat. The breasts got skinned and cubed. And the rest went into the crock pot along with celery, onions, a bay leaf, and some seasonings and cooked there for 48 hours! With all that turkey goodness, here is what I'm serving up this week:

Sunday: Pizza night. I know, that's not using any turkey goodness, but I find that if I serve pizza on Sunday night, I can pack the leftovers in the kids' lunches. Score!

Monday: Turkey fajitas. I placed an entire cubed turkey breast into a gallon ziploc bag along with a sliced onion and 4 sliced peppers, some oil, and some taco seasoning. It'll have marinated in the fridge for 2 days by the time I saute these up tonight.

Tuesday: Teriyaki turkey over rice. The other cubed breast has been marinating in teriyaki sauce. Yummy.

Wednesday: BBQ hamburgers. These are homemade patties made from ground beef and a ton of chopped (fine) veggies: onions, carrots, mushrooms, zucchini, garlic. They're delicious and moist. I use this recipe for meatballs, too.

Thursday: Turkey pot pie. I'll use the shredded dark meat and some of the stock for this recipe.

Friday: Turkey soup. I probably won't have any turkey meat left for this dish, but it'll be full of veggies and noodles.

Saturday: I'll be away so Don will either cook up some spaghetti or barbeque some hotdogs, depending on the weather.

I'm linking up this post over at Org Junkie. If you need some menu inspiration, go take a peek at what other families will be eating this week!