Backyard campout

Alternate title: our tent is bigger than your tent!

This afternoon we set up the huge tent that we bought last week. Today has been the first non-rainy day so we took advantage of it. This tent is definitely big enough for our family, plus a few friends. It's a 3-bedroom tent, or a 2 bedroom, 1 living room model. Each of the rooms can hold a queen size bed, so Don and I will at least be comfortable on our camping trips this summer! We're going to leave it set up for awhile so the kids can camp out in the backyard.

Off to Quadra!

On Sean's last bedtime here, Nick asked if he could "sweep" with Sean. They laid on the couch together until Nick fell asleep, and then Sean carried him up to his bed.

When Sean woke up this morning, he got his requested breakfast: 1 blueberry bagel with cream cheese and 1 cinnamon raisin bagel with butter.

Notice the HMCS Quadra cap tally on his white top? That's Nathan's white top! Nathan's already had the right tally because the last thing Nathan did with cadets was to work the summer of 2008 at Quadra. So Sean was able to leave HIS white top with the RCSCC Columbia cap tally...apparently those cap tally knots are hard to tie!

And then Rachelle Gammeter and her step-dad John came to pick up Sean! She lives in Aldergrove so they offered to drive Sean into Richmond this morning...no sense in both us driving 60 miles! Rachelle is also going to be a Quadra staff cadet this year.





And now we say, "Au revoire, Sean!" I know you're going to have a great time this summer. See you in August : )

Feeding the dog

Today I made 3 week's worth of dog food for Harley. I combine beef, chicken, organ meats, carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach, garlic, eggs, pears, oats, barley, buckwheat, and rice; as you can imagine she loves her food! I'm thankful for the butcher down the road who sells dog food meat for .99/lb and for my VitaMixer which blends everything under the sun!

First berries of the season

Don took the Littles over to Krause's this morning and they picked these delicious strawberries. We gave them a quick rinse and now they're getting gobbled up at this very table. Easy come, easy go.

Fun with Nick!

A couple of days ago Don held Nick's head in his hands in an effort to get to Nick to look in his face, and Nick surprised him by climbing him!

Last day of school!

Here they are, off to their last days as Grade 2 and Kindergarten students! Today they're in school only until 12:00, and then summer will officially begin!

Sean's mailing address this summer

If you want to write to Sean while he's away at Quadra this summer, here is his address:

PO Murphy, S

Staff

HMCS QUADRA

Comox, BC V9M8A1

I'm sure he'd appreciate all of the encouraging, newsy mail he can get. Oh, and cookies!

Random awsome photos

Look what I found when I was looking at pics on Don's phone!

Happy birthday, Bailey!

Bailey looking a little suspiciously at her birthday crepes : )

This year Bailey opted out of going out to dinner for her birthday and chose instead to have a big family party here at home. Don made crepes, much to everyone's delight, and then Sean, Bailey, Dylan, and Haley had a rousing game of Battle of the Sexes.

RCSCC 169 Columbia ACR

Sean and Bailey at the end of the Annual Ceremonial Review (ACR).

Us with Sean.

Sean speaking with the Reviewing Officer.

Sean speaking with CO Lt. Juliusson.

Jordyn's Kindergarten graduation

Jordyn and Ms. Chang

This morning Nick and I attended Jordyn's kindergarten graduation. It was very cute with each child receiving a certificate and then singing us a song. There were goodies after the ceremony! 1.5 days of school and then it's summer! Woo hoo!

Fun at Strong Start

This morning there were only 2 kids at Strong Start for about the first 90 minutes. Nick loves to play with Gregory, who also enjoys Lego and cars! Tomorrow is the last day of Strong Start : (

Water slides and Teddy Bear Picnic

Today starts the last week of school for the girls. They are super excited because they both have something special...Patience is going with the whole school (grades 2 and up) to Cultus Lake Waterslides, and Jordyn's class is having pajama day along with a Teddy Bear Picnic. Jordyn was so excited because she and her bear both have Hello Kitty pajamas.

Patience should have lovely weather today (unlike everyday last week) and yes, I slathered her all up with waterproof sunscreen this morning! : )

Playing Super Mario with an audience

I know these pictures are going to make Nathan super jealous, but I'm going to post them anyway:

Dylan downloaded a Super Mario game that runs on his computer; it provided both Dylan and the Littles with hours of entertainment.

Nick the builder

The other day Nick called me into the playroom to see his latest accomplishment:

Fun with Potato Head

Patience saw pictures of my adorable grand-nieces and just had to take some of her own:

Dylan's birthday

Last night we celebrated Dylan's "Golden" birthday with our signature Dairy Queen ice cream cake! Dylan turned 20 on the 20th, making this his
"golden" birthday. Next year, Jordyn and Patience both celebrate their "goldens," so we teased the boys that we were going to do something special and take them on a cruise.

Happy birthday, Dylan! We love you and we're so proud of you!

Sleeping cuteness

I went into the Littles' room last night to check them before I went to sleep and I found this:



Spring concert

Tonight Sean, Bailey, Dylan, Haley, and I went to Sean's spring concert. Don elected to stay home with the Littles, but he gets to go to the next one!  Here are some pictures I took after the concert.

Justin Furse, Sean, Mr. Abblit, Haley, and Dylan

Sean and Bailey...I think Bailey looks especially beautiful in this picture...it must be the Mona Lisa smile!

And the awesome foursome, complete with a genuine smile on Dylan!

Menu Plan 5/27

Sunday-Kraft Dinner (Dylan cooked while I worked in the garden!)

Monday-Ham and pineapple pizza

Tuesday-Butter chicken

Wednesday-Salmon burgers

Thursday-Lasagna

Friday-Homemade mac-n-cheese with ham and broccoli

Saturday-Breakfast sandwiches

I'm linking up over at OrgJunkie.com along with hundreds of other cooks!