My goofy, goofy girl!

Our little Miss Jordyn is developing quite the sense of humor! Here she is at 6:30 this a.m. (okay, that's not so funny) playing with the new bouncy ball the girls got at the grocery store last night (it was on the list, really!) wearing Mrs. Potato Head's glasses.

Don and I took the girlies grocery shopping last night to Canadian SuperStore armed with McDonald's cheeseburgers, fries, and shakes. They did quite well throughout the store (Jordyn did expire at the end) and then Don and I got Subway sandwiches for dinner on the way out. It was not a frugal dinner night.

Today I am working the Langley Flippers registration from 11 to 1. Don has a client with a messed-up computer who he is visiting this morning. Apparently she let her visiting grandchildren on her computer and now she has no favorites, no menus, no anything. Don can't imagine what they did, but he'll try to fix her up.

Everyone is well here. We have nothing on our calendar this afternoon or tomorrow, besides church, so we're going to try to get a family work bee going and make some progress on our front yard. Right now it looks like a freshly rototilled field, just waiting to be planted in corn or something. I think we've decided on sod for the side yard and seed for the front yard.

Have a lovely day!

Yard work continues...

Our front yard has to get uglier before it can get pretty! Right now Don and Nathan are out there with the backhoe taking out shrubs, stumps, and other stuff to make more room for lawn. This will not only be low maintenance, but it will make more room for the girls to play. I'll continue to post progress shots.

Body Art

Last night, while Don and I were tending to Jordyn, who got hurt, Patience took the opportunity to steal her markers into the living room and proceed to write all over herself and the t.v.

The good news: these are washable markers.

Sea Cadet Jr.

Here is Sean wearing his Sea Cadet uniform for the first time. You have to attend Parade Night four times before they issue you a uniform. Last week was Stand Down, so they didn't have Parade Night, and the week before that was Sports Night, so he wore his PT gear. I think he looks great in his unform! It's pretty plain right now, but soon he'll be earning all sorts of patches which I'll have to sew on.

He's still enjoying it, and was the "flag person" last night, which means he was responsible for raising and lowering the flags at the appropriate time. It's much more complicated than it sounds, because there are three flags on three different lines, and they all get raised and lowered based on where they are in their sunset ceremony.

Going Bye-Bye!

You'll never guess who is going to Victoria! With her husband, without any of her dozens of children, with her best high school friend...

ME!

I'm doing the happy dance right now! Don and I are meeting up with Heather and Frank and spending a blissful weekend in Victoria in June. Dear, wonderful, magnanimous sister is taking the girlies. Not sure about the boys, but, quite frankly, they're the least of my worries.

Don and I haven't been away together since May 2005. Valarie reminded me what happens when we go on holidays and I promised her that would not be happening this time! No Victoria souvenirs for us!

Going swimming with Daddy!

Today was a gorgeous, sunny day so Don celebrated by taking Jordyn and Patience swimming after dinner. Don't worry, he had backup; Dylan went, too.

Jordyn was not sure about the pool at first and clung tightly to Don. In fact, she was pinching him, apparently. But after she warmed up to it a bit she had a great time toddling around the kiddie pool with Patience. Dylan swam some laps and then came and got each of the girls, one at a time, to go to the "big" pool with him.

They got home at 8ish, had some ice cream...they were starving...and then went to bed with nary a fuss! What a wonderful evening!

Some miscellaneous pics...

Here are some miscellaneous shots that I just took... Jordyn and I are a little lost right now because both Patience and Danica are napping right now, which leaves me as the sole playmate.

You can see the fence that Don Sr. is putting up right now. It's very nice... he purchased the panels instead of building them from scratch like most farmers would do! It is very bizarre to look out and see the fence there, and makes it look like we now have a very small front yard, but it's still quite big. And thankfully we have the big tree on our side of the property line. It would have been a great loss if the new owners cut that tree down; it provides great shade in summer afternoons.

Jordyn's Determination

Some of my babies just LOVE the dishwasher. They hear the door open and they sprint, to the best of their abilities, from wherever they are.

This is fairly annoying to the poor child whose chore it is to empty it! It takes forever to empty the dishes when every other second you have to redirect a determined baby! So, the boys attempt to barricade her out of the kitchen, using chairs, tables, large toys, boxes, and highchairs.

This just adds to the thrill of challenge, as far as Jojo is concerned. Here she is moving in, past the barricade.

Thank You! (I think...)

Patience just came up to me and gave me a big bear hug and said, "You're a nice, big mama!"

Update!

If you waded through yesterday's very pitiful post, here's an update on Nathan's drive test:
we were able to get him in on March 19 (the earliest possible date) in Maple Ridge, which is just across the river! Yeah! Now I'm back to thinking that my life will be so much better in two short weeks : )

Woe is me...

Welcome to my little pity party. I frequently think that I'm just a chronically postivie person always able to see a silver lining on every cloud, but this week I think it's more that I just rarely have clouds! A positive attitude is not difficult when everything is pretty much going well in our little world. But today I feel sorry for myself....

Yesterday Nathan took his driving test. This was the event that was going to free me! He would be able to drive himself to his (many) activities, and help out with getting his brothers to theirs. But, you guessed it, he didn't pass. That's not the bad part. The bad part is that the earliest appointment they could give him at our hometown is May 22. Not a typo. Two and a half months. That's ridiculous. So we ended up going online and finding an April 3 appointment but it's in North Vancouver. That's about a 90-minute drive. We'll be going in the middle of the day, which is good traffic-wise, but I'll have both girls with me and we'll be hanging out at the Driver Licensing place while Nathan takes his 45-minute road test. Do you feel sorry for me yet? Of course it will all be worth it if Nathan walks out of there with his license, but there's obviously no guarantee of that...

There is an appointment on March 26, but it's in Kelowna. Would it be silly to drive 3 hours for Nathan to take a drive test?

But that's not the end...

Yesterday afternoon the boys had dental appointments. Of course I had both girls with me too. It takes a certain amount of energy to corral them for 90 minutes, but it's only twice/year...whatever. My 17 1/2 year old son, who has been cavity-free his entire life (a point of pride for me, apparently) has a CAVITY! Dylan has one, too, but that's not as shocking. So now we have more appointments, more corraling, more expense, etc.

Okay, pity party over.

Onto more important news. Don and I are embarking on a new venture into the world of non-consumerism. We read this article in Christianity Today and were inspired to try this for our family, but on a smaller scale because of our family's gargantuan size.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/mp/2006/002/7.44.html

Shopping once every two months obviously takes a lot of planning and list making! I planned a one-month menu for March, and then I'll repeat it for April. I made lists for the butcher, the farmers market, Costco, the bread store, the grocery store...and then we shopped over the course of three days. We spent $600, which, I think, is what we normally spend in one month. But if this food lasts two months, we've cut our spending in half. We do have a small amount of cash allocated for milk and fresh fruits and veggies each week.

This will theoretically save time (no weekly shopping trips, yeah!) and money, since each trip into the grocery store, even if it's just for a jug of milk, ends up costing $40...

I'll let you know how it goes! Oh, on tonight's menu: teriyaki chicken, rice, and broccoli. Can't get much better than that!

Don & Don (don't you just love when fathers and sons share a name?) are digging two huge trenches today for our new power and water services. You should see my yard (not). And it's going to get worse before it gets better.

Heather, please tell your dad and Beth that theirs was the prettiest wedding cake I ever saw. I miss you! I can't believe I got within 100 miles of you and we still couldn't connect... Hopefully we can spend some more time together this side of heaven, but in case that doesn't happen, lets request mansions right next door to each other, so we can catch up then.

Patience and Jordyn are playing together...kind of a hide-and-seek game, and giggling together the entire time. It's very cute and heart-warming. I can hardly remember my troubles through their laughter : )

Way too cute...

Here they are, in all their glory!

Mom, did you notice Jordyn's outfit? It's so nice to be able to use all those adorable clothes again!

February 26 Update

Hello everyone! Last week was a busy one...hence no blog post, so I'll try to give you a recap here.

We started the week with a few of the big kids sick, which resulted in days home from school.

Jordyn had her 1 year immunizations, which Don took her to. It was very sad for both of them, but they did survive. Don says he'll never do that again.

Patience continues with her swim lessons. She got a bonus lesson again last week because Marianne lets her come whenever someone is not going to be at their lesson. She had a minor setback on Tuesday, resulting in a "time-out" on the side of the pool, and eventually being expelled from the pool because, where Patience is stubborn, Marianne is stubborn AND in charge. She returned the next day and did exactly what Marianne was asking her to do on Tuesday. Go figure...

Danica was with us three days this week (well, 2 1/2 really...more on that later).

My mom was supposed to fly in Friday evening for Jordyn's birthday and Dylan's jazz concert, but the flight loads looked heavy so she was going to try to come in at 2:30 instead. So, we made hurculean efforts to rearrange our day, including Danica's grandma picking her up at noon so I could fetch mom from the airport. I'm watching the Alaska Airlines website so I could track her flight, and it shows late. Well, shoot. We have club speeches Friday night and the schedule is getting tight. The next update on the website shows the flight is CANCELLED! I call her cell phone only to get a very depressed grandma...yes, the flight is cancelled (due to mechanical problems) so of course all of the paying passengers are getting routed on later flights, making stand-by travel impossible. Since she was going to have to fly out 5:00 a.m. Sunday, we decided it wouldn't be worth her trying to fly in on Saturday. That was a big disappointment to everyone involved : (

On Friday night, we had our 4-H club speeches. There were two heroes that night, and they both happened to be my sons : ) In 4-H, public speaking is a competitive event. You start at the club level, and the top speakers there go on to the district level; the top district speakers go onto regionals. For seniors, the top regional speakers go on to the provincial competition. For every 4 speakers, or portion thereof, a club can send 1 speaker to districts. So, if a club has 4 junior members competing, they send one on. If they have 5, they can send 2. Our club, which has EXCELLENT public speakers, had only 4 juniors competing. I needed one more junior to speak at the club level so we could send 2 speakers on to districts. But where would I find a junior who was willing to write and deliver a speech in 24 hours? Sean! That's right...I explained my dilemma and asked him to basically deliver an impromptu speech, understanding that my expectations were not that his speech would be perfect...he just needed to do his best. He did, and his speech was actually quite good! And, we did send on two wonderful speakers to disctricts. Our second-place speaker owes Sean a HUGE favor : )

The second hero of Friday night was Nathan. Nathan wrote and delivered an excellent speech on Friendship, complete with his signature examples from Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. But the other senior speakers were pretty darn good, too. It was going to be a tight race. Seniors, after delivering their prepared speeches, have to deliver an impromptu speech. They all leave the room, the judges decide on a topic, and they come back in, one at a time, get the topic, have 1 minute to prepare, and then deliver a 1 to 2 minute speech. This year's topic was "The person who inspires me the most and why." Again, the other senior speakers were good. Really good. It wasn't looking good for Nathan. But HE NAILED HIS IMPROMPTU. It was the best unprepared speech I've ever heard, with the perfect combination of sincerity and humor, he had the audience laughing and crying. It was amazing, and I'm not just saying that because HIS SPEECH WAS ABOUT ME...it really was a fantastic impromptu...textbook perfect. I was so proud of him. He did place first, and will go on to the district competition this Friday night.

Saturday was another good day for our household. Dylan had his jazz concert on Saturday night, and we had planned for some time for Kelsey to babysit for us...but with Mom's plans falling through, everything kind of changed around, and instead of Kelsey watching the girls, Valarie came! It was great (mostly) except for she is clearly out of the "mom" stage and into the "grandma" stage, because both girls were still awake at 9:30 when I got home, both having a great time with Auntil Babadee, as she was letting them do anything they wanted... But it was great having her (thanks, Val!). And the concert was great! Mom would have loved it, especially "Georgia On My Mind." Dylan was in two jazz bands and one vocal ensemble, in which he had a solo. Unfortunately the acoustics weren't too good and it was difficult to hear him. But I'm sure it was amazing : )

Is that enough information? I could say that Val and I took Nathan, Sean, and Hailey shopping Saturday to get Nathan some clothes for his Ottawa trip...he needs "conference wear," which is inbetween casual and dressy. We got some incredible deals at Wal-Mart, and Val was able to lend her fashion expertise.

Yesterday a.m. Sean and Dylan had swimming, then onto church. I did some housework that I had been too busy for previously, in addition to 5 loads of laundry. Last night the kids (all but Jordyn) had movie night with a rented movie and popcorn. It's nice that Patience is getting old enough to do that. After the movie, we all participated in a "5-minute Room Rescue" (living room and girls' play area) and then it was off to bed for the girlies. The boys and I watched the amazing "Senators vs. Sabres brawl" on youtube.

It was a busy, but productive week. This week has the same potential...check back for updates!

Knock, knock!

Nathan taught Patience a "Knock, knock" joke this weekend when they were taking a walk out back together. It goes:
"Knock, knock."
"Who's there?"
"Boo."
"Boo who?"
"You don't have to cry, it's only a joke!"
Then Patience laughs hysterically (every time).
And she tells the joke over and over to anyone who will listen.
Our Knock-Knock Joke era has begun...not sure whether to laugh or cry.

Our California Trip

Nathan and I had a lovely, uneventful trip to California this past weekend. We left Thursday night after dinner and baths for the girlies, and headed south to Val and Dave's. There, Nathan went to a Baker basketball game with Kelsey and one of her friends, and Val, Hailey, and I got some visiting in. I also got to see some of Val's artwork that she's doing for her graphic design course. Apparently, Val is one of those people who is good at anything she puts her mind to!

We left bright and early Friday a.m. Four o'clock to be precise. Val and Dave didn't hear us leave, but their puppies did! I drove the first bit while Nathan got a bit more sleep. I got us south of Seattle and then we switched. I drove through Portland, which really wasn't too bad during the time of day we were there, and then Nathan pretty much drove through the rest of Oregon. It rained on and off pretty much through the day. We got into the Bay Area around 7:30, which is how I planned it...I figured if we got there late enough, surely we wouldn't run into the famous bumper-to-bumper traffic. But I was wrong. Everyone and their cousin was driving from the East Bay into the SF area! So it took almost an hour to go 15 or so miles...so frustrating to be "so close and yet so far." We finally made it to mom's and had a lovely lasagne dinner. Nathan showered, I jammied, and then we settled down in front of the t.v. That's when I realized how tired I was, so I excused myself to bed and Nathan played Grandma's game cube (yes, she is the coolest grandma in the world).

Saturday a.m. I had Nathan do some homework before we headed over the hill to the home of the Sharks, HP Pavillion. We left around 10, and stopped at this wonderful little warehouse in Moss Beach, of all places. We did some shopping, much to Nathan's horror. He was very motivated to get out of there and head to San Jose.

Finally, we left, and Nathan drove over the hill and into San Jose. We got to the Shark Tank, and Nathan found out how quickly $60 goes there. Lucky for him, his grandmother was willing to buy him some Shark souvenirs, as was his mother. All in all, he left there one happy Shark fan!

After that, we did some more shopping and then headed to Cold Stone Creamery, a wonderful ice cream store that we liked so well that we even returned the next day for round two. Saturday night we watched The Guardian. Great movie! We stayed up late (for me) and headed to bed around 11:30.

Sunday morning mom and I headed into Half Moon Bay, purchased two lattes, and then window shopped our way up and down Main Street. While we were doing that, Nathan was doing more homework and watching two NBA games. We got home, thought about packing, and then sat out in the backyard where it was warm and sunny. That was really nice! Around 4, we headed back to Pacifica for a little more shopping and ice cream.

Sunday evening we watched Extreme Home Makeover, and then went promptly to bed. I set my alarm for 3:00, but actually woke up by myself at 2:40. I got Nathan up, we got in the car, and repeated Friday's drive except in reverse. I was in Richmond by 4:00 a.m., and there was actually commute traffic at that hour coming from the East. We were well onto I-5 by 5:00 a.m. And when Nathan woke up around 6, we were in Red Bluff. We gassed up, switched drivers, and then we were off. We got into Bellingham around 5 p.m., hitting hardly any traffic in Seattle. We picked up pizzas at Papa Murphy's, and dairy at Edaleen's, and then made it home by a little past 6. The girls were happy to see us, but not incredibly so. Jordyn was quite happy to stay in her daddy's arms, as that is where she had spent the past 4 days, apparently.

We had dinner, did some unpacking and cleaning up, and went to bed! This morning I forgot it was already Tuesday. Luckily Don remembered about the trash and recycling! Patience had her swim lesson where she once again did not cry at all.

Look Who's 1!

I can't decide if this year went by quickly or slowly! I think the days were long but the weeks were short...

At any rate, Jordyn is clearly out of the baby stage, and is now 100% toddler. She's happy to play with Patience for longer periods, and, thankfully sleeps through the night regularly.

She still says no words...sometimes mamamama or dadadada, but that's about it.

She hones her climbing skills daily. Now the couches are no problem, neither is one of our chairs...I imagine in a few days nothing will be safe and we'll have to store our chairs ON TOP of our kitchen table to keep her from climbing up there.

She loves to be carried, but not sat and cuddled with, unless there's a bottle involved and she's hungry. She won't cuddle and take a bottle just for the fun of it. She's shy with strangers, especially if they talk directly to her.

She's sedate and serious where her sister is energetically hilarious and engaging. They are different in so many ways, not the least of which is their looks.

Happy birthday, darling Jordyn.

Cousins

Here are Miss Kelsey and Mr. Dylan... taken in December, I think, when the girls stayed with me for a weekend and helped on the farm.

We've been fortunate to have cousins (and LOTS of them) in a variety of ages. They've had the pleasure of traveling together to Disneyland, Hawaii, the best vacation ever (houseboating on Lake Shasta), not to mention the summer Kelsey stayed with us and swam on the Langley summer swim team.

Of course, Val and Dave have kinda dropped the ball and haven't produced little cousins for Patience and Jordyn. But they do have a plethora of four-legged friends that Patience is excited about, namely horses and short dogs.

This week I'm getting ready to take a whirlwind trip to California with Nathan. I need a short break and he needs 30 hours of driving practice before he takes his driver's test.

More later...

Saturday Morning Relaxation

This morning Jordyn single-handedly removed some couch cushions... just enough to make a nice place to kick back. Then Patience, not wanting to miss a modeling opportunity, jumped up beside her. I have several shots where one is smiling while the other is looking away, but I think this one is the cutest of the two of them.

Busy day today...I'm running a 2-hour dog training session that Nathan was supposed to do until something better came along, namely a weekend tournament in Kamloops for basketball. Then we're going to try to get the agility equipment moved so our 4-H dogs can start using it on a regular basis.

I'll post more later!

The Girls Play

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6. It's a wonder Pam and Adrian even let Danica stay here, with the terrible habits my lovely daughters teach her.

So, Pam, if Danica tears your couch cushions off and uses them as an indoor play place, don't blame her.

The order of the day here is apparently lavendar t-shirts and jeans.

It's a beautiful sunny day, but cold. If it were next winter, and everyone were a year older, I'd bundle them up to play outside. But with Jordyn, that just doesn't sound very fun. We'll just have to stick with the indoor play place for a while longer.

Peek-a-boo!

This picture is worth 1,000 words...