Winter Wonderland

Here are my five amazing children during November's snow. This snow might have been fun for the kids, but it sure wreaked havoc with the school calendar and with Dylan's band concert.

Mommy's Holiday Hair

I'm just posting this picture because you can kind of see my new fun hair color. It's roughly the color of this shirt (before Jordyn slimed it). The best news of all is that my gray is completely covered, however temporarily. My kids are too young (well, some of them) for me to have gray hair. Especially so much gray hair.

I just put both girls to sleep. Patience has been creating a habit of taking a very late nap, say from 3 to 5, and then being awake until 10 or later. Um, that doesn't work for me. So today I made sure that the late afternoon nap didn't happen. Yes, I paid dearly for it with a very grumpy girlie, but I'm loving life right now!

Okay, and now I need to get some things checked off my to do list.

Merry Christmas!

Here's Miss Jordyn during her very first experience wearing a Santa hat! She was quite inclined to rip it off as fast as she could...let's just say that this shot was a miracle!

I can't believe that Christmas is four short days away. At this point I have a manageable list of things I need to buy, do, decorate, cook, etc. Mom comes tomorrow in the late afternoon which we are all looking forward to SOOOOO much!

My wonderful sister is making the airport run for me since she has a plethora of free time right now : )

Don's sister Colleen, and her three children, are down from the Edmonton area for Christmas. The kids are having a great time together. They will be here for Christmas for the first time ever (that I can remember). I let both boys stay home from school today to enjoy cousin time. I took advantage of Dylan being home by taking him for a haircut, along with Patience, and then to the grocery store. Things are just so much easier with another big person along. I left sleeping Jordyn in the care of her brother Sean. You'll be relieved to know that she slept the entire time I was gone!

Nathan is struggling away in Hawaii...hardly able to keep up with the basketball, shopping, and snorkeling schedule. He misses us deeply and can't wait to come home (NOT!). Anyway, we're looking forward to seeing him Christmas eve and hearing of his wonderful Hawaiian adventure.

We're still alive and kicking!

Sorry for the lack of updates these past three weeks. It'd not that nothing exciting and interesting happened, it's just that when you run a Christmas tree farm AND have 5 (active) kids, time for blogging is scarce.

Let's see, the major news is that my dad (stepdad, actually) just spent more than two weeks with us to prevent me from having a nervous breakdown. While Don is super busy this time of year, I really need another adult around here, especially one who drives! Lee made fires every morning before anyone woke up (Don's going to miss that!), drove various boys to school, practice, hair cuts, and lots of other places, worked in the concession stand during the day until Sean got home, and all day long during the weekends. He babysat, gave JoJo bottles, made toast for the girls...the ways he made himself indespensible is endless! He left this morning at 4:00 to get to the airport in time for a 7:30 flight. Our Christmas angel has left us.... Now I'm pretty much on my own!

Except that my two nieces, Kelsey and Hailey, are visiting us this weekend and will help me with childcare and/or concession stand duty. I'm really looking forward to having them here...Patience adores them both.

Nathan also left at o'dark hundred this morning for Hawaii. I'm trying real hard to drum up some sympathy for his having to wake up at 3:30. He's there with the senior boys and girls basketball teams from school, and they're there for 9 days...until Christmas eve, when we pick him up at the airport at 9:30 p.m. He's going to have an incredible time, I just know it!

Jordyn now has two bottom teeth, and has pretty much decided that pureed food is for babies. Sometimes I can sneak some into her, but when she's done, she just pushes it right back out, kinda like when play-doh gets squeezed through an opening. She much prefers toast, crackers, bites of real food, and even a peanut butter and jam sandwich if Sissy leaves one close enough to the edge of the table!

Don's been working like a horse for about four weeks straight. I think 40 is just a wee bit too old to be a Christmas tree farmer.

Dylan had his school Christmas concert last night, and I'm pretty sure I couldn't be any prouder of that horn blower. He's an amazing trumpet player and his band teacher made sure that everyone knew it last night, giving Dylan several solos and other showcases. He has another concert tonight, and this time Don will go see his WonderKid.

Okay, so we're all fine, busy of course, but oh well! One more weekend of retail farming, and I'm hoping to sell every last cookie and brownie that I've baked! (the boys, on the other hand, hope there's leftovers!).

Pictures to follow...Don's been hogging the camera lately : (

Snow!

By the time this snowstorm ends, there will be a foot of snow that has fallen! This picture looks black and white, but it's not...

This morning Don and I took JoJo into Langley to purchase touques and gloves, because amazingly enough no one could fine theirs. It took hours because of the horrible driving conditions. We were in the truck, driving with 4-wheel drive, and there were plenty of cars and trucks in the ditches on either side of the road. At Wal-Mart, we stocked up on groceries so we don't have to drive for awhile. This snow is supposed to last a few days.

We'll probably have no school tomorrow...shucks! In the meantime, the kids (except for Jordyn) played in the snow, built forts, and had a snowball fight. Only one person ended up in tears...it wasn't Patience.

Can you believe...

that Valarie gave ME a hard time about updating my blog?!?

The good news is that the Richeys arrived safe and sound to our farm around 4:30 this afternoon. I couldn't get my shoes on and the baby bundled up fast enough...by the time I got out there, they had their tree in the bed of their truck and were all ready to come into the warmth! In the good ol' days Valarie would've spent hours finding the perfect tree...now it appears that the tree that's closest to their truck when they park is the perfect tree!

They brought pizzas, pop, and a very yummy dessert which we all ate in no time. The kids had a great time together...amazing...and the babies were in hog heaven with all of these fresh people : )

Here are photos of various groups of people! For newcomers, the pictures are Dylan, Val, and Nathan; five cousins eating pizza, Hailey and Patience, Kelsey and Jordyn, and me and Dave!

Napping with Daddy

Last night, after my coaching interview, I came home to dad "babysitting" Jordyn. It was 7:30 and they were both completely sacked out! The flash didn't even wake up Jordyn.

Patience, who put herself to bed at 5:00 last night, is still sleeping soundly. Thank the Lord, no vomiting last night! Maybe she'll even be able to eat something more than just two Saltine crackers today. Poor little thing...but I have to admit, her sleepy cuddles are very nice. Normally she's way too bouncy to give anything more than a cursory hug. Yesterday she fell asleep on my lap twice : )

Catching Up!

Well, what a week this has been! On Wednesday of last week we had a pretty brutal storm in the PNW...sustained winds at 100 mp caused considerable damage, not to mention driving hazards AND power outages. We lost power at around 11 a.m. on Wednesday and it didn't come back until Friday morning...almost 48 hours! The first day was fun, almost like an adventure, Thursday was a little annoying but when I woke up Friday a.m. and found there was still no power I basically lost all my sense of humor about it.

The power outage was not without its benefits. The boys didn't have school Thursday or Friday, freeing them up to work with Don. Don was able to get a load of trees out of the interior on Thursday with the help of Nathan. That's a huge relief because the weather just wasn't cooperating when Nathan was available.

This weekend I spent Saturday a.m. at a 4-H workshop and then just did my normal house and kids routine in the afternoon.

Saturday night Patience woke up around 1:30 throwing up. Lovely. And since she shares a room with Jordyn, she woke up too. I cleaned Patience up, her bedding was a mess, so I put her to sleep on the floor in my room. I got Jordyn back to sleep (lucky girl got a bottle in the middle of the night!) and then went into my room just as Patience got sick AGAIN. More clean up, and this time I smartened up and got her a bucket. I brought her into bed with me, and every 15 minutes she would say, "bucket," we'd sit up while she vomited into the bucket, I'd clean her up, empty the bucket, etc. until around 5 a.m. We woke up at 8 and she wasn't able to keep anything down. The poor girlie has only had water and two saltines all day long, and has lost most of the water. She went to sleep around 5 tonight (and she's slept alot of the day) so I'm hoping a good night's sleep will help her recover. She doesn't seem feverish.

I did several loads of laundry today...cleaning all of the casualties of Patience's getting sick as well as catching up with the regular laundry. Those days without power put a kink in my routine of a load (or two) each day.

Don has worked all day long. This afternoon he took Nathan and Dylan down to bale a hundred or so trees that he's selling wholesale.

Tonight I met with our 2007 head coach for swimming to interview some potential coaches for his staff. I think this is going to be a good year.

And now I'm off to bed...a little early, I admit, but I need to catch up on lost sleep from last night and who knows what's in store for me tonight.

Pink on Pink

Here's JoJo all happy with herself for being in Sissy's chair!

JoJo is now officially 9 months old. She's still crawling, although she's getting quicker! And right now she's suffering from her first diaper rash : (

She's 100% on a bottle now...boy, that formula is expensive! And eats about three jars of baby food a day, plus snacks of Cheerios and such. Oh yeah, and she eats whatever table food we give her at dinner time.

The Bearded Sailor

Another request from Grandma: a photo of Nathan with his beard! This is Sailor Nate all decked out for the Remembrance Day parade on Saturday.

Nathan got permission from cadets to grow a beard after his drama teacher requested it for a part Nathan is playing in the school play. He just found out that now that it's a fully-grown regulation beard, he can keep it as long as he wants! Apparently in the Navy it's okay to have a beard, probably due to the seafaring tradition...

Since he hates shaving, he's going to keep it!

Patience's Disrobing Disorder

My lovely 2 1/2 year old daughter has a rare disorder: she'll consciously or subconsciously take her clothes off at nearly every opportunity. Don really hopes she outgrows this before teenagehood! As a result of her behavior, she is frequently running around the house either naked or in some degree of nakedness.

Yesterday when she appeard butt naked, I yelled, "put your clothes on!" for the tenth time and she appeared one minute later with socks on.

She was wearing a new western shirt from Grandma (duh) and hasn't quite gotten the hang of any shirts besides t-shirts, so when she redressed herself without assistance, this is what happened! Upside down and inside out! She did fine on the lower half, though.

Sometimes she puts her underwear on so that one leg hole is around her waist, which of course throws everything off, and makes it look (on one side) like she's wearing a thong. Very funny...

New Sleepers!

I'm sure we wouldn't be able to have all these hundreds of children if we had to purchase all of their clothes. But we don't! We have the most generous parents who send boxes of incredibly cute clothing every so often so that when we actually DO buy something ourselves it feels foreign!

Here is Miss Patience modeling two of the five or so new sleepers that Grandma sent to her. Can you just see her saying, "Cheese!"?

Thank you, Grandma, for the wonderful new sleepers, socks, and shirts! I love the cowgirl ones!

My Gazebo-less Garden

For those of you who know what my backyard USED to look like...

You can see the skid marks that the tractor made pulling my gazebo out of the backyard and over to where the second shop is. The gazebo was on the new proposed property line so we had to move it before the subdivision could be finalized.

Nathan was shocked when he came home and it was gone. I never knew it even mattered to him but he told me that he wanted to get married in that gazebo just like Don and I did. So we'll have to make sure it sits in a picturesque setting when it's in its final place.

I'm hoping my yard won't look like this too much longer...

One Horrible Night

Ugh...I haven't had this little sleep since Jordyn was a newborn! Yesterday Miss Patience had a very late, very long nap, which made her not really sleepy until about 11 last night. That's much later than Don and I like to be awake, but since she's currently sleeping in a trundle bed in our room, she kept us awake until she finally drifted off. Shortly after that, Miss Jordyn woke up and started crying. This happens at least every other night, and we just let her cry. She goes back to sleep after a few minutes. Last night, after 20 minutes, Don went in to change her diaper. She has had a bit of a diaper rash lately, so we wanted to make sure she wasn't stuck in a dirty diaper. Nope, that wasn't the problem! So, he put her back to bed, freshly diapered and she continued to cry for 20 more minutes. Then I hear a crash/thump, and then her crying escalates. I run in, only to find her laying down, crying her heart out. As soon as she sees me, she stops crying. I pick her up and snuggle her to me as much as possible (she's not a snuggler) and try to sway/rock her back to sleep. She settled down but didn't seem tired AT ALL. She looked at me, around the room, out the door, wondering when we were going out there... After 10 minutes of that, I realize that I am not going to be able to rock that baby to sleep. So I put her back in her crib...heart-wrenching crying...for another hour. I think it was around 3 that she finally was quiet. So, yeah, we got about 4 hours of interrupted sleep. Jordyn is taking a nice long morning nap (must be nice) and Patience is just plain cranky. I think I'm going to try to keep her up until 7:30 or so. She'll probably fall asleep at the table...

Not Just Fishing...Catching!

Sean and Don had an excellent time at the fishing field trip today. Even though the weather was poor, there were lots of fish caught! They were salmon and they were spawning, and there were lots of them. Sean caught the second fish of the day, and, according to Don, Sean is an excellent caster! Here is a great shot of Sean, and another one of him and his teacher, Mr. T.

A Rainy Saturday Morning...

The weather is bleak here: driving, freezing rain! I'm hoping that all this weather is over before December, as this is really not the weather conducive to choosing a real tree at a Christmas tree farm...this is the weather where you run to the grocery store and buy an imported, dried out tree.

This morning Don and Sean headed off to Sean's fishing field trip. Yep, in this weather. I hope it clears up at least some, or it's not going to be any fun for anyone.

Dylan is gone for the weekend to his Redhawk Voices retreat. Nathan was supposed to be sailing, but the cadets had the good sense to cancel when they saw the forecast. No sense in getting a bunch of boats and cadets all the way to Harrison just to have it be too windy to put in.

I was hoping to drive south and visit with Val, et. al., but I think the last thing she needs is to be exposed to our lingering colds.

Nathan is still sleeping; Jordyn is down for her nap, and Patience is terrorizing the house. So that's our rainy Saturday morning for you! I'll post more later, if anything newsworthy should happen.

Houston, We Have a Mudroom!

This is yet another room that is too small to photograph well...this is the view from the top of the stairs. There are just a couple of details left, such as trim for the window and closet, a closet door, and a long white coatrack that will go on the wall opposite the wood stove. Oh yeah, and a proper light fixture. Right now we're just using an old floor lamp.

There is still a little painting left to do, as well. Last night Don painted 1/2 of the stairs (the same color as you see on the floor) so now he'll do the other half.

Our project is so close to being done I can hardly stand it! I can't believe how much these extra walls have added to the "livability" of this house. We should have done it long ago (we've said that about every renovation project we've ever done, though!).

The Return of Our Christmas Tree Farm Angel

Altenate Title: Will Work for Wine!

My wonderful stepdad, Lee, retired last September from an eternity working for the airlines! He is one of the best retired people I know...always busy, always travelling, working on house projects. He's definitely not one of those people who kind of fade away when they retire!

Last December, when I was 7 months pregnant, with a toddler to boot, and a lot of work to do around the farm and the house, plus the three boys who all have lives and need to be driven places, I was getting a little nervous about how I would make it through...

And then, just like a guardian angel, Lee arrives at the farm and stays for 12 days! He worked long hours with nothing for compensation besides a little food and wine! He made the fire early in the morning, he drove the kids all over the place, he made and served popcorn to zillions of kids for our school tours, not to mention assembling the zillions of snowmen crafts that those kids put together during their tour. Yep, he was definitely indispensible!

And he's coming back!!!! I just found out from my mom that when they come up for the end of November (concert) Lee will just stay on through the busy weekend! Even though we aren't doing school tours this year, there are other additions, namely Jordyn and Danica! So I'll still need his help : )

If you haven't figured it out already, Lee is a pretty spectacular dad! Now I'm looking forward to the Christmas tree season instead of dreading it!

Playing with Mrs. Potato Head

Here are the girlies playing together (well, okay, Patience is playing and Jordy is watching!) with Mrs. Potato Head. You can see that Jordyn doesn't feel well. Poor Bubelah...

A House Full of Sickies!

That's right...now we're all stuffed up or dripping : (

I have the beginnings of a face ache. Poor little JoJo is still not better, but she doesn't have a fever so I don't think she has an ear infection. Patience just has dark droopy eyes and she's willing to sit (or lie down) and watch a movie. Admittedly, that's not so very bad!

Yesterday after lunch I was wiping Patience's hands and face and said, "what do you want now?" with her bag of Halloween candy in mind. She said, "Baba." I said, "Don't you want some Halloween candy?" and she said, "No candy, nap!" So off she went with her bottle for a nice afternoon nap (lucky duck!).

Don said she did great with trick-or-treating! She didn't say, "trick-or-treat," but she did say "thank you" everytime. And she would just stand there saying thank you with her bag open until people gave her more candy! And more often than not, she would try to enter people's houses...they must have seemed like the kind of people she's like to get to know!

Nathan brought home bad news...a failed math test. He says the teacher is going to let him rewrite an especially dismal part of the test which would raise his score. Let's hope that's right, because a failed test means no basketball, which starts next weekend.

Dylan fessed up to something he's been secretly doing after school: he's singing in a Jazz ensemble! I told him vehemently "no more choirs or bands, young man!" because I though that 5 was definitely enough! But the music department wants to start a younger vocal jazz group because right now the really good one is made up of grades 11 and 12 students. Dylan is in the "second string," so to speak, which is made up of grades 8 to 10. It's a small group...6 students. And Dylan wants to know if Grandma is going to come to February Blues, Poppy's Jazz festival, to hear him play and sing! He figures we can celebrate JoJo's birthday whenever the festival is, so you can kill two birds with one stone!

Oh, and here's another news flash: Dylan has decided that he's NOT going to Disneyland this year. He has three more years of pricey band trips, including one to China! so there's no rush in laying out the big bucks this year. I'm sure he'll regret it when the rest of the group heads out in April, but you can only do so much when you're not independently wealthy. I figure he can continue saving, and by next year's band trip he'll be all set. It's painful to learn delayed gratification, but what a great perspective to be able to have.

Okay, I'm off to do more reading. Patience, unfortunately, loves "Fox in Socks." It's very difficult to read!

Halloween!

Well, she has the costume thing down, but the trick-or-treating is still a little fuzzy. She's never going to be okay with someone handing her a piece of candy and then NOT being able to eat it right away! All I can say is I'm glad it's Don who's out there with her and not me : ).

Mind you, I'm here with sick and fussy Jordyn, so we're about even!

Don has Dylan, Patience, Sean, and a friend of Sean's from school at a nearby neighborhood where they supposedly give out really good candy! Nathan opted out of trick-or-treating in order to get together with friends (Mac and Andrew) who he hasn't seen in ages.

Tomorrow I'll let you know how things were out on the street!

A lesson in "sweet"

Did you know that clothing comes not only in sizes, but also in "sweet" or not? I learned that last night, when Dylan complained that he didn't have any "sweet" clothes! "Sweet" is what cool used to be, way back when I was his age. Dylan has had quite a growth spurt these past few months. He's now the second-tallest person in our family! He's thin, and he has really long arms....just like his dad at 14, I'm sure. So it wasn't unreasonable that he should get some new clothes.

So, back to "sweet." Dylan, Patience, and I headed off to Value Village. We looked at all their shirts in his size, and I learned which ones were "sweet." I'd hold one up. "Sweet..." (into the cart). Another. "Not sweet..." (back on the rack). By the time we had 6 or 7 shirts in the cart, I was getting the hang of it! I even had a streak of three "sweet" shirts by the end! So, Dylan is now the proud owner of a dozen new "sweet" shirts. Apparently his jeans were already "sweet," so we didn't need to go down that aisle!

Oh, he also got a pair of white leather high-tops for gym, several binders, and new pjs. Gotta love Value Village...we walked out of there $100 poorer (or less rich) and now my son is wearing "sweet" shirts.

Sweet....

Sissy's Hat!

JoJo took advantage of her sister's nap by wearing Patience's cowgirl hat! I turned it around so she could actually see something...you can tell she's pleased with her little self!

Good Monday Morning!

Well, here we are at the dawn of another week!

As I sit and write, my younger daughter is sleeping soundly and my older daughter is trying to convince me that I should open a package of cookies for her! We should have called her Persistence...

The boys are all in school right now, although I will Sean's sunny little face at lunchtime. The weather is cold and clear, perfect for a brisk bike ride during the lunch hour! Dylan stays after for volleyball practice today and Nathan has drama practice.

Don is off site at a client's all day, so it's relatively quiet at the homefront. This weekend Don painted parts of the mudroom floor (strategic parts so he could put down trim and still walk around in there), and that project is quickly coming to an end! Yeah!

Sean, for some unexplainable reason, is now intrigued with "spring cleaning." I have no idea where he even heard the term, but he made me promise that we could do some spring cleaning when he came home from school today, and that I wouldn't clean the bathroom before he came home! He's going to make one heck of a husband some day! ; )

Jordyn is getting quite tall and quite capable. Just this morning, she used the kitchen chair to get into a standing position, and then reached up as far as she could, to reach Patience's cereal bowl, which she the proceded to spill all over the kitchen floor! Thank the Lord that Patience has just recently gone through a "cereal without milk" phase! So it wasn't a real mess. And besides, JoJo then proceded to clean it up by eating all of the Honeycomb that had just fallen! Yes, it's obvious that she's #5...not only do I let my 8.5 month old eat Honeycomb, I'm grateful that she's doing it so I don't have to clean it up. Sheeesh...

Well, I'm off to do something. Not sure what yet, but there are many options.

Cheers!

Everybody Up and At 'Em!

This was an early morning at Murphy's! Miss Jordyn woke up at 6:45. I let her cry for awhile, thinking she might be tricked into going back to sleep since it was still pitch dark outside. But, no, she was smarter than that and kept at it until I got her up. I gave her a bottle and then played with her for awhile until Miss Patience tore down the hallway in her usual exuberant fashion.

I got the girlies their breakfast and then went to workout at Curves. I got home in time to relieve Don, who is spending some time working with his Dad today.

The boys had Duncan over after last night's volleyball tournament, and I'm sure they have a big day of electronics planned. Right now they're just starting to make noises downstairs in BoyLand.

Nathan has a cadet thing today; he's standing outside of Save-On-Foods asking for money in exchange for a paper Poppy. This is fundraising for the Canadian Legion instead of his Cadet Corp, but then the Legion turns around and thanks the Corp by giving them a cheque! Whatever...

Sean's goose egg is gone but now he has a black eye. On the eyelid. It looks like he got carried away with blueblack eyeshadow. He's hoping it'll stay like this until Halloween. I let him stay home Friday so he could be "carefully supervised." You don't want to take any chances with head injuries, you know! : )

The weather is okay here. Not sunny, but not rainy. I might try to get outside and do some cleaning up. I'll write more when anything newsworthy happens!
Cheers!

A Busy Thursday!

My excitement for today was getting a call from Sean's principal! At lunch recess Sean was on the receiving end of a gate getting kicked open...he caught it, as you can see, right above his left eye! He's fine now, and was very happy to be able to come home from school early.

My poor Miss J is still sick...stuffy, coughy, and very, very clingy. It's difficult to do much of anything besides hold her. And she's not cuddly. She wants me to hold her, but to hold her outwards and be walking around. Sitting and cuddling in the rocker will not be tolerated!

A Quiet Wednesday Morning...

Here are the girlies playing on the kitchen floor. Patience has the coveted Barbie Dollie and Jordyn has a Cheerio that she found on the floor!

Jordyn seems to be coming down with a cold. She's been so healthy, but on Sunday she was in the church nursery for 90 minutes and now she has a cough and a runny nose! Grrrr... I know in theory it's better if she gets sick now and again, that it'll boost her immunity system, blah, blah, blah, but for right now it's wreaking havoc with my sleep schedule! I was up with her three times last night. I rocked her, gave her a bottle, and she went back to sleep at 11. At one, I gave her some more bottle and some Tylenol Cough/Cold medicine (thanks, Mom!). At 4:45, I repeated the 1 o'clock routine. At 6:00, Dylan and Nathan were up showering and having breakfast. Ugh...

The really good news is that Don painted the mudroom last night (I pleaded) and it looks fantastic. It looks like coffee with the perfect amount of cream! He's going to do one more coat (more pleading, I imagine!) and then the trim will finish it! Yeah!!! And to celebrate, he's lit the first fire of the season this morning. I love the smell and the feel of a wood fire.

Sadly, our VCR finally bit the dust after I don't know how many years and countless videos. I think I'm going to venture out today and try to pick up a VCR/DVD combo for the girlies' t.v. Maybe I'll see if Waneta wants to go...there's safety in numbers!

The boys are incredibly busy with drama, volleyball, cadets, school, and whatnot. I'm basically at home enjoying the babies, and venturing out just to be a chauffeur when they boys need rides! So my life isn't nearly as busy as theirs are!

The modified cabbage soup diet is working for me. I've lost about 4 pounds, which is pretty good considering I'm getting two totally undiet meals each day! I still like the soup, and made a new batch this past weekend. Speaking of breakfast, I think it's time for me to eat!

More later...

By Popular Demand...

I cut Jordyn's bangs! Mom has been "suggesting" that I do that for awhile now, as Jordyn's wispy bangs were quite long...but so thin that I was pretty sure they weren't affecting her eyesight : )

At any rate, they're no longer an issue because they're GONE!

And of course while I had Jordyn on her changing table to do her hair, Patience was left unattended for, what, 60 seconds? And can you imagine what SHE was doing during that time? She found my haircutting supplies on the bathroom counter and proceeded to cut her own hair! Thank heavens she only had my thinning shears...even though I found lots of locks of long hair on the bathroom floor, I couldn't tell where she had cut it from. Phew!

After the dueling haircuts, I gave them a bath and put them both to bed! Patience hasn't had a nap in several days but I thought I'd give it a shot anyway...

More later!

Jordyn Makes Crepes!

Daddy is making crepes for dinner and he's letting Jordyn "help." You can't really see it in this picture, but her hand is in the mixing bowl feeling the flour. He's since decided that it's much harder to make crepes with Jordyn's help, so she's now back on the floor where she belongs. Actually, she's going to bed because, as you can see from the picture, her eyes are a little bleary.

The girls and I went to church today for the first time in a L-O-N-G time and Jordyn did just fine in the nursery. I went in at about noon and she was just about collapsed on the floor from exhaustion, as she didn't get her morning nap and she was up since 6:30 or so. But she didn't cry when I left her there!

I was little nervous about leaving Patience in there because, while she's very reliable toilet-wise, she also always has a toilet handy, and there isn't one in the nursery. So I went in mid-sermon and took her to the bathroom, and then again toward the end. I didn't want an accident!

Tonight we're all going into Langley to get Halloween costume stuff, some paint for the stairs, and a light fixture for the mud room. That room is very nearly complete. Don has the whole thing primed and the ceiling painted. I chose a nice color called "Naturally Calm" for the walls, which he'll paint tomorrow hopefully.

Today was a beautiful, sunny day here. Don and the kids worked outside for awhile after lunch and I had a "piece of quiet," and then I had a nice phone call from my mom! Lucky me : )

Okay, I'm off to pick up toys : )

Jordyn Rocks to Sleep...

Tonight Jordyn is really tired because she napped so poorly today. Don sat her in this rocker and started rocking it and she started nodding off. It was so funny that I went to get the camera so we could get a shot of her falling asleep in the rocker. But as soon as she saw the camera she bolted straight up and smiled! She's so well trained.... Oh well, we didn't get the sleepy shot, but this is still pretty cute : )

The Weekend Already!

Wow, this week has just flown by!

It's a beautiful sunny (but cool) day here, and we're expecting more of the same for the weekend. Tonight and tomorrow Nathan is scheduled to go "begging" for cadets, only they call it "tagging." Nathan is one of their best beggers...he can money from nearly everyone he meets!

Right now Sean is at a friend's house, Dylan is down playing Maple Story (if you don't have children who are addicted to this internet game, you should be very thankful!), and Nathan is downstairs with five cadet buddies watching a movie, or playing video games, or something!

Don will hopefully get the mud room painted this weekend. That's our goal, anyway.

I'll post more later. Cheers!

Good Report!

Yeah! All of the teachers I talked to said this about Nathan: "he's a great kid, he's doing great, you should be proud of him." And we are!

I only spoke with one of Dylan's teachers, who stated, "Dylan is brilliant." Well said.

Okay, that's all, folks!

Guess Who Has A Tooth?

Me!

Jordyn is my youngest baby ever to have a tooth at this young age (8.5 months). Patience got one sometime after her ninth month, and the boys were all toothless until after their first birthday. I guess Jordyn is working on growing teeth instead of big feet : )

That would explain the fussiness the past couple of days. I looked in Patience's mouth and found two lower molars had just erupted. Okay, now I feel bad...I should have been doling out the Tylenol these past couple of days.

I'm off in twenty minutes or so to have parent-teacher conferences at the high school. I hope to come home with glowing reports from all of Nathan's and Dylan's teachers!

Oh! I can't believe I forgot to blog this! Dylan, Jordyn, and I went to watch Sean's first volleyball game yesterday afternoon. It was great...Sean's team won three out of four sets and he played really well! It's his first year and he's just learning the game, but we can see definite potential!

Last night we had some really yummy turkey chili. Don had an elders' meeting so I got to be a single parent again last night. I am looking forward to next summer. I think it'll be easier to have both girls when they're more able to play together and when Jordyn isn't so needy. It's not that she's more needy than normal, it's that I have less time than "normal"...

Okay, wish me luck...I'm off!

JoJo Wants Sissy's Lunch!

If she were a puppy, I'd have to train her to not beg!

This picture isn't very clear as I was shooting right into the southern window. Oops!

Both girlies are very fussy today. A couple of times I had both of them crying/screaming loud. I'm wondering if Miss J. is getting teeth, because she's not normally this fussy. I don't know what Patience's problem is. She probably misses her Aunt Babadee!

Magnificent Five!

Someday I'm going to get a shot of them where everyone is looking at the camera and there are no toys in the shot! But for now, this will have to suffice!

We survived yesterday without Don. I was going to slack off and not bathe the girlies (that's Don's job!) but last night, at 6:45, Jordyn crawled down the hallway, stood up at the closed bathroom door, and started pounding on it! She knows the routine! So, they got bathed : )

Last night Nathan had band practice at cadets from 6-8. I dropped him off a little early so I could pick up Dylan from volleyball practice just a tad bit late! Last night's supper was wraps made with homemade whole wheat tortillas (yummy!), lunch meat left over from the 4-H banquet, cheese, and bunch of veggies either chopped or shredded. That's a really easy way to get some veggies in! And a good supper for those times when people have to eat at different times.

Lucky me! I just got to fish a sucked-on post-it note out of Jordyn's mouth, and she did not want to give it up! Babies...gotta love 'em!

Sean just asked me if I could arrange a sleep over with Hailey Lawson this weekend! Sounds okay to me...how 'bout you, Val?

Today Dylan has a volleyball game. I'll probably leave the girlies with Sean and Nathan and go watch for awhile. It's a home game, which is convenient.

Okay, I'm off to watch Spirit (again!).

Cabbage Soup Diet...

Okay, I need to lose some weight. I am, unfortunately, at my all-time non-pregnant high weight. Darn. Apparently you can't eat whatever you want even while breastfeeding. So, in addition to working out at Curves three times/week, I am going to change my eating habits. Here is what I'm doing, so you can keep me accountable : )

I am doing a modified cabbage soup diet. I've never been able to follow it strictly for more than two days, but I think the soup itself is a pretty good way to cut back calorie consumption. I'm going to eat a sensible breakfast, usually cereal and 1 % milk, and I'm going to eat a sensible dinner with an eye on my portion size. In between those meals, I'm only going to eat the soup.

Oh, and because I basically don't like cabbage soup the way it's usually made, I modified that, too, to make it tolerable. I pureed it! It's quite good...almost like tomato soup with some extra flavors added in.

I'll let you know how it goes!
Cheers!

Happy Monday Morning!

This morning Don left for two days of tree-cutting up at Tulameen. Lucky me...single parent! Jordyn woke much earlier than usual this morning, 6:30, and chose not to go back to sleep after a bottle. Oh well, it gave me the chance to get this great shot of her and Nate. I figure I'll take bookend pictures periodically...she's 8 months and he's 17 in this shot.

Dylan was up and out early this a.m. for Jazz Band. Mr. Sean has no school today so he's still sleeping!

Not much on the calendar for the week outside of parent/teacher interviews for Thursday, and half days for Nate and Dylan on Wednesday and Thursday. Of course there are various volleyball practices, play practices, volleyball games, and even a Cadet fundraiser, but nothing out of the ordinary to report!

My mom and Lee have their own blog now! How cool is that? Her link is on my page so you can jump over there and read all about their lives : )

More later!

Don and His Girlies...

This is right after bath time when Don needs a rest from the vigorous workout of bathing, shampoo-ing, splashing, and playing with Patience and Jordyn in the tub! It's a hard job but someone has to do it! As you can see, Miss Patience was not cooperative like the lovely Miss J. Oh well, you can't win 'em all!

Miss Jordyn is growing up so quickly. She crawls fast and is vertical more often than not. She's almost completely on a bottle now. I was hoping to have the weaning process take more than three days, but it looks like she's switched gears! It will be more convenient and easier for everyone (except maybe me). She also loves her solids and her multi-grain Cheerios.

The boys had a blissfully empty day today. Absolutely nothing on the calendar for all three of them, which is pretty close to a miracle. So, they've hung out with a friend, played basketball, played video games, and basically enjoyed the day to the fullest : )

More tomorrow!

Ahoy, Matey!

Here's Sean at the Langley 4-H District Annual Awards Banquet. This year's theme was pirates, and each club decorated their table in theme and then the winning club gets a prize (usually candy). Woodlands has won 12 out of 24 years, but sadly last night we lost to another club who, quite frankly, didn't have anywhere near the quality or creativity of decorations that we had. But, it's okay because this year the prize was only jelly beans!

Nathan did get his Program Pin there, which means that he rocks in the communications program (speeches, demos, ed displays, etc.). The pin is equivalent to 4 high school credits, which might come in handy some day! It was a lot of fun, but it turned out to be a late evening...we didn't get home until nearly 11. The good news is that Don and both girlies had a nice evening and we wasn't even frazzled when I got home!

The other picture is of most of our club...obviously Nathan is missing along with 4 or 5 others. But you can see how well the kids get along!

More later!

Slumber Party!

Here are Sean, Patience, and a very happy Jordyn having a slumber party in the kitchen this morning!

Right now Jordyn is napping, Patience is terrorizing the house and me, and I was able to go work out thanks to Don's flexible schedule!

Sean and Dylan have volleyball practice after school, and Nathan has a driving lesson. That's a snapshot of our day!

On a technical note, something is wrong with my photo software, making it difficult to impossible to upload photos to my blog. My tech support person is not very responsive to my computer issues. Imagine that...

Here's a funny story. Sea Cadets had their annual general meeting on Tuesday night. Don wouldn't let me go, because he was sure I'd come home with a "position." His last words as he left the house were, "I'm not signing up for anything!" Yep, you guessed it. Don has a position! Better him than me...

Patience got her first Barbie. It's one that came in a McDonald's kids meal (date with Dad). She loves it. And so does Jordyn. Therein lies the problem! And Jordyn isn't easily distracted. She's focused. She wants that little dolly. And whenever Patience sees her playing with it, she immediately wants it. I guess this is our first lesson in two girls close in age: two of everything, exactly the same. Younger and more energetic parents would use this opportunity to teach character values...sharing and all that.

Okay, I think that's all the news from this corner of the world!

More later...

Nobody Does It Like The Magic Pan

...especially me! Crepes on Monday evening were okay, nothing like the original! They were pleasant enough to eat, but not delicious enough to overeat...which is good, I guess!

The kids are so used to eating sweet crepes that it was difficult for them to switch gears. On the other hand, they were easy to make and a great way to use up leftovers.

Here's Looking At You!

Here's JoJo peeking through her highchair!

Nathan's Math Test Score

82%

For any of you who know and love Nathan, you'll know that this is a grade worth celebrating!

Go, Nate!

My Kewpie Doll

Bath night for babies! As you can see, Jordyn LOVES her bath!

Right now the girlies are bathed, jammied, and watching a video, trying to wind down for the night. I, personally, am already wound down!

Patience Bottles Jordyn!

For some strange reason, Patience climbed into JoJo's highchair. I was bottling Jordyn in the kitchen, and just laid her on the tray for fun (and to give my arms a break). I was shocked at how long Jordyn stayed perfectly still, laying on the tray, drinking her bottle. And Patience was pleased as punch, and kept a protective arm on her baby the entire time. Very adorable, these two.

Jordyn Sleeps on Dad...

On Sunday evening we had a rare treat: Jordyn fell asleep while I was feeding her, and then stayed asleep while we held her! It was just like having a wee baby again : ) We held her for about 30 minutes until she woke up and turned back into her kinetic energy self!

Here is Don having his turn...he didn't take one of me holding her : (

Happy Thanksgiving!

I decided Saturday to cook a turkey on Sunday even though it didn't seem like "Thanksgiving season" to me! So yesterday I made turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie! 'Twas a feast! And we have some leftovers. Tonight Don and I are double-teaming dinner...we're making Turkey Elegante crepes, fashioned after the Chicken Elegante crepes I used to order at the Magic Pan. I have a huge pot of turkey stock simmering on the stove...that'll become soups and stews.

While I was in the kitchen, Don was in the Hughes Airwest room finishing up. We now have a light fixture hung, and trim on all the windows and doors. It looks fantastic!

Well, there's really not much else to report from the farm...but I will let you know the minute something exciting happens!

Fall Has Fallen

We woke up this morning to brrrrrr cold! Jordyn is still snuggled up in her fleece sleeper and Patience has on a new fleece warmup suit, so they're nice and toasty! But it's apparent that we'll need to crank up the wood stove soon.

Right now Sean is downstairs playing with Leyland, his friend who spent the night. Dylan is at a volleyball tournament all day long. Don and Nathan are down working on our trees this morning. And I'm at home with my girlies. Just last week at this time I was coniving about how I could go down and surprise Val with a visit! Unfortunately there's nothing that fun on today's agenda.

Don is planning on installing the last window in the basement this morning, which will officially end the "construction" phase of the basement. There will still be drywall and electrical to do, but nothing else that will make sawdust! Then we can get his tools out of the "mud room" and give the loft bed (currently where all the tools are sitting!) to a friend of ours! It's a good plan...let's just see if it happens!

This is a three-day weekend in Canada. Their Thanksgiving is on Monday! I still haven't gotten used to such an early Thanksgiving, but I have to admit that for celebrating the harvest, this is a much better time of year than the end of November. Everything is in season right now, summer and fall foods.

More later!

Pancakes!

Last night we had pancakes for supper. Don and Patience ate first, with Jordyn sitting in her high chair at the table with them. Just for fun, Don gave Jordyn a tiny bite of pancake, which she loved. So he kept giving her tiny bites. I was getting all excited that maybe we'd move straight to table food and skip the baby food stage. More tiny bites into her little open bird mouth. Then it was my turn to eat, so I sit down by Jordyn who is still in the market for more bites of pancake. As I'm holding up a bite for her, she sees it and spits out the bite that was currently in her mouth! I look into her lap, and sure enough, there are about 40 little sucked-on pancake bites! She was sucking the butter and syrup out of them, and then spitting them out! I guess the babyfood stage will last awhile longer...

Friday Morning....

...came awfully early! The boys all had swimming this morning at 6:15, so I woke up at 5:30 to get them all shepherded out the door. Much to my surprise, Nathan and Dylan were already up and watching the highlights from last night's Sharks game (which they won, in OT). So, everyone got up and packed up the car with today's breakfast, lunch, instruments, backpacks, etc because they'll go right from the pool to the school. This winter maintenance session lasts 8 weeks.

Dylan has a volleyball tournament this weekend. He plays today from 4:30-10:00 and then tomorrow from 9:00-5:00. Thankfully there are other players in this area and we'll be carpooling. The games are no where near us. Of course.

Not much else is on the agenda today. Danica will be here shortly. Today is her last day until November 9 because she's going "down under" with her parents and grandparents! Lucky little girl!

More later...

Laundry Day!

Five loads today! This is why I make my own detergent...

Ummm...haven't done much else today except take care of babies : )

My Three Sons

Here is the most recent pic of the three boyos... I just took it last night! Yes, you do see a bit of a beard on Nathan. His drama teacher wrote a letter to his cadet commander asking if it would be okay for Nathan to grow a beard for his part in the upcoming play. They approved his request so now Nathan doesn't have to shave. The funny thing is that if Nathan does want to shave it off he has to put in a request for that, too!

Club Awards went really well last night. Sean got the junior Ed Display award, Nathan got the public speaking award, Dylan got the reserve champion for public speaking. Nathan got his 5-year pin.

Danica should be here momentarily...I should run and at least start some laundry. I haven't done any in 2 days so now there's about 5 loads! How does that happen?

More later!

Our Day @ a Glance

Notice, no elipses?

Today started a loooooong time ago. Jordyn woke up at 5:45 and Don got up with her (since he went to bed early last night...I stayed up to do the cadet pick-up run). I slept another hour but by 7 the entire family was up and at 'em and Dylan was already gone for Redhawk Voices. Right now, laundry is going, everyone has eaten, and Jordyn is back down for her morning nap!

This afternoon Dylan stays after for Jazz Band, and then this evening all of the boyos and I will be going out for our 4-H club awards presentation. It's a hoot...one of my favorite parts of the 4-H year. I'll post pics tomorrow of the boys and all their loot : )

Danica should be here any minute, and then we're off and running!

Cheers,
Cathi

P.S. Patience's favorite video is Winnie the Pooh. She can watch it many, many times in one day.

Comments...

Thanks to Heather, I realized that I had the power to let anyone comment on my blog! Yeah, I did and it works! It's so much fun to read your comments that I turned on comments for Val's blog, too. So head over to her blog and comment away : )

My Girlies

Awwwww....

Patience had on my Ruby Z cat necklace (remember that, Val?). When she hugged her sister, Jordyn made a quick grab for it and popped it in her mouth! Well, of course!

We had the weirdest day! Patience went into her room and put herself to sleep at 10:30 this morning, and slept until almost 1:00. No, she doesn't seem to be sick or feverish...she's her normal energetic self! All of you who have ever spent time with Patience knows what a treat it was for me to have her sleep for 2 1/2 hours! It was almost like a holiday!

Dylan has a volleyball game today, Nathan has play practice and then cadets, and Sean's playing at a friend's house. Don is out burning the shakes from the old roof. And now you know everything!

Early Morning Constitutional

Now that Frodo doesn't have his "bunny run" anymore, Sean walks him on a leash and harness.

See, Sean does exist! Speaking of Sean, he's on the grade 6 boys volleyball team. He has his first "away" game next week!

Oh, and he's become the tidyest of all the boys. You should see his room since we remodeled it...never a thing out of place (and that's a huge improvement!).

Balloons!

Dylan had an orthodontist appointment yesterday afternoon. He brings home a helium balloon for Patience each time (a perk of that practice) but Jordyn loved it! Oh, and another bit of great news: Dylan's braces are officially paid for! Woo hoo! He's scheduled to get them off in August of 2007. Then it'll be Sean's turn!

Last night I attended the monthly swim club executive meeting. Now that was a good time.

I'll post more later : )

Bath Night Again

Here's Miss Jo Jo enjoying a Sunday night bath with her sissie (not pictured here). She's smiling up at Nathan, who was just about having a panic attack that Jordyn was let loose in the tub (with three inches of water, as you can see). During his lifeguarding courses he's warned profusely about how babies can drown in three inches of water, or at least suffer lung damage. So he jumped just about every time she moved. He finally had to leave the room, and on the way out he said, "if she drowns, it'll be on your account!" For the record, she survived her bath and is now safely snuggled up asleep in her crib.

Today was a busy day. We did Sunday school, grocery shopping, a quick trip to Ikea, a big chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce dinner, and now Don's at a church meeting. At Ikea I got a great rug for the new family room, some shelves for the boys' rooms, a battery-operated alarm clock for each boy, some new dishes and utensils for Patience, and a ride-on stick horse (also for Patience). It doesn't make great horse noises like Hailey's, but she likes it well enough anyway.

I'm tired. Patience and Jordyn are sleeping in the same room. I hear every noise, and I jump up and run in there every time...I don't want one to wake up the other! Jordyn is a really light sleeper. This morning she was awake before 6. If she was in her own room, I'd just let her cry until she went back to sleep or until it was a reasonable waking hour. We're throwing around options and trying to figure out where we can build Patience a "bump out." : )

That's all for now! More tomorrow...

New Jammies!

Patience got several pair of the cutest jammies ever! She's in a lovely lavendar and brown pair tonight, but she wasn't too cooperative when it came to modeling them. So you'll kind of have to use your imagination.

Gotta love her...

Happy 17th Birthday, Nathan!

Here he is in all his glory!

Nate got home around 4:00 from his fundraiser and went over to the berry farm to get his favorite pie: custard berry. Then Waneta made him his favorite cake: Black Forest! To add insult to injury, she also brought home Chinese food for dinner. Needless to say, no one was even a little hungry by the end!

Nathan is now downstairs watching his birthday gift from us...that new hockey movie The Rocket.