Jordyn and Megan

Here is Jordyn and her best friend, Megan. Megan has an older brother, Justin, in Patience's kindergarten class and a younger sister, Katie, who will be in Nick's class! Jordyn and Megan attend preschool together. Today Megan is over playing and eating peanut butter/M&M cookies : )

Kindergarten Christmas tree

This morning Don took a little Christmas tree into Patience's kindergarten class : ) The timing was perfect...she was just up in the front of the class, for show and tell, telling the class that she was bringing in a tree, and in he walked! She started bobbing up and down with an ear-to-ear grin : )

Last week Don made Mrs. Niddery some Christmas tree "cookies," whick are thin slices off the trunk of a tree. He drilled a hole in them for string so they can be hung on a tree as an ornament. It'll be interesting to see how she has the kids decorate them...

Christmas is underway!

Toy box

Nick likes to play with these Duplo blocks. Frequently he'll just climb into the box and play in there!

Christmas candy calendars

Our family's tradition lives on! Ever since I can remember, the kids have always made a "candy calendar" on Thanksgiving to help them count down the days until Christmas. This weekend we carried on the tradition for all the kids except for Nick : (

Dylan and Haley are sharing a calendar. Dylan decided that since she's the more responsible one, the calendar will live at her house and she'll bring him a piece of candy each day : )


Sean was out working while we made the calendars, so I did his for him. Don't worry, he wasn't disappointed!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

An update to the update...

The boys brought home very nice progress reports from school yesterday. Dylan's grades ranged from 90-96 in all his courses; Sean had a couple of B's on his but had the honor of bringing home the highest grade...a 97 in English. So all in all they're doing well and we're very pleased.

Last night Dylan had a concert for the Kwantlen Wind Ensemble so Haley and I went. It was really good (again). After the concert Haley and I went to the grocery store for a few items while the musicians did some cleaning up, and then we met Dylan and some others at Dairy Queen for a little frozen celebration.

This morning Don and the boys were up and out the door by 8 to go cut and bale trees down at Radnai's. They put in an 8-hour day. While they were gone I watched small children, did 10 loads of laundry, and cleaned Dylan and Sean's room as the smell was beginning to get to me. I love Febreeze.

Cheers!
Cathi

More cute pictures

Good thing I got these yesterday, considering what Nick looks like today!

This is the very cool ball that Grandma Edith bought for Nick when we were visiting this summer. It's still a favorite toy!

My very shy and reserved daughter. We're hoping she'll come out of her shell soon : )

Owie!

This afternoon Nick was pushing around one of the girls' little princess chairs. He came a change in the floor height. The chair stopped but he didn't. He toppled over the chair and hit is forehead on....something. Not sure exactly what.

The cut was pretty deep so I thought we better go visit the clinic in case it needed to be stitched. By the time we got there and got seen the cut had already started to heal, so the doctor asked me if I wanted him to reopen the cut so he could stitch it, or did I just want butterfly bandages. I opted for the butterfly bandages. He said if Nick was a girl he would probably go the other route just so she wouldn't have a scar on her forehead : )

Here he is in all his glory:

As you can see, the doctor gave him a sucker, so he was happy at the end! On top of the butterfly bandages the doctor placed a waterproof bandaid, and then he wrapped his head because of his huge goose egg. The wrapping was off before he was even finished with his sucker.

Update...

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I'll use the usual excuse. I have good intentions but no time.

I'll try to bring you up to speed on our goings-on:

I have a new day care kid! His name is Avery, and he is in Patience's kindergarten class. He has an older sister who is in Grade 4 at their school, and they have an afternoon nanny who works from the time school gets out (2:30) until the parents get home from work (6:00). So I take care of Avery from the time kindergarten gets out at 11:15 until the afternoon nanny starts working. It's a bite-size job that fits well with our schedule and life, and I'm thankful to have it! This is obviously a great season to be earning some extra money : )

Dylan just wrapped up his volleyball season and can now focus on academics, university, and, of course, Haley : ) He is back to applying of the Regular Officer Training Program in the Canadian Forces, so we'll see how that all pans out. The best-case scenario is that he'd have his books and tuition paid for and be able to get the music degree from UVic while getting paid a monthly salary from Canadian forces.

Sean is still doing well with school and cadets. He just bought himself a paintball gun and is now looking forward to getting out with some good friends and shooting them : )

The Littles are all fine and healthy. Nick has a single tooth on the bottom. He's very cute : )

Don is busy harvesting Christmas trees. He sold LOTS of trees wholesale, which is good. Now comes the part where he has to cut, bale, tag, sort, and deliver them! He does have some good help and Dylan and Sean are going to help him this weekend. My hope is that after this year Don will have only a few hundred trees left to care for and sell next year. There is just too much work for one person.

On the financial front, Don and I are on track to have Sean's braces completely paid off by the new year which will be huge relief. In the mean time, things are so tight that we are squeaking. Christmas tree season could not be coming at a better time : )

The weather is very cold and wet. We are paying for our warm and beautiful October.

Love,
Cathi

News from the north!

Nathan posted.

Random shots of cute kids

Nick with Grandpa Lee's hat.


He'll wear it for a nanosecond, and then rips it off...


Nick looks intently at Jordyn...

who surprises him with a smooch!

Nicky naps

This afternoon Nick fell asleep on me as the kids and I watched Extreme Home Makeover. At the end of the show I wanted to start dinner so Patience offered to hold him while he slept : )
She did a great job.

When I was finished with the dinner prep I asked if she wanted me to take him. She politely declined. It sounds like we have another babyhog in the making...

Dylan's tuxedo

What do you get your 17-year-old son for Christmas when he doesn't really need anything? Why, a tuxedo of course! Now, he doesn't have to rent one for his many musical appearances! Merry Christmas, Dylan. : )

Show and tell

Every Monday Patience has a chance to either bring something or tell a story for show and tell. Today, when she came home from school, she said, "Guess what I told the class about today!"
"You're fishing trip?!?"
"No, I told them about my nightlight."
That must have been riveting .

The new Nathan

We could always count on Nathan to work. He could work long, he could work hard, he could do whatever mundane job you needed done. He was great. Too bad he's in Alaska.

Today, with beautiful sunny weather, Don decided it was time to do some fall clean up and get the yard ready for selling trees. Here is Sean, picking up where Nathan left off, helping Don willingly and cheerfully. Thank the Lord for sons.

Poor baby

It's a good thing I took that totally adorable picture of Nick yesterday; this is what he looks like today:

He went outside to do "chores" with Daddy and came back in looking like this : (