Haircut

I spent two hours at Jackie's this morning getting my hair colored and cut. She used foils over most of my head with two colors of hair dye, so the effect is very natural and will grow out gracefully. I was getting really sick and tired of my dark roots and grey hair!

Patience took this picture... she did a good job, eh?


And Don took this picture to give you a better idea of the sides and back and the many shades of color.

Sea Cadets Away!

Here are Sean, Hannah, and John at 0600 hours getting ready to leave for camp!

We were fortunate enough to be able to drop off Sean and some gas money in Aldergrove and have Hannah's mom drive them into Richmond.

So now we are down to three children, and Dylan hardly counts as he is working the next 8 days in a row! At the beginning of this job he was concerned that he wouldn't get enough hours but now that everyone knows he's looking for shifts, he's the first one people call when they need to trade/give away a shift.

Nathan has been making regular use of my cell phone. He has basically unlimited calling to Don's cell phone because we have a family plan so he's been calling several times a day. He's not calling to chat, mind you. He's calling to find out the latest NHL trade and contract news. He did let us know that he got promoted yesterday at Quadra and will now be the recipient of a higher daily wage than he ever dreamed of. That's exciting! It's almost a pity that he doesn't need a lot of money when he gets out of camp...

I'm off to start my day. I'll post later when I have my hair done. Cheers!

Writing to the Boys

If anyone is interested in sending mail to the boys while they're at camp, here is their address:

Sean (July 6-25)
AC Murphy S
Gunnery TG1
HMCS Quadra
Comox, BC V9M 8A1

Nathan (until August 22)
PO Murphy N
Staff
HMCS Quadra
Comox, BC V9M 8A1

Happy 4th of July!

Good morning to everyone in blogland : )

Yesterday remained a cool, rainy day for which we were all so thankful. Even the chickens enjoyed scratching and pecking all day long instead of hiding in the shade of the lilac for most of the day.

Last night Dylan was working and Sean was at a birthday party. Coupled with Nathan's extended absence, that left four of us home for dinner. Patience said, "We have a small family. Look, there are two empty chairs!" Empty chairs and table spaces are unheard of for our family. Usually we have the girls sharing a short end of our 6-person table to squeeze everyone in.

Besides more space at the table, I am dealing with a new phenomenon: leftovers.

Last night, as per usual, I cooked a package of chicken legs ($1/pound on sale at the Co-op) that I had in the freezer since May. Of course it was a club pack...that's how I shop! I have a family of very good eaters and the club pack is just about right for our size family. So last night after dinner, I have 5 whole chicken legs left! That's thigh and drumstick! I was so shocked that for a moment I didn't know what to do with them.

But then of course the frugal side of my brain kicked it into high gear. I shredded the meat off the bones and froze it in two containers: one for chicken Caesar salad, the other for chicken salad sandwiches because I know we're having more hot weather coming soon. With the skin, bones, etc., I made a huge pot of chicken stock. That's what I did with $7 worth of chicken. So this is how other folks live!

What?! You don't find that amazingly interesting? Okay, then I'll talk about the kids...

Last night, as I was dealing with the leftover chicken, Don took the girls across the street to pick strawberries. It had been raining lightly all day but had cleared up in the evening. They've been wanting to pick berries since the season started but of course it's always been way too hot to go. So Don grabbed the girls and a couple bowls and they headed over.

It didn't take Don long to fill his bowl with fat, juicy strawberries. Patience spent most of her time talking with the other customers there. And Jordyn tried to pick the green berries. Apparently green is her new favorite color, so those were the ones she was going after. Poor Don. Anyway, they got home with the goods, and I sliced them up and we put them over vanilla ice cream. Pretty much the best thing I've tasted in a long, long time.

Dylan is enjoying the working life. He just got his first paycheck so that always helps. The owners (Alf and Sandee) have told Don on the sly what a great job Dylan is doing. Of course Dylan is always capable of doing whatever he puts his mind to. And apparently he doesn't displyay any of his attitude problem that we sometimes see over here.

Sean is enjoying his last day of civilian freedom. We're packing him up today, he'll leave around 6:30 tomorrow morning and will be the property of the Canadian Department of National Defense for the next three weeks. Good luck, DND!

Today Don is working in Vancouver all.day.long.

Here is a very sweet picture that Don took last night when I was reading the girlies a book:

Which reminds me...I get to have my hair done tomorrow morning! Woohoo! A cut and color, how lucky am I? I'll post pics when it's done. I know you're dying to see it : )

Stormy Night

Last night we had thunder, lightning, and rain like you wouldn't believe. Actually, the rain fall was only slight but the thunder and lightning were thisclose to our house. We even lost power for a few hours! Poor Storm was going crazy so he spent the night inside. The bit of rain we received is welcome after all of our hot dry days. The cool feels so nice.

This will be an excellent day to transplant some seedlings. It's been way too hot for that lately.

Rag Curls

Last night after the girls got out of the bath pool I twisted their hair into little tiny buns and secured them in hair elastics. This is the result:

Potty-training Princess

Jordyn is doing well with her potty-training. Mind you, we are pretty consistent about asking her every few seconds if she wants to sit on the potty. She'll definitely be trained before she heads off to preschool in September. Oh, and she's getting more adorable everyday.

Here's proof:

Goofy Girl

This morning I told Patience to get dressed; she claimed she didn't know how. I may have mentioned something about not getting breakfast if she didn't get dressed, so she acquiesced sort of. She came out looking like this. Those long sleeves are her capris and of course she has her socks on her hands!

This is exactly something that her brother Nathan would have done when he was closer to her age. Boy am I in for it...

Overachiever

Valarie has an overachieving dog, Suzie, who always has litters of ten or more puppies. I have a blueberry bush who is an overachiever this year. I haven't counted the berries, but I estimate more than 1,000! Now, if all 5 of my bushes could be overachievers, I'd be a happy camper and I could keep my mom in blueberries for her 6-point breakfast year around!

Moving the Pool

If you ever set up one of those inflatable pools and the instruction say something to the effect of "make sure you set this up on level ground," they don't mean level as in "this looks pretty level to me," they mean level as in use a level to find a flat spot.

In our haste we set up the girls' pool on sloping ground. We know because their pool had a deep end and a shallow end. So this morning we drained it, moved it to an almost perfectly level ground and refilled it. It's now in a more shady spot so the water won't warm as quickly, but we realized that we can fill it using the water from our hot water heater, so it's all good.

Just some advice from those of us who are making the mistakes!

Hay Ride at Krause's

This morning we walked over to the berry farm for their free Canada Day pancake breakfast. It was very yummy, with fresh raspberries and their own fruit syrups. The girls played in the sand yard for awhile. This was Jordyn's first foray away from home with panties and clothes on and I'm happy to report that there were no accidents! Phew!

While we were there, Don noticed a hay ride going on and told Patience that he would take her over there for a ride when Jordyn took her nap. Thankfully today is so much cooler and Jordyn went down quickly and willingly at her normal time. Don and Patience walked back over...her are pictures from the ride:

Happy Canada Day!

As you all know, July 1 is Canada's holiday, not the 4th, which is just like any other day except there is a longer border lineup. In fact, this year they're predicting rain on the 4th! The nerve!

It's still cool this early in the morning. Yesterday was another hot one, although not quite as scorching as the days before. It was too hot for naps yesterday. I tried. Jordyn tried. And I finally let her get up and get into the pool to get some heat relief, knowing that she'd be good and ready for bed by 8:00. The girls spent all afternoon in the pool. Don dragged their little ladder over to the pool and they had a hoot sliding down that into the pool. We had a cold dinner of ham sandwiches, made ham salad-style, so it would be easier for the little ones to eat, fresh broccoli with dip, and a jello mold with fruit.

We finally got the girls to bed around 8:45 (and we were surprised at how well Jordyn did all day long without a nap!) and it still took her 45 minutes to go to sleep. Poor little thing.

This morning we are heading over to Krause's Berry Farm, where they are serving a free pancake breakfast. Then at 1:00, we'll be at the Co-op, where they are serving free strawberry shortcake. Yes, this day will definitely help the grocery budget! At 2:15, Sean's bus will bring him home from Merrit. They left the family reunion last night after a few fun-filled days at the lake because it was so hot there they could hardly stand it. Apparently it was around 104 there.

So, we have a couple of days to get Sean organized for Quadra. And he'll be able to go to a friend's birthday party on Thursday evening.

Well, both girls are up now, thanks to Patience who burst into very loud sobs when she couldn't find her babies (both were in her bed). Crisis averted, but now a very sleepy Jordyn wants to be cuddled. Off to work...

The Trombone

Here is Dylan playing The Imperial March. For his birthday (June 20) he picked out a bunch of sheet music to practice with over summer vacation. He got Star Wars, Shrek, and a variety of others.

This is his progress since the 20th, when he officially started playing the trombone. He has played around with it for a couple of years, but has now decided that this will be the instrument he's going to focus on. I wish you could have heard him play this song on the 20th...you really couldn't recognize what he was supposed to be playing. He starts taking trombone lessons this week.

Maestro Dylan

Here is Dylan after three piano lessons and 30 minutes of practice each day (piano and trombone combined) for the past two weeks.

Now, I obviously have no experience with which to compare his progress, but I think he's doing pretty well! At this rate, he'll be impressive for his University of Victoria audition...which is the goal, of course! I wish I could send him to Modesto for "Piano Bootcamp" for a couple of weeks, but I don't know how he'd do in that summer heat...

And then there were four...

I dropped Nathan off at the Radmore's last night around 7:00. There were three cadets leaving for camp this morning, so they decided to make a slumber party out of it. Besides the three leaving, there were supporting cadets there so there was a houseful! It was someone's birthday, so they were having a cake, etc. So it looks like Nathan's summer fun has already begun.

So now we have the two girls and Dylan. And Dylan has his job across the street on many days, so we get to be a small family. It's kinda nice....like respite. Less cooking, less laundry, less dishes, etc. I'm not saying I'm glad they're gone, I'm just saying I'm going to enjoy all the derived benefits to the fullest. Otherwise that would be wasteful. You know me and waste : )

Nathan took 2 huge bags to Quadra. One was clothes and shoes/boots. The other was fun stuff. This included a DVD player with a couple dozen movies, a Nintendo DS with a couple dozen games, his new digital camera (a gift from Don and me), my cell phone (so he can call home for free), all the cables and chargers for the aforementioned electronics, books, magazines, and so much more. He's all set up to have a phenomenal summer.

Beating the Heat

Yesterday the recorded high was 90. When Don got home yesterday he and Dylan set up the pool so of course the water was freezing. But that didn't hinder Patience and Jordyn from being in it most of the evening. We ordered pizza and ate on the back patio. Don made "mocktails," which were basically like Mai Tais without the rum. The kids loved them.

Today seems almost as hot, maybe a few degrees cooler, or maybe it's just that I've been inside most of the day. We deep cleaned Nathan's room, washed all the bedding, etc, because we're going to start sleeping in the basement. Last night Jordyn didn't get to sleep until 11 because it was so bloody hot, even with the ceiling fans going and the windows wide open.

So the girlies will sleep in the twin beds in Nathan's room and Don and I will sleep on the fold-out couch in the t.v. room. The basement is at least 10 degrees cooler than the upstairs (maybe more) so we figure we should sleep in the most comfortable part of the house!

Here are some pics of Nathan and the girlies in the pool this afternoon. You can see Nathan has his signature Quadra haircut : )

The Girls on the Pony...

Or maybe it's a mini...I'm not sure! This might have something to do with why the girls love to go to Aunt Valarie's house! It might also be the chocolate cake.

And here is a still shot for your viewing pleasure.

Jordyn's Pretty Hair

Okay, I admit it: one of my favorite things about having girls is doing their hair.

This morning I put 2 French braids in Patience's hair. Jordyn's is still a little thin for that, so I used ponytail holders for a similar effect. She looks so adorable...

HOT!

That's the weather this weekend, and it's forecasted to be like this through next week! My thermometer says 84 in the shade.

Don's out right now getting an inflatable pool for the girls. We decided against setting up this one until next year when our backyard lawn is a little more mature and there's less chance of a small child drowning in it.

We did our yard work early in the day and now Patience is watching t.v. in the cool of the basement and Jordyn is taking her siesta in her ransack-proof room.

All is good.

Foiling Jordyn

It seems like much of my day is spent staying one step ahead of (or at least not too far behind) Jordyn.

The girls' bedroom has been emptied of everything except for the two beds because when Jordyn has a difficult time going to sleep she'll entertain herself with whatever is in the room. She went through a phase where we'd find her every morning wearing several outfits...she'd rifle through the drawers, finding and donning miscellaneous garments. So I moved the change table/dresser into the hallway where she can't get to it during naptime or bedtime.

But she could still get to the closet. And there were clothes in there. And hangers. And other stuff that didn't have any other suitable home. So most mornings I have the added chore of cleaning up the girls' room after Jordyn's nocturnal foray.

Bwah ha ha. Until now. One step ahead of her. I'm so smart...

Hen Update

I realized that it's been awhile since you've seen the hens. My have they grown, and they've developed wonderful personalities. We are going to have to hamper their freedom, however, as I found them in my strawberries yesterday! So Don is going out to get some chicken wire to reinforce their new enlarged pen.

Going down to one car...

has been no problem at all. Mind you, the kids aren't in school so I don't really have to be anywhere except home. But we've been able to share the Toyota quite easily and Don's been really good about picking up whatever we need while he's out and about. Savings=$350/month between insurance and (astronomically priced) gas. Not to mention anything about maintenance and repairs. Owning a vehichle is expensive. Hopefully we can go indefinitely without putting the van back on the road. It'll make Dylan's university education a little more doable.

Pie Season

Krause Berry Farms, across the street (and where Dylan is now working!) has been having some computer problems lately. Don spent quite a few hours over there the past few days getting them all operational. $240 worth of hours. Is he billing them? Heck no! We have a credit. Which means anytime we want pie for dessert, we can just go over and get one. I love pie season.

These are the kinds of pies we're talking about:

The cake, on the left, is Waneta's famous Black Forest Cake. Probably my favorite dessert in the world.

So, anyway, I'm probably going to lose more than just baby weight come October.

Potty Training Bootcamp Underway

This is not going to be a quick, decisive battle. We will need every bit of July and August to teach Jordyn the finer points of using the potty and getting her entrenched in the habit of doing so. But I'm so up for the challenge. The weather is beautiful. We're outside lots.

Having two in diapers at the end of September is not okay.

Exit Murphy Mobile...

Well, there is news at the Murphy's (you're shocked, I know). Nathan has been planning on selling his car to a friend from cadets, Walter, who was planning on workthing through the summer to afford buying the car and the insurance. Nathan was going to cancel his insurance while he was at Quadra for the summer and just store the car at our house and then sell it to his friend when he returned. It was all good....

Until we took it yesterday to AirCare. We did it yesterday because it still had insurance on it, and once you get your AirCare certificate, it's good for a year. Well, it didn't pass. Without an AirCare certificate, you can't license or insure the vehichle. Unless you fix it. But really, how much money do you want to pour into a $1000 1993 Nissan?

That's when Providence took over. Nathan's friend, Tiffany, who he met while working in the Quadra Boatshed last year, was over visiting friends and had spent a lot of time with Nathan. He drove lots because he was the one with a car. She mentioned to him how much she'd like to buy his car, but of course it was already promised to Walter. Well, Tiffany lives on the Island, where there is no AirCare requirement! So, within 30 minutes of Nathan's car failing AirCare, he had another buyer on the line who wanted to buy his car. Phew! It could have been such a not good situation.

Nathan went to pick up Tiffany, and we all went down to the licensing/insurance place together. By 4:00 yesterday, Nathan is no longer a car owner, and Tiffany was over the moon at having such a great deal fall in her lap.

Our driveway is looking less and less like a used car lot. And I like it that way!

My countdown...

My sister, Valarie, has difficulty thinking or planning any event if there is another event preceding it. One thing at a time, in order, is how she handles things. Which is unfortunate if she has, say, back-to-back events, because the first one will get all her attention and the second one will be be planned for, oh, a day or two. But she always seems to pull things off beautifully, so I thought I'd take a page out of her book and write my own timeline. Then I'll focus on one thing at a time until the end of September...

Thursday, June 26: Sean leaves for family reunion with grandparents
Monday, June 30: Nathan leaves for 8-week summer camp job
Saturday, July 5: Sean leaves for 3-week summer camp course
Friday, July 25: Sean graduates; we'll all spend the weekend on Vancouver Island (except Dylan with a job)
August 22: Nathan returns from summer camp job
August 24: Nathan's Launch Party
September 2: School opens for Dylan and Sean
September 5: Nathan leaves for bootcamp
September 29: Have baby

There! My next 3 months in bite-size increments! But, according to Val, all I really have to think about is getting Sean packed and off to Merrit! That's not so bad...

Futbol!

Our church has been planning an outreach program for the many Mexican migrant farm workers here in our area. It's a great idea...they come to a park in Aldergrove, play a game (or two) of soccer, and have a barbeque dinner. They've been announcing at church that they need people to help: to come play soccer, to come barbeque, or to come and help interpret for the men who speak no English.

Yesterday at church, Doug said that the Spanish-speaking gentleman who was going to come was now not able to. Now they were going to have a lady there who spoke Portugese but that's all. So I thought, okay, I haven't spoken Spanish in 25 years, but if I combine my 14 Spanish words with this lady's Portugese, maybe I could be somewhat helpful.

I talked Nathan and Dylan into coming with me. Nathan had two cadet friends over so the 5 of us went and we had a great time! The four younguns played some hard soccer (I got compliments later about how great it was to have Nathan and Dylan out there playing, because they'd actually, like, run after the ball) and I got a chance to interpret very basic conversations. Dylan said that he'd like to go again (we're doing this every two weeks through the summer) and Nathan will be inbetween summer camp and boot camp for the last game of the season.

7 of the workers actually come from Krause's, right across the street from us! We sat and had dinner with two of them, and Dylan found out that the other sport they love to play (besides soccer) is volleyball! So they're going to try to bump the ball around together at work if at all possible.

The turnout was so good that all the "gringos" decided we'd better hold back on eating any food until all of the farm workers had eaten first. More than 20 farm workers came out...almost double our projections! It turned out there was plenty of food for everyone! : )

If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you'll see Nathan and Dylan in the very left side of the photo. As you can see, it was a beautiful evening.

Volunteers

This flower bed is 100% volunteer cosmos and bachelor buttons from last year. Gotta love it!

Work Weekend (again...)

I don't know how we were ever involved in summer swim club. We've been so busy these past two months that I can't imagine being gone every weekend. How did we get it all done? It must have been insane...good thing I don't have a good recollection of it!

This weekend we did more home and yard improvement projects. On Saturday Don finished the fencing, so now the dog and children are actually contained in our little piece of earth. We have to rent the sprayer and paint it some upcoming weekend, but at least it's in the ground.

Yesterday Don decided to go out and take a look at the vinyl siding project on the suite-end of the house. Remember the wall that used to be windows, that Don turned into a bump-out for our new t.v. to live in? Well, the outside of the house was still just black tar paper. Our neighbor, a vinyl siding installer, was invited to come over and fix the siding, but he hasn't come over in the past two months. So, Don just went out to see how hard it could be. It turns out it wasn't hard, it just took him every bit of 8 hours to do it. But now it's complete and looks professional, in my humble opinion!

I'm so lucky to have a handy husband! Between the siding, the fencing, and Don fixing his Toyota driver-side door lock (which Jordyn jammed a couple of months ago), I think Don saved us probably close to $1,000 this weekend.

Here is the complete fence. The gazebo will be given a fresh coat of paint along with the fence. And you can see how we've put the trampoline on top of a bed of bark mulch. And you can see my continued fight with getting our grass to grow back there. So far I think I've spread about 5 times the amount of seed that I'm supposed to. We're supposed to have some nice weather this week. That, combined with regular sprinking, should help.

Bathtub Safety (?)

You know how everything's more fun when dad is in charge, but it might not always be safer?

Well, this is how Don gave the girls their bath last night. I'm not complaining, mind you, because I'd rather he give them their baths however he'd like than to have to do it myself...it's already getting difficult to bend over for long periods of time.

Montana Trip

My dad just got back from taking my sister, niece, and grandniece to Montana to visit his parents so that they could take a 5-generation picture. Here they are!








And here is my dad.

Happy Birthday, Driver Dylan!

This morning Don and Dylan went out bright and early so that Dylan could take his driver's test (the knowledge one). He passed (shocked gasp!), missing only two questions, so he's now a bonafide Learning driver. He's driven several times today already, including downtown Langley!

This is Dylan's 16th birthday. My dad is here visiting before he goes back to California tomorrow morning. The weather is cooperating, so we're going to barbeque some steaks tonight, and even roast some marshmallows in our new fire pit (the girls are so excited).

Preschool Graduation

This morning Patience had her last day of preschool. I had a doctor's appointment, so brave Don took Jordyn to watch the ceremony and have goodies. He said it was very cute. Here is Patience with her two teachers, Mrs. Tracy and Mrs. Tammy.

And here is Patience with her BFF Danica. At least they're BFFs when they're not arguing over who is the most bossy or who will eat Danica's lunch : ).

Here is Don and all three girlies having their goodies.

So now we have a little over two months of no school, and then in September both Patience and Jordyn will attend this preschool. Still only two days/week, and this time in the afternoons.

Taking the Plunge!

After much debate and discussion Don and I have decided to take the van off the road. Gulp. That means, yes, I will be stuck at home with many, many little children and no vehichle with which to transport them. But that's okay. Because where in God's green earth would I want to go with all those children? Heck, when my parents were here we went shopping one morning and managed to lose Patience twice and Jordyn once and that's when we had 4 adults!

We figure with fuel costing more than $6 a gallon here, and insurance running around $150 each month, we'd do well to just bite the bullet and pull it off the road.

So, how will I manage, you ask? Well, I will be depending on Don for nearly everything. I will text him whenever I need anything, like a gallon of milk, and when he is out running errands or visiting clients he will pop in and pick it up. Sure, it will inconvenience his life, but I don't care it'll be worth the money we'll save.

As for doctor appointments, we'll just have to coordinate our schedules really well. Thankfully, Don's got enough schedule flexibility that he can be home when I'm needed somewhere else. And in a worst-case scenario, I always have the truck that I can drive. We'll be taking that to church as well, since it's the only vehichle that holds our whole family. When new baby arrives, we'll be taking two vehichles to church. But that's okay because three children go to Sunday school so we'd have two shifts anyway. It'll all work out okay.

We discussed selling said van, but found that we'd get so little money for it that it's really not worth getting rid of it. We'll just tarp it and store it and if we ever decide we need another vehichle, viola, there it will be!

Wish me luck!

Orthodontist Appointment

Sean has a 12-month recall because he still has too many baby teeth! That means he'll be 14 before he even starts his braces. The good news is that of all the boys, his teeth are the best, so he'll probably have the shortest treatment time.

Father's Day BBQ

Yesterday afternoon Don and Patience went to her preschool "Father's Day Bar-b-que" at a local park. Don said it was one of the best times he'd ever had with Patience. There were lots of families from her school there, and they even played a game of "baseball" with the preschoolers.

While they were gone, Nathan and I started on his room. No, this was not on his priority list. He figured it could wait until September 4th... But I persisted, and Nathan, being intelligent and used to having me as a mother all these years, acquiesced and humored me. We had several containers which everything had to go into: trash, short-term storage (these boxes will be shipped to Nathan after boot camp), long-term storage (these will be shipped when he requests them), going to Quadra (summer camp), recycling, return to cadets, give away, give back, other. And by the end of the evening Nathan was happy we went through this exercise because he found a check for $30 from his school, dated December, that he now has a chance to cash, or ask to be replaced if it's too old to cash. He said, "I could really use $30!" We also found Don's earphones, which he had been looking for and asked Nathan if he had. The only stuff he has out right now is his clothes, which can certainly wait until September 4th to be put in their appropriate containers...

Sean was the recipient of much stuff: all cadets stuff that didn't have to be RTU'd, several binders, an almost-new backpack to start Grade 8 with, school supplies, a bike lock, just a plethora of useful guy stuff. I imagine some of Nathan's clothes and shoes will go to Sean as well.

Yesterday Jordyn slept until 8:40 a.m. and then opted not to take an afternoon nap. I was okay with that, thinking that she'd definitely be ready for bed by 8:00, and that this was going to be her new pattern as she gets older. Well, at 9:30, she was still up and not anywhere near going to bed. Obviously not worth giving up a nap over. Mind you, it doesn't help at all that it's still broad daylight at 9:30, but we've got to do something about this child's ability and willingness to fall asleep at night.

Today Dylan goes to his orientation at Krause Berry Farm, where he'll work this summer. Meanwhile, we'll do a little yard work around here before we head off to the Dad/Grad Bar-b-que at Val's house. Both Val and Kelsey graduated this week, so we have much to celebrate! Patience has been counting the sleeps until she gets to go to Aunt Valarie's...

And that is all from our neck of the woods...

Have a lovely weekend!

Gender news...

in case you were waiting on pins and needles...

It's a Boy!

Lots has happened, but little news...

We've been going like gangbusters since my parents arrived on Friday, June 6, for Nathan's graduation. So hard and fast that I have had no opportunities to blog, and there really hasn't been much newsworthy stuff anyway...kind of a dull frenzy.
Nathan had a lovely (but long) graduation ceremony on Friday evening. Each graduate wrote a little blurb about themselves, which was read as they crossed the stage. There were 200+ graduates. So, while it was really nice that each got there moment of fame, it did make for a long evening. Thankfully the speeches were short. After the ceremony, Nathan, Don, and I, and two sets of grandparents (Don's parents, and my mom and Lee) came home for cake and some presents. Don and Waneta got Nathan a lovely citizen watch that's diver-certified, so he'll be able to wear it in the Coast Guard with no problems. Don and I got Nathan a portable DVD player, which he really wanted for his summer job at Quadra this summer. Mom and Lee had already given Nathan his present (cash, and a lot of it) when he was a little short paying for prom expenses. Pesky prom...
We did have a bit of a hiccup on Friday night. When we got home from the ceremony we found out that there had been a bathtub accident whereby Patience pushed Jordyn, who then fell in such a way as to cut her chin. A short, deep cut that looked like stitches were going to be in order. We called the emergency room who told us that while they couldn't estimate the wait time, they were pretty busy. So we put steri strips on it, gave her Tylenol and waited until morning.
The next morning Don took Jordyn to the walk-in clinic while Mom, Lee, Patience, the boys, and I all headed to Old Navy. The boys were looking at some trendy plaid shorts and since Mom and Lee have these magic 20% off discount cards, we try to wait for their visit to do any shopping at Old Navy. And lo and behold, they were having a huge 40% off sale of all mens clothes in honor of Father's Day! The boys each got a couple of outfits, and even Lee got in on the action and bought some jeans and a new t-shirt.
From Old Navy, we headed over to Costco. Don and I have given up our Costco membership so we wanted to make a quick trip while Mom and Lee were here. We stocked up on staples. The flour is nearly double the price it was at Christmastime. Yikes. But we now have enough staples to last us until the next time Mom and Lee bring their membership card! After Costco, Mom and I brought the girls home and put them down for a nap and then we worked for a long time reorganizing my pantry to make room for all the new food. We got it all to fit!
Don, Lee, and Sean had gone from Costco over to Best Buy because Don had his birthday gift card burning a hole in his pocket. He bought a surround-sound system for the big-screen t.v., but right now it happens to be hooked up to Sean's computer. Halo 2 is so much more fun in surround sound.
When Don and Lee got home, Don said that he'd really like to go to Old Navy, since he missed our morning excursion tending to Jordyn (who ended up not getting stitched, just super-glued). So, we left the still-sleeping girls in the capable hands of their brothers and the four of us headed back to Old Navy. Don got 6 or 7 outfits, mostly shorts (since he still has shorts from the 80s in his closet) and some new, cool shirts. We came home and he purged lots of clothes out of the closet and armoire to make room for his new wardrobe. The old clothes are getting donated.
And that was just the first 24 hours of their visit!
On Sunday we went to church, came home and had deli-style sandwiches, and then put the girls to bed. While the boys babysat, the four adults went to Fort Langley for a little stroll. We've wanted to do this with Mom and Lee for the longest time, but this is the first time we've been able to carve out a slice of time for it. We came home and prepared a delicious salmon dinner, and then the adults and Nathan headed to church for the graduation celebration/dessert/slide show. It was really nice.
On Monday Mom, Lee, the girls, and I headed back to Langley to go to WalMart. Mom and Lee bought us some bathroom rugs and I bought a huge mirror with a black frame to go in the boys' suite over the fireplace. I've been wanting something like that since we finished the room. Lee and I hung it while the girls napped. That evening the adults went to watch the One Act Festival at D.W. Poppy; Nathan was directing one of the plays. It was a late evening and we stayed up visiting even later.
Yesterday Mom and Lee left in the late morning, while Patience was in preschool. She was not a happy camper to come home and find Grandma and Papa gone, but she'll see them on Saturday so that will help ease the pain. And then they'll come back in August for Nathan's launch party! And then back in September for the new baby's arrival! I'm telling ya, Mom is retiring from her job just in the nick of time!
Mom and Lee are staying with Val for their graduation festivities this week. Kelsey graduates from highschool tonight, and Val from Whatcom Community College on Friday night. On Saturday Mom and Lee are hosting a Dad/Grad barbeque.
Tonight we are going to the D.W. Poppy talent show to hear Dylan's duet. And then we'll be done with end-of-the-year festivities until Sean's Grade 7 Farewell on the 24th. Which is good, because I'm tired.
Oh, tomorrow I have an ultrasound. I'm hoping, hoping, hoping that this baby is cooperative and lets us see his/her private parts. I'm about going crazy not knowing what this is...
And then tomorrow afternoon Dylan and Sean both have orthodontist appointments. We're going in to see if Dr. Woo thinks Sean is a candidate for braces or not.
I'll update tomorrow with gender news (Lord willing).

Annual Ceremonial Review 2008

169 Columbia Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps had their annual review yesterday in perfect weather. The skies were gray, the weather was cool (except for me, because I apparently have a built-in furnace). Last year it was so warm that people were fainting. The year before that it was pouring rain. So we were blessed in 2008.
Nathan and Sean, both members of the Guard, did a great job. The members of the Guard won two medals last night: Cock of the Walk (best attendance of all the divisions) and Captain's Division (best dressed and best deportment). In addition, Nathan and Sean were recognized for nearly perfect attendance (among others).

Lord Strathcona Medal

Today at Columbia 169 Columbia's Annual Ceremonial Review, Nathan received the Lord Strathcona Medal from Rich Coleman, our MLA (Member of Legislation Assembly). I found this information about the Lord Strathcona Medal:

Within the Canadian Cadet Movement, there exists the Lord Strathcona Trust Fund Medal (commonly known as the Lord Strathcona Medal or the simply the Strathcona Medal) which is given to one cadet per unit, per training year. The medal is one of the highest awards that may be given to Royal Canadian Sea Cadets, Royal Canadian Army Cadets, and Royal Canadian Air Cadets.

The following information comes from Cadet Administrative and Training Order (CATO) 13-16:

• The Lord Strathcona Trust Fund Medal, most commonly referred to as the Lord Strathcona Medal is the highest award, which can be bestowed upon a cadet in recognition of exemplary performance in physical and military training.



• Lord Strathcona's objectives in establishing his endowment were to: encourage the improvement of the physical and intellectual capabilities of cadets; and foster patriotism in cadets through the acquisition of a good knowledge of military matters.

Here is a close up of the medal:

He will get to wear this medal on his uniform for the rest of his cadet career, which, unfortunately, is only until August 22! Bravo Zulu, Nathan!

I am SuperMom!

Yesterday Don sprayed the trees at Radnai's all.day.long. Which was okay, except that I had a haircut scheduled for 3:45. Nathan and Sean were still at cadets. Dylan was at his friend's house. What's a girl to do? Taking a two-year-old and a four-year-old shopping just wasn't an option for me, so I called Dylan and asked him to come home, which he did. So now he's my new favorite until someone else does something amazing for me : ).

The haircut went great! I did get it cut before our cruise just a couple weeks ago, but Jackie left me with way to much responsibility in the styling of my hair. Like, I had to put mousse in it and blow dry it to make it look good. That hasn't happened since our cruise, so I went in and asked her to give me a no-maintenance cut. Jackie always delivers. It's now shorter, choppier, funkier, and best of all: required only shampoo on a semi-regular basis! She said, "there you go, you're 30 again!" So I tipped her well.

When I got home at 5ish, everyone was home and hungry. Imagine that! So, that's when I went into SuperMom mode. I took inventory of every vegetable in the fridge and made a huge green salad for dinner. We at this along with the leftover potato salad from yesterday. I chopped up the zuke and the mushrooms for sauteeing, but never got around to that...they're now waiting to be our lunch after church.

We have the cadets annual ceremonial review from 1 to 3 (right after church) and then a potluck dinner/awards ceremony right after that. So I had to prepare dinner and a dessert last night. I didn't want to go to the store, so it was back to the fridge to see what could be gleaned. I found the rest of a huge bottle of Ragu-type spagetting sauce, shredded pizza cheese and pizza meat that I was going to use on Friday but it was too warm to bake a pizza (plus I was at the dentist office from 3 to 5...no cavities for Dylan and Patience!). So I cooked some macaroni, made a white sauce to which I added some of the sauce. I tossed the macaroni into the rose sauce and then spread it into two 9 x 13 pans (one for us to take, one for Dylan and the girls to eat here). I spread the rest of the sauce on top, sprinkled it with the cheese and then topped it with the pepperoni, salami, and ham! They look great, and I think they'll taste great, too. They're very kid friendly. Dylan will be able to heat them up for us so we can zip home and pick them up for the potluck.

But my greatest accomplishment was the dessert. I looked for a cake mix in the pantry and found one box of spice cake mix. Not much to work with, and I like to save those mixes for dump cakes. So, after searching the internet, I found this recipe:
http://www.recipezaar.com/20112
It truly lives up to its description of being the moistest and richest chocolate cake ever. And this recipe makes a huge cake or 40 cupcakes. I made the cupcakes because I figured that would be easier than serving cake slices. I made a simple buttercream frosting which was, of course, delicious. How can you go wrong with real butter and powdered sugar?

At the end of all that meal prep, I felt so great knowing that I didn't need to go to the grocery store for a single thing. Plus, my fridge has been cleaned out sufficiently that nothing will die a slow and smelly death in there.

After all that cooking, I starched and ironed the boys' uniforms. I normally make them do it themselves, but when Nathan offered to babysit the girls for 4 hours in exchange for that service, I couldn't resist!

Good news! Sean got into summer camp! We don't know the dates yet, but it will either be three weeks in July or three weeks in August. And he didn't get sailing, because there were so many requests for that camp. He got his second choice, which is gunnery. That trade group teaches you skills to make you a hard-core soldier...lots of bush exercises, etc. I think it's a good fit for Sean.

Bad news : (. Last night at bedtime, Jordyn went downstairs to retrieve a beloved stuffed animal, tripped over something in the dark, and fell and got a fat lip, complete with blood. We got her cleaned up and settled down, but this morning at around 1 she came and got in bed with Don and me. This morning her lip is huge and she's asking me for chapstick : (. Poor baby.

Okay, off to the shower! Have a wonderful Sunday!

The school year wraps up...

No new pictures to post...actually I took a hysterical series of Jordyn trying to diaper herself yesterday but I don't think it's appropriate for the internet.

The weather here has been lovely: dry, sunny or a little cloudy, not too warm. The girls and I spent most of yesterday outside playing, watching the chickens, and working in the gardens (okay, the girls didn't do much gardening).

I got my flower bed weeded and planted with the seedlings I started. I have several volunteer cosmos and bachelor buttons thanks to plants going to seed last year. To those I added Dahlias, Aster, and Lobelia. Oh, and I put a cherry tomato plant out there with the flowers because it gets lovely souther exposure and it's protected from the rain under the eaves. It's a Sweet 1,000,000 that Don and Waneta sent down with the chicken house. They started about a billion plants this year from seed...one of the benefits of being retired and living in a huge house with no children. I'm going to plant my basil in this bed, too. I found out yesterday that I get winded when I bend over from sitting on my garden scoot to pull weeds. I guess my lungs are already getting crowded. Time to switch to knee pads, I guess.

Sean came home yesterday with a sheaf of permission forms and notices for end-of-the-year field trips and programs. Since he's "graduating" there are even more than normal. He'll be going to the high school in a few weeks and taking the Grade 8 math final. If he does well on it he'll skip Math 8 and go straight to Math 9.

This weekend is the Annual Ceremonial Review for cadets. That takes place pretty much all Sunday, and then that evening is Dylan's final choir concert.

Nathan came home last night from drop-in hockey up at the church on the corner, all excited because he was invited to participate in a weekend-long ball hockey tournament in June. The winners apparently get to play a televised game in March. I didn't have the heart to remind him that he won't be here in March. So now I don't know if I should hope he wins or loses.

Dylan took a day-long Foodsafe course for his job at the berry farm across the street, which he begins June 14. He said it was all common sense, and that he could have taken the test at the beginning of the day and gotten a 90%, but after hearing lectures and watching videos all.day.long he actually got a 95%. He was surprised that many of the adults taking the class actually failed.

Sean still hasn't heard whether or not he will be going to summer camp this year. There were 5,000 applications for 1,500 spots so it doesn't look good statistically speaking. I don't know what he'll do with his summer if doesn't get in...he didn't register for summer swimming based on the fact that he'd be gone for three strategic weeks. Maybe I'll put him on Greyhound and let him visit all of his grandparents far and wide : ).

Patience's preschool class has a field trip today. They're walking to a local park (less than 1/4 mile). The weather is miraculously cooperating!

Have a wonderful day!

Happy Hens...

Here is the hen house, all stained and lined with shavings and the hen pen. The pen is hardware cloth to keep bad things out and good things in. Tomorrow Don will put hardware cloth on the top, too. He ran out of steam today. : )


The chicks are almost fully feathered. They are Rhode Island Reds, I think.



There are two stumps in their pen which provide hours of fun!



Queen of the Mountain!

Don teaching the chicks how to go up the gang plank.

He put four in the house and left two on the ground, waiting to see what they would do. They were clearly distressed, but it took them a looooong time to figure out how to get reunited.

There is apparently one smart bird in the flock.

I love having the hens. They're so entertaining to watch...