North Otter Christmas Concert 2009

Tonight Patience and the other kindergarteners sang two Christmas songs at the beginning of the concert. They did really well. After those songs, the kindergarteners went back to their classroom for a "party" while the rest of the concert happened. We snuck in and re-introduced Mrs. Niddery to Haley, who was her student 12 years ago! I took this picture of the three of them:



So, here is yet another reason to love Haley: she attends elementary school Christmas concerts and actually acts happy about going! Bless you, Haley. We are lucky to have you (especially Dylan).

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post where you'll see Homecoming pics!

And our week in preview...

This is the last week before school lets out for Christmas (unbelievable) so our schedule is especially busy with school activities. Yesterday, Monday, when I dropped Avery off at the elementary school I drove by Sean's school to pick him up. Dylan had to stay after for Jazz Band. We ran some errands to the bank, the insurance place, and the Co-op, where I had to pick up "a few things" but somehow ended up spending $100. That's easy at Co-op : ).

We ran home just in time to meet Dylan and do the "hand off." He watched the Littles while I took Sean to his orthodontist appointment. Don called me at the orthodontist and asked us to meet him on our way home. He had to bring the baler home and since it had no lights and it was dark outside, he needed someone to follow him with flashers. By the time we met up with him it was snowing hard and we saw the results of a serious accident on Fraser Highway, closing the road to eastbound traffic. We crawled along, trying to avoid being the second accident that evening.

When we got home Don and Sean baled trees for an hour and a half. In the freezing snow. But the trees were getting picked up this a.m., so that was the only time to do it. Don didn't get in for the day until nearly 8 p.m., and he had been up since early. I'm not sure I know anyone who is willing to work harder than Don is...

Sean was supposed to have his annual Christmas cadet mess last night but opted out of it because the orthodontist appointment resulted in some very sore teeth : (

Nick had the worst night of his short life last night. He was up, crying, between 11 and 4. I'm pretty sure his second lower tooth is coming in. As a result, he was feverish, had several bouts of diarreah, and, of course, was in a lot of pain. I gave him tylenol, but it didn't really seem to give him much relief : ( He slept well from 4-7, and then was ready for a nap at 10. So were Don and I, but that obviously isn't going to happen.

Patience had her first field trip today: the kindergarten class went to the Langley Centennial Museum where they learned all about how pioneers lived without electric-city (Patience's pronunciation). Don took her and she was very excited to have Daddy along.

Tonight is Patience's Christmas concert at school. Thankfully, the kindergarteners perform first, and then they file out and go the kindergarten room for the rest of the concert. Dylan is babysitting Jordyn and Nick tonight.

Tomorrow Dylan and Haley will go to Poppy's homecoming dance. He will look stunning in his $12 tie and black tuxedo that is turning out to be the best investment we've ever made : ) I will get pictures, somehow, and post them on my blog so you can see how well Dylan and Haley clean up!

Thursday Patience has another field trip... to the ice skating rink! And during the same time Jordyn has her preschool Christmas party/concert. That will be interesting : )

Thursday evening Dylan has a band/choir concert. Sean will babysit that night. And Patience said she would like to go. Since this is really her last opportunity to see Dylan and Haley perform I think we're going to take her. She has agreed to sit and be still and quiet. I'm hoping I don't regret my decision. I'll take some coloring books and crayons just in case.

And Friday is Patience's Christmas party! I'm really hoping Mr. Nicholas sleeps better for the rest of the week...

I will post pictures as the events transpire (hopefully).

Love,
Cathi

Weekend in Review...

This weekend we were open for tree sales but the operation was definitely winding down. Don had stopped bringing trees in from Radnai's, so the stands were getting empty. He shut down Saturday night at 5:30, because he had been up since 5:30 that morning, and told Dylan and Haley that if they wanted to "man the booth" they could have 100% of the proceeds. Very smartly they took him up on that offer and waited in the living room for customers to come...then they'd run out and sell them a tree! They netted $55 in a little more than 2 hours so it was a win-win-win situation! Dylan worked 9 to 5 as well.

On Sunday Sean worked the tree lot and Don mostly worked on a huge, new wholesale order. Unfortunately he had to cut and bale trees in the freezing cold, and then deliver them to Vancouver. But, a sale is a sale! Sean ran out of steam around 4 p.m. and closed up shop. He came in and warmed up and then we came up with a plan of action: Sean would watch the Littles while Dylan, Haley, and I ran to the mall and buy winter coats for Dylan and Sean. The weather has been so cold and the boys have just been wearing 3 or 4 hoodies at a time to stay warm...but that's just silly. And it generates lots of laundry.

So, Dylan and I picked up Haley and drove to Willowbrook. Our first stop was Sears, where we found a lovely tie for Dylan to wear to their Homecoming dance on Wednesday. We matched it to Haley's new dress...well, actually the picture of her dress that she had on her phone : ). Let me just say that it pays to be the parents of boys...I spent $11.99 on the tie to match Haley's $100+ dress. And I'm pretty sure it'll be like this right up to wedding attire! Then we went to American Eagle and Dylan picked out a jacket for him and one for Sean.

Sean's coat.




Dylan's coat.

So now they can be warm!

After the mall, we ran home and picked up Sean and the Littles and we all went out to dinner at McDonalds! The place was completely empty except for my 6 kids and 2 other little boys so everyone had a great time at the play place. And I do mean everyone. Dylan. Haley. Sean. and the Littles. Only once did I have to retrieve Haley from the outside of the play structure. I didn't want her to fall, and I didn't want to get kicked out. But boy that girl knows how to play! And she fits in the McDonald's high chairs. The ones that have wheels. For pushing all over the restaurant like a go cart. I'm pretty sure they were happy to see us go : ). We all had a fun time playing and then the Littles all came home for baths and bed.

Heather...

did you forget your Blogger password? :P

30 seconds

is all it takes for Nick to perfect a new skill (scaling his change table), empty the diaper basket, and be super proud of himself! And this, my friends, is why my work is never done...

Christmas tree 2009

Here it is! Our 2009 Christmas tree! We brought it in and put the lights on on Wednesday evening, and then finished up the decorating last night.

Family pictures by the tree: Dylan, Haley, and Patience.

Dylan and Haley.

Nick decides that Haley is a useful adult.

Haley teaches Patience how to play Guitar Hero on the DS.

Dylan, Haley, and Nick.

Miss Jordyn.

Dylan, Haley, and the girlies.

Daddy and Nick.

This is why we don't actually light the candles.

Now this grandma can dance!

Here is a great video for your viewing pleasure...just make sure you don't give up after the first minute! This 80-year-old woman is dancing with her grandson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkHvRCp3z5A

Naps

This afternoon after a long play in the sunshine with the kids, the dogs retired to their shared bed for a little rest. I was able to snap this from our back door without disturbing them too much.

Dylan and Haley meet Harley

Blog fodder : )

So far we're all enjoying the newest addition to the family...

Meet Harley

Here is how insane we are: we woke up this morning with no intention of buying a puppy, but we now have this adorable female Bernaise Mountain Dog! A family walked in to buy a Christmas tree with their last puppy from their litter of 10. Don and I were smitten pretty much immediately and we decided that it was divine intervention that brought that family in with a puppy to sell. : )

The Bernaise Mountain Dog, although one of the largest dogs you can get, make excellent family pets. They are gentle and prefer to be outisde (yeah!) and she'll make a good "security" dog just in case we ever get to the point where Storm can't do that job anymore.

Just to make sure I wasn't being rash, I called my sister to get her canine advice. She recommended that we get her : )

Morning snuggles

One good thing about our house is that there is always a child available to snuggle with in the morning! They come in small, medium, and large : )

Dylan and Haley

Here's another reason I love Haley...look how photogenic she is! Okay, Dylan's not so bad, either.

Here is Haley's crazy side. After her shyness wears off, this is what you see : )

Dylan flips over Haley.

Not to be outdone...

You know what they say about the couple that plays together...

Happy December!

I tried to copy the entire week's weather forecast but was only able to go day-by-day. No matter...the entire week looks like this:

Cold and clear...the perfect winter weather : )

This morning Patience held Nick while he had his milk. I can't believe how little size difference there is between them. Remember this? This was last year almost to the day... It won't be long before Nick is holding Patience!

Today both girls had school, so I took advantage of the shortage of children by getting my Christmas cards sent out. Are you jealous? When I picked them up I let them play on the playground until the bell (that's when the big kids come out for recess) and then we all ran a few errands...the bank and the post office at Otter Co-op. When we got home Nick was exhausted so he went right down for a nap.

Tonight is busy: Don is delivering trees into Vancouver, Dylan is playing and singing at Chapters, and Sean has cadets. And I'm starting to get a little worried about Christmas shopping. So far only Nathan and Dylan are done.

Cheers!

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.