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...