Got up this morning SO VERY THANKFUL for yesterday's beautiful 1/2 school day!!  We headed out to the Heron Reserve with the super cool list you can find off this page.  We crossed off nearly everything on the list (except pine cones and smelling pine trees :) )  We saw one snake, bunch of frogs and the returning salmon... first day in the creek.  We also avoided the bear that was spotted 1/2 hour before!

 

With the rains this morning the sunshine already feels like a distant memory but, boy, I'm so thankful for having been able to enjoy it!

Saturday's Work

Saturday came with the promise of rain and there was still a lot of work to do.  Rain wasn't really considered convenient and the hope was to get as much done before it came.

 

This is what the driveway was looking like Saturday morning.  The piles just kept getting bigger and messier!

 It was Brian, Les, Dad and Steve all hard at work, digging, laying pipe, tar-ing the foundation walls etc.

 The dump truck dumped the gravel on the road because there was no room for it anywhere else.

 A mess, but that machine sure makes quick work of it.  Thanks, Jomi Construction for the use of the digger!

 Uncle Les brought this mean machine along and we were VERY thankful for it!

 Notice the gorgeous blue instead of dark gray in the sky!!  So thankful the rain held off until we were finished.  The driveway was already "cleared".

 The trenches were starting to be filled in.  The kids were disappointed when they saw it because they were hoping to have to walk across the moat on a board all gang plank style!

 Still were BIG piles to climb and fill up boots with.

 We had to leave long before the work was done. They first had a bath :) 

Steve and Dad had this system worked out for the narrow side of the house.

 Then we left.  One of the things I did was watch Leah give a demo for some Rotary Club members.  That would be Leah upside down there :)  So much fun being a flier!!

 And by the time we came home they had dug a 14' hole, filled it with proper drainage and closed it back up.  Then they smoothed out all the dirt...

but those are pictures for another post.

 

Once again so thankful for the expert and hardworking help and for perfect weather!!

A Monday Morning Photo

I laugh about it now but he did give me a scare when I first saw him and when I think about how differently it could have turned out.

 

You know you're still tired when your papa wakes you up, sends you to the tub to get washed for school and you fall back asleep when you do your usual lay on your back thing.

He was not happy to be shaken awake and find himself being laughed at by 4 siblings and his mom.

Anyone have any suggestions?  It's not like he was short on sleep because he fell asleep early last night, he just always has a VERY hard time waking up.

Feeling VERY thankful that he was safe!!

Our Castle...

has a moat!!!  (And there are plenty of crocodiles about!) 

 

And do not be deceived...that moat is about as deep as Steve is tall.

 Hi Cam!!

 These kids had a hoot this afternoon!!

Redoing the drainage is proving to be a dirty and chaotic job.  But a lot of FUN too!

Thanks to Dad, Brian and Steve who worked VERY hard today!

On Selling Chocolate Bars

Our dear children have once again returned from school with chocolate bars to sell.  Actually, only the 3 oldest came home with them but let me tell you all 5 were VERY eager.

Now, they happened to come home on a week in which we had GORGEOUS weather.  The kind of weather that is uncommonly warm for the month and the kind that melts chocolates.  The kind that has dear children whining after walking from the 4th to the 5th neighbor's door.

Now, I happen to actually enjoy going door to door once I'm out there BUT I vetoed all chocolate sales last week.

This afternoon saw us summoned :) to a generous neighbor's house, a neighbor who waited all last week for the kids to show up.  So off we went to sell chocolates, play with toys and generally sit around and enjoy some tea.  It was a marvelous hour but by the time we left for home I needed to get cracking at supper.  So we trotted in fits and starts for home.

One dear boy was whining for his forbidden sucker.  A couple others were too tired to run for very long periods so picture us in a straggly line, running for a bit, walking for a bit, mom calling out bits of encouragement mixed with idle threats, mom swinging a bag with two boxes of chocolates and two skirts.  I'm sure it was a comical picture.

ESPECIALLY to the two guys I DIDN'T notice standing on the driveway on the opposite side of the road!!

I had already turned the corner and headed partway home when I heard Leah and Sam calling for me to come back.  I turned around and they had come to a dead stop at the edge of the sidewalk.  They were glancing somewhat nervously at me and I knew right away that something was up.  I called to Cara and Cody to keep on running home and that we would be right there.  They of course didn't listen and stopped to see what we were doing.  Then they started heading back to us.

In the meanwhile a gentleman just home from a hard day at work drove up in front of his house and put the truck into reverse.  He was intending to back into his driveway and get into the house to eat some supper and put his feet up.  I'm sure of it.

But no!  First Cam went and stood on the end of his driveway calling Cara and Cody to come.  Then, they started coming, first going past his truck to Cam, then going back to his window thinking it was someone they knew wanting to say hello.  Then slowly making their way back across his driveway all the while totally oblivious to the fact that this guy was now on minute 3 of patiently waiting for this mother to get her act together and get her kids OUT OF HIS WAY!

I finally did and we all trekked back to see what had gotten Leah and Sam all tied up.  They announced that some guys across the street were asking to buy chocolates.  Or more truthfully, when they had seen Leah's box of chocolates they had yelled, "CAN WE BUY SOME CHOCOLATES?!" and scared the dickens out of my poor meek, mild and quiet children.

My mashed potatoes were getting further and further behind but believe you me, I wasn't going to pass the chance up to sell some chocolate bars!  I gathered my ducklings around me, checked for traffic and made my way across the street all "Make way for Ducklings" style.  My heart stuttered a bit when I saw what we were getting into.

A little pit bull pup came running across the driveway toward us and instantly two of my quiet children were shrieking and wailing and setting the guys to laughing.  They kindly allowed me to try and calm and gather my kids together (all the while laughing all joke-of-the-year style) before sending this super obedient doggy back into the house.  With the dog gone it was down to business.

By now I was somewhat frazzled.  Nice guys but they were big, tough, tattooed men.  My age, not little teenaged boys trying to pull off an act.  They were the real deal.  And they were both peeling off a $20 and needing change I didn't have.  It also crossed my mind that we had already kept them waiting those same 3 minutes, plus, I was proving myself to be a bit of a scatterbrain with too many kids and chocolate boxes to keep track of.  Sigh!

Then they offered free chocolate sales person advice.  "Next time just say you don't have the change.  We'll just buy more chocolate."

Yup, uh huh, kind sirs, you just wait and see.  Next time we'll be all prepared.  We'll come confidently strutting across your yard, bang on the door and let you know we have 15 bars that have your name on them.  Also, I would like to offer you a coupon book from Girls Craft Club.  $10 please.

Gulp!

Or... maybe not.

Because I was too chicken to talk them into buying 25 more bars than the 8 they already had, we still have more chocolate bars to sell.  We'll keep you posted if any sale tops this one for excitement!

The Good Thing Is

If it has to be held together with duct tape....

at least they make bright and cheery versions now :)

Bubbling Over

This morning our house was filled with excitement.  Not only Cara and Cody but Leah, Sam and Cam were delighted for them.  Leah had Cara dressed and was working on her hair before 6:20!  Sam also offered to help Cody get dressed.  As they sat in the tub for a quick wash the bathroom was  a revolving line of people coming in and out to share another tidbit of info with them.  The most comforting being that Gramma was going to be waiting to give them a hug when they got off the bus :)

 

Well, we got some breakfast in (Cody asked for help so he wouldn't get his school clothes dirty), we got the teeth brushed and faces washed and still had 15 min. till the bus was to show up.  Those were a tough 15 minutes!!!  With mom trying to take pictures and Sam and Cam rough housing/annoying each other to whining...well, let's just say I just finally said "shoes on, everyone outside!"

 

Well, actually it went kinda like, "AAAAHHHHHH!! will you guys quit it already?!?!!  K' everyone shoes on, let's get outside!"

 

This little girl said she had no butterflies, she was only excited!  Some smart guy told me kids will always surprise you how different they are at school from home....

 This little gapher told me he had butterflies...but he also had alligators so not to worry because they would eat up the butterflies and everything would be all right!

 What a strange/precious feeling!

 This picture just gets me cause it tells exactly how it went and how it's going to go.  Hopefully someday the twins will realize how blessed they are to have 3 bigger siblings to look out for them and help them through all the new things.  Leah's holding their hands and Sam's doing his part to help Cody safely across...

Special times, my dear reader friends, special times. 

And I'm so thankful for their ordinariness...there are so many who long for these normal stages.

But the house is still pretty quiet :)

They've done their share

of saying goodbye (2011)

 

 and experiencing all the excitement from the outside (2011)

while waving the bus off feeling kind of left behind and lonely for brothers and sister.  (2012)

But tomorrow, they go, with new back packs, big dreams and "butterfly tummies".  Tomorrow all 5 will climb on board.

I truly am delighted for them.  But I might just feel a bit left behind and lonely too :)

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:  (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

Last Day of Summer Holiday

Steve doesn't take too many days off for fun so I was excited for him when he was invited to hike Yak Peak with a friend.

 Good company; amazing, stunning views no matter which way you turned!

 

Now, we weren't going to come up with anything that stellar with those of us remaining at home but we (Krista and I) thought we would try something we could all conquer.  I haven't hiked Teapot since I was probably as young as Leah!

 

But first a stop for Leah.

 A treat.  Usually her Mom just kind of eyes it up and chops some off the bottom.  A disaster waiting to happen for the rest of the kids...it was going to take more patience than they had to wait looking in from the outside. 

 So we went flying around the store to pick up some meat and buns for lunch.  At one point I came out of an aisle just as another man approached it.  He kindly waited for me and then started to enter only to have 4 little ducks pop out one after another behind Mama duck.  I heard him mutter, "what is this, a parade?!?!"

Any way we all made it up.  As you can see, Leah had somewhat of a drastic change :)  And my kids are still no more normal than the last 17 times I've tried to take a group picture.

 Opa and Nana, we could see where you stayed on the left hand side and the lake on the right!!!  That was special for us!

 Lots of fun having cousins that substitute as mostly friends and sometimes enemies.

 They don't run out of energy too quickly!

 See, told you!!

 

We ended the day all together again and ate a picnic supper at the park and put the canoe in the slough with friends. Gotta love how a having a canoe nearby all of a sudden has all the kids sitting down (in it) and gobbling down their supper so the canoe rides can begin. 

 

A fantastic way to end a wonderful summer!!

Did you know... (Edited)

 the average Canadian kids supposedly get for their teeth is $4 a tooth?!!  What kind of ridiculousness is that?  Anyway, this sweet pea is pleased to announce he is one tooth poorer (and no pennies richer - what a cheapskate I am, huh?)
He is also one of the rough and tumbler kids we have and so he is full of scrapes from running into a wall stud in the basement by Uncle Brian and Auntie Leanne's new house.  It was an oucher but not the cause for the tooth to come out. 

Another thing about Cam that we really want to remember when he's 16 is the fact that the summer he was 6 he wore his shorts above his belly button and his socks to his knees.  While he doesn't look overly excited here the truth is he is happiest when his socks are as high as physically possible.  He knows it's become a bit of a joke but he does not care.  Just give me "long socks!!"

A little while ago Krista said to me, "I bet when you look at Cam you're actually happy the school doesn't have shorts for uniform."  We laughed at it then.

Last week we got dressed for school supply day and I suggested to the kids they put on a pair of pants.  (I don't expect you to understand this if you're not from my area)

Cam went and put on a pair of jeans and his new runners and then came up to me a sad little guy.  "I look FUNNY in pants!!!!"

I laughed so hard, because little buddy, you do not look funny in pants although you might feel funny in them.  You, my dear special little guy look FUNNY in shorts!!

 

This morning I remembered something I just had to add to this post.  Last week he got to sleepover at Les & Krista's and it happened to be haircut night.  He was more than happy to have his hair cut by a real haircut lady instead of his mother.  When she commented how much hair he had on his neck for her to shave off, he cheerfully informed her, "you can do my knees too, if you want!"  I think Laura and Krista just about lost it.  Just picture it, back up and look from a distance. With his socks pulled up that high, the knees are the only thing showing.  The constant tugging the socks higher has probably worn all the rest of his leg hair right off! :)  Aw Cam, you're the best!

Who's going to have more fun?!?!

Yesterday morning in church I turned to Cody and whispered, "you can't go to kindergarten, you're TOO wiggly!"

He looked at me and ferociously semi-whispered back, "I still have to LEARN!!"

Not sure how this will turn out, will Cody enjoy kindergarten more than his teachers will enjoy his being there?!?

This is the same boy who, when I suggested he should stay home so I wouldn't be lonely, said, "you won't be lonely, you'll have peace and quiet for lunch time, no games, no quiet contests, no noisy kids!!"