This is where Cara has been spending her last few nights; middle of the kitchen. We're trying to help Cody remember how to sleep through the night without waking his sister. It's incredible how much noise Steve and I can make in the kitchen, dining room and living room with lights on and she snores through it all evening long.

A crafty thing

I don't usually post my creations on here but I was thankful these were finished before 11:30 last night! A can of ice tea mix with a "have a a refreshing summer" message for Leah's teachers and bus driver.

This past week was a busy one spending extra time together as an Overduin family. Joel and Marianne were here with their children from Ontario and we made some special memories. Last Monday, the "girls" all went to Fort Langley for the day.

On Friday night we got together with the adults and had supper and a few rounds of Balderdash (with a lot of laughs) and a very short sing time. Again, special times.

We spent Saturday afternoon at Hick's Lake doing fun things like

swimming

playing with water, mud and pails

canoeing on the beach

canoeing on the water

playing some football (that's my stellar husband!)

as well as eating great food and generally enjoying each other's company. Now Joel and Marianne are again back in ON and we miss them already!

Misc.

A few rounds (and then some) of UNO with Gramps one night last week. (Plus a cleaning of the computer and retrieval of the RAM for inspection and even time left over to chat. Thanks, Gramps!)

A safe place to play. Fun to get into, hard to get out of! Notice the chair laying across the doorway? A bit of boy-in-the-bathroom/dining room/ kitchen prevention.

A special friend

You know you have a special friend when... you finally get together after not spending any time together for many years and you feel instantly comfortable with eachother and can chat like you visited together last week; when after 45 min of this chatting she says to you, lets go inside and I'll help you get your house ready for this afternoon's showing and proceeds not only to tidy up but CLEAN too. And you know what? It was a comfortable working together even though I did feel bad she worked that hard!
That's the kind of friend I have in Joyce B. I hope our little girls find this friendship with each other too.

catching up

Going back almost a week, I'm excited to tell you about the surprise visit I had on Thursday night. My sister in law, Marianne stopped by with some yummy baking for us! The baking in itself was fantastic, the visit was fantastic-est! Marianne lives in Ontario and it seems like between our two family's schedules and the 3 hour time difference we rarely get the chance to chat. It was wonderful to spend those extra moments with her. Thanks for the squares and cookies, Marianne! The rice crispies were the favorite and a good reminder that popular snacks don't have to be a lot of work.

Things have again been very busy around here. I usually get my chance to update the blog in the evening but the babies have been staying up late. I miss my quiet evenings! Today was also a busy day. The kids were all kind of yonky and I was a bit tired. I decided to do something special and take Leah and Sam to do groceries with me. They haven't come along in a while and today I remembered why. First they decided to play mom and dad and proceeded to have their own shopping trip. They wandered away from the buggy, discussing their lists and choosing things off the shelves at random. I put a stop to that and so they proceeded to hopping about in a rather energizer bunny fashion. I was getting those looks, you know the one you give the crazy mom who goes shopping with her hyper (or whiny) kids, the- I'm sure glad I left my kids at home - look. Well, I ended the shopping trip with one of those, "I'm hugely embarassed but that was really funny" moments. We had moved into the produce section and Leah and Sam were drooling over all the sweet smelling summer fruits. I gave in and started to load a bag with nectarines all the while saying, "don't touch, put that back etc" Suddenly Leah says, "Mama, Sam just licked it and put it BACK!" The poor gentleman standing there, I'm sure he'll never eat his fruit unwashed again!! So, I stopped loading up my fruit and gave Sam the don't touch, never lick, absolutely do not put licked fruit back speech. He waited until I was done and then said in the sweetest tone, "I didn't mean to lick it. I just wanted to smell it and my tongue sticked out." That was one of those moments that is balm to the stressed mind.


On to other things... who do you beat up and chew on when your brother is already in bed? Your Papa, of course.

She also has a dolly (thanks again, Aunty Mary) that she loves to slobber all over and it made for a great snuggle too.

Time to continue on here. Both babies are in bed, screaming loudly and getting very sweaty.

I'm so glad I can tune them out. Poor neighbors.

Once again a lovely evening at the park while people walk through our house. This time a hot dog BBQ! Notice Cody was every where there was a ketchup grabbing or sprite dumping possibility. He gets around everywhere now and very quickly too.Love you, sis!

I would love to know what he was thinking. He was avoiding getting caught and made to sit still to finish his hot dog.

The slide can be a lot of fun.

I love it, love it, love it. I hope one day I know Photoshop good enough to make it a better photo. This one may be one of those ones worth clicking on.
Thanks for coming back time and again to read through the blog. Sorry the entries have been fewer. Things are busier but also the sun calls!