fyi

I posted pics of the girls new room stuff on the kids blog. It's still a work in progress, but it's looking more like their room.

busy as a bee

Apparently, only having 2 kids in the house allows me to be very busy. Ruby is dealing with some tummy issues that we are still figuring out, and I had very little sleep, yet still managed to:

-get both girls and myself looking nice this morning (that included a shower for me!)
-go to the hardware and stationery store for some odds and ends
-make lunch, including a double batch of my weight watchers veggie soup
-clean Isaac's room, almost completely - couldn't run the vaccum because Norah was napping, and hung his name painting
-fold and put away 2 loads of laundry
-make labels for new organizing baskets in bathroom and girls room (but they didn't stick well, need to get that label maker after all)
-go out for walk with both girls, including a trip to the grocery store for some odds and ends
-made a double batch of pasta sauce from scratch, including peeling the skins from the tomatoes (and it's really, really nice - fresh tomatoes make all the difference)
-made a rhubarb crisp for dessert
-made supper
-hung Norah's new lamp, which included drilling the holes with the drill.

That's it for now. However, I'm hoping to get started on slicing up rhubarb for some rhubarb cake. This is the time of year where people bring us garden produce, and we are currently loaded up on cucumbers, carrots, rhubarb and green beans. We ate the potatoes that were dropped of yesterday, I bbq'ed them in foil with butter and seasoning. yum. Then I'm planning to make a bunch of carrot ginger soup with all the fresh carrots. Those are tomorrow's projects. I feel like such a farm wife, 'putting up' my produce for the winter.

one gone

Isaac has left the building. He is at my mom's. She decided (mainly because he kept talking about it) to take him to her place for a couple of days. Fun for him. Break for me. He is driving my crazy. Probably because he has become the king of the "why".
Me - "Isaac, wash your hands before dinner"
I - "why"
me - "so your hands will be clean when you eat"
I - "why"
me - "so you won't get sick from the germs that are on your hands after playing outside"
I - "why"
and so on, until he just does what I have asked him to...or until I yell "because I'm the mommy, that's why"

Ok, so I don't say that every time. But I have said it. Because, really, why else should he stop making annoying noise/telling knock knock jokes without a punchline/jumping on his bed/dancing wildly in the shower/pushing his sister too hard on the swing...insert any other behaviour here. Sometimes he just has to do stuff because *I* say so. Stinks to be a kid.

I miss him already.

working, working

I'm just wiped out. My mom arrived yesterday, and I have been taking advantage of the extra pair of hands to do some organizing. Got the girls' room almost complete, will post before and after pics soon. Only issue there was that the slipcover I bought for their (dark green) armchair at IKEA doesn't fit. They changed the seat size. bummer. But it looks good anyhow. Thanks to Tammi for helping me pick the bed linens. :)

Hung pictures, and other decorative stuff. Tidied out under our bathroom and kitchen sink. Went for a big grocery shop, which was frustrating because of this town's lack of service. Ran stuff up and down the stairs. Cooked some meals, made some bread, nursed a baby, played in the yard, blew bubbles. You know, the usual.

Mom is here until tomorrow (unless I convince her I need to get more done...), so I'm using up as much of my time as I can getting things done. As Randy Bachman would say, taking care of business. ;)

the view from the van as we headed into Jasper park

We really didn't take enough photos on this trip. However, I did stop the van to take this shot of Mt. Robson, just before it started raining on us. I wish I had taken pics as we drove through Jasper park on the way west, it was so beautiful and we drove through as the sun was coming up over the mountains. The problem with stopping the van was that each time we stopped, we had a chorus of "I want out" from the older 2 kids.
We did get to see some wildlife in and around Jasper. 4 moose, 2 deer and a black bear!

where to start...

The last few weeks have just flown by. Our vacation was wonderful, exciting, fun...yet somewhat bittersweet. I can't even begin to process it all right now, so here is the short version.

Vancouver doesn't feel like home anymore. The traffic is worse than I remembered. It just didn't feel like a 'fit' anymore.
However, Jen and Joe's place felt like home to us. Rob's sister and her hubby were so gracious to have us stay with them for our whole trip. It was so great to be at their place. In fact, the time we spent with them was a highlight of the trip. The kids got to play with their cousins (not to mention how great a 6 and 8 year old can be at 'babysitting' while the grown ups drink coffee in peace!!). The backyard had lots of fun things to do for our older 2, including a trampoline and swing set. Fun toys in the playroom, and a cousin who loved to dress up her younger cousins. We stayed up too late talking almost every night, and Jen watched the older kids a few times so we could get out more too. What a blessing they are!!

We attended Sean and Leslie's wedding. Beautiful day. It was so wonderful to share in their day, especially since both of us have known and loved them for so long. Leslie was a gorgeous bride, and Sean looks great in a kilt!

Rob baptised our niece, Katie. Despite the rumour mill working overtime, we did NOT baptise Ruby at the same time. Rob did a great job with the services on Sunday, especially given that he was doing so in the church he grew up in. As he put it, "it was really strange administering communion to people who just see 'little Robbie' when they look at me". Then a huge bbq in my MIL's backyard. So many people came out, it was good to see them...even though we didn't get as much time with everyone as we may have wanted. There were so many kids there too, things have really changed in our group of friends in the last 10 years or so.

Granville Island with the kids and my dad. That was nice, and I also got some great birthday and Christmas ideas for my kids. Met up with my sister, and her dogs. Her puppies aren't used to kids, my kids aren't used to dogs. We stayed for 15 minutes then went for supper. Not the most successful pairing.

Had a nice visit with T and baby L. He is just full of life! I really don't know of another baby who is quite so engaging with people at his age. Little extrovert. It was so neat to spend time with such an old friend, but now both of us as mothers.

Went to Science World with Katie and her family. That was fun. My kids seemed to really like her boys a lot. All of the kids seemed to handle the day well, despite us parents keeping them out way past naptime. :) Great to finally meet you, Katie!

Shopping was done too. I got my new glasses, found a lovely outfit for the wedding (on sale no less, I haven't lost my touch!), picked up some things on our buy list. IKEA with Jen and all 5 of our kids, and we all survived. Found some great options for the girls bedroom. Got Norah her shoes for fall.

Dinner with P and T, and got to see their new home. Spent some days with Rob's parents. Visited J and V's new home, and got to spend a chunk of time with Katie, the youngest of all the grandkids on Rob's side. Went to our previous church, where I was thrilled to hang out with the kids in Sunday school, because some of Isaac's old buddies were there. Rob got dragged in to the youth study and really enjoyed seeing some of his 'old kids'. Lunch with M and M, then supper out at my aunt and uncles, along with my 2 cousins and their hubbies - and their kids! K's little R and my Ruby are only 2 weeks apart, but hadn't met yet.

More visiting, including a day at camp. More on that to come. It just felt like we did so much, yet not enough. I wish we had more time to see more people, to spend more one-on-one time with them. 2.5 weeks goes too fast...

home

home. safe. tired. downloading over 100 pics. lots to unpack. wish house was somewhere near as tidy as SILs. back later.

from the vacation

checking in. have been super busy, especially if you count having wonderful chats with my SIL and BIL as busy. :) We're all alive, doing great. Kids were amazing on the trip here, just amazing. We drove through Jasper park as the sun rose over the mountains. Stunning. Did it in the 2 days Rob was aiming for. Wedding was wonderful, baptism was great, bbq party at inlaws was bittersweet. Got to cuddle with friend's kids I hadn't met yet, and see kids I hadn't seen in almost 2 years. Vancouver no longer really feels like home. There is just so much I want to say, but can't squeeze in right now. Some of my linked-to blogs have some photos up already. I'm just here for a moment, need to run soon. I'll catch it all up soon.

heading out

well, we go in the morning. not sure when I'll be back up and running here.

Isaac didn't break his arm after all, which is good. He had a fall in the backyard, and was favoring his left arm severely. But a Saturday night trip to the hospital is never fun when we are getting ready to go on a trip.

Van is packed. Coffee is ready for the morning. We're going. See you later!

grr, when things don't go right

ordered a package of stuff that was going to be a great helper on the road trip. it didn't arrive. went to the post office to see about re-routing the package. would cost $30. Denice at the post office, who is my new hero, suggested I call the company and have them resend it to BC, and she would have the p.o. refuse the shipment. woo hoo! that worked. so, it's being sent to my inlaws.

then, ran out to the Co-op for some 'last minute food'. They were SO busy, long weekend friday and all. Got home, and tripped up our front stairs and pretty much tore off the big toenail on my left foot. There is a lot of blood. It's icky. Looks like that will influence my shoe choice on our trip.

I like my new haircut, which is good, but picked up a box of dye to cover the grey that was popping though. didn't go with my usual colour. it's a touch more orange than I was hoping for. I'll give it a couple of days to see what I think for sure. I did get a compliment on it today though.

Came within inches (seriously!) of a major car accident yesterday. Some (looked drunk, really he did) moron tried to turn right into me. As though my BIG WHITE VAN was invisible. grrr.

Baked up a loaf of banana bran bread for breakfast on Sunday. Came home from an errand yesterday afternoon to find Rob and the kids ate half of it. now, to be fair, I didn't tell them what it was for, but still.

Oh, and I'm trying really hard to clean my house before we go...but the little cyclones I call my beloved children keep thwarting my efforts. Maybe if I keep them out of a cleaned room...then I guess they will be sleeping on the stair landing tomorrow night! Need a visual giggle to keep from banging my head into a wall.

Does this mean my trip will go well? I sure hope so!

more plans, but these aren't trip related

I've got this plan. Rob doesn't get it, but I think it would be great. I want to work with our garage and make it not only clean and organized, but turn it into a play space for the kids. Because the garage isn't insulated or heated, we couldn't use it like an indoor space, but it would be a good spot for wind/rain/snow/mud/sun free play. I was thinking of just putting up some boards along the walls, then building in some basic cupboards on one wall. The cupboards could contain all our garage junk, lawnmower, out of season tires, bbq in winter, random stuff, recycling. Nothing fancy at all, but it would give the kids a nice spot to get out some big energy. Our playroom in the basement just isn't that large, and it's feeling a touch small with all 3 of them now playing there. It would be nice to be able to put the little tykes basketball net out there, and not have to worry about hitting Ruby on the head while we try to shoot baskets. It would be so nice to have more playspace. I'm trying to convince Rob, so I added in that it would be a perfect size for a ping pong table in a couple of years :) Wonder what that would cost.

Our kitchen is making me mental again. I think we need new appliances. Our fridge is sounding sad, old and whiney. Our stove is tempermental. The big burner works when it feels like it, which means it will often conk out mid-cooking job. nice and frustrating. Can't replace it though, because we don't want to buy appliances and have to move them in a few years or 'donate' them to the church. Also, the church is talking about kitchen renos...but who knows what that will look like, or when it will happen. Or if when it does happen, if I'll get any input into it. Ah, the joys of rectory life

plans, plans

Things are coming together for our trip out west (I keep starting to type home, but it's not really home anymore). We decided today to take the northern route there, as in Jasper. I managed to find a hotel that wasn't too $$, like the Fairmont Jasper, a slight $590 a night! Rob is still determined to do it in two days, and I was right there with him...until I realised it's a holiday weekend. The drive from Kamloops to the Lower Mainland, well, could be slow. I remember what the #1 can look like once you hit Hope. Mary, we may be knocking on your door Monday night...are you home? The holiday Monday parking lot is not quite what I had in mind. May be an overnight in Kamloops. Think it will be that bad?

If I can get us organized like I want to be, we'll be hitting the road around 6:30 am on Sunday. We're looking at a 8 hour day in the van, plus stops. Woo hoo.