Thank you Ron the Bus Driver.....

This bus driver has a place in my heart forever....anyone who cleans up my 5 year old after he upchucks his peach cup all over himself and the bus....deserves a medal!!

Well, i had this gift ready for him yesturday.....dismissal was 11:48....by 11:53 the kids in that bus lineup were all gone!!  Arg!  I took too long hanging out in isaacs classroom....so we chased the bus! 

And then i got to the school in lake cowichan and there were no cars, and no bus and i figured i missed him AGAIN!  So, i back tracked and STILL couldn't find this bus!!  So, i called the transportation department and they tracked him down for me!!  We met him in lake cowichan and here was his gift!!! 

He loves to fish and camp.....so he got a 4 pack of awesome lighters, a glowing fishing lure, a cleaning mitt, a set of rubber gloves where i wrote on the pack that i hope he never had to open the pack to clean up any more barf!!!

Best bus driver in the world!!!

Full First Day of Summer Holidays....a rundown.

A rundown only....cause i am tired....

8:30-breakfast at camp....waffles.

9:30-10:30:  Kids and I put the house back together ..... team work!!

11-12:30: Doogle {a movie the kids love that belongs to the Rentons...i wonder if they know we still have it....the boys, every time they watch it, they say "leleini would be SO scared !!"

12:30-1:30: lunch at camp....

1:30-2pm: adventures in the bushes near archery....isaac showed elliot and i the biggest anthill ever!!

2: Elizabeth and her 3 boys, Stephanie and her 2 boys arrive......and then Theresa and her 2 boys arrived....

4:30pm: Gaggle of boys head out the car.

4:45pm: Theresa and her boys head out .....

4:50: Cristin and her girls arrive for a sleepover.....

5:30: Dinner bell....meatballs and rice and salad...got my bum slapped real good...thanks JL...{an obvious highlight if it made the blog eh?}

6:30-8: Movie night with all the kids...BIG thanks to kelly for movie popcorn!!

8:30: Kids are all in bed....i am blogging....Cristin is watching Jim Gaffigan....i wanted to show her "god grew tired of us"....but it appears that Netflix took it off its showings!!!

It was a good day....i have some really nice friends.....good day...and there is your run down.

Last Day of School!!!!

It was a day we were all excited for.....last day of school!!!  YES!!

I started out the day by spending the first part of the morning in Elliots class....oh that woman had me cutting MORE!  This year, Mme Smith had me cutting miles and miles of laminate!  But hey, last day to pick up those scissors...it was cool to be in the class and watch her with the kids...she runs quite a 'closed door' classroom.  I mean, i never really knew what elliot did all year, but i was SO lucky!  She made a video of their year for them!!  YES!  I watched when she played it for them....oh man, i teared up more than once....she did such a nice job capturing their year!

ONE picture i never would have believed if i didn't see it for myself!!  He was dancing in front of the WHOLE school with the rest of their class!!  I was so proud....

Here she is after just calling the kids in for snack....they sit down and put their head down on the desks....and then she sings a little song and walks around the class, and when she tickles the child back, they can start their snack.  It was such a sweet, calm way to start eating.......he had a great year.

And then it was time to watch Isaac in his last hour in grade 2!!!  They were playing capture the flag!

Julie Marie posing with Isaac.....i love her.....i hope {and he hopes too!} that he gets to be in her class again next year....there IS a chance!!

 Isaac was telling me that some of the kids in his class always hug her goodbye at the end of the day...but today he went and hugged her.  {i actually saw him do it after capture the flag...and it made my heart happy.....such a sweet boy!}

We all went home and chilled out at camp for the afternoon....and then it was Sabrina's 2000th jazzercise class....so i wanted to go and support that because she really got me in shape and set me up well!!  So elizabeth and I had some good times.....

 Want to know how i know that she loves me?  Well, she shared her mat with me for the last 1/4 of the class...you know, when you are all gross and sweaty, beads of sweat you can feel running down your spine and then down into your bum?  Yup...it was around then that we had to lie down and do some sit ups......after the class i look at her sheepishly and am like 'um thanks...you are going to have to bleach this now...." and she says 'yeah, well....do you want it?  you can take it home....'  oh man, i laughed...she is so funny.....i wish she lived closer.

 Ah....Sabrina!!  That was a bathing suit the girls laid out for her for her 2000th class!  She was a good sport! 

 She was brave...she knows that when i roll my ankle, i normally fall to the right......seriously, my brain in this class sometimes moves faster than my feet, and i fall slow motion towards the floor......that always sucks.....

 Lovely in-laws took the kids for dinner and here we are heading home.....they ran all the way to the stop sign ... they are such nice friends......i was so happy i was able to go to the class and the boys were happy to spend some time at grandma's......

I should know better......

It was the boys last full day of school....tommorow is a half day!  So, i was unsure of what my day in store for me!  After a nice chat with my dad over morning chai, Chris came in and asked if i wanted to go to victoria to help him get a few things for program......but i needed to be back in time to pick the boys up for their last piano lesson 3.....he assured me there were only 3 stops.....so, off we went!!

First stop was Long and McQuade....2nd stop: Red Fish, Blue Fish!  I chatted with a really nice chef who works at the Sonoma Resort on Sonoma Island while we were both waiting in line.....the food was really underwhelming.....definatly better in my memory...perhaps it was the company i kept when i came last with Susan and Megs.....

 Next stop was Michaels.....we bought like 200 glow sticks.......and a bunch of other things.....

 Including face masks for when we turn the black lights on for night events!!!

 After Michaels, we went to Toys R Us......whoops, i fell into Purdies...so much for the 5 points i would have gotten for no sweets today....sorry Nic...big fail....

 But 1:30, we realized we would NOT make it back in time to pick up the boys at all!!!  So, thanks to a great school bus system, the secretary told the boys they had to take the bus home, where Andy had arranged for Jinny to pick them up and bring them back to camp, when Jennie Lynn took them back to our house til dinner.....takes a village, doesn't it?  It was a hard later part of the afternoon asking for that kind of help since i am used to having everything under control....so i was thankful that our boys were taken care of even though i wasn't around.....it was our last big shop for the summer and we would not have been able to fit any kid into the back of the car anyways!!

 Big final shop at the big walmart on the way out of town.....20 cans of shaving cream for cabin leaders to spread all over their body to get sprayed off by the campers as they run, 1/2 a cart full of pop the color of each team for the relay races, tons of marshmallows for the kids to stick to their faces, tons of bigger marshmallows to see how many they can shove into their mouths....bubbles that have a built in wand...you squeeze the bottle and then blow....we were both very excited to get back to the car to try it out....here is chris giving it a go!!  It was over-rated....the bubbles kindof spilled over if you squeezed too hard......cool concept though....

We stopped at Rona (where we were held up for awhile by the chatty boys from the Riverbottom camp, i finally pulled out my phone and when i realized it was 5:30, i pushed chris down the aisle to keep it moving, apologizing over my shoulder!  Then we stopped at Prices to explain one of the games to them where we needed hundreds of keys for the kids to try to unlock a lock....after hearing the concept, they handed over a huge bag of unused keys for his game.....he was pretty stoked about that!

Got back to camp around 6 for roast beef dinner and to see our kids sitting at the staff table eating......chris unloaded the car, i drove the car home and now we are all curled up watching Labrinth (again for the 2nd night in a row!).....tired!!

I should know better after being married to this beautiful man for this long, that i would know that a "few short stops, done by 2", would be double time in length......i love him though...it was a fun day....i mean, when else would you load 80 sponges and 20 decks of cards into your cart?

Bus driver cleans up barf, earns a medal.....

Well, he didn't get a medal....but he is in line for a pretty sweet "end of year-you are the best bus driver in the world- award!"  Elliot yakked up his whole peach cup on the bus this aft.....Ron thought it was oranges...but i corrected him.......lol.

So....it was straight to the bath when i got the little guy home.  He laid there for awhile.....and then i put a movie on and cozied him up on the couch....awhile later, i look over and he is there barfing into the bowl...quietly, diplomatically, and soundlessly!!

WOW!  Gone are the days of the "barf with wild abandon all over the room if you can....oh, and slip on it on your way out!"!!  Seriously.....i was so impressed with this stoic little guy....barf even coming out of his NOSE...he nicely asks for a kleenex when he finished to wipe the barf from his face afterwards......

and then he asked for a bath...bowl and all.

He is in great spirits for a kid who just had an afternoon full of barf......

he has just asked for eggs....chris and i are scared.......

Funniest thing i have heard yet today.....

I try to check in with my family via skype each day, preferably in the morning before we all get rolling, but this morning i was chatting with my mom, and here is the conversation i overheard between her and my little nephew Jack:

Mom: Hey Jack, are you hungry?

Jack: Yes!  I would like some eggs!

Mom:  I will make you some eggs, but you have to put on underwear.

=

Easy Chicken Lasagna!!

Carrie...this is mainly for you!  Yet, another discoveryfor mushroom soup!!  I made this great chicken lasagna tonight that was so easy, and SO good AND i had everything already in my house!  It made such a big pan, that i invited the biggest family i know over.....yup..the neighbors.  Otherwise, i probably would have eaten the whole pan.....

I cooked up some frozen chicken around 3, shredded it, got the cheese ready, open my cans of mushroom soup, noodles, and started layering and it was SO good!!!  I didn't use Ricotta (that stuff is PRICEY!!) but i did have 2 cups of cottage cheese that did the job!  Oh, and i used a pile of fresh spinach that i store in my freezer now that worked wonderfully....crushed so small, even the kids didn't notice!

Here is the recipe my dear!  Enjoy!!

You are lucky enough....

Thursday morning the boys got on the bus.....and i watched a local mom ride her sons bike home.

Then it was time to join Rach and Lisa on the lake.....

 There was great cell signal out on the lake this fine morning so i had a great chat with my dad....as we talked, i put my paddle down...and a few minutes later, my boat drifted from the middle of the lake right back to the beach....like a horse back to the barn. 

It reminded me of a verse we learned when i was waterfront staff at Camp Arnes "Love the Lord, with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways, awknowledge him, and he will make your kayak straight....."

Isaac and Elliot and a piano recital!

The boys have had a great year at their piano lessons with the talented Malea and their recital was today.

Elliot came into my room this morning in his self-appointed recital outfit.....he looked so proud, i had to take a picture of this sweet boy......

Chris couldn't go due to the early start of the camp open house, but grandma and grandpa made it, as well as the Zalinko class {minus Paul}......

Here are the videos of the boys i got on my phone (i learned that you can't record with the phone on its side.....only up and down...grr!! SO, just tip your computer over.....;-)

Here is Isaacs Video and here is Elliots Video!

Elliot was as nervous as i thought he would be.....but with a little bribery, he did a fantastic job even though he was {in his words} "Super Scared".......

Here he is smiling {because i told him to}  but a second ago he was crying a little...nervously. 

Here are the Zalinkos' supporting the Burdges!!  So sweet.....

 Thank you grandma and grandpa for coming.....such great supporters.....

 Here is one very relieved 5 year old....he did such a great job...i was SO proud of him.....

At the end, Malea had made a beautiful duotang of isaacs compositions this year......now that brought tears to my eyes....my little composer....there were 3 songs that he composed this year, definatly going into the baby box of memories....awesome.

What a Day!!!

The boys had a great day planned at school today.....isaac had swimming { he brought along his snorkle, mask and fins!! Cute now....Creepy in a few years!! ;-)  Elliot got his face painted like batman at a school trip to Glenora Head Trail.....he never gets his face painted!

Nic and I went to victoria and cautiously tried to shop and keep a little girl occupied.......the days of shopping under a sort of 'hostage mentality of trying to do what you want to do, like try on clothes, peruse the styles, have a drink while also keeping a little one occupied and picking up what they pull down.....those days don't feel too far behind me yet!  Oh man, elliot was happy if he had food in front of him all the time!  Adessa is the same: costco cart, food samples lined up in front of her, nic pushing the cart as fast as possible.....she was totally sweating and breathing fast when we finished...and i am talking about nic and not adessa!! 

We pretty much made 2 stops, well 3 if you count the iced coffee stop on the way down...on the way home from Le Chateau and Costco, she looks at me and says 'do you need to go anywhere else?'.....i sortof laughed, she is so sweet.....i mean, Adessa was now happy in her seat with a fruit bar....i was like 'nope!  home!'......i like Nic alot, she is such a good mom.

Amanda picked the boys up from the school bus....each boy set took off to their respective areas, Dylan and Elliot to Skylanders together, Alex and Isaac to battle beyblades, and she and I both had a chai and a catch up. 

I made pizzas and cut up fruit and veggies and we all watched MegaMind til we finished eating....and then everyone went back to their respective corners.....here is A reading directions to bananagrams....

We like to play when we are together....and since it was too wet to be outside and bike around we played blokus, bananagrams and cupstacking......

Chris got home because in his own words, he 'couldn't work anymore'.......and wanted to take the boys to see "Brave", the next pixar movie that was in town......after a few minutes of deliberation between bananagram moves, Amanda asked if she could come too with the boys.....so...we all spontaneously set out in a caravan to see the show....which was so great.....strong female lead....love it.

So, that was the day.....

Funny....i don't remember eating a sexy beast this morning....

While the boys were at piano, i had a sweet visit with Christie and her family!  I love that i am starting to see more of this girl....we laugh alot when we are together....i am excited that she is my "U.S. adventure partner" in august for the washington fair to see Chris Tomlin!  We are going to have such fun with Susan!!!  Can't wait! 8 more weeks!!

 After piano, i picked up my MIL from Rona {they had just bought another saw....BUT it was on sale AND its perfect for crown molding!!} ... so here is hoping Marg will get some of the projects knocked off her list now that they have the right saw!  But i grabbed her to bring her to Langford with me to see another tent trailer that was for sale for a screaming deal!  But apparently it had a 'few rips'...so, being an upholstery expert, and she likes car rides....figured this would be up her alley!! 

Ah, the dream of a tent trailer and the adventures we would have!  Well, this is NOT what the one we saw looked like....NOT idyllic...it barely could hold itself together, had a few rips and tears....

So, what do you do when you are disappointed in a dream that is NOT turning into a reality on the day you hoped?  You go for BUBBLE TEA and Japonese food!!!  Below is the bubble tea {mango!!}....i didn't LOVE mine, Marg did....can you guess which one is hers??  

 If you guessed the strawberry one as hers, you would be right!  Yes.....that lame moir mantra comes back again and again "do you like it? no....are you still going to suck it back like an animal?  yes."

And i just loved this one this morning..... 

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!!!!

Staff Fun Day......

i didn't get a ton of pictures.....i wanted to enjoy the day without being behind some kind of lens.

I did take my phone out on our walk around little qualicum falls......it is so beautiful here! 

Here are kelly and lynn with their dinosaur flip phones.....figured that alone warranted a picture....flip phone! hahaahhah (they are probably the ones laughing at what i pay each month for this stupid phone.....)...side note: this is also where they wimped out turned around on the hike

Wow, to spend the day with Chris sans enfants....still a little gift.....

JIM!!!  I still feel happy when i look across a room and see Jim walking around, or canoeing around, or whatever!  We have history with this guy....so thrilled he landed here!

Here is Samarah and Marika stopping for a quick pic with Rach and I before they flipped off their shoes and went exploring {ask them about the death shuffle across the log ......crazy girls.}

Looks like a postcard, doesn't it?  Yes folks, we LIVE here!! Beautiful Island.

Jim pointing out where people cliff jump into the falls.....then they started strategizing rappelling into the falls....rach said she would go first...and then jim agreed that would be a good idea since it made him nervous....

Log crossing anyone?

Bumper Cars.....i prefered to cruise around, shoot when necessary (yes! they had lazers to shoot with that would make the other cars spin out of control!!!)....kelly, however, prefered to sit, tucked in a back corner, and just shoot all of us......Sniper.....when wandering the wilderness, i would like to be RIGHT beside kelly the whole time, not RUN INTO her...who knows what she is capable of.  {though the more i get to know her, the more of an idea i am getting......;-)

Ready....Set.....

yeah, i look down for like ONE sec...and the lady shoots the pic...nice....but don't i look all bashful?  Too bad we didn't get the fact that we are all running over Andy in the picture.....

It was a really fun staff day.....and the kids had fun with grandma.....all good.