So true? Even often in my case, i think!

GeoCaching!

We logged the coordinates and set on our way with 4 little trailblazers....

They were ready!!!!

 We made it to "paradise", according to Isaac!!

 My very good friend and her sweet little girls..... 

 The unveiling of the hidden Geocache!!!  Thanks Chris--you've got a great eye!!!

 Top of the world with my best friend....

 Done??

 Geocaching is awesome.....it's actually a great way to keep the kids motivated to continue the hike because there will be a treasure at the end of it!  And you really never know what you are going to find!  In the little baking powder container there were stickers, a little car, a colorful necklace, a pin and the journal to leave your names!  Alot of fun.....so much fun, that we plan to do it again tommorow with the Fitzpatricks!

Hit the Decks! Here comes trouble!!

Chris tweaked the hummer tonight!! 

So though the kids were yoinked out of their beds to do the test drive!!

 

Thank You Free Store!!!

...it's a super comfy, genuine leather chair in excellent condition!  Sweet find hey?

Wren turns 9!!! Wha????

Seriously, wasn’t this girl born not long ago, and we all raced down to Victoria to meet her and bring Laura chinese food afterwards??  I remember that it was crazy that we had to pay for parking and that laura had gingerbeer and oranges in her hospital room.  So, here we are now, 9 years later!

Yes!  We are all as surprised as you are Wren!  You crazy girl!!

There are quite a few birthdays coming up in the next month, so this guy has been working hard on his Happy Birthday song!  He did quite well today {and with no suggestion from me}!!  Took a bow and everything!! {with a suggestion from me!!}






Oscar!!                                                   

AVA!!

Clive and David came to play for awhile tonight too!  Quite the treat, Isaac cried like someone died when they left to go home!! 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY WREN!!!!

What's in a day?

Why does it matter so much what color that sky is in your day? 

It's lame, but it matters that it is gray much more than it is blue.

It also matters how much housework you do, how often you have to feed 'them' and then clean up after 'them'....lather, rinse, repeat.

I realize that its the 13th....mid-month, fading to the darker part of the month in my world. 

More has to do with that mid-month date than i would care to admit...but my shorter temper, my lack of absolute full patience and those feelings of total boredom has much to do with it....more than even before I had those kids.  Why is that?

The sun makes life so much nicer and its been so long since i have seen the sun.......i miss the warmth...and can't WAIT for summer!!!!!!

But on the upside of my world, and there always is an upside because i have absolutely nothing to whine about, but women are registering, i have found my music leader and speaker....its going to be a fabulous Womans Outdoor Adventure camp.

Isaac the Hustler…….

 We were taking too long chatting to people last night at "The Place", so Isaac decided it was probably a good opportunity to make some money.  I guess he looked down at his wrist and saw he had plenty of silly bands....figured they could be worth something?

His sales pitch?

"Would you like to buy a silly band?  They are 1$, 5$ or 10$......"

He ended up walking with $4.25 in his pocket...not a bad night for a 6 year old.

This hotel room is too small......and other stories.

Staying in one hotel room with 2 crazy kids is....hmm, whats the word.....lets just say, not for the faint of heart.
The sad part at the moment, is we have muted them with some cookies {at 8 in the morning, yes THATS how loud it was} and tv.  Picture them: waking up SO happy and nuts, now picture us: hiding from them in bathroom!
Remember, we aren't coffee drinkers....is it easier for coffee drinkers to handle such action so early?  Answer me that, right now, because if it is, we will start making coffee.

Now picture last night: 4 year old finally gets roped into lying down....that was a big feat in itself, but success was immediate and snoring was heard immediatly.
Now for the 6 year old: this one takes a little more work......he was allowed to sleep with me, i figured stern, boring mom would lull him off.......sigh, but with the hockey game on {thanks chris {{sarcasm}}, 10 o'clock rolled around, and i still had a 6 year old twitching  and flipping next to me!!
I couldn't take it, so i kicked his twitchy butt into the closet!  Yup, the hall closet.....and don't be mistaking this for child abuse....it was a big closet and i lovingly gave him my heavy duvet and made it into a cozy little nest for him.  But he crawls in, and i drag myself back to my empty bed and then i hear the whimpering....

sigh.

By now, I am SO done!  and SO tired...that i am like "WHAT IS WRONG NOW????"

"I am scared...."

"WHY???  I am literally right NEXT to you!!!"

"I am scared this ironing board is going to fall on me...."

Flora turns 90!

It's been a busy day and I am about to crash into bed...except chris just pips up "I want hot wings"...sheesh.

We started the day with a quick trip to the parents garage sale in duncan....gave isaac a dollar, and he was able to negotiate a transformer, a pokeman movie AND a set of lazer tag guns with a vest {as in, get someone into the vest, and chase him with the lazer guns...sorta cool}

After the garage sale was the chiro office.....

and then, the 90th birthday party:

 After the party, Chris dropped us off at the hotel before he had to rush off to another meeting.  Here we are having a cereal picnic for dinner before a swim in the pool....

I am super tired and right about now am really missing the 2 bedroom option of the worldmarks we have grown accustomed to.....i wish we could shut them away for a little break!!  They are happy, just alot for 8 at night......and hockey is on...so its a double whammy, really.

"Best Day Ever!"

So with staying with this mornings theme of grabbing my 'moments' and being aware of the diamonds being put in my hand, today was Isaac and Elliots self professed best day! 

Here is a quick run down of their 'moments'

1~Elliot rode the bike at preschool (must have been a sunny day!)

2~Elliot was taken to the park to play for an hour before meeting isaac at the pool with his class.

3~Elliot and mommy play at the pool for almost an hour before isaac and his classmates arrive!

4~Isaac arrives!!  Mommy watches both boys go up and down the waterslides til their hearts content {side note: a watching mommy is HIGH currency around here these days, as opposed to distracted, busy mommy!}

5~Elliot and I enjoy Ban Doo stirfry for late lunch and bring isaac stirfry too in a take away box {remember how hungry you get after swimming?  He was stoked}.

6~Return rental to car dealership to pick up newly fixed car, and both boys were given their own little matchbook cars.

7~Had a coupon for 2 for 1 ice cream at Cold Stones.....the 3 of us enjoyed Cookie Dough ice cream together there along with all the senior citizens who watched my kids adoringly.

8~While picking up groceries, sweet old man bought both boys a cadbury egg as a treat....so sweet. {again, the boys were stoked}

9~Cherry on the cake {for isaac anyways}, was the go-ahead to download the free trial of Lego Star Wars III on the X-Box!

10~All round wonderful day.....the sun sure helps!!

ooh.....maybe MY number 10 would be that 2 more women registered for my womans weekend and I may have a great speaker lined up!!

A night with the Chapmans

I hesitate to even write about how i felt about this evening....after chris hooked me up with google analytics, i can see how many people actually check this place each day.  It actually makes me self-monitor my thoughts a little more than i would wish since i started all this to document my thoughts and happenings of our life!  But here we go;

Steven Curtis Chapman has always been a super important artist to my walk in this life because the words in his songs have always hit home to my soul.  I remember the exact night that the world changed for me....it happened as they all said it does: "the moment i first believed".  It was honestly instantaneous.....things were clear (not easier, as some believe) and I knew in my heart of hearts that there was a God who made me and watched over me and loved me.  I will never forget that moment.
Fast forward not much further into the future, and i am in the parking lot of Camp Arnes, waiting for my summer camp staff experience to start and we are all waiting for the campers to arrive!!  Blaring over the speakers (on repeat!!  ALL morning!), is "The Great Adventure" by Steven.  This song, a little cheesy, but since then has always made me feel geared up for my life and whats in store!!  It is a great adventure, isn't it??

So last night, seeing this man in concert, with Chris beside me...was, in a word, awesome.
A few posts back i wrote about the Chapman family losing their daughter 3 years ago in a freak car accident when their son ran over their young 5 year old daughter.  Reading about the his wife's recollection of those moments and the chaos and tragedy that came within those moments, i remember her writing "As Steven and I drove away to follow the ambulance to the hospital, Steven saw Will in the yard crying for his sister, and Steven rolled down his window as they were quickly pulling away, and yelled "Will!!  Remember that your Father loves you!!!!"

Oh my.....i get weepy even thinking about how awful it all would be.  Can you imagine watching your child get dealt this brutal hand? Wouldn't you wish it was your hand, so that he wouldn't have it??

So, here we are last night, watching Steven sing, and get this: BOTH of his sons were with him on stage and they were great!! Caleb played guitar and sang, and Will played drums......how amazing it was that this tragedy didn't drive any of these family members to suicide!!  And what a testiment it is to their faith for them to all still stand together here and sing about that tragedy in a few of their songs.  

It really made me wonder how our boys are going to turn out as adults....will the job that we are doing with them keep them close as adults? or drive them away? 

The big thing of the night was to be aware of all the moments that God gives you.  The whole 'He gives and he takes away' is terrifying to me.  I feel like i love these boys more than I did yesturday!!  Moments are all you will have at the end...moments that you either wasted or grabbed hold of.

"Like little diamonds, one by one, being put into your hand". 

The story of the journey.......

This is our car....let me tell you a little about this wonderful vehicle.

It has been ours for a little over 1 year.

It has 2 years worth of driving on it {yay for country living}....47,000k's to be exact.

2 weeks ago, {or roughly 3 tanks ago, or 1800km's ago}, we got a letter in the mail saying that some journey's are getting their brakes prematurely wearing down and that if you had a journey that had less than 40,000k's or it is less than 2 years old, bring it it to get them checked with this extended warranty.

Not sure if you noticed, but remember back when i said our car had 47,000k on it?  if you did the math, you would have seen that see we would be up a creek if we were one of those 'premature' customers outside their warranty limits.

Well, if you guessed that we would be......ding! ding! ding! You would have WON!!!

Yup, a total of $713 with a 'we feel sorry for you poor schmuck, so we will throw in the $300 back calipers for free' deal.

Both front brakes were metal on metal, back right side gone as well.....got to love murphys law.

If only we had gotten that letter 11 tanks ago........

Guest Blogger: Isaac Burdge

My first time on the school bus, I was maybe crying a little bit on the school bus. 

But i got home safely. 

Someone was trying to steal someones diary today {they were actually trying to}, but i just watched.

The bus drivers name is Ron.

Monopoly Margarita* Night!!

Isaac has found his new favorite board game.

Here he is licking the money....i will assume that some of his drink spilled on it, otherwise, there is a little cause for concern, but he likes money, and i won't fault him for that!!  But he love love loves to hold out his little sweaty hand, asking for the money we owe him for rent when we land on one of his properties!!!

Not sure what Elliot is all happy about here, but he likes to cheer....and that's nice.

This was 'build-it' monopoly!  So, based on whether you want a long game or a short game,

you build it accordingly.....thanks to jinny, we were the first ones to check it out!! 

*disclaimer: No alcohol was used in the margarita's!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR FRIEND!!!!

You turned 36 today!! Lets take a picture of that, shall we???

 Oh, the little coy looks, if only they all knew what we were up to eh??

Calamari? Check!!  Timmie's for your first Cold Stone Experience? Check!

Finding the ice cream coupon that you thought was left just for you, but turns out

there were hundreds of them on the next counter, leaving you feeling like a fool?!  CHECK!!!

Thank you for letting me celebrate with you tonight Elizabeth......its going to be a great year -- one filled with lots of changes and more flash mobs that you WILL be part of, even if its just you and I doing them!!  Happy Birthday!!

Skype at Starbucks....

It is a great time to be living, isn't it?  There is no other time in history where i could move away from my family but still be able to enjoy a cup of coffee with my dad for an hour in starbucks.......

 Excuse me....I ordered the LARGE coffee???

Also lucky for me, these screens only show from the waist

up since today was pantless monday........

Flash Mob!!!!!!

Planning the Stealth Attack!!

Discreetly going in.....'what?  I am here for the bridal fair!!!......or am I??'

Ok....so the black eyed peas started up and that was the signal!! 

The pics are blurry....but yup; thats me bustin a move:

Success!!!

Kisses for DOING IT!!!!

It was scary and nerve racking, but i have always wanted to do a FLASH MOB!! 

It was total fun being in a room full of people who had no idea what they were about to SEE!! 

i wasn't going to load the video, but whatever, it was silly and fun....here it is!!

April Fools on Mommy....hmmmmm

This mommy loves being warm.....

including warm, cozy socks......

He found my weakness....and FROZE THEM!!!

He thought he was QUITE clever.......and i would have to agree.....well played Isaac, but just you wait til next year! 

APRIL FOOLS ON ISAAC!!!!! Mwahhahahaha!!

Little boy loves when mommy has cereal set out for him in the morning.

On the last night of March, that mommy did something late late at night to prepare for the 1st day of April.

Morning came.....

Mommy was sortof excited thinking about the delivary of said prank!

Boy sat down, waited for cereal, and had it literally thrown down in front of him with a bang

and mommy walked away {and watched out of the corner of her eye to watch reaction}

 Oh man....that look of momentary confusion as he poked the frozen monkey puffs with his spoon.....

Priceless......and harmless.....