Waffle Wednesday.....

The mornings are quite chill around here, especially if lunches are made the night before.....but since we got our new, crazy awesome dryer....elliot loves to get up first thing in the morning, and before even throwing his pull up in the garbage, he will put his teddy bear in the dryer and watch him tumble around.......can see you see from his sweet face that he woke up literally 30 seconds earlier?

LOVE skype because it lets me have breakfast with my sister!!  I love my sister....she makes me laugh so hard....oh, the things we tell eachother that i would never ever DREAM of saying to another living being.....i love her alot.

It was funny, she skyped me and tells me that i am going to be SO jealous!! So, i am preparing my best 'face' just in case it is incredible, and i really will be jealous.....and she says to me, with bright eyes and giddyness in her voice "Guess who just came and took jack away for the WHOLE day!!!  Yeah!! It was MOM!!!!  Yay!!!!"   I didn't have the heart to remind her that i was sitting there enjoying my chai in a quiet house with my kids on the school bus on their way to town!!  hahaha...but i was happy for her.....

Cleaned the house, worked on the womens retreat, went to thrift {found nothing today}, ended up accidentally going to the staff meeting at camp....i enjoyed it, but mainly because i knew i could leave at any moment!  Chris and i went to subway for lunch, then i helped him clean up the program office....then it was time to pick up the boys....

Isaac got in trouble this aft.

He was busy watching a boy bounce a ball against the wall of the school while waiting for his bus.  What he didn't realize was that his brother along with all the other kids had gotten on the bus and were driving away!!  Isaac looks at his principal, who supervises the loading of the kids, and says 'thats my bus'...pointing to the bus already heading down the street....the principal says, (now i would have paid to see this next action play out), RUN!!!  So, there is little isaac and his big principal running down the road together chasing this bus!  {and during this time, i am wondering out loud why elliot didn't yell for his brother to come when he was getting on the bus--he just shrugged.....}

Well, they didn't catch the bus.....but the principal did end up getting isaac onto a 'short bus' hahaha, that was able to meet up with his bus a little further down the route.....but boy, he got an earful from Ron, the bus driver, when they got to lake cowichan.  When isaac finally got into the car, he informed me that his tummy was feeling sick, like butterflies because he knew ron was upset with him....poor kid.....so, here is hoping that he can run faster than the bus can drive away next time!

Waffle Wednesday....good company....good food....pretty chill....

Boys had soccer....i left volleyball for a run {too many players on the court for my liking!}

Time for bed!!

Destined to be friends?

This is the first shot that launched my blog way back in 2005.....

 And here were their future friends......

Tuesday.....April 24th

Here i sit....welcoming the staff who drive in to start their day at work.....Andy...then Jim..then Kelly....Paul came in earlier to meet the septic truck...they have a crappy day ahead of them {haha}....I watched Jon and Mel leave with the students on their way to their breakfast out at Pioneer House....Chris drove the boys into school because he wanted an Ice Cap, so he isn't back yet.

I am working on my womens retreat, i have already spoken to a few women, slotting them into the schedule of activities from here...i am listening to a very intriguing radio broadcast about the cancer curing abilities of hemp oil here....and i read a really great blog post here.....

Laundry is next.....maybe some cleaning....some reading....and before i know it, i will be leaving to pick up the boys for their piano lessons. 

On another note....things have been very quiet on the Jose front.....

Monday...

Poor Elliot got burned really bad on his good, middle finger last night!!  Man, that kid can hollar.....he didn't fall asleep til almost 9 last night....busy keeping his finger in ice water, or with an ice rag on it....this morning when he woke up his whole finger had white blistered sores on it....poor thing....guess thats why he screamed so much last night.  So, though i am not the most sympathetic mom, i did say yes to him taking his stuffie on the bus....hope he doesn't get beat up!  So cute....

After drop off.....i did my favorite river walk....alone.....S was sleeping cause she was up barfing all night...R was still sleeping when i called her....and Court, well, i wouldn't dare open her door since i know how important sleep is to her..... though it turns out she was up 15 min later....but i had a good talk with my folks and my sis on that walk.....

When i got back....i saw that all the boys were at work....

Sunday .....

After church, Chris and i left our kids here:

 To pick up this:

 So we could get back for the hockey game:

and cuddles:

Oh my, this baby melts my heart....so does her mom, i like her alot.

So good day of good church (minus hymns), good deals (crisp $50 for a $$$ sweet dryer!), good friends, good food.....overall, it was a good day.



Ghost Protocol....

Chris and i banished the little ones this evening to the upstairs while we watched Mission Impossible 4 tonight......it was one of those 'long days' with the kids where they seemed to be asking for something on an average of one demand every 5 minutes.....you can do the math if they have been up since 7:30am.

Hence....Banishment by 6pm.

The movie.was.awesome.

I love that these 2 men hanging out the window....were being held on by.a.woman.

Oh yeah! She was awesome.....she was my favorite....not only could she save these 2 heavy guys from falling out the window (SO realistic! i mean, she just held onto the one guys PANT leg!!) .... she also knew how to slap a man and how to ninja kick.

In other news....we bought a dryer today.

No Way Jose......

Meet Jose.....he goes with isaac to school these days....snags a ride on the bus in isaacs backpack in the morning and gathers a crowd at recess with all his little dances and antics.

Jose has been doing a really great job at telling the boys stories at the end of their days....he isn't my favorite though as he demands there be no 'Senorita's' in the room while he tells stories to my boys...little un-nerving some little mexican puppet telling stories that i was not allowed to hear....but chris was allowed to stay....so i let it slide.

But today, Jose pushed it a little further by stealing my seat AND my phone before i got into the car before we left for garage sale-ing......i don't think so Jose.....

 He may have stepped over the line with chris this afternoon too....chris was only

gone a second to check out a garage sale and came back to this......

I will say one thing for Jose.....he is fast.....

but he always wears his seat belt....

Obsolete Librarian.....

I dropped Max and Isaac off at soccer this evening and thought that i may as well stop in at the library while i had a few moments to kill.

So, i looked around, grabbed a few books and sat down to read for awhile....it was nice....then i got up to go and check out a few that interested me.....

But as i approached the desk, the phone rang...

uh oh......yup, she answered it.....sigh....

So, here i am....waiting....ready to go.....giving her the polite, yet impatient 'come on lady...nobody cares about the font on the computer screen that you are talking to that person about'...come ON!!!!'

Out of the corner of my eye, i see an older gentlemen pass by me to the section where you pick up your 'holds'...yeah, thats right...you don't even have to TALK to a librarian now to pick up your holds, they are out there on the shelf!

So...i see him grab his hold....{hmm...thats a weird sentence...}....and head over to another computer.....where i also see him scan his OWN card....then scan his OWN hold {another weird sentence}....print his OWN receipt and walk out of the library...without uttering a WORD to another person.

So...tonight i learned that my librarian is totally obsolete!!!   Yes!!

S*Bucks vs T*Ho's.....

Who do you think would win?  The Frapp or The Ice Capp??

Just a little Jot and Tiddle from this side of the B*Urdges......as we wait for boys to finish their piano lessons.....Chris got beat up as he walked out.....you can see why....can't you?

Mel and the Fox.....

Yes....just for fun....Mel and I run up onto strangers decks to take pictures with their fox.....

Mel and another fox.....

Just a few pictures of Mount Washington...

When this blog goes to print in a few years, i wanted to make sure i had a few shots of this wonderful past weekend!!  Here are some of the favorites!!

This was a 'slight-looking' hill that ended up being terrifying!!!

Elliot decided to take the hill on his own....unfortunatly his crazy carpet ended up spinning around and catching an edge....throwing him nose over toes down the hill.....poor guy.... 

Brett turned 26!!!   

 The Easter Bunny {Evie} spoiled everyone....here are the boys on their little hunt!!

 Isaac loves Brett.....given a chance, this was what isaac would do.

 We have lots of summer shots together....but here is our first WINTER one!!!

 'Don't you think about it Elliot'......

 Evie......

 Isaac loves Meg....again, if given the opportunity, this is what he would do!!

Snowshoeing with my love.....

 They couldn't agree with who could sleep on the top bunk on the 2nd night.....so...this was the compromise.

 Isaac snuck up at 11pm after the bunny had hidden all the eggs......

 Ross had a series of negotiations with the boys.  Very enjoyable to watch.....by the end, Ross had lost everything including his easter basket.....note isaac has 2 full baskets in front of him.  

Perhaps a rematch next year Ross?

 Brett and Meg shovelled a ton of snow before we all arrived......

Easter Weekend at Mount Washington

The long walk.....

Amanda is my walking buddy....has been for years {aside from a 2 year, shall we call it 'sabatical'...}....but we are back on 'track' as you can say.....and last night was our longest journey to date.  We began at 5:30 and i walked back in the door at 7:45.....well, i should say limped back in the door at 7:45.....

She is scared of the outdoors.....mainly bears and cougars....so i was very appreciative when she offered to do my favorite river loop trail first since it was still very daylight and she was feeling brave.  This is what we were in for:

 Starting up walking with this girl has been challenging due to our little sabatical...but we have been using this time on these walks lately to finally really talk about what happened and we are both wanting to re establish this friendship and last night i was really reminded why. 

Here is the scenerio: 
We are getting to the end of our walk...and my knees are screaming at me {we had just finished River Road ...or should i say, that river road had just finished me!!!  agh..steep downhill is not kind to knees!}....but i was beginning to limp and this girl looks to me and says 'we can take the road back, or we can take the trail because its shorter and will be easier on your knees'...but is offering this token very hesitantly because, as said above, of her terror of bears and cougars......i accept her offer, and as we are climbing the hill, {crawling up the dirt bank more like it...}, i say to her "i don't know why you are nervous....you will have no problem running faster than me at this point when the bear comes after us....."  It takes her a minute to get what i just said....but when she does, we are still climbing the hill, in stitches....laughing until our stomachs hurt....and this is why i have missed her.

Easter Tradition at the Burdges

We actually didn't get a ton of pictures of the adults that were around that afternoon....but these kids sure had fun!!!

Each year, the Burdges graciously open their forest to be a magical place where the grandkids (and many of their lucky friends!!) are invited each year for an Easter Egg hunt!!!  Here are a few of the pictures from this really fun afternoon.....

Marg and Gordon bought all the candy while Jenny contributed the hacky sacks, chalk and playdoh in the shapes of colorful eggs, pencils and twirly tops!  It was wonderful.







Pre-Hunt picture of the hunters!!!

{missing were the Fitzpatricks!  they got lost.....}

 Oscar leads the pack in the first heat....smalls start the hunt first......

 Mediums start second......look at the sheer determination!!!

 Wren and her friend filled their baskets so quickly, that they decided to

 re-distribute their haul in the forest for the smaller hunters.....such sweet girls.....

 I just love this shot of Liv....so serious and so beautiful......

 We always take a pic of him here...but i can't find it in past years posts!! But here is the video is did find from 4 years ago here....oh, such sweet memories.

 Oh little imp.....she is so cute....isn't she??

 Fav shot of the day!!

"Grandma!! WAIT UP!!! "

 {please note that my son is WAY off the ground!! and check out the wind through grandma's hair!}

 oh, me and this girl....C...we have been doing this for years.....you are one special friend...

i love that i have pics of our kids doing this since 2008!!

 Spring is here.....and it couldn't have come sooner!!