Num-Nums

Liam has a good appetite and declared all I made today as 'num-num'. I tried two new recipes from PW's cookbook. Chocolate sheet cake and apple pie. Both were easy and turned out pretty well. The focaccia bread is an old stand-by recipe from MGCC. I make it often and we love to eat it with soup, pasta or just dipped in oil and balsamic vinegar.

Nine Again

He actually wanted two candles left lit after he blew them out. Apparently there are two special girls at school he's thinking about!

Chad chose this as his birthday cake for the family party. Black Forest Cheesecake. Excellent choice...it was divine!

Running out of Ideas

Here I am resorting to making Nathan do 'lines' for the most recent infraction. I'm totally out of punishment ideas that actually work. We'll see, in time, if this was even remotely successful!

*Note the spelling error. I've always thought avid readers were good spellers. Not true.

Liam's Sunny Sunday Afternoon

Oh...thanks mum for the raisins. I love snacks.

I love them so much that now I am going to dump all my raisins on the patio! Then I will eat them off the patio.

Then I will go bother my father as he is trying to do a project with the gate. I love taking lids off markers.

I'm also pretty sure my dad needs help with the hammering. Yes, this is exactly how it's done.

And now I will fuss and cry because my mom's fancy reclining sun lounger has me at an angle that is most distressing. Wah wah wah....here I cry while my mother takes pictures.

And that was about 10 minutes of Liam's sunny Sunday afternoon.

Do I Know You?

On the actual secretaries day we received roses, chocolate, a gift card and a custom calendar commemorating our special day out the week previous. We flipped through the calendar enjoying each page and reliving the memories. And on the very last month we saw this.......


OH MY!

Salle De Bain

It's finished! View my lovely new bathroom....

New tub, tile, flooring and baseboards. Keith did all but the plumbing and painting. I'm really proud of him. He's a perfectionist so things may have taken a bit long but the finished bathroom looks amazing!

Not Just Bathrooms

Not only has Keith been busy renovating the bathroom but he also made this gorgeous trim to give the livingroom and dining room some separation. I was feeling somewhat neutral about this project but now that it's done, I love it!

Over and Over Again

We made a big mistake by letting Liam take a spin on the 'Zooma' a few weeks back. Now he thinks he owns it and makes it very clear we need to take him on rides over and over. You should just see the tantrum he throws when we tell him he's all done!

Pretty In Pink

Yep, I most a photo of my pink backyard every year and this one is no exception! Once they've all fallen we'll have the pleasure of scraping the petals off our hot tub cover, steps, deck, windows etc.

Nine

Chad had his best friend overnight for his birthday. Since we had church first thing there wasn't time for pancakes or waffles so I treated them to 'junk food' cereal. It was a hit!

They've been friends since they were born....I hope they always stay close.

Lego...always a hit with Chad. He plays with Lego daily. No exaggeration.

And a very cool book all about Lego and it's history. He poured over it all day.

Nine candles this year. Bye bye booster seat in the car. Stupid car seat laws (ooops, did I just say that?!).

Chad's big surprise was going that afternoon to see the Harlem Globetrotters. I'm not sure exactly that he was thrilled once we got to the areana but after he understood what it was all about I could see he was really enjoying himself.

These guys are hilarious and very talented at what they do. It was my first time seeing them.

Yep....birthdays are done now for a bit. Keith's at the end of the month and then Liam's after summer. Time goes too fast!

Ever Heard of P-Dub?

We found out that one of favorite bloggers (www.pioneerwoman.com) was coming to the Seattle area for a book signing. There was no question in my mind that this called for a road trip! I rounded up my girls and off we went.

This was early. Too early but we wanted to make the most of the day. Some of us were so excited we couldn't sleep. JILL! We all have our cookbooks ready to be signed.

This was lunch. Yum. Yum. Yum. English toffee caramel apple.

Oh how I love to laugh and chat with my girlfriends. It's soul therapy.

Oh my dear. We witness a boy in a passing car getting his fingers pinched in the power windows. Sounds dreadful but it was absolutely hilarious!

Whee I got my ticket for my place in line at the bookstore. The whole event was very well organized. We were relieved we didn't have to stand in a line outside or anything like that.

Kori has the 'procedure' sheet for the signing event. After we got our tickets we headed to Alderwood mall for a bit of shopping and a quick bite to eat.

The bookstore was huge and there was a lower part of the building which could sort of be called a mall. There was a gym, drugstore, fishing tackle shop etc. We hung out down there until our group was called up to wait in the actual signing line.

Here we are in the actually signing line up! Getting close, getting sweaty, getting VERY excited. Unfortunately the temperature in the store was unbearable and we were SO hot!

Woot! Woot! We made it! She is lovely. Gracious. Kind. Friendly. Even her 'people' were wonderful. They didn't rush us and made us feel very welcome. What a great experience. We brought her Canadian maple syrup which she thought was very funny. We chatted for a few minutes and then it was over. It was totally worth the wait!

One of the highlights of the day was meeting these sweet gals who were lined up ahead of us. Bethany and Kristle were friendly and we totally bonded over our shared love of PW! We've exchanged emails and blog addresses and it would be great to stay in touch. If you are reading this ladies, it was wonderful to meet you!

And there it is. My signed book. Ahhhhhh.....the day was perfect in every way.

Thank you to the husbands that stayed home and cared for the kids. Your wives appreciated it very much!

Stuck

Nathan climbs the cherry tree in our backyard often. I think to get away from Chad pretty much. Chad decided it was his turn. He scooted up just fine but could not get back down again. Instead of helping him I thought I should take photos and blog it. I think he might still be out there.....

My 'Super' Man

The boys seem to like dressing up Liam. As you can see, Liam doesn't really seem to mind it at all! He wants to be a superhero.

Unforgettable Adventure

I consider myself a hard person to surprise but today I was 'got good'!!! Hats off to my very crafty and sneaky admin people who planned a most fabulous 'secretaries day' for Marci, Val and myself. I can't remember the last time I had this much excitement!

The day started off with a fire drill. Yeah right! It was my first drill and I was concentrating very hard on doing things right. I did notice that it really seemed to be a chaotic drill...not at all organized. Looking back now there were clues it wasn't quite the drill it should have been. I should have clued in first of all when I heard a fire truck arriving on scene. They generally don't attend drills but I didn't really pay much attention. Then the fire truck drove onto the field towards the middle school. Now this was most unusual but again nothing suspicious entered my mind. Then my co-worker shows up and this is her day off....again....nothing! Then all of a sudden the students have all lined up making a path for us to run through and to end up right at the fire truck. Val caught on right away as she has been 'surprised' many times before. I soon figured it out and my heart started to race and I knew that this entire day could be VERY interesting! I had heard legendary stories about these 'secretaries days'!

There I am making my way through the cheering students. As you may well know I don't really like to be the centre of attention...eeekkk!

Next thing I know, there's a waiver being pushed into my hands to sign. What the heck are they going to DO TO US?!?!? Just then I spotted Keith! AHA! The sneaky little imp. Marci's husband is a firefighter too and was there. Ooooohhhh...good planning guys!

We all had to get into the turnout gear and race to spray down the 'fire'. I sadly didn't come in first place but it was very fun all the same. Keith said I ran like a girl in my gear. Of course I did...I am a girl, thank you.

Okay, I was timed getting this on and went as fast as my nervous hand would let me. I had an audience of over 400 people! I was praying that Keith's pants would go over my hips! It was a snug tug but it worked. Phew....spared some massive humiliation there!
And off I ran to put out the fire.
Luckily there is a firefighter with the same last name as Val so we all got to wear personalized gear. Very cool!

All I can say is that this was the most fun surprise ever! I bet Keith never thought he'd get a photo of me dressed like this!

Smooch! Thanks for being able to be a part of this Keith....what a great memory.

After we were done, they loaded us up into the truck and drove off. We were still in our gear and had no idea where we were heading. My first ride in a fire truck too...it was fun!

They dumped us off at Lepp's Farm Market, took our gear and drove off. They left us with a clue in an envelope and a bit of money. We headed inside for a drink and sat down to figure out the clue.

There was a test in the envelope we had to complete and the answers made up a phone number. We figured it out pretty quickly (with a quick call to Val's husband for a bit of sports trivia) and dialled the number. The voice on the other end just said they would pick us up soon. Eventually Heather and Jeff (Principal & VP) showed up and took us for a very loooong drive. We had no idea where we were heading at all but had lots of fun guessing. We ended up in Agassiz at a Tulip Festival. It was beautiful.

We had fun wandering the fields and admiring God's perfect designs. It was great. The rain held off for which we were grateful. After buying us a each a bouquet of tulips we hopped back in the car towards our next adventure. The clue read: Row Row Row your boat IN the Fraser River. Hmmmm....after a bit of discussion we finally figured out it was Rowena's Inn and yes, that's where we headed for lunch. It was very very good food and we all enjoyed having lunch and good conversation. I had smoked chicken quesadillas which were so good and so filling that I didn't eat dinner tonight. The salad was also delicious with a mango vinagrette dressing. Mmmmm! Sadly it was time to head back to school at this point and we arrived five minutes before the bell. We were happy to see that the parents who manned the office for us today had a good time and there weren't any major incidents!

It was a wonderful day and it's been such a huge blessing to work there. I'm so grateful that God put me in that job!!!