Routine

Since I work 30 hours a week and am also the chief cook and bottle washer at home I need a routine.  Without a routine my life would be (to me anyhow) very stressful and chaotic.  I thrive on predicability and order.  Some people would not like this at all but for me it's the very definition of sanity.

I do the same thing every single Wednesday.  Laundry, vacuuming, groceries (meal planning and the list is made Tuesday night),cleaning the bathrooms and often baking a batch of buns.  It takes me most of the day as I often have other errands to run, Liam to entertain and kids to pick up from school.  It's also the day I make any sort of appointments for myself or the kids.  Plus I like to make a good dinner on Wednesdays so there are decent leftovers for lunches the next day.

Keith does help out a lot with stuff around the house and thankfully never thinks anything is just 'women's work'.  He generally makes dinner on Fridays too which is a nice break.

By doing things in this fashion I feel organized and calm which in turn makes our home life a lot more pleasant for everyone!
This also leaves our weekends free for doing whatever we'd like as opposed to being filled with household chores. 

How does your routine work?
Do you even have one?
Do I sound like the most OCD person you ever met?
Maybe don't answer that last question!

Take Me Back

I was enrolled in gymnastics while I was in grade one.  It was a bit of a joke.  I despised it!  I desperately wanted to be in ballet.  Ballet didn't frighten me like gymnastics.  I was terrified of the balance beam, uneven bars and rings.  The only place I felt safe was firmly planted on the floor mat.  I excelled at sommersaults.  They were safe....and easy!

Good Job Team!

I'm really proud of my family.  That pile of tree branches was completely overwhelming but with two days of hard work now behind us, it has been completely taken care of.  We cut, sawed, clipped and bundled a whole lot of tree. 

The first day of dealing with 'the pile' the boys had overnight guests.  Their parents told me to put them to work if I wanted, so I did.  They were all good sports and after a solid hour of helping I set them free to play!  In this picture, Liam look like he's going to take a bite of of that stick and Andrew looks like he can't quite believe how big that pile of branches is!

 Day two and we were back at it.  As you can see from the truck in the background,  we inspired the neighbors to prune their ornamental plum trees.  Actually everyone was out in their yard working like little bees today.  It was a very friendly atmosphere.  About six neighbors came and thanked Keith for pruning that over grown cherry tree!  They were very complimentary...about the job he did.  He does have an artistic eye so it is pruned into a nice shape.

 Liam had his own 'special' way of helping.  Let's just say he was there for entertainment purposes only!

And here is Liam with the final bundles all ready for the yard waste pick up truck on Tuesday.  Thank goodness for Keith who is handy with knots and was able to bundle up the branches quickly and neatly.  We also have about 10 full yard waste brown bags to add to that so the truck driver will have his work cut out for him!  And what a glorious day it was on Saturday.  Toasty warm at 16 degrees which is great weather to do yard work.  Our wonderful neighbor lady even brought us some warm, fresh from the oven muffins to give us energy to finish the job.  I have to say that this neighborhood is all that a neighborhood should be!  I love it.

Overdue Trim

At our old house we had a massive cherry tree.

Much to our chagrin, our new place also had a massive cherry tree!   We decided that it needed a haircut in the worst way.  Keith rented a saw and after about 4 hours had this tree looking neat and tidy again.

 Going

 Going

 Gone

Now, what to do with these branches.  Anyone have a chipper/shredder they can lend us?!

Pardon Me?

This gift didn't come quite in time for Nate's actual birthday but he didn't mind.  You cannot imagine his excitement about this item!  All I can say is watch out...you could be his next victim.

Escape

We had a wonderful 3 days at Harrison despite icy rain, sleet, a fever or two, a tummy upset, a puking incident, a scraped face in the pool, a hard mattress and a stuffy room!  Honestly...we really had a great time!  These things are just all a part of 'family vacations'.

It was stunning when we arrived Monday afternoon.  I wish the mountains would have shown up in my photo better.  You'll just have to take my word for it.

Sunny but awfully cold.  No mistaking that spring is not quite here yet.

Chad and Nate took turns sleeping on the floor.  Such is life with three children in hotel rooms built for four.

Liam enjoyed sleeping with his big brothers.  I'm not sure the feeling was entirely mutual!

Tuesday morning, after breakfast we decided to brave the elements for a walk even though it was a nasty day with lashings of icy rain.

A little rain never hurt anyone and the promise of spening the rest of the day in the hot mineral pools was a good incentive.  We swam and swam and swam....and then swam some more.  The pools were certainly busy which is always entertaining for people watching.  I didn't take my camera to the pool except on the last morning since I was worried it would get wet or stolen or dropped.

Our package included the buffet breakfast each morning in their restaurant.  It also included a pizza dinner with beverages delivered to our room one night and a pay-per-view movie.  We had never ordered a movie at a hotel before and I was blown away to see  normally that would be a $15.99 cost!  Are you for real?!  We watched the recent Muppet Movie and it was horrible.  So glad we didn't pay a cent for it!

On the final morning the three boys enjoyed one final dip before check-out.

 The lap pool was not as warm as the family pool.  Chad begged me to go in at least once and since I endevour to be a 'good' mom I went.  It was a chilly lap of swimming and I was very happy to run straight back to the 85F degree water pronto!

Liam had many 'rides' and certainly enjoying swimming.  It tired him out beautifully too...bonus for us!

Nate and I opted to hang out in front of this grand old fireplace in the upper lobby during the guys' final swim. Very cozy.

So, we did have a 'warm' holiday this spring break after all!  We really enjoy going to Harrison Hot Springs and hope to get back there again soon.

The Celebration

We treated Nathan royally on Sunday.

 After church we took the family to Moxie's for lunch.  It's just opened up here in town and I would recommend it.  Very good food and a cool atmosphere. 

 The kids were all 'wowed' by the volcano dessert with dry ice!

 Then we had the family over to celebrate Nathan.  Instead of all just sitting around and visiting as per usual, we organized some games.  Keith and I found some really fun ideas on the internet and we all had fun!  We mostly used challenges from the 'Minute to Win It' site. 

 I had to piece together a cut up cereal box against my father-in-law. 

 Nana had to toss pennies in a bucket along with Nathan.

 Grandma and Chad went head to head trying to tie a string on a pencil only using one hand.

 Murray and Nate had to balance 8 books on their heads only using one hand.

 Andrew and Murray against each other trying to pick up pencils and standing them on end using straws as chop sticks!  It was very fun and a nice way to have a few good laughs.

 The rest of the party had the typical activities.  Opening gifts.

 Eating, of course.

And singing Happy Birthday to a very fine young man!

Take Me Back

I loved playing softball back in the day.  Just loved it!  Actually I always enjoyed (and still do) team sports.  I don't think we were very good but we sure had a good time!

Security System

Our very own super hero protector.  He's available for hire, if interested.

14

March 18th, 1998

Two young parents without a clue what they were in for!  And now my 'baby' is 14 years old.  Good golly.  I'm speechless.

Happy Birthday Nathan!  And for the record you will always be my baby!

St. Pat

Today everyone is Irish!

Our dream is to return to the Emerald Isle one day....just the two of us!

This morning we paid homage to St Paddy's day with green pancakes instead of a traditional Irish fry up.  As tasty as it would be,  without the 'authentic' ingredients there just is no point!

Green Monster

Among my least favorite character traits I possess in the 'green-eyed monster' of jealousy.  It most certainly isn't an all consuming feeling nor do I feel like it's out of control but it does rear it's head now and again.  With all this nasty cold weather I have been feeling a bit envious of all the families I know that have escaped to warmer climates for spring break.  I am happy for them....don't get me wrong!  Everyone deserves a break.

I have so much to be thankful for, that the feeling never stays for long.  I just need to start counting my blessings and I can immediately see that feeling sorry for myself is just plain wrong.  One main thing I am happy about is that last time this year I was packing up for a big move.  Now we have been in our home just about a year I am so thankful for it.  It is a wonderful house....a house I had always hoped to have.  I am also super thankful that we are all healthy.  I don't just mean from colds and flus but from the bigger illnesses out there that strike without warning. 

Even though finances are now tighter I am thankful that we can send our kids to a fine Christian school where they are getting more than an academic education. 

So, even though we are sticking it out at home for spring break there is no way I am going to wish I was elsewhere.  I truly have everything I have always hoped and dreamed for.  I just need to remind myself now and again!
And not all is lost as we are having our own mini-vacation next week and the destination is very warm!

Giant Puzzles

As much as Nate and Chad would be content to play video games or watch movies all spring break, this mama doesn't feel the same way.  I have been trying to interperse some other forms of entertainment into their week as well.  We ordered this puzzle from Chapters with some gift cards the boys had leftover from Christmas.  It was a good, challenging 1000 piece puzzle that we enjoyed piecing together.  The thing is that now I have an urge to watch 'The Titanic'.  The boys aren't keen but if they only realized how often I watch movies of their choosing that aren't exactly up my alley!  Yesterday we caught a matinee of 'Journey 2 The Mysterious Island' and while it was pretty good it wouldn't be a movie I would have watched if it hadn't of been for the kids!  So, I feel like I am completely justified in making them watch Titanic with me...even if my copy is on that old format called VHS!  I hope our VCR still works :)

Why Not Bake?

Yesterday we had every kind of weather.  Snow, rain, sunshine and hail.  Oh, and there was a cold wind for most of the day as well.  I suppose since it's technically still winter it's allowed!  Since being outside was not very appealing I decided that my own baking storm would happen indoors.  A positive outcome is that I will have a very stocked freezer and won't have to bake again for a long time!

 Peanut butter cookies.

 Chocolate dipped toffee cookies.

 Rainbow chip oatmeal cookies.

'Dad's Cookies' (chewy spice cookie with coconut, oats and craisens).

Take Me Back Tuesday

Oregon Coast

1984

One of the very few store bought items of clothing I owned was that Mickey Mouse sweatshirt.  I loved it.

My mom sewed practically ALL my clothes.  It was very upsetting to me.  I understand now just how tight finances were for my parents.  It's such a pleasure to buy my kids store bought clothing now since it's not something I was able to do until I earned my own money!

Another memory about this picture is that fact I wanted desperately to run barefoot in the surf.  I'm sure it was cold but kids never feel the cold, do they?  Under no circumstances were my parents about to let me take off those supremely ugly boots and prance around barefoot.  As a recovering rheumatic fever patient, avoiding strep throat or any sickness really was paramount!

Phone Camera

I just dumped my phone pictures onto my computer.  I only use the camera on my phone as a back up so here's a bit of what's been happening with us.

 Back in the begining of February we had a nice warm spell in which it felt like spring was actually on it's way.  It hasn't felt that way since.

 Mid-February we had a family service at church where the kids sang in all the services.  This is the last year of choir for Chad as it only goes to grade 5.  The service was family-oriented which meant instead of going to Sunday School they all sat through the whole service.

 He and Justin were 'ushers' during the service handing out activity pages to kids who couldn't quite sit through a sermon.  Thankfully there were still classes for pre-school age children!

 During a chilly walk at the park, Liam chose to run on the grass and immediately slipped in the mud.  He looks rather distressed here because of two things.  He had just received a firm tongue-lashing for disobeying me about not staying on the path and secondly he doesn't really like being dirty.  Since this was at the beginning of the walk, we just perservered and he eventually forgot his leg was caked in mud.

No walk around Mill Lake is complete without walking 'the wall'.