A Wedding, A Move, A Beach and A Party!

To say these past few days has been busy has been an understatement!  We finally moved on Mon and it all went really well.  

But before that happened, there was some wedding fun!

It was our last time at Fort Steele and soaked it all in, of course I had to snap some last few photos of one of our favourite places.

Did I mention that we moved???  Well, on the way we stayed in Revelstoke and enjoyed a very yummy dinner at this cool burger place.  It was warm so we ate outside...

... had ice-cream...

... and then enjoyed a whole litter of puppies that were resting at the park nearby.  They were travelling from Vancouver to Calgary with their mom and older sisters who were in a dog show.

We have hit the beach, done the parks, gone to the library and are remembering how much in rains here.

There has also been a late birthday celebration for our littlest.

All in all we are doing good, tired, but good.  We are excited that we have started this new adventure and can't wait to see what God brings us.

Another One for the Kimberley File

Saw this sign after dropping the kids off at school today.  Then driving home needed to slow down for a deer near the highway.  Tried to go bowling last night with friends but it was closed for a few days, gone on vacation I guess.  Finally walked on the "Bench". There is hunting gear in the basement of our friends that are moving in. Have to tread carefully outside because of the mounds of deer poop and our flowers are getting eaten already.  I am gonna miss this. 

Ramblings

So, we are now 5 more sleeps till we leave.  It is coming so fast.  We spent yesterday cleaning like mad, packing, moving things around.  The rest of the week will be full of the same plus squeezing in last minute playmates for the kids.

B is home today from school with a cold.  We figured what would she miss??  It is cute, she is reading J Man a dino book right now.  Her reading is really good, she surprises me at how proficient she is.  She is reading chapter books that Cici is reading too!

It is sunny today, the weather may turn worse for the weekend which will make both the wedding Paul is doing and the move interesting.  Oh well.

Paul was changing our address with... well, I don't remember who, but it was online.  He was asked about how we will be living.  Here were the options.

Renting?
Owning a house?
Living with your parents?

Well, I laughed pretty hard that living with your parents was an option.  They didn't ask if you were living with friends or even relatives!  I don't know which I find funnier, that living with your parents was an option or that we had to check that box!

Our water here is pretty bad right now.  We are on boil water advisory, the water fountains at the school are all covered up and there are water coolers there for the kids.  This happens every year but this year seems worse.  Even boiling the water for ever for tea still makes some really nasty tasting tea.  The creek that runs through town is raging and brown.  There was so much snow this year that it doesn't surprise me.

Our cable is off now, it is preparing us for my parent's house which doesn't have cable either.  Watched a great season one MacGyver last night, he was drugged and only had 6 hours to get the remedy before he died, he was of course saved by a homeless fishing teen girl.  Awesome!

Still cold here in the mornings, the heat went out last night and it was FREEZING in here this morning.

Well, off to make some bottle water tea and get going on our busy day.

Our last lazy day

This is how I spent some of my day today.  We had an emotional day yesterday as we said goodbye to our church, then we stayed up till midnight watching Survivor.  As a result we were tired today.  We woke up and got the kids off to school, then headed back to bed, got in a quick shower then headed to Cranbrook for some last minute errands.  We hit Starbucks and this is how it was spent, holding a very tired J Man and sipping my mocha.  We enjoyed our last lazy day, tomorrow the work begins and the countdown is on... 7 more sleeps till we move!

The Talent Show at School

Friends

She is sure gonna miss them.

Deer Tooth Faree

Her First Tooth

It finally happened, her first tooth is gone!  She wiggled and wiggled it till it could hold on no longer.  She lost it while in gym at school today.  When they loose a tooth at school they give them a cute necklace to put it in, unfortunately she lost it anyway.  She is as we speak, writing a note to the tooth fairy.

On other news, I am trying my hand at manual focusing, need to learn a lot especially at f2.2!

More Birthday Fun!

This afternoon after the girl's came home from school, it was party time.

There was a dino dig in the sandbox, we opened presents and then we had friends over to share in the dino cake!

We had the cake made, it turned out really cute.

Our birthday boy is tired and now in bed but he had a great day.  Happy Birthday J Man!

Look Who's Three!

He is three!!

We asked him what he wanted to do today and he said he wanted to see horses.  Where do you see horses around here, well of course, Fort Steele.  So, off we went this morning, it was sunny and warm, a perfect day for a birthday!

Here are the horses.  He feed lots of them.  We assumed the one lying down was just napping.

This cat always comes running over to us to cuddle.

The cat was way more happy than he looks in this shot, honestly it was purring and loved the cuddles.

The birthday action has just begun, we are planning on having Jude do a "dino dig" in the sand box, open presents and have some friends over for dino cake.  The cake looks pretty cute, will post pictures later of all the other fun!

Found Treasure

This sweet nest was found this morning by Beaner.  It was lying close to the road, we can only assume that it blew out of the trees, it has been very windy here lately.  It amazes me that a small bird could construct something so sturdy, so perfect so sweet.  We returned it to one of our trees, perhaps the same bird or another bird will find our Found Treasure and make it it's home.

Toebucks

Can your toes do this?  Mine can't.  While we were cutting J Man's nails today, he showed us that his big toe can actually act like a thumb, it was really weird and is still freaking me out!  Big Toes Up to J Man!



Cici drew this picture a long time ago, but as Paul is clearing out his office, it was found and is being taken tomorrow to Starbucks.  I like it.  Maybe that is Paul and I enjoying a tall Pikes and a tall Earl Grey Tea Latte with a yummy treat too.

Stubborn

I can be stubborn, I have seen others be stubborn, but I don't think I could have imagined the stubbornness that can come from a small child.

J Man is, at this very moment, on the potty.  He has been there for close to an hour.

This is not a usual thing.  For some reason when I asked him to go pee when he woke up, he wanted ME to take him off the potty and bring him downstairs.  I told him that he could come off on his own as I needed to go wake up Cici for school.

That is when this potty standoff started.

Oh, it just ended. I hear him coming down the stairs, I will be right back.  Actually on further inspection he is off the potty but still upstairs not willing to come down.  He did however show his displeasure with all this by throwing some of my clothes down the stairs.... I will have to deal with one thing at a time.

What is a potty standoff?  Well, as I have just learned, it is when a soon to be 3 yr old wants his own way and will sit and scream for close to an hour on a very uncomfortable potty till he gets his way, or in this case and all other similar cases, he gives in.  See, we have made a very clear point that as parents we will not give in, even if it means a small child is sitting on a potty for an hour, or a small 2 yr old Beaner is at the bottom of the stairs for and hour and a half.  In her case, she wanted me to help her up the stairs but my hands were full so I told her that she can do it herself, which she had done hundreds of times before!  That standoff also ended with her climbing the stairs on her own and eating her cold dinner that we had eaten and hour before without her.

We learned all about stubbornness from our oldest and learned many valuable lessons from her.  She was, and still is, very independent and still struggles with believing that everyone should cater to her, that she should be the first, the centre, the important one in this family.  God is testing her now and we are finding there are lots of times lately where He is teaching her, mostly through us, that her heart needs to change.  I am reminded even though my role as a parent is very important, when it comes to heart issues, God does the work, we just try to guide our kids towards Him and His changing power.  A good reminder for me swell about my heart and my own stubbornness and selfishness.

Ok, on to lighter things!

I did a "Goodbye Photo Shoot" with Cici and some of her friends the other day.  It was a way of her and her friends having a good time together and then having a memory book of the pictures.  Not all her friends could make it so we will do another one soon for them.  I didn't want to put pictures of her friends on here so here are some that I could share.











Well, J Man is still not downstairs, any wager on how long it will take him to fully give in?  It may be a long day.  At least the potty is free again.  Beaner is home from school for the second day with the stomach flu.  I think she is turning around and may try food today.

There is a talent show at the school next week.  Both our girls want to be part of it. Cici auditioned yesterday, she is going to do animal imitations.Beaner's audition will have to put off to Fri but she is going to play a song on the piano and sing.  I am shocked that she wants to do this, and more shocked that she isn't scared at all.  She told me that they will need to give her a mic so that "they can hear her in the back"!  It will be fun to see them both do their thing, I will make sure to record it!

Off to check on the whereabouts of J Man.