the lives of erik and lisa...

HFMD is for….. read on.

2012-02-07T16:34:00.001-08:00

The last time i wrote on here was the dahlia post, and really, that was about my plants :) It didn’t really tell anything about what we’re up to and man has a lot happened! Well, maybe not so much, but it feels like a lifetime ago, that time before the girls got sick. I know Erik's probably going to scoff and snicker when he reads this (go ahead Erik :), but the reality is that one of us has been home full time with sick kids, and the other of us has been home the last three hours of all the weekdays… Let me begin by saying that we beat Isabel's night terror waking, and have now weaned her down to only one of the two main lights in her bedroom (sarcastic claps for us..) but, the key here is she’s fine, and isn't waking us up anymore! Yay! Unfortunately Marin decided that things were going entirely too well and to throw some teething mayhem in there… So she hasn't been sleeping so well since just after Christmas. Up a few times a night needing Tylenol or a re-tuck, no big deal but still, getting woken up three times in a night sucks even if you don’t have to stay up.

Anyway, so I've been a bit exhausted by that, and then Isabel starts throwing tantrums about weird stuff. Like going to the dentist….. crap. We went once and she was terrified even though she’s been before. Weird. Anyway, she just gets weirder that week, not eating, complaining her teeth hurt, crying over EVERYTHING…. Turns out she has Hand Foot and Mouth Disease, a common and rather contagious kids virus. No treatment, just Tylenol to cut pain. Incubates 5-7 days, then comes on gradually with a low grade fever, lack of appetite and lethargy. Isabel didn’t get any of the normal calling cards like rashes or sores on the hands and feet, but she had the worst bad breath ever, swollen and bleeding lips with sores breaking on them constantly, as well as a tongue with pustules on the tip. Poor kid was miserable, exhausted, and couldn't eat anything that wasn't liquefied. It was awful. Looking at pictures online after she was diagnosed i felt sure Marin had a mild case of it before Isabel and we just never knew, but then, just after Isabel fights her way back to good health and returns to her happy, cheerful self…… Marin gets a fever and goes off food…. yeah, turns out she hadn’t had it after all but, no fear, she has it now…

So that’s where we are right now. Isabel is in great health, and Marin isn’t eating, has a consistent low grade fever, is crabby and fragile, has sores around her mouth and swollen dark gums. I am so tired of crying children…. Isabel spent what felt like a whole day just crying in my arms on her worst day, and that seems to have broken something in me, because now with Marin crying over every little tiny thing, i just feel like someone dropped a big wet blanket of exhaustion over my shoulders every time i hear the beginning of that wordless anthem of misery. I feel very helpless and i think that is even more frustrating for me. I can’t do anything but Tylenol and holding. Almost there Lisa, you’ll make it through.

Anyway, enough. She started on Saturday evening, so hopefully by this weekend it will be over. In more uplifting news Mom and i spent our annual night together getting away to Harrison Hot springs Resort! I know, most people go with their husbands/partners, but no, i go with my mom :) We like to just chill, sit in the hot tub for hours and talk and talk :) We’re good talkers :) It was fabulous. I brought along my new antique necklaces and actually ended up selling one to her! We both got compliments on our jewellery when we went out for supper that night :) It was wonderfully relaxing, we both got a full nights sleep, a great breakfast at the resort and lounged in the pools till 1pm before heading home. Thanks mom, once again it was great :)

Today is Tuesday, and here i am at Cannor nursery, out for tea by myself, and the reason i can do that is mom and dad took both girls for night tonight. We’d booked it a few weeks back, and i didn’t think it would work for Marin, but after wrangling out a deal to leave my youngest and rather fragile daughter up the mtn for night, for the completion of the pruning of mom’s raspberry patch, a deal was made and the resultant exchange accomplished!!! I know who the winner was on that deal, but i try to maintain a humble facade. Anyway, so that’s where i wrangled the time to go to the bead shop (a veritable nightmare with two loose children) and get some replacement Swarovski crystals for one of my necklaces, as well as for the stop in at Cannor with my laptop. Cannor Nursery has Wi-Fi if anyone cares :)

Well, Erik is going to be arriving home in about an hour and we’re going to (luxury of luxuries!) go out for supper just the two of us. We’ve kind of quit going out for supper with the girls right now. We don’t have much of a budget for going out, and when we do, we like to enjoy the experience, and face it, small kids being asked to sit quietly for over 3/4 of an hour. Yeah, its not happening, and really, do i expect that from them? No. They’re fantastic kids, but that’s not quite in their realm yet :) Sushi is their favourite going out food, but tonight they’ll just have to miss out. Marin isn’t eating anyway and I'm sure they’re having much more fun up on the mtn with mom and dad :) Thanks again mom and dad for taking them and giving Erik and i some time together. Mom, dad’s right, i came out way ahead on that deal. Next time I'm up there and the weather’s not nasty, if you’ll watch the kids, ill try to move some of your wandering raspberries back into your rows for you :)

I’d wish everyone a happy weekend, but it only feels that way for me right now :) Happy Valentines Day in advance instead! Who knows, maybe if Marin isn't a clinging baby monkey i can actually get that valentines day craft done with the girls before the day comes and goes… maybe.

love lisa

Update: I didn’t get this thing out yesterday as I forgot my camera up on the mtn, outside, overnight….. in the rain…. ooops. It survived, my parents survived Marin at her worst, and Erik and i had a fantastic supper of sushi, and then rather decadently went out and bought ice-cream and root beer for floats! We watched a terribly depressing movie (Animal Kingdom..don’t watch it for a good time…) but enjoyed our floats, and i enjoyed sleeping the night through! The girls are napping, i am just finished uploading pictures, and the day is almost done again :) Time flies. Tata and enjoy the dearth of pictures!

Up the Mtn

Harrison Hot Springs Resort

Our House

Below are just some old pictures i took around Christmas. The burned out but scarily enough, still functioning igniter from our stove, then new craigslist range hood installed and looking rather swank :) and then Erik working on his toboggan sketch he was going to work from. I laughed so hard when i saw that :)

Erik reading bedtime stories with a boa boa, the girls eating lunch, and Isabel in Erik's boots.

A beautiful sunrise over Mt Baker, Marin after eating Oreo's whilst shopping with Erik, and the awesome fish we got from Al and Marj after their Mexico trip!

Above is more cute Oreo face, and my bird tree. Below are my three new birds i got this year :)

We had a big snow dump in January and had a great time out in the snow. Made a sled run of our stairs which was pretty slick!

Above is the girls helping me bake, and Sophia over for a tea party (oops Marin!), and the girls ready to brave the snow!! Below is the yard clothed in beautiful white, and Isabel tasting the snow. No yellow i said…

Above is our fort i made out of driveway clearings, and me and my snuggly two! Below is Erik on bath duty and the girls having fun in suits

Above is Marin reading the newspaper (thanks babe…) me making bread with the girls help, and our chicken eggs! We get about 3 a day id say on average. Below are Marin and Finn, and the girls having a picnic in the “perfect picnic spot!” as Isabel put it.

Above Isabel had this whole imaginary frog thing going, so dad came down, brought a 10 gallon tank and in went the “pet frogs” with a water dish and a log to hop on. Below are some antique teacups i unearthed from storage downstairs for Rachel’s baby shower this weekend, and Marin smiling up a storm for me :) And, below that is Marin’s first attempt at eating yogurt on her own, with predictable results :) What a sweetheart.

Eowyn & Gwen’s 1st and 3rd Birthday Party

Grandma’s Birthday Party

Mom’s Birthday Party

Mom turned 57 this January, and we had a brunch at our house with David making soup, Jaime making scones and bread, and me in charge of the cake with Isabel helping decorate :) We had a fantastic time! Dad fell asleep while we were all visiting afterwards so we took some pictures. Hahahahaha. Serves you right dad :)

D is once again for Dahlias

2012-01-21T18:30:00.000-08:00

Another season of the garden has come and gone. Apple tree pruned, carrots sown, gardens weeded, raspberries fertilized, dahlias planted, blueberries picked, apples eaten, potatoes harvested, bouquets enjoyed, pumpkins picked and roasted, the vegetable garden finally picked clean and prepped for winter, and the apple tree once again pruned. I’ve come full circle.
It’s interesting how each year differs from the next in a garden. This last year was so cold and wet that most of my early sown veggies bolted (went immediately to seed) which was quite discouraging. I was not to impressed seeing as i made the effort to get our there nice and early this year. Came back to bite me that… Anyway, yes, things went a little differently than id though, but after loosing the bulk of my raspberry crop to a freak hailstorm breaking down my row, and throwing my hands up in despair at my 3 sowings of spinach that never made it, i realized that gardening is an ever changing and evolving thing and I'm just going to have to let that go.
Now that I'm finished embracing the death of the garden for this year, I'm moving on to putting up my annual list of dahlias for sale for the 2012 season, and i think i have some pretty cool ones on offer for this year :)
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Once again it is first come first serve, so send me an email of which dahlias you want ASAP, and when i split them in march, I'll work my way through in the orders in chronological order. Ok, since i got one or two people ordering dahlias from me from last year’s Dahlia post, i need you to reorder now what you want, because some of you wanted varieties i no longer have. Thank you!
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Since i was rather ruthless last year in my divisions i do not have as many divisions as last year, so if you really want something, jot it down and send me your list or be prepared to substitute. I ran into this issue last year and i think that this time around, unless i hear from you that you do not wish me to substitute, if i am out of a variety, ill hunt down the most similar dahlia i have to your original choice and put that in your order instead. Again, if you’re picky, just say no substitute :) I’m picky, so i understand.
I’ll bag and tag orders in March, and have them ready for pickup in March/April. As i have two young daughters one of whom hates car rides (not naming any names… MARIN!!!), orders will be pick up only, unless of course I'm visiting nearby and i can drop them off :) Pay in cash when picked up, and i think that’s about it.
So here we go, enjoy browsing through my 2012 selection!
Dahlia’s are $3.00 each, or buy 5 and get the 6th free (my choice)!
Dahlia Verities for sale (left to right)

Cornell: deep red ball dahlia, medium size. A classic red color that isn't coming across so well in the picture.
Normandy Painted Pearl: small and extremely beautiful and on long stems, opens in a range of sunset oranges inside with petals being scarlet/fuchsia on the reverse. My bright little jewel of a dahlia.
Rocco- a tiny formal ball (2”) in deep royal purple.

Arabian Nights - Deep dark chocolate burgundy. Very floriferous, earliest to bloom, a medium sized semi formal ball shaped flower.
Nuit De’Ete (Night at the Opera) - the same color as Arabian Nights, but in cactus form. Medium flower & long strong stems!
Jessie G. - a fantastic purple with burgundy depths medium size formal ball. Love this color.

Grape Frost - Small single collarette flowers in deep purple that fades to tips of pale pink and a collar of pink/white. Dark foliage.
Jean Marie - Large clear mauve flowers with white tips. Waterlilly shape. A very striking flower.
Suitzus Julie - A small clear purple flower with a long-lasting bloom.

Lauren Michelle – a small, light lavender flower with a deep purple reverse. Jaime’s favourite :)
Misc. Pink Fade Ball- a tiny formal ball(2”) in deep fuchsia with white shading. Don’t know where it came from but it’s awesome!
Fuzzy Wuzzy- a small flower in hot pink with white tips. Not a fantastic bloomer but it makes me smile so i keep it.
Elsie Huston – a very large, bright Fuchsia pink flower. I love this one :)

Mingus Tony – a medium size, variegated red/pink flower. Looks like raspberry and a very popular pick.
Misc. Deep Pink- a large, solid bright deep pink flower on long strong stems.
Firemagic – a medium flower in a fantastic blend of mauve, fuchsia, and yellow. Beautiful and unusual.

Liz Anne- a medium flower, clear pink, and very very floriferous.
Chilson’s Pride –a medium sized, clear pink with a creamy white center. A very soft, beautiful and pastoral flower.
Tiffany – a medium sized semi cactus shaped flower with Salmon pink at the tips fading very beautifully to cream/yellow tones inside. Becomes even more beautiful into the fall when the cooler nights intensify the colors. Mixes beautifully with almost any bouquet color.

Pam Howden – a medium bloom in wonderful bright sunset shades or orange and hot pink. An Australian flower with a waterlilly shape.
FernCliff Copper- a medium flower, orange with slight purple hints on the reverse, and absolutely fantastic for fall color.
Nonette – A medium flower, in light yellow fading to peachy tones with very fine variegations in red. Waterlilly shape.

Tyrell – a medium flower, with a light creamy peach yellow color, wavy petals, and pale pink on the reverse. A subtle mix.
Misc. Peach Orange – a Medium flower in clear yellow with fine detail of red fading to peach.
Ferncliff Lemon Kiss – a Small flower in the brightest lemon yellow. A collarette with white collar. Showy blooms. Best collarette at Fraser Valley Dahlia Show in 2010!

Hamari Accord – A large bloom in a bright clear yellow. Good form. Semi cactus.
Pat Feary- a Medium flower in a Pink, peach, yellow blend. One of my favourites! Mixes with everything. Love the broad striping in this waterlilly.
Sandia Showboat – a medium flower in creamy white with a pale soft yellow center. An understated stunner in the waterlilly shape. My favourite for 2011!

Carl Chilson- a medium flower in pure creamy white. Very floriferous. A white classic.
Misc. Giant White- a Giant white flower with a very beautiful shape. This one is about 10 inches across.
Misc. Opal Ball – A small formal ball in creamy white with subtle mauve edging. Very delicate color. A no name from Mrs. Sweeney.

Mission Mist- a small formal ball (3”) in a clean lavender color. Very delicate.
Misc. Purple Fade – Another no name from Mrs. Sweeney, and a hit! A medium flower with pale yellow at the base of the petals fading to mauve at the tips. Reverse is deep purple. A fantastic flower. So glad i found it :)

That’s all folks! Thanks to everyone who visited my flower booth on 2nd and bought some flowers, and i hope to see you again this year! :)

...and a Happy New Year!

2012-01-03T16:36:00.001-08:00

and... it's over. Christmas, that crazy hectic time of socializing, frenetic shopping and cooking is gone and done for another year. My 31st birthday too is come and gone along with the stomach flu that seems to like knocking me down every other year on my birthday…. This year though, that's going to change. I've finally had it with my crappy birthday (Dec 29th), and am going to pick a new date for myself. I'm sick of the experience of either being sick on my birthday, having to cancel the party because of bad weather, being too tired to celebrate, or.. having everyone else be busy or sick for it. It sucks.... Mom and dad, you guys made a terrible choice there with conception dates......

Ok, I'm done ranting about that :) Now lets progress the new and fun things in life! Marin has mastered two new life skills. The ability to either nod yes, or shake her head no to answer direct questions, which is a wonderful new communicative advancement! She’s also learned to, by herself, climb into the car and sit herself down in her car seat! Yay! Not really a time saving measure, but she get’s such a big kick out of it :) When i clapped and applauded her first attempt and success she chortled happily in there, very very proud of herself. My little big girl :) My biggest girl is also learning new tricks but they’re not quite so exciting. Just before Christmas she developed an overactive imagination and started being scared of monsters in her room, and having bad dreams :( Poor babe. It’s no fun for anyone. It started with her waking to go to the bathroom, and then she was scared of going back into her room because it was too dark. This then spurred her to go around the whole house turning on all the lights so she felt safe, and then she’d sit there and play for awhile until she started calling for us. Once she got up in the night, and because we were both shot from Isabel's waking's and Marin's teething wakeups we let her be down there. Mistake! She played happily for a few hours or so and then called us when she wanted us to put her back to bed. She was a disaster child the next day.

We have tried various night-light, and combos and settled on her main room light over the piano, and a tiny night light on her dresser and the kid-proof knob on the door so she couldn't get out. Ok, this is going on way too far… Let’s just sum things up by saying that through us going down sometimes 3 times a night to reassure her in her crying jags, and keeping her contained in her room so she didn’t stay up all night playing in the living room she’s gone 6 nights of 7 without being scared and needing to wake us :) She doesn't like to talk about her being scared, but invents ridiculous reasons to call us down to just sit with her a minute. Some of the best were, when asked what was wrong “I needed you to come down and cut the tags off my pyjamas, i needed different pants on, I wanted you to clean the poop out of my potty, and i was hungry and need you to make me some food (3 am…HA!)”. Sometimes she didn’t even have a good one made up yet, but would sit there saying “I need…. i need….” Yeah, she needed it really badly :) Anyway, things are looking up. Now i just have Marin’s teething wakeups to contend with. A motherhood.

Something that’s been at times hanging over me has turned into a wonderful excuse to get out and enjoy the great weather. I finally pruned the big old apple tree in the bottom garden :) It took me 4 days total, but it looks great now, and today, after 3 days of watching the kids trip and fall flat out on my tangles of pruning's, i went out and bundled it all up! The tree looks fantastic, my tendinitis is only mildly effecting my wrists, my lawn is no longer a child trap, and i saved a handful of “whippy sticks” to stir the “witches brew” aka my barrel pond :) With the advent of this beautiful sun I've noticed two things: that my windows were FILTHY with hand prints, the marks of Christmas stickers as well as smears of chocolate, but also that even though i am itching to get out there and garden, id better not as it’s apt to get cold yet and i don’t want to expose everything. As much as i enjoyed the death of the garden in Fall, I'm read for rebirth now :)

Our Chickens are loving winter, as I'm not to stressed about them doing too much damage to a dormant garden :) All 4 are laying, and id say we’re getting about 6 eggs every two days. Black Beauty is our most loyal layer (Cuckoo Maran), and that’s a good thing because her eggs are the ones Isabel always wants to eat! Isabel is eating a lot more eggs lately, which is pretty cool :) She likes them fried and on a sandwich, or in “Ponyo soup” aka Sapporo Ichiban, scrambled with sausage and cheese, and of course made into cookies. Yum! I am so glad we got these chickens. They make my day :) When i was down picking up sticks today they are all clustered around me inspecting my work, all of us in a clump of about 5 feet. They are such friendly fellows :)

I don’t think I'm going to go into the elaborate family Christmas’s, but i will say we had a great time at both. The warkentin Christmas evening was so much fun with all the kids but Marin and Laila really getting into the spirit of it :) Isabel got a fantastic playmobil set with cows, which is something she’s been asking for forever. She loves them :) Loves rampaging about with the bull, who protects the mom and baby. Marin got some playmobil as well with some baby unicorns that have somehow attached themselves to some regular horses, but that’s the fun of playmobil! They also got a joint present from al and Marj of a wooden play kitchen, which they’re both enjoying :) All us big kids got some little gifts and then a surprise monetary gift which although a total surprise, is also very welcome. Thanks guys, that was very very generous! I am not one to spend Christmas money. I accidently opened our 2009 and 10 Christmas money spreadsheets today and saw that i had spent about maybe a fifth of my money for the last two years :) Big spender… that’s me! Hahahaha… anyway, this year, i don’t know if ill spend it all, but i actually have something totally frivolous i want… my vintage rhinestone jewellery. I’ve collected randomly at garage sales, thrift stores and flea markets when I've found something worth buying and in my rather meagre price rang, but now….. :) I’m enjoying once again being obsessed about something :) EBay and i are currently best of friends. Hahahaha.. Erik's laughing me, but i don’t care :)

Way back in 2004 i made a fantastic find of a vintage rhinestone “Sherman” necklace, and it was just lumped in with a lot of junk jewellery and fakes at the Abbotsford flea market. I bought it for $28 bucks (stole it more like..) as they had no idea what they had, and when i decided to sell it as i didn’t really like the colors, i used eBay and sold it for $528.00. We were totally blown away. I was ecstatic :) I must say it’s pretty freaking exciting having something special and unique for sale and watching the ensuing bidding war :) Anyway, my point is that in 2004 i had a pretty good grasp of what vintage rhinestone jewellery was worth, but now, it’s worth a lot more… Necklaces that would have sold for $80, are now going for $125-175. It’s crazy. It suck for me, but hopefully this a trend towards them becoming more valuable as time passes. I’ve now made two purchases, one necklace, and one necklace and earring set. Oh, and i bought myself some used out of print Bill Peet books too :) A heads up to anyone who loves Bill Peet. His books are all going out of print in the next 7 years, and some already have, so if you love them as much as i do, consider buying now.

Ok, i got a little side-tracked, Christmas remembrances…right. So yeah, we had a very fun time with the Warkentins. Julie had my name and got me some great books, and some sweet legwarmers, but to my severe disappointment, when i tried them on on boxing day, they were super itchy. Lucky Jules kept the receipt :) Last Thursday, i took a drive out to H&M in Port Coquitlam and did some returns and Christmas shopping and not only found a cute little clip on feather and mesh hair accessory, but a great pair of legwarmers that are not at all itchy. I am currently living in them! I have had them on every day for a week now :) They’re wonderful! Everyone should own them :) Thanks Jules!

Christmas Morning with us as our own little family of four was on Boxing day morning, and it was a very fun and relaxed affair :) Isabel had put out cookies and milk for Santa the night before and was thrilled to find some presents for her and Marin with pictures of Santa and Rudolph on them alongside the empty milk and cookie crumbs :) We let the kids open first. They got some books from Ernie and Christina that they’d left here before jetting off to Hawaii (thanks guys!), some other books from Grandma and Grandpa Bergan that i bought with the money they sent out for the girls, then a book each from us, some play pots/pans/utensils for their play kitchen, and then the gifts from Santa. Isabel got the Playmobil racehorse that she wrote to Santa about :) along with a little stuffed gray mouse. Marin likewise got a little playmobil set (fair is fair) and a mouse in white. They had a great time with their stuff. We set up playmobil and after that was broken out they both wanted to sit down with us and read their new books :) Children after my own heart. We got Marin a pop up textured book about animals and she is in love with it :) Good choice me! After the girls opened, Erik and i snuck in our presents. I got a new calendar, a beautiful set of tart pans that I'd been wanting, and a very hard to find used book that he searched out for me :) I gave him a trio of giant import beers, a new shirt, and a new PC game (Batman: Arkham Asylum) i bought for him online. After presents, we sat down and had a fantastic waffle breakfast that Erik and i had prepped the night before. Yum! What a fun Christmas morning! I love Christmas with kids!

That evening we invited all the warkentins that could come to an impromptu new years cookie fry and potluck appetizer evening. We had a great time, but after everyone had left, the flu hit……. booooooo. Erik and Isabel both had sore stomachs, but Isabel went to bed no problem. I started feeling a bit yucky too so i took a bath to relax while Erik played his new game. When i got out of the tub, i went from feeling uncomfortable lying down, to vomiting as soon as i stood up. I’ll spare you the details, but lets just say that when i could hear and breath again, was when realized that Isabel had started crying. Dripping wet, still not dried from the bath and shaking in the aftermath, i went into her room to discover she’d thrown up all over herself in her sleep. I hauled Erik in to help and i stripped the bed and Isabel while he put our eldest with the helmet of vomit into the tub. She was not a very happy child.

After remaking the bed, i threw everything in a pile and told Erik i had to go lie down and i wasn't going to be coming back. I don’t think i slept at all that night. I was so sick and sore and every hour i got up and threw up so hard and fast i couldn't breath. It was terrible. I had it by far the worst, but Isabel wasn’t so hot either. She threw up in her bed again, and then Erik just went to bed with her till midnight to help her get to the bucket. Poor girl. Anyway, it was a pretty miserable night for all. Erik didn’t sleep much, but at least he wasn't sick. Marin threw up once in the night,but it was minor and we only found it in the morning :) I, on the other hand, was a wreck. It was a good thing Erik was there to take care of the girls, but unfortunately that was also the morning we were supposed to have our Kehler Christmas morning :( We called in sick and ruined everything, but my family was great, and although they all got together and celebrated the day and spirit of Christmas, they waited with presents and that’s why we ended up doing Christmas on December 31st :) You guys were awesome, and i promise we’ll try not to do that again this year :) Promise…

Unfortunately,but not surprisingly, my birthday was thus, once again, a write off. I was pretty disappointed and upset about that. It just seems like this always always happens. We had to cancel everything: the evening out Erik and i had planned while the kids went up the mtn for night( a no go with them being sick), the birthday brunch at my parents house with the Kennedys (Maud’s birthday is the 29th too, poor cursed Maud…), Quinton’s big 30th Birthday Party (another person cursed with 29th), and then the kicker… Erik was going to surprise me and take me to Harrison for the night…. What a birthday to remember :) The worst one!! Ah well, i can laugh about it now. What a gong show. I am never having a baby at Christmas time……Anyway, even thought we were on quarantine, we still managed to have some fun. We made gingerbread cookies with all our fun cookie cutters and had a good time doing it :)

Anyway, tonight is my night out, and it’s just me and my computer and a cup of tea, and of course some music :) I’m listening to Jonsi’s Go Live album, and it’s fantastic. I don’t know if Erik knows about this one, but ill have to introduce him. Even though I'm in a really great space with the girls right now (probably helped that we had people over every day so far this week :), it’s nice to get out and get this time to write. The weather has been so beautiful as of late that i haven't wanted to sit inside and write! Anyway, here’s one last thing.

Isabel story: Isabel’s sitting up on the counter with Marin watching me make bread and eating raw oats out of a jar. All of a sudden she sais “Ouch!”. I say “ Are you ok” What happened?”. She looks at her finger and says “My mouth thought my finger was food!” Oh i laughed! I love the things that kids say :) Happy New Year everyone!!

love lisa

Kehler Christmas on the Mtn (Dec 31st)

Finn sitting up, and oh! He fall down… :) Dave!

Finn and Marin getting hats made by Rachel, and Isabel opening her playmobil horse trailer! Happiness incarnate!

Above is Isabel opening her hat from Rachel, and Erik making his own hat :) Below, all the kids are opening their present from dad… a cute little kids gun! Marin’s checking it out.

Warkentin Christmas (Dec 25th)

Lots of kids, food, presents and fun :)

Erik and Isabel off to the Christmas Train in Stanley Park with the Warkentin Family

The Mountain Gather at Mama & Papa’s

This is Marin posing for the camera, and this last picture though blurry was pretty funny. The kids were all gathered at the open door where they were throwing out hotdog appetizers for Mali the dog :) What fun!!

And some going’s on at our house including our own family Christmas (Dec 26th)

These are my Christmas craft. I made soap this year! It was pretty fun, though not kid friendly. Hope you’re all enjoying them. We are!

Above is us opening presents at our Christmas. Marin’s little playmobil rocking horse, and Isabel getting her racehorse from Santa!!!

Eating waffles, and reading time!

Erik putting together the play kitchen, Marin wandering around with her whip cream beater, and Marin and i in post flu exhaustion. Erik pulled the chair with me and Marin aboard into the kitchen so we could watch the cookie rolling commence!

M is for Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-22T14:58:00.001-08:00

Alright, first, a long drawn out sigh, and a simultaneous relaxing of all my muscles starting from my forehead and cheeks and running down my tense shoulders, shaking out my hands, loosening my tight lower back and finally flexing my feet into quietness. sigh. It’s been a bit of a push December. It’s been very full up to now since the end of November, and is still going to be busy till the end of this month, but… I'm looking forward to it. Still, it’s nice to spend a Thursday out relaxing instead of slaving over Christmas shopping and gift making. These wee beasties that i made for my own small family for tree decorating day were my chief time consumer :) but they were worth it.

I decided to go with the animal theme this year, and so the horse is Isabel’s. It has beads and sparkly stuff in its main and forelock because it’s a prancing parade horse which is her current and rather spisific fixation with horses :) Marin got the little white cat with the bell as she is in love with cats at the moment. It’s fantastic eyes are curtsey of my sister Rachel who finds all manner of cool stuff at MCC. Thanks Rachel! The bird i made for myself even though Erik bought me a different ornament because of a communication error (sorry love), and even though i didn’t need to make myself one, I'm glad now that i did as I'd feel a bit left out years from now when everyone remembered the handcrafted ornament i made them in the ancient year 2011. Erik, of course, got the big bad wolf as that’s the kids favourite roll for him during most games :) They all have our names and the year embroidered on the back and i must say, I'm pretty proud of myself for getting these guys done. I’d like to make our ornaments every year, but we shall see. I’ll just content myself with a pat on the back for this year and not look too far ahead no?

We’ve been attending a wad of gatherings, and they’ve honestly all been fun! The Bergan Gather, Extended Harms Gather, Highland Church Soiree, Erik’s work party (no kids event!), the Warkentin Gather, the Kehler Christmas Tree hunt, and then tomorrow the Mountain Gather which is my favourite of the season! There’s been more in there but i can’t remember squat without my calendar these days… Erik, this is not a good time to nag me about Google calendars….. It’s been busy, but fun, and i think that living with my mother has inured and also shaped me into someone who likes a busy holiday season. You win mom :) I’d be sad if we didn’t have a few things to do each weekend! Anyway, my Christmas shopping is almost done, and though i didn’t get Christmas stockings made this year, maybe 2012 will be the lucky year :)

A few exciting things have happened in the last month since I've written, and the most notable is our chickens have begun laying!!! YAY! Erik was threatening to have a deluxe chicken dinner in the new year featuring four roasted chicken carcasses if we didn’t see any eggs by the 31st. Yes, he is a joy to live with. I said he could explain where Black Beauty went to his oldest daughter…. Anyway, crisis averted. Black Beauty, our cuckoo Maran was the firs to start laying and we know that because of her gorgeous dark brown speckled eggs :) Soon after she started, White, one of our Americana hen’s began as well, so now we have pale blue and chocolate brown eggs in our fridge and are using up the last of the store bought whites! Isabel loves to go out and collect and even though, at this point we only get the two eggs every other day, she goes out twice a day to check :)

My dearest and most anal husband made me a very nice excel spreadsheet for my chicken expenses after i mistakenly marketed this whole idea to him as a way to save money on eggs, so now, when we get eggs, we enter them into the spreadsheet and it automatically calculates how much each egg costs' us and how many more we need to have before we pay off feed/housing/fencing costs and get to the base price of Superstore’s eggs. Right now they’re running us $22 and egg, and i only need…… 967 more eggs till i get to base……. :) Erik sure knows how to take the magic out of a hobby! No, even though i say that, I'm laughing. I think it’s hilarious that he is this ridiculous and spends his time on this sort of nonsense :) Isabel has been very keen on giving eggs as presents to her friends these days and we took one to Robbie last night, and when i told Erik about it he said “What! You’re giving away our million dollar eggs!!! Why don’t you just give them a $25 dollar bill instead!” Hahahahaha…

Oh, i have a good Isabel story from this evening. She’s riding around the house on her red trike dragging her pet spider around behind her on a string (the spider is her most recent best buddy and apparently keeps the monsters away at night..) and as she drives past Erik she says “Do you know what this trike is named dad? It’s called Lightning Dragon McQueen!” Erik smiles and says “oh, i thought it was called Red Pooper". Isabel, not missing a beat says “ No dad, i call you the Red Pooper!” And i laughed! Oh Isabel, you are funny, and Erik, you are going to get a run for your money soon :)

Marin is growing in leaps and bounds these days, both in motor skills and cognitively. She says some words like “look” and “more” but that’s about her range of verbalization. If you’re going by body language though, she tells us a lot that way. She goes to the fridge and lets you know when she wants milk. She points to the sink and her cleaning cloth when she’s done a meal and ready to be let out and has mercifully quit biting us to make a point. She actually comes to me when she’s upset at Isabel about something and leads me back to show me what she wants which I'm pretty impressed with. For quite awhile she was just taking matters into her own hands and biting or pulling Isabel's hair when they’d have a tiff, but now she comes to me to deal with it, which is very cool.

Isabel is currently having a bit of an issue with the dark. She’s not using her potty anymore, just the big toilet, and this is fantastic, but at night, she gets up from her bed, turns on the light in the bathroom, ruins her night vision, and then is scared of the dark and won’t go back into her room. She goes around the house turning on all the lights and then sits and cries in the living room till we come down. We do have a nightlight in her room, but it’s too dim for her after the brightness of the bathroom, and if we give her a brighter light in there, she sits up reading at 3:30am (Tuesday night) after getting up to pee. Last night we tried giving her a flashlight, and we didn’t have to get up but she did use her little potty again. Whatever, i had no trouble trading a good night’s sleep for a rinse of the potty. What with Isabel’s fear of the dark, and Marin waking due to teething, I'm fair worn out. Whatever, one more day, and then Erik's off work till the new year, which will be wonderful!

Oh lala! I found myself a new favourite Christmas cookie recipe! I’m not really one to fuss and decorate cookies, but these not only taste great, and look fantastic, but they’re fun to make with kids :) Enjoy!

Chocolate Mint Crackle Cookies

2 oz. bittersweet chocolate
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1/4 c melted butter
1 tsp. peppermint extract
1 c flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 c baking cocoa

- melt chocolate in a bowl in the microwave until smooth
-whisk together sugar and eggs. Add melted butter and extract and whisk till combined.
- Add dry ingredients and mix till combined and smooth. Cover with saran wrap and let chill in fridge for 2 hours or overnight.
- taking a spoon, spoon out rough tablespoons of dough, roll to form a ball, and then roll in icing sugar and place on a greased or parchment papered baking pan 2 inches apart.
- bake at 325 for 6 minutes or until crackled and soft on top but slightly set on sides.
NOTE: These cookies are tiny, just single bites but very tasty! They freeze wonderfully and look beautiful. Great to do with kids because you really cant go wrong :) Mot over baking will be the only trick, but even then, you'll just get a very crisp cookie instead of a moist and chewy interior.

Anyway, even though this is my night out, I'm feeling too tired to really revel in it, so this is the end. Even though the girls are probably only just in bed, i think I'm going to go home and cuddle with my husband a little bit :)

Merry Christmas everyone!

love lisa

The Bergan Gather

me and my beautiful girls, and all of us doing the gift exchange

Heritage Park with Robbie & Ben

Robbie's tale of woe and how the training wheel fell off his new bike, and Ben and Marin taking advantage of our stop to play in the mud!

The Highland Church Soiree

Up on the Mtn

Dad and Erik enjoying some eggnog and run whilst Marin contents herself with plain old homo, and charm and Isabel reading books.

Dad and Marin enjoying watching dad’s hunting home videos, and Isabel and Marin making a gingerbread train with mom!

Our House

Tea party time, and Marin enjoying a chilly swing on a frosty morning.

Ah yes, i was taking these nice pictures of the euphorbia with the melting frost pearled on the leaves when i noticed Marin had vanished… vanished into the bowels of the chicken fence…… I ushered her out but it was too late. She was rather besmeared in chicken crap and everything was a write off, including my jacket after picking her up…. booooo

Isabel and Marin up on the counter helping me make my chocolate mint Crackle cookies… and then the left and i felt lucky that they were happy doing something else so i could quickly finish.

….unfortunately for me, this is what they got up to in the living room.. Pulled out the drawers and emptied toys everywhere so they could put Marin in the “boat”. Then it was a manger and Marin was baby Jesus and Isabel needed to feed her baby milk :)

This is us decorating the tree, be-stickering the window, and opening my ornament gifts!

My little bird tree, a pretty shot of a spider web at Candice’s house and our manger scenes.

This, on the left, is my little bull. Ask her if she wants to put her hair up and you get a big fat no. Ask her if she want’s to be a parade pony with braded mane and tale or a bull with horns, and she goes for it. Also, turns out Marin’s crib is the place to be these days :)

Getting the Tree!

We went to the same tree farm way in the back of mission that we went to last year, and found lots of trees for all of us! Jaime and Dave came for their first bought tree, and we got a full load! Thanks dad for making this a fun tradition :)

E is for the everyday.

2011-11-23T21:15:00.001-08:00

I realized with some horror that i have been rather remiss this month. Marin, i blame you… No, that’s not fair, but then what’s fair with little children :) No, we’ve been busy with birthday parties, tree planting, visiting and just the daily grind i guess. I know that daily grind normally refers to businessmen and their everyday working environment and projects, but i don’t see how what i do is that much different. I feel like i have a lot of repetition in my days : poopy diapers, snotty noses to be wiped, mouths to feed, the floor to clean after the mouths are fed…. sigh. Yes, far to repetitive…. Some days i feel as if i move from one thing to the next all day with the repeat button pressed about every hour. Break up fights, console child 1 or 2 or whoever was the recipient of the bad behaviour, and answer “why?” all day ( i have a fear that will be Marin's first word…. I couldn’t take it!!) about various absurd things like “ why mom? Why would you be sad if i pooped on you?”. I have completely given up washing my floor for the rest of their childhood as i find it far too depressing to spend an hour washing the whole house (the only downside to a completely hardwood floored house) only to watch Marin throw rice like confetti at supper time, and if by fluke Marin spares the floor, Isabel will have a milk accident or someone will throw up on it :) Yes, it really is that ridiculous. Wow, here i started feeling pretty overwhelmed by my kids and my daily life, and now I'm laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of it :) Literally, i can pack for an early morning start, and if all i have to do is get the kids in the car and bring their milks from the fridge, the 1 gallon of milk has leaked about 3 cups all through the fridge, and while I'm cleaning that up Isabel decides it would be very funny to completely undress Marin who is also killing herself laughing. Excellent! They are keeping each other happy, but oh no, here comes mean ole’ mom trying to redress the little diaper monkey who decides getting dressed is not on her list of things to do for the day, so she fights, bites and it all ends in tears. True story that. Ah yes, i love that clause that none of us saw when we had kids that says “your life is now jinxed, so get ready for us to throw you a screwball right at your head”… :)

This week has been a little hard, i know, i know, it’s only Wednesday!! Marin has been teething hard and is pretty much on a few doses of Tylenol a day and eating lots of frozen fruit to boot. I got to take a look in there two days ago without getting bit, and she has all 4 molars erupting at once in various stages of emergence. Oh Marin, ouch! Besides having a very sore mouth she also has a pretty nasty runny nose, ask my dad if you need gory details. He was pretty grossed out when he came visiting the other day, said he was sure we never did that and mom laughed and shook her head at him in disbelief. So, with all this going on she is very clingy, needy, whiny, angry, and fragile. It is amazing how hearing a child whine and cry can completely destroy you after about 5 hours. Today was better though, so that was a relief. Also, as we might be busy tomorrow night i took tonight to get out for some me time.

Last time i wrote with excitement of our impending tree planting party, and i am very excited to shout that it is done!! With tons of help from friends and family, no, scrap that, all family, we got it in!! Isabel and i took a drive over to the Kehler farm where we met Robbie, Quinton and Ernie out planting trees. The kids and i took a walk back to the tree rows and after some indecision, i picked out some likely trees. Ernie came up with the baby digger (small excavator) and Quinton with the tractor with the forklift head on it. Ernie dug out the tree, Quinton maneuvered in there with the tractor and then Ernie drove it over to Quinton's trailer, and on it went! We tied it down, and although Quinton was a bit worried about the overhang off the trailer (a good 15 feet) Ernie and i pointed out that it had built in red flags (the leftover red leaves). I ended up calling Erik to order the pizza and call in the rest of the lifting crew (Dave Kennedy) and then while i picked up the pizza, Ernie followed Quinton and the tree back to our house. We ate a nice hot pizza lunch, and then to the rousing cheers from Jaime, Andrea and the kids, Ernie, Quinton, Erik, Dave and myself pulled, and pushed it out the back of the trailer and into the hole! Straightened, filled, watered and cross-tied it is now ready to put down new roots and grow into it’s new space. I am so happy and relieved. This was the one thing, really, the only thing that was pressing in the garden that needed doing. Everything else, rock walls, moving plants etc. can be done whenever, but this was a pressure, and it’s in!! YAY! Thanks to everyone who helped us, especially Quinton for the trailering, and Ernie for the tree.

What with all the cold and wet lately I've let go of gardening for the time being. For the first time this year i only put out the bin of food compost and the bin of garbage! Usually I'm doing the recycling bags, black garbage, and then about 6 garbage bins of compost and the occasional tied bundles of tree limbs, raspberry old wood etc. It’s a relief to only do two :)

Erik’s back is still slowly mending, but we’ve reached another milestone as last week i removed the extra bed Erik built to widen ours so he and i could sleep on the same plane back when his back was too sore to have me sleeping with him. So we are now, not only sleeping in the same bed, but no more goiter bed, and… under the same blanket! I know, luxury. I actually had a hard time learning to sleep like that again. I was very used to my own blanket and it took some veiled threats to convince me that better than having my blanket ripped away from me in the middle of the night, i should voluntarily share :) So, conclusion is that his back is still slowly improving.

We start off the Christmas season with a bang this weekend with the Bergen Gather on Saturday, and then a 1st Advent supper with my family on Sunday. It’s shaping up to be a pretty busy one till we get to the 27th of December, but I'm looking forward to every event. I am especially looking forward to December 10th when we’ll go with mom and dad way back into mission to get our Christmas tree! Isabel is keen too. I love building traditions with kids! They make everything new and bright i must say. I have never enjoyed Christmas, Halloween etc. as much as i do now with Isabel and Marin.

Well, as i just nagged Erik to get going on his Christmas list, i think it only fair if i start on mine.. so Tata for now, and a Merry advanced Christmas!!

lisa

Otto’s 2nd Birthday

These pictures speak for themselves.

Ben and Robbie’s Birthday Party

The kids with their glow lights looking for treasure in the dragon cave!!

Travis being a princess, Erik, Dave and Rachel making crowns with the kids, and Andrea's cool party setup.

The AMAZING dragon cake (fantastic job Andrea!), Marin tucking into cake, and David showing off his glow rod gauntlet :)

Tree Planting!!

picking ....and in!!

Our House

This, on the left is Isabel and Marin playing in Marin's room when i got up in the morning. Isabel was “keeping Marin happy” by filling her crib up with little toys :) Got to love that! And then me, blackie and Isabel reading books.

And this is me putting on makeup with the girls. Erik documented. Note the black pict where Marin turned out the light, yes, it seems awfully fun to turn off the light a million times…

Marin on the chair, her going for the lens (a common picture in our house) and me and the girls making cookies!

Out and About!

Isabel, Emma and Marin at Ikea trying out some kid stuff!

And Jaime hanging her head in shame at Finn’s crawling at the kids festival up at the leisure center.. I believe she said “Finn’s working on his crawling” as her son lay facedown on the mat twitching :) Ah, and the face painter was there, and Isabel and max took advantage of that free service! A blue lion and a rearing stallion!!

H is for Halloween!

2011-11-03T14:40:00.001-07:00

Once again i find we’ve come to Thursday night, and it feels as though the week alternately inches by in seconds, and travels at the speed of light. When Marin is into everything, wreaking havoc wherever she goes, Isabel is fragile and prone to emotional outbursts, and no matter what i do it seems to be wrong, during these spaces i feel a little Closter phobic. At other times, we have so much fun! Today as Erik and i tried to sneak in a little adult conversation (i know, how presumptuous!) after supper, Isabel brought out her blankie and Ginny pig, climbed into the doll stroller (it’s built pretty strong!) , got us to tuck her in like a baby. She really wanted us to push her around the house, but we persisted that we were still eating, and who was there to take up the slack? Marin to the rescue!! Hahahahahaha! Yes, our little tiny baby-est girl gave a heave and a ho, and pushed Isabel around in the baby stroller. They were both having a grand time, and it made me laugh to watch them. Isabel would pull the shade cover over her, and then Marin would whip it off, and give her a head hug and then get back to pushing. So so cute. My grown up little girls….

All of a sudden while Andrea and i were out at Heritage park with the kids the other day and we let the four of them just go play in the sandbox while we chatted i realized that Marin was no longer a baby. I think before now, i just thought of her as the baby, my littlest, but she’s a walking, starting to try to talk, and extremely good at understanding (when she feels like it) little girl! Wow, where did the last year go… All of a sudden i feel like i need to be savouring this. I try to remember that always, but life gets in the way :)

Marin is understanding things like me handing her Isabel’s milk and asking her to go give it to Isabel. Off she totters drinking her bottle with one hand whilst clutching Isabel’s in her little claw :) Today i gave her something in the kitchen and told her to bring it to grandpa in the living room and she did. I can sometimes explain my way out of a misunderstanding or something where she’s disappointed or wanting something, but she has a very short fuse, and once she’s set off about something, explanation doesn’t cut it. Besides i don’t think she can really hear what I'm saying when she’s screaming that loud :) Ah Marin, you’ll grow out of it, but I'm finally finally starting to be able to handle it when you do that. I used to get so frustrated or upset when you blew up but now i can usually just take it in stride. Usually, but I'm not a saint.

This last Monday was Halloween and we had a big party and a fantastic time! This is the second year we’ve thrown a big kids Halloween party and i think this is something i want to do every year :) We invited i all the local people we know with kids as well as my parents, and this year added Heather & Jer and Lara & James! Lara and James couldn’t make it but Heather, Jer and the boys came and were a very fun addition to the group :) Max is the oldest kid we know and had a great time living up his yeti costume and chasing all the other kids around the house. We had lots of good costumes, home made and bought, and with 21 people there, only 2 didn't dress up! I was impressed! If we had contests, best kids costumes went to Heather’s little Yeti’s (max and Otto) who were the cutest snow monsters I've ever seen! Best Halloween food brought was swept away rather commandingly by Jaime’s zombie rabbit cookies and dismembered finger appetizers. Great job Jaime! Best adult costume went i think by general consent to my amazing Erik who very originally went as my dad :) Yeah, dad was busy hunting bears and couldn’t make it to Erik was mom’s date :) Andrea did a great classic double take when she saw him, Marin was pretty nervous about the whole package, and i was very proud :) Good show Erik!

There were lots of other good costumes as well as my favourites. Andrea’s fox was very cute, Marin made a rather adorable giraffe with her padded butt waggling around while we trick or treated, and Rachel’s home made Buccaneer outfit was rather fabulous! Anyway, we had tons of fantastic food, a great time trick or treating with our mob of kids, went to the local coffee roaster on the corner of our street for their free haunted house, and us adults even got shots of bourbon and cinnamon rum at one house! Ha hahaha. I love Mission :)

No really, the longer we live here the better i like it. I’m meeting more neighbours, cool fun neighbours and starting to have real relationships with a few people here. I just find it so cool that i have found friends here when i wasn’t even looking. I don’t find tons of people who i click with so every one is like a precious jewel to me.

This weekend is the culmination of my efforts in the yard as of late, and I'm pretty excited! The pit digging and heaving of ridiculously large rocks is about to come to fruition. Yeah, last weekend Erik and i spent an hour or so ripping apart the rather rambling and scattered rock “hill” beside the bottom driveway there, and weren’t we surprised by what we found. MASSIVE ROCKS! Oh my, they were crazy big. Too big to lift, for the most part, and so we rocked and rolled them to where the foundation for the new rock wall is to be. I’m sure we’re going to burn through concrete at an alarming rate trying to fill the gaps that big rocks meeting makes, but the wall is going to get built at a very fast rate with the boulders :) Anyway, back to the culmination bit! Saturday I'm driving out to the Kehler tree farm, picking a tree that Ernie's going to dig out, and then Quinton is going to haul it back to our house for us in his truck! YAY! Now i just need to bribe more friends to come over for a pizza lunch just in case the tree comes with lots of dirt and we need help getting it into the hole. Any takers?? Free pizza!!! :) Let me know!

Anyway, i think that’s all that’s in me tonight. Nighty night everyone!

lisa

On the Mountain

This is my father luring Marin to his deer head… and then when i take a picture he calls me morbid :) Well Mr. Pot, lets just say we’re even. Marin taking a turn on Takini, and Isabel down petting Fire who is turning into quite a calm guy now with Joe gone. I dare say he might make a pretty good kids horse down the road.

Halloween!!

Me and the girls sitting down to carve pumpkins. Well, Marin really didn’t do much but Isabel was keen to tell me what to do :) The pumpkins below are from left to right, Isabel’s “The Littlest Pumpkin” from that book, my big mouth pumpkin, Erik’s scary toothy pumpkin, and Marin’s little girl pumpkin.

Marin eating some supper beside “grandpa”, Otto the yeti and Ben the Cowboy out watching trains from the deck, Marin the giraffe out trick or treating and one of my wacky flower bouquets for the party.

Above are kids trick or treating, and below are some family shots attempted :) Heather, Jer and their uncooperative yeti’s :) Our family looking pretty decent, and Quinton and Andrea sans kids :) Andrea, you make a pretty foxy fox!

Above, the Kennedy family looking particularly fine, and the Buccaneer, Robin Hood and a Nurse :) And finally, the day after and going through the loot!!

Out & About

Mom, Isabel and i out at Mann Farms to do a tour, check out the petting zoo, and play in the playground, after which we went to Buckerfields (almost as much fun as the farm!) to pet the turtle and look at saddles :) Marin loves running away from me (yay..) and i almost missed her hiding in amongst the dog food bags :) That sneaky little thing…

Above is Erik at the park with Isabel, and Robbie and Isabel at Heritage having a great time in a giant hole they found. It was so great they got off their bikes, stood in it and then had to lie down to look at the sky. I love kids. They give us such a different perspective of the world than we as adults view it. Above is also Isabel at Cannor Nursery showing me that the pots are really very convenient potties….. No, we didn’t buy one for her room. No potted plants in your room my dear :)

Below is Al and Marj come for lunch and to take the girls out to the park, and Isabel, Otto, Max and Marin at the park by Heather’s house enjoying a fall walk in the forest.

Above are pictures of us at the “bucking whale” park and then Andrea, Jaime, myself and myriad kids and dogs at Heritage enjoying a picturesque fall day. Below is Robbie finding a dog hole in the field. Every hold we found he got off his bike, knelt down and began digging with his gloves and when asked what he was doing he replied “I’m digging! I’m digging for Gold!! You want to help me dig for gold?” Hahahaha. Oh Andrea, he is so wonderful :)

This is our attempt to capture us all at the park which doesn’t happen often enough. Robbie had to be called back from a ranging foray, and Isabel, just as i ran back to the stroller for the timed picture decided she was deathly scared of pictures and had a melt down which is why i have my mouth open…. ah well. Classic kid photo :) Below are some pictures of my beautiful sister and her very beautiful baby boy Finn. Maud, these are for you :)

A is for Autumn

2011-10-27T19:18:00.001-07:00

Today, i am self styled Master of Stumps! I finally, finally got out the massive cedar stumps that have been my bane since we cut them down a few weeks back. I’ve been digging, scrabbling, hacking, snipping, sweating and swearing my afternoons away fighting with them, but today i got the last one out and it was a great moment of triumph! I actually gave it a rather vicious kick before i heaved it onto the scrap pile :) Yes, that was very satisfying as well :) So now that i have achieved the sought after title of Master of Stumps, I'm moving on to Enormous Pit Digger. Yes, the next step in this rather elaborate project is for a giant pit do be dug where the tree will be dropped in. This tree, and Autumn Blaze Maple (http://www.fast-growing-trees.com/AutumnBlaze.htm) is coming from my uncle Ernie’s tree field, and is rather larger than your regular 20 gallon pot. I’m a little daunted, but i got a good start on it today after getting my arch nemesis out. I think Marin would comfortable disappear and be unable to escape from my tiger trap :) Hahahaha, i believe i just discovered what we’re doing tomorrow morning while we’re feeding the chickens ! MwaHaHaHa…… Marin you have no chance against the prowess of my pit!! On the subjects of trees, my newest pet peeve is people who plant trees too close together for the mature size to bear….. that and people who don’t signal when they change lanes.

In other news of the garden aka my constant project.. i took out all my dead wood and pruned my raspberry row! The last two years I've followed the practice of tying the canes in bundles and then arching and retying them, but that has made the berries both too high and too heavy. This year, the year of the great raspberry calamity, my whole row came down in an especially fierce rain shower right at peak season. I was rather mad about that. Thus, this year i am trying Mama’s method of pruning them to 5 feet. We shall see :)

My garden is in decline for the season. I have harvested my pumpkins, ripped out all my squash/zucchini vines, cut my dahlias down to about 3 feet to let them rest before i pull them out for the first hard frost, and have begun taking out plants that i didn't like in the garden this year :) Even though i sometimes feel overwhelmed by the size and scope of our yard projects, i am thankful we have a yard to work/play/create in, because if there was nothing to work on I'm pretty sure id be bored. Good thing we moved to a place with a ruined yard….. :)

I was just noticing how much i seem to write about myself these days. I think that now that I'm going out for coffee every Thursday and just spending the evening by myself writing, i write about things not involving my children. It’s not that i don’t love my kids, but 24/7 is enough for me :) But…. i do want to relate things, stories and their advances :)

Isabel Story: Isabel is just going down for naptime and i notice she’s peed in her potty. So after fixing the toy horse’s (Spirit mom, and he’s not a toy!) saddle blanket, i go pick up her potty to empty it, noticing as i do that there is a little coil of poop in there (great…). Isabel asks what I'm doing and i say “I'm emptying your potty Isabel”. “That’s not my potty mom, it’s a nest! A poop nest. I made it!”. She’s giggling at her own whit and I'm trying very hard not to laugh out laugh or let her see my big smile. Even if it is rather inappropriate, i love the imaginative abilities of a 3 year old :)

Mom and dad came by for supper last week and Mom gave the girls each a little model horse with real hair mains and tails, bridles, and Isabel's came with a saddle. Well… these horses have been a huge hit. They get toted to story time at the library, they have names (Spirit and Cloud), a scrap of material Isabel found has become the much beloved saddle blanket for Spirit, they get their tails vacuumed while I'm cleaning the house to “make them extra clean!”, and are in a constant state of adventure. They seem to be always saving each other from falling off tables, counters or couches. There are always hungry wolves, bears or coyotes waiting down below and a lengthy and feverent conversation between the two horses as they’re being saved. It’s hilarious :) Makes me smile to hear her going on. “Oh Cloud, save me SAVE ME!!! I’ll save you Spirit, don’t worry. I’ve got your rains, and i won’t let you fall! Cloud, don’t let me fall, there are hungry bears down at the bottom!! I’m scared Cloud!!! Oh no, you’re too heavy Spirit, i don’t know if i can hold on!! etc. etc. :) HAHAhahahaha. Oh Isabel you make me smile!

Marin Makes me smile too, but for different reasons. She has some issues with temper that are very frustrating to deal with, but we now understand that it’s due to Marin’s annoyance at not being able to communicate to us what it is she wants. It’s hard because while we’re working on finding what it is she wants she get’s angrier and angrier at every wrong guess on our parts. Having a screaming child in your arms who’s hitting you every time you offer something that’s not what she want’s can spark my temper on occasion. We were working on it and today we had a good moment of communication which made me laugh :) In the garden, she comes up to me, all agitated and very obviously want’s me to follow her, so she careens over to the vegetable garden and makes loud smacking noises and points to the block of carrots, looking back and forth from me to the carrots. I laughed :) So very understandable. Unfortunately id harvested all the carrots a few days back so we had none to pick but she seemed to understand that when i explained myself. Cool!

Anyway, i didn’t get this published last night because i was too tired to go through pictures, but here you go, some pictures of what we’ve been up to lately. Since it’s raining like mad outside right now, i figure i can give the pit a miss and just sort pictures as i watch it fill up :) Brilliant! It’s now a kiddy pool!! Maybe i should buy some ducks…

lisa

Our House

Isabel and Robbie playing by the new deck, and Marin finding my prepped hole for the plant lying behind my heel. She literally cried out with joy and dived in. Luckily i hadn't dropped my shovel full of manure in yet :) Below is Erik playing on the deck with the girls, Isabel enjoying some time with Sunny, and a lazy lunch on the patio. Erik, it’s still wonderful :) Thank you!

My final rock wall of the season planted with some new grasses from Ernie's pit, and Isabel just loving her chickens :) Erik relaxing happily on his new deck, and me and the girls about to start on carving pumpkins!

Our pumpkins from left to right: Marin’s sad pumpkin, Isabel’s “littlest pumpkin” from the book The Littlest Pumpkin from my mom , Erik’s scary pumpkin, and my experimental one :) I feel a bit gypped that i didn’t really get to carve my own face, so i think i might go out and buy another for myself :)

Happy Halloween Everyone!!

Ongoing projects

Dad came by and cut down the four big cedar hedges by the glass block window, and tried to rip the stumps out with the truck. Turns out those stumps were devils in disguise…. needless to say they didn’t come out. He also took out a piece of the tree in our patio tree which has now been dubbed a drum (see picture below of Isabel rocking out). Erik rented a jackhammer and spent a Saturday working on bits and pieces of the slabs around the house we needed gone. And Andrea, you were right, old concrete sucks….

Riding on the Mtn: Isabel’s first big trail ride!!

Isabel doing some ring riding on Fire and then on to Monty (the bay!!) who then ponied behind charm’s little Jessie. They went for a trail ride on the most beautiful of fall days on the mtn. I was rather envious but Marin needed to go home to nap, so i had to miss out :(

M is for Monster with a cold

2011-10-13T20:59:00.001-07:00

You know, even though today with Marin was a mess, and she has made me really really not want to ever suffer through another pregnancy…… listening to the jonsi and Alex album Riceboy Sleeps to which Marin was born always takes my breath away with that remembrance of the power, strength and wonder that i felt at the moment of her birth. So here’s to you Marin :)

Today Marin was a monster. She threw her little rattle plush elephant in the toilet as i was telling her “don’t touch!” before breakfast, and that kind of set the tone for the day…. yeah, that sort of day. Mom’s you know what I'm talking about. As i was putting on music, i hear the sound of newspapers hitting the floor in the kitchen and think, i don’t really care if she pulls the papers onto the floor and mucks them up, but then i hear the clink of glass wear and run off to find her standing on the kitchen table with our water jug in one hand and my tea in the other… good grief. We went out to visit my cousin Mary and Meaghan with baby Charlotte and whilst there, Marin managed to purposefully spit up many different chewed items (cucumbers, cheese, crackers) on rugs, ride on toys etc, make it her purpose in life to go where she wasn't supposed to or find the most breakable item and have a good go at it. Meltdown in the car on the way home while I'm trying to concentrate on my driving and not her, meltdown at home when i can’t find the apple she has half eaten and then secreted somewhere in the car (still have to find that) and then won’t let me put her down in the house till i get her lunch ready. Lunch was good but no so good she wanted to eat it. Luckily blackie was really hungry because Marin thought she’d like it…. all of it… on the floor. Grrrrrrrr. After lunch we went and played on the porch and that was great. Out in the sun, Isabel brought the trike and car out and they were having a good time, and then Marin falls off the bench and gives herself a good smash on the head with bruises etc…… naptime!! Wow, what a day.

Now I'm out and i think i needed it tonight.

Speaking of our deck, it is finished!!! YAY Erik! Well, it’s almost done :) We were waiting for our fancy gate latch to come in and Erik picked it up last night so tomorrow Erik's installing it and maybe doing that last little thing of trimming the fence boards on the short wall. We plan (Erik will build) to make a little kids tree fort kind of thing in our crazy out of control shrub/tree that the deck is built around, and that’ll come but we’re not rushing. We actually started another project as well last weekend. It’s been in my plans to do something about the 3 massive ugly cedar hedges that are at the glass block corner of the house, and this last weekend, i did it :) Well, dad did it :) He came down to visit us with a truck, a chainsaw and some chains and we cut them down, and ripped out the stumps! Well, some of the stumps were too solidly in there, but we did what we could. The plan is to streamline the weird and wacky fence line in that corner giving our yard a bit smoother of a flow, and then plant a large shade tree in said corner by the gate.

The glass block window gets lovely shade from the cedars in summer, which we like, but in winter it can feel dark so we figured, put in a big shade tree to provide that summer cooling shade not only to the windows but to the roof as well, and then in winter, we’ll have all that light when the tree sheds! Bonus is that I'm not a big fan of hedges especially ones that haven't been taken care of and look rather shabby. Today was the first day since the weekend I've been out in the garden and it felt really good :) The girls are sick again (4th time now) and I've been fighting it along with being exhausted from taking care of them, so it felt really good to get out there :) My parents gave us a break from them last week Thursday night (Erik had Friday off) so we got to sleep in which is more than i can say for them. They took on two sick kids, woke up 3 times at night with Marin and then got up at 7:30am with her. Wow, thanks you two. I was so worried you guys would call it off, but mom, thank you for being so capable and positive. I was ready to take them back home with me (pessimist that i am) and when you laughed in my face and said of course not, that was just what my exhausted doubt needed. Thank you. Dad, you telling me when i came to pick them up and Marin was melting down in the highchair that you had so much respect for me doing this every day for a year was really a compliment. Sometimes i feel like such a scrambling mom and you acknowledging that what i do is hard felt like relief. Thank you.

Well, this weekend i finally cut my hair. I gave up on it back before Marin was born and just let it grow. All of a sudden last weekend i wanted a change. I went in intending to get something feminine and short, easy to style and instead i cam out with a long haired mohawk and a big smile on my face :) I know it’s not for everyone, but i love it! It makes me smile, and though i like long hair on lots of people, i just felt like one of the herd. Erik called me a goat but he really likes it too :)

Other new things… hmm, oh, last weekend when Marin was at mom and dads, she woke up those 3 times at night and mom got up to resettle her, but by the time she got up and downstairs Marin had put herself back to sleep! She was still waking up 2 times a night at home, but after mom’s hard knocks night, she sleeps through the night every night! YAY mom! Sorry it had to be a hard one for you but it’s sure nice for me :) Though Marin can be stubborn as anything, no one said she wasn't smart. It takes her almost zero time to learn something. It can be good (as in sleeping through) or it can be bad (learning she can get up on the tables by pushing her little chair up to it). So i am now sleeping through the night and Marin is pushing chairs around the house in search of new and more dangerous conquests :)

Anyway, this place (The Wired Monk on North Parallel) is starting to really fill up, and i just got a whiff of burnt coffee so i think that’s my queue to leave.

Nighty night everyone, and hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving!!

lisa

Ps: i was going to put some pictures on here but didn’t have time to download, quality check, upload etc, so here are some oldie goldies that i scanned awhile ago for a project that i never completed :) Enjoy!

A is for Alone

2011-09-27T11:31:00.001-07:00

At this very moment in time it is a beautiful fall morning and i am out without my children. My mother in law Marj is playing with the girls for 2 hours while i go out and breathe :) Yes, she is wonderful. Thank you Marj, today i really badly needed this.

Last night was really rough, Marin was up a lot and i don’t exactly know why, but about every 2-3 hours. It could have been teething…..it could have been her cold….it could have been the insulation she found and pulled out of a little cubby upstairs and scattered all over the attic while i was unloading fencing boards from my car….i don’t know. Whatever it was, it sucked. It didn’t help that recently, after going off birth control pills i seem to be having the occasional bout of indigestion which keeps me awake at night. That sucks as well. For someone who is still a little bit sick with a cold, unwillingly staying up till 2 am isn’t on my list of things to do… Hahahaha, what am i talking about, there are many things in my life i don’t want to do/deal with that are forced on me :)

Other than my crappy sleep last night, things have been a little quiet as of late. The girls have been sick with maybe a 1 week break since the end of August. I’m not really into taking vitamins or supplements, but I'm starting to think i should maybe put the girls on something. Taking care of sick kids is rough, not only because they’re not sleeping so great, grumpy, snotty nosed etc. but the part that kills me is not being able to go out and see all our kiddy friends. I mean really, who wants to come get a cold when you have kids… no one, especially since so many people we know are pregnant now. I think being pregnant and sick while taking care of your first kid is a hard enough chore without adding a hacking cough and a stuffed head.

As i write that our social life has been quite i realize that’s not quite accurate. The girls and i went up the mtn last week Monday for a crepe lunch at Mama’s house. We saw Jaime, Andrea, Sonya and all their kids, and had a great time. Mama, thank you so much for that. I felt bad that you wouldn’t let any of us help you in the kitchen, but it’s so hard to actually visit these days, and you made it so easy :) Thank you. Delicious crepes too!

I also hosted a mtn girls lunch at my place as two people (Sonya and Rachel) were in town visiting from their far off locals. There were 9 of us who grew up together on the mtn, and 7 of us were there! Only Melissa (in Toronto) and Jenna (working) couldn't make it. 7 women, 10 kids under 3.5 years :) It was busy, but so much fun :) Even though i am sometimes frustrated to the chaos kids bring to your life, at other times (maybe when i have more rest/energy…) it is an utter delight to watch. The chaos, confusion, happiness and upset is just such an amazing experience. Even though there are people out there who choose not to have children and i agree with that personal choice, I'm glad we chose otherwise. My kids push my boundaries, shatter my comfort zone, destroy my schedule, and even though it drives me crazy sometimes, in the end it’s good for me. Makes me stretch and bend in ways I'd never do otherwise. Even though we are raising kids, walking them through this journey of life and trying to help them become good, honest, kind,strong individuals, i think that there is almost as much change going on inside me as well. Children change you, and it’s up to us to decide if it’s for better or for worse.

Ha! Enough :)

In more exciting news, Erik's back is improving, and though not in leaps and bounds, it’s steady! We are now sleeping in the same bed (gasp!) he doesn’t stand bent over like an old man anymore, and has started a new project! Erik made the decision he was better enough, and decided to rip out our side deck (the one off our dining area). The deck was falling apart rotten, literally. We had plywood pieces on top in the spots where id stepped through it. Pretty terrible. Anyway, so that’s gone, and now he’s in the process of building us a new one :) The joists are down, the decking is all on, half of the fencing is up, the gate is done, and now we’re on the straightaway! I am so excited!

It’s now 7:30pm and my 2 am bedtime is all caught up. Add to that the fact that Erik had to work an hour late today, and I'm done…. It was a good day, but I'm ready for bed now. Nighty night world!

lisa

Lunch at Mama’s

Mountain Girls Lunch

Our House

eating apples that i knocked off the apple tree at the park :) Erik would have done it much faster but i managed :)

Isabel and Marin at our kid table together, Me and Marin in the bath, and Erik and Isabel having hot chocolate at the kiddy table :)

This was Marin’s first tea party where she got to hold her own cup with real tea in it! She did great!

Isabel visiting her precious chickens :) She spends up to an hour in there cuddling them.

Visiting

I love kid faces :) Emma and Isabel were priceless!

Summer, you were a blast!

2011-09-22T17:09:00.001-07:00

I uploaded these pictures about a week and a half ago, and then on my night away from my family, i had coffee with my sister Rachel instead :) Oh well. I’m trying to live life a day at a time and not limit myself to tasks to get done. I haven’t written on here in what feels like ages, and some new and very exciting news is that Rachel and David are pregnant!! YAY another new cousin for the girls!!! We are all very excited :) They’re due in early March so there’s something to look forward to in Spring! A little earlier in spring, end of January in fact Candice and Travis will be expecting a little brother or sister for Emma, and she is one stoked big sister :) Exciting!! Any day now Erik and i will once again become an uncle and an aunt as Dave and Julie are due at the end of the month :) Yes, babies are in the air, or in their mothers bellies, but i hope it’s not catching because i don’t want to be pregnant right now :)

Ok, even though i might write with energy, that’s an illusion. The girls have both been sick on and off since the end of August and Erik and i have caught it too at times and that combined with Marin's teething is making me a bit crazy/depressed/exhausted/wrung out, so I'm just going to leave it at that and say enjoy the pictures :)

Hope everyone had an awesome summer because here comes Fall!!

Lisa

At home

A personal low moment as a mom (the girls watching DVD’s), me out for breakfast on our 10th anniversary date day, and Erik pulling apart the old rotten deck!

deck destroyed, and Erik and the girls in the pool :)

Isabel and Marin playing peekaboo over the living room fort, and Isabel painting her feet so they went ‘faster’

Isabel also transformed her sister into a work of art, but as Marin made no protests, i left off freaking out :) She then demonstrated how to pain her feet properly. Put some marker on a paintbrush and brush it on your feet! How easy!!!

a frazzled me with my beautiful work of art Marin, and a rather mischievous looking Isabel :)

My filthy walking Marin out exploring the yard.

Picnic suppers out in the back yard :)

Me and Marin snuggling after an evening bath in the pool, and Erik and the girls picking dahlias

My living room in a rather regular state of fort, the girls ‘dressing up for winter’ as Isabel called it and Erik and Isabel reading books in the fort :)

Erik and Marin all dressed for winter by Isabel, and Isabel cradling her baby zucchinis. I LOVE yellow ones!!

The girls drinking milk together, Isabel getting into my makeup drawer and the liquid blush, and then enjoying Swiss chard from the garden in her new kiddy house!

Isabel feeding Marin her bottle, and Marin enjoying herself with balloons

Here’s a nod to fun patterns :)

Me and Marin snuggling, a sleeping babe (rare sighting) and One of Isabel's playmobil setups with Toothless the dragon all set to go on a picnic, carrying all the food he can in the wagon and what he can’t fit on his wings :) ingenious!!!

The horse watering hole, Isabel enjoying her beet leaves (seriously!) and Marin combing her food through her hair… sigh.

Two happy girls with their blankies watching me cook supper, Marin fallen asleep in her stroller at the Mission Fest in downtown, and Isabel playing boat in the shoe drawer.

Little cast iron animals we gave the girls for the garden. The tops come off and they can store treasures inside! Also dry bath time (Isabel's on the pumice phone) and tea party on the coffee table :)

Isabel and her new best friend, a cat from down the street :) and Marin eating blueberries.

And this is the tale of the broken unicorn. The horn broke off and Isabel melted down, so i offered to repaint it, and nothing would do but a bay, so that’s what we did :)

Indy’s 1st birthday Party!

Max’s 5th Birthday!

Robbie and Isabel shooting their first gun!

The garden in September

some of my favourite dahlias from this year :)

The picture on the right isn’t so amazing, but the rose bush you see is the amazing bit. I planted it as a stick last fall and it has become a beautiful, healthy, flowering, scented weed, and it love it!!

On the Fraser