Over the summer, we enjoyed working in the garden and the great outdoors. We also hit the local Children's Museum. Here are the boys standing under the ALBERTASAUROUS...in honour of our last province of residence.
Sunday, October 9, 2016
Catching up...
Now it's time to catch up a bit...with photos!!! YES!
Over the summer, we enjoyed working in the garden and the great outdoors. We also hit the local Children's Museum. Here are the boys standing under the ALBERTASAUROUS...in honour of our last province of residence.
A good time was had by all. We also took in a "living history" event at our local museum. They did demonstrations of various guns and even a canon!
Copper Princess was less than impressed with the loudness of the canon. The boys, on the other hand, thought it was pretty cool.
LOTS of re-enactors there.
They got to try on some of the World War 1 era equipment. They found it heavy and hot!
Right before school started, I attended an ASL immersian camp up north...it was all adults. (SO NICE!) The scenery was STUPENDOUS, the water warm and I loved swimming in it!
That tarzan rope in the distance was a blast and I can't wait to do it next year...as many times as I can possibly fit it in!
Little Dude began horseback riding lessons. He took a break in September, but he and Munchkin just started up again for October. They both enjoy it a lot and Little Dude has mentioned a few times how much he's looking forward to having his own horse. He's got a ways to wait!
Copper Princess is growing up. She LOVES the iPad. This is something I'm thankful for sometimes and other times wish she had no idea what it was.
Heading into October, we harvested our chickens. Family came out for the day and we did up all the chickens and threw them in the freezer. I am SO thankful for a family that comes together to do these kinds of projects that are hard work!
Of course the cousins come out and play while the adults are busy with the birds.
Over the summer, we enjoyed working in the garden and the great outdoors. We also hit the local Children's Museum. Here are the boys standing under the ALBERTASAUROUS...in honour of our last province of residence.
Sunday, September 25, 2016
UPDATE!
It has been too long. Life is hurtling by at an unprecidented rate and I'm thinking it's time to get back to keeping track of it through this blog. Otherwise, 10 years will pass and I'll only remember a tiny fraction of what has been happening. Big question, Are we happy where we are right now? HECK YEAH! :) This is what life looks like for us at the moment. I'm working full time at a school for the Deaf, Big E is working full time at a local factory, Little Dude, Munchkin and Sprout are full time at the local elementary school, and our Copper Princess happily spends her days with recently retired Grandma B. We are living in the same home with Grandma B and Poppa B. Together we've got some big plans for the farm. I'll share more about those as time goes by, but they are not the kind of plans we can save up for bit by bit which is why Big E headed back to full time employment and the kids entered the local public school (no, we weren't tired of homeschooling). We love being on the farm, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Both Little Dude and Munchkin will be starting riding lessons next month. Little Dude did lessons in August and really enjoyed it, and Munchkin has asked to try as well. We have recently adopted a little black kitty (Shadow) and are looking forward to the arrival of a little orange kitty (Oliver). We need some good mousers here. :)
While the boys were resistant at first, they seem to have found their groove and are mostly enjoying their days at school. Sprout is the most vocal about wishing he could be home and we'll keep tabs on that. Hopefully after a while, when the routine feels familiar, he'll be more ok with it all. We met Little Dude and Munchkin's teachers this week and both are happy with our little students. One teacher comment that she always sees the 3 of them playing at recess, "thick as thieves" was her comment. Little Dude's teacher has caught on to his wiley ways. She said he's so quiet...that he'll just sit there quietly waiting if she hasn't assigned him anything - and 20 min will go before she notices that he's not doing anything but waiting...lol. He does the same at home! Got to watch that one! Little Dude said he's ok going to school this year, but after that he quits. We'll see how things go.
Big E had applied to work on the floor at 2 near by factories. We hoped he'd get into one of them, and we'd use his pay to save up for farm upgrades. We crossed our fingers and waited...nothing. So, one day I felt impressed to fast. So, I did. Fasted that he would get a job close to home, that it would be a good job while he needed to have one and that it would use some of his schooling. One of the factories called him that day and he had an interview set up 2 days away.
Big E went in for an interview at the nearby factory. The interview went well and the woman running the interview asked if he'd like to tour the floor. He said that he would and was passed off to another guy for the tour. As they wondered through, they talked about why we'd gone out west, what he'd done for school, etc. By the end he was asked if he was interested more in working in an office position than on the floor. [Of course he was!] He is currently being trained on every position in the factory so that when he heads to the office, he understands the production and be able to do whatever it is he'll be doing-I'm not 100% clear on what that entails. Amazing blessing for us!
I am enjoying my work at the school. Feeling excited about the potential of my new little class and happy with where things are headed over all (we're only 2 weeks into the year). I'm trying to carefully balance the time I need to spend for my students, the time I need to be home, and the time I need to spend working on my own health (ie-running). I'm 2 runs away from my 50th run. I started counting runs so that I could take note how quickly changes were happening. On my 50th, I'm going to treat myself to something special...nothing too big, but a treat. And start looking forward to doing a 5K at the end of October (which Big E will miss as he is heading back to Guatemala for the first time since he left as a toddler!!) This week I've been sick and so only got out to run once. I'm itching to get back out, but have to wait until I can breath witout coughing up a lung.
Now, farm upgrades. What are we talking about?? We are going ahead with plans to turn the farm into a goat dairy. \O/ You heard right! We started looking into it a while ago (Poppa B even longer ago) and toured a local goat dairy a couple of months ago. With Big E starting work, that means our plan is rolling forward. In January, we will be enrolled in a goat production course (either through an Australian university or a British one...we haven't decided yet). Right now, one out building is being cleaned up and fitted for a small number of goats, who we hope to welcome next spring. You'll probably see pictures popping up here and there as I show you the changes and improvements that will happen here at the farm. We are totally excited!
Sorry, no pictures at the moment....but for sure, some next time!
While the boys were resistant at first, they seem to have found their groove and are mostly enjoying their days at school. Sprout is the most vocal about wishing he could be home and we'll keep tabs on that. Hopefully after a while, when the routine feels familiar, he'll be more ok with it all. We met Little Dude and Munchkin's teachers this week and both are happy with our little students. One teacher comment that she always sees the 3 of them playing at recess, "thick as thieves" was her comment. Little Dude's teacher has caught on to his wiley ways. She said he's so quiet...that he'll just sit there quietly waiting if she hasn't assigned him anything - and 20 min will go before she notices that he's not doing anything but waiting...lol. He does the same at home! Got to watch that one! Little Dude said he's ok going to school this year, but after that he quits. We'll see how things go.
Big E had applied to work on the floor at 2 near by factories. We hoped he'd get into one of them, and we'd use his pay to save up for farm upgrades. We crossed our fingers and waited...nothing. So, one day I felt impressed to fast. So, I did. Fasted that he would get a job close to home, that it would be a good job while he needed to have one and that it would use some of his schooling. One of the factories called him that day and he had an interview set up 2 days away.
Big E went in for an interview at the nearby factory. The interview went well and the woman running the interview asked if he'd like to tour the floor. He said that he would and was passed off to another guy for the tour. As they wondered through, they talked about why we'd gone out west, what he'd done for school, etc. By the end he was asked if he was interested more in working in an office position than on the floor. [Of course he was!] He is currently being trained on every position in the factory so that when he heads to the office, he understands the production and be able to do whatever it is he'll be doing-I'm not 100% clear on what that entails. Amazing blessing for us!
I am enjoying my work at the school. Feeling excited about the potential of my new little class and happy with where things are headed over all (we're only 2 weeks into the year). I'm trying to carefully balance the time I need to spend for my students, the time I need to be home, and the time I need to spend working on my own health (ie-running). I'm 2 runs away from my 50th run. I started counting runs so that I could take note how quickly changes were happening. On my 50th, I'm going to treat myself to something special...nothing too big, but a treat. And start looking forward to doing a 5K at the end of October (which Big E will miss as he is heading back to Guatemala for the first time since he left as a toddler!!) This week I've been sick and so only got out to run once. I'm itching to get back out, but have to wait until I can breath witout coughing up a lung.
Now, farm upgrades. What are we talking about?? We are going ahead with plans to turn the farm into a goat dairy. \O/ You heard right! We started looking into it a while ago (Poppa B even longer ago) and toured a local goat dairy a couple of months ago. With Big E starting work, that means our plan is rolling forward. In January, we will be enrolled in a goat production course (either through an Australian university or a British one...we haven't decided yet). Right now, one out building is being cleaned up and fitted for a small number of goats, who we hope to welcome next spring. You'll probably see pictures popping up here and there as I show you the changes and improvements that will happen here at the farm. We are totally excited!
Sorry, no pictures at the moment....but for sure, some next time!
Saturday, February 20, 2016
Monday, February 15, 2016
Valentine's Day 2016
2 cakes in 2 days...the joys of having a birthday right after Valentine's.
One candle for each decade...aka....not enough candles in the cupboard.
I'm happy to be 10! (And on a side note, look at all the teeth spaces!..Lost another one today.)
But, UGH...I'm sick!
In 6 days Munchkin will turn 8. I took some pictures of him for his upcoming baptism. Here is one:
Handsome guy!
He's holding up his blessing gown, definitely grown an inch or two!
Looks yummy hey? It was!
Copper Princess modeling her new outfit made by Grandma B. She refused to take off the scarf for the picture.
You can see her eyes were a bit red...that's from crying when I tried to convince her to remove said scarf. This child is DETERMINED. It really is her way or the highway.
Saturday, February 6, 2016
Monday, August 3, 2015
Join the military!
We went up to one of the military training camps here and stayed the weekend. While there we visited the beach and the military museum.
Munchkin with his sand castle, decorated with shells he'd collected.
Copper Princess munching on a bit of pizza. She has 7 teeth now!
There were water gun games.
Oh...and did I mention giant artillery?
WW1 portable kitchen for 250 men with a water wagon.
1918 French made 2 man tank. SKINNY....the men must have been thin!
This is all the room they had!
Cold war beast. Made in Russia...owned by East Germany.
1040's Harley Davidson
Some of my favourite propaganda posters. Notice the wallpaper.
Hitler under the table....
Fat generals at the movies.
Munchkin's profile. 7.5 yrs.
A Sherman Crab Mine Sweeper.
Little Dude on a tank. 9.5 yrs.
All the boys together. Sprout is nearly 5!
One of the best conversations I overheard in the van:
Little Dude - "If we buy a house, can Munchkin and I have a room of our own?"
Munchkin - "But Little Dude, when we get married, we'll need bigger rooms!"
Little Dude - "No, we'll have our own house."
Mom - "That's right Munchkin. Your wife will want her own place, she's not going to want to live with your parents!"
Munchkin with his sand castle, decorated with shells he'd collected.
Sprout checking out the water. Unfortunately our swim suits got left behind so we couldn't go in and swim. Boo.
Little Dude - "If we buy a house, can Munchkin and I have a room of our own?"
Munchkin - "But Little Dude, when we get married, we'll need bigger rooms!"
Little Dude - "No, we'll have our own house."
Mom - "That's right Munchkin. Your wife will want her own place, she's not going to want to live with your parents!"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)