Its a New Day

One of the great thing about my friends is they invite me to tag along. Jon & Kelley, Jeff & Betty Ann and Simon and Tini were heading up to MBC with their families and invited me to come along for a few days. What great fun! I think that the last time I laughed that hard and that long was when Cher and I were trying on dresses in Good Will (knock knock - there's somone in here)! The mornings were pretty quiet, then after lunch we would head to the beach for some swimming (and some dared to sail, tube and jump off rocks - though I did not), then lunch a seminar and either a campfire or Euchure. The kids were really well behaved (except at night when SOMEONE would jolt up in the middle of the night and start yelling in his sleep). It only rained once at night - I woke up to Jono yelling that it was raining on his head so with herculian strength I pulled Jobie over and told Jono to roll over to stop getting wet. (yes... I said herculian strength - anything at 2am is don...

Happy 4th Birthday to this sweet girl, known affectionately as Hanny Hoodle Doodle, my little Noodle Poodle (don't ask - it just happened one day). Hannah is strong willed but also very sweet. She is a very girly girl, always playing with her doll "Baby Sister" and love to help mommy with cleaning - she is often seen walking around the living room with a baby wipe or duster dusting the tables, fireplace and cleaning windows. Whenever I try to leave the house, she stands defiantely in front of me with her hands outstretched and says "No - you can't leave!" as though I can't just pick her up with 2 fingers and move her. She is also a loves shopping - no matter what kind. I've taken often taken her with me looking for quilting material and she looks carefully for the right colours and is eager to hold our great treaures. Wherever she does go, people ohh and ahh at her because she is very petite and very polite (saying Good morning and thank you to the ...

Last week I went camping with Rachel & Ryan and the kids. It was a great weather week (no rain!!!) and hot. The water was a bit cool on some days (Tristan asked if there were ice cubes in the water) that made it a bit more 'challenging' to be in the water - but the kids loved it. Julia really enjoyed the beach this year (though she ended up getting sick near the end of the week so she didn't go on Friday). She had her own personal bucket for 'cleaning off'. Basically she just played around and did whatever she wanted - and was careful by the water until 1 time when daddy went out with Tristan and Hannah and she decided to go in after them. One of the fun things that Ryan does is bring a big shovel. He digs huge holes (which are great for keeping the babies "contained" and the kids have endless fun filling it up with water. So what do you do with the extra dirt? Bury everyone of course! Hannah and Julia were giggling away as they buried Tristan. Next wa...

This year for Canada Day Rachel and I took the kids to St. George for pancake breakfast. It said it started at 8, so we got there at 8 - but no one else was there yet (besides volunteers) so we had no line up. Oma and Karen came with Eli & Analia. We met lots of friends there too! The kids were given flags which they loved to wave around The firehall mascot (a big dalmation) was walking around the fire hall giving the kids candies and taking pictures. Julia watched him from the far side of the building... I guess she was pretty excited when she realized that he was a dog... But as soon as he came near her she started screaming in fear. Talking with someone later, they wondered whose poor kids was crying. We were going to go to the Lynden parade but had quite a bit of time to kill before, so we headed to the park with oma, Karen and the other kids. They loved the park! It was perfect for their many ages. Hannah pushing Analia on the swing - and Analia just loved it and laughed the ...

On Friday, Tristan celebrated his 5th birthday with a few cousins over for a visit. As soon as he came home he asked "Who is going to sing Happy Birthday to me?" and wanted us to practice singing before the cake came. :) How is this the only picture I got of the 5 year old? Eli The kids played a few games: place the soccer player on the ball (pin the tale on the donkey), Bingo, and their favourite - find the candy that Aunt Rachel just threw around the back yard. Julia and Analia checking out some candy that fell in the grass - but when you're 1 what's a little dirt? There was lots of playing in the sandbox too Hannah - the lonely girl with lots of boy cousins (until JAM came into the picture) Julia - the stinker - always trying to get people to laugh The little girls (aka JAM) just ran around and played as 1 year olds are known to do. It was funny to see them all interacting together. Amazing how different the group of kids looks from last year! This picture make...

Sunday is Rachel's 30th Birthday! Growing up we were never really close. With 6 years and 2 sisters between us, we really didn't spend much time together. I always thought that we were worlds apart in our thinking of things in general, but it turns out that we are very similar! Scarily so! I'm so glad for the years that I could spend with and her family and for how she makes me feel so welcome! Rachel is a fantastic mom and her kids love her dearly! Well... he loves smooches now! I didn't realize till doing this that I had the same picture with 2 different kids! We'll have to get one with Julia too! Hannah still doesn't really like smooches, and will often give on your hand or leg. Happy birthday dear sister!

This Sunday is Tristan's 5th birthday!!! Loving the camera Aren't I cute? Please!!! NO MORE PICTURES!!! What do you do with a boy? Well, this boy loves tractors and farms and gettin' stuck in the mud. He loves books and would pour over the tractor magazines looking for Grandpa's, Uncle Barry's, and Raymie's tractors and dad's truck. He taught me everything I know about farming, tractors and when the 'nanure' needs to be spread. Very early on he learned to be a sweet brother to Hannah and now Julia. He is so gentle and tender with little ones and all the cousins just love him. His is one of the first names that they learn! Because I was living with them, he quickly learned to call my name AAAAAunt Jen would be bellowed out. Then for a while it was Jen. On really occasions when he is feeling super sappy, it is Jenny Rose (not really sure how he came up with that except that we called Hannah Hanny Rose and maybe he made that connection). For a lo...

It is a bit late, but Happy Birthday to Mike! Mike is my only older brother! He was 'known' to our family - or at least to me - many years before he started dating Karen. When I was 16 I went to the youth group across the street from my high school. One night we were playing Russians and Christians (that tells you how long ago it was!). The point of the game was that you had a slip of paper that said you were a Russian, a Christian or on the fence. If you were a christian you wanted to get at least 3 other christians together to sing a song, recite a memory verse and pray. If you were a Russian you wanted to catch the Christians and bring them to jail (it was an area in the gym). Doug (the youth leader) was the judge and would sentence you to jail or let you go free. If you were on the fence you had to decided then and there if you were a Christian or a Russian. Sometimes Russians would 'pretend' to be christians so that they could catch them. Well, I was a Russian and ...

I'm sure that I'm not the only one who is affected by music. In fact, I know it. Music can bring such a flood of emotion and waves of memories. In April I think of the song: April's here again and here's the IRS, They always visit me this time of year I'm gonna leave my body to the scientist I won't care because I won't be here Oh my heart belongs to Jesus And that's one thing the world can't take away Oh my heart belongs to Jesus And he's gonna come collecting anyday" This one always makes me smile and think of wallpapering the tiny kitchen with Cher (and all the scraps of paper that we used to finish the corner by the kitchen). On Monday, since I was sewing and like to do that with music in the background, I put in some old tapes and CD's to listen to and a flood of memories came back to the front of my mind! Camping with the girls and listening to "The Great Adventure" and thinking it looked like a movie looking through the ...

Over the years, many many many different people have come up to me and said "I just read somewhere that ______________ may help with headaches". I've always smiled and taken the article, read it and discover that it is something that I have tried, and if not, I will try. I'm often asked if I get bothered by this, but I really don't because you just never know when something might work. So a few weeks ago, dear Grace, referred my to her physiotherapist. Grace also suffers from migraine and we have often talked about different things that work or don't for either of us. Now, this is something that I did do many moons ago when my headaches first started - and had no relief. So I go in holding my breath that it will help. This afternoon I had my first session. I was a bit nervous because I already have a 'lovely' headache today and usually chiro or massage make it worse (before it feels better). I was prepared for the worst. After filling out all the neces...

Happy Mother's Day Mom! It feels like just yesterday we would be sitting in the basement or bedrooms putting together 'fancy' menus for you to choose your breakfast in bed from. You suffered graciously through not cooked eggs, burnt toast and watery coffee - never complaining. When you had your accident it was very tough to see you not able to do anything - to not be there to take care of us - but you worked hard at being able to get back up again. Now that the grandchildren are around you are even more vibrant than before! What a great gift you are to us as you continue to serve and bless us as our mom. mom with some new babies Ashley, mom, Mandie, Heather and I at Oma & Opa's anniversary

Happy Birthday to Kimberly! Kimberly has always been very quiet. In fact she didn't really walk or talk until she was almost 3 years old (it probably didn't help that she couldn't see or hear well). Kimberly has a gentle, kind and servant heart. If asked to do something she'll do it right then, without complaining, no matter what she was doing. When mom had her accident Kimberly even took on the hard (and often yucky) jobs that no one else was even willing to do. Now she is married to Derek and they have a beautiful daughter together. Happy birthday, dear sister! (this is such an old photo - their engagement!! I really need to take out my camera more often)

This is from the Girl Talk web site. A dear friend pointed it out to me and I wanted to share it with those who are not mothers. www.girltalkhome.com/blog/tale-of-three-single-women

Last night I had dinner at Rachel and Ryan's. Tristan asked to pray after dinner and my heart swelled with love and thanksgiving for this little boy and his prayer. "Dear Father, thank you that I could go to school and daddy could go to work safely. Thank you that Hannah is healthy and we could play outside. Thank you that Jen loves us." Hannah wanted to pray too "Dear Father, thank you that Tistan could go to school and be invited to a birthday party. Thank you that daddy could be safe. " How could you NOT love these nutbars :)