Today we ran errands

First we went to Sears to pick up a parcel - clothes for Andrew. Davey had one of his McQueen cars with him and was driving it along the floor of the store. That's when we met a very nice man from the company who shreds Sears Catalog Store's paper. Nice cause he thought it was cute Davey was driving a car down the middle of the store and not annoying.

Next we went to Safeway for groceries. Nice Shredding Man met us in the meat section. I got most of the shopping done before Elisabeth had enough (she was very whiney and cry-y today. I wonder if she has the same ear infection I seem to have?) So I took her to the in-store Starbucks to grab a smoothie and bumped into - you guessed it - NSM again! I half expected to run into him again at the butchers but I guess they don't have much shredding to do there.

After we grabbed the smoothie I finished my shopping. Now up until now I've had nothing but good to say about Safeway. This store is stellar. But as we were loading our shopping onto the belt Tink dropped her smoothie. And when I told the cashier she just handed me some paper towel to mop it up myself. We're talking smoothie across the whole aisle. Now okay, I can clean it up myself, but can I at least have a mop? And after getting more paper towel myself I told her that it was pretty slippery still and probably needed a mopping and she just smiled and thanked me for cleaning it up. Okay. And she was older than me. WEIRD.

But at least mopping Safeway's floors motivated me to clean my bathrooms and mop all the laminate/lino floors in our house. And clean the fridge.

Yay for a sparkling clean house :)

Oh and also while in Safeway, I knelt to help Davey with something and A SPIDER fell out of my hair! A SPIDER!!! ugh! I handled it very calmly I thought.

Also, for those of you who aren't up to date with my Facebook status, today while cleaning the bathrooms, I coloured my hair red. I like it!

Today I

• washed all the bedding for all four beds, including duvets and our pillows,
  
• cleaned the kids rooms,
• vacumed the top two floors of our house, including the trim,
• sorted, washed and sanitized all the kids toys,
• washed three more loads of laundry and folded one,
• ironed our bedding (it's cheap Ikea stuff and NEEDS to be ironed!),
• hemmed Tink's bedroom curtains (finally!),
• cleaned the kitchen,
  
• washed the walls in the stairwell

And therefore do not have time to blog.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAT!!

Harrison Hot Springs

Jadey and Ashlie are spending the weekend with us. So today we decided that the best beach to go to (as in we'd have a good chance of finding a parking spot since it was such a nice day) was Harrison. It was cool beside the lagoon but SCORCHING as soon as you were away from the water. I even got a mild burn on my arms!

two days

Yesterday morning we visited our favorite neighbors. It's been more than a month since we last saw them and seriously it was probably that long since the previous visit so it almost felt like we all needed to get reacquainted!

Mayah was as goofy as ever, hamming for the camera.

And Seth has grown like MAD and is climbing on everything! Davey and Tink didn't take too long to remember where all the good stuff is at Tash's house and were soon helping themselves to the toy room and pretty much everything else. They also continued their habit of eating non-stop all morning and cleaned out Tash's pantry too!!

Then we headed to mum's house and I stayed just long enough to wolf down my lunch and leave my kids with Kathi. While she watched them, I tried to work on some of my writing assignments. Andrew's office is way too warm though and it really impeded my brain cells. I don't like it too warm unless I'm on the beach!!

At 4 we traded and I watched her kids while she headed to Ash's school for Parent Teacher Conference. Ashlie wanted to try on my glasses and show me how she could look like a teacher/catalog model.

Of course then Jade wanted to get in on the action. Good posing from her!!

And of course we made Davey mug for the camera too!

Andrew stole away with our kids while I borrowed Kathi's van and headed out for supper with Nicole. As I was leaving Kat mentioned she'd discovered a nail in the tire. I made some wisecrack about dying on the side of the highway since I didn't even have a cell and breezed off.

Nicole and I enjoyed a delicious dinner at Sammy J's then walked to Willowbrook for some shopping (and exercise after our delicious dinner!) for the first time in years I got to go into a normal clothing store and try on clothes with a girlfriend and actually fit into the clothes. In fact, I even had to ask a sales clerk to fetch me a smaller size. How awesome was that?! And, since the trousers were on clearance, and I'm going to be working in two weekends, I bought them! weee hooo :) But then I decided we'd better walk back to Nicole's since I didn't want to be tempted to buy any more things I didn't need!!

It wasn't till I left her house that I started thinking about that nail in the tire. It's an hour drive home and with no cell...I was worried. Luckily my brother was home so I asked him what he thought. After talking to him, Andrew and my dad I decided to crash there for the night and get the tire repaired first thing this morning. That left poor Andrew having to get himself and the kids ready AND pick up his car pool partner and still make it to work on time!! He did it and I met him at the office and took off from there.

We had some good times at mum's while we waited to make sure Andrew could borrow the van to come home. Then I booted home, changed the kids into pretty clothes, and headed to a bird sanctuary to take some pics.


Elisabeth was SO excited to be where there was "Watah!" and spent most of the time throwing gravel into the lakes. I hope you're allowed to do that at a bird sanctuary!

I'm not quite sure I trust her not to run into the water. She's that excited. Which is why I think I need a photography assistant. Someone to keep my kids safe while I snap millions of pictures. Would greatly improve the quality of pictures I think!



Davey on the other hand, was convinced we were going to get lost. I don't know what's with him lately. His imagination is on overdrive!



Do you think he's telling Tink about his rock skipping abilities? "this one time, I got it to jump like four, no, EIGHT times!!"

His curly hair is really starting to emphasize just how straight hers is. I hope she grows some more soon!!

[I think she looks like (well her hair looks like) gibbs from NCIS.]




This is him pouting because he doesn't want to leave. Glad he can be a happy pouter!! There was a boy scout or beaver sleep over taking place here tonight and all the boys were starting to arrive with their cool gear. I think he wanted to stay with them!

And back in our yard...

Tink's new favorite thing is digging up my flower bed.

Well...we have a hugely busy weekend planned so expect LOTS of pictures...but maybe not till Monday or so!! Enjoy the sunshine tomorrow everyone, I know we're going to :D

No Time!

Whew! I had no idea I had so many pictures waiting to be blogged. I guess I haven't had a lot of time lately (it's true, I haven't!)

Last week zipped by in a whirlwind of hectic activity. On Saturday we were at my mum's house to do some lawn mowing. That first mow of the year is always interesting. Our neighbors out there like to feed the raccoons and since our yard is the one that borders on the park/ravine, the raccoons use our yard to get to the neighbors. So there are two paths worn in the grass where several families of 'coons make their way to the food. Kind of cute.

Sunday we were planning on going to church, but we've had several rough nights of sleep and just couldn't get the kids going in time for the early service. We had to hit the early service because at 11 our neighbors were having a birthday party for their 2 year old son, Dryden and we were planning on heading over there too. Turns out it's probably just as well we only made the one event because the party went on until almost 3 and that makes for an awful lot of excitement for two little kids. As it is they had a hard time falling asleep Sunday night!

I've also started one new job and I'll be easing into a second one on the 25th. So on Thursday I had a staff meeting for the first job (a writing and editing gig I'm doing part time from home) then I headed over to TWU to meet with everyone and firm up the details of that job. My friend and ex/again co-worker Cary is expecting her first baby (YAY Cary and Tommi!!) so together with another ex/again co-worker, Christina I'll be covering her mat leave. Working in my old department. I'm pretty excited about that as it will actually get me out of the house and talking to other humans. You don't know how many days I don't actually get to talk to any other humans...other than my kids and trust me, they don't want to hear what I have to say ;)

We've entered an interesting phase with my kids. Now that the weather's been milder I've been trying to get out for walks with them. But it doesn't seem to matter what time of day I go, Davey cries from the moment we cross out of our complex onto the road. At first I thought it was because he wasn't over his cold, then that he was tired and then that he just needed a good hiding (kidding!) but I think I've figured it out. Remember how I said there are only three directions to walk from our house? And how there is construction in every single one of those directions? Well, I think he's scared of all the big trucks and construction vehicles. It's my fault partly since I've tried to stress that he must walk beside me (as opposed to way ahead and all over the road) so that he doesn't get run over by one of the gravel trucks. And yesterday even pushing him in the double stroller he was quite upset. But I think we'll keep at it and he'll see that it's safe as long as he stays with mum.

Well, tink is here asking for smoothie, so that's it for now....

Check out how tall this mailbox is!

On a neighborhood walk the other day. The kids always have to investigate any sources of water.
This is the same culvert from a different angle. I can see why they like it!

Rolling his hiking stick down the hill.

More of her new hat. Hey dad, remember how you wanted me to practice my bank robbing routine?? Here's Tink's disguise!

Check out the cute pigtails!! Isn't she the cutest :)


Jade, Ashlie and Davey are obsessed with tent making lately. Here's the tent in their play room at Grandma's. They even get a flashlight to play with in there!



Sharing lunch together....


"I don't want to go in the forest. Theirs squirrels. With big eyes. They will eat me!"

Tink on the other hand, would have loved to hike Mt. Thom!



Can you tell he's trying to be brave? We turned around almost right away after this.



More of putting her bottoms on her top...plus see how she put her pyjamas on herself?? She's so ready to potty train...

Gardening in our back yard.



Spying on the big kids from behind our cedars.