Happy 65th Birthday Dadd-i-o!

Davey is watching Lady and the Tramp while I do some chores. Tinky is in bed.

I don't know how many times I've thought I heard Elisabeth crying/calling from her bassinet, only to find out it's a dog howling on the movie.

What does that say about me/tink?!?

Nobody ever tell her I couldn't distinguish between her cry and a dog's howl.

This is me procrastinating:

So yesterday morning we skipped church. Yes, I know. I have my reasons, but I'm not blogging them. Anyway, we decided (I decided?) we should go and grab coffee and Starbucks and then head to this elementary school nearby and play. I'm so enamoured with this playground, they have a forest in the middle of it. How cool is that?!

Davey practicing his growls for the camera. I've been singing The Monster Song from Bill and Gloria Gaither's LIFE album (we had it when I was a kid) and he absolutely loves it. I have to try and track it down somewhere for him.

I love the wooden playgrounds like this one. The new plastic/metal ones are alright, but for me, these are so beautiful.





They also had a Teeter Totter for four people! SO cool. Davey is crying in this picture, but only because he wanted to go on the single seated one. As soon as Andrew took him off this one he was crying to get back on it. Go figure ;oP





Later we had a birthday party for Kathi. Ashlie and Jade came in their party dresses and looked absolutely gorgeous.

Elisabeth slept through the party but did wake up just before the Lyths left so I grabbed a shot of them in together:

Okay, okay, maybe more than one. And gee, since so many people seem to think it's their right to criticize me for buying my daughter clothes, I got these dresses on clearance last year when I was working with money I made. Not that it's any of their business.





Then, since it was still so gorgeous outside, we went to Whiterock for dinner. Fish and Chips by the ocean. It was so nice. We missed the Royal Hudson, but we did get to see an Amtrak train go by. Davey loved it!






This is Davey's head. His hair is starting to curl over his ears. Okay, well down his neck.





And last night while I popped out, Andrew called his parents. They listed their house on Friday and already had one offer yesterday and possibly another today. I was so upset last night I couldn't sleep. When I would drop off, I would wake with a start and be all upset again. I was just telling my mum and sister and got so upset I started crying. While I don't love Kingston, I don't love Langley anymore either. I hate the stupid townhouses and the crappy traffic and how it takes an hour or more to drive from mum's house to the highway. I do love Andrew's parents' house. It's EVERYTHING I ever wanted in a house, and I have so many ideas for making it better. And I'm sure we'll never find one that perfect again. *sigh* You won't convince me that it wasn't meant to be.

Yesterday was wacky hair day at Ashlie's school. She got to have purple and pink hair...you can see it further down. This is Jade's rendition of wacky hair.

Elisabeth's nap schedule has been more normal again lately, so while she was sleeping me and Jade and Davey headed outside for a bit. Jade took the big kid swing:

And then went for a jaunt in the car.

Of course, Davey played with his cars. The fire truck isn't from a Cars set, but it could pass for Red, don't ya think?



Ah yes, kneeling on the wet concrete, driving his cars...

When Elisabeth finally woke up, we snapped some pictures. She's 8 months and a week here. WOW where did the months go? I'd better start planning her birthday...it'll be here before I know it!







Watching her cat, Randall.





Last night I headed over to Kathi and Cody's to watch the kids while they went to a movie for Kat's birthday. Me and Jade and Ashlie scooted over to Guildford Mall for dinner and some clothes shopping. REALLY disappointing, but I did get this video of Ashlie. I asked her to tell me a story...as you can tell this real life incident has really scarred her. Poor kid:




(the true story: One day they found a bunny in the yard. It seemed to be a tame one that someone had dumped at the park. So they got a cage and put it outside. While they were out grocery shopping the new neighbors let their dogs out and they came over to the house, dragged out the bunny and well...Ashlie found the pieces when they got home. very traumatizing).

I don't think I've blogged yet about how much I'm loving that Davey is talking. It's the most incredible thing in the world to have a conversation with him.

Now of course, he doesn't always understand or listen when we talk. But just yesterday Andrew was explaining something to him, neither of us can remember what, and he totally got it. Was even asking questions that showed he understood and was participating in the conversation.

He has this amazing sense of imagination that makes catching him at play hilarious. His cars and trucks are always having conversations with each other. Sometimes they'll reenact conversations we've had, or stories from books or movies we've heard recently. Other times you'll hear him yelling at toys to "stop!", "Wait for me" or "stop pushing".

Just today he had all of his cars and trucks lined up on the window sill in his room. At the end of the line were his and Elisabeth's furreal cats. These things purr and meow when you stroke them. So he was asking them questions then stroking them to get them to participate in the conversation.

Sometimes I'll hear him yelling at the toys as if they're in trouble, so I'll join in and we'll give those toys a proper talking to. Have to keep them line you know.

But the best was tonight as I was leaving to babysit Jade and Ashlie. As I'm putting my coat and shoes on to leave he calls out, "Goodbye mum. I don't miss you!"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIT KAT!!!

Have a fabulous day, we love you!

Let's Play Catch Up

I finally managed to download all the pictures off my camera. See, I forgot the camera in the glove box of dad's car and since then though I've been taking pictures on the camera, I've only been downloading stuff off Dave's camera (which I'm also still using.)

Let's see now. On Good Friday Rob and Dad showed up at my door just before ten in the morning. Though they were unannounced, it worked out well. You see, we had decided to rent dad a convertible for his birthday and the rental agency called to let me know that the people who orignally took my booking were a little ambitious in promising me a convertible mustang. Those aren't available here till summer. They did have a PT Cruiser, and if we wanted we could have it today. Well, turns out that worked out just fine since the weather forecast was only for sun on Friday/Saturday and dad happened to show up at my house right then.

So without explaining anything to dad, I phoned round and managed to get Cody and Kat to meet me, Rob, Dad and Davey at Starbucks. I got some drinks in and took off across the parking lot.


Twenty minutes later I pulled up in this. Turns out my dad thought it was the new car I was buying (I'm not buying a new car) and that I wanted to show it off to everyone and ask for a loan.
Once he realized it was his 65th birthday present he was decidedly more receptive to seeing and getting inside it.

On Saturday we had a barbecue at my brother Rob's house. It was also a fence fixing party (two sections blew down this winter and they finally got them back up again). Rob has a HUGE and most awesome backyard which even have a huge fort and a swingset and slide and a teeter totter.

On Easter Sunday we headed to church. Elisabeth decided she didn't want to hear the sermon so we took her into the baby room. They had a new toy in there - a doll house!

I don't mind being in the baby room with her most of the time. Most other parents are polite, but don't talk too much because they want to hear the sermon too. But there are people who leave their kids in the nursery (and I say kids, because they're due for Sunday School soon...so they're not babies) and come into the babies room to chat. It's so annoying. Why bother coming to church at all? I have to figure out a strategy for dealing with this because it's really really bothersome.

Here's Davey in the nursery with the trains. He loves them so much. He hasn't been in a lot of situations where he plays with other kids. I know he's about ready to start which is great for preschool this fall. But I worry about how it will change his behaviour. Already this Sunday when we were in Nursery one of the kids was watching him play with the trains, then decided to break up the tracks and send everything on the table flying. Davey just kind of started in disbelief then screamed out a "No". I worry that he could get mad and throw trains at the kids' head...and would I find out to talk about that being bad behaviour? Maybe we should have gone to a play group or something sooner so we could have gone through this process together?


Yesterday after we got back from West Vancouver, we picked Davey up from Kathi's house. I sat in the back with the kids just for fun. Davey thought it was hilarious.
And insisted I take a picture of just him.



Our neighbor's magnolia tree is in bloom so I tried to snap some pictures with it in the background. It doesn't work as well now that the wind storms pruned some of the longer branches.





Tonight Andrew is at a donor dessert. Andrew hasn't had a lot of opportunity to work on building a support team since we've been married. I think he's only actually managed a week in Ontario right before Davey was born and maybe another few appointments afterwards. Though we've never managed to get to full support, God has been faithful in providing for us. The most amazing thing for me is how he provides clothes for the kids. I had out a box of clothes in the next size up for Elisabeth the other day. It's a mish mash of Ashlie and Jade's old clothes, some things from Natasha's girls, and a few from Carrina (Cody's cousin). Everything in this box is for summer. Which is perfect since she's just starting to grow out of her current size. So six girls born at all different times of years managed to wear the exact size Elisabeth needs for this summer. As if. it has to be a God thing.