moving

We did it!  We bought a house!  We moved! We are homeowners again!

Yahoo!!!

The big move happened on August 30 and 31st and it was quite an event.  First - the prep.  If you take a look at the following photos, you will know why we were concerned whether or not we would even make it out of the house.  These were taken from our driveway the Wednesday before we moved.

And this was taken the Thursday before - after a whole lot of rain.

Thankfully Eric had already talked to the men doing the construction on our street and they said they would make sure we got out.  And they did.  This was the drop off from the yard to the "road":

Well, they came in and built up a nice little ramp for our driveway so that we could somewhat smoothly get in and out.  It was a little sketchy with the rain and such, but it worked.  We got out!

Lots of packing, of course:

Or not:

We were extremely thankful to have the use of Jared's (my brother-in-law) trailers.  He has an 18' and 24' trailer that we could load ahead of time.  It made it so much easier to move quickly - which is what we needed to do.  Eric packed those puppies up nice and tight.

Then on Saturday we had a small group bbq party at three.  Once we ate and hung out for a bit, we headed out to the new house for our possession at five.  Since we were in the same neighbourhood, Eric and the kids just rode their bikes over (which also meant we didn't have to cart the bikes there a different way!).

Soon after, everyone from our small group followed us and came over to help clean and move in.  It was amazingly helpful!  What a great crew of people.  Everyone was in there working like crazy.  It was so great.  And we are so thankful!

Cade found his new favourite (and extremely dirty) spot.

Noah helped him down, even though he kept finding his way up there by himself.  Sheesh - what a nut ball.  Over the next few days he was almost constantly up there.  He also managed to monkey his way up and down once he figured he could us the door/hallway entrance frame.

On Sunday it rained.  

And got pretty messy.  But Eric and a few of Maddy's friends (Maddie, Riley, Kyle and Ezra) all chipped in to help.  They worked their booties off.  Poor guys.  They unloaded a whole lot of stuff.  You see - it was Labor day weekend…. and most everyone we knew was busy.  Especially our family.  They were all busy - very busy.  And even very busy after the weekend.  But thankfully Maddy had some willing, hard working friends - otherwise we aren't sure what we would have done!  They were easily paid off with pizza and soda - stuff like that.  They are a great bunch of kids.

After the weekend, we still had to move the garden (pots) and the trampoline.  Eric borrowed my uncle's truck and we took care of business.

We loaded up all the pots onto the back of the truck and only one fell over.  They all did pretty well.   Looking back now, a month later, I'm not sure it was worth the effort.  With all the cold weather we've been having (had to cover the plants in early/mid September due to frost warnings!!  sheesh), the plants haven't done that well.  Oh well.  There's always next year!

Had some pretty amazing rainbow sightings over the days of the move as well.  A nice reflection of the crazy weather we had.

Eric also disassembled the trampoline and had the ever-helpful Lucy to put it back together again in our new yard.

At first I wasn't sure it would be worth all his effort considering that he will have to take it down again soon.  But looking back - it has definitely been worth it.  The kids, along with neighbour kids, have been on it a lot.  They've had a great time with it and has been a draw to get kids here (even though there are a lot of trampolines in the area).  I'm thankful he put in the work for it.

So far, the best thing about our new place is this:

We have a dishwasher!!!!

It is amazing how absolutely wonderful it is to have a dishwasher after being without one for five years.  It wasn't the worst thing ever, but man life is sure easier and tidier with one.  It is fantastic.

I must say I had many doubts about this place, but now that we are here I am very thankful.  God has blessed us richly - again - and we are grateful.

last random bits

Man.  Life has been insane.  And I am insane with it.  Finally today I feel like I have a moment to breathe - first time in weeks and weeks.  But, truth be told, I just don't do busyness like I used to.  I used to thrive on it.  Now it kind of drives me crazy and I feel like I don't do anything well.  On the other hand, I think if I don't have much going on at all I don't do anything well either - I let everything slide.  Maybe I'm just not doing anything well……

I blame Eric. 

(of course I have nothing to back this blame but I certainly can't be responsible, can I?)

Okay, well, anyway.  I am really behind.  Again.  So much has happened in the last month and a bit and often I just feel like I can't do this anymore.  Since we are no longer overseas, it seems kind of pointless too.  

I keep going back and forth about trying to blog for real - like a cooking/creative/crafting/sewing/decorating/life with Jesus and all that good stuff blog.  But there are about a billion out there already.  So I flounder.

The good news is that I am going to a Christian blogging conference with my darling sister-in-law Val in a few weeks - we are meeting up in South Carolina.  Maybe this will give me direction.  That would be great.  It would be a fabulous bonus because in reality, I'm going mostly to see Val.  Just keeping it real….

Boy, I've been blabbing a lot and haven't really gotten to the point of what this post is supposed to be about.  Shocking.  So unlike me.

Yes, okay, moving on.  This is all about last bits of life before we moved.  Yes, WE MOVED!!  We have our very own home!  Very exciting - and we'll get to that a little later, in another post.  Now we'll deal with these photos that I uploaded about a month and a half ago.  Lets just see if I even remember what they are about, shall we?

Photo #1

I believe this was the day that I decided it would be a good idea to make a double batch of banana bread, a double batch of whole wheat bread, a triple batch of muffins, a cake and homemade ice cream all basically at the same time-ish.

Photo #2

This was the "before" of this chair I refinished.  I think the idea was that I was then supposed to take a photo of the "after" as well - and post that too.  I guess I should do that.

Photo #3

My sister-in-law Glenda's parents got some Saskatoon berries that we could buy.  And I couldn't possibly say no to fresh berries!!  Yum!  And of course they called for a pie.  Been making quite a few pies lately - because we all know of my love.

Photo #4

Fresh, homegrown tomatoes and basil from our "garden".  Caprese was calling.  Soooo good.

Photos #5, 6, 7, 8 

(sounds like I am counting out to start dancing… "and 5, 6, 7, 8…")

One of the last paper-delivery days before the kids headed back to school - they all decided to pitch in and help.  Would have liked to have seen this every Thursday, but we'll take the occasional one here and there.

Photo #9

Just wanted to get a picture of my temporary "art" display before we moved.  Print-outs from the internet and my "laugh" water-colour, all put up with washi tape.  Not fancy, but it did the job.

Photo #10

Our summer bucket list.  We did okay on it but not great.  I always have lots of good ideas but my  follow through is rather lame.

Photos #11 and 12

My little library!!  I started back at work on August 20th or something like that.  Hard to go back, let me tell you.  Very hard.  But there have been some good changes on the job front now, so it has been good.  One big change is that I oversee the K-12 library.  And this lovely little room in the K-6 library section that I got to design/decorate.  So fun.  It looks even better now.  It is a fun space and I love having the kids come in and cozy up on the chairs to read.  It makes me happy.

Much more catching up to come….

all at the cabin

A photo-ladened post…. beware!!

This past weekend/early bit of the week we got to spend at a cabin that my dad and Rose rented.  To sum up our time there: heavenly.  Now I know why people buy cabins and spend every possible moment there in summer.  It seems worth the cash and headache - something I didn't understand until moving back here.  You see, you have to take advantage of every single second of summer because it is far too short.  So yes, the investment is only for a few months (although I personally would adore going in winter as much as in summer), but it is a worthy investment!  

(of course this is coming from someone who will more than likely never ever own a cabin so it is pretty safe for me to say these things…. if we were ever in the financial position to purchase one, I'd like to think I'd still be singing the same tune)

One of the highlights of each day was tubing (except of course for the not-so-high experience of hitting a rock someone out in the middle of the lake and breaking the propeller of the boat that isn't ours and having to shell out fat cash to fix it.  not a highlight.  definitely not.).  

On Saturday it was just dad, Rose, and our family (minus Maddy).  We picked Cade up straight from camp and headed off - much to Cade's chagrin.  Can you say "not-a-happy-camper-in-any-teeny-tiny-bit-of-a-way"?  The boy was unhappy, to put it in the most mild form I know of.  He spent some time alone (in the car - his choice) to get a grip, while the rest of us partied like it was the summer of 2014.  Which is was - in case you were wondering.  Anyhoo, the only two takers on tubing were Lucy and Mia, so off we went.  They had a dandy time and at one point caught some serious air but unfortunately I had put the camera down to give my arms a rest at that point.  Not my brightest idea.  I missed a fabulous shot of my children's limbs flailing through the air with the greatest of ease and the least amount of grace.  Hilarious.

The best pictures (besides those I missed, of course - which are therefore non-exisitant - which are therefore not even pictures…. so forget what I said about besides those I missed….) are the wipe-outs.  I love seeing just the remained of Mia's leg sticking out of the water.

They had the brilliant idea of going backwards.  This lasted approximately 3.67 seconds.  Although that may be generous.

Being the bold, courageous and fun-loving mom that I am (read: stupid, sucker, etc.), I joined the girls for a swim in the frigid water.  Okay, it wasn't really frigid but it was fairly numbing.  But perhaps I'm a bit o' a wimp.

On Sunday Kim and the kids arrived.  More playmates, more noise, more fun.

Timaya and Riley didn't quite get the knack of looking at me while jumping in.  Take two:

The Loewen cousins introduced our family to the joys of crayfish fishing.  Or is that crayfishing?  Or maybe crayfish-ing, or even crayfish-ishing?  Fishing for crawdads!

Then there were also more partners for tubing.  And by now Cade also joined the world of the living.  Amazing what a good bit of sleep can do!

I like this one because it looks like it is snowing.

Timaya had some of the best facial expressions.  I needed to zoom in on some of those.

So at one point in the whole tubing extravaganza, we were out in the middle of the lake and we heard a loud "Thunk" and felt a lurch.  Then the motor started to work not-so-well.  After we took the boat back to the dock, Eric did a little investigating.  Well, after that investigation, we decided that we had better buy a new propeller since we thoroughly broke theirs on some random rock we should be extremely kind and generous and buy the cabin/boat owners a new propeller - 'cause that's that kind of people we are.  Generous like that.  I know.  We're super nice.

Rose spent a lot of time in the kitchen cooking ALL the means for us.  Yes, all of them.  And she wasn't fond of us doing dishes, either.  We did them anyway 'cause it was fun to watch her squirm!

Jesse bought a bag of Doritos call "roulette" - every seventh or so chip is super spicy.  It was pretty fun watching the reaction of everyone once they hit upon the spicy one.  They were all running for glasses of milk to cool down their mouths!

One afternoon a duck hopped up on the dock with us, like he was our pet or something.  My rotten son scared him away but Shandy did what she could to lure him back - offering a crayfish (although I'm not convinced they are fond of those critters).  Eventually he did come back for a brief visit.  Shandy - the duck whisperer.

Want a few more crash and burn pics?  I knew you did…..

Riley and Lucy were in full effect.  The bring out the worst best in each other - those two little peas in a  pod (when they aren't ready to rip each others' hair out).  There was a lot of attacking of people on Monday afternoon.  Attacking Uncle Brent, Auntie Kim attacking Lucy and chasing the two of them, Grandpa taking over for Auntie Kim, and then Lucy and Grandpa attacking each other (those two segments later….).

While that was going on I turned to take a picture of this foursome.  I caught dad mid-yawn.  

Naturally I took the opportunity to throw out a little mockery.  This was the result:

I kept the picture small because I still am so shocked by his belligerent, immature behavior.  Of course I would never behave in such a foul manner!  And then I got this!!!!!!!

(Its a little larger because I don't want you to miss the unbridled passion with which these horrid people are unleashing their furry on me).  Let this be the only image that remains in your memory - I'm trying to save you from the horrific dreams you may have tonight as a result of that shocking behavior.

What a lovely group of people.

Cade had some weird cousin crush for a day - he kept wanting to snuggle with Timaya (I think that was code for I-really-want-to-snuggle-with-mom-because-she-is-the-best-ever).  They had a little paddle boat ride instead.  Although that didn't keep him from expressing his deep love for me through his requests to snuggle with Timaya (yes, I am delusional, and I like it that way!).

That last time that Lucy and Riley went tubing Lucy fell off three times…. she hadn't ever fallen off before.  We are pretty sure the first two times were fakes.  She needed to get in on the action!

Taking pictures while Eric is driving and trying his best to whip the kids around and give them a wild ride is no easy task!  I sat with my legs bracing as hard as I could, trying to keep the camera up and if possible, keep the kids in the center to focus - and of course a lot of the good action is when there is the most bouncing around.  Some shots didn't work out so well - as determined as I was to keep my "eye on the prize", so to speak:

But most of the time I got lucky and ended up with the good shot.  Here I missed Riley falling off but managed to get Lucy during spill #3.  I think this one is for real - it even looks a little more "messy" - like she really got thrown around!

More trouble….

The full spread-eagle:

It took some convincing and a few days, but finally just before they were ready to leave, Shandy decided to give it a whirl.  She asked Uncle Eric to take it easy, and he did at first….. but she did so well that he livened it up a little at the end.

Tuesday was Grandma Rose's birthday.  The Giesbrecht's brought gifts, we bought cupcakes and we had a (very) little party.  Yes, she still cooked on her birthday!

It really would have been hard to have had a better time.  It was great time as a family, nice weather, lots of time for play and for relaxing - so good.  And even with all the tubing, no one came away wearing a neck brace!