Back to life in pictures

Everything has been SO insane between my Grandma (she's not doing well), wrapping up the final reporting stuff for homeschooling, having an extra kid.... and then of course my cousin Lisa got me onto Facebook - like I needed something else! But I've managed to do some of my favourite things (take pictures, play with my kids and honey), so here's a bit as of late...

I LOVE this picture of Liam - so completely him! The giggle, the smoosh, the squish... Liam. We've had Jesse visiting with us from Guatamala for the past week, so these three have been quite the team. Again - LOVE this picture! My gorgeous honey, and my squishy son.

The guys heading out on a hike. Samuel of course has everything that he may possibly need. Including his lantern... it's about 2 in the afternoon. He's got about six books in that pack too... Samuel and my Dad never leave home without at least one book, and usually more!

I love this part of our day... just laying around reading to the kids. "Hey Mom, can you read to us now?" How do you say no to that? Samuel said the other day, "we're still going to read every day all throught the summer, right Mom?"




Some beach shots taken today of the cutest little mermaid that ever lived...

I love where we live! the beach again... Great weather, great day, and about 5pm the waves picked up and the lake started to feel a bit like an ocean.

Teigan and the Flyswatter

Teigan comes running deeply concerned, "Mommy, Mommy, there's a fly on the window!"

"Okay, sweetie, let's get the flyswatter and we'll get that fly."

She comes to me about a minute later and gives me a glass of water.

"Thanks Tink, what's this for?"

She looks right at me and proclaims, "It's the fly's water, so you can get the fly!"

Our backyard neighbours

We came home the other night to Boru barking his fool head off and heard a rustling in the trees far too loud to be any raccoon... we got the kids into the house and yes, lovely... there was a mid-sized black bear beside our deck with a big black bag of garbage. Mmmm, nice - nicer still when he tried to take the garbage bag up the tree with him. Jason gave him a number of shots in the butt with his pellet gun; this may have annoyed him, but that's about it. Finally Samuel scared him away with the pots and pans. So then the next day we find these three... Beautiful black mama bear and her two little cubs. One black, one brown. I assure you I have my telephoto lens on. Yes, I'm probably still too close - but I could have run into the house pretty quickly.

Check out Mama bear's claws!

My Big God, my little boy...

Before you get started and just so you know... this is my longest post ever and no pictures. What's with that?! But as I lay in bed thinking about the whole event again a few nights later, I thought, I want to write that down so I don't forget... so this is where I wrote it down.

It never ceases to amaze me that the Creator of the universe, cares about the little things in my life. Or in this case, my son's life. Simple events and circumstances throughout the day that lead to a very meaningful, poignant little life lesson for a six year old. Now I know there are those who would give the credit to coincidence, mere happenings. But just like when you know someone so intimately that when a little surprise comes your way, and you know they had a hand in it. It has their "signiture" all over it. That was what happened looking back over the day once it was done.

Now Samuel has wanted a Hot Wheels race track for, well... ever. But, they're expensive, so alas he hasn't had one. So Tuesday afternoon we head over to the Thrift Store with a friend. I haven't had the time to check it out for months, but she's visiting her old stomping grounds and wants to check out the Thrift Store. Now Samuel doesn't come by money easily, and other than what he gets for his teeth, he earns most of his money. Picking up pinecones, cleaning the van out... the extras that don't really fit under just normal family responsibilities like making your bed and putting away your laundry. So Samuel takes a two Loonies out of his piggy bank and gives one to his visiting friend. Off we go.

Well of course Teigan has to go to the bathroom, so I leave the boys in the toy area of the store and tell them to stay there and I'll let my friend know to keep an eye on them. I get back just in time to see a sweet little old lady give each of the three boys a Loonie. I'm just about to say something. What, I'm still not sure, when she says to me, "oh no honey, please let me do this. I have great grandchildren that live so far away and I rarely ever get to see them. It would just make me so happy. And besides, I've so enjoyed listening to these two (Samuel and Liam) talk about how if they put their money together that they could buy the thing they want but then they wouldn't have any left for the little doll they found for their sister." So she gives them all a Loonie (and totally makes the boys' day!).

So the thing they were talking about pooling their money for was in fact a Hot Wheels race track. Complete with numerous tracks, loop d loops, race houses, gas station... for $2! Well, I'm almost as excited as they are because this certainly means that I don't have to even think about that track anymore. Yeah - besides it is really fun and I still remember ours from when we were kids - they're still the same bright orange tracks too. (Well, this may have been our set for all I know, but it's fabulous!)

Okay, so this wasn't supposed to be such a long story, but here's where it gets good. At least the life lesson part.

Samuel had his piano recital that same night and Grandma and Papa, Nana and Grandad... every one came to see him. Grandma and Papa gave him a card with a Toonie and two quarters in it. He was thrilled!

So after his adorable recital, which he did really great in, we decide to go see Surf's Up because it's just about to start and it's only 7:00, so we go have a little celebratory movie night. Great fun. Samuel though seemed a wee bit off. Nothing specific, just not quite right.

We're just about home when I say to him, "don't forget to call Mama and Papa and thank them for the card and the money." Oh my goodness! Now Samuel is not a child given to hysterics or tantrums or anything of the sort, but I'd say he was on the verge on hysterics. He just started bawling. Uncontrollably. We get home and Jason takes the other kids inside and Samuel and I sit for a while - quite a while because it took a good long time just to calm him down! He was sobbing and heaving and trying to say something, but I had no idea what. So when he finally calms down enough that I can somewhat understand him, he says, "those people at the movie theater are so disrespectful!" (I thought this was a bit of a humourous statement from a six year old, but I held my smile.) Then he starts bawling again and says, four times over before I actually make out what it is that he's trying to say, "I'm a bad boy." Well, if you know me very well, you'll know that I don't accept that from any kid, nor do I like that put on any kid. So I dealt with that first before we even moved on. "Are you kind to people?" Sniffles, snot, heaves, "yes." "And do you try your best to do the right thing and to listen and be good." More of the above, "Yes." "And do you love God and your family and your friends?" Still continuing but somewhat calmer, "Yes." "So... are you a bad boy or are you a good boy who maybe made a bad choice?" "I am a good boy. I did make a bad choice."

He put his Toonie in a candy machine at the theatre and got 4 candies. (He was expecting a bag full that he could share with everyone - hense the "disrespectful" movie people.) Now I don't know what kind of machine it was, but neverminding that, he lost, wasted to be more accurate, his special Toonie. I've already gone into way to much detail so I won't go into the rest of the discussion, but where it became poignant was talking about the value of money (and asking at this point in life because Mommy and Daddy have learned some of those lessons already) and what he could have bought with that money if he'd saved it. Then he realized that earlier that day for the same amount of money he'd made a great purchase. His first conclusion was, "I'll never eat candy again." Ya, sure. But he did end up really grasping it in the end. I wasn't planning on any big life lesson in the value of money, but honestly, I've never seen him so upset before. It was rather monumental. (He didn't want to tell Mama or Papa - and I told him that he didn't have to. Of course I did because they would appreciate the sweetness of it all.) I toyed with the idea of giving him a Toonie for the one he'd lost because I felt so badly for him, but then what kind of lesson would that have been? Throw away and waste your money and I'll just give you more? Ya right, there's some therapy I'd rather avoid!

So the whole God thing in all that? That evening as I lay in bed, I just thought about it all... going to the Thrift Store in the first place, the lady with the Loonie (not that I wouldn't have got him the track!) the race track (it couldn't have been anything more perfect except maybe a real quad). And the race track costing exactly $2.00. Like I said, it kind of had His signature on it. He does stuff like that. I just lay there and thanked God that in all of His wisdom and all the big things, He is so faithful and He cares even about a little thing like this for a six year old boy.

Manteo Resort and the Monster Jam

Yes, while the two don't seem to go together, we spent the weekend with three other families at the Monteo Resort and Saturday night at the Monster truck show. The resort was fabulous - we were right on the beach and shared a big unit with another family of friends. We backed right onto the beach and would have our morning coffee down on the beach with the kids playing in the sand. The rest of the days were either spent at the pool or the beach. Two condos, four couples, eleven kids - a great time! Probably one of the most exciting parts of the truck show was the security coming and telling me that my camera was too good and that I couldn't take pictures! No kidding. As you can see, I sweetly and promptly complied.
Liam contemplating his future.... Hmmm... "I know I've wanted to be a doctor since I could talk, but this monster truck thing looks like a viable alternative...."
These were amazing to watch - but as the parent of a crazy little risk taker, I had to point out to Samuel that some of these guys won't be walking by the time they're Daddy's age. (One of the guys had something like 137 broken bones, including his back.)

Teigan loved it, but by about 10pm was done in and ready for bed.
Yes, we paid the money to ride around the parking lot for 37 seconds in a massive monter truck.
With my handsome Honey by the pool. Yes, those are bangs I'm sporting. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I went in to get my hair cut last week. There's a reason that I haven't had bangs in 12 years... and won't have I'm sure for another 12 by the time I grow these out. When my hair is down I look suspisiously like Van Halen or Bon Jovi or some other rocker dude from the 80s. Yes, dude... Tink and Mommy time, out back of our condo. I love this one.
Ah, yes... the waterslide. Many, many runs down this thing were had! What a great weekend playing with the kids and enjoying the amazing Okanagan summer - yup it was the first weekend in June and it was in the 30s. Loving it!