April Thus Far....

Thanks for all the comments on my painting! I'll be taking orders in the Fall :o) All kidding aside, I confess I like it too and look forward to another session.

My weeks are flying by. Now that I am at school one full day and two half days as an EA, my days at home are eaten up fairly quickly with visiting people in the church, making meals etc. and taking care of my own household. I do love it though - all this structure. While I loved supply teaching, knowing each week what days I am at school is right up my alley. Makes it easier to plan my weeks.

Here's a little catch-up on some of the happenings the past weeks:

Bear with me as I speak for a moment about the man in my life. I can't help but be proud of the award he received a few weeks ago: Employer of the Year in the region we live in. What a huge honour for him! While he knew he was a finalist with one other company, he honestly did not think he would win it. But win it he did!! What a great way to celebrate 10 years of owning Gelderman Landscape Services. All the honour though does go to our God, who has blessed Nathan very much in his work.

We were excited to dress up for this event

Now that I am working a bit out of the house, everyone needs to pitch in and help. Just kidding - I am just enjoying this age where helping mom is fun yet! Lincoln loves to dust!

Our school community is pretty excited as last week we had the groundbreaking ceremony to officially start the digging for our new school. This has been a long time coming, and we are so thankful to God we have reached this point.

 

 

 

 

One night Nathan and I saw a black garbage bag that had blown into the pond. We had fun convincing the kids that it was a hippo :o)

Lincoln really enjoys to colour and do paperwork. I am so thankful for this - eases my worries a bit with him starting kindergarten in September! His fine motor skills have come a long, looooong ways in the last few months. I think the tongue has something to do with that.......

 

 

 What he was working on....he can print his name as well now....just the 'c' gives him trouble and so it looks like an 'u'

While Lincoln loves to colour, Keziah loves to craft and makes things out of things. This has been gracing my counter the last week or so, and the intention of it looking like a cow's head just is not the first thing that comes to mind every time I walk by it...... :P Those are eyeballs, people! C'mon now.....can't you see the horns?! And the nostrils at the bottom of the orange circle?! But yeah, pretty um, eye-catching, huh?!

Last Saturday, Keziah was at a friend's house and Nathan was working. That left just Lincoln and I so we decided to go for a hike. He is such a great little hiker! We hiked for 1.5 hours!

 

 

 

 

 Can you spot him?! Just look for some fluorescent legs....

All though we are lacking the colour green, I was struck by the beauty of all the different browns. The picture doesn't do it justice, but when I actually took the time to open my eyes and observe my surroundings, it was quite serene and beautiful.

And just a funny to end:

One supper, Lincoln kissed me right on the lips. He then stated lovingly, "We are married now." Lincoln promptly turned to Nathan and said very seriously, "You need to move out to a new house, dad, and find a new wife, 'cause I am married to mom now."

What a clown! Loving it though as I know it can switch in a heart beat and he'll be so embarrassed to show affection. So I am soaking it up as long as I can :o)

Trip to BC Part 2

Wednesday morning woke us up with the sun shining - yay!!! So we packed up and headed down to Vancouver, using the Sky Train. What excitement for our dear boy who loves all things trains! I was much more relaxed once we were on the train - these platforms make my heart stop, especially with a boy who doesn't realize that a yellow line will not catch him!

 

 

We wanted to go to Stanley Park, which meant putting our legs to the test of a very good and brisk walk. We can't get over how green everything is, as well as all the blossoms in bloom! Wow!

 

While I have been to BC a few times, I have never been to Stanley Park. I am glad we could go and see these amazing trees! We also saw some bald eagles!

 

 

 

We enjoyed a very yummy lunch - the kind where you make sure there isn't a crumb left and every ice cube is sucked due to the expense of it all!

And then off to the Aquarium to be amazed at some more of God's astonishing creations!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Kiss me. I dare you.

And as if that wasn't enough for the day, we thought we would hop the ferry and head to North Vancouver.

 

 

You can imagine we were nearing the end of our energy levels, and so we headed back home. On the way, we were blessed with glimpses of Mt. Baker. Although we had driven this road the past 4 days, this was the first time we got to see it, thanks to the clear weather.

 

Gorgeous. The next day was also going to be nice and sunny and so a hike was in order. Next time!!

Happy New Year!!!!

I know, we are 9 days already into the new year and I am just now wishing you a happy new year. But really, when you think and realize that there are still 357 days left for 2016, 9 days is still 'new'. If we were talking of a 9 day old baby, you'd still say s/he is a newborn. So I say the same with 2016.

So, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Have any goals? Any commitments? A word to keep you focused all year? Plans? Aspirations? Hopes? Desires? Fears? 

I don't do resolutions, yet we introduced them to Lincoln. This was him almost 4 years ago....

....and this is him the first day of the New Year:

Can you tell what his new year's resolution is? It is said that only 8% of people stick to their New Year's resolution. So far, Lincoln is in that group. It has been over a week since he has started to wear band-aids on his fingers to help him to stop sucking them, and he has done incredibly well. So well in fact that the other day I forgot to put one on and he didn't suck them all day!!! That's unreal! Fingers in his mouth were his trademark! But believe me, we are enjoying the lack of saliva everywhere now. We do take the band-aids off at night, so he still sucks them then, but we are just tackling the day time habit.

Before I continue on though, let me give you a glimpse as to what has kept us busy the month of December...so here goes a photo dump:

Lots of gift-opening, first with Opa and Oma Helder

 

 

 

Keziah had "dress like your mom/dad" day at school:

At the local nursery there were some animals: sheep, llamas, ponies and a camel, which we were allowed to feed

Keziah would have nothing to do with feeding the animals, and stayed faaaaar away from the camel (can you see her below?!)

She rode a pony though:

If he is not puzzling, he is enjoying Lego:

I heard lots of giggling in the other room so I snuck in and took this picture. I love these moments.

Keziah also had pajama day at school!

Keziah is really starting to print and sound out words. She is very phonetic, meaning, she will read and print how it sounds (this means sight words can be disastrous if they don't phonetically make sense, like "my") . So for instance, she has already told us that we spell her name wrong and should be spelt this way: Kezeea. She may have a point......

I found this on the counter the other day.....how special is that?!

December was pretty warm overall, which meant we could keep on BBQ'ing. It getting dark early did make it difficult but nothing a flashlight couldn't fix!

Puzzles, puzzles, puzzles. While he still loves his cars, puzzles have ranked pretty high lately too

All decked out for her Christmas program with her school!

More gift-opening

 

 

Teaching Lincoln how to work a remote control car.....Nathan loves it that he has a boy! Good thing his wife knew his love for remote control anything, so she surprised him with a remote control helicopter  :o)

Lincoln's first face he has drawn - we are working on his fine motor skills!

Lots of baking was done.....and eaten :o)

I found myself on the adult colouring bandwagon....and I love it!!

No snow for us in December, but lots of mud!!

While his fine motor skills are somewhat lacking, his intelligence isn't. He knows most of his letters and numbers (and no, I do not sit and work with him on this....he is just quick to pick things up). Although he can't make numbers and letters with a pencil, he is able to find other ways: Look mom! I made an "8"!

That helicopter I got Nathan? Yeah, it's what he chases the kids with to get them into bed sooner :o)

Boterkoek faces for my nieces and nephews.....a December tradition

Nathan had some time off around Christmas, so we made sure to visit his dear Oma

 

Christmas Day was spent the same way on Thanksgiving Day - around a campfire, roasting marshmellows!!

The gorgeous full moon on Christmas Day over the lake by my parents' cottage

Just before New Year's Eve, we spent 3 days in Ottawa (for a reason I will write about on another blog post). We arrived in Ottawa without a speck of snow anywhere. That night it started and didn't stop til the next afternoon, leaving Ottawa covered in a foot of the white stuff!!

 

The kids had fun in the hotel, especially swimming in the very chlorinated pool, and then going with Nathan to the Children's Museum.

 

 

 

 

 

I may or may not have set off the fire alarm at the hotel.....good thing I had some helpers to "shoo" the smoke away!

And that was December! We celebrated Lincoln's birthday in Ottawa as well, but that'll be next time....I think this is the most photos I have ever put on one blog post. I sure hope you don't have dial-up for internet.......