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)

Ice Storm Pictures

Like I mentioned in my last post, there was an ice storm in our area. We missed it due to being out west but we came home right after it was done, so there was still lots of ice everywhere. While having an ice storm can cause so much damage, there is just something beautiful about seeing ice stuck to everything, especially when the sun comes out. My camera doesn't capture the true beauty of it all but I still love taking pictures of it.

 

 

 

 

Nathan's truck was covered.....his hub-caps made quite the beautiful ice circle!

 

 

All of these pictures were taken 3 days after the ice storm. It looked so sparkly outside for a number of days! There were a few victims though of the heavy ice....

The damage to trees from an ice storm can be so sad to see! So while I love the sparkle of ice, I am thankful ice storms don't happen too often.

Trip to BC Part 5

No, we did not get stuck in Lynden. Nor in BC......or at the airport once we landed (well, that was an 'almost' but that'll be a story for another day). No, the reason it has taken me so long to continue on documenting our trip is because we had to get through some sickness and then I was out every single night this past week. But alas, here I am and let's keep going!

We left Lynden Sunday night and was thankful to have Monday to ourselves to catch up on some family time again. Keziah was not well so some hanging around the house in pjs was welcomed.

After lunch, we were eager to get out and explore again - especially knowing that the weather was going to get pretty wet the next couple of days. So off we went and found another trail to hike, this time it was at Mt. Thom. It was so beautiful!! Some parts were pretty steep. And as you will see, I took the advantage of some photo ops of kids:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once at the top, we thought it would be perfect for a family picture. However the people we asked to take a picture for us had dogs.......so here are the pictures....

 

 

 

Family picture fail. :o)

But then we noticed it was okay because they would have been too dark. So we tried one more time. Success!!

The view at the top was pretty good. We were above the clouds!

 

Then it was back on the trail again and I just couldn't help but take advantage of their willingness for pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was all going so well until someone was introduced to stinging nettles the hard way. This picture will give you a clue as to who it was.....

Poor girl :( Thankfully we were near the end of the hike and by the time we got home the little thorns were pretty much all gone.

It's a good thing we went for a hike that day because the next couple of days, dear Lincoln was very sick. Most of our plans had to be cancelled or readjusted. Unfortunately we couldn't see some of my cousins and their families, but he was just too feverish and sick to take out.

I ended this day spending some more time with my dear friend, Michelle. We met later in the afternoon to go for our shopping and pedicure plans that we do every time we get together. Who knew that everything closes at 5:30 in Abbotsford?! Yeah, we didn't either!! Oh well, we enjoyed some of the best food ever at a little Greek place. So good!! And the company even better :)

We are nearing the end of our trip, with 3 more days to write about. Nathan is gone next week, so I shall have some time to finish this trip up. Until then, have a great weekend yet!