HAVE A HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

We had a good time on Friday...I hope you all did too. Despite the origins of Halloween and what it really is a celebration of...we enjoy dressing up and all the fun of seeing people in costume and really just getting together and partying! Riley got to bring a game to school, as did his classmates, so they played games in the afternoon and he thought TWISTER was a riot!
This is our second year in Salmon Arm, and we headed downtown again where most of the stores there give out treats. I love to see the hundreds of families out together and looking so cute (among the few really gorry ones!). Our kids are not scared of much in the way of "spooky". They walked into this store that was completely blacked out with plastic. There were screams coming out on a stereo, and both of them walked right in. There was a guy hanging from the ceiling, which looked like a dummy, but when you walked by him, he grabbed on to you! You couldn't really see anything as there was strobe lights going on. At the end of a dark hallway with cobwebs was this evil doctor guy rocking in a chair and handing out treats. Both boys walked up to him with no reservation and accepted some chocolate! They thought it was SO COOL. I STILL to this day remember being absolutely frightened of people in costume...one guy dressed up like this big ape and came to the door (while we were at my grandpa's) and I was completely freaked. I was probably only 4, and I still remember it, so it must have been major to me!
Anyway, after downtown, Anna, Luke, their fam's and my parents joined us at our house, as it was a Friday night and we usually get together anyway...and the kids trick or treated on our street for a bit. We missed doing that last year as Riley was SO sick! Then we all ate supper together and played games til 2am. Everyone was high on sugar, so it was a little nutty, but fun nonetheless.

What was your favorite costume that you saw this year?

I have a sister

...and her name is Anna.


Tomorrow is her birthday!!

She has been busy packing her house as they are moving this week, poor girl. I hate moving. I do like moving in, but she is going to be in limbo for the next 8 or 9 months, living in a few different places.

I can't believe she leaves SA in only 6 months. We gotta make these last ones count!
I wish you a happy day among the chaos!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Anna Banana!!
I love you!

Thanks for your input!

And the winner is.... A!

I had a wide range of opinions (from all my online groups), but A seemed to get the most attention. It was down to A and D, and I wasn't sure which to do, so I enlarged both. A was definitely the highest quality photo, so I took it in (D is now in Shea's room). (For those who live here, it is in the new store, Nurtured by Nature, a little boutique which sells glass baby bottles, organic compostable diapers!, slings, maternity wear, diaper bags, things for nursing and feeding etc. Across from Askews, check it out!) The owner has to get the frames and then you will be able to go view my photo and those of other local artists.

Thank you for your interest!

Which to frame?

Please help me choose....
There is a unique opportunity for local artists to display an 11x14 photo in a downtown store, and I would love to do it. But which photo do I choose? (It should be newborn or maternity.)

Choice A:


Choice B:


Choice C:


Choice D:


Choice E:

(My concern with this last one is that it is a major crop, so poor resolution.)

Your opinion matters, so please speak up! Thanks!

His teeth are coming in nicely...

Parenting ups and downs

I consider myself a pretty stable person, not one to get irrationally angry or crazy happy. I'm more straight forward, calm, easy going...not too easily upset or brought to tears and also not overly enthusiastic and hyper.
Parenting though...wow. It has it's ups and downs, doesn't it. All within a matter of a day.

Today...
JOY! The boys all slept at least 12 hours straight! Shea with limited coughing!
JOY! I'm just so happy that Shea is finally walking and rarely crawls at all. He's so much happier to be able to dance and run around! So am I.
SORROW. Liam is climbing all over me and doesn't know when to give me my personal space, especially when I'm trying to talk to someone.
JOY! I am able to shop with one child while the other two are in school. Special time alone with Shea.
SORROW. As I walk into preschool to pick Liam up, I hear teacher say, "LIAM, do you need to sit on the time-out chair?"
JOY! Liam writes his name so well and is trying to figure out spelling other things.
JOY! Shea takes a great long nap while I am able to bake pies! Pies! That hasn't happened in ages!
SORROW. Liam is calling me names and demanding a sixth snack.
JOY! The day is great! We get to walk to school every day for exercise and see some real live humans!
SORROW. Riley is not sharing his fort with the kindergardeners and there is some pushing of girls involved. Have I not taught him how to act appropriately and properly apologize? We have some work to do.
JOY! Shea loves to have the boys home to play with and will be entertained by them quite well.
SORROW. Riley is whining while he endures an hour time-out in his room for his behavior.
JOY! I know what I'm making for dinner!
SORROW. Greg has to leave for a meeting and the kitchen is a disaster. (Remember, pies.)
JOY! Riley is reading long stories now, and actually enjoying himself! I'm not even forcing him!
SORROW. The boys are fighting again. Over nothing really. Does it ever occur to them that they could be best friends if they wanted to?
SORROW. Shea is CRANKY. He wants to be held, but still is cranky. Darn teeth.
JOY! They are sleeping now and didn't try to get up once!

And that's not even half of it. I'm so stretched in my capacity to handle all the emotional craziness, that I thank God that I'm relatively stable enough to cope and stay sane! At least I think I'm sane!? I just encourage all you moms out there to give it all you've got and pray for the rest to come from HIS unending tanks of overflowing love, wisdom and patience as we deal with HIS kids. Sometimes, doesn't it help to think of them as HIS kids. As in, not mine! He gave His 3 busy boys to me to take care of, for some strange reason...as if I know what I'm doing!? What a challenge.

Grade Two photos

Awww...I love school photos. There is something about them looking so nervous and sweet. Young but also grown up and independent all at the same time. I probably said that last year too!

We're ordering the bottom one (kinda obvious). I think he's gotten much taller and handsome(r) this past year!

Have you read it?

I'm sure many of you have heard of the book by William P. Young, called The Shack? It has been quite the buzz among the "Christian" world, but also among others apparently as it ranked # 12 on the Amazon list.
It has led to many controversial debates such as the one I just watched on You Tube, and a report from Mark Driscoll about it. Argh. It is obvious from what he said, that he hasn't read it. And then another video of a guy my age who finished reading it and thinks of it similarly to the way I do. (Don't watch any of these reports until you've read it for yourself!)
My in-laws gave it to us and Greg and I just finished reading it. I'm not going to give away the story, but I do want to say that I walked away from it feeling a sense of relief. I have a degree from Bible school, but that doesn't make me a theology expert. I don't quite know if all the doctrine in it was true, or that it was even remotely right... but I didn't expect that from this fiction book written by a human, not to replace the Bible, but to tell a story.
It did get kinda heavy in the middle of it, but all in all it just really helped to deepen my understanding of God as a Trinity, and His desire to have a relationship with me. It also helped to take the "guilt" out of our religious duties that we feel obliged to follow and instead focused on LOVE that flows out of us throughout our lives when we're in that right relationship with Him. It also touched on answering that age-old question of "Why if God is God...does He let bad things happen?".
I can see that someone who has a greater understanding of theology might find that this book has some errors, but it does well at encouraging people to LOVE God and understand his LOVE for his children. And so for me...it was well worth the read.

Family room blues

So the projects are slowing down a little. Last night my sis n' law came over again, with her sister, to help me paint the family room. Kids were all in bed, so us mommies sped to it and did the room in 2 1/2 hrs.



This is obviously the "BEFORE"...with my many sampler paint testers on the wall!



This is a really awkward room. It is our family/ playroom. It has the wood stove right in the center of that one stretch of wall, then a full sliding door, a back door to what used to be a garage, but is now laundry/boot room/basement, and then the stairs up to the kitchen and the railing. It leaves little if any room for furniture or a way for us to fit in the TV. Still thinking up a better way.



And today...
I put up the shelf that I had painted from green to white. I replaced the light covers from brass to white, and replaced the hardware on the railing, but still need to put it up.

(click on this photo to see the color of the wall better)

I would also like to find a way to update the tile around the wood stove, maybe paint it? and eventually hope to put built-in shelving on both sides of it, and one day far far away, replace the sliding door with a window.
But so far, a vast improvement from "boring", don't you think?!

Project time again

Hi...I know that I haven't frequented here regularly, and that's because, well...
I'm BUSY.
I just started some new projects around home again. Thankfully with my trusty sister 'n' law, Pam, at my side (who knows all there is to know about painting), we did all the filling, sanding and painting of the trim and baseboards on the main floor.
The picture above just barely shows the new white trim.

Then I decided to tackle a bookshelf that I've wanted to paint since I got it...a big forest green shelf (like 2.5ft wide and 6ft tall) that my dad built. I put on 3 coats of white paint, and it could almost use another, but I am thinking that it should be just fine as it's usually piled with games and dvd's that you won't even notice my perfect painting job anyway!
Then after hemming and hawing with 4 different tester pots of paint, I decided on a paint color for the remaining wall in my kitchen and the for the whole family room.
I am SO excited! I don't know if it's the paint fumes, but finding the right color makes me happy. I will definitely be posting some before and afters of that room which we intend to paint on Tuesday. Until then, I will be busy cleaning, filling and sanding to get it ready. Oh, and moving out all the toys and furniture.

But in the meantime, we are enjoying lots of friend and family visits and will have turkey tomorrow with G's parents. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Back to the water

I was a faithful water aerobics girl right through my pregnancy with Shea. I loved it. It took place from 8:30-9:30pm which was a great hour to slip out as my two boys were in bed. Well, then I had the baby, we moved, and I just hadn't got back to it. This morning was my first deep water aerobic class in Salmon Arm. It was great to be back!
For those who have never tried it, you put a floatation belt around your waist and then jump into the deep end and do some moves similar to skiing or jumping jacks etc. The water works as resistance, and you leave the pool feeling like your entire body was worked. The only downside was that there was this guy there who, to say it bluntly, was a few fries short of a happy meal, and he kept trying to strike up a conversation and wanted to shake my hand. Eww....don't shake my hand in the pool, ok?! Prune hands! gross.
As you may remember, Anna and I had tried walking an hour about 3x a week, for most of the summer, but it took so much time and didn't really give us the results we were hoping for!? So I'm trying a few different things now and am quite excited.
Sometimes I wish I could have got it together when I was younger, and never had a weight problem, but then I was thinking awhile ago, that I don't know what is better or worse...
a) spending your young adulthood (ie. college) overweight (and upset about it) and then having 3 children and coming out smaller that you were back then, resenting the fact that you hadn't taken care of yourself better before...or
b) spending your young adulthood (ie. college) skinny and (and proud of it) and then having 3 children and ending up keeping the baby fat and looking much heavier and wishing you were back in the old days
I'm sure most of us would fit in the "a" or "b" scenario, but for those of you who were skinny in college and still skinny after 3 kids...I don't want to hear about it.
;)