Brent, Danny, and Boys

Finger paints!

2009-11-21T16:41:00.001-08:00

Bought these for the boys for their birthday's...they are made of plants and hemp oil :D

Caleb was very careful and artistic about it to start with, then he got yellow and red on his hands and went to town!! :D

Derek started by painting parts of a wooden airplane model we bought, now we have to do the backs before we can make it, he did a great job, very serious about it ;)

This was hilarious, Caleb took two little wooden sticks from the model airplane and dabbed them in a rapid fire motion into the paint, then he tap tap tapped like a drummer on his page :D

Look at my messy hands!! This is nothing really, by the end of it, he had grey paint nearly to his elbows, and had even got some on his face! :D

This is a male Muscovy Duck, he is the only one of the chicks that survived of the eggs hatched here this spring, he is pretty easy going. As you can see, he even accepted a few cozy hugs from Caleb :D

Powell River

2009-11-15T14:52:00.001-08:00

Halloween!
As you can see they were wiggly :D Three pumpkins were carved, a happy, scary, and sad one.

Derek doing some fishing :D

On this trip to the beach, Caleb decided to walk on some rocks that were above the water, and some that were below.....in the end, boots had to have the water poured out, and a quick trip home to a warm bath was next. Caleb, wet to his underpants, was rather unfazed and unhurried about it all!

Dump truck races around the house are the latest fad since Baba brought them home for the boys :D

A rather unexpected but thoroughly enjoyed entertainment, especially when they are surprisingly "dumped" at the bottom of the board :D

New members of our Fam...

2009-07-19T17:33:00.001-07:00

We just picked these two sweeties up last night :D
They are just weaned so still pretty young, very sweet and curious! The boys are both thrilled and Derek ran outside this morning before anything else to talk to the bunnies, he wants to name one Charlie, but Caleb hasn't settled on a name for the other yet (I am not even sure which is Charlie! ;D).
The fawn colored one is most lively and hopped out of the cage this morning with help from Caleb who opened the door :D
I am still sick so I was inside enjoying the entertainment of Brent chasing a tiny bunny around the yard in his suit and tie! LOL It is only about half as big as his foot!!

We've got WORMS!! (Don't Look Sara!)

2009-03-08T20:40:00.000-07:00

No, not the internal kind, hmmm, then again, don't know that for sure do we? hehehehe ;p
Sorry Sara, could not resist :S

Well, these guys were pretty thrilled about it, Derek happily greeted Marissa at the door with; "Want to come see our worms?" She was pretty interested but a little let down with how few we could find to show her. This specific kind of worm, "Eisenia fetida" to be precise, doesn't like the light at all, so they stay hidden as much as they can. Plus I "only" bought 2lbs (approx 2000 worms) to start and it takes a while for them to multiply.

But they seem to be happy in their new home as they seem to be multiplying quite quickly! Last time I fed them there were so many it was impossible to miss them, and lots of young ones too! In the photo we had just placed them there and they had not yet burrowed down.
We got worms to help reduce the amount of compost that we are currently filling our yard with, we produce a LOT! Worms in a bin do the same as worms in a garden but at a far faster rate because they are concentrated. The resulting worm "castings" is extremely beneficial for plants, here is a link to the place I got the worms.

Some folks wonder (as I did too) why a particular kind of worm? I can dig them out of my garden for free! Well, some people have, and soon discovered, not all worms are alike, and when they are somewhere they DON'T like, they leave!! So one fellow awoke to his worms attempting to make good their escape across his floor :) Or as my book on vermicomposting says, the worms "refused to stay"...."Some vartieties are accustomed to light and will exit the (bin) without any warning or notice" Hahahahaha, not sure how a worm might give one notice, had a good laugh over that :) Basically there are thousands of kinds of worms, but these "red wigglers" as they are called, are amoung the best suited for worm farming.

ps I am impressed, I was very negligent and had a whole cawliflower go moldy in the fridge, it barely fit in the bin, but about 4-5 days later when I looked, save a small slimy slip, it was ALL GONE!!! :D:D:D Go worms :D:D:D lol

YOGA!

2009-03-07T00:35:00.001-08:00

Here our boys are pouring over their yoga books trying to decide what pose to attempt, quite engrossing!

They have settled on the "bow", and did an excellent job :D

Here Derek works on his "Modified Head Stand" and Caleb consults the books for more detail :)

Hmmm, I think this is called the "Plank", and Derek is doing a very good job!
On a side note, I am very pleased to report that I have managed to complete 20 consecutive days of yoga myself and am feeling wonderful :D:D:D

Garden stuff

2009-03-04T23:09:00.000-08:00

I know this is a bad pic but wanted to include it for those who haven't seen our back yard. This is the view from our spare room upstairs from which I lounge on the bed and watch Brent work. Hahahaha, no really but it helps to illustrate. Marissa (4) lives in the house top left, and Riley (another girl friend, but she is 6 so goes to school) and her family recently moved into the house directly behind us. The long narrow boxes outline approx. the 16 foot easement across the back of our property. The black stuff and wood chips are to help eliminate the loads of weeds, and grass (I pulled out the blackberries so hopefully they are gone) that never got cleared out of the back, and the tiny bit of mulch you see on the left is one end of the raspberry patch to be (the deer viciously decimated my 4 little plants :( They will probably come back to life in the spring but I am still very upset with the deer!

A better view of my hard working hubby, and no joke, it was better than anticipated but still largely clay that he had to dig through. I think he went down more than a foot deep and added at least 3 wheelbarrows of sand, Caleb is lending a hand :) You can't really tell but there are about 4 inch garlic plants growing in that long box the garden bed frame is resting on, right in front of Caleb. I have about 20 plants growing, never tried to grow garlic before so hopefully it does all right!

Ever since Dad started work on his workbench Derek has been inspired. That box in the top left is Derek's workbench he made with Dad :) Today he banged together a "boat" for Caleb, an airplane (the wood split on him :( ) , and a space ship, which were all identifiable, so we were duly impressed :D
Oh and yes Grandma's, he has hit his fingers, and they are all ok and accounted for ;p

EEEeeeeek, can you see all the solid clay lumps! This is after the sand has been added, and I put in some lime too. I don't know how long he spent but Brent whacked and stirred and dug and mixed it all for a long time.......

And this is the result. I am amazed at how full my box is! I anticipated loads of soil needed to be brought in to fill it, but after a thorough fluffing and wheelbarrows of sand it is pretty darn full! I am just going to add an inch or two of compost and call it done! I am so pleased, Brent did a great job all round (built the box today too!) especially for a dedicated "NO GARDEN WORK" hubby :D

Not a clue why this posted sideways, it was right in Photoshop, oh well you can get the idea, while Brent was digging I mixed together a seedling starter blend, added some goodies (for the plants ;p) and filled my salad bins. They have holes (jabbed with a knife) in the bottom for drainage, and lids to seal in the moisture. Got the cookie sheets to catch draining water at Goodwill for $2 or so, and put it all in the master bath which gets the best light all day, I can heat it, and it is more humid than the rest of the house.
Now I just need to plant the seeds..... :D

WOOHOO!

The progress is just too exciting for me ;D

Boys Antics

2009-03-03T22:57:00.000-08:00

So I thought the kids (neighbor girl was in on it too) just got tired of the umbrella's and left them there randomly, but those umbrella's are strategically placed! They are sheltering the snowman (they built together) from the sun :D Clever bunch, that snowman outlasted all other snow by days!

"Mom it's raining! Can we go outside with our umbrella's?!"
On another note, think we need to re-seed by any chance?

Look what great smiles you get when you promise they get dessert for breakfast!
This raw "Eclair" dessert was a hit! I will post a close-up and details later :)

The latest "in" thing among the cuties in our house (neighbor "Marissa" started it)
PAPER GLASSES!!!
They are all the rage, do you have some?

What are book shelves for?

Peek a Booooooo!

Playing and reading in of course!! :D

THE favorite pastime, our neighbor Jessi has a trampoline for her daughter Cheyanne (sp?), and invited the boys to use it whenever we permit. I tried but never caught Caleb's signature move, he jumps and kicks his heels up to his bum before landing again. It is hilarious to watch because he is so short, you would have to see it, and maybe I can get a video on here later, it makes me giggle every time I see it :D:D
Derek has taken to doing "flips" which involve jumping and falling to the side, they are very funny, and the more we laugh the sillier he gets :D:D

More Dec 2008

2009-01-20T10:07:00.000-08:00

Hard working men building the igloo, Derek had his Dad leave some spaces open for "windows" :D

Derek fits in very well, he even invited me in and there was room for both of us, but I could not quite stand up, all in all, very cosy but we did not plan to spend the night ;p

Derek is reading Caleb a book, it was very sweet. Caleb was all over, he never stops moving!

We came home to MORE snow (in Dec)

2009-01-19T21:50:00.000-08:00

Sorry folks I know this is old but didn't want to not post them!
This is the snow fort or igloo that Brent made with a large plant pot. Just compressed and stacked them with a little support. It was inspired by one that my Parent's neighbour made back in BC with a rectagular rubber maid container. This is a perfect size for Derek :D

Brent and Derek whooping it up in the snow, we knew our driveway would be good for ONE thing... :D

Wheeeeeeeeee!

Derek became quite the pro.

Snow drifted boys, we walked to the park with the Dog and that was an adventure in itself. Caleb could only go about 1-10 feet before falling over in the deep snow, it took forever! ;p

Here he is, at the starting gate, ready to zoom! He shoots across the street and hits the sidewalk, then falls off laughing :D

Finished wood Floor

2008-11-18T19:25:00.000-08:00

First, many THANK YOU'S to all these friends and family who have helped and or contributed to this project, and our home: Jim and Barbara, John and Gayle, Joanne and Barry, Jan and Hilary, Derek and Sara, thank you all so much!

This is our floor after the first application of oil. It is solid oak tongue and groove that was installed by Brent with help from Jim and Barbara B. Then Brent sanded it several times with both a rented sander and a hand sander til it was nice and smooth. Next it was given two coats of shellac (which I have found is a natural/somewhat treated product!). Then sanded back down to the wood (shellac was for filling the grain), and finally coated in treated flax, or linseed oil as it is called. This picture was after the first oil application. We did 3 in total, Brent applied it with cloths, and I came behind (an hour later) rubbing up the excess oil.

TA-DA!!
We now have a lounge-able living room!! Whoopie! :):):):):)
Move-in day was last Wednesday, the 12th.

Presenting, our new dining area! I think it all looks rather smashing on yon nice wood floor :):)
* don't look too close or you will notice we still haven't done the trim so it looks dreadful down there!! ;p* teehehehe

Ooooo I think it looks so nice! Soon we will have blinds, and we are also working on curtains and an area rug. Oh my this is FUN!! :):)

This is the view from the front door, the side of the living room that you have not really seen is not particularly pretty because we have matching gray love seats, and only one really fits, so currently they are sort of squashed in and the boys are having a ball climbing on them :)

Meet Our New Family Member!

2008-11-12T10:48:00.000-08:00

This is Angel, so named because her foster family's daughter said she must have had a guardian angel!
She is around 6-7 months old, and a Lab mix, probably with a smaller breed as she is only around 25-30lbs. Angel is from California, she was thrown/fell out of a vehicle and was hit by the car behind. It was the driver of the car that hit her who took her to a vet, so she was probably thrown as her owners didn't stop. Her back leg was broken so she was on her way to an euthanizing center when someone took pity on her, and somehow she was sent to Castlerock, where a really great foster family took her in. Angel went to a new family, but they were going through a divorce and had a difficult schedule, so she didn't get enough care and developed pneumonia, so she went back to her foster family. We heard about her through Nikki W. who sent us her picture and sad story. Three weeks later here she is, cast off, and all better, thanks to her awesome foster family!!

This was yesterday evening, her first hours at our house. Caleb gave her the cellulose sponge, it was dry and she quite liked to chew on it.
The boys have to sit on the stairs to calm down when they misbehave, and so far today Angie (as she has been nicknamed) has joined them every time. A very sympathetic pup :)

Caleb, playing the excellent host was so good as to point out her food for her, however he took it a bit far when in the confusion he managed to taste it for her as well!! She was not very interested, and remained indifferent this morning, unlike Caleb who went for seconds.
Score; Caleb 2, Angie 0
Since then we discovered what she likes and she polished off a bowel, thankfully, without Caleb's help!

>>>>>>October 25th 2008<<<<<<

2008-11-01T23:05:00.000-07:00

Caleb's birthday

Upon waking up this morning I announced "Happy Birthday Caleb!"
He said "Tank you!", in a sweet sing song voice.
Derek sat up in bed and said "Happy Birthday Caleb!"
He replied "Tank you, Der-ek!".
Then asked "Have, party?",
I said "Yes, with Mimi and Grampa!"
Caleb queried "Have, cake?"
"Yes" I said,
"Very yummy!?" He asked excitedly with anticipation :D
Tehehehe, it still makes me smile.
His sweet little "Tank You!" was repeated several times in the day when his Grandparents called to wish him a happy b-day it was sooooo cute!

Caleb is TWO this year!

This sweetie is grinning, not because he WILL get cake but because unlike last year, he has not only attempted, but succeeded in getting his face in it!!!
(please note the little mouth indent directly below his chin)
We can assume he approves of the flavor :)
It was quite hilarious, Derek helpfully blew out the candles before we got to sing, so we re-lit them, sang (once again out of harmony, but Caleb discreetly held a poker face, with the faintest hint of a pleased smile ;D), Derek promptly blew out one candle, and with much puffing, Caleb got the other one. Then I turned around to get the plates and knife, and looked back in time to see Caleb with his mouth chomped onto the edge of his cake!! We all hooted with "wait Caleb's!" and laughter so he relinquished his bite :D:D:D Guess which piece Caleb got? :D:D

Silly grins and closed eyes! YUM!
Caleb got a ladybug balloon for his b-day and it was well loved, although Dad suspected it was following him around the house at face level, just to drive him crazy :D
We all finished our cake, including the "seconds", and went on to do other things, but Caleb stayed at the counter for a long time finishing off all the cake within range, regardless of who it belonged too! My word can this little one EAT! :D:D
A good time was had by all :)

Happy Be-lated Birthday Caleb!!!

2008-11-01T21:25:00.000-07:00

Look at who is TWO!

Not yet one day old (new), Caleb is getting kisses from Derek, so sweet.

This is the next day, Uncle Derek and Auntie Sara came to meet Caleb, and of course provided us with beautiful pictures of Caleb :) Many thanks :)

Teehehehe, he has such a cute nose, and ours are HUGE!!! :D:D:D:D

This picture is from the next year when Caleb turned ONE!

Unfortunately Derek fell and broke his collar bone just a day? days? before Caleb's birthday. So his party was delayed and then I was too busy and never managed to post any pictures :( We will now attempt to make up for that ;)
Derek was such a tough little nut he never cried after the first day, adjusted his playing to compensate, and was mostly his usual self while definately in pain. Here he posed with Caleb's banana cream Birthday cake!

Here is the ONE year old birthday boy HIMSELF! Wait, what is this, no smiles.....?

"Y'all call this singing?!?"

Yup, all Grandparents and Parents were there but apparently no two people could sing in harmony!! ;p Hahaha, poor Caleb :D:D:D He was really concerned :D:D

But cake makes everything alllll better :D Mastering the spoon technique...

Abandoning it in favor of the fingers-and-whole-hand-if-necessary technique....

Grandpa stepped in with a little help and guidance :D:D:D

The climbing-on-table-to-get-face-closer-to-cake technique being expertly demonstrated by Caleb, with helpful tugs of redirection from Grandpa :D

"So I am ONE now and they got me a rocking horse....huh."

"Heyyy! This thing is alright, pretty fun! :)"

WHOOPEE!!!!!!
"TEEHEHEHEHE! This is so fun my diaper is wet and I DON'T CARE! :D:D:D:D:D"

Derek's birthday

2008-10-19T23:49:00.000-07:00

Derek got an Elephant from Mimi and Grampa! This was spotted at the Portland Zoo when we were there a week earlier to celebrate his birthday, it is Mom approved as it is made of soy, and stuffed with kapok! *all other commercially available stuffed animals are made of plastic. It is very soft!

Dad was feeling artistic, can you tell? Derek and Caleb were both very thrilled about the balloon, yes, I know, plastic! Definitely a rare purchase, the boys enjoyed it thoroughly (or roughly?!) for days, I was sure it would pop but it held up fine, even while being used as a bouncy ride!

Isn't this a sweet picture!

The wonders of cropping, hahahaha

Mmmmmm, cherry cheesecake, even the elephant wanted in on it! ;D Derek looks like he thinks he needs a bigger piece!!

Derek is FOUR!!!

2008-09-30T19:51:00.000-07:00

So here is a look back, to the day he was born....

Less than an hour old!

The day he turned ONE,

Our TWO year old Derek, so Sweet!

Discovered the joy of presents at TWO!

Skateboarding at THREE!

and a BIG bike for birthday THREE.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEREK!

P.S. I was wanting to post pictures from today of Derek at FOUR but for some reason can't get the memory card to download, and camera batteries are dead, so will try again tomorrow.

Hawaii -Waimea Canyon

2008-09-20T20:41:00.000-07:00

I know this is totally out of order but just realized lately that I have lots more Hawaii pictures I would like to post. So here are some happy smiling faces that have just viewed the VERY beautiful, colorful canyon. Kinda scary at the edges though with two wiggly little ones :s

Looking down it toward the ocean (nearest shore)

There were several waterfalls, this one was the nearest we saw

As we got higher up, it got cloudy and harder to get the whole scope of it, be we loved all that we saw :)

After we went to a small costal town to see the "swinging" bridge, and it sure did swing! This was so cute, quite on his own, Derek said "Caleb, do you want to hold my hand?" He did, and off they went, adults are just too slow when there are places to explore!!

All work and play

2008-09-17T21:35:00.000-07:00

I hoe, I hoe, it's off to work I go.... :) :)

A much less work inclined little lad looking mildly angelic?! ;p

Who needs a horse and plow when you have a busy boy like Caleb!

Someone is doing all the work and someone is having all the fun!

See Mom, when you water the grass, it GROWS! :D

Life in our New House!

2008-08-30T22:42:00.000-07:00

Coloring is a grand pastime (we won't mention the crayons that are broken, chewed on, or picked apart...) and one of Derek's favorites! He is very good!
Nanny don't look, that is a library book, Rodales? Gardening to be precise, oops! No really it is fine. I love it when Caleb puts things on his head, he loves too, I have missed many cute pictures of various toys, two hats at a time, a stuffed dog, yeah he does that a lot, remember the bucket at Nanny's? :D

Do you think they are happy they have a bathtub at the new house? I am not sure ;p

It is hard to show the colors right as the flash changes it and I am no longer very adept with a camera (took photo class in school and was pretty good with an old all manual one, brag, brag :p now I am just old and out of date :D)

But isn't it PRETTY!!! I love all the colors and variation in it, I think it is grand and Brent did an awesome job :D:D Soooo happy to have such a lovely floor, now we just need to finish it so others can come visit and enjoy it too!

Some things I am enjoying very much:

having a bathtub (we have two!)
all the windows and light!
good air circulation (we keep the windows open :D)
a full kitchen! Brent and I fit at the same time :D
our own yard in which to plant and plan and dream ;)
more than one toilet (I think the boys and I share a schedule ;p)
the beautiful wood floor my Sweety installed
friendly neighbors who helped us move some furniture
SPACE!!! :)

Some things I enjoy a little less ;p :

close proximity of the neighbours (can hear more than we need to! we were spoiled in the country)
ridiculous driveway (you already know that one!)
hearing all the traffic go by (Brent hates the trains, there are a LOT)
no privacy ( don't worry we are working on getting curtains up :D)
trying to keep the boys in our yard!

Beacon Hill Park

2008-08-25T11:19:00.000-07:00

Our first encounter in the petting zoo was a huge pregnant pot bellied pig! She was doing some serious sun bathing :D

There are many beautiful peacocks at Beacon Hill, one is pure white.

I was very impressed, Derek rushed ahead of us into the goat area, but when I found him he had already located a brush and was gently brushing a goat, he didn't need a tutorial!!
These are African pygmy goats who, aside from the babies, always seem to be pregnant, nursing, or both! They are very playful and so fun to visit we used to do it even as college students ;p They are so small that the very pregnant ones look as wide as they are tall!

This was hilarious, the goat was twirling its tail and Caleb was trying to catch it. He followed the goat around trying to grab its tail and giggling the whole time!

One of my favorite sites around Victoria, the horse drawn carriages, they often drive through the park.

The ducks were a big hit with the boys and it is always fun to try to spot the duckings, this one in the center was unique, and quite eye catching.

We are in the middle of what used to be the rose garden, it has a sundial and a radial shape, I loved all the use of color and texture.

There is a really nice kids park in the park, it was very busy! Climin' climin' :D

The swings are also very popular with our wee boys :)

When we came to the park I tried to describe all the animals and things we would see, sometimes you see turtles, so I mentioned them. Well after that all we heard was "Mom where are the turtles! I want to see a turtle." Then as we were leaving, at the last pond before the van we saw them, two turtles on a rock in the water, can you see them? It was a nice ending :D

July 10th

2008-07-04T00:23:00.000-07:00

So this is the day we get our house inspected and hopefully the keys to move in!
There is not too much left to do so it is looking good, of course Brent is more aware than I am of all the little things that are left so he may feel differently, but I am sure we will make it. :)
I have some older pictures of about a week or two ago but they are not loading so I will try to get more recent ones to post for another day.
Happy 4th of July to all local Americans and Happy belated 1st of July (Canada day) to all Resident and Yonder Canadians ;p

Flash Update on House!

2008-05-28T22:49:00.000-07:00

So folks the latest news is that if things go according to schedule (normally this would make me laugh as we are already 5 months OFF schedule....but there really isn't that much work left!) we will be home owners on the first of July!
Yippadee do dah I say!
Poor Brent has been working such long hours out there that he has not seen the boys awake for two whole days now :( I am totally looking forward to being able to function as a FAMILY again!
The thought of being able to travel to Canada together has me almost giddy :D That will still be a while off though. Of course owning a home as most of you know has its own trials (please don't shoot me for thinking ahead, somebody has to do it!) so I have been thinking of where to get a lawn mower, what kind of water filter, vacuum, window covers to buy/find, how to lower bills, etc.... not all of it is stressful though, I have also been planning with much excitement our yard and garden.
I have great expectations (but actually very little experience :s) in our yards ability to produce food for us, I am hoping to plant a cherry tree or two, maybe an apricot, and a plum. I already have 3 blueberry plants (a b-day present from Ma and Pa Pearson :D), and wads of kale starts from an old plant I was growing here, they are growing like weeds!
So I will leave you with that, oh and my angst that they are planning to HYDROSEED our yard!!!!! I will phone tomorrow and see if I can save at least the back yard from this fate!
*** for those of you who don't know, I am into organics in a big way and not keen on chemicals, hydroseeding is a chemical cocktail!***

Here is a sweet picture that was missed when I posted Jon and Michelle's visit, a Caleb smile for Nanny too!

The Farm on Kauai

2008-05-27T14:04:00.000-07:00

The shared driveway or "alley" leading to our cabin. These palm trees are ornamental. (yes I had to ask, everything edible was at risk of being eaten by me ;D)

The boys posing in front of our ride which we switched the next day for a navy one with better brakes!!

The dinning table with crayons, papaya, and an avocado tree out the window.... Paradise!! :D

Explorers

Hahahahahahaha, funny faces :D

Greeting the local Ladies

More Orchids

A ginger plant

An orange tree, or at least a relative of the same, there were a few here that I had never even heard of before! :)

In this pic we have the nearest papaya tree there on the top left, and it's trunk is disappearing behind the out door shower. That was an adventure in itself although the ladies were silly and didn't try it, that was nearly all the men folk used! It came with bath buddies like jumbo snails, spiders, and sometimes geckos :D

More Oahu Adventures

2008-05-16T20:00:00.000-07:00

Happy papaya eater ;D

I am sure you want to see a picture of me stuffing my face but you get to anyway cause it is on the BEACH :D and it was an all-you-can-eater with a fruit buffet!!!

Ha! Look! It is Brent again! And another littler cutie chowing at the beach buffet :)

Sorry for the bad color, this was at night, that parrot was so cool, it just lay perfectly calm on it's back, Derek was fascinated, and so happy to get to hold it! :D

This was so awesome, Caleb went from frightened to giggling at the bird laying on his lap, while Derek went through a similar transformation with the bird on his shoulder, it even nibbled his ear teehehehe, it was an unique experience. Little children don't often get to touch such fragile and appealing animals let alone hold them and interact so much :)

This is the Hawaiian fish, the Humuhumu Nukunuku Apoa'a, a store clerk was very impressed when Brent just read it off a t-shirt and said it correctly. I had fun teaching it's name to Derek too, he did very well and could say it before long :) This was taken at the Honolulu Aquarium

One of the many wild lizards we saw while at the Aquarium, there were quite a few!

A really striking bird that was common in the area as well, don't remember its name though.

Teehehehehehe, sorry but I love this cause it reminds me of what he was doing at the time, just walking with a bouncy gait and swinging his cradled arms in a very lively fashion, made us all laugh to watch :D Just kinda boppin along to his own tune :D
This is a large park next to the Aquarium, more amazing trees to be seen here.

At some point the boppin along broke into a bouncy gleeful run across to Derek :)

Hawaii Arrival at Oahu

2008-05-15T21:13:00.000-07:00

Flight's over and he's ready to go! But I think that is Nanny's luggage.... Uh Oh! :D

The view from our deck, you can barely see the ocean it is so shining white, but that pink hotel looks neat :)
Aaahhhh, we've finally landed, look Mama, solid ground! ;p

#3 Pearson Clan
Ha! Look, it is BRENT! Right there, in Hawaii!
(there was some confusion earlier ;p)

One and only Tobie Clan leaders ;p

This is right down town Honolulu, you can see that pink hotel behind the tree. The landscaping here was really beautiful so we just wandered through for a while, it was surprising to see such huge trees right in the busiest part of the city.

Beautiful and bizarre
The Grande Finale of the day was an amazing sunset, here are our cavorting (or frolicking?) boys with Nanny.
Wheeee, Look Mom we found the sea!!!! :D:D (splash, splash)

A Friendly Visit ;)

2008-05-14T20:27:00.000-07:00

On Monday our friends Jon and Michelle McLernon came for a visit. I first met Jon when I moved to Victoria (2001/2?), my brother was sharing an apartment with Jon and his brother Tim. Later we were joined by Dave Chee from Singapore and all shared a Duplex together in Victoria, those were some fun times! Anyway, long story short, Jon introduced Brent and I, and we introduced Jon and Michelle. Considering that Jon and I are the only two from the same country, that was quite a feat! ;p Michelle is Australian, and of course Brent is American.
We went to Capitol Lake in Olympia, there is a really nice walk way all around the lake.

There were lots of tiny silver fish jumping out of the water all around the lake that was visible to us, they were about an inch long, and jumping 1-2 inches out sometimes, quite a sight!

We met quite a collection of dogs, there was this chocolate lab puppy, a black lab pup about the same age, a pair of huge bull mastif's, and a tiny terrier puppy. The boys loved them all :D

Hahahaha, this was so funny, the more the puppy licked, the more Caleb laughed and laughed :D
He was so happy to see them all, walking around them patting very nicely, getting licked, and saying, "duog, duog" the whole time :D

Brent and Michelle in front of the Capitol building, we are so silly, we didn't take any pics of Jon and Michelle together with OUR camera! Yeesh, (eyes rolling at our sillyness..)

The Pearson Family :)

Love this picture, so sweet! The boys didn't play strange at all even though we haven't seen Jon and Michelle for almost 3 years!! But then Jon and Michelle are like family ;)

The Boys... all four ;p

Ducks! Nearly joined in the water by Caleb, but all impromptu swimming was nipped in the bud by Dad :) (thank goodness!)

Heading home :)

Cuties

2008-05-13T22:51:00.000-07:00

Nanny made a request for pictures of Caleb smiling so here is our first offering :D Actually Caleb has been making lots of new faces lately, but this one is pretty unique ;p

Teehehehe, this is just too cute, add a hair pin from Hawaii and I don't need a daughter to dress up any more! (Brent doesn't know I wrote that, so don't tell him k? ;D)

Too bad Caleb's eyes were shut, but the amount of sailing and fishing that goes on in this house is worth recording :D

The House....

2008-04-22T12:41:00.000-07:00

We are experiencing a love hate relationship with our up and coming new house :)
We are looking forward to it immensely, but of course there are issues....

Ours is the second one in this picture, the one further away, sorry for that, these pictures were taken with the intent of showing the difference in foundation height between our neighbors and our house, but as you can see, aside from that, the houses are the same, so you get the idea ;D

This is a picture of our infamous driveway, and the neighbors house, eventually our house will be a light tan sort of color with a red toned purple trim, while the neighbors will be blue with a darker or lighter blue trim (forget which).
Our driveway is so steep, you can't park on it (visitors have to park in the cul-de-sac, no street parking). It will be completely unusable in the winter, it snowed a few days ago and ppl were easily "skiing" down it in their shoes, top to bottom! So yeah, no walking up or down it, and this picture shows the amount of clearance under my van.

Progress is being made, Brent has been installing cabinets lately and almost all of ours are done! :D

Honolulu Aquarium

2008-03-22T13:22:00.000-07:00

The Honolulu Aquarium was quite small but unique in a few ways, for one thing it displays the Nautilus (a "living fossil"), last I heard it was the only aquarium to do so, quite a fascinating creature, also, the aquarium displays several rare or endangered creatures simply because Hawaii has a very high number of these. Of course, the creatures on display, being tropical, were also exotic, highly colored, and beautiful. :)

I think this was just leaving or returning from our trip, we were just outside our hotel anyway :)

Caleb at the outdoor tidal pool, he wanted to dip in and feel the fish, but that was not allowed :D

The sun was hot but thankfully umbrella's are often offered for shade. Derek and BaBa are watching the two Monk seals.

Monk seals are unique to Hawaii, and they are endangered, there are only aprox 1,200 left in the wild. One of the two here at the aquarium was brought in as an orphan with large scars on it's body. While we were at a beach in Poipu we got to see a wild seal lounging on the beach, it was fully cordoned off and seemed to be pretty comfy with the ppl milling around it :) There are large fines for disturbing the seals and turtles as they are quite endangered.
I used to think that numbers like 1000 were not that scary for a species, but was not thinking of the problem of the gene pool, it has to be quite big or inbreeding will finish the species off :(

Due to bad film (old) this is a terrible picture but I wanted to post it anyway because the trees were just so amazing, and we had fun playing around them. One tree had so many root thingys coming down Derek and I had to literally search through them to find the trunk in the center, it was not visible at all from the outside! The expanse of trunk/roots and the branches cover over head was tremendous! Could shade a whole herd of elephants I am sure! ;)

Waikiki Beach

2008-03-18T19:55:00.000-07:00

Please excuse the bad pictures as these were all taken with disposables with old film to boot, bah!

I think Caleb is like Tigger, "bottoms are made out of springs!" :D

Wahoo! He would get bowled over and come out for more, with or without a helping hand :s

Hawaii!!

2008-03-16T20:12:00.000-07:00

We just got home from an 11 day trip to Hawaii! We went with Nanny and BaBa so be sure to check their site for pictures too! We spent the first 2 days on Oahu at Honolulu, and then the rest of our time at an Organic Farm on Kauai.
Kauai is the oldest of all the islands and the least populated, it is called the Garden Island, and it was very beautiful and lush!

This is the life hey? The boys tried out 2 different hammocks on the farm :D
I learned something totally new about banana's, they are not a tree, but an herb! They have no bark, just a stem that grows leaves.

The foragers return successful!! AVOCADO! There were at least 3 different kinds on the farm, one being the jumbo ones that are bigger than grapefruit, crazy! They are interesting in the way that they all hang individually by a stem from the tree, some of the stems were over a foot long.
One morning Caleb spotted an avocado at his level and tried unsuccessfully to pick it. Derek heard him fussing, walked over and with a big pull that nearly landed him on his bottom, picked the avocado and handed it to Caleb, who walked off cheerfully swinging it by the stem in a very carefree fashion ;p

On the left is Sky who was our host in the absence of his Mom, he was just back from a trip to Thailand, and currently tutors music students on the farm, as well as running it. They have 50 CSA (community sponsored agriculture) family's they provide for every week. That is a coconut tree in the background, and my Dad on the right.
They bought the land 20 years ago and planted everything now growing on it, you would never guess it was empty 20 years ago!! There was a banana grove, avocados, lots of citrus trees, a soursop tree, macadamia nut trees, pineapple growing (they take 2 years!!), mango's, papaya, and probably some I have missed, oh and some beautiful purple fruit that I forget the name of that looked like a perfectly round, orange sized eggplant ;p

Here are Nanny and BaBa enjoying the surf and sunset at... Hanalei beach!
Derek was VERY keen on playing in the sand (every day, every minute, "Mama, I want to go to the beach!" ;D)
As you can see from Caleb's stunning grin it is WAY past his bedtime! :D

Visit with Canadian Grandparents

2007-12-31T10:15:00.000-08:00

BaBa and the boys in WA around Christmas :D

Reading by the fire, what a perfect seasonal pastime, these boys have it made! :)

This is Caleb at Nanny and BaBa's, doing his latest favorite act, caught in action!

Step 1

Step 2

Ta Da!!!

Yes, he tours the house like this :D:D

Another snowy Christmas Day picture, who threw that snowball!! ;o

Happy Holidays!

2007-12-25T19:50:00.000-08:00

Searching for a White Christmas

Well, Nanny and BaBa are here visiting for Canada, so we wanted to do something fun together today. We thought about going to play in the snow at Mt.Rainier but snow chains were required, then Dad (Brent) saw that they were expecting snow in a little town about an hour away called Morton, so we drove there, but there was NO SNOW!
We decided to continue on to the foot of Rainier anyway, just to see the snow. As we approached the Mt. it started snowing, we drove to a little parking/walking area and the road was pretty white. We got bundled, went for a wee walk to a river, and had this nice picture of our WHOLE family together taken :D Then we headed back to the vehicles as the snow was coming down pretty steady, of course BaBa had to start a little snowball flinging enterprise on the way ;p We got some good videos of that action, even Nanny was freely flinging! Little Derek was busy shoveling and filling his wheelbarrow (yes he insisted that we bring it ;)) with snow and missed the whole flinging thing, while Caleb was content to totter around tasting this odd stuff blowing into his face! It was snowing quite hard as you can see so we thought it best to head home, however, the Men Folk decided they needed lunch at a restaurant, so just maybe a mile out of the park us Ladies left them and drove on together with our little boys.
Nanny did not have an easy time, just a few minutes into our snowy drive home we saw a car in the ditch upside down, the people all looked fine, they were there unloading the car, but for the rest of our drive home, nearly 2 hours, Nanny's nerves were on edge! It was snowing and the road was icy nearly every minute of the drive! When we got home, we found that if we had stayed, the snow would have come to us, Mimi said that it snowed at home within about 30mins of us leaving! :o
Nanny said it was due too many people were dreaming of a White Christmas ;p
Hope you all had a good day too!

Raw Vegan Food

2007-12-07T22:26:00.000-08:00

So, in case any of you are wondering, "What the heck do Raw Vegans eat anyway?!?"
Here are some pictures of raw dishes I have made in the last couple months :)

Banana Chocolate Cream Cake, made this with Carob for Caleb's Birthday, was enjoyed by all :D

Plum Pudding Tart with Cashew Cream

Mango Cheezecake

Tomato and Sprout Creamcheeze Sandwich

"Tuna" Salad Stuffed Avocados with Tomato

Lemon Poppyseed cake

Vegan Bay Crab Cakes with Creamy Dill Tarter sauce

Stuffed Anaheim Peppers with Mole sauce

Spinach and Cream Pasta Casserole

Like I need to label this :D Gingerbread Cookies! :D:D:D:D

and of course, I already posted Derek's decadent Birthday Cake :D

News Flash Flood

2007-12-05T15:28:00.000-08:00

Little Derek has a Fall :(

2007-11-01T11:49:00.000-07:00

On the 20th of October our little cute was playing in the loft and fell down the ladder :(
This required a trip to the ER or "Hostibol" as Derek says :):)
He got a neck CAT scan, and a full arm x-ray, only to discover a few days later (at the Ped.) that he has a fractured Clavicle!! Thankfully, it will heal all by itself, and Derek is supper brave and tough, aside from favoring it for a few days, he was rapidly back to his usual self :D
This is Derek upon arriving home from the ER which was a positive visit by the way, a few days later he got a small cut and said we needed to go to the ER so they could make it all better :D
The staff there were excellent, and that, coming from a staunch I-don't-agree-with-modern-medicine ME, is saying a LOT!

Had to add this, this is Little D knitting a wool ball with Nanny, glasses and all :D This is about 6 days after his fall and as you can see he isn't even slightly hindered :D:D

Litte D is THREE!!

2007-11-01T11:07:00.000-07:00

Sorry this is so late.
We celebrated Derek's 3rd birthday at Uncle Derek and Auntie Sara's house on Sept 29th (b-day 30th) :)Derek got a BIG Dump Truck, and immediately zoomed all around the living room with Caleb in hot, (ok, not so hot ;)) pursuit!

Next up was an awesome new bike, cruiser style like Derek's Uncle and Auntie! Mom worried he would have trouble riding it but Derek was soon tooling up and down the road outside. For his first go on a 2 wheeled bike (with training wheels of course) Mom was very impressed :D

I don't need to tell you Caleb had a good time ;)

Mom's first go at a Raw birthday cake, this is a Black Forest Cheezecake, and I believe it was a success :D (Derek kept asking for more :D) Auntie Sara was the one who made it look so beautiful, AND was left with all the mess after, THANK YOU to Derek, Sara, Gayle and John for a fun afternoon, Derek had a blast :D
ps Photo copyright belongs to John and Gayle, Thank you!

Riding the DIGGER!

2007-09-15T17:48:00.000-07:00

BaBa (Grampa Tobie) called one day and said to bring Derek down for a ride in the mini excavator he has been working in, so we did! BaBa calls this his Phone Booth ;p
As you can imagine, Derek was thrilled, seriously... (he is always very serious about these things;)

There is Uncle Jeremy at the top doin some serious digging too!

Brrrrruuummm! Derek got to ride in this Excavator twice, the second time BaBa let Derek take over the controls and he did really well! There were a few small holes in the driveway afterwards but he got the idea and did some turning and dumping too.

Great Brothers think alike :D

We are back!

2007-09-09T14:27:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, I finally got my Green Card and went to BC for the first time in 3 and 1/2 years! I planned to go for a week but as things worked out we (the boys and I, sadly, Brent had to stay home) were there for 3 and 1/2, hmmm, one for each year? ;p
This was Derek and Caleb's first visit to where Nanny and BaBa live, Powell River!
So, here are some pictures to start us off, we went to this beach about 10mins south of my parents house. At low tide it is amazing!

Donnkersley Beach

Stephanie with Caleb. So lucky to see her as she is going, in October, to live in England!
The fearless water walker... even after many mouth fulls, he splashes on! Hmmm, this one is not Donnkersley, it is right below where Mom and Dad live, oops ;p
Derek loved that inflated chair, and Nathan made it lots of fun, here Caleb joined in for a minute but he was not impressed!!
Looking slightly Royal on his personal flotation device that is actually not his ;)

This was too cute, just as we were thinking of going, Derek took off across the sand to where this little girl was playing by herself. When we got there he informed us they were building a sandcastle :) Then Derek showed interest in her boogy board (?) so they took it to the water and she told him to get on! They were about the same size and not really in the water so her attempt to pull him on the wet sand was quite hilarious :):):)
Anyway, Derek definately has no problem finding and making friends!

Busy Day

2007-07-19T20:42:00.001-07:00

I told Brent we were running errands in town and he said we should go meet him at his next drop, so we did. Derek had a blast!! He got to watch Dad dump his load of cardboard, drive a forklift, and ride in Dad's truck! WOW!

After Brent lifted him in Derek said "Please shut the door" :) He had an important job to do!
Brrrrrrrrrum!

Big Day for Caleb! Today he took his first steps! He has been standing and squatting by himself for a few weeks now but this is the first time he has walked more than one step :) We have some cute videos but can't load them here :( This is him standing and playing Patty Cake right after some exciting walking :D

Nanny and Baba Visit :)

2007-07-18T10:28:00.000-07:00

These pictures are actually from their last visit in May but they are new to us!
So on Wednesday we drove up to Jan and Hilary's and stayed overnight. A great time was had by all and some wonderful pictures were taken by Auntie Hilary so click the link and check them out!
Thursday we had to get some diapers from the local Whole Foods as some silly woman forgot the day time wool cover ;p Then we met Jan, toured his work place (one of them), and hung out by the fountain at Redmond Town Center. Next we made a quick stop at Chaco Canyon Cafe to stock up on raw food for the day, tried some new dishes and they were good. Then on to the Environmental Home Center in Seattle, loved it, and learned that soon they are no longer going to have remnants of Marmoleum available :O yikes!
Finally, we get to our 2:30 appointment; the interviewer was fast and funny, in about 5-10 mins we were told the info is sent electronically and my Green card will arrive in the mail within a month. Haljabalooya!! and Whoopadeedoodah!!!
Now I am hoping it comes in time for me to get to Duncan Convention :) :)
Our trip ended with a stop at the Tacoma mall to avoid the heat and traffic and to meet up with my Mom and Dad who came down for the weekend, so good to see them again!

Derek's passion and art :)

Caleb's current passion and skill :) (walking)

For any one interested, here is the Cafe:http://www.chacocanyoncafe.com/
and the Home store:http://www.environmentalhomecenter.com/home.shtml

Our House!

2007-07-08T20:54:00.000-07:00

This is pretty much where it is at just now. Hopefully the shingles will be done soon!

Here are Mimi and Derek in the back yard heading for the sliding door :)

We are standing in what will be the living room, this was on the 28th of June, the drywall is now nearly finished, yay! :)

Happy Canada Day!!!

2007-07-01T23:16:00.000-07:00

News on the Homeland Security front

2007-06-11T23:50:00.001-07:00

Well, I went and got my finger prints taken last month, many thanks to Jan and Hilary for lots of fun and kind hospitality, not to mention watching my sweet monkey's while I stood in line ups and crowded waiting rooms, oh yes and helping me navigate some messed up directions provided by Map Quest, oh and racing around to find a ATM in an industrial area because the only parking is $5 cash ONLY, and all done at a mad stressful pace because if I miss my appointment I forfeit $400 and 2 months worth of paperwork.... only to stand in a long line up with 8 other people, with the first couple in line vigorously insisting that it be their turn to see the receptionist because they have a 10 am appointment!! They hadn't figured out that we all had a 10am appointment....
Hahahaha, in retrospect it was quite comical but all in all I had a good time and the mission was accomplished!
My next appt. is on July 12, and I get to take Brent and the boys as evidence!! Yay! :)
Here is to hoping that I will be given my green card and permission to travel at this interview!

Potty Time!!!

2007-06-09T11:04:00.000-07:00

Everyone needs something to do on the loo right? ;p A hair brush... who woulda thought it could be that fun!

Famous Veggies ;p

2007-06-09T10:44:00.000-07:00

Einstein is frequently quoted so I was suprised to see this one, as I had never heard it before...

"Nothing will benefit human health
and increase chances for survival of life on earth
as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."

ALBERT EINSTEIN (1879-1955)
German-born American physicist
1921 Nobel Prize Winner

We've gone Raw!

2007-05-31T12:52:00.000-07:00

"Alright, I've got the kale, lets party!!"

Well it has taken 3 months of gradual change but Derek , Caleb and I are raw vegans!
It has been super fun discovering new foods and recipes and I still spend too much time getting excited about new recipes to try, but it keeps me going :)
Right now Derek is the king of avocado's, and partial to mangos and dates too (who isn't? ;)
I am enjoying and even CRAVING veggies which is a new experience to me :D
Brent is wonderful as he has put up with all my shinannigans(?) without complaint and totally thirilled me by asking for some raw food bars on my next Co-op trip, as he noticed that he thinks more clearly when eatting raw food!!!! WOW That, from my 1-2 fast food stops per day hubby has me in.....speechless actually :D
For about the last 2 months Brent has been taking apples; then apples and bananas, and now sometimes some raisins too for breakfast, he has changed a lot!
So proud of my boys!
For some mouthwatering pictures of raw food, peek at these sites!

http://therawchefblog.com/category/raw-recipes/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawyogagoddess/sets/72157594475650594/

Derek on wheels!

2007-05-10T11:49:00.000-07:00

What can I add to that! :)

"Ride, ride, ride, ride....."

Accidents happen.... :)

And are replayed in slow motion!

"Yeah I'm not related" ;)

My Favorite Boys!

2007-05-04T21:16:00.000-07:00

Hehehehehe, Caleb is like "Wooh!"

Caleb has been an official crawler for about 10-14 days now, it's a whole new world!

Derek has been so good and helpful in the kitchen, he has even been helping Mom with chopping strawberries! (I can just hear the cringing of female relatives! We are very careful ;)

What can I say, Caleb likes figs!

Immigration news!

2007-04-21T10:46:00.000-07:00

After nearly a three year delay, my paperwork is on it's way to the USCIS!!!! YAY!!!!
Thank you very much Gayle for your help, I was able to mail it all yesterday :)
I am so excited, I can't wait, I hope I did all the right forms, and sent all the right stuff, oooo, this is so exciting I sound silly but I can't stop blithering...CANADA!!!!
BEAUTIFUL BRITISH COLUMBIA!!!!!
FRIENDS AND FAMILY!!!!!
Or as Derek says: "Go Cana' see Nanny Baba!!!"

My package should arrive in Chicago by tuesday so hopefully it won't take them too long to notify me of the statis of my application.

Bro's

2007-04-20T20:58:00.000-07:00

Yes, feet are on my menu!

Derek often asks to hold Caleb :) As you can see, Caleb is happy to oblige!

The Bowl finale

2007-04-13T21:48:00.000-07:00

Oyi! Wher'd it go, who did that?
Careful Caleb!

Ah well, what's next Mom? :)

The Bowl

2007-04-13T21:19:00.000-07:00

Derek has a bowl with some orange wedges, and Caleb his thumb and an owl. Caleb lifted the owl by it's ear, gave it an unimpressed look, and headed for the bowl....

Hey, where did all the oranges go!

Ooooo, look Mom, a train!

Can I eat it? So far so good....

Bottoms up!
Uh, Caleb?
To be continued....

One More...

2007-03-30T23:11:00.000-07:00

Here is the cutest smile, there were many to choose from as he had so much fun with Dad but there was a lot of slober involved on account of the teeth :)

Pictures!

2007-03-30T22:11:00.000-07:00

Derek keeps asking to go and work on the house with his Dad, it is very sweet (as you can see he is experienced!) and hard to tell him no but there is a no one under 16 allowed rule at the job site so Derek can't even get out of the van to do a walk thorough!

This sweetie has been very busy this month and while practicing his crawling motions has managed to cut not one but two teeth!

Dad? Where'd he go? Dad?
Ah, there you are....

Way behind!

2007-03-12T19:15:00.001-07:00

Sorry to be so behind the times, a lot has been going on! Right now the most up to date house news is on Derek's blog so check there for info and photos. I just realized that we don't actually have any photo's of our house building enterprise! Will try to remedy that soon, also, just a foot note, for those thinking of helping out, conditions are VERY muddy, the guy doing the ground work is doing a very rough job.
A great big thank you very much to Derek and Sara, Zane and Cheryl, and my Dad! We really appreciate all who have come to help, and couldn't do it without you :)

My parents were here this weekend for a visit and we had a wonderful chaotic time!! So good to see them again, Derek got up this a.m. and said "where Nanny Baba gone?" :( We miss you already!

Jan and Hilary :)

2007-03-05T12:24:00.000-08:00

This last weekend Jan and Hilary came down to help out with the house building!
Jan and Brent went to work on the house on Saturday while Hilary stayed with me and helped with our boys. At Hilary's Mom's suggestion we took Derek and Caleb to the Gunthers (Hilary's parents) where Hilary and her Mom played with the boys, and I got to go to the library for a 2 hour presentation on doing sign language with your baby! It was awsome! I am so excited about signing again as I did a bit with Derek and am looking forward to doing more with Caleb and Derek together :)
Then on our way home Hilary, Derek, Caleb, and I went to the house site to see how our hard working hubby's were faring. They had just put up a wall on a neighbours garage and were working on a second wall on our house, it is so exciting! Our house now has a floor, two walls with windows, and a sliding glass door!!

It was good to see you both Jan and Hilary, and thank you SO much for all the help!

Snow!!!

2007-03-03T19:56:00.000-08:00

Brent made a snowman for Derek, complete with moustache!

Derek and Caleb

2007-02-24T20:08:00.000-08:00

Chris and boys

2007-02-19T21:30:00.000-08:00

Here is our good friend Chris Hanson who has been coming all the way from Arizona every second weekend to spend a day slogging about in the mud and cold to help Brent with the house building. He rode down from Burian on Brent Jones' motorbike and let Derek try on his helmet, Derek was very happy to wear it even though it was huge on him!!
Sharing!! This was so funny we took a video as Caleb was eye balling the doll and then diving in for a chomp with a very avid/ferocious expression.
We almost got a smile on camera!

Oh so cute

2007-02-11T20:24:00.000-08:00

Cheeeeeese!
Caleb loves his thumb! He enjoys playing with his toys too :P

Boys

2007-02-03T11:53:00.000-08:00

Hey Derek! We're being watched, what do we do?!
Just smile like me, see?

Derek playing peek-a-boo.

New Bed...

2007-01-30T21:31:00.000-08:00

Well, it was quite a lot of money but our health and peace of mind is worth it :)
Especially as we have our kids sleeping with us, what we sleep on is pretty important, actually it is one of the reasons that we have our kids in our bed, to avoid SIDS. I thought a foam mattress would be safe as they don't (didn't?) have fire retardents, but I am learning that foam has it's own problems. Here is one of the articles that finially convinced me we had to afford a different bed.
(just click on the title "New Bed")

We got a new one from a store in Seattle where they make the bed's themselves, it was a neat store to go into, but I originally found them online, called Soaring heart Futons. I am happy but Brent thinks it is too hard :(
It is supposed to be the other way around as I am the scrawny one!
Sorry no pictures as we were in a hurry to get to bed!

Laundry :)

2007-01-17T14:23:00.000-08:00

Laundry baskets aren't for clothes!!

The Fridge has arrived!!! Finally....

2007-01-15T20:52:00.000-08:00

I know that you all know what a fridge looks like ;) , but we have lived with a mini fridge for so long (over 2 years) that this is a very exciting event! :D Look at that lovely site, (no handle yet, thinking of leaving it off to deter Derek from exploring, he's already tried to climb into the crispers) 18 cubic feet of cold storage. Yay! I can't wait to fill it! But it currently smells of new plastic and I can't stand that smell, so I washed it out and put in that cup with baking soda, we will see tomorow if that has helped.

ahhhhh, look at all that space, just waiting to be filled.... hey, we can go shopping!!! ;)

Awwww

2007-01-13T15:31:00.000-08:00

Hmmmmm, what eez dees....

Babywearing Derek

2007-01-06T13:14:00.000-08:00

Soo serious!
And soo Fun!
Sigh, we can't seem to take pictures that do Caleb justice, better have a look at Aunt Hilary's and Uncle Derek's blogs for some Caleb cuteness :)

My sweet son's

2007-01-03T15:06:00.000-08:00

The cheesy grin I have pasted on reminds me of a picture my parents have of me when I was a baby. I was standing by an ottoman, my diaper had fallen off and was around my ankles, and I had the same huge grin.
I was a lot cuter then though! ;)

Derek showing us his nasal passages, and Caleb looking serene ;) What a bunch! Thank you Brent :)

Caleb :)

2006-12-18T21:06:00.000-08:00

Here is a better picture of our sweet Caleb, he likes to smile and coo, quite the happy mellow boy, but he does NOT like to travel!!

Professional Pic

2006-12-03T20:06:00.000-08:00

I think this is my favorite one month picture of Derek, there is so much personality in his little face! And a unique pose :)
We will have to wait until Uncle Derek is free to get some top quality pictures of Caleb :)
Sorry I haven't got a link to your professional stuff on our blog yet Derek, it is on my to do list!

Same age comparison

2006-11-30T15:39:00.000-08:00

These are definitely not the greatest pics but they are interesting as they are both one month old, almost to the day. This is Caleb on the top and Derek on the bottom.

So different!

House Happenings...

2006-11-26T14:28:00.000-08:00

Well yesterday was the first official day of house building. Foundations were dug and the footings for our foundation were made (as far as I know, I wasn't there). Brent was lucky enough to have the help of not one but TWO friends, one of whom came all the way from Nevada! The other friend even helped me out afterwards, tidying the house, doing dishes, and serving the pizza!
Thank you very much to Chris Hanson, and Jamie Olsen, who drove down from Burian on Saturday morning!!!

Generous efforts ;)

2006-11-22T15:08:00.000-08:00

Derek decided that he wanted to give Caleb "Nummies" too, and was so insistant that in a bid to gain some peace I let him try to nurse Caleb :D

This was Derek's reaction to Caleb's dissatisfaction with his efforts, and the news that only Mommies make "Nummies", poor Derek...

Derek soon cheered up, and undetered, has insisted on several more attempts. His desire to help was appreciated (;p), although I think in this last week he has forgotten or given up.

Daily Happenings

2006-11-16T16:17:00.000-08:00

Derek is easily entertained :)

Caleb sleeping peacefully in Mom's new nursing pillow.

Our Boys :)

2006-11-14T16:45:00.000-08:00

These brothers are synchronized!

As a foot note I will add that the house building has been delayed by the inclement weather, they don't want to bring in the excavator with the ground so flooded! Will keep everyone posted.

House News!

2006-11-09T19:37:00.000-08:00

For those of you who know what I am talking about we have some exciting and daunting news: house building officially starts on the 14th of November. From that point on all of Brent's waking hours will be spent at work and the house project, so all and any help would be most appreciated, as it would be really nice for his family to see him too!

For those of you who don't know what I am talking about, we are a part of a housing project similar to "Habitat for Humanity". In this group there are ourselves and six other couples or single people, we are all granted loans to buy land and build houses we other wise could not afford. All we have to do is build all the houses, spending 30-40 hours per week at the job site, working together as a group. There are a few things we will contract out like the wiring and plumbing, but most of the work is done by the future owners and neighbors, us! Right now as it is winter the minimum is only 30 hours a week, 15 of which Brent has to do himself, the other 15 can be contributed by friends and family. Then in the summer when there is more daylight hours it will probably increase to 40 hours per week.

Brent usually works a few 12 hour days per week at his job so getting the 30 hours will be exhausting, any volunteers will be gratefully pounced upon. You would be working with Brent as volunteers can' t go alone :)
Once we get more settled in with a new routine for Derek and Caleb I can contribute hours by babysitting for one of the other families, but I have my hands full as it is so that might take a while to happen ;)

Today was Caleb's 2 week checkup and we found out that he is growing in leaps and bounds!
He needed to be back at his birth weight of 8lbs 14oz, but he has managed to surpass that at 10lbs 3oz, breast milk is great!

The Pearson Family :)

2006-11-05T20:36:00.000-08:00

All four of the Brent branch.

Kisses for little Caleb :)

One of Derek's favorite pastimes, getting covered in stickers! He even put a few on Caleb today :)

Brothers :)

2006-11-03T09:44:00.000-08:00

Aside from wanting to touch his eye's, Derek is sweet, gentle, and likes holding his brother on his lap :)
A happy, sleepy Derek on the evening of his brothers birth.

The long wiggly toes of Caleb :)

Sooo cute!

2006-10-28T07:56:00.001-07:00

Derek loves his little brother :) He is so sweet and gentle with Caleb, when Caleb cry's at night, if Derek wakes up he pats Caleb on the head and say's "Hi Baby, hi baby.." in a sweet little high pitched voice, with a big sleepy smile :)

What nice big eyes!

I know Derek already posted this picture, but it is worth a second round :)

Caleb Jeremy Pearson

2006-10-27T17:13:00.000-07:00

He has arrived!! Born at 3:18 am on Wednesday the 25th of October. He was 8lbs 14oz and 20.5inches long. Baby Caleb was born underwater in a tub in front of the fireplace, it was just lovely :) Big brother Derek woke up at the sound of Caleb's cry and was wide eyed and happy to meet his little brother, very sweet!

Sorry it has taken so long to get a photo posted, for some reason blogger wouldn't let me post pictures, so hopefully it will cooperate from now on, we have lots of good pictures, Uncle Derek and Auntie Sara came to visit wednesday evening :) Make sure you check Derek and Sara's blog!

Happy Little D

2006-10-14T19:41:00.000-07:00

This lovely innocent looking guy just happened, after about a month of safe photo shoots ;), to break our camera, in about 30 seconds. It sounds like it turns on but immediately goes black, so if any one knows a place that repairs digital cameras let us know!
In the mean time this is terrible timing as we are expecting our new baby any day now and are not sure if our fantastic professional photographer brother will be available to come take pictures of the baby right away! So we bought a new camera today, only to find that it requires Quick Time to play the movies (not a big deal, just a pain) and doesn't use the same memory cards as we have. Seeing how we recently invested in a rather large memory card we will have to see if there is another camera we can get that uses ours. Sheesh, what a pain!

Having a ball this Fall...

2006-10-12T21:35:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful Fall we are having! Derek, Mimi (Grama Gayle) and I have been able to spend lots of time outside, although I have to say that only Mimi has had the energy to properly play ball with Derek :) He has become quite good at dribbling the ball both down the hill and back up!

I was so impressed with his ability to keep up with the ball as it rolled down the hill, and help it with a few well placed kicks that I got a video too!
For those of you who don't know, this part of the yard is quite a long, and in places, steep hill.

Talking on the phone :)

2006-10-10T20:35:00.000-07:00

This is Derek just after his first birthday, already happy to talk on the phone. He still thoroughly enjoys it and has become quite good at chatting as his Nana, Grampa, Uncle Jeremy, and now Auntie Hilary know. When the phone rings his first guess is "Dada?", and he tries to answer it ("Hi, Hi..") when he beats me to the receiver. He knows what button to press to answer and hang up but hasn't quite figured out when to press it yet (thank goodness!)
It is just amazing to hear his vocabulary growing every day! Some of my current favorites are the ones he can't quite pronounce just right, like "Guck" (duck) and "Munna" (banana) but in general he speaks quite clearly :)

Shopping

2006-10-09T21:32:00.000-07:00

Derek home from shopping! He looks about as tired as I felt too, it must have been nap time ;)
This was the day he got cookie cutters to use with his play dough, along with many exclamations over his cute jacket and booties :)

Canadian Thanksgiving

2006-10-07T20:57:00.000-07:00

This is last year, when Derek's Canadian Grandparents came over and we went to Point Defiance Zoo. Derek was new to walking so it was quite an adventure. This is when he discovered that it was more fun to hold onto the basket part of his stroller and push than to walk by himself or ride!

Here is our little cutie well stuffed with turkey and everything else he could grab :)

When Derek was born....

2006-10-04T19:48:00.000-07:00

I don't mean to confuse anyone, the new baby has not arrived!
I have just been enjoying Derek's birthday pictures, taken by his Uncle Derek (many thanks!). They are so beautiful I had to share them :)

What a sleepy boy! He was no more than 0-3 hours old in these photo's.

More Birthday and Play Dough!

2006-10-02T20:05:00.000-07:00

Here is Derek thanking Auntie Hilary for the great book and play dough, she got several hugs, a few kisses, and some high fives and tens!

Play dough is fun! Derek likes to mush it, and have us roll it into balls that he can smash :)
We made him a truck, a dog, and a few snakes. Today he got some cookie cutters, so now he can make a bus, helicopter, bike, lion and elephant, although his favorite thing to do is drive them through the dough :)

Dad and Derek made a smiling face, and then Derek added his own ;)

Happy Birthday Derek!!!

2006-09-30T20:30:00.000-07:00

We seem to be having trouble getting ourselves together lately(we were in danger of being late so we didn't go back for the camera). But Brent borrowed Grandma Gayle's camera and got some cute pictures :)
Derek made us laugh multiple times all afternoon by consistently answering "how old are you?" with an accurate "tuu!" He figured it out in perfect time :)
We rode bikes to/at the park, saw salmon in a stream, listened to music, Dad and Derek played the violin together, and when we had dessert, Derek blew out both the candles....several times ("more!")... while we sang him happy birthday :)

Grandpa Jon did a great job of buying and wrapping many little gifts for Derek so that he had a lot of presents to open! He started slow but caught on fast ;) There was a wooden delivery truck, dump truck, old fashioned truck, train engine, and airplane, two or three matchbox trucks and cars(?) and a Semi truck and trailer! Plus two baseball hats :)

Then he got a wool jacket that he didn't try on for us, but he put it on to wear home and was quite happy with it. The jacket only came in white, so I will try to dye it a dark(er) color :)
Many thanks to Grandma Gayle!
Derek's Auntie Hilary came down for his party and gave Derek the Mike Mulligan's Steam Shovel and Friends book, and some play dough! Derek really likes heavy equipment like the steam shovel, snow plow, trains and buses in his new book. We have pictures of Derek showing his gratitude that we will post later :)

I think this sums up Derek's feelings about his party...SA ZAAAAA!!!
Thank you so much Derek and Sara, we all had a great time :)

Busy day for Tweedledee and Tweedledum

2006-09-29T22:08:00.000-07:00

Well this afternoon/evening was quite exciting. We all were invited to Derek and Sara's for a potluck to celebrate the 13th birthday of Jeremy :)
There was a lot of people and lots of good food! We didn't take our camera but Jeremy and Derek both had theirs and took photos so you will have to check out their blogs. There were so many kids running around that Little Derek was a bit overwhelmed, so he spent a fair amount of time being held by one of the nice girls, or sitting on Mom or Dad's lap. Later he spent some time playing Uncle Derek's guitar with Dad. It was funny as initially he tried to put it under his chin like with Dad's violin but that didn't work too well ;)
We had such a good time that we stayed well past Derek's bed time, so it was around 9:00 when we were finially heading home. As we neared Centralia we started to discuss the amount of gas we had left in the van and if we should fill the tank or just head for home. Then we had the descision made for us when we realized that we had both left our wallets at home! All we had was a check book and for that you need ID. So we headed home.
There is a very long hill not far from home, and we were about 2/3 of the way up it when we started to slow down, and Brent said "are you pressing on the gas?"
Well, I hadn't taken my foot off the gas at all.
We were lucky enough to make it to a pull out, as that road is very narrow and dark, you wouldn't want to be stuck on the side of the road. So then we discussed our options, we could just walk home (Brent says we were 1.5-2 miles from home), but that would still take a while and the road is dark and narrow, plus it was getting cold, so Brent had me put on the hazard lights and waved someone down (Brent was holding Derek and I think that kept him from being taken for a thug). A very nice man stopped and said he lived close by and would bring us some gas. So we were hugely relived, he showed up a few minutes later and we got fueled up and drove home. We tried to pay him for the gas and favor but he was happy just to help :) What a great neighbor!
Ahhh, home sweet home.

Oh and yes Dad, I know..... ;P

Derek's friend Spencer

2006-09-28T19:49:00.000-07:00

Today Derek and Mom were invited to a lovely lunch at Grandma Gayle's, with Great Grandma Ruth, Linda, Sheryl, Teresa, and her son Spencer. The two boys are only about 2 and a half months different in age and they played very well together. I didn't manage to get any pictures of them together (they are so cute together! Both very affectionate and chummy) but Derek did take quite a few of his friend Spencer, this one being the best. What a sweet little guy :)

Derek and the ballerina

2006-09-27T19:46:00.002-07:00

I don't think that Derek is really supposed to play with this beautiful porcelain dancer but his Great Grandma handed it to him with such a big smile I didn't have the heart to take it away. So I watched and cautioned him to be gentle, and Derek was very careful. He was fascinated with her hair which was under a sort of netting.

Dad says this kind of doll is for girls Derek. ;p

2006-09-26T19:40:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately this picture doesn't look like much or show anything exciting but it is the only photo we have of Derek on the day he started to walk! A year ago today he did the "frankenstein" (arms strait out in front and wobbly) walk back and forth between Mom and Dad and Mom and Grandma, with a HUGE smile on his face :D We have lots of really cute videos but only this one picture, and he isn't even standing!!! Bah ;p

Landscaping ;)

2006-09-25T21:29:00.000-07:00

Here are my handsome men :)

Breaking in the soil, (using rocks to dig up more rocks)

And then throwing them down the ravine.
Quite the engaging activity that lasted a while, my favorite part was when Derek found a small rock and showed me, saying "baby" and nodding his head confidently before chucking it over the stumps :)

Food is fun!

2006-09-23T20:55:00.000-07:00

Dad made eating yogurt an adventure, and they were having so much fun I had to run out and get a picture!
You should have heard all the happy squeals and giggles :)

You may want to click on the photo to see the larger version as this size doesn't do justice to Derek's grin, also, if a post you like disappears from the bottom of the page look in the side bar under "Recent Post's" or "Archives".

Everybody has to "go"...

2006-09-22T21:09:00.000-07:00

The first morning that Derek woke up with his new "baby" he said "baby, go", so we took the baby to the bathroom too, now, about a week later Derek was carrying his huge duck across the room insisting "duck, go"!
So Dad and Derek sat Duck on the potty :) I wonder who else will have to "go"... :D

Water Baby!

2006-09-21T20:03:00.000-07:00

Here is our sweetie enjoying his time in the tub a year ago today :)

It was so fun to watch him as he would splash up quite a storm and then make faces because Someone was getting his face wet!!

It was rather like watching a concert, a very wet one with a comical conductor...

LlamaJama's

2006-09-20T18:12:00.001-07:00

We only ever used disposable diapers for night time and outings but it still added up to a lot of money being thrown away over 2 years, so I have decided to do what I can to convert to cloth completely. I am rather adverse to plastic so we kinda got by without covers, the only plastic alternative being wool, which can be expensive, and I didn't think it would work that well.

So instead of buying the usual monthly pack of disposables I spent the money on a pair of llama/wool, "longies". Basically wool pants that are also a diaper cover, I wanted them for pajama's as his worst leaks were at night. I had my doubts but they are fantastic!!!! No leaks!

For your info, here are some great properties of wool:
it can absorb 30-40% of it's weight in liquid without feeling wet OR cold,
it breathes with the skin, regulating temperature in hot or cold weather,
it helps combat/prevents diaper rash,
it is naturally anti-bacterial, it doesn't need to be washed often, just air dryed (Other Moms have said they wash their's from once a week to once every 2-3 months, apparently it dosen't smell!)
and it is naturally fire resistant (other baby pj's are treated with fire proofing chemicals which are currently being investigated as toxic)

Some wool CAN be itchy, but some is incredibly soft, plus these LlamaJama's are just too cute!
You can even get matching sweaters!
I have also found that if you shop around, the prices aren't so bad :)
Bet you were all just desperate to know all that! Hehehe :D

Blackberry season :)

2006-09-19T20:02:00.000-07:00

This is how much Derek enjoyed blackberries last year. He still likes them a lot and even picks his own, but sometimes he is just too busy riding his bike or running around to eat them for very long :)
He certainly hasn't done much blackberry face painting like he did last year!

New Boots!

2006-09-18T20:53:00.000-07:00

Derek got new boots, and how does he feel about that? Sa-Zaaa!
They really are very cute, he wore them shopping with Mom and everywhere we went people commented on them :) They have a layer of sheep skin with the wool against his skin and he must love the feeling because he prefers them over his other shoes and slippers!
A company in Oregon makes them, and adult slippers too :)
(please excuse the messy house ;)

Day of rest

2006-09-17T20:42:00.000-07:00

For future refrence, I have decided not to make any posts on Sunday.
Thank you for all the comments buy the way :) They are very encouraging!

This time last year

2006-09-16T19:10:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of Derek a year and two days ago :) With his birthday coming up I have been looking at all the pictures we have taken of Derek in the last year.

Derek had a busy day with Grandma and Grampa while Brent and I were at a meeting in Longview. It sounds like he had a great time and I wish we had some pictures of it as I hear there was lively zooming about in a wheel barrow and grocery carts! Derek even got some new toys, and had a nap with Grandma :)
Many thanks to Grandma and Grampa Pearson!