Finger paints!

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

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...

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!)

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!

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

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

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

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)

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

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!

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<<<<<<

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 :)