A few Layouts from Easter

Dad and Madeline just left for Family Camp, and I'm left at home all alone, feeling sad. :(

They've wanted her to come out for a week or so this summer and we've been trying to figure out how to manage it with everybody's schedules. My dad is retired, so he got the short straw and drove all the way out here to pick her up. They're all going to family camp this weekend at Valley View, so she's going to join them there and then head back to Winnipeg for a visit. I'm glad she gets to go and sad I don't get to see everyone too, so I'm sitting her lonely in my house - for now. Sean will be home from work before I know it and we'll have the long weekend together. I'm going to work from home this afternoon, which should help pass the time quickly.

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Here are a few layouts I've been fiddling away at for a while. As I was putting them in the book I realized that they're all from when we were in Winnipeg for Easter and birthdays. Always a rich source for photos.

 

 

Birthday # 12

Twelve years ago I became a Mom.  What a feeling - having a little one to love and care for... I should do it again.  Hmmm... maybe that will be another post.

This one is about Madeline.

We got home from picking her up at camp about mid-afternoon yesterday, and spent the rest of the day getting ready for today's festivities.  After church today we did some last minute prep, then sat back to wait for the girls.

I had decorated around her seat at the table last night so she'd have a nice surprise - this is her at lunch in her birthday outfit from Auntie Carla, and the bunting I sewed up last night.

 

When the girls arrived, we headed down the street to the park for a little photo shoot, and took the bunting along...

 

We headed home for a little water balloon fun in the front yard, then M opened her gifts.  Thoughtful friends...

 

From there I put them to work!  Here they are decorating cupcakes - they had a great time and came up with some real crazies.  This was a great activity with this age.  We had the family over for supper after, so they were decorating for both parties.

 

And finally one showing our happily full backyard - 26 people: the 3 of us, 2 grandpas, 4 aunts and 5 uncles, 8 cousins and one "almost family" family of four.

 

Note the bunting in the back... and there's some along the fence to the right as well.  It may have been my favorite part of the whole day!! (Besides the people of course...!)  Besides the cupcakes, the menu for supper was a yummy pulled beef on buns, marshmallow salad, bok choy salad, pasta salad, veggies and dip, and chips and pop.

Oh, and the one I almost forgot - Jello Slices.  This was a good one.  I saw a link that showed these great colorful treats (check it out quick and then come back so you'll know what I'm talking about).  I had a bunch of grapefruit to use up (the recipe called for oranges, but I figured these would work).  I made purple, orange and green, not all six, and they turned out looking so impressive!  I forgot them in the fridge till after a number of our guests (and the smaller kids that I actually made them for) had left, but all who were left were game to take one and try...

I played a good joke and didn't even know it - the grapefruit flavored the jello and the jello was STRONG and TART...!  It was awesome and funny and I might never live it down, but it was worth it.  I still have half in my fridge and am wondering who else might I get to try?

All in all, a good day.  M is downstairs watching a movie with the one we are letting sleep over, and we are just about ready to crash.

My baby is 12, and we celebrated well.

Date Week

With M off at camp this week, Sean and I are enjoying date week.  I'm not sure when 4 nights has been long enough to call a week, but it will have to do.  (For the record, I like when camp starts Sunday and ends Saturday.  Drop off at 5 on a Monday?  Hello?  He's working so I have to take them myself - what kind of a start to date week is that?)

Monday was a a great night for visiting at camp, but not so much for the dates...

Tuesday we went out for dessert with a couple from church that we have enjoyed getting to know there, but have never gone out with.  It was a great night.

Wednesday's plans changed when it was too windy to go kayaking.  : (  We went for coffee instead, and browsed at SportMart.  We were looking for running clothes for me, since I got a little overheated when I went Tuesday morning, but didn't find much (the overheating may have had more to do with the fact that it was already up in the 20's at 8 am than that I was wearing a cotton t-shirt...).  After checking out the whole store, I was back at the front and saw a rack with a "Spring Coat Sale" tag on it.  It didn't even register to me that in Jasper I found a jacket I really liked but couldn't afford and checked every store we saw for it until I saw that glimpse of green on the rack - IT WAS THERE!  And on sale at a half decent price!  Woo Hoo - I am grateful for the nice find.

Tonight we went golfing together.  Sean golfs pretty much every week.  This was my first time all year.  There's a group from church that goes every Thursday, so we joined them and ended up in a foursome with the church secretary and her husband and had a great time.  Nice to see Peggy outside work, too!  (Although she hosted us girls who work at the church for lunch on Tuesday and put on an amazing spread in her gorgeous yard... that was pretty awesome, too.)

Tomorrow night we're having a friend over for supper and then are going mini golfing together.  It should be a hoot.  A great date week.  Have I mentioned that I have a wonderful husband?

Date ideas, anyone??  Please share your everyday dates and the special ones - I always love to hear new ideas.

The Camp Blanket

When M was four, we happened to be flying standby and ended up in first class.  "Mom, this is WAY better than the last plane we were on!"  she said, in our row right in front of coach.  She milked it, too; whenever a flight attendant walked by, she asked for more snacks or a drink - and as the grand finale, on our way out, she asked if she could keep the blanket.  She got a yes, and we now have an Air Canada blanket in our linen closet.  When she started getting badges in Sparks (the youngest Girl Guides) and for swimming lessons, I thought I would sew them on her blanket and it could be a camp blanket for her.

 

 

Eight years later, it has six Sparks badges (on the pink strip), a sash full of Brownie badges (lower right), a sash full of Girl Guides badges (on the left, added just before camp yesterday), and a whole assortment of badges and iron-ons from different Guiding activities..  The patch in the middle is off a pair of jeans she wore long ago, and the upper right holds her swimming badges.

It's been fun to see this develop over the last eight years; I wonder what will come in the next years to fill in the gaps?

Do you have any special way that you've kept your kid's special mementos?

Off to Camp!

Camp started today.  M's friend T has gone with her for the last number of years and this year was no exception.  I took the two of them early so we could geocache on the way, but alas, it has been a while and I forgot that I needed to upload the caches to my handheld gps, so that ended up not working out so well for us.  (I have all the ones around home in there, so haven't had to add specific ones for a while.)

So we got to the camp nice and early and I got some pictures to share with you instead.

 With the flooding and the altered beachfront, the swimming area is now between this new dock, and the old one, which is now over by where the slide was.  A decent sized area for them.  They wanted to dip their feet in (and at 40* out, I was wishing I had brought my suit for a jump in the lake, too!) and I was happy to pull out the camera and capture this.  There was a new water trampoline that had them excited, as well as four new double kayaks that I'd love to take out someday.

 

Trying to catch minnows.

 

Found a couple of dead crayfish on the beach which they carried around until they fell apart.

It was good to be out there and see a bunch of good friends.  A great day.

Home Again

I started choosing photos to post and the list got way too long, so I posted them on facebook instead; follow this link to see them.

The pictures are all from Jasper, but we spend a day and a half in Edmonton on the way there, and came back via Banff so we could see more of the mountains.

We had a great time seeing awesome sights, and although slightly sunnier and dryer and warmer would have been nice, the weather didn't stop us from much.

Holiday-ing: Less Tech, More Book

As my friend Cara Luft just tweeted about taking time off and heading west for a break: "Closing up the laptop and reading books."

We are taking our holidays from Wednesday to Wednesday this year, which makes for two lovely two day work weeks. Add that to a short week for Canada Day, and July is a beautiful month.

You haven't heard from me in the last few days partly because we were on the road, and partly because I ended up with 3 massive books from the library - love road trips. I began World Without End by Ken Follet last Saturday heading out to Airdrie, and finally finished it today in Jasper. 1025 pages. Small writing. If you want my opinion of it, just click on the What I'm Reading link above. I started keeping track for you a month ago, so all of my June reads are there, and this will be #1 for July. One down, two to go.

Take a break and enjoy a good book. And a holiday, for that matter!

I Promised Pictures

Madeline had asked her Uncle Larry if he could take her up for a plane ride for her birthday. I got a message earlier last week from him saying he had a plane booked for Friday and Saturday mornings & would she like to go? Well, Happy Canada Day to M!

Mathew went along for his 2nd time up with Dad.

The Intrepid Three!

Flygirl. She loved it.

So that was Friday morning - Friday afternoon and evening were Jenn's wedding, and Saturday was Katie's.  I didn't take any photos at Jenn's - too many people and too far away.  At Katie's though, I pulled out the camera and played around with my manual settings, getting ready for the photography class I'm taking.  I have a lot to learn!  I got a few good ones, though.

Katie & Nick - and Nick's Grandfather officiated.

Blues & Greens - the decorating was fabulous.

Holly & David, our traveling buddies!

Dancing with Dad.

The girls we went to see!

Wild Wedding Whirlwind Weekend!

Just like last year, our only two weddings of the year fell on the same weekend.  Only this time, they were in two different provinces!

Jenn Brace (now Armstrong) married Craig on Friday in a beautiful (and purple!) extravaganza.  We ducked out of the reception at 10:30 along with Holly and David to hit the road to Alberta.  Making it to Medicine Hat in the middle of the night, we got about 4 hours sleep, then drove the rest of the way to Airdrie in the morning.  We got there in enough time for lunch and a change in BP's restrooms into our wedding duds.  Katie McIntyre (now Kadun) married Nick in another great day.

Tomorrow I'll have more for you, and pictures, but we need some sleep after all that driving!  Here's one to leave you with:

things that made me happy this week

Tuesday
- Taking M out for ice cream to celebrate finishing grade 6.
- Walking by the lake, enjoying the beautiful weather, seeing 4 pelicans.

Wednesday
- Washing my Escape (with one bucket of water!)
- A heavenly hot night with no wind and no bugs and hours on the deck with a good book.

Thursday
- Extreme Pitas for lunch for me & the girl.
- Walking out of the restaurant to see my Escape shining beautifully clean in the sun.
- Watching Women's World Cup Soccer.

Last weekend was full of great things (celebrations & visits with friends / family, Red Lobster, Bonfire at a friend's place, Girl Guide camp, an afternoon nap, church picnic at the camp & Sean rocking in the baseball game...), and this weekend promises to be another great one, celebrating weddings with friends.

I really love summer.

Blog Launch

Post # 401!

Seems like an appropriate time to make a blog announcement.

Like any parent, I pray for my kid.  I pray for little things, for big things, for the problems I'm having with her (or with myself that's keeping me from dealing properly with her).  For the last number of years, I've been writing down some of those prayers.  Writing prayers, like journaling, helps me slow my thoughts and think about what I'm saying; it helps me pray better.  I've wondered for a while what to do with those prayers, and if they could be used somehow to help other parents pray for their kids by providing some inspiration, some ideas.

This last year or so I've made a habit of sitting on the couch by the front window when M leaves the house for school.  She catches the bus just out of sight down the road, so I sit there and read my Bible and write in my journal and watch for the bus, so I know she's on her way safely.  I've been using that as my trigger to pray, too.  I stop whatever I'm doing and pray for her when I see her bus going by.  It's been a great reminder.

School ended yesterday; today was the first day of summer vacation.  I'm so glad summer is here (especially today's 31 degrees!), but as of today, no school bus as a prayer trigger.  So as of today, I am launching a new blog.  It's been in the works for a week or so now, and I'd like to offer it to you!  Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I'll be posting a prayer for our children - I'd love it if you prayed along with me for the kids in your life.  The address is: http://prayersformychildren.blogspot.com/ or you can get there with the link below.

As The Bus Goes By

Rain Woes

 

We do not have water in our basement, our jobs are not affected by the floods, and I am thankful for those things, but seriously, I think all this water has had an impact on everyone in some way.

Madeline has probably been the most put out by it, although Sean's golf lessons have been postponed twice.  We were pleased that we did not lose one soccer night to the rain during the regular season; the tournament at the end was cancelled because of it, though.  Then of M's whole week of field trips, 4 of 5 days were changed.  Monday they did go to the outdoor pool and park, and it didn't rain till the evening.  Tuesday they were to go to Wascana Park for National Aboriginal Day celebrations and ended up not going because of the wet.  Then their three day camping trip got cancelled because they roads into Circle Square were all flooded.  That was a sad one.  They got a carnival afternoon yesterday and a trip to the mini golf and movie place today to try to make up for some of it.

I mowed the lawn tonight and even though it hasn't rained in a while, it's still wet.  Pretty small deal compared to my friend's parents who farm and seeded 1% of their land this year.  Crazy.

How have you been impacted by the wet this spring?

Our Compassion Story

Our story starts in 2000, when Neil and I decided to sponsor a child. Madeline had been born the year before, and we expanded our family to include a girl in Mexico, too. We picked Mexico thinking that it might be the most likely place for us to get to if we were ever to visit our Compassion child. This is Lucina when she first became ours, and the latest picture:





Fast forward to 2004. Neil had been gone one year, and Madeline and I decided to sponsor another child. This is Maria:



One year later, in late 2005, Maria and her family moved out of the area of the project she had been a part of, so Compassion sent us Roberto:



In early 2007, when Sean and I were newly married, Compassion had to shut down the project that Lucina was a part of. She had been ours for 7 years! You can see from the pictures above (the first and last of 4 that we got) how much she grew in that time. We sponsored Abigail next:



Only one year later (early 2008), Abigail's parents pulled her out of the program. We decided not to take another child at that time, so just had Roberto. Later that year, Roberto's parents moved, and Compassion sent us Damian:



In April of this year, I was browsing through the kids on the Compassion site. The author of one of the blogs I read is a Compassion Advocate, and mentioned once that she looks through the unsponsored kids and prays for them every week. So that's what I was doing (since I had to log on to update my email address anyway) and I started punching in our birthdays... Well there was only one child that had the same birthday as Madeline, and she was a girl, and she was even born the same year. A twin! And she had a cute name, too: Salomey Coffie. I went into the other room and jokingly told Sean that I found a way for us to spend some money, and told him about Salomey. He reminded me that when we didn't take another child after Abigail left, we said we would again someday when money was less tight, and that it wasn't, so why not? That's how Salomey came to join our family. We haven't heard from her yet, but I've got some stuff for both her and Damian ready to go in the mail today. Salomey is a break from our Mexican habit, too; she's from Ghana:



So that's our long complicated Compassion story. I've found that although we haven't had many long term relationships with most of our kids, we have had a chance to get to know more than just one or two. In most of the cases, too, someone from the project has written to us to let us know why they have left and to thank us for our involvement - that's a nice touch and wrap up, I think. We love getting letters in the mail, and now that M is old enough, she can write her own, too, instead of just sending along pictures. I hope she and Salomey develop a neat friendship.

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This is a re-post - I wrote this initially in May 2009.  Over two years later, and we still have both Damian and Salomey, and one neat thing we've discovered is that the project in Ghana sends quite a few more letters than the ones in Mexico.  We've had lots of correspondence from Salomey, which is really nice.  I think we're due to send some more letters soon...

If you're a sponsor, why don't you take 10 minutes this week and write?  Leave me a comment & we'll celebrate that together.

If you're not a sponsor, why don't you check out the Compassion button on the side, and have a look?  It really is one of the greatest ways to spend part of your paycheque.

Rainbows, Blog Changes and Camera Classes

 

I wanted to do something together tonight so I was running through a list... we could play a game, have a tickle fight, go for a walk in the rain... the last one got a nod, and I figured why not.  Sean wanted to join us, so the three of us put on our rain jackets & I grabbed the camera (because you just never know!) and we hit the street.  As soon as we got to the end of the walk, I saw why Someone had planted the idea in my head - a double rainbow & the bottom one was super bright.  Awesome.

 

I love those curls that pop out when the humidity gets up there.

Foiled!  Our intent was to walk down to the mailbox and mail M's camp registration form.  Because of the strike, it was locked up with a 'temporarily out of service' notice.  It was well worth it to get out of the house, though.  The rain was beautiful, not too hard and it wasn't windy at all.

You might notice some changes around here - not so many that you can't tell you're at the right blog, but I've had some fun playing around with my look this week.  One new thing that they've added since I last messed around is the email option - right at the top you can add your email and get my posts emailed to you as soon as I publish one.  I haven't tried it out yet myself, but I know there are a few blogs that I get emailed to me, and I quite like it.

I've signed up for a camera class at Big Picture Classes, called Mastering Manual Mode.  It's an 8 week course that runs from the end of July to the end of September.  Part of that is a busy time, but lots of photo opportunities in that time frame, too!  I've been wanting to take a class for a while, and this one looks like it is going to be exactly what I've been looking for.  I dug out my camera manual and got a recommended book out of the library and am all gung-ho to do some pre-work to make the most of it.

What are you planning to learn over the summer?

Garden Tour

I would like to have a beautiful yard, but I do not have a green thumb.  It usually falls somewhere in the realm that there are things growing & I'm satisfied, but with ugly spots.  This year we made a change or two because the front should be getting leveled at some point this spring.  These bricks came from the work we did in the front two summers ago, and replaced the rotten wood ties that were there.  Some fresh dirt, and new plants at the edges & it's a nice refresh.  The ones growing in the middle are some perennials that I tried to replant.  They are up but not flowered yet.

Some of the new plants we bought.  I want to put in more perennials; if anyone lives close and has some to share, I'd be a very happy recipient!

The planters on the front deck.

Probably the most fun flower of the bunch.

This is the front of the house that we have done nothing with; it's full of purple jump ups!  I'm thrilled - there's nothing quite like color where you didn't expect it.  I'll try to move them to the back before we dig this all up.

And a close up.

May your day have bits of unexpected color in it!

Books

I just got home from our last book club of the year.  Lisa hosted a fabulous garden party and the girls brought a wonderful selection of appies and sweets.  The photo above is of the Melon and Procuitto with Balsamic Vinegar and Mint that I took - thanks, Christine for the photo!  We discussed our last book (The Chosen by Chaim Potok) and did a book exchange.  I ended up with Nicholas Sparks' The Guardian; some of the others that were given were Gone With the Wind,  The Book of Awesome, Sarah's Key, and Memoirs of a Geisha.

In talking about always being on the hunt for new books or authors and good reads, one of the girls asked if I listed what I read on here.  I have thought about it before, and think I will add a page up top with what I'm reading.  Hope you find it a source of good ideas!  And I hope I don't find that it reveals I read too much fluff...

 

Friday night M and I went out to the camp along with the board and core staff to meet our potential new director.  We stayed overnight and helped with the work day on the Saturday - this shot was after breakfast and before the work started.  I'm pleased that she jumped in with the staff girls and did some good work.  She was happy to get in a little zipline action; she wanted to go up the climbing wall, too, but some things will have to wait for summer. 

 

Sean came out for the afternoon, too, and reinforced all the picnic tables, and prepped a few new ones to be built this summer.  My big job was to roam the property with Holly and find good spots for their geocaching skill.

 

 

This was our view out the back door this morning.  That one tree has beautiful what blossoms for one or two weeks each spring, and the rain brought down a petal carpet for the deck.

Ten Ways to Support Your Camp

Camp has always been an important part of my life, from when I first went as a child until now.  I believe in the work they do, and while I am not as involved now as when I lived out at camp all summer, there are always ways to support the ministry of camping.  Here are a few I came up with - maybe you can add to the list.

1. Join the board.
If you've got extra time year round, there are all types who are needed on camp boards.  Organized types, handy types, mechanical types, creative types... there would be a place for you.

2. Sew costumes.
Or help out with whatever specifics needs come up.  We had a fun sewing bee a few weeks ago sewing Narnia tunics and cloaks for this summer.

3. Get a list of the staff and pray for them by name.
Start early and pray for preparation details, for the staff selection and the campers to come.  Pray through the summer; maybe your camp sends out a prayer request email.

4. Take out cookies for the staff lounge.
Working at camp is an awesome job, but it is also one of the most draining.  Finding a made with love treat on your break time is a huge encouragement.

5. Write the director an encouraging note.
Encouragement is usually needed and always welcome.  Who doesn't love getting mail?  And when it's sent just to be uplifting, even better.

6. Volunteer to cook or nurse or do maintenance or speak for a week.
Camps need these volunteers to run; you might find it to be the best week of your summer.

7. Go out to a work day.
Even a few hours can make a difference, and there are usually jobs that anyone can do.  We're heading out to one this weekend, and  I expect the kid to be in there getting things done - it's pretty special for a kid to go to camp knowing they helped with some of the behind the scenes stuff.

8. Be on the planning committee for a fundraiser.
If you're asked to be involved in a special project, try and make the time for it.

9. Sponsor a child to go.
You can do this through your church, if it's a denominational camp, or through the camp itself; if it's KBK / KLC, you can sponsor the staff who will be doing a walk-a-thon next weekend to raise money for camper sponsorships.

10. Spread the word.
Send camp brochures to school with your kid to send home with their friends.  Add a note for their parents with the week your kid is going and your number if they want to know more about it.

What are some other ways to support a camp?