Family Pictures

Maybe I should start with the exciting news that we got a new printer/scanner? I was going to write all about it the night Sir set it all up and I got to scan my own pile of stuff that I've wanted to get scanned for - well, I can't remember how long it's been now. But I got so wrapped up figuring out and playing with my new freedom (a networked machine!) that I never got to the writing part.

A couple months ago, I posted our 2009 family picture... but I had to 'doctor' it because our scanner was broken and left a big black line skewering our heads. Anyway, below is the un-doctored, properly scanned copy as well as the extra pose we got with that picture package.

2009 Family Picture


Extra 2009 pose

Then just for fun, and because they're all scanned now, I thought I'd toss in the rest of our professionally taken family pictures. It's neat to look back occasionally.

Family Picture - 2008
Dolly (almost 3) with a broken arm, Emma (2 months old) and PC (almost 18months)- his shirt turned out a darker green than I'd hoped.


Family Picture - 2007


Family Picture - 2006
Dolly was almost 1 year.

Ghost Writer

Once upon a time, I used to blog here. Sometimes it was even fairly regular - occasionally happening two to three times a week. Then I don't know what happened. Life got busier? Probably not, life is always busy around here. My mind went blank? Very likely, I have been known to fall asleep answering questions at the table after lunch.

But what hasn't happened is that I don't want to blog anymore. I really do, but some weeks I never even turn my computer on, and if I do, sometimes its on for a few days before I ever sit down and try to figure out where to begin. E-mail? Oh, you mean people are waiting to hear back from me? Read other blogs? I'm so far behind on my reading list it's like I have a brand new novel waiting for a rainy day and a cozy blanket.

Then there's the 'priority' to do list - like right now I should be making lunch before my kids start tearing each other apart, and I have until tonight to get the suite downstairs empty again so the new tenants downstairs can move in without colliding with all my conference guest paraphernalia. And then there's the sensibility of using a good day of weather to get stuff outside done before it rains again.

So, if we all get caught up on sleep from this past weekend and everyone gets over their colds (we're going through tissues like crazy), perhaps I'll blog again before another month has passed.

And now I'm off to rescue my diaper bag from Emma who has found the zip lock of medicines and is trying to figure out how to take her temperature (in her belly button).

Banditos and Bathtubs

Yes, I'm still here - north of the border. I discarded my Roman toga for the more appropriate attire of a Ranger since it should help me keep in better control of these banditos that run wild around here.

Actually, we've been busy, and I've been too lazy to discipline myself into writing something blog-worthy. I mean, who wants to hear about more snow? or how we're actually trying to clear a garden area this year? or how our house smells like a can of paint or tubs of glue or tubes of silicone since the landlord is remodeling the suite downstairs.

And there's always a gazillion other things that have to be done - like me getting Emma in for her 18mo. pictures before the end of the month, or maybe watering my parched and dying house plants while I still have a few left, clothes switches to do for the kids (one of the perks of growing, I guess) and the dreaded ironing to do since I can't keep putting it off forever. In case you haven't noticed, I don't like to iron.

Well, I need to regain control of the dinner table behind me before I get rice in my hair and then I need to ship them all off to the tub...

"We interrupt your program to bring you..."

...Our Family Photo for 2009.

The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.
Psalm 25:14
Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
Psalm 12:7

So, I finally got our family picture scheduled (a month and a half late), and now we've gotten the pictures back from the lab. This means that all I have to do, is sort out which picture goes to which recipient, and I'll have finished one more project. It might take a while this time and it won't be due to my distractedness. Our scanner is broken - in fact, I had to 'fix' this picture so I could post it without a bold, black line skewering our heads.

When Sir gets the other scanner hooked up and working, we'll be able to scan a good copy. Then we can print out and send decent sized pictures to the long line of family members and friends who would have been stuck with a teeny tiny miniature size picture. And a mini with five people in it is absolutely ridiculous! Yeah, this package had 16 - SIXTEEN minis and only 8 wallets. Once upon a time you'd get 21 wallets and 4 token miniatures, but I shouldn't complain, the package deal this time was only $5.00 - who knows, they change the package size and price around every month, so maybe next time will be better when it comes to quantity.

Nomads* in the Desert

Ok, I've been gone long enough. I started this post three weeks ago, and it's been finished except for grammatical editing for the last week and a half. So, I'm going to buckle down and get something finished. And hopefully the battle of the fevers around here won't interrupt me more than is manageable.

As I said in a earlier post, we left Roxford Cottage Tuesday morning(Dec 30^th) after breakfast we headed for our next destination - Desert Hot Springs. We stopped once on the way to get maps and sat in half an hour of walking speed traffic (due to an accident ahead of us), but we made it to Great Grandpa & Grandma's abode in the desert by 1pm.

They had waited lunch for us, and it was all ready for us to eat as soon as we got there. We had slices of roast beef, deviled eggs, potato salad, coleslaw, yam salad, fresh sliced tomatoes and raw baby carrots. And to top it off, Grandma and Grandpa even set up little tables which was just perfect in our little people's opinion. There were even cookies for desert and a hummingbird feeder that got lots of visitors for us to watch while we ate!

Grandpa observed PC gobble down his lunchmeat and then wisely used additional slices of meat as gifts to win PC's affection. Not surprisingly, it worked and PC went from being the kid that had to be dragged out of the car when we got there, to being the kid suggesting we just go on without him since he'd be more than happy to have us leave him there to stay with Grandpa & Grandma!

After lunch Grandma brought out a surprise to send along with us. She made each of us a knitted hat to take home to the snow. I must admit, standing there in 70+° temperatures as she handed them out, it was a little hard to appreciate them fully, but were we ever glad to have them when we got back to Canada! After the kids delightedly modeled their hats for a few minutes, I took the hats and it wasn't long before my munchkins found the dirt at the end of the patio. They spent a good deal of time enjoying the feel and smell of cool, dry dirt while I took some pictures.

Hats


Emma & PC



Little People and Dirt


Dolly



More Dirt

Part of the novelty of visiting Great Grandpa and Grandma, was their house which was a motor home RV. The kids quickly tagged it a 'car-house' and PC was in love at first sight. He and Emma took every opportunity they could, to get inside the 'car-house' and they were none too pleased when we finally shut the door with them on the outside so that we could visit with Grandpa and Grandma without wondering what they might be dismantling inside! I did get some fun pictures of the kid enjoying the 'car-house'.

Then before we left, we took some pictures of the kids with Grandpa and Grandma, and around 4pm, we headed on our way to the San Jacinto Valley.

Grandpa with Emma and Grandma with Dolly.


Group shots with kids are definitely challenging!


Our Nomads

*Dictionary: nomad (nō'măd)
"People who have no fixed home and move according to the seasons from place to place."

Roxford Cottage

Once again, I neglected to take very many pictures, and the ones I did take failed to give an overall feel of this leg of our journey - which is why I borrowed the picture above from someplace online. But fewer pictures just means this post will probably be shorter than the ones preceding it. And that's not necessarily a bad thing when I'm supposed to be getting ready to host Dolly's birthday party in a little over a day from now.

We left Travel Town when they closed at 4pm. As I posted earlier, all three kids fell fast asleep while we followed Mr. & Mrs. Habib back to their home at Roxford Cottage. Once we'd set up the playpen, we carried our little people upstairs for their much needed rest.

Then after Sir and I had unloaded the booster seats and the overnight bag from our van, Mrs. Habib and I went out to get a few groceries for supper. When we got back, the kids were just waking up and the Habibs started making the evening meal. Dolly and PC found two Duplo playsets and spent a good deal of time with them. Of course I didn't get any pictures of that, but I did remember the camera when Mr. Habib invited Dolly to help make the supper's main course.

First, roll out the pizza dough.


Plop on some sauce - be generous!


Add cheese...


And meat.


Then fold the dough over and use a fork to squish the top edges into the bottom edges thus sealing the pocket!

When Dolly got tired, Mr. Habib took over and then popped the pockets into the oven. While the Cal-zones baked, and Mrs. Habib prepared a salad and corn on the cob, we set the table. And Mr. Habib quietly and unbeknownst to the rest of us, set a camera up to record the whole meal. It's hilarious, so click the image below to see for yourself!

After dinner and the supper clean up, Mr. Habib obliged and enraptured my little people by reading book after book after book to them while I dragged them away individually to get their pajamas on before they could return to the books. It was so much fun listening to the discusions that the story and pictures sparked. And watching how comfortable all three of them were with the Habibs after meeting them for the first time only about 7 hours before.

Intently engrossed.


Emma listening in for a minute or two.


Dolly and her discussions.

Finally they either ran out of books to read, or it was getting too close to bedtime, but Mr. Habib headed upstairs to inflate the air mattress for our kids. Of course the kids followed behind, and it wasn't long before I heard loud thumping noises and childish glee bubbling from upstairs. When I went to investigate I found ALL three of my children jumping to their hearts' content on the newly inflated mattress. And then I realized that they were being assisted by Mr. Habib himself! No wonder they'll always want to go back - I mean, how many places do you find grown ups who help you jump on the bed?! To say the least, they had a blast and I got some good pictures before I had to ruin the fun and send them all to bed.

Just landing.


Assistance.


Zero Gravity.


A happy baby.


Kid-pile!

And then I put the camera away and didn't get it out until our next stop, but Tuesday morning (December 29th), we had breakfast with Mr. & Mrs. Habib before packing up and heading on our way.

The kids did not want to go back in the car for more driving and begged that we go back to Roxford Cottage - and we did go back, but it was a few days later on our way back to Canada. Here's the Roxford Cottage epilogue adventure continued two days after our visit...

We chose to drop off a thank-you gift that we had been unable to leave during our stay with the Habibs. So, we thought to leave a note taped to their front window indicating the package on the doorstep. We couldn't find a parking place in the visitor parking area, so Sir left the van running and I hopped over to the driver's seat while he went to leave our 'mysterious' package and note. The kids and I watched him go and were rather amused to see him suddenly duck down and go dodging out of sight in an almost tip-toe like manner. Then we were even more surprised to see none other but Mr. Habib strolling in our direction!

We thought Sir had surely been seen and our cover blown, so we smiled and waved at Mr. Habib, hoping to appear normal as he walked in front of our running vehicle, and down toward the visitor parking area, passing less than five yards from where we were. He appeard not to even see us and a few seconds after he was out of sight, Sir came bursting back into the van saying, "Go! Go! Go! I don't think they saw us!" I did just that too, and a few blocks later, we stopped to swap spots and to let our adrenaline subside a bit while we shared our stories of near-discovery!

Don't ever grow up - it's fun!