August

August was quite fun and full!

First of all we had our county fair.  Between myself and all the kids we entered over 100 items.  We always have fun, but we all are quite competitive and hope to do well.  We all did do well. The boys had lots of positive remarks from the judges and ribbons. Rebekah and I both received High Point in our division and I received Best of Division for my butter tarts as well. That was a huge surprise!

I was so proud of Rebekah. She entered her strawberry jam in the adult division and won against me! Awesome.

Best of Division award on my butter tarts.

Ben won 1st on his bread against Rebekah. He is so talented.

I love this Christmas button wreath Jacob made and won 2nd.  I want to make some of these this Christmas. 

August we celebrated Jacob's 10th birthday.  All my kids are getting so old!  We went to our local corn maze and had a blast.

We brought along one of Jacob's friends.

God bless you and thank you for stopping by.

July

July was actually a fairly quiet month for us.  All of our company left after the first week and we worked at VBS at our church for a week.  Jacob also attended soccer camp for a week in the evenings.  I really liked that camp because they served a delicious supper to all the families every night! Bonus, no cooking.

We did get a chance to pick some sour cherries at a local farm. It was 50/50 picking. Which means the farm keeps have of what we pick and we keep the other half for free. We managed to pick 6 ice cream buckets in about an hour.

Rebekah and Ben picking.

I canned 16 pints of cherry pie filling. Larry loves his cherry cheesecake!

Larry and Jacob worked on a small project one day too.  They built a little front deck on the house.

I didn't get a picture of the finished project, but it turned out really great.

July wasn't the funnest time for the kids and I. Our house ended up getting very invaded by bats while Larry was out of town for 5 days.  We knew we had lots of bats in the attic and they could make their way into the house and we were trying to fix the problem. But it seemed we actually made it worse.  We ended up running out of the house in our pajamas at 5:30 am and slept in a hotel until Larry made it home.  We think we have all their entry points sealed now.  They have migrated for the winter. But, we will see next May when they return to have their babies in our attic if they can get back in.  I have a feeling they will find a way, but hopefully not.

So, that was our July. Thanks for stopping by!

Time to Catch Up

The last several months seem like a whirlwind.  We have been enjoying life and all it's wonderful business.

This post, I think I'll go ALL the way back to June.  In June we had the great fortune to go on a family vacation to Vancouver Island for my niece's wedding.  It was so wonderful to get back on the island. I grew up there and have not been back for 12 years.

Exploring the amazing beach in Parksville

Jacob spent a lot of time with the sea lions in Victoria

Rebekah's selfie on BC Ferries

We had such a great time there. But we still had fun waiting for us at home.  We were only home a few days until Larry's parents came for their annual visit and Rebekah and I were geared up for the local stampede.

Larry's parents and the kids

Rebekah and the Zebra that was part of the half time show at the stampede this year.

There you go. I'll be able to post about July next time.

How Do You Start Letting Go?

This past Friday my little girl, who has been my helper, companion, cheerleader and so much more turned 16.  She is becoming such a wonderful young lady.  She is bright and still likes to serve. She plays violin and guitar for the elderly and worship at church.  And she enjoys spending time with friends.  One of her good friends took her out to dinner and a hockey game on her birthday.

It was hard for me to let her go. She has always been around home as we homeschool.  This is a new stage for me that is exciting, because I love to watch her grow into the woman God has planned for her, but a little sad, because things are changing.  This must be some kind of weaning stage for parents to get more and more used to their kids not be around all the time as they used to be and eventually moving out.  I will cherish everyday with Rebekah and the boys.  In fact, I will cherish the time Rebekah and I had together earlier on her birthday.

Because she turned 16, we started to let her wear make-up and to kick it off, I took her for a free makeover at Shoppers Drug Mart.  The lady did a good job, but I feel she put the make-up on a little heavy.  When she was done, I bought her just a few items of make-up.  Then we had lunch at Subway.  On the way home, we swung by Dairy Queen and got an ice cream cake to have at home with Larry and the boys.  We also opened presents then.

Here are some pictures;

Rebekah's friends, who live along a highway put this birthday message up for her. It says "Happy 16 Birthday Becky!"

In the make-up chair

I got Rebekah 16 presents, some from the thrift store and others not.

Rebekah and Ben

Me, bringing in the cake.

Rebekah and her friend at the hockey game.

If anyone has any advice for me, please feel free to leave a comment. I know it'll all be alright and I will go on.  I will have to choose to love every stage my children go through, including growing up.

Psalm 127:3 (NIV)

 Children are a heritage from the Lord,

    offspring a reward from him.

Thanks for stopping by.

Crystal

A Happy Birthday

Well, today I celebrated yet another birthday.  It's funny how they come around so often (or so it seems!).

I woke up to the boys scurrying around, hanging balloons to decorate and the presents they bought me all ready.

Jacob said he just had to draw him and me on one of the balloons. He is so sweet.

Rebekah was so helpful all day. She even made me a breakfast wrap and it was so good! She also made me a Turtle Cheesecake and it was completely Trim Healthy Mama approved. It was covered in pecans, chocolate and caramel sauce. YUM! You can find the recipe here.  It turned out so good. I find I don't like many desserts on THM, but usually a cheesecake is good.

I am so blessed by my family and friends. Thank you God for them all.

Thanks for stopping by,
Crystal

Unknown Local Attraction

Well, unknown to us.

We have discovered an outdoor gem today.  We have lived in this area for 9 years and only heard about Discovery Canyon in Red Deer, Alberta last year.  Our neighbour told us there is an outdoor man made, but quite natural, water "slide" with a little pool at the end only 45 minutes from our house.  And the great thing about it, is it's free!

I had to look it up online, because I really knew nothing about it.  It looked awesome on the Internet and we made plans with our neighbour to go today.  We got there at 11 am and were the first people there. It was cloudy all morning and cleared up right when we got there.  It was great for about 45 minutes, having the whole place to ourselves.

The kids had so much fun going down the slide all day.  I only wish we knew of it a few years ago.

Here are some pictures;

Stampede Time Again

We always look forward to our local stampede.  There are so many activities to take in and we love the exciting atmosphere.

This year, Rebekah and I actually worked at the stampede grounds cleaning in the bucking shoots and infield where all the action is at.  We had a blast! We worked together as a team and I so enjoyed out time together. She is so awesome and I just enjoy her company so much.

Here are some pictures of our time;

Our stampede always starts with a parade and this is our church's float advertising our upcoming VBS.

This was such a cute mini horse!

While we were cleaning in the back field, the chuck wagon races were going on. It was so exciting to be this close!

Part of our job was collecting all water bottles and cans. We noticed lots down in the bucking shoots and Rebekah was brave enough to go in there and get them all.

There was always time to make new friends.

Larry's parents were with us during stampede as well. We absolutely cherished our time with them. We were so grateful they were still able to make the 13 hour journey in their motor home, pulling their van.

That wraps up stampede week here. Now it's back to weeding!

Small Town Excitement

Living in a small town, we don't get loads of exciting events taking place. So, when one does, we go out and enjoy it. This happened this past weekend, when our brand new John Deere building had it's grand opening. I know! How awesome is that? They made it so fun for the entire family. They had delicious barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs, pedal race track, bouncy house and an inviting atmosphere for the adults to sit, drink coffee and visit with one another.

We were there for 3 hours and enjoyed every minute of it!

Here are some pictures;

Ben on the pedal race track

Even Rebekah took a turn on the race track.

Jacob racing

Milking a "cow"

I'm sure this wasn't by far the biggest tractor there, but you can see how big it is. The tires must be 6 feet tall.

Hanging out

What a totally awesome afternoon!

Valentines Day

Somehow this year our family got a little caught up in the hype of Valentines Day. We usually don't celebrate it. Other than Rebekah says I used to always make heart shaped grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. I think because our church had a big Valentines Day family breakfast and were offering babysitting that night, it caused us to do more than we might have otherwise.

I had found some waffle pretzels on clearance and still had a white chocolate Easter bunny in the freezer. So we made dipped pretzels with sprinkles.

We used our electric fondue pot to melt the chocolate in.

These were so good! Unfortunately, only Rebekah and I liked them and ate most of them. Totally not THM!

I thought you'd like to see my deal from the thrift store. I love this covered dish.

Lunch for the kids. Heart shaped grilled cheese sandwiches and candy hearts.

After supper, Larry and I dropped the boys off at the church, (because that was where Rebekah was helping with the babysitting) and we went out for coffee.
And when we got home, Larry had a surprise for me. A beautiful new ring.

It was fun, but I don't mind if we get back to normal next year.