A visit from the Cherybas

I can't believe it's the end of the month already... where did May go?? Although, I guess if I had to backtrack and look at the calendar, it's been a busy month. And time certainly flies when you're busy! 2 birthdays, a wedding in Kelowna, a visit from the Cherybas.. and add in there the daily stuff of pick-ups, drop-offs, laundry, Sunday School responsibilities, a new-found obsession (more on that later)... well, like I said, it's been a busy one.

Lisa and I have been friends since 1991, which according to our calculations turns out to be a significant amount of time. It all started when we became roommates, out of necessity, when the company we were working for (Rogers Video) relocated their office from Calgary to Richmond. There was no way either of us could afford to live on our own there so we decided to pool our (very) meager wages and bunk together, without really knowing each other. During those 11 months of living together we became very close and we've been friends ever since! And lucky for us, our families get along too! Whew! :-)

Beachcombing at our local beach:



Tie Dying fab-u-lous t-shirts with the kids:





Seriously! Don't they look awesome?? I am so obsessed with Tie Dying now... it's great fun!! I've dyed every crappy t-shirt I own, and a few of Ruby's too. So be warned... if you're walking past me in a 100% cotton frock of any kind, watch out! I'll snatch it from you and dye it into an amazing masterpiece...

And check out this baby:



(Mom, I can hear your heart beating faster from here... can't wait to play it with you! There's Quad word scores... oh my!) We played many games while Lisa and Matt were here - she said I can babysit the game for her. Yippee... isn't Lisa the greatest?

Other fun moments: tasting our first deep-fried chocolate Mars bar; Ocean Discovery Centre; swimming at the local pool, root beer floats, making pizzas, watching many Wallace and Grommet movies, Happy Hours and chip eating, Katie sharing her DS with the boys, and just hanging out together! Sigh... it was a good week. I'm tired.

Simon is 8!

I made a Smilebox for Simon's friends, to thank them for coming to his birthday party yesterday... I figured I would try to post it here so you can see it too!

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Growth

Everything's growing around here... the kids, baby chicks, the garden, Sally's udders (hee hee), my waistline... but we won't talk about that!

The chicks have officially moved into the coop and are also officially "un-cute" as far as chickens are concerned. No longer fuzzy and cuddly, but they are showing some nice colours, especially the black ones. And we're eager for the day in August (?) when we receive our first egg-licious gifts from the girls.



My garden is doing great, now that it's warmed up and the rain has ceased (for now). The new "square foot gardening" (SFG) boxes are looking fantastic, and I'm sure there's 2 reasons for it: the special Mel's mix soil that I'm using, and the location on the driveway. It really gets the most sun and it's nice and warm there. Cameron also planted some butternut squash and gourds in 2 pots, which will climb up a trellis on the garage. And each of the kids has their own tomato plant in separate pots, which they promised me they would look after. The new 1X4 box has just been planted with green onions, lettuce, bok choy and basil.



The other existing beds at the back of the yard are definitely lush and green... with WEEDS!! But I refuse to be discouraged and will just keep at it, planting 1 square at a time. I must say that using the SFG method makes it easier to weed and therefore less daunting because (1) I can weed each square as I need to, ignoring the rest of the garden (why weed the entire box when I know there's no seeds planted in a particular square?). And (2) I know where my plants are supposed to be so I can weed around them easier within that square. For instance, if I'm trying to locate my lettuce in a square, I know that I have planted 4 holes with a small pinch of seeds in each... the rest is weeds. It's way easier for me.

Here is my lettuce - 2 of them did not come up, so I planted 2 more holes yesterday:




And here's some spinach:



Notice the weed-infested squares surrounding my planted squares.... Ruby squealed "Wow, mom!! Look at all your spinach!!" I wish.

Anyway, it's a work in progress thing! But I'm still excited about my veggies and that's the first time that's happened.

Speaking of work in progress, today has been a busy day of re-organizing and tossing out toys and clothes. So naturally, the house looks like a bomb went off right now - bins, garbage bags, Thrift Store boxes.... what a mess. But by tonight the house will be worthy of unexpected visitors, should anyone pop by tomorrow. Like that ever happens! Unfortunately.

Time to breath

It's been a busy 7 days. Full of birthday parties, family get-togethers, way too much baking, packing, cleaning, travelling, WEDDING, more family, livestock issues, school dance performances, gardening... Whew! I'm so glad tomorrow is Friday.



Last Thursday Ruby turned 3!! I can't get over how big she is... and how gorgeous!! (Some people have mentioned she looks like me... I'm just sayin'!) Anyway, Ruby insisted on wearing her Disneyland baseball hat as her official party hat... and why not? We had a typical Talstra party the day before, with a million kids running around the yard, a huge bowl of cheetos and cupcakes! On her actual birthday we headed to Surrey and spent a lovely, chaotic evening with the Talstra's, including a pizza dinner.


Then we were off, bright and early on Friday, to Kelowna for Jeremy and Holly's wedding. We saw most of my side of the family, with the exception of Brian and Irene and families. It was great to spend time with each other, and the kids had much-needed bonding time with their cousins.

We had a weiner roast:



Played at the park in Peachland:



Looked at "vintage" hockey & baseball cards with big cousin Alex:


Played with blinkin' Lincoln Logs, and just lazed around, enjoying each other's company:



And of course an awesome wedding to attend, which is why we were all there. I can't believe I have a nephew who is married now! Ruby was a flower girl for her big cousin's wedding... she looked adorable but, sadly, she won't be in any photos with the rest of the wedding party. She absolutely refused to have her picture taken. I begged, pleaded, bribed, threatened... nothing worked. But when it came time for the ceremony, she was the only little one who managed to walk down the aisle without a scene... an award winning performance from my princess, which was met with a big bag of Ju Jubes for a job well done.



The ferries were crazy busy on Monday afternoon and when we arrived at 1:45 p.m., we found out that the 3 pm sailing was full and the 5 pm was already 60% full! Nuts! So I walked on the 3 pm ferry with the kids, and left Rodger to sit with the car until the next sailing.... I'm not sure who got the better deal?? I was with the kids but managed to knit while they played and watched TV on the ferry. And we were fed a scrumptious chicken dinner at Dina's out of the deal. Rodger had lukewarm water to drink, a banana, plenty of time to nap and read a book. Mmmmm....I think it's a toss-up.

So our lovely goat Sally is growing some enormously ugly udders and it's been freaking us out a bit. We spent 2 days doing some research on=line and talking to/emailing Vets. So we've come to the conclusion (for now) that Sally is either going through a false pregnancy or is just very hormonal, and the udders will decrease in size "eventually." Very strange indeed. Life is not boring, that's for sure.

The baby chicks are no longer babies but they are afraid to come out of their box and join the rest of the crew. Probably because one of our older hens has been seen chasing the young ones around. Chickens are mean. Why can't they just get along? Off with their heads, I say! I need Rodger to don his lumberjack "man shirt" and do just that.... to the 3 older ones who give us crappy eggs.

I went to a lovely woman's home last night, and she lives right smack downtown Victoria. I mean, walking distance to everything including the Inner Harbour and a few blocks to the Legislative buildings. She's a true Urban-ite. As I was peaking into her little (tiny) backyard garden oasis, I casually said "hey, we should do a house swap... you come live in the country for awhile and we'll come do the city thing." Now that I think about it, I really don't know if she can deal with all the livestock drama we've got going on these days. It was a nice thought.

Time to start up a super cheap batch of wine from Costco. If I was doing the house swap thing, I would just walk across the street to the James Bay Inn and order myself a big goblet of cheap wine. But I'm a Country girl now... and loving it.

Most of the time.

Baaaa

What a busy Sunday! Regular church stresses (we hosted GEMS Sunday, which resulted in a million extra kids downstairs!, followed by coffee & lunch at a lovely couple's home. The kids were kept busy with a mammoth Lego bucket which is normally reserved for the Koot's grandchildren.

But the highlight of the day was our trip to Cobble Hill to see the Jacobsens and their new lambs! I think I was more excited than the kids, actually! The kids got to hold a lamb that was born that morning, and I cuddled one that was 2 days old - you can't get much fresher than that!!


Before we left, the kids helped me load up the back of the car with 5 garbage bags full of wool. I've promised 2 bags to an avid knitter (a fellow Deep Cove mom) and the rest is for me and friend J. We have no idea what we're going to do with the woolly stuff but we're super excited about the prospects! There is a new place downtown where you can go to learn how to spin wool, or you can rent their equipment...or they will do all the work for you (for a small fortune, I imagine.)