My, how they have grown!

2012

2013
(yes, Asher is wearing the same shirt.)

 

Last Saturday Part 2

After our trip to the Othello tunnels in the morning, we quickly changed gears and headed out to Whiterock for some time with my family (mom, Grandma and cousin),

My baby girl! (ahem...boy.) 

I love the way Micah and my G-ma are staring into each others eyes.

Ain't no comfort, like that from your great G-ma

Baby toes are so adorable, don't ya think?!

My mom, Joel and Dan throwing rocks into the ocean. Big Splash!

Side profile of my grandma. Such a beautiful woman.

beautiful blue eyes

Walking with Grandma

gotta love the finger up my nose

hair in the face, trying to blow it away

Micah likes to lurch forward and grab onto things in his reach. This time he caught G-ma by the hairs on her head.

Fun on the bench

Me with Crazy Cousin Christina (aka C3-PO)

Last Saturday

Alternate titles include: Othello Tunnels or The Time Joel pooped in the park

We went with friends to the Othello Tunnels in Hope. Unfortunately they were closed due to rock fall hazard. But that didn't deter us from having a good time anyway.

Chris, Katrina and Asher came with us. Love the pictures of the dads with their sons.

 

Exploring a rock "cave."

Julia and Iben also joined us.

A little hike

Micah didn't like being left on the ground

I can't believe we live in such a beautiful place.

Family picture!

Katrina looks so great pregnant! Just four more weeks to go!

Group shot!

Love the look on Iben's face...so classic!

Dirt

I love the glowing head in this picture

Close up of his snack. Yummy dirt!

Wait! What? I only get dirt? Noooo!!!!

Posing in the grass

Planting a Garden

Joel was really into planting the seeds. He had a great time placing seeds into the holes or burying the seed tape.

 

Micah enjoyed eating the dirt.

 

He couldn't get enough of it!

 

 

Life Lessons (from my mother)

In honor of Mother's Day, I've decided to share a few life lessons that I've learned from my Mother. Or rather, a few things that she says (or has said) on a regular basis. To go along with her wonderful words of wisdom, I took the last two pictures off of our camera to share. I know there are better photos on our camera, but these two just show her personality and who she is so much better.


She's a bit quirky. She's funny. She's willing to do silly things. She thinks (and sometimes says) witty things.

She LOVES her grandbabies! She teaches them so many things and they absolutely adore her.

Now onto the words to wisdom!
This is something she said when I was a teen/young adult as I would leave the house...
1. Be Good and Have Fun
I remember that quite often I would choose to do things and think of those words and only one would apply. So I wouldn't do them. Being a people pleaser/rule follower, I knew I wanted to be both good and have fun doing things. Sometimes fun things aren't good (like croquet in a graveyard). Don't worry, that one got nixed. But listening to those words of wisdom, we would find good clean fun!
Sometimes she would add, "Play fair, Keep smiling and wear plenty of red lipstick." Not that those last three things meant anything, especially the lipstick. Especially since neither one of us wears make-up. But it was a fun thing that we would say on a regular basis.
2. It'll all even out in the wash
Probably her favorite saying at the current moment and I couldn't agree more. Instead of trying to take turns paying every time we go out or making sure everything is even Steven, we just go with the flow. Sometimes we pay, sometimes she pays. Everything will even out in the end. My mom is one of the most giving people we know. Dan and I have talked frequently about this fact. We know that there is no way we could ever repay her for all she has done for us, no matter how hard we try. In return, we try to give as much as we can to others. Some people try to hard to repay us gesture for gesture or dollar for dollar, but we try to remind people, it all evens out in the wash. If you can't give to us, give to someone else!  Which is probably another tidbit of wisdom she's given to us. Give! Give! Give!

We know there are more words of wisdom and things she has taught us over the years. But these two things stick out in our minds. We love ya mom!

We've created a GREEN Monster

Yep, our little boy is a lean green recycling machine. And he wants you to recycle too! Don't let our little boy see you throw something in the garbage that could be recycled. He will correct you!

The other day, I was doing laundry in our shared laundry room. Joel found a laundry detergent bottle in the garbage can. He promptly took it out and said, "uh oh!" He then went towards the recycling bins and asked me for help to open the recycling container. I noticed some lint on the bottom of the container and took it back to the garbage can to brush it off. As I was doing this, Joel threw a fit. A tantrum. An epic meltdown. That container was NOT to be in the garbage. I calmly told Joel what I was doing, but the meltdown didn't end until he put that container in the recycling bin. He knew it needed to be recycled and that's just what he did.

.....please don't let him see into the dumpster outside. The tantrums would never end. Apparently this building has a problem with recycling and everything is garbage.

He grunted and...

...when he lifted his leg, this is what we saw.  What looks like a turd on his seat. Gross!

Turned out it was a stray piece of steak that ended up underneath his bum.
Wasted steak! Certainly had us fooled for a moment.

The Case of the Missing Package

Last August, we sent a care package to the Philippines with some Dippity Do (requested item) and dried fruit in it.

Last week, it was sent back: return to sender! The Barkmans have explained the postal situation to us. A large room with hundreds of packages scattered about. Its a miracle that they have received anything so far! Darnell compares it to having a bomb go off in the mail room! Let's just say that the returned package was NOT in its original condition.

And that whatever animal ate through the package, definitely was particular about what fruit it liked. The strawberries were turned to dust, raspberries were nibbled on, but the blueberries were untouched (as was the Dippity Do for those who were wondering). We also received an added bonus with our returned package. Our fair share of animal droppings! Yummy!

Needless to say, the Dippity Do was sanitized and is awaiting your return to Canada. (You can pick it up at the McBarkmans). The fruit (and droppings) were disposed of.

Case solved!