a peek at us last week

 i found this pic on my phone, not clue which kid of mine took it.  but it sums up my life. for the most part i have 4 kids.  haha.  jessy joins us from 10ish till i kick him home, mostly after supper, most days of the week! ha

i was digging through my freezer and found 14 frozen bananas!!! what the heck?  i ended up making 3 DOZEN muffins with them, all of them were gone less than 24 hr of making them. ha  as i un thawed them i looked down and thought "man, those look like things you flush" bawahhhh

 we had rain on thurs, after the girls set up chairs on the front porch to watch the storm come in and came in SOAKED. we busted out the paint

 and time flew by!

 fri was the BIG day around here.  thurs night shawn, cry and her crew joined us.  we did a first EVER.  we left all the kids and went to dinner!  then coffee!  i didnt take any pics cause i lost my phone for most of the night. haha.  shawn found it and gave it to chris to hold on it...anyways, we did dinner at st louis, (1/2 price starters ha) but bec it was raining we ate inside and discovered how LOUD it was, AND how lucky we all are to be married and NOT on the market!  the food was ok, ive had better there...but the quiet coffee after was delightful and we were shocked to see the time was 9, we had to get home to put the kids to bed before the big day!

fri we went to magic mountain!  instead of buying gifts for the kids this yr, we took them to mm.  i havent been there in 23 YRS!  its a great water park in moncton but we never go and have never taken the kids bec its really expensive to go. i was able to score 4 BOGO's and gave one to my brother to join us. cry and shawn had won free passes, lucky them! but with just my family WITH the BOGO'S it was 97.50!  CRAZY!!! 

we had a blast. i put my phone down and spent the day in the whirl pool, the lazy river, the wave pool...which turned out to be my fav! and was thrilled to announce at the end of the day that i did NO water slides! haha

 just before c and s left. dude, why are you squinting????

 is that you forgot your sunglasses? HAHA and it was STUPID hot out???

 here!  take mine!  you look good with them! haha

 so i was told to go look at the name of the pizza joint....that is located between the bathrooms.....hahahaha 

 cry, shawm, quinn, charlie, jon and copper left around 4, we ended up staying longer...but before we left i walked around snapping a few pics...the wave pool. which i really enjoyed

 some water slides

 more slides

 the pool

 the kiddie pool and their 2 sets of water slides...

 it was a fun day and im glad i did it.  when we left the kids asked when they can go again. we said "never" haha.  prob wont go again for a few yrs....

i had little time this week to draw or paint. BUT i found my old water color pencils and drew this on the fly...as i cooked supper...ha

 then i decided to pre-paint 3 diff colored back ground for future pics...

 and decided to attempt a bird, my first ever.  its so BAD. but what ever, im trying!  i looked into taking some art classes but was shocked at the cost!  for now ill just stick to trying on mt dollar store paper and kids water color! ha

 i went to the mission thrift store to look for beginner readers for joey. i came out with this.  its a guide book on how to paint birds, and from my last pic, i need it. haha

 so, this is SO sad. SOB.  this tues n.b starts back to SCHOOL!  WHAT THE WHAT!?!?!? did we not just start summer vacay?!?! cause thats what it feels like to me :(  but no. summer is over. and school starts back up.  i decided to bury my head in the sand. at the cabin.  our last guest leaves tomorrow and im packing up to take the kids for 8 DAYS!  WHEEEEE!  SO excited.  i havent been to the cabin since the middle of july, so im stoked to go back. and with the home school group, i was able to take next week off and im going to the cabin!  no celluar, no wifi, no texts or emails. 8 days of nature. i cant wait and im so glad we homeschool so we can do this!

i did how ever, pack some books for me to spent time to REALLY, actually do it! ha this wk i WILL plan, some what, ha. what our year will look like as 3! home schooling EIGENHEERS! 

 this is just the start of my pre packing looks like. ha add 12 more bags!

today!  so today chris took the kids to the cabin to meet up with jon.  i havent been alone since, well, i cant remember!  i am THRILLED for 10 hrs ALONE!  i went garage sailing (spent 2.00), then to the mission thrift store, then went to micheals where i walked up and down the aisles for almost an HR. ALONE!  then grabbed some groceries. came home, texted with my sis, threw some laundry in AND spent 3 HRS watching my new fav show (mindhunters!) uninterrupted=never happens=so amazing...to then start packing and digging through the school room....most imp!?!? i did this all ALONE=GOLD!

so thank you chris for the gift of SILENCE! its amazing! ha

and with that, im logging off. im going to the cabin for a week of reading, painting, cooking GREAT meals (for some reason, i made stupid, great food at the cabin), nightly fire with NO bugs, walks to the river, hammocking (yea, i just made that word up) and just enjoying the simple life! 

have a GREAT week back to school! 0 comments

Posted by mel at 6:06 PM

hali AGAIN!

 last sunday was my 44th birthday.  there quinn, i said it! haha. i told the kids i was 24, 32 and what ever other number felt better. haha.  i took the kids up to hali for the week and when i arrived cry had a cake for me!  happy birthday to me!

 the purpose of the trip was to have nate and quinn be jr leaders at a small baptist church 10 mins from their house, the boys attended last yr and left such a great impression on them that they were asked to come back to help.  so i signed the girls up and took them up.  the kids had a BLAST.  i only had 2 chances to do some painting. on monday it was raining so i did these trees. i was trying to learn how to draw a tree!

 some leaves

 and voila

 wed morning my sis was working on the road, so i was able to sneak along with her. sooooo fun road tripping with her, i talked the WHOLE way there,  and back. hahaha it was SOOOO fun to have her all to myself!

 then we picked the kids up and took them to the beach

 shawn set nate up with some target practice! he LOVEd that

 joey watched from afar!

 ice cream in the back of shawns truck. hahaha

 my little zebra.

 fri was the best time ive had in a long time.  shawn took all the kids (THANK YOU!) drove me into hali to meet with cry where we shopped and had the BEST supper.  ellie made me this paper bead necklace to wear. and i did the whole night AND got 2 compliments on it!  we picked the boys up from Shiloh fest after, which was the 2nd reason why we went.  the boys had a youth conference to attend on the weekend

 sat i went garage sailing with my sis. i spent 10.00. ha  but joey found this baby doll that she hasnt stopped playing with, her baby's name is lily and i caught her putting her down for a nap. ha

 night lily!

 shawn put the boys to work painting the dog house

 i found my joey like this...and that was all the pics i took!  for some reason, i just didnt take many pics of the week.  we left sun after church.

 yesterday after lunch ellie went out with her friends, joey stayed with me, she was so sad about not being included. so i gave her an ice cream and we had a cute chat.  i cant get over how fast the last 5 yrs went

 shes wearing chris's old glasses!

 i attempted to paint daisies with the kids at the table

 nice orange splashes guys!

 so this guy showed up at the door to pick up a part chris made for his jeep with his lathe. the guys said chris didnt charge him but instead told him that i like this store....and i do!  then he said as he passed the card to me "and by the smell of your house i know you will like this" hahaha i was burning my new oils....THANK YOU chris for thinking of me!

 finished painting...with the kids help

 i ran out to get groceries and was behind this! the apple car. it was running, the top was turning and the 3 cylinder like objects were also turning. so neat to see!

 so chris and i are making deliberate attempts to spend time together, to connect. esp after this busy summer.  i picked up this bad boy and oh my WORD. SOOOOOO good

 after i put the kids to bed, i made this for chris and set up the table outside

 voila

 and nate took this pic, he was hiding. haha we sent him to bed and spent a good hr just talking and eating! 

i cant believe im heading into the last week of summer vacation. so sad!  i want more summer. i feel like i havent had summer. its been busy with travels and kids stuff.  im deliberately NOT working on school stuff. im thinking ill take it to the cabin net week and start the prep work there...it will be quiet and ill have a chance to get things done...i hope!

i found this quote this am

let today bring a new enthusiasm for the purpose you were created to fulfill and a fresh sense of knowing how important it is

i found that kinda fitting esp with putting of school starting. ha

but then again September brings back routine and structure, and with that a strange sense of comfort in the routine of life. 0 comments

Posted by mel at 10:29 AM

art and swimming the last week

 the last week has turned into a routine of sorts...we chill in the am, have lunch and spent the afternoon with friends at the pool.  i attempt to draw and water color, knowing the days of summer are almost up! 

 i did attempt to dive into the books to prep school..but that lasted about 15 mins. i was interrupted too many times, so i gave up and went in the pool with the kids...this coming week i plan on hitting the books for school prep...

 i am super impressed with how far ellies has come swim wise this summer

 full on swimming. she even goes into jessy's 5' pool with no floaties!

 my little fish

 i was trying to score my  inner fall and came up with this

 voila

 fri i had the DUMB idea to go to costco to hit my shopping list. STUPID idea, 20 mins in traffic to get there. the store was SLAMMED. but i did run into 7 ppl which turned into a chatty afternoon catching up with ppl i havent seen for a bit. haha

then it was this trying to get home!

 seriously! stupid traffic! cant wait for school to start back up and we can go to the stores on the off hrs. haha

 i decided to attempt this flower. chris's grandmother painted it for him

 sketching it out

 joey joined me. ha

 voila

 after supper chris took the kids for tractor rides

 they love it

 a bucket full of noise!

 jessy left his clothes in the back yard fri night. ellie put them on. hahaha

 my two girlies

 love her

 i have a baby pic of joey with her hand on her face like this, i think she was 2 yrs old. i cant believe that was 5 yrs ago. my baby will be starting school this yr!

 ellie bug

 chris working on his latest project. with the cabin being rented for the rest of aug, chris has to work on house projects. ha. he is digging a drain from the over flow from the driveway and prevent annual flooding in his shop

 great job chris!  see little tractor can do great things too! haha

 all done

 attempting fall table decore. lets see how long it lasts until the kids tear it apart

 YUM box time!  this month its turkey!

 top left green bag was my FAV. tasted like garlic chips! YUM

 went to check on the girls. found joey like this. i mean come on, who doesn't sleep with a hair bow?

 ellie too!

 today is my birthday. to me its just another ground hog day!  i came to this. YES! i get to clean up another mess. happy birthday to me! haha

 and with that, im off to hali for another week, poor chris will suffer alone, all by himself at the house. he is not at all excited about that. hahaha

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Posted by mel at 10:21 AM