Leif's eating with one of his famous clips because I forgot to pack spoons.

I really feel guilty writing. Like I should be doing something much more productive. I have little more then a week until moving day. I am counting down the days until I see my darling Christopher again. However I feel like I still have so much to do and it is getting overwhelming. It's as if we make it through one obstacle only to encounter an other. 

 It turns out we are going to have to down size massively for this trip. Our good friend Jared has purchased an SUV with a trailer hook up to pull our u-haul behind. This is fantastic because it will save us close to $1000. I am so grateful to Jared for helping us out with this move. The only down side is the u-haul can't hold as much stuff so we have to get rid of a lot of stuff. Like almost all of our furniture. We're getting rid of kitchen chairs, bookshelves, t.v, probably computer desk and t.v stand. Unfortunately most Ikea furniture isn't meant to be taken apart once it is put together. We hope to keep our beds and couch. I've already handed off my food storage to my mother. Also trying to sell my washer and dryer. So you see I have to get rid of quite a few things in very little time. Our bigger home in Calgary will be quite bare for a while. I am sad to part with some of these items but we will still have what is most important.

waterslides on Lilli's birthday.

I will also be sad to leave my garden. I can harvest most of it before I go but my tomatoes are just starting to ripen and I have more kale then I know what to do with. I wish I had someone to share it with but most people don't seem to like it much. I love it though.

 I've completed most of my bucket list. - ran around stanley park, though by myself.

- went to waterslides with my girls, their friend Emma, and kelly

- made loads of jam

- read the book series

- went to hayward lake many times, although only the ocean a few times

- did not do the grouse Grind. Attempted 3 times, but something always got in the way

- Saw Harry Potter

- Did not swim in the beautiful water at Golden Ears. It hasn't been very hot and a sitter is hard to come by these days. This may be the first summer in many years that I haven't gone swimming at all.

  

 I just want to try to retell a short story that my mom told me the other day. It came from one of those Chicken Soup for the soul books.

 There is this very poor family, and I'm sure it was quite a long time ago, but I don't remember the exact year. One Sunday when they are at their church their pastor announces that he wants everyone to save up and set money aside to help out a struggling family in need. This poor family makes huge sacrifices to set money aside for a church donation. They eat only potatoes for a whole month. At the end they have saved $100 which is a fair bit at the time. They take their money to church and when the donation plate gets passed around they put their $100 in it. After the money has all been collected from the members of the congregation the pastor announces that they have received $115 in total from the people of the church. Wow, right. Well to top it all off, the pastor calls the little family up that donated the $100 to receive the total donation.  I want to feel disappointed in the other members of the church who donated so little, but then I think what an amazing example that family was. This is a true story, like that of The Widow's Mite. I know people that are like this. My parents are very much like this, but they would not say so. If you know them you would probably agree. They are great people who have raised me well and I am grateful for their example.

enjoying a sandy cupcake at Lilli's party.

she's sweet when she sleeps.

I'm going to try and make this short and sweet. I just wanted to write a quick gratitude entry. 

 As most of you know we are moving to Calgary at the end of this month. Chris went on ahead of the rest of us on August 2nd. It already feels like he has been gone a month. I still have two and a half weeks without him. I miss him terribly but I am grateful for modern technology and that we can talk to him on skype  every day. I know it means a lot to him to get to see and speak to the children. They miss him as well but are doing much better then I expected. Miete says she doesn't miss him so much because he is still alive. Lilli continually asks him if he has found her any friends in Calgary yet. Leif asks him about the train he took a picture of downtown Calgary, and Violet kisses his face on the computer screen.

 Several obvious things that I have noticed in Christophers absence are 1st that I don't have near as much laundry to wash. My loads are smaller and less frequent. I never realized my husband was such a clothes horse, always changing his outfits and throwing clean clothes in the laundry. I'm just kidding, that is Miete and Lilli, but seriously the laundry pile has gone down and I no longer have to wash his stinky cycling clothes. The other thing I notice is that the kids junky cereal is lasting  a lot longer. Those are the only two positives. I'm doing more dishes and folding more laundry, taking out more garbage, bathing the kids more, changing more diapers, and running a whole lot less. I am lucky that I have such a useful husband.

 There are quite a few other wonderful people who have stepped in and offered their help in my Christophers absence. We have been invited to dinner at friends of ours, also Leif got to wrestle with the father which meant alot to him. It's something he does with Christopher on a nightly basis. I've had a good friend of mine show up at bed time and help get my kids clean and off to bed, and then continue to clean my disaster of a house. I've had my sister come over and fold several loads of laundry. I had an other friend bring me over several freezer dinners and bags of fresh produce and cookies. So kind! Others have watched my children and offered their help, even phoned to see how I am doing. And two separate families have offered to lend us money, one of those families I don't even know. I am embarrassed to mention this last one, but very grateful to their thoughtful generosity. It is an expensive move, and paychecks may not come in time for a rent deposit. I am so grateful for my amazingly helpful and supportive friends and family. I love Maple Ridge and the great people here.

  It saddens me to think that some think it is not self reliant to ask and accept help from others. We all need to have opportunities to show charity. Service is a huge part of my religious belief and I am honored by others selfless service. It makes me want to do more to serve, and serving feels good too. So thank you to all you fantastic people. You know who you are, and I love and appreciate you.

 Me and my darling dearest.

Leif 's holding a clip. He doesn't go anywhere without one.

The beach at the end of the trail.

My family down on the beach. Christopher is a master rock skipper
and can do ten skips at a time.

This is at Golden Ears hiking area. I don't know the name of the trail but it goes out to the lake. It is my favorite place in all of Maple Ridge. It is so stunningly beautiful. The water is crystal clear and very inviting on a hot day. This place is like something out of a movie. Unfortunately I am not a great photographer so my pictures really don't do it justice. If you live in Maple Ridge or near maple Ridge and you have never been here then you are crazy. I am not kidding. You are missing out on one of the most spectacular places right here in our own back yard. You must go and see for yourself. I am really going to miss it when I move. Never take for granted this amazing area that we live.

 On Saturday we went strawberry picking in Langley, then headed out to White Rock. The tide was just heading out so there was lots of water for the kids to explore in. Miete caught a bucket full of little crabs, and everyone had a blast splashing in the ocean. It is so fun to watch Violet experiencing all these things for the first time. Last year she still wasn't walking at this time. She sat down right in a yucky tide pool, picking up handfuls of sand and trying to grab small crabs. She was covered in sand from her head to her feet.

So gross, sitting in that icky water.

I have created a summer bucket list for myself of things I want to do before we move to Calgary. Most of them I will have to do this month because August will be spent cleaning, packing and minding my four children alone. Chris is leaving at the end of this month and I will be without him at a critical and very stressful time. I am dreading it. So here is my list. I may add to it as I think of more things.

- run around the seawall one evening during sunset, with my husband. Anyone want to babysit?
- pick blueberries
- make strawberry lime jam. Tomorrow
- can peaches
- go to the water slides with grown ups
- swim in the clear water at Golden Ears
- spend more days at the ocean and the many lakes around here.
- run a lot because when Chris is gone I won't be able to.

- see Harry Potter 7 part II

- spend lots of time with friends and family

- do the Grouse Grind again    

- finish the book series I'm on. I'm borrowing the books from Caity. I'm on #2 and have 2 more to go                                                                                                                                                              

- plan and carry out 2 parties. One is Violet's 2nd/ going away for Chris as he leaves days after her birthday. 2 is Lilli's 7th birthday which I will have to do on my own since it's the middle of August                                                                                                                                                           

  
Well that's all I can think of at the moment but I know there is more. There are things I would love to do but I know we don't have the time or the funds to do. Need to save for the big move. I just want to enjoy living in this amazing place, and being with the people I love and will miss.

Miete and Lilli picking strawberries

Oh yeah I should mention that my run in Seattle was fantastic. I surprisingly beat my previous time by four minutes, and thats running with an injury. Still not fast but it was a beautiful route around Lake Washington and through some nice neighborhoods. I felt good most of the run until the last few km when my left foot went numb. It was a very well organized race and we were well taken care of. I would come back here and do it again next year if I could. We'll have to wait and see.

This is my little garden. It's my first one and I'm so proud of it.

 In my garden I am growing peas, watermelon radishes, beets, giant spinach, kale, swiss chard, carrots, potatoes and turnips. I also have several planter boxes throughout my yard with more beets, carrots and radishes in them. The radish leaves are getting munched by little green worms. Lilli really likes to hunt them out and squish them. I also have basil, oregano, thyme, chocolate mint, chives and green onions in planter boxes. So far I have already been able to pick and enjoy spinach and kale. It is so exciting to me, and I seriously am out every day looking for weeds and pests. It is amazing how fast it grows. Oh, and I also have a couple of tomato plants. My life must be really exciting that I am entertained by such simple things. 

 Here's a funny thing about my guy Leif. He loves clips. You know the kind you can get at Ikea or the dollar store. You use them to close bags. Well they are his favorite toy right now. They can be part of a crane or a digger, they can even be bendy guys. He 

has played with and lost or broke all of the ones in the house. The other day at the dollar store he saw a bag of them and got so excited. " Mom look at those clips, can I have them please." I am not normally a very indulgent mother but they were only a dollar. We had to open the bag as soon as we were in the car, and the whole ride home " Oh mom I love my clips! Thank you so much for my clips mom. I'll share them with you. What clip do you like best mom? , I can't wait to show Daddy my clips" And then several hours later when Chris got home he went through the whole thing with him. He takes them to school and keeps them in his backpack. In the above picture he took one to his preschool fathers day activity. he even sleeps with them. He is such a sweet, funny little boy.

 Violet continues to terrorize just about everyone who comes to our home, or gets to close to her in the grocery store. Especially if they make the mistake of attempting to compliment her. she puts her hand out as if to push them away and says "No!" in a voice with such snarly attitude, I wouldn't think it possible for someone her age to  even possess. She is a real charmer. In this picture

she is trying to force feed her cousin Sam. I think he is 10 months younger then her, but she gives him a little too much love and attention because she thinks he is a baby, and Violet loves babies. He's not to impressed with the whole situation as you can see.

 Miete and Lilli finished school last Thursday. Regular public school here doesn't get out until the end of the month. Already I miss the routine, and I will do my best to keep them reading, typing and working on math and printing throughout the summer. I'm not going to work them to hard, but I don't want them to forget what they've learned recently, and there is a lot they still need to work on. Report cards should be sent to us in a couple of weeks. They mean very little to us though. I keep them for a record but I rarely discuss them with the girls. You will not see me bragging about my children's grades either. Because I work with them I know better then anyone how they are doing and their strengths and weaknesses. I have learned that aside from positive comments of encouragement their "levels of competency" don't tell me anything I already don't know. I try not to pay heed to comments like "You're third grade child reads at a mid grade one level" . My children learn at their pace, not at an expected level, and they are progressing at their own rate, so for now I'm not going to worry about it. I am so grateful that I have been able to educate them at home, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Well if I could higher someone else to help me share the load I would to that. I really feel that I am doing the best thing for my girls, rather then them being lost in a classroom. I am not anti public school either, it is just not the best system for us.
 

all the kids with their "Aunty Rae-rae", my good fried Rae-anne.

Next week Chris and I are going down to Seattle for me to attempt to run The Rock and  Roll half marathon. I am not very prepared and haven't run in over a week due to some crazy calf pain. I really don't want to get a terrible injury like so many others I know have. I think I just increased my distance to fast, or don't drink enough water, or stretch enough or all of the above. I'm going to run regardless but I not expecting to improve on my last years time. I trained better then. My brave friend Rae-anne will be staying with my children. I hope she survives.

 That's all for now.

My darling Lillias with sparkly hair.

Kelly put hair tinsel in my girls hair and it should last a month or so, but I've had to replace a few already with their rowdy life style. It looks really neat in the sun though and they get tons of compliments which of course they love. They're going to send some to their cousins Bailey and Brooklynn. We even put one in Violets hair. She doesn't know because if she did I'm sure she would rip it out.
Speaking of my little Giant Violet, ( that is what we call her due to her giant personality) she is becoming quite a little terror. More so then I remember  any of my previous three children being. When she was still a baby I remember  her crying and throwing her head back as if  to start a tantrum, and thinking this child is going to be a handful.  Well she has proved me right. Not only is she very mischievous,  smearing chocolate syrup all over herself and the floor, 

putting black mascara  all over her face, dumping, no make that throwing her cereal/ jello/ yogurt/ pudding across the table or onto the floor. I can't feed her, she yells and knocks the food out of my hand. She has to do it herself, even the messy stuff. She mostly uses her hands to eat, and squishes it between her fingers and smears it around the table, and when she's finished what is left gets dumped on the floor. This isn't the half of it though. This girl can yell so loud and so long when she doesn't get her way. She hits all of us, she bites, she picks up what is closest to her and throws it. The other day Chris wouldn't let her go outside with the big kids so she got a boot, holding it high above her head and came after him yelling  her head off. I started to laugh, so then she went to throw the boot at me. I know it shouldn't be funny, but sometimes all you can do is laugh. 

Miete and Lilli are in swim lessons on Wednesday and Friday, so I have to bring Leif and Violet along for that adventure. Violet has thrown herself down on the pool deck screaming because I won't let her throw whatever she can get her hands on into the pool. I dread those afternoons. This is a lesson for me. I used to judge those parents with out of control children, and think why do they let them get away with so much. I've learned you pick your battles, especially when in public. I am not a horrible parent either. She has a strong will and wants to do what the big kids are doing. As well she is so quick. I was standing right next to her when she dumped the chocolate syrup, and when her little hand grabbed the mascara out of my make-up bag, but my back was to her. 

 She also terrorizes her siblings. When Leif is playing quietly with his trains and trucks she sneaks up and knocks them all over or grabs them and runs. The other day while sitting next to Leif on the couch she bit a mouthful of his hair out just because she felt like it. She hits Lilli a lot especially when Lilli tries to mother her a bit to much and Violet won't have any of it. When I try to make her apologize she snaps "no", and walks away or pushes Lilli away.

Okay she's not all monster though. She goes down for naps and to bed really easy. She seems to like sleeping and look forward to it. She gets that from me. She loves to kiss and to cuddle and she loves her baby dolls. She carries dolls around wrapped in blankets with my purse over her arm, and she sings to them and feeds them. She's also the best little dancer of any kid her size, and she'll dance to anything, even the dryer. She does love to wrestle with her siblings and daddy, and once when Lilli was crying Violet got a wash cloth and squatted down by Lilli and tried to wipe her tears. That was so sweet. We hang onto those precious moments. We do love her and are entertained by her, but she is hard to contain. She really is a giant in a little body.

I made these flowers yesterday. The two small ones were simple and are to be put on hairbands or hair clips for my girls. The yellow Dahlia took me hours to make and was very tedious. I don't know if I'd do it again. It's to be a broach for my mom. 

This is the wreathe I made my mom for mothers day.

 I don't have to much to say, I mostly wanted to post pictures of my adorable kiddies. I'll say, since it is Mothers Day that I have the best mother in the world. I'm not even exaggerating. Anyone who knows my mother would agree. She would do anything for anybody and she does. Everybody that knows her loves her, most of all her children. I feel so lucky to have her, and I truly aspire to be more like her. She is such an inspiration for service and charity. I always wish I could adequately express my appreciation for all she does, but she's so humble she just laughs compliments off. I want to be a mom like my mom because she is the mother of all mothers in her quiet, modest way. I wish I had a picture with her to post, but I have very few. I'll have to make it a point to take some.

 So what I love about being a mother is, well there is just to much. We laugh, and we play and we create beautiful memories together. We have a lot of fun. I sometimes try to imagine what my life would be like without my little monkeys, and it would be lonely and boring. I am a lucky woman, and so grateful for these four little darlings. Well sometimes they're darlings, like when their sleeping. They all have their challenges, but we love them for the creative, spunky, often emotional, and sensitive little people that they are.

Aren't they beautiful. I'm biased, I know, but really!

Leif in his element at Maple Ridge park. Nothing makes him happier then being outside. Well, trains make him happier then anything.

Violet also loves being outdoors. Today she lost a boot and didn't even seem to notice despite the wet, muddy ground. Shortly after this she was digging in a mud hole and flinging dirt on me as I tried to get more pictures of her.

I LOVE MY BABIES!

Cutie pants enjoying the spoils of our Easter egg hunt. She couldn't stop shoveling the chocolate in, but isn't she darling!

Violet discovered ladybugs recently. She's 

fascinated with them, and is so gentle and careful. She gets so excited just to watch them crawl all over her. She's enthralled with most bugs actually. The other day she was following a fat, lazy bee around the yard, trying to catch it. I was relieved that it got away.

So I have recently started making these wreathes. My sister in law, Holly inspired me and then I just found all sorts of great ideas on Etsy and other sites. I made this one for my sister Jacquie for her birthday and I have a cute one on my own front door. Sometimes I use colored yarn and sometimes ribbon. It's a great mothers day idea. I will be making one for my mom. I also make little hair clips and clothing pins with the felt flowers as well. I've really fallen in love with felt. I Think I'll make myself a wreath for each season.

I also found several owl stuffie patterns online and combined them to make my kids these adorable owls for Easter. Took me two strait days of sewing, but they turned out okay and my mistakes aren't noticeable to my kids.

I would love to be able to sell crafts on Etsy but there is so much on that site already I don't know if it would be worth it. Maybe if I advertised being from Canada I could get the Canadian customers who don't want to pay huge shipping fees. I don't know when I'd find the time, between homeschool, pre school, swim classes and all the other classes my girls attend through Summit. Well summer is soon so we shall see.

I'm also trying to find more cleaning jobs if anyone local knows of any hook ups. I have several semi regular jobs that I work around preschool, homeschool and finding a sitter, but what I'd really like is an evening office cleaning job a couple of times a week. If you know of anyone and you live in my general area send them my way.

Other news, but not really, is I have been training for The Rock N' Roll half marathon that is in Seattle at the end of June. Last year I ran my first half and I'd really like to improve my time by 5 minutes this year. I don't know if that is a realistic goal. I feel like I've hit my prime in the short 5 years that I've been running and it's all down hill from here. If only I had started running in my twenties instead of waiting until I was thirty. I am not sure if it is possible for me to improve my pace by much if any. Worse, would be to come in a slower time. Oh, that would be just awful, and the thought of it torments me.
 For my birthday Chris got me one of those Nike things you attach to your shoe, along with a wrist band. It doesn't have a GPS on it but once I can get it set to my pace it will tell me my distance, calories and pace per run. It's been kind of hard getting it regulated. This past Saturday I had to run 12km. I was excited because I had new shoes and I was eager to try them out. Well it turned out to be the longest, slowest run. I had to keep adding to my route to make up my goal distance and it seemed like my pace was dreadfully slow. By 7km I had bleeding blisters on the back of my left heel, and I was feeling exhausted. I really had to push myself to pick up my pace and complete the 12km distance. When I finished I felt so discouraged and depressed that it had taken me so long to run 12km. I decided to map my run online just to be sure I was as slow as I thought I was. Well to my delight it turns out I had actually ran 14km, which is why I must have felt so exhausted. So I have since reprogramed my Nike thing, and am feeling so happy that I am not as slow as I thought I was. There is hope for a new PR after all.