Transformation!

We went from: 30-some-years-old grimy, dirty wood to NEW creamy cleanness... and we aren't quite done. i'll have to do the last coat tonight or tomorrow....

THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH MAMA NAUS! i would NOT have taken these apart, scrubbed them as clean as you did, or painted them without your help today!! :)





doesn't she look like Miss Julia?
so so sweet.

LEARNING TO FLY

Today Julia and I took all the kitchen cupboard doors off...ik. they are nasty. 30 years of grime on them...

we scrubbed them down.
Tomorrow wonderful Mama Naus has offered to paint them for us!! wahoo!! so glad. because after a whole day of unscrewing, cleaning, scrubbing, scraping, i am soooo done and need someone else to do the painting! ahahaa.



TOmatoes in Julia's garden.


Determined to fly.

Julia made a contraption that she was certain would gain her enough speed and height to finally fly (one major life goal of hers).
those are paper wings taped to her sides...
she came up with all this while i organized the garage one very rainy day. haha.

She made the CUT.

Of course, by the title of this blog, i simply mean, she made the hair cut. :)

Julia has been asking me to chop off her beautiful locks since dance ended. (no more need of a dancer's bun)

I resist, because her long hair is gorgeous and makes her look older and i'm partial to it. But she is 5, and if there are any "safe" areas to let her be herself, express her own voice and taste and style - hair is definitely one of them. Why hold on to something so fleeting? something that grows back? something that in the end doesn't matter NEARLY as much as a compassionate heart, a courageous spirit, a steadfast faith?

Anyway. i am trying to make these mental debates in my head as i make rules and decisions. Really. what IS more imp't? So i chopped her hair. I wasn't going to fight her on it. I wasn't going to guilt her into thinking she was choosing the 'wrong' look. how petty that would be.

It's the same with a lot of problems we run into during the day. So what if Julia doesn't want to play with her toys, she would GLADLY give them all away if I WEREN'T the one saying, "no we need to keep them for Mercy". So it drives me nuts that she would rather be doing my work with me , when i'd rather have her "out of my hair" for just ten minutes. This is the chance i have to be with her, teach her skills and daily wisdom from mishaps that happen while she does my work.

of course... i'm writing this at 7:48 am, and the kids aren't even up and the day hasn't started.... that is why i can sound so optimistic about this!! hahaha. but i know that with God's strength i can reply on HIm to help me see the bigger picture, the stuff that matters.

please.

the great (mommy) escape

what can i say? i have a wonderful husband that told me to go away for a retreat...an awesome Creator who made the mountains and rivers and valleys...and a very lovely sister who shared some solitude and strain with me. (my body rebelled at the thought of climbing as we started the first of three hikes... surprisingly however, neither of us were very sore from the exercise. ) In almost 6 whole days we saw a lot of wildlife, the only one not pictured is the bear that crossed the road on our way to hike #2.

Romantic

Dave is so romantic.

we rode our tandem bicycle 25 km from our home to a beach and back. Stopping to visit two different sets of friends (for bathroom breaks and hullo's), and a grocery store (to purchase the baguette to accompany our Borganzola cheese mmmmmmm!!!).

This is a great and inexpensive date!! :)

and who doesn't like a romantic dinner on the beach? cheese... mmm.. and baguette! mmm.

Cherry Pickin'

45 pounds of cheeries + 1 broken Pitter = 2 very blackened hands (from hand-pitting 45 pounds of cheeries!)

mmm. good.

I highly recommend this as a social outing with friends and family (especially with family that pays for the goods once you are done!! Thanks mama)

super duper fun.

A Canada Day Night.

Friendly Dave Fraser. it looks smokey, but it was not at all!! crazy.

This is when he was singing Julia's song. :)

We decided to go to a local restaurant before the fireworks on our Nation's Birthday to listen to dear Dave Fraser. We were able to sit next to the lovely Kerry, which made the night very enjoyable indeed!


This is a picture of Julia listening to her song being sung in public. :) how exciting!!






this is K and M! :)

Proudly Canadian. God keep our land glorious and free.

:) After a week (or two) of the kids singing (at the top of their lungs) the national anthem... we finally get to celebrate 142 years as a country. :)

Thank you Lord for this land to live in.

i took the kids to the parade this morning. it was fun. now we are waiting for the little ones to wake up from nap time so we can go to Aunti K's and Uncle M's for a BBQ, and then off to the riverside for the fireworks!! :) waahooooo!!