31

Today is Josh's 31st birthday! No presents, no party, but still special and fun. His new work has a policy that on your birthday you get to go home an hour early, so that was a special treat for him. Here's some pics of our evening!

His Cake

Relaxing checking his emails

I think he got a little too relaxed

Thai coconut soup, chicken curry, tandoori chicken, basmati rice and naan bread...and a lot of sunshine =D

and no he didn't burn the house down with those!

Lynden City Park

 Last Friday, we needed a little change of scenery and some fun. So we headed up to Lynden to hang out with my mom and headed over to the Lynden City Park.



Elizabeth loves the "tot park"





My kids love this park! I haven't been since I was a kid and I almost drowned in the creek. (I went with a friend and her family and they were letting me do stuff I shouldn't have since I couldn't swim, I lost my footing and almost got washed down the creek) They've gone with Grandma a few times, but I've never taken them.

Maybe Zaccheaus will work with Grandpa & cousin Joseph when he gets older!

One of the things I love about this park is that the community really banned together to build it. They didn't just expect their city to do it for them. They donated materials and labor and the result it a huge fun place for the kids to play! (and they widened the creek & added some bridges to cross it now)



I want this in my backyard when I have a house!



Friday Funnies

In order to reduce distraction amongst my students here at the Price Academy, I have decided to instill a strict dress code requiring a specific school uniform. I find this will lead to more pride, loyalty, and equality among the student population.


Tell me what you think?


Boys Option



Girls Option

 HaHa, obviously I'm joking and poking fun at the stereo-types of homeschoolers, but honestly this is our school uniform most days. When all your bookwork is done before lunch time, why not just wait to get ready for the day. ;-D

Enjoy your weekend everyone! Hopefully we get some sunshine!

Our Family's 4th of July

Playing at Fairhaven Park

We went into this holiday weekend with no plans on the calendar and we were totally OK with that. We've been in our apartment for a month now and in that month we've visited with family in town, took two trips out of town, went to grad parties, baby showers, birthday parties. It has definitely been a very busy summer, so it was nice to just stay in Bham and have a relaxing weekend. We did go out for some fun on the 4th, though. We took the kids to play and have a BBQ at Fairhaven Park. They have one of those spray pools, just like Cornwall Park, but without the creepy transients lurking about staring at your family while you try to eat your picnic, lunch (yes, I'm speaking from experience there!).


Boys getting a workout

The kids played while Josh headed back to the apt to pick up our forgotten supplies. We always remember all the big stuff and forget one or two little things that are absolutely necessary for our trips. This time it was the pan to use on Josh's camp stove. Had the food, stove and propane...just forgot the pans, LOL!


Time for the water park!

When Josh got back, it was about 1pm and the water park had opened. So, the kids played while Josh cooked. I sat and took pictures. It was LOVELY! =D Elizabeth was real hesitant at first to go into the spraying part of the water, but Gabriel and Joshua helped her get comfortable with it and she was running about on her own in no time.


I think she likes it now

Our kids love this place and we come here quite often in the summer months. I love that they can play and cool down with out me having to worry about the depth of the water or pack around a bunch of floaties. I can't swim myself, so I always panic when they're playing in pools/lakes and Josh isn't around. 


Big brother picking on little brothers... timeless

The boys splashed and rough housed and did typical gross boy stuff & loved every last second of it!


Lunch break

Josh made hamburgers with grilled peppers and onions and we brought chips and potato salad. I forgot the watermelon and carrot sticks. =(
Oh, and we did s'mores as well. I tried out those "stackable" marsh mellows and didn't really care for them. You get about half the amount of marsh mellow that is in the regular ones, but they do stack better, so I guess they fit their purpose.



Enjoying bbq'd burgers

I hope you all had a blessed holiday weekend! 

Our new pet birds

 Not really ours and not really pets, but I still enjoy seeing them out my backdoor.

Elizabeth needs to learn that you can't hold a goose like you can a pet chicken.

My new garden

I guess you can't really call it a garden... It's just three planters with my Blueberry and Blackberry bushes that I had planted at the house.

The Blueberries are doing great despite this poor weather we've had this Spring/Summer. Once we moved over here I started seeing big fuzzy bees on it multiple times a day, so it's nice and pollinated. LOL

My Blackberry on the other hand is not flourishing quite as well. Looks like I'll get 1 berry off it... well hopefully I get it and not a bird, bug or neighbor kid. Also, that's my other Blueberry in the background. Didn't take a pic of that one, sorry.

The Blueberry plants are Organic and I got them at the Market in Fairhaven last Spring and had the deer at the old house eat every berry it produced. I'm so excited to actually eat the berries from them. I'm thinking they'll be great in my Lemon Blueberry Scone recipe!

The Blackberry is a "thornless" that we got on clearance at Walmart last Mother's Day and it's never done much of anything. With all the Blackberries growing wild around here, you'd think it'd produce like crazy!

Settling In

We're getting close to feeling settled in to our new place. It's hard getting 1800 sq ft of stuff into 900 sq ft. Especially when before 600 sq ft of that was just storage. We know have a saw in the dinning room and closets full of tools and outdoor stuff that we just couldn't part with. Elizabeth has finally stopped saying "we're home!" when we pull into church each Sunday and the boys are getting adjusted to having to be quiet for the sake of the neighbors again.

We did a little walk about our neighborhood trail and I thought I'd share the pics with you. I borrowed my mom's fancy camera for taking pics of the boys' football camp (pics are on FB), so I've been making use of having it... taking lots of pictures!


Someone got creative planting the grass in the roundabout




My Babies




Learning about the native plants to our neighborhood

We're starting to like being in this neighborhood again. Everything is so close by. But, we wouldn't mind having just a bit more space. ;-D