Fun.......or not?

Lately at meal times, there has been a fight between Carathy and Caleb as to who gets to pray. In the past, we have usually let them both pray for the food but have recently tried to make them take turns because we found it to be a long process when we had company over. The other day, Caleb was having a grumpy day. When I say grumpy, I mean....GRUMPY! From the moment he woke up he was complaining about everything. His milk was too high in his cup, his apple wasn't cut right, HE wanted to put the apple into the bowl, Carathy was looking at him wrong, and on and on and on. By lunch time already, I had had enough. I was finally finished making lunch and the kids were washed up, the food was on table, and Caleb was standing there stomping his feet screaming some unintelligible words at me. After several minutes, I finally got him calmed down enough to find out that he had wanted to carry his own plate to the table. I told him that it was full of food that would roll off if he accidentally tipped it so I had just carried it myself and that when he was finished eating, he could carry his plate back to the cupboard. Obviously this was not good enough because the screaming and stomping started again. By this time, the rest of our food was getting cold and I am trying to teach him that temper tantrums will not get him what he wants so I told him that when he was ready to be calm he could join us at the table. I sat down and was just getting ready to give thanks for the food (because it was his turn and he was still in tantrum mode), and he was on his chair telling me that it was his turn to pray. I told him that if he was ready to be calm, he could go ahead. He bowed his head and said, "Thank you Jesus for all the fun. Amen."

I had to keep my head bowed as I couldn't let him see me laughing but I had to wonder........just what IS his definition of fun?!?

Peetey

From day one, Steven has called Arinn "Peetey." I started calling her "Sweet Pea" and he ended up shortening it. Now, she will usually look at you only if you call her "Peetey" and will be looking around for Steven at the same time.
These pictures were originally taken for my mom because she requested pictures of Arinn's new teeth. I started taking pictures and just couldn't stop. I didn't know which ones to choose for this entry, either, so I think maybe I will add a bunch. She is just so cute, I would definitely call her my 'Sweet pea."

Going to the PNE

On Sunday, we went to the PNE (Pacific National Exhibition) in Vancouver. It is a bit like the Stampede - just on a smaller scale. We went with Steven's brother, Nathan and his wife Annie and their son, Jacob. When we left Chilliwack, it was quite rainy but we thought we would try to go anyway. When we got closer to Vancouver it was clear to us that the rain was not going to stop anytime soon so we stopped at IKEA to pick up some umbrellas (because we had forgotten ours at home) and made our way to the PNE grounds. It rained hard most of the day but we still had a lot of fun.

Racing tractors.

Caleb riding on one of the little tractors.

Carathy riding on one of the same tractors.

Caleb and Carathy touching a newly hatched chick.

Caleb watching "Peter the Giant." This is a bull that is shown around the different exhibitions because of his size. He is an extremely large animal! It said on the sign that he eats 2 1/2 bales a hay a day!

Caleb.

Carathy showing us how proud she is that she can pump water with just one hand.

You might think this is an interesting picture to put in the blog but I wanted to show those of you who have known how much of a struggle Caleb's allergies have been just how clear his face is right now.

Carathy entertaining Jacob

Stamping over the Lions

Last week, Steven was given some free tickets to a BC Lions football game. The tickets were from a customer at work and the seats were season tickets so we knew they would be good seats. On top of that, the Lions were playing the Calgary Stampeders. For those of you who don't know, I am a huge fan of the Stamps and Steven is a fan of the Lions and when those two teams are playing each other, we can have a lot of fun watching the games! We asked a couple from our church to go with us and when we got there we found out that we were in the second row. In all the times that I have been to see a game live, I have never been able to sit that close to the front. It was awesome!
We got a babysitter for our older two kids but we took Arinn with us. We bought her baby ear plugs and she was super happy to just sit on our laps for the evening. Because we took her with us, we got a coupon for a free lunchkit (given out to all the kids at the game) which we could pick up in the 4th quarter. When Steven came back from picking up the lunchkit, he looked like he had won the lottery! He was so excited to get it and decided that he was going to use it - not the kids!
The next morning when Carathy saw how excited he was about it, she told him that she wanted to take his picture with it and told him how to pose for the pictures. These are those pictures.

PS- THE STAMPS WON!

Visitors in August

My mom called me one day and asked if it would be ok if she brought my grandma and Aunt Nancy to visit. Grandma had never been to visit us here in BC so right away I said, "Yes!" They got here on a monday afternoon and right away on tuesday morning, I decided to take advantage of the fact that they were here. I had been wanting to paint the foundation on our house for quite a while but I didn't ever have a large chunk of time to put into the project. I figured that since they were here, they could help me with the kids and I would do my paining. After all, they were mainly here to see the kids, right?!? Not only did I get the foundation painted that day, I also got the sandbox sanded, primed and painted, too!
On the wednesday of that week, my sister Kim and her boyfriend, Jon came to visit, too. So, for a day and a half, we had 10 people staying in our little house. We had a houseful but it was fun and the weather was great so we spent most of that time outside.

Arinn........before.....

......during.......

....still during........

.....and after.

My crazy kids after a full day going between the sand box and the pool.

The foundation of my house with the new paint on it. It sure makes the plants look good.

One morning during breakfast, we looked over and found Arinn playing in Grandma's purse.

Carathy reading Grandma a book.

Arinn sitting in one of her favorite spots.

Grandma and some of her great-grandchildren.

My handsome boy.

Four generations.

Aunt Nancy, Caleb, Grandma, Arinn, Mom, and Carathy.

Power of Prayer

This summer, Carathy went to VBS for a week and she came home from there with a new understanding of prayer. Since then, whenever she feels like she needs help with something or she thinks someone else needs help, she will pray about it. I was especially proud of her when we were visiting my parents in Gem right before Deb's wedding. My dad had been trying to get some haying done for a few days already but had been forced to wait because of evening thunder showers making the hay too wet to bale. One evening, we were talking about an approaching storm that was looking like it could deliver some hail as well as a large amount of water. As the storm came and the large drops of water began to fall, we all stood at the window and watched. As the storm started to fade and we knew that the worst was over, Dad made a comment that although we did get a lot of rain, he was thankful that there was no hail that came with it. After being silent for the majority of the time, Carathy said, "I know, Grandpa. That is because that I prayed and asked Jesus to not send the hail. He answered my prayer!" I was so proud of her for taking the concerns of someone else to God!

The next evening, we watched as yet another storm approached and with this storm, the hail did come. It wasn't severe but during that time of the year, even a little bit can make a difference with the quality of a crop. As we all stood at the window that evening and watched the white pellets bounce off the ground, Carathy looked so sad. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "I prayed again for Grandpa's field and that Jesus wouldn't send the hail but this time He did. He didn't answer my prayer. That makes me sad."

This was a great time for me to be able to explain that God doesn't always give us what we ask for but we should still ask because we never know what will happen until we do. My answer seemed to make sense to her and she still doesn't hesitate to stop what she is doing and pray for the rain to stop so we can go outside, for Steven to get home safe, or just to thank Him for giving us a fun day.

Family Day at Othello Tunnels

One weekend this summer, we decided to check out the Othello tunnels near Hope, BC. It was a beautiful day to go and Steven and I had not been there since the first summer that we were married. We got there just after lunch and left right before supper. It was a great, relaxing day and we had a lot of fun with our friends Andy, Ronni, Emily and Alex.

Caleb with his snack of the day....blueberries.

Carathy and Emily climbed up this little rock ledge. It sure makes them look small!

The river.

Caleb being a "king of the castle"

Carathy and I.

Our sleeping beauty. This is how Arinn spent most of the day. She woke up right at the end so we could take some family pictures.

Caleb really enjoys playing with Steven's sideburns when he is sitting on his shoulders. I am not sure if this is something that Steven particularily enjoys, though.

Scenery.

A picture of us walking into one of the tunnels. The girls were a bit scared because one or two of the tunnels were quite dark but Alex absolutely loved it.

Our famiy portarait. The first one since before Caleb was born.

My boys making funny monkey faces.

My boys.





Andy and Alex enjoying the river. I love the colors in this picture.


My thoughtful-looking son.

Steven and Arinn.

Our sweat pea.

Arinn and I.