Thankfullness

  Missing Church today, sore throats, coughs and stuffy noses.  Well 3 of the children who are healthy managed to make it thanks to their wonderful Oma.
  We, those left at home, sit listening to Keith Greens Lord You're Beautiful.   I like Keith Green.  His no nonsense, tell it like it is, style.  His passion for Jesus. 
  We had our Thanksgiving dinner on Friday so Dad could be there too.  It was Josh's idea actually, so that his Dad didn't have to miss out.  I love that he was thinking of that, cause my thinking is really not there.  I also love that Mom did the Turkey, Josh baked the pumpkin pie, I made stuffing and Maiya did the rest.  It was a group effort that makes it so nice.
   It does feel strange this year not heading to Houston for my family's dinner.  This is the first year without Bob.  I'm glad my Mom went to my Sister's, she's not alone:)
   I am so thankful for the wonderful people God has placed in my life.  For the bounty of food.  For the roof over our heads, and clothes on our backs. 

Hawaii!

       Do you like my new picture?  This is sunset at Waikiki Beach.   I truly think we're addicted to Hawaii.  Since the first day we went there in June 2007, we've HAD to go back.  We think about other places, California, Greece, even Austrailia, but we just can't give up Hawaii.  If we could afford to fly to more then one place a year then we'd go see something else.  But really when you've only got once to go then how can you not go to Hawaii?!  We've been there 4 times and I think I've only been to 5 beaches.  There are 20 more to see if not more!! I have to keep going till I see them all! Right?   There are lots of things we haven't seen or done there yet.  This trip was the first time I went to the Diamond Head Crater, and I didn't even make it to the top (ankle:( ).  It's also the first time I was on the North Shore.   You may think it's  a small island how could you possible not see it all in 4 trips!!?  I'm telling you there is soooo much to see and do.
I do sometimes feel guilty for going there so much. 

        If you are planning to travel anywhere my advice is do your homework.  I learnt so much from travel books at the library.  For flights, watch for seat sales.  Try to plan your holiday in the off season, everthing is a little cheaper and there are less people.  For us the best time to fly to Hawaii is April.  West-Jet has great seat sales then. 
          Don't feel limited to just Hotels, VRBO and vacation rental website has some great places to stay.  But do you're home work about those too.  Most people we've interacted with are very nice and curtious, but I've heard some are not.
      Tripavdvisor.com has lots of info on everything.  Josh found us some amazing little places to eat, with great prices and good food. 
     Have an idea of the activities you want to do.  Try to find the less expensive ones. Tours can cost a lot more then just going there on your own.  Most places are pretty self-explanitory, but if you're visiting a Volcano then maybe it might be good to have a guide!
    We didn't do everything we wanted to do, and we always spend a bit more then we planned.  Mostly on the Kona coffee!
    Every place has it's treasures and dangers too, so read up!  There are great books at the library and great resources online too! 
   Above all relax and have a good time!!

This is Hanauma Bay

Josh and I after snorkeling Hanauma

The view of Rainbow Beach while horseback riding.

Walking Tree at Waikiki, with a pretty lady swinging in it

Eating shrimp on the North Shore!

Waimea Beach

Waimea Valley

Aloha!

The Count Down!

  
 So the count down is on, well it's been on, but now we're down to 6 days.  6 days and we fly to Hawaii!  I'm so excited!  A little sad too, leaving the kids behind is never very fun.  Once I get on the plane and it leaves the ground I will be fine. 
    Right now it's, school, clean, organize, laundry, pack!!  Like crazy!  School is double work for me as I organize lessons for when we're gone and Oma takes over.  I got most of it done on the kids snowboarding day.  There are still a few loose ends to tie up.  Plus I don't know how it will be for Mom to jump in and do all this stuff.  I've been doing it for so long, but what would it be like for someone to just jump into it full swing!?  So I'm making alternate plans as well, something for the kids to keep busy with that won't require too much for Oma to do:)  I think I've decided that stretching 1 week into 2 might work nice. 
     I also have great aspirations of getting into each room and cleaning it from top to bottom.  (Ya, like that's going to happen!)  Maybe just the bathrooms;)
     I am looking forward to relaxing, sitting on the beach, walking in the sand.  It looks like we're going to be on a tight budget.  I was a little disappointed, that wasn't the plan, but oh well, can't complain, at least I'm in Hawaii:)  There are lots of things to do and see that are free or cost very little.  I'll just be happy to be there.
    If you notice the picture on the top of my blog, it's one I took last year in Hawaii.  I'm looking forward to these views again:)  I will miss my kids like crazy.  And probably feel really guilty about leaving them. Especially guilty that Mom is taking care of them, and hoping that she doesn't have any trouble.  
     Well better get busy, 3 kids are done some school, waiting on the last one.  Counters to clean, bathrooms and vacuuming!  
      

Snipits of things

Maddi and her new diapers!
Bevan, Caleb and Ben at Camp:)

Colton, Natalie and Ashley getting acquainted with Angel.

Angel loving the attention.

Cute picture of Madalyn finding paper on the floor.

We had a good 17 days in Houston. Lots of things to do. I especially like the visit to the Ranch in Francois Lake. Seeing great "family" friends. I really need more time there to get really caught up, but I'll take what I can get.

It was nice seeing my sister and her friend for a day and a half. I'm hoping she comes to visit me so we can have a longer time together.

Madalyn did her ever so famous eating every 2hrs through the night the whole 17 days. I'm so tired I can't do anything.

It was so nice to hang out with my Mom and just relax and visit.

I will be back in August! While Josh goes to the races:)

We're still Here!

Just to let you know we're still in the H-town. I was going home yesterday, but my Sis is coming on Sunday and well I decided to stay and say hi to her. So here I am. It's hot here, which is cool, I love the Summer weather. I think I like it better at my house though, we have a pool. But the sprinkler does the trick at Gramma's or we follow Papa and the Brandi dog down a weedy trail to the river. That part I don't particularly like since there was evidence of bears. But was sooo funny walking home with my Sister's little guy, who had filled his pockets with "treasure" =rocks, and couldn't keep his pants up.
I don't have any pictures of the river, because I was to busy thinking about bears!

Contradiction

This picture doesn't have anything to do with the post but it's cute:) She's in that "I can get up but I can't get down" stage. Ok I just read over my last 2 posts and realized I totally contradicted myself. In one post I say it's hard to keep this place clean like Grandma. Then in the next post I'm bored because it's too easy to keep it clean! Hahahaha, "Make up your mind would ya!" So I can't really say it's too hard, because at the moment I can't remember why I thought it was hard.

Right now I'm sipping my morning coffee, a little drowsy from having to get up at 7:30. Madalyn decided to having a morning party instead of a night one. Which was nice for last night, I took the opportunity to watch a movie, with no distractions. Had I known we'd be parting this morning I probably would have passed on the late night movie time. Oh well.

Today Grandma comes home. She's coming with my 2 nephews. Caleb and Bevan will go to camp together when Natalie gets back(day 4 and I'm surviving). Colty will stay here and play with Ash. The 2 of them have a pretty good time. They are only a year apart and now that Colton doesn't mind playing with girls they get along great! (He went through a 2 year phase where he didn't want anything to do with girls)

Today we're going to vacuum, sweep and do some dishes.

Why is it that all these things seem so much harder at my house, and there is endless things to catch up on (at my house).

TV square head

Wow, I don't think I've watched so much t.v. in my life! Well maybe when I was a teen. House sitting for my Mom has proven very laid back. It's easy to keep her house clean, cause it was clean to start with. So I putter around a little, hand out a couple chores to the kids, water the flowers, do the dishes sweep the floor. We can go for a walk, doesn't take long, Houston is small. Then there's not much else to do, so we watch tv. Well the kids get bored of that easy so they take turns playing outside and playing game cube, so it's mostly me sitting on my butt glued to the boob tube.

I've learned a lot though, since Josh took our tv out the garage 4 years ago. There are a lot of news channels, and a lot of reality shows. Don't misunderstand we do download some shows and watch them, which is another thing, there are a ton of commercials. Most of this stuff is crap! I sit here, especially after the kids are in bed, flipping channels. There is so much on and nothing to watch! I mostly like TLC, mostly cause we are living in a constant state of renovation at my house. But that soon makes me wish they'd just come to my house and finish it for me and I have to stop watching. So I flip the channel, now dissatisfied with my home and it's state.

There's neat reality show Road Trip America I think it's called. A bunch of families RVing across the US. I'd love to pack up the fam. in a motor home and trek across Canada. Yay, Josh thinks that's crazy too. But the notion is fun.

Well I better get back to that movie, something about a mother getting married and the daughter doesn't like it....blahblahblah:)

Oh ya you'll notice one child missing from our picture. Hopefully she's having a good time at camp:)

Trying to be occupied

Well Ashley and I finished painting our toenails. We're running out of things to do while Natalie is at camp and it's only day 2! Later today when the baby is awake we're going to walk down town. I know there is somewhere that sells frozen yogurt, we'll find it.

We're house sitting for Grandma and Papa right now. My Mom will be home on Tuesday. Trying to keep this place as clean as Grandma does is hard! So far my allergies are stay down so that is nice, but I haven't let the poor kitty in at all.

We have to keep our puppy Sara outside, poor thing is in heat, so there is no way I'm letting her in! At night though we put her in her kennel inside. It's good that it's so nice out, otherwise I'd feel really bad that she has to stay out there.

Oh there's the baby. Maybe I'll have time to write more tomorrow or tonight. He's a picture of Natalie going to camp, she's sitting in the back of the van with Madalyn:)

It's been awhile, but we're on the road again!

Today we're heading out. Going to Houston! Madalyn's first road trip and first time at Grandma's. I better not forget my camera! For some reason it's always forgotten. Of course the one thing I really try not to forget is the diaper bag, and yes it has been forgotten before( yikes!). I forgot how much stuff you have to take with you when you travel with babies. After Ashley turned 3 or 4 we didn't have to bring so much stuff! Oh well:)

It's going to be nice to visit the family. I haven't seen my sister since Christmas. My mom came up to Terrace at Spring break with my nephews. That was fun:)

Mom's house will be full, 4 adults, 7 kids, 3 dogs! Oh and Mom's cat:) Mom and Bob just finished reno's too, so we'll have to be careful not to destroy anything. That being said I can honestly say it never ceases to amaze me what kids can wreck! If you think anything is invincible...it isn't...trust me! And in all fairness to my other 3 children (Maddi hasn't had a chance to show us her destructive side yet), it has mostly been my oldest boy. He has a voracious curiosity about everything, and can't wait to ask you how a thing works he must take it apart immediately to discover it's mysteries. When he was 6yrs old I walk into his room to find multiple holes in the walls. I shrieked (sorry I know but I can't help it sometimes) "What are you doing!!!" The stunned child looked at me wide eyed as if this were something I should not be shocked about. "Why are you putting holes in the wall?" me trying very hard to calm down. "I wanted to see what the wall was made of"

And so it's been this way since:)

So here's hoping that when we leave Grandma's house, we leave it the way we found it:)