A Chair to Knead Bread

It was Layne's day to make challah.

But the whole wheat is a bit hard on the processors motor sometimes, so we have to use the arm muscles.

But when the counter is too high, or you are just a tad too short, you can't get the power you need to knead that dough.

Thus, call in the chair for support!

She needs a stool to blow out the candles on the mantlepiece, too!!

Moving Things

Ramps

Skids

 Rollers

The children having fun using 'machines' to move a stack of books around the living room.

Easy science.

Wish housework was as easy & fun.

And,I don't think these will aid Layne 

whose decided to move 'home' with her family later this week.

Two years living on the Mainland is ending.

She wants to be close to Victoria, 

a beautiful city she adores

and hopes to capture the architecture in photos.

We'll be happy to have her with us.

Valentine's Day at Our House

(Not at all as you would likely expect.)

Today was Everette's and my 25th Wedding Anniversary.  (We don't recommend getting married on Valentine's day.  We'd marry each other over again, but we wouldn't choose Valentine's Day to do it.  But that's beside the point.)

We spent yesterday together in Victoria, window-shopping, checking out new art supply stores, having lunch, taking in Tea-tasting at Silk Road, buying our family a tea set. ( Tea is our new education.  We never liked 'tea' until last month when we actually tried the Real McCoy, and now we are tea drinkers.  So it was a treat to spend more than an hour tasting and smelling and learning about tea yesterday. Then when we returned home we sipped and sampled tea with the children on the living room floor, sitting around flickering candles. )

Today we spent our actual anniversary here at home with our children.  A quiet, lazy day of togetherness.  Sharing, playing, creating, dancing, eating, working together.  A lovely family day.  And I gave my Valentine a surprise.

I must admit, I gave myself a bit of a surprise too.

After 25 years & 14 pregnancies (includes losses which still put weight on me!)

I'm up 14 pounds and still fit in the dress!  

I think that's pretty darn Good!!

 The satin needs a good ironing job, but this was impromptu so it didn't get done, and got shoved back in a sack in storage afterwards, so what would be the point.  Besides, I'm allergic to ironing!

To say that the children enjoyed seeing mommy in her wedding dress is to make an understatement.  Over and over again the younger girls pampered me, fixing my train, dancing around me, wishing they could be my Flower Girls.  They were so delighted.

Tonight we spent the evening trying to figure out our Jive steps for dance class.  And we got Layne and Mitchell learning some steps, too.  There was laughter, and some bouncing like bunnies instead of stepping like dancers, but it was all so enjoyable.

And then there was the cuddles with the children as we watched documentaries and a Tinker-bell movie.

We ended it with lighting sparklers on the back patio, sending light into the darkness.  I hope that our Love gives some light into the darkness.

Being together, its been an absolutely enjoyable Valentine's Day, and a great celebration of our commitment to One Another.  Here's to another 25 years.

A Sweet End & a New Beginning

We had the privilege of having my eldest brother and his son spend a few days with us, along with our own dd Layne, and last night we were joined Momentarily (1 sleep) with Rauchelle.  But it was a sweet way to spend part of the last of 2010 with some of those that we love.

And tonight was Shabbat so we celebrated with a Special Meal.

A wonderful way to go into the New Year of 2011.

New Years Apple Challah

(Toveli's Request)

Blessings to all of you,

and all the best for you and your loved ones

in the New Year.

(DPP) Tumble

Underneath there is the oldest sister, lovingly attacked by the 2 little brothers.  

Lots of fun and alot of noise.

(DPP) Santa's Early Elf

I suppose I should say "Elves", the two workers who collected and delivered stickers, and tape, and purses & nailpolish (for the girls), and swords (for the boys, of course), and chocolate bars or Smarties for everybody (amongst other stuffs).

Thankfully, much of it was consumable.

Crazy Day for a Party

We had it all planned out.

Saturday we would meet Rauchelle in Nanaimo and pick Layne up at the Duke Point ferry.  We'd go for lunch and spend some family time celebrating Layne's birthday which was actually the day before (Friday).  Then Chelle would return to O's where she lives, and we'd take Layne home with us for the weekend.

Then we made the Birthday call to Layner Friday morning and sang "Happy Birthday" to her.  She announced that what she had planned for the afternoon had fallen through so now she was free and could come over today (Friday, her actual birthday).  So with some quick phone calls we changed plans for the day. 

Instead of a fairly quiet day at home preparing for Shabbat (bake bread, vacuum house and clean bathrooms) we whipped into action, got the bread rising, baked a cheesecake, did the house work, made a bed up (on the floor) for Layne, packed changes of clothes for the little guys, ate quick lunch and hit the road by 1 pm to pick Layne up at Duke Point 22 hours ahead of our original schedule ;)  and proceeded to travel up to O's for the One-Day-Late American Thanksgiving Dinner intended for an American who had to cancel coming and which turned out to be a Birthday Dinner for Layne instead!!  With fresh challah that rose beautifully in spite of getting a few chills en route, and an Oreo Cheesecake Danaka baked before leaving home, and an awesome meal put on by Lisa and Rauchelle.  It was a huge Success.

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAYNE!!

Musical Pillows

When you don't have chairs

but you want to have a Fun Family Night

what do you do?

 

Pull out the stack of Pillows

Plug in the music, and.....

Play Musical Pillows

 Layne danced her way around the pillows, and amazingly was one of the last players still in at the end of each round!!

 We all had a hoot, and it was a great way to end our week with Layne, having so much fun!

                           And what do you do if your sister Maret gets the final pillow?????

                                         ATTACK!!!

Thumbs Up for the House

wWe are moving to Sooke!

I heard from the landlady today and its all set for sometime next week.  Depending on how much cleaning and any fixing up she might have to do this upcoming weekend after the current tenant moves out, we will be residents in Sooke no later than Oct 1st.

Of course we are all excited.  Envisioning ourselves resident in the house isn't as cool as actually physically being there, but we'll practice patience for just another week!

Everette is excited to get his Victoria-area business going, and we'll all be working on our New Normal~ New Schedules.  So many routines get put on hold when you live in transition, and especially while we are staying with friends.  There are so many people to spend time with, more activities to do, less space, stuff unpacked, etc., so much goes by the wayside.  But in 2 weeks from now our family will be tweaking out how we want things done in our new house, and where we should store everything.  I love doing that.  And its a good thing, since Everette and I have had more than our share of moves.

Like I've mentioned before, I am excited to see what living a Minimalist lifestyle will look like for us at our new house.  It has much more floor space than I think we need, and a garage that doesn't fit our 15-passenger van and we don't own stuff to store in there (hallelujah!).  At present we don't even own couches or any living room furniture, and no kitchen table or chairs, or bar stools for the kitchen island.  So it will be sparse..... and lovely!!

And lots of places to store our books probably.  Books and games.  And we'll be setting up our infra-red sauna there too.  Everette's excited about that.

There are 2 bedrooms upstairs (besides the master bedroom) perfect for making a Boy's Room and a Girl's Room.  The obvious arrangement would be for the girls to take the pink room, and the boys get the girls room.  But those of you who know Maret know that she's going to be sleeping in the Boy's Room!!

That's it for the news about the house for now.  I can post pics when we get moved in.

Danica (she likes that spelling better than Danaka) and I had a good weekend in Vancouver area.  She joined me along with my Mom and Layne at a free event with Amega Global on Friday night, and then I spent Saturday at a training day while the 3 ladies shopped at Value Village and then Danica and Layne hit the White Rock beach for awhile.

Us girls stayed up way past my bedtime chatting which was enjoyable, and I got to sleep in Sunday morning and awoke to yummy smelling  (but absolutely not healthy) crepes suzettes made by mom.  Then Layne and I watched 'The Living Matrix' which was a fascinating documentary we had to keep pausing so we could discuss it.  Its all about energy fields, particularly about zero point energy field, and the amazing creation and functioning of our bodies.

The best part about going away is the coming home.  It's true.  I was a proud mama to find Everette brought 5 of the children to the ferry to pick D and I up.  The hugs and kisses are always so precious.  And I have such a handsome man to greet me.

I am Blessed.

More Update?.....I have a new site I'm building and will be moving some of my applicable posts from here over to there.  It's at www.crunchyminimalist.com but you'll have to give me a few days to get something up!  It's extremely minimalist (blank) at the present time (hehehe).

Much on my plate, actually.  Everette and I decided to enroll 4 of the girls for distance schooling. They are in practicality still homeschooled as they won't be attending a day school in a building, but this year we will be meeting goals of the ministry of education and being answerable to them with weekly contact and some portfolios throughout the year.  It will be more structured than we are used to, but I know that all of us can rise to the occasion, and in a weird sense I am looking forward to some accountability, not because I believe I need to answer to others about the successes/failures of my children (I do that before God) but because knowing that someone else is checking up on me might just be what I need to pull up my socks and do more of what I actually say/think I want to be doing.  I'm sure you all know how easy it is to procrastinate.  Easy as pie!!

Danica and Maret are both planning to take some online courses, and the rest will be facilitated by Yours Truly.

For the Love of Layne

She graced us with her presence this week

but she had to leave today

for a bachelorette party

--the weekend at Whistler.

What fun!



We enjoyed the time she spent with us

watching movies

drinking tea and Krakus

looking for rentals in Victoria

snuggling

talking about beliefs.

Her smile warms my heart.

Hanging with the Fam

Rauchelle had a couple days off from work so she was able to spend 3 days and nights with us here at my mom's condo.  And it just so happened that Layne also had 3 days off, overlapping Chelle's, so she was able to come back out here from UBC to spend her time off with the family.  We always LOVE it when we can have all the family together in one place.

We didn't keep overly busy at all.  Actually, very low keyed.  Played some games, watched some movies, had tea together, played with each other's hair, got/gave foot massages, had some Spanish lessons, went for walks, picked berries, all those lovely interacting things to do with those you care about.  And we ate, and cried, and shared our thoughts and love. 

It's been great.

So here's just a few pics (I forgot the camera!!) from the past few days.

Granville Island

This afternoon we drove out to UBC to pick up Layne after her

morning of teaching ESL and we headed to Granville Island.  We found an organic grocer there at the Public Market and stocked up on Pink Lady's, nectarines, strawberries, cherry tomatoes and pears and sat outside by the marina in the sunshine and devoured our nutritious lunch. (Later followed by not-nutritious apple-fritters and a humungous raspberry bran muffin).

 We wandered thru the stores a bit, especially over at the Kid's Market where the Toy Store is, and listened to the Bucksters outside of Bridges and the Bakery.  I didn't see the magician but much of the family did, and from the crowd that gathered it was a sensational show.

We found another park for the children to play at for a couple hours in the city as we enjoyed some short snoozes and chatter before driving Layne back to her temporary abode and an evening for her of getting paid to watch a movie with the ESL students! 

Arrival in Vancouver

Always a happy guy playing on the ferry.

Driving thru downtown Vancouver we saw them filming for "NYPD".

We picked up Layne at Broadway and Granville, then drove to Point Grey to pick up some supper and some green grass to have a picnic on.  

 Beautiful big old trees lining the streets.  So quaint.

Laars is Three Today

He smiles as we sing "Happy Birthday To You" while we drive to Long Beach for the day.

It was cold when we arrived, or so we thought.  It was good to have some of our heavier coats along.  But it didn't take long to throw them off.

First duty was to eat, all huddled together.  We had a few children we needed to teach etiquette when surrounded by sand, like
~ don't shake your towel near where people are eating their food
~don't step over the eating area

But you can cover yourself up with sand, away from where the adults congregate.
And you can pretend you are a turtle digging a hole to lay your eggs.

And be thankful you have a kind sister to rub the wet sand off with dry sand.  Somebody is smart!

Thanks, Tov.

Lots of sun-bleached logs for building a shelter.  When it started to drizzle it was a good place to tuck some of our clothes and towels.

Everette invited me for a walk down the beach together, but the littles invited themselves along, and I got this cute huddle of the guys.

We drove up to Radar Hill for some Rock Climbing

some nice views

some sisterly attention & instructions

and a futile wait for some water to boil in a kettle we just bought today that Everette used an adapter for.  We need a different adapter to use for further travel.

Home for a hot bath, and a late movie since the children slept on the windy road, and it was a successful family day at Long Beach.  Laars was happy even without a cake.  We actually had over-baked organic brownies that were more like a tasty brownie biscotti.  Yummy!