we were blessed with gorgeous weather for thanksgiving! once everyone arrived, the first order of business was getting those water balloons filled. that's chris, my mom in law, aunt marion, and cousins hannah and tracy. 

before the water balloon toss had even started, john and kaylee managed to get themselves soaking wet. 

good ol' gramps, looking on. 

jessica and bonnie 

um, i think john was so hungry he began to eat the table decorations! 

after dinner had settled a bit, the men played a few games of horseshoes. here, my hot hubbie shows how it's done with finesse. (my baby rocks, by the way. he always kicks butt at horseshoes) 

it took us girls FOREVER to finish our game because none of us were really good at getting any points. that's me attempting to throw my horseshoe with bonnie in the background. 

just before it got too dark outside, a ferocious game of croquet was initiated. kaylee eventually gave up trying to use her mallet to hit the ball and began to use it as a weapon! 

bad blogger

yes, i have indeed been a very bad blogger. i am now finally blogging due to harassing remarks from nearly everyone i seem to talk to. "have you blogged yet?" well now i am.

let's see...last week was thanksgiving & i had the day off. my mom in law very kindly arranged it with everyone to have thanksgiving dinner on thursday just because i couldn't make it for saturday, the day we usually get together. i was so thankful for that. josh's aunt & uncle & 3 cousins & their grandma all drove down from glendora and spent the day (and night) with us. we had a blast. josh's cousins, bonnie, hannah and tracy are really great kids and a lot of fun. it was a perfectly warm day out (not too hot) and we played horseshoes, croquet and even had a water balloon toss! of course, we ate a lot too. my cranberry sauce turned out beautifully (thanks, zandra, for the recipe!) and the dessert spread was to die for with 3 different kinds of pies, cake and cookies. i think i was full for a couple of days after that. speaking of thanksgiving food, does anyone know of a good recipe that uses leftover cranberry sauce? i have some in my fridge & don't really want to throw it away.

we had bonnie, tracy & hannah spend the night that evening & unfortunately i had to leave for work at 6am the next morning for the store's after thanksgiving sale while josh and the girls had breakfast at his parent's house. for those of you who aren't american, the day after thanksgiving is the biggest sales day of the year, kind of like our boxing day. it was a crazy, mad day, but it sure went by fast.

last night i went on a much-looked-forward to girl's night! it was me, gia, sara, zandra & j'lene. we had a delicious italian dinner at bucca di beppo, shopped for a bit & saw pride & prejudice. when we first saw the preview for it, josh made it very clear the he would NOT see that movie with me. he is adamantly against everything jane austen. i, on the other hand, adore her novels & am a huge fan of most of the movies. the bbc version of pride & prejudice is my absolute favourite & i knew that this one would have to be pretty dang good in order to compete. well, it was very good and we all walked out of the theatre wishing we had english accents and could go to balls. (though sara commented that if she could pop into the movie, she would tell them all to walk faster and make keira knightly wear a padded bra. if i could pop into the movie, all i'd want to do is dance and dance.) i got home at 10.00 and was hoping that josh would be awake so that i could cuddle with him & tell him that he is my very own mr. darcy. he wasn't awake & that was probably lucky for him as i can be a bit mushy after watching chick flicks.

today was a lovely day off. i made 2 batches of peanut brittle this morning after my mom and i had our weekly phone date. then off to sara's to have coffee cake & coffee with zandra and kelly. then i did groceries so that i can make jambalaya for josh tonight & rented a couple of videos for us. then i cleaned like crazy. why am i telling you this stuff? sorry for being boring.

oh! in case you haven't read leah d's blog, she had her little boy last sunday. brody lovell delorme. he is an absoulte doll (can you call boy babies dolls?) and you must click on her blog to see pictures. i also have a couple of cousins that have started blogs of their own, naomi and lisa. i will add them to my links list. my little sister cherie just flew from scotland to madrid yesterday with her ywam team. please be in prayer for her as she is travelling back to morocco as well. my dear mum will be missing her 2 girls again this christmas. i hope one christmas soon we can fly up to bc. it's snowing in abbotsford today! i am so jealous.

will download thanksgiving pictures now...later :)

girl's night out! J'lene, Gia, me, Sara & Zandra 

never trust a sticky note to stick & other things

oliver threw up on the kitchen floor this morning. i thanked him for not doing it on the carpet. since then, he has been walking around with a stricken look on his face as if he can't quite figure out why his body did that, and is slightly afraid that it will happen again. poor little guy. a few minutes ago i was reading aimee's blog about the dream she had, starring myself, where i got sucked into the blow hole of a whale and i was drinking tea and laughing all at once, making quite a racket. i looked down at oliver on my lap and his eyes were wide with concern. he very quietly hopped out of my lap and pretty much tip-toed out the door, looking back at me worridly every now and then. you'd think that by now he'd realize that the girl he loves most in the world is entirely crazy.

i work this afternoon, but before i leave, i must do a million and one groceries. never mind the million and one groceries i did just 2 days ago. it seems that i forgot plenty of things. like the fact that thanksgiving is exactly one week away and my mother in law has asked me to make homemade cranberry sauce. just writing that out is enough to scare me half to death. she must have seen the terror in my eyes when she asked me to make it, because she called me back later and told me that cranberry sauce from a can would be just fine. however, i feel that i can't back down now. my mother in law's last name is stewart, you know (a distant relation of martha's, i am certain) and since i now share this intimidating last name, i must rise to the challenge. homemade cranberry sauce it will be, complete with marmalade & other such frightening ingredients. i am also bringing a broccoli casserole WITH onions (hee, hee) and a chocolate caramel toffee cake that is to die for. if my cranberry sauce doesn't prove me worthy of my own last name, then i am determined that my other two contributions will. (by the way, josh detests onions, which is why i giggled. it was entirely at his expense)

okay, i have a story that is a bit old, but i forgot to blog about it when i meant to, so here it goes: a few weeks ago, i was at sara's house for our girl's tuesday morning coffee event. at this particular event were 2 girls that i didn't know very well. one was jolene, who is as sweet as can be and has the most adorable little girl you ever saw. the other one was gia, who is very kind and has absolutely gorgeous eyes. anyhow, gia heard me venting about the whole work uniform thing and told me that she may have some white shirts and black pants that no longer fit her. i gave her my number, and later on that afternoon, she called to tell me that she had TONS of old clothes that i could just HAVE if i wanted! so i got directions to her house, wrote them all down (as i am horrible at finding places without very specific directions) and we set a time to meet at her house a couple of days later. so. that day comes, and gia calls me, asking to come a little earlier because of an appointment she made. i get in my car, directions on a sticky note, stick them to the steering wheel of my car, and off i go. i was slightly nervous because 1. as i said before, i am horrible at finding places and 2. i wasn't sure how long it would take me to get there and i didn't want to make gia late for her appointment. so i am whizzing down the road and it's a warm day, so i open my window. before i could say, "imsuchanidiot" my sticky note became unstuck from my steering wheel and made a break for it...out of my window it flew! i watched it float around in the air for a bit in my rearview mirror, completely in shock, before i thought to put the brakes on. without that sticky note i had NOTHING! her phone number, address and directions to her house were all on that very important, pale yellow piece of no-longer-sticky-paper. i HAD to find it. so i backed up and pulled over onto the side of the road and got out of my car, straining my eyes for anything yellow. after a few minutes of searching, i spotted it. somehow, that all-important little paper had managed to fly headlong into an enclosed pen of peacocks! there it sat, taunting me, as birds pecked all around it. defeated, i climbed back into my car and prayed all the way to gia's house. I MADE IT!! without ANY directions! i was so proud of myself, plus i got a whole ton of very nice clothes. so that was my story. the end.

it is currently 80 degrees outside. (that's 27 degrees for my canadian readers) our air conditioning is on full blast. it is november 15th today. SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT HERE!

a wee bit of bloggage

i really cannot believe how very long it takes to catch up on reading blogs when it's been one week since i have. it takes TOO LONG! i must say, though that it has been a rather relaxing morning with only two things on my to do list before i leave for work 1. laundry 2. blog. oliver is sleeping contentedly in my lap as the rain patters against the window. it is quite chilly in this house. so chilly, in fact, that i dragged the space heater from our room and it is now beside my chair, filling the office up with warmth. now it really feels like fall. not so just a few days ago. happily, the sun was out the entire time that andy and cara and sarah were visiting! i felt a little braggish that we could still wear shorts and t-shirts, while coats and umbrellas are a necessity right now in abbotsford. it was neat seeing where i live through a new-comer's eyes. i remembered how odd all of the dinosaur-egg-rocks sitting on the hills looked to me when i first saw them. i found new appreciation for all of the exotic looking shrubs and flowers that andy kept snapping pictures of. it's a different kind of beauty down here from what i've grown up with, but i love it.

even though i had to work pretty much all day saturday, i enjoyed every moment spent with my family. sarah was a delight to get to know and both josh and i fell in love with her all over again. her smile first appeared to us after we arrived home from the airport. i picked up oliver to introduce him and sarah's face, in josh's words, "lit up the entire room". she loved chasing him around the house and burying her hands in his fur. he, on the other hand, wasn't too sure about the little giggling creature and did his best to avoid her. it was fun to just hang out with my big brother andy, talking about this and that, and "remember when's". cara amazed me with her ability to do the million little things it takes to care for a 1 year old, and yet still find time for walks and chats. when you talk to cara, she is all there, really listening. i love that about her.

sunday was lovely, aside from the fact that josh wasn't feeling too well. after church, a few of us took naps, and then had a big old lunch at nuevo grill. (that "big old" was for you, cara) we stopped at albertsons to pick up the ingredients for a vegan dish that cara wanted us to try called babaganouche. (i'm pretty sure i spelled that wrong). then, cara and sarah and i went for a little walk around our place, cara and andy had a paddle in the canoe, and we all watched the magnificent sunset. after sarah went to sleep, the 4 of us watched "finding neverland" while snacking on the babaganouche. it tasted really good, even though peanut butter was substituted for sesame seed paste.

it always takes sarah awhile to wave goodbye to someone. often, she'll wave after the door has closed and the person has vanished. so, as i drove away to work on monday morning, waving madly out of my window, it thrilled my heart so see sarah's fantastic smile and her little hand waving away just before i lost sight of her. i cried a little, but smiled while i was doing it. i sure love those folks.

first thing saturday morning, still in my pyjamas, i took sarah out on the porch to pick the strawberries that were ready to eat. 

on saturday i had to spend the day at work. however, the abrahams family, along with some of the stewarts and thompsons, all had fun at the wild animal park. here, sarah is sitting tall on her daddy's shoulders. 

oh yes, they did get to see the lions (sarah's favourite animal...well, in storybooks, anyway). 

john's scab FINALLY fell off! he is such a happy boy. 

sarah and kaylee finally got to meet. 

kaylee liked sarah so much, she decided to get right down on her level and crawl around with her! 

jessica and john 

long train rides call for constant diversions. here, cara is mimicking john's expression. 

"uncle stew, take a picture of me looking like this!" 

on sunday evening, with a beautiful sunset in the sky, andy and cara canoed around our little pond while sarah hung out with me and uncle stew took pictures. 

bath time before bed! this picture was taken just before sarah had a "bump bump" on her little head. no crying, just repeating "bump bump" over and over and rubbing her head. 

on monday morning, before it was time to leave, andy and cara went on one last hike up the surrounding hills while i watched sarah. i watered the plants while she played with empty pots. 

beautiful sarah mae, i miss you already. 

stinky

there is a putrid stench in our house. i first noticed it a couple of days ago as i was heading towards the office to check my emails. my first thought was that oliver had pooped in the bathtub again, but a quick check in the guest bathroom didn't uncover any clues as to where the smell was coming from. so i decided to ignore it. last night, after coming home from cell group, i smelled it as soon as i walked in the door. i went sniffing about the guest bathroom again, then into the office. the smell seemed to be just drifting around in the air, not coming from any source. thinking it may be coming from the air vents, i closed them. this morning i walked into the kitchen and the smell hit me like a wave...it was getting stronger! this time i went to every air vent in the house and closed it. sure enough, when i bent down to each vent, the smell oozed out, making me feel sick! josh (lucky for him) doesn't have a very good sense of smell. he couldn't smell it last night, and i doubt he'll be able to smell it unless he puts his nose to the vent. at any rate, i really really hope he finds out what it is and is able to remove it before andy and cara and sarah arrive tomorrow. in my mind, i can think of nothing worse than having guests over in a very stinky home. i have a sneaky suspicion that it's a dead rat stuck in the vent.

our david gray concert was cancelled last thursday. it seems david has come down with a very nasty stomach infection or something like that, so as far as we know, his north american tour is postponed for now, but who knows. i was SO bummed that day. josh got home from work and told me it was cancelled. being a girl, i had my whole outfit picked out and had even hot-oiled my hair for the occasion. with our plans cancelled, we felt at a loss as for what to do that day. we finally decided just to go rent a dvd. we went to 2 different places and came home empty handed...there was nothing we could agree on! the day ended up not being very nice at all. i have since gotten over it and am now giddy with excitement over getting to see a bit of my family tomorrow! the play pen is set up in the office for sarah to sleep in and the entire house has been eliminated of every dust particle i could find. now if only that smell would go away...

strawberries in november? on my front porch, it seems anything is possible.