Halloween 2020

Are the children getting too old to Trick-or-Treat?  Not according to them!

We had a pair of Hot Dogs

And a pair of Black Cats (but the kitten stayed home)

We stayed in our little neighbourhood, and there were 7 houses handing out treats.  One neighbour told us we were the first trick-or-treaters they had had in 15 years!  When we got back the kids were looking through their loot, and did quite well despite the low number of houses we had gone to.  They were also excited that for the first time ever they got to keep all the candy they had gotten!  In the past we had let them keep a certain number of treats, and whatever they didn't keep we handed out to the kids who came by our place.  However, we had ZERO trick-or-treaters, and thankfully I hadn't bought very much candy.

We were even home in time to watch some TV before bedtime!

 

Easter Egg Hunt

This year the kids really wanted to do an Easter Egg hunt.  There were a few factors that were going to make this difficult:

1. Chad gave away our Easter Eggs at the children's message last year

2. There is still about a foot of snow on the ground

3. We don't let the kids have much candy,  so I didn't want to fill a bunch of eggs with things they can't have.

So I decided instead to order some eggs from Amazon, & make a treasure hunt instead with a small prize at the end.  The eggs were all filled with the location of the next egg, but the kids had to take turns giving clues, and finding the egg.  The twist was that they were not allowed to say any of the words on the paper.  I had ordered a pack of 100 eggs, and ended up using about 75 of them.

I did have about 8 small items that I put into a few of the eggs, but as the kids found them, they'd say, "Here, mom, I don't want this." So I was glad I didn't fill every egg!  The kids really enjoyed it, and it was fun to see their wheels turning trying to think of ways to give the clue without saying the words.  I also noticed a few times they would look right at the spot as they were thinking of it.

It took about an hour for them to do the egg hunt, and since they enjoy making treasure hunts for each other I'm sure we'll get lots of use out of our new eggs.

Halloween 2017

Our church had its annual neighbourhood fun night with games, candy & prizes.

Chad was running one of the games, & the dress code was COSTUME!

So, Bowser gathered his minion, & off they went!

Then the kids got dressed & off we went for a bit of trick-or-treating around the cul-de-sac,

& then the fun night at church!

It was a pretty successful haul for the Ninja & Masquerade guest!

Some people gave them each 3 handfuls of candy!

We had way too much candy, so I told the kids they could keep all their chips & prizes they had gotten, then choose 25 pieces of candy.  After that, they switched places & chose 5 from the other person's pile.  The rest went to trick-or-treaters who came to our house, or to Chad's & my stash!  We're set for the next year!

I figured I couldn't be the only family member at the church party without a

costume, so I dressed up too!

Any guesses as to who I am?

Halloween 2016

This year the kids changed their minds about a billion times on what they wanted to dress up as for Halloween, so I decided I was not going to buy anything for their costume until they had decided for sure on what they were going to be.  That left us buying a pumpkin bucket for Chancery at 4pm on October 31, which was not the ideal time, but there was a last minute blow-out sale & we got one for less than a dollar, so I call that a win!

 Digby was easy to dress.  We just had to not book him for a haircut until after Halloween!

Isn't he the cutest Ewok you ever did see?

Asher chose to be a Ninja.

We made him nun-chucks out of toilet paper rolls & some string. 

Chancer decided on Sunday to be a black cat, & emerged from her bedroom after rest-time with this mask she had made herself!  Chad helped to cut out the eye-holes, but the rest was all her own doing.  

Here they are, good thing we went out early enough that it wasn't too dark, or I wouldn't have been able to see them!

Christmas With The Folks

Living in BC has a few perks.  One big one is that we are only 4 hours from my parents.  So, for the first time in 9 years, we got to spend the holidays together!  We headed down on Christmas day, & had a nice meal around the dining room table on china plates, & crystal, complete with wine for the adults, & sparkling cider (for me, the kids don't like sparkly drinks)!

On Boxing day we opened our gifts, & the kids were delighted about the cereal tradition that lives on!

 Who wouldn't be excited about Christmas Crunch?

 Chancery was excited about getting the entire boxed set of Roald Dahl books.  "I love these books!"

PChad got some London Tea.  It's always a bit of an experiment if the tea will be any good.  Last year I got him some really cute tins of tea & the tea in them was gross, but the tins were super cute!  Hopefully this box is good tea!

Asher opened Inside out, which we have seen a few times & is a very fitting film for our family in the midst of our transition. 

This was the highlight of the day.  Grandma opened a gift card to a restaurant & the card said, "Will you go on a date with me?"

Grandma replied, "Yes I will!"

To which Asher replied, "It's not from me!  It's from Grandpa!"

On Sunday we went to my parents church, & the new pastor there is a friend of ours from seminary.  Pastor Jacob's wife, Kami, is one of my best friends.  She & I were pregnant with our first kids at the same time, & got to spend the first year of being new moms together.  After church they came to my parents house for lunch & we spent the afternoon catching up & enjoying each others' company.  We do not get a chance to see each other very often, so it was nice to get to be together most of the day.

Monday we all headed up to an extended family Christmas celebration with cousins from near & far.  My cousin from Hawaii was visiting with her son, as well as a lot of local cousins, & we had a nice evening despite not playing a single round of Dutch Blitz.  We must be getting older!

Then Grandma & Grandpa left with Asher & Chancery to go back home, & PChad & I went back to BC.  Grandma & Grandpa had always said they wanted to spend more time with the grandkids, so we let them have them for a whole week!

The Butterfly Princess & The Robot

I realize I am nearly 2 weeks late with the kids' pictures of Halloween.  It's been a busy time.  My parents came to visit, my computer crashed, & it's been hectic around here!  Better late than never!

 Chancery wanted her wings this way, but they kept bonking her in the head, so we snapped a picture, then turned them over.

And every butterfly princess wears cowgirl boots!

Asher decided to be a robot, but he also kept asking for a sword.  We compromised on a lightsaber.  Of course a robot walking in puddles would be an issue, so he wore rubber boots.  Pretty smart, eh?

The kids had a great time trick-or-treating.  They got more candy than they needed once again, but they were willing to share with PChad & I, so everyone was happy!

Comedienne

New Years Day we went to visit Mr Harrie & Miss Geesje’s farm.  It was out of the ordinary since PChad actually got to come with us.  So, the kids showed him around the barn a bit, the calves sucked on their fingers, & we saw the cats!  I think Chancery could sit in the piles of straw petting the cats all day.

 

It was fairly cold, so after a bit we went into the house for coffee time & olliebollen, a traditional Dutch New Year’s treat.  We ended up playing Qwirkle.  The kids caught on fairly quickly & the game was afoot!

 

Chancery was looking at her tiles, then said, “Do you know why the starburst got out of the game?”

 

Miss Geesje: “No, why did it?”

 

Chancery: “Because it had the most points!”

 

I’m not sure if Chancery understood the double meaning & why her joke worked, especially since she followed it up with several jokes that did not work, hoping for the same reaction from us, but we were quite impressed with her joke!

Halloween!

It was a warm & rainy Halloween night, but the kids braved the elements & went around the neighbourhood.  They collected quite a stash of candy, chips, & even a few cans of soda!  The kids didn’t even need to be told that it was time to head home, they decided they were done & came in on their own accord!  Asher had his costume stripped off within seconds of coming through the front door.

 

Here’s our brood:

Alexa was a witch, Yumi paid tribute to PEI & went as Anne of Green Gables, Asher was a Giraffe, & Chancery was a friendly Lion!

Halloweeeeeen!

This year, our house was a zoo.  We had a panda bear & a giraffe wandering all about the house.

  We also upped the activities to include a gourd carving…

The kids had a great time trick-or-treating, & even though PChad didn’t take them out for very long due to time constraints, & the chilly weather, they got more than enough candy to last us the year!

Costume Time!

Saturday we went to a friend’s house for a costume party.  Since Halloween fell on a Sunday it just wasn’t going to work for us to take the kids trick or treating this year, so we figured it would be a good opportunity to let the kids dress up, do some fun activities, & of course, get a little candy!

Asher was a knight that was riding a dragon.

And Chancery was a zebra.  She wasn’t too crazy about the hood, but she was quite pleased when she noticed that she had a tail!

I was just glad I had some costumes in the dress-up box that fit them, but I’m afraid next year I may have to get new ones!

A Day At The Races

Yesterday was PChad’s birthday (he turned THIRTY!!!), so we decided to celebrate by going to the annual Demolition Derby in Oyster Bed.  Since it’d been ingrained into us that when you go somewhere you arrive early, we were at the racetrack 1/2 an hour before things got started.

Lucky for us, it was audience appreciation day, so they were giving the kids rides in the race cars.  Chancery told me afterwards, “I helped the driver drive the car.”

Asher took rides in 3 different cars…

…he then gave me the lowdown on how many times he went around the track in each car.

The kids started off excited…

…but the lack of naps soon caught up with them.

Asher discovered that he could see people under the bleachers, so he spent the bulk of the afternoon saying “hello” to anyone who would listen.

And of course, it looked like fun, so Chancery had to join in too.

We had a great time.  I was a bit surprised that the kids did so well (don’t get me wrong, they weren’t angels) seeing as we were there for over 4 hours.  My only complaint was that the demolition derby part was so short.  When I’ve been to them before, the entire afternoon is different heats of the demolition with different cars; yesterday was a day of stock car races with a 15 minute crash up derby at then end.  But it was a fun way to spend our last weekend of summer.

Back To Canada

After we visited my Dad’s side of the family, we were off to see part of my Mom’s family who live on Vancouver Island.

We started off with a breakfast seating arrangement that I think all parties enjoyed.

And we were joined by Scott & Rachel, friends from Iowa who just happened to be out visiting THEIR family in Washington.  They conned the hotel staff into giving them free breakfast even though they weren’t hotel guests.

Then it was time for some more picture taking before Kurt & Sharon headed off to see her side of the family whilst we carried on to Vancouver Island.

And we took another ferry (which delighted Asher)

Once we made it to my Aunt Joyce & Uncle Winson’s house the rest of their clan started trickling in & Chancery was in heaven each time she found another pair of shoes to try on.

The next day was Canada Day, so we

all went to watch the parade.

It was the perfect length to keep the

little ones entertained throughout.

My Cousin Laura's boys, Dale & Grant were kind enough to take Asher under their wing, & teach him all the fine points of candy collecting, & even managed to persuade him not to eat any during the parade, but to save it until the end (a feat in itself!)

While the children napped, there was just enough time for a quick paddle in the kayak before it was time to head home again.

Holiday, Brand New Park… Does it Get Any Better Than This?

Last Monday was a holiday, & PChad decided to take the day off!  We started with a special breakfast, then headed off to a park that I’d been wanting to visit for awhile, but hadn’t gotten around to yet.

 

It’s the perfect park for kids our age, since it’s totally fenced, and there are LOTS of play structures (so no fighting over territories), which are geared towards younger kids.

 

Even more enjoyable, the park was empty of other kids, so it was really easy to supervise!

We really enjoyed the down time, & having Daddy around made it even better!

 

 

The weather was beautiful, and after being cooped up in the house all winter & spring, the kids had a great time.  I think we’ll definitely be back many more times over the course of the summer!