On our treehouse day adventure...do you want to giggle Sarah?

Camp has a couple of treehouses for campers to stay overnight in. Sarah and I took the jogging stroller down the path (just fit - yeah!) and checked them out. It was cool to discover a walk we could do...neat place to check out. Read a psalm and Sarah looked at stickers in the treehouse. Nice.

Platz time...put the fruit in one by one.

Guest room curtains. We have a double bed and a single bed in the guest room. Come try it out!

Tickle the furry gorilla while wearing my new fishing hat from Grandma K...in the guest room.

Potato stamp flower time.

In action painting.

Let's make Mother's Day cards day. First painting experience. The only brush I had was this really fine watercolor one :)

Love you Grandad and Grandma A.

Happy threesome.

Path to the lake walking with Cherie, Grandma and Sarah the morning they left.

Andy and his youngest sister, Cherie. She's off to Scotland YWAM again after the May long weekend. Good to have you out Cherie!

I think it was Grandma who told Sarah to feel Grandad's hair (or "Where's Grandad's hair?"). She can give a good head massage :)

The view from a hike Andy and his Dad took. This is 'our' lake, you can see the little 'bay' (is it called) where the camp is with the blue boathouse.

Baking Applesauce Raisin cookies for when the Abraham's visited. Complete with walnuts from their tree.

Our backyard...one morning last week it snowed. We played Christmas music. By afternoon all had melted and it was warm and sunny.

more ranchland reflections :)

What is in your pocket? A clothespin. (just a weird interesting intro sentence).
Well, our time (less than 24 hours) with the Abrahams and Cherie (an Abrahams also) was wonderful. They came ladden with gifts (rhubarb, clothesline, brownies etc.) and helped with stuff (pulled weeds, collected trash around our house) and most importantly visited with us and Sarah. We had a fire with bannock in the evening after our soup and 2 salad meal. Camp had leftover veggies from the last rental group that really came in handy. :) The curtains turned out pretty well. I made one too short, but alas hurray it fit Sarah's window. Speaking of Sarah, she had a crazy night (me too, then) last night...not sleeping more than 2.5 hrs in a row...We had a little snack in the middle of the night (she asked for it), books, lots of nursing...some tylenol, I think it's the back two molars she may be getting. So, today we took it easier. I tend to do crafts with her when I'm tired...hm. We did some painting and potato stamping. Had a nice time out in our front yard with a snack of oatmeal and coloring/writing in the afternoon. It rained slightly this morn. so it was very fresh and nice with the sun coming down. Andy mowed all the lawns at camp today. Made some rhubarb sauce with cane sugar and honey today (yum). Thought I had more, maybe it'll come. Hm. Enjoying (it's sad though) 'Angela's Ashes' for reading right now. - Frank McCourt. Sarah 'helped' Andy plant our potatoes last night in the bed Andy dug up while I did dishes and listened (loudly) to Narnia - I think it was the Silver Chair. Oh, Mom A, I planted the violas and one was wiltly when it went in, but this morning it's all perky again. They look great. I think these are the first real flowers I've planted. Can you give me instructions on the marigold again (when to go out etc.)?
I have this problem with cracks in my thumbs and sometimes pointer fingers. It's from dry skin, but I've had these open cracks that will not heal for about 2 weeks. I keep them covered with a bandaid and have been putting vitamin E on them. I think I'll pick up some finger condoms (weird sounding I know) for when I bake/put away dishes/do anything 'clean', because I'm always thinking, "aw, that bandaid has got to be dirty from when I changed Sarah etc.). Speaking of that, she's been doing more potty trips etc. Today she was wandering around diaperless playing and I noticed her keep making trips to the toliet and the one time she pooped. There was also a small spot of pee on the carpet. Well, I should probably head to bed so I collect some good sleep because I didn't like how I get short-I-wouldn't-say-tempered When I'm operating under compromised conditions. Prayed for supernatural energy today which I totally experienced - thank you God.
Please pray for me with regards to when/how much to get invovled with camp. Been thinking about this lately. Andy had a good perspective about us being the only married people on staff (him) and these single people may not really know exactly what life is like for us (and having a family). Ah, this comes out of a meeting with Carol, the director, where she said the ball is in my court as to when/if/how much I want to be involved, cause she said something about thinking I would get bored. I'm sure not yet...I always find there is tons to do - canning beans, washing dishes,laundry (hang it on the line season), PLAY with Sarah, bake, cook, clean, be active, sleep, pay bills...you know, talk with my husband. I think we'll have people over soon, and they'll get more of a picture of what our life is like and get to know us more.
Also, I've found lately that I can get annoyed at Sarah and wish she'd do something faster or stop being goofy at night when I'm putting her to sleep so I can get her to bed and have time alone...I don't want to spend as much time wishing she'd be doing something else. I'd like to enjoy the moment more. On that note, we had a good daytime goofy session with silly faces and laughter today and she loved when I was grinding rice in the coffee grinder and making funny faces and shaking the machine at the same time :) Her language is exploding by the way...she says so much (halves of words mostly). 'Flower' is a cute one. And did I ever say her name for Dad is "Gaw." Mine is Mama. "Da Da" or "Da Dat" means "What's that?" Looking forward to May long weekend vacation with my Dad's extended side of the family - but Andy can't come cause we have a guest group here. Awh. Ok, realy now, goodnight.
Any recommends on discipline books for toddlers (and older) from a Christian perspective (Mom K, I know you prob. have a list)?

from the ranch :)

Why hello. We are preparing for a visit from Andy's parents and sister Cherie. Very exciting. It snowed this morning. Crazy. It was beautiful huge flakes and very Christmassy...woke up to Cmas music Andy had plugged in while he let me rest longer and he watched Sarah. There are two more staff members at camp now. Brandon and Karla who are leading the Leadership Trainnig Program. Had another rental group in this weekend so it was nice to have meals with others. Andy put in some long days and has been reading lots to in preparation for a Hiking Guide course he's taking in June - lots of pre-course work. He's finding out fasinating stuff - for example about this species of frogs that freezes solid over the winter (think it's only 4 months of the year they are actually 'alive') and thaws in summer and are fully alive. Crazy. He brusied his knee pretty bad yesterday so please pray that he recovers fully and well as it's given him a bit of a limp. He's doing quite well from yesterday though.
He and Sarah went fishing in the rowboat today. Sarah had a rod (stick with line and worm attached) that she let go of once a fish bit...pretty much sure that's what happened. The rod bounced away in the water :) She came back kinda cold (opps, she'd been sitting in water in the bottom of the boat, Andy didn't notice till the end) and I nursed her to sleep (had skipped her nap) and we rested together for a cozy hour before dinner. That was lovely. I read. Ok, talk to you later. Off to finish curtains :)

More wet sand...also found a snail earlier.

Father-daughter hands-on lake exploration.

Can your show me what's in your hand Sarah?

Sand in the lake - hurray.

View of camp from the cross.

We found some 'new to us' clothes in our box. This shirt reminds me of Keela. My hair is growing eh?, says Sarah.

Playing at the field at camp. Found a patch of sand to stick pinecones in. This was yesterday.

Our front garden...and Sarah on the steps with rocks. I may or may not do something with this. Maybe even just dig it up and put some rocks and a *few* easy plants in (it's north facing). Abrahams, up for helping dig on your visit? That's a rowing machine on our front porch, will be moved soon. :)

Zach asked me to take this one of him making a snake, I think it was.

Last Sat. we went to Kelowna to get some 'big-store' groceries and see the Harnetts. It was a lovely and refreshing visit...great after a crazy couple hours in the big city. I ran into someone with my shopping cart at Superstore - so busy - trying to accquaint myself with a new store - almost cried.

Morning seed watering. Andy and Sarah started a plethora of vegetables.

I was just going to hike up to the Pines (thought it'd take 20 min), but I was there in 10 min., so I thought I'd keep going. The hike to the cross is suppossed to take 45 min., but my round trip was complete in an hour (running on the way down, to go put Sarah to bed...be home when I said I would). It was a great trip. This is the cross and the lake in the background...lower right orange blob is another neighbor who lives on the lake. The access to their house (summer) is through camp.

The view from camp after a 10 min. hike to the "Twin Pines" - but one Pine is actually down now, so there's just one. The strip of buildings is 'main street.' You can also see the highway and our neighbors across the 'street.' The strip of dead grass in the 'just above middle' of the picture is what was irrigated last summer. Part of the agreement for the camp is having/purchasing this land is that some of it remain irrigated as it is part of the Agricultural Land Reserve. Andy will be involved in that project...they'll pick a different swath of ground this season, he said.

The waterfront...see the lean-to off the side of the boathouse recently constructed on the work day.

On the way back from my bike ride, heading back to Laird Lake, the lake the camp is on.

The dock at "Dry Lake."

I went for a bike ride to the next lake down the highway - Dry Lake...see if you can tell why by the next pic.

More secure spot for Sarah...on the blanket. We've done this bannock roasting now about 4 times. So relaxing.

Mesmirized (sp?) by her first fire (I think it was). This is before she tipped over in the lawn chair (opps).

Our first fire in the backyard with the fixin's for bannock in the foreground. I think Andy is explaining that a fire is hot.