Sat. family hike day

We went on a hike last Saturday...down to the Kettle Valley railway, just out of town. We saw fresh bear poop (very exciting, as I've wanted to see a bear this spring) so turned around from our desired destination. The black 'lump' in the bushes didn't move and it wasn't a bear. We continued back to the river and had lunch there. Warmed up chili and had apples and these ginger molasses cookies with real fresh ginger and maple syrup in them. Andy also brought delicious chai tea in a thermos. Sarah rode some in a big backpack for carrying kids hiking and hiked a bunch too. She liked that the hiking pole got small for her. We played with sticks and made a house out of them and all walked through the tunnel on the way back making different animal sounds - she wasn't scared of how dark it got in the middle either, just commented on the fact that it was dark.
Sun. was a potluck at church and Bible study at night. A new couple was there which is neat. Oh, and Fri. we had people to our house for dinner too. That was very nice.
We just came back last night from the Tulahead Annual Fundraiser in Whiterock Thurs. night. More about that in the camp blog sometime.
We also got chicks last Wed. Very exciting. They are growing so much already.
I've been quite tired again, but am excited about the following hour because Sarah is at the garden with Andy and I get to sleep. Yeah!

More deck happiness

We have this closeup of S. on our screensaver. Sarah and Daddy have a close moment.

Deckness

Yahoo, Andy has completed our deck railing. Here is a pic of him starting it (can kind of see the deck with no rails in the back and Andy and Sarah enjoying the finished product. Sorry about the underlining.

Everest and Woody

Hello. This is a family shot from the other day. I call this our 'Everest' shot. It really was quite warm, but Sarah wanted to where her balaclava.
Also Sarah with "Woody." She named him Woody because his mouth is made out of wood. Cool eh?

car fixed!

Hi, we have our car back. Went our for Greek food last night - good place for Sarah as she loves olives...feta is too strong for her though. She put some in her mouth and stopped cold - didn't know what to do. We said she could spit it out. She's 'pro' at using public washrooms. Today we aren't skiing...errand day. It's prob. raining at the ski hill and we don't want to drive the newly fixed car so far just yet.
I'm having trouble sleeping again. Going to try and get more aerobic excercise in so my body will be tired enough and I'll have to sleep!

babysitting and 'church'

Note from Sat.: The pics are now loaded. Disregard not below :) Note: Two of the pics I tried to load have disappeared (they are described below). Please wait for these another day. I wake up every morning and try to get the loading of pics happening before 9 am which is when we start paying for internet.
Sarah told me she was babysitting one evening. This is where she was set up at the couch with Isabelle and the blanket. Isabelle had some toys as well beside her I think.
Sun. we were not able to go to church so we did our home church service with some songs, a Walter Wangerin story (love those), and coloring during stories. Love Sarah's new diaperless profile. Then we went for a family walk to see Clucky, the rooster in the barn. The past few Sun's we've been going outside together for a while - it's been nice.
Car still not ready. On Tues. it will be 3 weeks. Yikes. We are praying we are not getting royally ripped off and that the repair job they are doing is quality. It just seems so weird for them to have it for so long and not hear from the shop when a proposed time when they thought it would be done has gone past.
If the car is done today the plan is to go skiing with some people from church tomorrow. If it's not done we'll do errands in town and the library tomorrow. Also the movie store called and said they would waive our late charge if we came and rented a movie. Nice. Customer appreciation weekend. :) Watched a bit of Shrek last night. Sarah no nap yesterday - whoa - so we were guarenteed a quick bedtime.
Fresh snow again this morn. Andy is almost finished our deck. The rails are all up. We were on it for the first time yesterday. So exciting. We'll need an umbrella for summer and then we are all set. Bye for now.

fort and seeds

Pics - us enjoying the fort one sunny day. Andy using his homemade soil block maker to make blocks of soil to put seeds into. The idea is that you don't have to cut the soil and roots etc. because there is a space inbetween the blocks of soil and the roots won't 'jump' over the space to attach into the other soil, so the seedlings will be ready to pick up and plant outdoors when it's time. He learned about soil block makers in "The New Organic Grower" by Eliot Coleman.
Sarah and Andy planting celery seed. I got to help too.

Into town again yest. in the truck. Car still not ready. Got to go to the Chiropractor (yeah!) - arms been sore again - and a bit of groceries and also Andy did errands.
Cute Sarah moment: She wanted to do something specific and I said, "I need to hang these diapers first," to which she says, "Would you like some help Mommy?" "Yes, I would love some help Sarah. Thanks for asking."

Tues. Tues. Fri. Mon.

Hi Hi! Our car is not ready yet. We brought it in on a Tues. and they said it’d be ready early the next week. Found out the next Tues. it’d probably be ready Fri., which was yesterday. Then they are still waiting for a part to come in (bolts? I think) and it’ll arrive Mon. when they think the car will be done. They had to send a part of our car to Kamloops as well apparently. So, it seems we are dealing with small-town long wait car repair stuff, cause we have to wait for parts and shipping things here and there.
Life with Sarah has been fun lately...we are talking all the time. Andy says he notices that I don't have so much need to talk to him (difference between men and women, women need to talk more and he is my main adult around her to converse with) at the end of the day because I've been talking all day with Sarah. She is asking why? about everything which can be crazy. We are having fun with the sun and sugar snow (consistancy is like), making balls of snow, throwing them in buckets and splashing in puddles. We even made our first sand castle of the season and Sarah flattened 'for the campers' so they wouldn't trip on it. We are talking about the changing seasons and talk about summer some 'when the campers come.' and Sarah made a 'snowlady' today out of balls I made for her. Sarah wears Andy's sunglasses with a 'sunglasses keeper' to keep them on her head. We lost her $6 MEC ones somewhere along the way. The glare from the snow is so bright.
Went into town on a garbage/errand/work trip with the truck yesterday. That was nice to go for a drive. Library trip was too short (we were rushing) and we didn't get too many good books for Sarah. She really enjoyed "Does a pig flush" (don't remember author) and "Trucks Trucks Trucks" by Peter Sis. The later she could 'read' on her own - each page has a different truck and she memorized what they were doing "Digging", "Hauling", "Lifting." Very cool. Also, "Never Too Little to Love" was a fun one. That would be a good one for reading in the library on Valentines Day Mom A.
Sarah is wearing the binoculars we made one day with a soft fleece cord to hold them around her neck.
It's been a week since Sarah has been in underwear. It all started with this bad rash she had gotten and I didn't want to put a diaper on her for a while so it would heal. We are just doing diapers for naps and sleepy time now and the last 2 or 3 (prob. just 2) days there have been no accidents. We made a book to - our first publication, called "My Toliet Book" featuring toliets from the Sears catalogue and words about different toliets in different places, about her growing up and wearing underwear. That was fun to make. We are enjoying the old movie "Maverik" that Andy found down at camp - featuring Mel Gibson.
Sarah's been enjoying singing lately and will pick up any simple song I sing. Time to learn some good simple ones of value that will stick in her head (no more "pop goes the weasel") - I do not understand that song, anyone else?
Andy and Sarah and I planted celery seeds inside today. Andy used his soil block maker and it works great! There's a new entry on camp's blog too. Me and mainstreet below and Sarah and part of the backyard.

This is us yesterday

a bit more, pics

Yeah, yeah, the pictures I wanted to post yest. worked today. So, you see Sarah working on putting screws in a board with holes (which form a cat picture) that Andy made for her to ‘pass the time’ while he hangs out with her in the shop sometimes. Then, a reading time we had with ‘all the family’ I think is what Sarah said. Also, there is a picture of some hats Sarah and I made for ‘Roar’ the Lion and the donkey (it’s a bonnet and it’s hard to see).
We had a really good time of painting last night. I had a blast mixing up colors and painting a scene.
We’ve been marooned since Tues. when we brought our car into the shop. It was leaking antifreeze and needs the head gasket replaced, so they needed to keep it. So, we missed care group last week (but did make it to church in the morning and the potluck after church – people were very welcoming as we’ve been gone awhile) and will miss church and care group again this week. It’s kinda simplified life, not even having the option to go to town. We do have the camp truck we can use for emergencies, though.