Of Wisdom Teeth and Kids

I am one of the few adults I know that still has all of their wisdom teeth.  I remember being happy that my dentist had never mentioned getting them removed as all my friends took turns coming to school with cheeks much chubbier than mine (for once!).  Right now I'm wishing that I had taken a turn with them as I have been suffering with one terrible wisdom tooth all week!  In my suffering I may have also been doing a bit of whining because the kids have noticed. 

Sam:  Why does your mouth hurt Mom?
Me:  Well, I have these things called wisdom teeth...
Sam:  (with a sly grin) Oh you mean like "The wisdom from above is first of all pure, it is also peace-loving, gentle at all times and willing to yield to others.  It is full of mercy and good deeds and shows no favortism."?
Me:  No, it is actually not like that at all!  (although I'm pretty proud at how well he pulled up his latest memory verse!)

The next day Sweet Maarti turned to me and out of the blue said "Well if your mouth hurts then we need to pray about it."  She then put her hand on my cheek and prayed "Dear Jesus, thank you for Mommy's mouth to not hurt.  Amen." 

Two different approaches - both made my heart smile.

So Much to Catch Up On....

Wow!...I was going through my pictures and I have a lot to catch up to do on here!!

In a nutshell:

We celebrated Father's Day.  Sam made Jeremy a monster cookie at school.  The kids were so kind and offered to help Jeremy eat it since it was so big. 

We also went to a car show in the rain.  There were fewer cars than usual, but Jeremy was still happy to wander around looking at everything. 

The school year ended (that sure went by fast!)  Sam gave his teacher a final fist pound and he was outta there!

Right after school ended we headed to Enderby for a week... and what a packed week it was!!  Of course we had to take part in the Canada Day celebrations!  Here is a picture of Papa and "His Girl", Maarti, in the parade.

Luke met Granny for the first time.  He is 8 months and she is nearly 94!  She was really taken with him and this is one of my favorite pictures from our whole holiday:

Ever since we watched our friends compete in a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament Sam has been talking about wanting to do Jiu Jitsu.  Since we were in the area our friends invited him to attend a kids class.  Sam had a ball!  It was pretty fun to watch him.

Both the kids were in swimming lessons with their cousins and both did very well... wish we were there for another week of swimming because they were getting more and more confident in the water each day.

Sam learned how to ride a bike!!  Ironically, he started on July 4th... Independence Day!  He's a little over-confident for my liking!  Slow down there, Sam!

We ate a lot of ice cream!  Believe it or not Enderby has the best little ice cream shop!   There are about 60 different flavors to choose from!  Papa and Grandma gave us a punch card for our anniversary so we could make several trips during our week there.  Yum!

Luke wasn't so much into the ice cream, but he was supper excited about Papa and Grandma's toy bus!  He played with it for a good long time!

We are home now and loving summer here too.  On Sunday we heard that Clayburn Village was celebrating 100 years so we went to check it out.  The kids had fun in the one room school house before we headed to the kids tent for games and face painting.

Too bad we didn't take pictures with the old cars before Sam got a huge green snake painted on his face!

One man invited the kids to sit in his model T and pretend they were driving.  How fun! 

So far we are having a great summer and we aren't even half way through it!! 

We are lovin' all the family activities of summer!





Someone is having a BIG birthday...

I am the middle of three kids: older brother, younger sister.  Tonight is the Eve of my brother’s BIG 4-0… So… in honor of this momentous occasion I thought maybe I should make a pro vs. con list of having Dan as a brother.  Since it’s his big special day (did I mention it’s his 40^th birthday?) I think I’ll start with the pros….

·        Protective.  When Mom was expecting our sister I prayed for a girl and Dan prayed for a boy.  When Susie arrived Dan’s first response was “Good.  Now I have two sisters to look after.”  And he did look after us well.  He never seemed to mind having us tag along, he took us on dates (he still does when he gets the opportunity), he has always been a friend and great sounding board.

·        Fun.  As kids we played lego and cars and Little House on the Prairie and took our crazy carpets off the barn roof and went dirt biking.  Now we play games and laugh and visit and laugh and laugh some more.  Our times together are always rich and always fun.

·        Generous.  When I was about 12 I was asked to be a candle lighter in a friend’s wedding.  The wedding took place a few days before Christmas and Dan took his own money, went to the local jewelry store and bought me a necklace that matched my dress.  (Sorry to the rest of the family who probably got crappy gifts that Christmas cause he blew all his money on me.)

·        Good with words.  Actually this could possibly go on the con list because whenever all us kids have to sign a card Susie and I groan because we know Dan will write something beautiful and heartfelt and sappy.  We usually just write “I love you” and then sign our names… he makes us look bad… BUT… since I have been on the receiving end of his heartfelt words I’ll just leave this one on the pro list.

·        Encourager.  Those good words of Dan’s always seem to come at the perfect time.  What a blessing to have a brother who is on my team.  Somehow he just knows when to deliver life-giving words.    

·        Good Cook.  Dan has always liked to cook.  When he was in college he had me over to his basement suite for dinner.  He made me perogies and stove top stuffing… but he’s older now (40 actually) and his culinary ability has improved.  We love it when Dan cooks!

·        Great Uncle.  Our kids LOVE Uncle Dan, and I love that the feeling is mutual.  Dan goes out of his way to know our kids… he was so anxious to meet Luke that he even rearranged his holiday schedule to bring his family out our way so he could see Luke before he got  too big.  That meant so much to me.

·        Example.  Dan married a great girl and he and Marilyn have been such a testimony of deep trust in God.  The two of them struggled through years of infertility and went through a devastating miscarriage before their first boy was born.  In the midst of all that long turmoil there was never a moment of bitterness.  They chose to celebrate with family and friends who started their families while their arms remained empty.  All through it they believed that God had not forgotten them.  What a testimony of faith.

Okay… I could go on, but his birthday (40^th ) is tomorrow and I want to get this posted before the Big day is over.  So… on to the con list…

Hmmmm….

…. Can’t think of a one…

Love you Dan.

Happy 40^th Birthday! 

It's the Second Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Christmas is definitely our favorite time of the year, but we also LOVE Canada Day.  We've been talking about it for a few weeks already and today Sam decided it was time to quit talking and start preparing!  He got out a big piece of paper and started to make a Canada Day kite.

 He decorated the back of his kite as well...

I love it Sam!!!

Happy Birthday Maarti

It just happened that Maarti's fourth birthday landed right in the middle of our cruise.  She was pretty excited that she was going to have her birthday on the boat.  Our only problem with the birthday situation is trying to make Sam understand that we didn't plan this for Maarti and that just because her birthday was on the boat doesn't mean he gets to have his birthday in Thailand like he so desperately wants!

Opening presents:

 Posing in her new Hello Kitty outfit:

We were exploring Juneau on Maarti's birthday.  We went in one store and when we came out there was a Durango the same color as ours parked on the street.  Maarti said "Daddy, why did you leave the Durango here?"  It was pretty cute.

Yummy Birthday Dessert: 

Sam took it on himself to let everyone know that it was Maarti's birthday so she actually had waiters sing to her and bring her dessert like this at every meal!

Don't the guys look so spiffy all dressed up for the party?

And one more special birthday surprise with love from Daddy:

 

We love you so much Maarti!  We often say your middle name should have been joy because that is what you are full of ... JOY!  It is such a blessing to have you in our family.

Birthday Interview:

Favorite color:  green

Favorite show:  Holly Hobbie

Favorite song:  Cherry Jam

Favorite memory from being 3:  becoming a big sister to Luke

Favorite toy:  cat stuffie

Favorite animal:  tiger

Favorite thing to do:  go to Ballet

I'm excited about being 4 because:  I get to go to preschool

When I grow up I want to:  be a princess

One thing I am good at:  doing puzzles

One thing I would like to learn:  how to make cookies

If I could say one thing to the whole world I would say:  I go to school because I am four.

North to Alaska!

In celebration of their 40th anniversary, Mom and Dad K. took the whole family on an Alaskan cruise.  What a gift!  The pictures really don't capture the beauty very well, but they do capture how much fun we had.

 Here are Sam and Maarti all ready to get on the ship in Vancouver:

So Long Vancouver... see you in seven days!

Jeremy and I from our stateroom balcony. 

Our first day was at sea.  They had "Pets at Sea" (Same idea as "Build-A-Bear") right on the ship.  The kids loved it!  Maarti chose a ballerina outfit for her poodle which she named "Miss Amy", after her Ballet teacher.  Sam chose a racing outfir for his Panda and named him "Race Car Driver Panda".

 The pool was also a highlight on "Sea Days". 

Our first port was Icy Strait Point, Alaska.  We were ferried to shore in small boats... well, small compared to the ship.  You can see our ship, "Radiance of the Seas" in the background.  In Icy Point Strait we looked in the shops and the museum and then threw rocks in the ocean and looked for shells.  When we got cold we went back to the ship for lunch.

Luke got a lot of comments about his cozy bear outfit.  It was perfect for the cool Alaskan weather.

 Jeremy enjoying the beauty of the Hubbard Glacier.  It was amazing... I could have watched it all day.

 Out stateroom attendant was amazing... the kids were so excited about this towel monkey!  We went to a towel art demonstration and even brought home some instructions on how to do it... maybe if you come and see us we'll have one sitting on our guest bed for you.  Actually, don't count on it!

 I was keeping my eyes open for Sarah Pallin and I saw her... all over the place!  I think she was stalking me!  This picture was taken in Juneau.

 Formal night on the cruise was also Maarti's fourth birthday... all my guys were wearing ties for the occasion.

 The kids brought along some spending money and decided on these matching PJs. 

 We had a beautiful morning exploring Ketchikan.  It started to rain just as we were getting back on the ship.  Perfect!

 On our last day at sea the weather was gorgeous so we spent lots of time outside.  There was a mini gold course on the top of the ship.  The kids had a blast golfing and I loved looking out over the ocean from up there.

 There was also a climbing wall on the top of the ship which Jeremy enjoyed.  When he was at the top of the wall he was 200 feet above the water.

We were up early enough to see the sun rise over Vancouver on our last morning of the cruise.  It was beautiful.  We went under the Lions Gate Bridge and then into port at Canada Place.

One last family photo before getting off the ship.

We had a great time on our holiday!  We would love to go again one day, but for now I have some laundry to catch up on!

Heritage Fair

On Tuesday Sam's school had a Heritage Fair.  We were all pretty excited about it.  One of the first things I heard that morning was Sam asking Maarti "Do you know what is special about today?" to which she enthusiastically replied, "It's Fairitage Day!".

Sam (with maybe a bit of help from his Mom) did his project on my Grandma Evans.  It was a lot of fun to make.  My favorite thing was standing back and listening to Sam tell people about his Granny.