Picking her bear: Ice Cream Bear
watching it get filled:
making a wish for the heart before placing inside:
then fluffing up her bear at the air-table (with Sam who brought his BAB along):
Way too fun! When do I get my Build-a-Bear date?!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
make a wish
I just stumbled upon these 5 pictures I had in my picture folder, but hadn't put them in my July Folder - silly me; they are adorable and I have to share... they are compliments of Uncle Matt during his excursion with Gabi to Build-a-Bear...
Picking her bear: Ice Cream Bear
watching it get filled:
making a wish for the heart before placing inside:
then fluffing up her bear at the air-table (with Sam who brought his BAB along):
Way too fun! When do I get my Build-a-Bear date?!
Picking her bear: Ice Cream Bear
watching it get filled:making a wish for the heart before placing inside:then fluffing up her bear at the air-table (with Sam who brought his BAB along):Way too fun! When do I get my Build-a-Bear date?!
Monday, August 16, 2010
camping missions
In July we had the privelege of going on a Missons Trip "locally" (4 hours away) with our Church. It was a last minute trip that was taken over by our Church for another local Church that normally does this trip every year - they couldn't this year due to conflicting scheduling of another Missions Trip! So we jumped on this opportunity and went along with 16 other adults and 9 other children. We stayed at a Campground and tented for 6 nights. This is the first time we've camped as a Family since Elijah was 18months! It was great! (besides the wind on the first and second days - it was windy like I've never experienced, and unfortunatly I've developed a wind-phobia in the past couple years. Ugh)
Here we are loaded down with all of our gear and food and bikes on the back - ready to go!
So the whole mission for this trip was to LOVE the migrant workers & fruit pickers that come to this area (primarily from Quebec) by providing them with a big dinner for the 5 week days. We were going up to their Camp (which was just basic with a tap for running water that they drank but probably shouldn't have and an toilet - they can stay at this "campground" for $75/month!) with all of our gear (borrowed from the Church who usually does this trip) like tables, chairs, huge BBQ, pots, bowls...etc.
there were lots of dogs up at this camp - the kids all loved the dogs
we were told to expect about 175 people coming up for meal; but many of the days we were feeding closer to 300! God provided! It was really neat working in a "kitchen" outdoors with the group to prepare salads, cut vegetables, serve food - our Pastor said if he doesn't see another BBQ for the rest of the summer though, he'd be good with that! There was A LOT of que-ing going on!
one evening we handed out these little packs of toothpaste, toothbrush deodorant...etc. and then another night we handed out Bibles in French to those who wanted one
all 3 of my children were hard workers - setting up chairs, taking down chairs, picking up trash and recycling and their favourite job was handing out cups and filling them up with Lemonade... check it out:
there were 2 of these handy dandy backpacks (that Jason has on) - we would pass out the Lemonade to the people in the line waiting for food, great time to converse with them!
At this final meal, we had invited a few of the Workers to serve food with us (in the pink, for example) - and see this Family getting food? They live up at this camp; the husband fruit picks and the wife is with the 2 children. They otherwise live in a nearby town in the off season. Wow, what a brave mother! It is just dirt up there - man our kids came home sooooo dusty/dirty each evening!
Another thing we did for the workers, was provide a Laundry Day for them! We handed out garbage bags one night and said to return them to us full of dirty laundry and we would then return them nice and clean! One morning the Ladies (and one husband - the one whom had the back of his truck full of the bags!) got up early to do Laundry at a Laundromat that specifically let us in 2 hours before he opened the store to regualar customers. That meant 7:00am. It was another neat experience!
And yet another component to this week was the opportunity to work at Gleaners. 4 of the mornings that week a group of us went to work there, cutting onions!
a part of this special Mix sent all over the World:
That was the work part of our trip! In the afternoons we met as a group for a meeting and devotional and then had an hour or two to do whatever before heading up to the camp for meal preparations!
One afternoon our whole group met at a local lake - the kids had a blast! It was almost like a week-long-playdate for the kids!
and one afternoon our Family drove into the next City to get to a Walmart for a new air mattress since we were waking up a bit to close to the ground each morning - and so we stopped for an ice cream cone at Tickleberry's
and finally, our Campground had a pool, so we took advantage of that!
Fantastic week - would we do it again? Yes, in a heartbeat. Am I happy to finally gone on a Missions Trip (never have)? Yes! Even if it was so close to home, I'm happy to have given this opportunity to our Children already as well! (I'm hoping one of my 3 children will want to go on a Missions Trip through their High School (yes, we're taking a decade from now!) and I'll go as a chaperone - that's my plan! I want to get to Haiti yet!)
Here we are loaded down with all of our gear and food and bikes on the back - ready to go!
So the whole mission for this trip was to LOVE the migrant workers & fruit pickers that come to this area (primarily from Quebec) by providing them with a big dinner for the 5 week days. We were going up to their Camp (which was just basic with a tap for running water that they drank but probably shouldn't have and an toilet - they can stay at this "campground" for $75/month!) with all of our gear (borrowed from the Church who usually does this trip) like tables, chairs, huge BBQ, pots, bowls...etc.
there were lots of dogs up at this camp - the kids all loved the dogs
we were told to expect about 175 people coming up for meal; but many of the days we were feeding closer to 300! God provided! It was really neat working in a "kitchen" outdoors with the group to prepare salads, cut vegetables, serve food - our Pastor said if he doesn't see another BBQ for the rest of the summer though, he'd be good with that! There was A LOT of que-ing going on!
one evening we handed out these little packs of toothpaste, toothbrush deodorant...etc. and then another night we handed out Bibles in French to those who wanted one
all 3 of my children were hard workers - setting up chairs, taking down chairs, picking up trash and recycling and their favourite job was handing out cups and filling them up with Lemonade... check it out:
there were 2 of these handy dandy backpacks (that Jason has on) - we would pass out the Lemonade to the people in the line waiting for food, great time to converse with them!
At this final meal, we had invited a few of the Workers to serve food with us (in the pink, for example) - and see this Family getting food? They live up at this camp; the husband fruit picks and the wife is with the 2 children. They otherwise live in a nearby town in the off season. Wow, what a brave mother! It is just dirt up there - man our kids came home sooooo dusty/dirty each evening!
Another thing we did for the workers, was provide a Laundry Day for them! We handed out garbage bags one night and said to return them to us full of dirty laundry and we would then return them nice and clean! One morning the Ladies (and one husband - the one whom had the back of his truck full of the bags!) got up early to do Laundry at a Laundromat that specifically let us in 2 hours before he opened the store to regualar customers. That meant 7:00am. It was another neat experience!
And yet another component to this week was the opportunity to work at Gleaners. 4 of the mornings that week a group of us went to work there, cutting onions!
a part of this special Mix sent all over the World:
That was the work part of our trip! In the afternoons we met as a group for a meeting and devotional and then had an hour or two to do whatever before heading up to the camp for meal preparations!One afternoon our whole group met at a local lake - the kids had a blast! It was almost like a week-long-playdate for the kids!
and one afternoon our Family drove into the next City to get to a Walmart for a new air mattress since we were waking up a bit to close to the ground each morning - and so we stopped for an ice cream cone at Tickleberry's
and finally, our Campground had a pool, so we took advantage of that!
Fantastic week - would we do it again? Yes, in a heartbeat. Am I happy to finally gone on a Missions Trip (never have)? Yes! Even if it was so close to home, I'm happy to have given this opportunity to our Children already as well! (I'm hoping one of my 3 children will want to go on a Missions Trip through their High School (yes, we're taking a decade from now!) and I'll go as a chaperone - that's my plan! I want to get to Haiti yet!)
Saturday, August 07, 2010
High Power
Elijah had the privelege of attending VBS this summer - this time I sent him to a soccer camp/VBS. It was fantastic! He was on a team with 5 other boys from his school and Alise!
photo is compliments of soccer camp photographer
photo is compliments of soccer camp photographer 1,2,3 Imagine
I won tickets for our Family to go to the Elmo Show in town. We had an extra ticket so we brought Erin with us. It was okay - the kids seemed to enjoy it anyway -
as you can see there were a lot of empty seats! This show was on probably 6 or 8 times in the days it was in town - which was probably too many times!
making memories in our adventures
as you can see there were a lot of empty seats! This show was on probably 6 or 8 times in the days it was in town - which was probably too many times!
making memories in our adventures
three
Ok, I'll backtrack a bit to July - Gabi turned 3! Oh man! We celebrated her birthday with my Family one afternoon and then I had a 'friends party' for her too another day. Dora was the theme this year. I was able to borrow a Dora Cake Pan from Lisa (THANK YOU!) and so I decided to make the shaped cake 2 times. The first time took me about 3 hours - yikes! The second time took a bit less time since I had some icings/colours already made and I had a better idea of what I was up against.
and then it was now, finally, Gabi's turn to go to Build-a-Bear with Uncle Matt! Although we knew she wouldn't go alone with Matt, Sam went along for the company. Gabi came home with very cute "ice cream bear"
THANK YOU Uncle Matt!
Later that week I had a party for Gabi's little 3-Year-Old Friends; it was such an easy party to do! I had 5 little girls plus Gabi and Elijah and Sam. 4 of the girls were dropped off and Isabella was accompanied by her Mom, Sara - who then gave me a hand! Thanks Sara! The girls were so quiet and obedient - we started at the table colouring a map I made with Balloon Forest, Lollipop Lane and Ice Cream Palace...
then we played "pass the present" and I even read them 2 Dora Books...Gabi opened gifts
and then we had cake:
and then Dora-popsicles
and since it was a very hot week, I had the little pool all ready for the girls to dip in
backpack goody bags:
it was a great party! Thanks for coming girls!
and then it was now, finally, Gabi's turn to go to Build-a-Bear with Uncle Matt! Although we knew she wouldn't go alone with Matt, Sam went along for the company. Gabi came home with very cute "ice cream bear"
THANK YOU Uncle Matt!Later that week I had a party for Gabi's little 3-Year-Old Friends; it was such an easy party to do! I had 5 little girls plus Gabi and Elijah and Sam. 4 of the girls were dropped off and Isabella was accompanied by her Mom, Sara - who then gave me a hand! Thanks Sara! The girls were so quiet and obedient - we started at the table colouring a map I made with Balloon Forest, Lollipop Lane and Ice Cream Palace...
then we played "pass the present" and I even read them 2 Dora Books...Gabi opened gifts
and then we had cake:
and then Dora-popsicles
and since it was a very hot week, I had the little pool all ready for the girls to dip in
backpack goody bags:
it was a great party! Thanks for coming girls!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
PCM
The Kids and I met Jason up at WPark so we could spend some time at the Children's Museum; we each got $1off our entrance fee if we had a ticket for the Max and since it was along our route and kids are free for it, I took the kids on it for a little adventure!
We went here 4 years ago when Elijah was not even 3 years old yet and Sam was just a baby! We thought it was time to go back for a visit before Elijah gets too old to have fun! We had a great time... in the water-play area
(including Jason who is playing with the pieces of this water table like a puzzle)
and in the rubber pit:
and self-face painting!
and Elijah was old enough to participate in the "Build It" area where he used a hot glue gun for the first time...and used all sorts of recycled materials to create:
then Jason and the kids re-built a cabin using these "homemade" lincoln logs (long cardboard tubes painted brown and cut to fit together)
Sam is such a hard worker and loves his wheelbarrows; we'd love to find him one small like this for our house to help with yard clippings as he usually does
and finally since we spent so much time building, we had 15minutes left in the "grocery" area which is too bad because that was totally not enough time to buy groceries, fix up food in the restaurant and serve Daddy his plastic sandwiches
Very fun!
We went here 4 years ago when Elijah was not even 3 years old yet and Sam was just a baby! We thought it was time to go back for a visit before Elijah gets too old to have fun! We had a great time... in the water-play area
(including Jason who is playing with the pieces of this water table like a puzzle)
and in the rubber pit:
and self-face painting!
and Elijah was old enough to participate in the "Build It" area where he used a hot glue gun for the first time...and used all sorts of recycled materials to create:
then Jason and the kids re-built a cabin using these "homemade" lincoln logs (long cardboard tubes painted brown and cut to fit together)
Sam is such a hard worker and loves his wheelbarrows; we'd love to find him one small like this for our house to help with yard clippings as he usually does
and finally since we spent so much time building, we had 15minutes left in the "grocery" area which is too bad because that was totally not enough time to buy groceries, fix up food in the restaurant and serve Daddy his plastic sandwiches
Very fun!
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