2009 - A year in Review

2009 seemed to have went by in a whirl. Seems like a year passed in 6 months. Time is flying. 2009 has been a pretty uneventful year for our immediate family and for that I am thankful. Kids our growing and developing so fast that I feel like I am just trying to soak in each day. In September, Samantha will start school and I just don't feel ready to share yet. Nate will be lost without her at first I am sure. Fred and I both turned 30 this year. Fred's birthday was rather uneventful. His wife wasn't kind enough to plan anything. My Birthday however was stellar. Fred along with the help of our good friend Michelle planned a Amazing party. It might have actually been Michelle with some help from Fred but alas it was awesome. Sumo wrestling inside a church lobby! Many people pitched in, and I was blown away. I have pretty amazing friends and family!

In our extended family we have seen both Happiness and Sadness. My beautiful cousin Mandy passed away suddenly at only 31. She left a Husband, two children, her parents and Brother far far two early. So hard to understand, and hard not to be angry, hard to hold onto faith in a Loving God when things like this happen. I think of her often and although I didn't see her more then a few times a year I miss her. She had the sweetest voice with her English accent still hanging on, after being in Canada for like 18 years.

2009 brought new babies to our extended family, a couple of my cousins had kids. So great to see. There was also two weddings in my Dad's family. Two of my cousins wed, sadly we missed these events but the pictures were great! And another wedding took place, This one a epic event! My Mom and Wayne have been together for 14 years and they FINALLY wed! So great that he is now officially my Step Dad!

Fred continues to work for Eecol, this year he celebrated 10 years with the company. I am pretty confident he will be there until retirement. I am still home full time and did work at a couple of pools occasional. This summer was pretty busy as I was helping a friend work Farmers markets most Saturdays. Fun times! And so exciting to be a part of a new business and watching the take off!

2009 has been a challenging year for our Church. We have been without a lead minister for the full year. We have been blessed with many great guest speakers, but it will be nice to have some consistency back. We pray 2010 will bring this. We have seen people in the Church step up to new responsibility. We have seen and experienced much growth in Relationships. Sadly we have seen people we adore and people that make Journey home to us leave our Church. All for various understandable reasons, still can't help but miss them though.

We look forward to what 2010 will bring. There is sure to be some fun times! A Disney World adventure. Fred and I will celebrate 10 years of wedded bliss. There are many babies in the works....None for us but amongst our extended family and close friends. Hopefully a new pastor. I think it will be a good year!

Christmas Is Coming

SAMI it is

Samantha is getting to the age where she can spell her name. The problem is her name is so long. The other problem is that we all use a shortened form of her name so we decided it was time to figure out exactly how we would spell that shortened version. We decided to let her choose herself. We gave her four options.

SAMIE
SAMMI
SAMI
SAMMIE

She chose SAMI. We tried mixing the list up and she chose the same three times is a row, so SAMI it will be.

Games Wish list

We are big games fans here at the Best House. We are Big Catan players and have all the expansions and love them. Also Love the Ticket to Ride - have played both North America and Eurpoe. We would like to expand our game repertoire. There has been quite a few games we have heard of over the years that we would love to play and or acquire.

Carcazonne
Ticket to Ride Markin
Puerto Rico
Bohnanza
Phase 10 - Card game

Have any favorite games not listed that you think we might like?

Bite Me??

I don't understand this phrase. It is a phrase that one says in anger to another, or in joking envy or what ever. The problem is what if they followed through? It would not at all be pleasant for the person who said the phrase, it would hurt them. Therefore this phrase is dumb.

Pumpkin Carving.

Last night we had what is becoming a annual event, a pumpkin Carving Extravaganza!!! This year there was a more free hand. A couple of old school Jack o lanterns! There was also a lot of Patterns!

These are the three that came out of our House. The First is Fred and I's. I picked the pattern and gutted the Pumpkin but carving credit goes to him.



It was pretty busy around the table lastnight so The kids and I did there choices this morning.

The second is Samantha's choice and Sammie and Nate both had a hand in gutting it, and then I was left to do the carving. Under Samantha's constant supervision!


Lastly this one is Nate's choice. This time they did not want to touch the pumpkin guts again, so we cheated and used the backside of somebodies who left there pumpkin here lastnight!




I always Joke about Fred not letting me touch things that require any amount of artistic skill or steadiness of hand. Which is totally not true, it is just he is such a perfectionist and would way rather do it. SO I bug him. So it is very very rare that I do the pumpkin Carving...I would say this was a first and I think I did pretty good if I do say so myself!!

The rest of the Pumpkins done by friends of ours can be found on Flickr.

Wow

It sure has been a long time since posting. I should really write about something....Hmm I will give it some thought.

Turning 30.

Well the Big event has come and gone. I turned 30 12 days ago and strangely my world did not change that much. I didn't turn gray overnight, my joints didn't start creaking and I still have full bladder control.

Fred collaborated with our good friend Michelle part planner Extraordinaire and threw me the Bestest Surprise Party Ever. The original plan was a to have the party in Michelle and Tyler's AMAZING back yard. The fact that is snowed that morning put a damper on it. The Thursday before the party when the forecast looked so gloomy they decided to find a indoor location. It is a good thing they did...it rained and hailed a significant amount... So the party was in the Lobby of Oak Park Church.

The Party- Sumo Suits! How great is that? I had mentioned months ago that I thought a sumo party would be the greatest thing ever and they ran with it. It was AWESOME. So many of my close friends and family came out to enjoy it with us. And everybody was such good sports... I think almost everybody took a turn, minus pregnant folk and those with Small kids who were afraid of the wrestling. I think I myself wrestled like 6 times...defeating all except my Mama. She schooled me. So fun. There was a amazing spread of food. Some of the Guys even BBQ'd in the Hail. What great friends I have. Some people contributed food stuffs and some contributed money towards the party. Wow, I am loved! And I really really felt it that day.

The next day we went to Church and discovered that a bunch of people actually got hurt from the Sumo wrestling...Well some guys...They were brutal with each other. There was a cracked Sternum, a couple of ankle issues that seem to have heeled fast, a toenail that turned purple and a pretty good neck injury that resulted in multiple physio visits. Who knew sumo could be so dangerous. However the fun outweighed the injury and all said they would do it again.

Samantha Turns four!

Saturday was a Very Special Little girls Birthday. Samantha Turned 4. Saturday was kind of a mellow day we just hung out together, Sammie had soccer in the morning and then we just played our day away. Sunday Samantha was very excited for Church because she knew they would sing to her and she would get to pick out of the Birthday Basket. Sunday Afternoon was the Big event. The weather was BEAUTIFUL!! We rented a big bouncer and a little Climbing structure and Fun was had by all. So nice to do it outside this year!

Fred outdid himself again this year and made not one but two Amazing Cakes!! This year it was a Tinkerbell cake. I can't believe I don't have more pictures- I guess I was too busy having fun!

Where's the Poo?

So we have been working on Potty training Nate. It has been going really well except he won't poop in the potty. He is getting to where he will pee pretty consistently just won't attempt to poo. He is actually waiting until nap or bed,when he is wearing a diaper and unsupervised to do the deed. So Last night after the kids went to bed I went for a swim. When I come home and before I go to bed I always go in the kids rooms to check on them. So lastnight as soon as I open Nate's door I smell it. Very strongly but as I look at my boy I realize he is not wearing pants or a diaper. Uh Oh Not good. I look under all his covers no poop or diaper, under the bed, nope, under the dresser..Nope....In the closet...Nope. I call up Fred he looks in the same places, where could it be. Fred then notices that his Jammie s are on top of his dresser and he grabs them and sure enough the diaper is in them. He had taken it off post poo and put it up and went back to bed. Miraculously there was no remnant poo anywhere and he hadn't even wet the bed while he'd been sleeping without a diaper. It was a really entertaining event.

9 Years!

This week Fred and I celebrated 9 years of Wedded bliss. Fred took the day off and we took the kids to go check out the new Gasoline Alley of Heritage Park. Followed by Lunch at Montana's then home for the kiddo's to Nap. That night we had care group and that was about that. Not too much in the way of celebrations but there is no better day then a day spent with our family just enjoying each other. There is talk of perhaps taking a little overnight trip to West ED at the end of the month. Time is flying by and it is hard to believe it has been 9 years. The years each get better and better!

Oh the Joys of Having a older sister!!

Cute Kids

So the Kids were in the Bath a couple of days ago. Sammie has this little foam Princess crown and Nate is wearing it, Sammie is swinging her little Bath magic wand and saying bippity boppity boop and then holds up a little mirror and exclaims.." Look Nate now your a princess" It was Cute.

Roles

The longer Fred and I are married the more I realize how much we depend on one another. There are tasks that we completely depend on the other one to do. I was reminded of this the other night when we were trying to figure out a new game. Fred is the Instruction reader. I tried I got bored and handed it to Fred. I could read the instructions and I am confident I could actually figure out how to play, However I don't want cause I know Fred will. Even if I read them and tried to explain the game to him, he would still read the directions. Same with any type of home repair. I could change a light bulb but instead I wait for Fred, cause I know he will want to ensure it was done right. I used to Change my own oil- Now I let Fred. Painting, Construction, squeaky doors, tires that need inflating, toy putting together, All Fred.

I on the reverse side make sure the bills are paid, Make appts, make our social plans,arrange childcare when needed, meal plan, make sure we all have proper attire. I even had to set aside a time to make Fred go Shoe shopping. I am sure Fred could do these things but he would much rather leave it to me.

We are so used to the roles we play, that when we step out things get a little Chaotic. A couple weeks ago Fred took a call from a place returning my call to get our couches serviced. He set a appt and wrote it on a torn off piece of paper and put it with all my other paperwork. He briefly told me about it and I forgot. On Tuesdays I generally take one of Sammies Friends to and from preschool so I try not to book anything then. But I find out today Tuesday that the Fix it guy is coming exactly when I should be on Preschool run. I am confident this would not have happened if I had made the appt. I would have marked my calender or wrote it on the board on the fridge.

A couple of weeks ago I attempted to get out the spot bot and clean a coffee stain. I used it, and cleaned it and put it away. Somehow a rubber piece fell in the disposal and Fred discovered it later on. It has been Driving him nuts- he is sure I didn't clean it properly and if he was not so busy on the reno I am sure he would have taken it out and cleaned it.

Unloved

I have my ipod on Shuffle in my van nearly all the time. So I hear a lot of older songs that I have heard a ton times. Occasionally the lyrics to a particular song catch my ear. This time it was Unloved by Micheal w Smith.

I have been unfaithful
I have been unworthy
I have been unrighteous
And I have been unmerciful

I have been unreachable
I have been unteachable
I have been unwilling
And I've been undesirable

And sometimes I have been unwise
I've been undone by what I'm unsure of
But because of you
And all that you went through
I know that I have never been unloved

I have been unbroken
I have been unmended
I have been uneasy
And I've been unapprochable

I've been unemotional
I've been unexceptional
I've been undecided
And I have been unqualified

Unaware - I have been unfair
I've been unfit for blessings from above
But even I can see
The sacrifice You made for me
To show that I have never been unloved

Unaware - I have been unfair
I've been unfit for blessings from above
But even I can see
The sacrifice You made for me
To show that I have never been unloved

It's because of you
And all that you went through
I know that I have never been unloved

You can Listen to it Here

The Best Care Group.

So we were asked to speak at Church and tell people what our care group is all about. So we talked for about a minute saying what kind of studies we have done and stuff and then we played this video. The writing clips are the answers that each group member came up with to the Question "What does being in a care group mean to you?"






After viewing the video I ended by reading another response from a former member of our group. Here is what it said.

being in a care group meant so many things to me. It meant having a fun place to see friends (with snacks!) every week. It meant having a safe place to talk about life and faith whenever i needed. it meant having people to sit with at church and church events (potluck lunches!). it created an oasis of love and peace and laughter in the middle of my week. it created an oasis of love and peace and laughter in my life - which, at the time, very much felt like a desert. christopher and i have never experienced anything like it, and we're hard pressed to find it again. it was just a once in a lifetime thing, and i can't tell you how it strengthened my faith and gave me hope, to face the next morning, the next week, even a move to winnipeg. being in a care group transformed church from a place i went, to an activity i participated in. i know for a fact i received much more than i ever gave. care group extended far beyond the room we met in. it kept a smile on my face through some very sad days. i love you all so very much, and my gratitude is endless. i know i know, so why did we go??? i absolutely declare you all were one of the hardest parts of leaving, and we miss you more than words.

Life Lessons from my 3 yr old

Samantha has recently become intrigued with the idea of winning. I tell her to get dressed and when she is done she says " Mama I winned" At meal times when she finishes she says "I winned" and when Nathan finishes "Mama Nathan winned too" We've been kind of laughing at this, but have been thinking maybe we should correct her. The other day the kids were racing and Sammie got to the destination first "I win Mama I win" then she continued to Cheer for Nate "Come on Bro you can win too" When Nate reached the destination she yelled "You did it Nate! You wined too" Besides the bad grammar I think I can learn lessons from her. It sounds cheesy but to win is to Finnish - Samantha gets it. And I love how she at this young age already knows how to support and cheer for her brother. To celebrate his successes also. I pray this is something she will continue throughout her life.

Common Terms and Phrases Part Two

I did a similar post a couple of years back and always meant to do another..

Close But No Cigar
There was a time in history where the carnival was the center of entertainment. Games in particular gave out prizes to shooting marksmen or those with a keen eye. Cigars were often given as the prize. If a man (or woman) made a clean shot that came close to the target, but not exactly on target, they were praised for being close – but not actually getting the cigar.

One Red Cent
In 1852 pennies were made of a copper-nickel alloy that changed color through the passing of hands. Furthermore, the front was stamped with an Indian in headdress. We all know that the slang term for Indians was redskins. Between the slang and the worn color of the penny, they became known as red cents.

RULE OF THUMB
An old English law declared that a man could not beat his wife with a stick any larger than the diameter of his thumb.

Many years ago in Scotland, a new game was invented. It was ruled "Gentlemen Only...Ladies Forbidden"...and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.

"goodnight, sleep tight."
In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on.

GETTING THE SHORT END OF THE STICK
Candles were expensive to make, so often reeds were dipped in tallow and burned instead. When visitors came, it was the custom for guests to make their exit by the time the lights went out. Therefore, if your host didn't want you to stay very long, he would give you a "short stick."

MIND YOUR OWN BEESWAX This came from the days when smallpox was a regular disfigurement. Fine ladies would fill in the pocks with beeswax. However when the weather was very warm the wax might melt. But it was not the thing to do for one lady to tell another that her makeup needed attention. Hence the sharp rebuke to "mind your own beeswax!"

HONEYMOON It was the accepted practice in Babylonia 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer, and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the "honey month" or what we know today as the "honeymoon".

Fun Video

So a while back we took the kids to Madagascar 2 and it had a video that I thought was so funny. I just found it on you tube. Watch it here