Friday, March 27, 2015

Time for an update!

Well, it's been awhile! Life keeps going and things have been happening! Let's go back and re-cap!

One Friday evening in early March, the school had a Fine Arts evening with selected art from all the students from K-12. The adults were also welcome to submit their art.

Here is a sculpture made by Stefan and 3 others in the group where they had to sit in a certain position and using tape to make a mold. There were two of these sculptures and they were really well done! Obviously this one is slam dunking.


There was a table with colouring in pictures and crayons for kids to do!



The following three are paintings done and submitted by Anthea!






Shantel made this next one using Eric Carle's method.


For history, Shantel's class has been following the trials and tribulations of the early pioneers. So for art, they all made wagons. Very authentic and very well done!


Shantel!


Throughout March we have enjoyed some beautiful, if not a bit early, spring! Clear blue skies, sunshine, and evidence of new life. The berries are budding, the trees are blossoming and the bulbs are out.



So on a nice Saturday afternoon, we headed out the Tennant Lake in Ferndale and checked out the recently completed boardwalk along part of the lake.




Shantel's class went to a theatre in Bellingham to watch the musical on Flat Stanley. I went along as a driver, and Taleesha came too. By the time it was ready to start, it was packed with kids from schools and a lot of home-schooled kids too! It was well done, and a fun morning!






Whilst on a shopping spree in Bellingham, Steve found these two models in the shop window. Recognise them at all?


Sipping cider, oh no it was a smoothie!


Since my birthday was on a Sunday, we went as family to a cute little rustic place on Saturday right here in Sumas: Bob's Burgers! We had a nice time as family and a delicious meal!

So here's some shots of our evening!











And then Sunday came and it was my birthday! Here the two little girls are really excited about my new purse (wallet!). They're all dressed and almost ready for church, and I'm just.....well, lets say WILD with excitement!!


In the evening we had a few friends and family over for coffee and cake.

The kids got hold of my camera and took some shots so here's a few of the better ones!






We are thankful for another year given by our Heavenly Father and thank Him for good health, contentment, having our family all together here, and having family and friends both far and near. God is good! To Him be the praise!

Just last week Jaclyn and myself had a meeting regarding her intended course at college in the fall, and we had some 20 minutes up our sleeve before we needed to pick up the kids from school. Woods Coffee just happened to be along the way, so we stopped in and had a drink!

After taking at least half a dozen photos and laughing helplessly, we finally got a half decent shot!


This past Tuesday was the annual planting party again! Once again, we split, hacked, chopped and lovingly planted hundreds of plants into individual pots for resale at the upcoming plant sale in May. Lunch was included, so after lots of hard work and a bit of chatting (!), a plate of hot delicious soup and buns was a welcomed reward!


The wagon slowly filling up with all the repotted plants.



There's quite the story to this photo. There was a clot of dirt holding lilies which we needed to separate. The dirt and roots were so compact that the machete didn't do a thing and the spade bent in half! So Kari and myself did the most unconventional thing and got a saw and cut the thing in six pieces! We were very pleased with our efforts! I hope these plants sell at the plant sale after all the effort we put into it!

The kids occupy themselves with the trampoline, sandbox (I call them dirt boxes), and inside the shop where we work, there is a neat little area with sand and a barn with lots of miniature cows, trucks and tractors. The kids just love playing with it!




Well, there's the update! We hope you enjoying reading it!

Till next time. God bless.

Thanks for popping past!


Saturday, February 21, 2015

Australia Day celebrations, the Flower and Garden Show and Basketball!

On Saturday, the 31st of January, Australia Day in BC Fraser Valley was celebrated with a potluck dinner. Canada was in charge of organizing the event this year and we had it in the Abbotsford church. We had a good turn out of approx 50 people. Dinner was a wonderful selection of sausage rolls, lasagna, meatballs and salads.

The hall was beautifully decorated with bunting, flags, Aussie serviettes etc.

Here's the two little girls ready to go with their Aussie jumpers and tattoos.






After dinner, we sang some good old Aussie songs and of course the National Anthem!

And then we had dessert!

Delicious individual pavlovas - a real hit!


A little mouse stole some key letters - it was meant to read "Happy Australia Day"!


We even had live entertainment! (Henriette and Wendy!)


There were Aussie pic coloring in sheets, Aussie puzzles and the boys played a game or two of cricket on the carpark.

A neat little poem to sum it all up!


We had a really nice evening and it was great to catchup with the other Aussies in the area. 
Next year is Lynden's turn again!


On Friday morning, Stefan along with his basketball team and coach, went to Canada to Sunshine Coast (where ironically it rained the whole time they were there!) to play in the tournament. They first had to get to Vancouver (1 hr) then go on the ferry (45min) then 15 minutes driving to get to the school. They lost the first game and then they bunked in the church next door for the night, and the next morning played another team, but unfortunately lost them too. The team they played against was an A team while Cornerstone Cougars is a B team, but they had fun anyway!

We just enjoyed our mid winter break which meant three days off school. On Thursday I, along with 9 other ladies, headed to Seattle for the Flower and Garden show. We left at 8 in the morning and got there just after 10am. We checked out the various garden displays and stalls and then headed to the Cheesecake Factory for a delicious lunch! After lunch, we headed back to the show for another hour of browsing and then we headed back up to Mt Vernon to Hobby Lobby, where you could spend all day and all your money on beautiful decorative stuff for the house. We curbed our time there to just under an hour and headed to Applebees for dinner. Another great meal! We then drove back to Lynden and got back around 8:30pm. We had a great day, great company and great food. What more do you need?


Below are some of the displays. Some inspiring ideas!





And I discovered another word which we use in Australia but is not known here. And that word is:

Secateurs = clippers or pruning shears


On Monday of our winter break, we went to Vancouver and spent the day there. We went to the Salmon hatchery which would be really neat the see when the fish are running as you could see the fish ladder behind glass.

We then went to Lynn Canyon which is free and also smaller and not so extravagant as Capilano. It also has a suspension bridge over the canyon and then we went for a hike in the forest.





From there we headed to Stanley park and enjoyed the park and the water views.



It was a nice day out and a nice way to end the break!


Basketball has come to an end with the finals played last  Tueday and Thursday. Stefan's team just didn't make it but Jaclyn's team won!

Here's a quick video of Jaclyn scoring a basket!


Here's the winning team with their trophies!


And Stefan the mascot!



And that ends another post! We have been enjoying lovely warm sunny weather. Spring come early! We won't complain.

We pray this finds you in good health in your corner of the earth.

We thank God for His continued love and care.

Thanks for looking!