Nathan is Five!

Nathan, my baby, is five years old! I gave him some cake options from familyfun.com and he chose this crocodile cake. It was really easy to make! I made some extra cupcakes with eyes and we pretended they were crocs hiding under water. We checked out books from the library and read about crocodiles in the two weeks before his birthday.
The three boys in the group picture who are not his cousins will be starting kindergarten with Nathan next year. It was fun to have a pack of cousins and friends for our crocodile hunt!
Families all around us have been sick and we had been "missing out" on the sickness until the night after the party- Nathan threw up in the night and hasn't really eaten anything but toast all day today. Oh well! I was tired too so we took it easy today! I still have a very small hope that he just ate too much candy and it's not the flu. . . .wishfull thinking!

Hawaii Trip

Jeff and I returned from a week in Hawaii last Sat. (Jan. 24). Today we received the professional pics. that were taken on the "Dolphin Excursion" tour we went on. Although the whole trip was great, these pics. capture the best of the trip- water, sea creatures, snorkeling, a green and warm landscape and fun with Jeff. These pictures show the sea mammals that we actually saw and the underwater pics. are of the spinner dolphins we swam with. This week when I have had a quiet moment I have found myself closing my eyes and remembering these scenes and saying to myself, "somewhere it is warm!"

Crawford Learning Academy begins another year

Well, another year of homeschooling has begun at the Crawford's. This picture was taken at the end of the first day- maybe I would've gotten a better picture at the beginning of the day!
In the first week we made cutout cookies, did a science experiment about ocean currents, played some math games and worked pretty hard! At the end of the week we went to Mobius Kid's downtown for some educational playtime. Everyone (including me) is learning a bunch!

Pickles

Well, you may have heard me say before that I like to keep life simple and that one of my life's goals was to make pickles. Well, in the last two weeks I have accomplished this small goal (time to think of a new one?). I am too cheap to buy cucumbers to pickle, so the first part of the task was to grow them. My small garden is 3/4 cucumbers and every 3-4 days when I go out there I come in with 2-3 bowls of cucumbers. Now that I am done making pickles you might see me with a cucumber offering in my hands for you!
I made two batches of Dill in the larger quart jars and one batch of pint jars with sweet bread and butter pickles. My mom always had this kind of sweet pickle around and is fun to taste an old familiar taste. Come over and try some!
Here are a few things I learned:
Pickles are best made with cucumbers that have been picked in the last 8-12 hours.
Hot pack canning means you keep everything hot and if you don't keep your jars with their contents hot enough the jars will crack and drop their bottoms off when you put them in the canner. (Fortunately this only happened to two of my small jars and now I have learned that lesson.)
I like canning.
I like opening the pantry door and seeing my jars of pickles.

This post is a good example of why I named my blog as I did cause its fun to find joy in the little things.

20 Years Ago

I was 18 years old, preparing to go to Moody Bible Institute for my sophomore year.
I think I had a job at a daycare on Valleyway, but I'm not sure if that was that summer.
I thought I knew quite a bit about dating and relationships (although I didn't have a boyfriend at the time). (. . . and now I realize how clue-less I was!)

10 Years Ago

I was 28.
My first-born child was less than a month old.
We were living in our first house which is across the street from my parents.
My dad was sick with ALS and I was glad to not be going back to work so I could spend more time with him.
I was fairly overwhelmed and insecure about parenting but I was crazy about our new, precious little bundle.

5 Years Ago

Pregnant with Nathan.
Went away to Nelson, B.C. with Jeff for 3 nights to celebrate our ten year anniversary.
Preparing to start home-schooling Ellen for kindergarten.

3 Years Ago

I had to go back and look at pics cause I couldn't remember anything.

I had short hair.
I was a busy mom of three.
It was the first summer I had flowers in my front, raised flower bed.
Jeff got most all of the grass put in and loved to watch it grow.

1 Year Ago

Enjoying a great summer!

Today

Woke up with a seriously sore back from horseback riding yesterday.
Church.
Made banana bread.
Splash-down.
Bought a 5$ Little Caesar's pizza for dinner.
Crashed on couch.

Tomorrow

Clean this sticky kitchen floor.
Have Linda and Brenna Jarms over for lunch.
Exercise.

Next Year

Be more physically fit- I have to keep up with this active family.
Have my two older kids in swim team at Valley Mission Pool.
Grow some cantalopes in my garden?

It's been a great summer!

Lists of top five. . . .

Here ya go Janie Girl!

1. 5 Things I couldn't live without under $5:
-Mocha break every morning at 10:00
-dark chocolate
-library card
-water
-public bathrooms
(maybe I'm high maintenence- everything else I could think of was way more than 5 bucks! -but the first two pretty much cover the important stuff)

2. 5 Favorite Movies:
-The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (I love Frodo and Aragon!)
-Pride and Prejudice
-Star Trek movies (First Contact especially)
-Mary Poppins
-Sound of Music

3. 5 baby names I love but won't use (cause I'm not having any more-right God?):
-Cora
-Robin
-Owen
-Margaret
-Ruth

4. 5 songs I could listen to over and over again:
-Give Me Jesus
-Life is Precious, Wes King
-Great is Thy Faithfulness, old hymn style
-Legacy, Nicole Nordman
-Any praise song my kids are singing!

5. 5 People who have influenced my life in a positive way:
-God
-Jeff
-Erika
-Ellen
-Calvin
-Nathan (can't leave out the Sibbie)

6. 5 things that stay in my purse at all times:
-money/credit/debit
-Drivers' license
-scissors
-coupons
-loose change (always falls out of my wallet)

7. 5 moments that have changed my life forever:
-Being born
-Being reborn into new life with Christ
-Being engaged
-Being married
-The moment I first met my children

8. 5 obsessions I have right now:
-Eliminating corn syrup from our diets to save our teeth
-I have been eating or wanting to eat lots of vegetables
-This includes juice bar drinks with a wheat grass shot at Huckleberries
-Homeschool curriculum
-thinking about what God would have me do with my life in the next year

9. 5 places I would like to go:
-somewhere warm with sun right now! (snow in forecast again!)
-Hawaii
-Greece
-a dude ranch
-a day spa with friends

10. 9 people who I would like to see their top 5:
-Lindsay
-Erika
-Mom
-Mary
-Deslene
-Susie
-Trish
-Jeff
-My Dad