Not Okay.

I found this in my bedroom:
Not sure if you can see it. It's a picture of an unhappy face and the message above it states:

"You are goning to die okay."

No, not okay, actually.

I don't think this note was actually meant for me, even though I discovered it on my bed. There was a serious game of cowboys and bad guys going on in the house and I'm thinking that it had to do with that.

But it isn't nice to go into your room and find this sorta thing on your bed. It made me a little antsy. And it wasn't the actual message that made me antsy...it was the spelling.

Man, we really have to work on spelling. Not a proud moment for a homeschooler.

Grateful.

It's been a really long time...again. Sorry about that.

So much has happened. I don't even know where to begin. Little things have happened and big things have happened. You won't believe what's gone on here, the things Jack has said, the stuff we've done. (Is it bad when your four year old son calls you Toots?? I think so too.)

We'll start with the big stuff.

We moved. We sold our house and bought a new one in a whirlwind situation. A good whirlwind, if there is such a thing.

Nutshell version: We told our family we thought we'd put our house up for sale in the fall. My brother mentioned a friend that he thought might be interested in buying our place. We contacted this friend and his wife. They came over and we showed them our place. We sat and chatted and ate brownies and icecream. They left. The next day they called to say they'd take it.
(I think it was the brownies ~ they were that great mix from Costco.)

We had seen a place we liked on the MLS. Went to see it. Put an offer on. It was accepted. We moved about 22 days later. Like I said, whirlwind. But it was awesome.

So here I am, typing away in my new house. We haven't been here two weeks and we love it. LOVE. IT. It has been so great for all of us. The Unmentionable One has had a hard time returning to work because he loves being here. How great is that? (Except when it comes time to pay the bills, then it might not be so great.)

Every morning I have woken up grateful. Grateful for what God has done for us. This is totally from Him. Grateful that we get to live here. Grateful for the space.

And since moving here, some interesting things have happened and I've learned a few things too...here they are:

-I've learned to chop wood
-I've used a dishwasher in my own home for the first time. And I wonder why the heck I never had one of these amazing inventions of mankind before. What was I thinking?
-I've learned to drive a four-wheeler and have taken my kids for rides in the bean field behind our house
-I've met our new neighbours who brought over a home-made apple pie. As if!
-I've had the mayor pop by just to say hi and welcome to the neighbourhood (what planet am I on??)

So that's what has been happening here. In another post, I'll show you some pics of our new place so you can see where it is we live.

And if you're in the area, feel free to pop in.

The Dress

Really, this time I mean it. Here it is. It's already been borrowed and returned, so if you need a dress for a party -- this is it!

Only Sisters Would Do This

My sister is awesome. She is the elder of us two and is truly, the most generous person I know. She also has a very warped sense of humor and when I get her laughing, she has a serious cackle-like laugh. My mom has always said that when we are at a party or in a large group, she can hear us cackling to one another no matter where she is in the room.

Anyhow, my sister and I play this little game. When one of us is in need of something, anything really, from the other, we call each other and start a sort-of "radio program" conversation.

Here's an example:

My sister phones me.

Me: Hello?
Her: Is this Cooking with Erin?
Me: Yes, it is. How can I help you?
Her: We have a caller on line 2 who has a cooking question.
Me: Put her through.
Her: Hello?
Me: Hello! You're on the air. Welcome to Cooking with Erin, how can I help?

And from there, we have a conversation about whatever recipe she needs, advice she requires etc. It makes a boring old question much more interesting.

Here was today's episode:

Me calling my sister.

Her: Hello?
Me: Is this Harrison's Sanity Services?
Her: Yes it is. How can we help?
Me: We have a caller on line 2 who is need of some serious help.
Her: Put her through.
Me: Hello?
Her: Hi! You're on the air. What can I do for you?
Me: Um....I have five kids.
Her: Say no more.
Me: Yeah, I don't think there's much more to say today.
Her: Are they safe? Have you put them in a room together and shut the door?
Me: Yes, I have.
Her: What else do you need?
Me: Sugar. In some liquid and solid form. And quiet. And may be my book.
Her: Well, if you'll give me a few minutes, I can help for sure...

And so goes the conversation, with much laughing and carrying on. And her Sanity Services saved my day by offering to meet me at a park so all the kids could play and we could sip and snack on sugary-things and peacefully pass the afternoon away.

Only a sister knows to do that.

Me...in the dress.

Here I am...with the bride at the wedding. I'm the one in black.

I'm wearing the dress again this weekend. I will try very hard to get a picture of it...from the front.

Summer Update

It's been a while since I've posted, so I thought that I'd bring you up to speed on how things are going.

We're having a great summer. The weather has been supremely hot here and though I don't love the heat, we have still managed to do some fun things.

A few weekends ago, we went camping at Bon Echo Provincial Park. This is a beautiful park with a big lake, gorgeous rock outcroppings and great sites. I would totally recommend it, despite the five hour drive to get there.

Here's a sorta crappy picture of the kids at the lake.

When we first got to the lake, we saw this young couple smearing grey mud all over themselves (head to toe and all between) and then they started posing for silly pictures. It was...odd. But mildly entertaining. Then we realized that this fun muddy-clay stuff could be found at the bottom of the lake out in the deeper water.
I told the kids to get some and smear it on themselves and I'd take pictures. We had just begun the smearing process when a nice little girl swam by. She started chatting with us and as we covered our arms in the mucky stuff, I suggested that it was probably really good for our skin.

She says, "Nah, it's not good for your skin. It gives you Swimmer's Itch"

Ahem. Excuse me? What does it give us? She quickly added that teeny mites live in this clay and if you leave it on your skin, they bite and give you an all-over itchy rash.

We quickly washed. And I wondered about the cute couple that had covered themselves, seriously, head to toe in this stuff.

Thankfully, we avoided The Itch.

We hiked, we paddled, we slept, we ate, we swam and we fished.

It was Jack who caught the one and only fish. And this fish was a good sized fella.

Before we left for the trip, we bought him this cheap-o "Lightning McQueen" fishing rod from Crappy Tire. You can see it, red and yellow, in his hand. This little rod caught us a big fish that we ate for supper. Jack was a little disappointed that he didn't get to keep the fish and take it home. How we managed to get this fish in the boat is another tale altogether.

All in all, the trip was a great time.

Although camping is a dirty way to vacation, I do believe it is the perfect holiday for kids.

Lazy. Random. Thoughts.

It's summer -- we're supposed to be having the lazy, hazy days.

Which is totally my excuse for not blogging in the last few weeks. Summer is just too dang short to be sitting at a computer telling you all about my dullsville life.

So here's the latest...

-went to The Wedding last weekend, wore The Dress and had no issues with bra lines, hem lines, panty lines etc. I didn't get a picture of myself in the dress. Whoops. But I will and then I'll post it and by the time it gets up here you'll be wondering why I've posted a pic of myself in a dress.

-currently, I'm packing and cooking for a short camping trip. I'm very excited about this. I just pulled 8 gorgeous blueberry scones out of my oven and will freeze them to take with us. It's killing me having them sitting right there -- just outside my reach from here at my computer. And believe me, I've tried to reach them from here at my computer.

-today we went blueberry picking at a great place just outside town called Kustermans. I highly recommend their berries. There were 29 of us that went -- all moms and kids and it was super. I've been other places that aren't so happy to see 9 mom and 20 kids roll in, but this place is very child-friendly. They get a kid-friendly stamp of approval from me.

-this is my final random thought. I have this beautiful pic that a friend took at The Wedding of He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Mentioned and two of our boys. I love it. I'm sharing it with you -- but don't tell on me. You can't really see Mr. Unmentionable, so I think this is fair game.

Hope you are having a lovely summer...