Oroville

We don't have much going on by way of summer plans this year since our 2 big major projects (baby and house addition) have trumped everything else.  But when we got an invitation from James & Rosanna to spend a few days at James' family cabin in Oroville, Washington, we couldn't pass it up.

The cabin sits on a beautiful spot on Lake Osoyoos where the sun is always shining and the water is pleasant.  And with a trailer and a second smaller cabin on the property, there was plenty of sleeping space for the others in the Toews family as well as Rosanna's parents to all be there enjoying it together.  

(Silas & Keziah)

We arrived on the 4th of July and had a prime viewing location for some fantastic fireworks.  It reminded Erik, the kids, and I of our fireworks experiences on the lake at my parents' cabin in summers past.  The fireworks started before it was dark and kept going on and on and until we all decided we were too tired to watch anymore...

(Caleb, Micah & Keziah)

The number one activity and definite highlight for all the little cousins was Uncle James' famous tube rides.  Kudos to James for the many, many hours spent behind the wheel of that motor boat, keeping 4 eager little tubers quite content.

(Micah & Caleb)

(Silas & Keziah's turn)

Elissa & I watched nervously from the boat while our little ones bounced around like rag dolls on the back of that tube - we were waiting for the first spill, knowing it was inevitable.  And sure enough, one by one they all made it into the water over the course of the weekend.  Despite a few tears, they were all game to go back on - some of them even begging to be dumped again!

Uncle James had a system of how "spicy" the tube ride would be based on the number of jalapenos they requested.  After a few initial rides, the ideal number ended up being "Jalapeno 3" and the kids begged for it over and over and over again...

There were some though that requested less spicy rides.  Grandma & Grandpa took Emerson for a pretty tame ride.

Heck, they even convinced Elissa and I to get on that tube.  Our ride was probably jalapeno minus one and we still screamed like school girls the entire time.  It brought me back to all the reasons why I disliked boating adventures as a kid...

Thankfully the kids loved every minute of it.

(My blonde boys...)

On day 3, the kids got really brave.  After watching Daddy and Uncle Doug get up on the waterskis, they were begging to try them too.   

James had all sorts of contraptions for them to try out. Micah went first and had the most success.  He got up quickly holding onto this bar on the side of the boat.  

Next he tried getting up using this short rope attached to the bar. It proved to be a lot trickier - especially to keep those skis together...  

Next up was Keziah - she didn't have much success but gave it a good try!

And even Silas gave it a whirl - James gave him some special skis that were tied together.  He didn't get out of the water but I think he had fun trying :)

A few of them tried the knee board as well.  Keziah got going right away but when she stopped the knee board came up and bopped her pretty hard in the mouth.  She was done with it after that.  

(Silas getting warmed up with Grandpa after another tube ride.)

When we weren't on the boat, there were plenty of other things to keep us occupied... like entertaining 5-month-old cousin Sawyer.

Or paddle-boarding...

Auntie Elissa came up with a scavenger hunt one afternoon.

There was some great food to be enjoyed as well...

Waffles baked over a fire?  Yes please :)

Mmmm.  Bacon.

Baby Katie was a fan too...

And enjoyed being entertained by her big boy cousins.

Uncle Erik getting in some Sawyer time.  Hard to believe we'll be having another one of these little people in our family very soon...

Speaking of which...  At over 8 months pregnant, I took it pretty easy.  I could be found lounging on a lawn chair by the lake or - when I got too hot - lounging on an air mattress in the water.  I figured I should soak in these last few weeks of pregnancy where baby is nicely incubated inside and relatively easy to care for :)

All in all, we had a fantastic time.  The kids will have fond memories of our time in Oroville.

Thanks James & Rosanna for a great time!!

Love Month & Other Things

Valentine's Day came and went. 

And there was a lot of sugar consumed...

BC had it's very first Family Day this year (a week earlier than the rest of the country's Family Day - go figure).  Unfortunately Erik could not participate so it just felt like a long day at home with the kids...

I decided to try to make it fun by baking Valentine's sugar cookies with the kids. But I think the first 1/2 hour of the process was spent fighting over which stool each kid got to stand on, who got to pour the sugar in and who's turn it was to use the mixer...

  

And then there's me watching flour go everywhere and silently reminding myself that it's just flour - we can clean it up later...

After the mixing, it was time for the rolling and cutting.  More mess for sure.  And more drama as the kids fought over the only 2 heart cookie cutters I had.  Silas must've lost interest in the process by the time I took this picture.  Likely sneaking in some screen time in another room...

While Silas napped (I'm so thankful he still does most days) the older kids and I got a head start on the decorating.  Eliminating one child from the equation made this part so much less chaotic...  Other than me reminding the kids every couple of minutes not to lick the knives they were using for spreading (sorry to anyone who shared these cookies with us...)

We used this sugar cookie recipe, which calls for sour cream and makes super soft cookies.

Valentine's came a few days later and we celebrated Love Day as a family...

Pizza was on the menu and I cut them out using my big heart-shaped cookie cutter.  A bit labour-intensive compared to regular pizza...

But worth it.
I think.

Other exciting happenings of this last month included welcoming our newest cousin/nephew to the world.  A few days before Valentine's, Sawyer James was born - the kids were already in their PJs when we got the news but we quickly packed them all up and headed to the hospital to meet him for the first time.

It was fun to explain to the kids that this is how they would meet their new sibling for the first time.  I think they were pretty excited about the idea.

I'm now 17 weeks pregnant and feeling great.  Just... growing.  Up until yesterday I was making do with stretchy leggings and my regular jeans with an elastic band stretching from button to button hole - but the old elastic band trick just wasn't really cutting it anymore.  And when I recently went through my bag of maternity clothes from my previous pregnancies I felt like throwing up a little bit.  Some of those clothes I bought nine years ago.  Needless to say they are just not working for me in 2013.  Erik's mantra this pregnancy has been "We are not buying ANYTHING new for this baby."  But sorry honey, Mama just has to feel somewhat pretty for the next 5 or 6 months - something to counteract the visual of those numbers creeping up on the scale every morning...

Happy Love Month to me!

One Last Hurrah

Yesterday was the last day of August.  And with it came the end-of-summer regrets.

We didn't go camping, we didn't do enough day trips...  Sheesh, we didn't even swim in a lake this summer!

So we planned a backyard camp-out.

I had a bunch of leftover fondue chocolate from a baby shower, so we enjoyed a little fondue by the fire for our night snack.  (I must add that my new favourite dipping item is rice krispie treats... so yummy)

(This camping stuff is serious business around here)

I listened to Erik tell the kids a bedtime story as I sat by the fire and enjoyed a peaceful evening with a starry sky and the spotlight of the blue moon behind me.  We learned the blue moon isn't actually "blue" but is the event of a full moon happening twice in the same month.  Apparently it's rare.  It only happens, like... once in a blue moon.

Admittedly I wasn't keen on sleeping in the tent with my own warm bed calling me from so close-by.  The one other backyard camp-out we had this summer was pretty squishy with the 5 of us so I let Erik enjoy the tent without me.  But it definitely didn't mean a sleep-in day for me.  The kids all traipsed in the house shortly after 7 and then it was time to think of a Saturday morning breakfast.  We decided it would be appropriate to make our breakfast over the fire.  And it also seemed appropriate to pick some fresh blackberries to go with it.

Erik got the sausages and pancakes cooking on a nice hot fire...

And the kids said good morning to all the animals.

Breakfast of champions right here...

 After a few extra cuddles in the tent, it was time to start our last summer Saturday.

So long, Summer...