.. more house pictures...

I posted some pics quite some time ago.. right when we were buying the place - mostly outside pictures, but now when I was taking some pics of the bathroom renos-- I got a few inside shots.

This is our entry - with new paint job (Grassland Green)..

This is the kitchen/dining room area.. the main plan is to paint the walls Merlot and the cabinets will be white much like the bathroom ones. We are also replacing the range overhood fan and the countertop range. Eventually...

This is just looking the other way from the kitchen/dinning room area.. this is our table + our reading by the fire area..

Next is the living room, and you can see the entrance in the background..



Then the officey/workout/sewing/playing area... it's cluttered but it works.

There are certainly other areas of the house but pictures just don't do the rooms justice, they always look funny, so until I get some better shots.. this is it!!

El Bano is new - o

House reno's are so much fun (not really) but when you are on the uphill portion of the battle it is so rewarding. I really have to thank my sister for helping me get the bathroom done. She is a perfect cutter inner and so she helped with the first coat and after some drama, and no cell phone coverage, she also did the second coat. YIPES - still sorry about that sis! I am sorry that I didn't take a before photo of the bathroom cause holy crap that wall paper was UGLY.. this is the after shots.. envision it minus the clutter and seashell toilet seat, and add some baseboards -- oh and a shower curtain that I am sewing myself with fabulous fabric. The color is chocolate fondue.. very cool and the cabinets used to be hideous dark wood.

LOCAL STARS

The girls made the local newspaper yesterday...

There was a town-wide book fair at the local library. The books sold there were $1 a piece with all the proceeds going back to the library. They had a lot of fun filtering all sorts of great stories! They were the first kids to arrive and were into the kids books ASAP! It was quite cute. I can't help but love their adoration for books. The library also has a great romp/play room for kids so even Mommy had a change to paruse the other books. It really was a good time.

long time, no type

Last week I took a "Programming with Python" course in Prince George. It was very in depth and l......o.....n.......gggggg, but good. So I stayed in PG at the Treasure Cove Hotel & CASINO. It was nice. Collin had the girls back and forth with my mama and I came back Friday. Millie had been sick with the FLU the whole 5 days that I was gone, poor thing. Over the weekend we painted and did some renos, I got the Flu Monday/Tuesday but am back on track now! Hope everyone was well while I was away - I've got some catching up to do.

Trick or Treat?

Happy HALLOWEEN everyone! Today is looking rather snowy outside but still feels like Halloween. Especially after the sugar filled potluck here at work!

Here's a pic of Millie dressed up as an "Orange Ribbon Witch" We got black hair spray and painted her nails black too! She is having lots of fun dressed up today at daycare. They are having a Halloween party in her Kindergarten class for 2 days.. one yesterday and one tomorrow so Millie is lucky to get 3 whole days of Witchiness.
And here's Oaksie, she is going as a witch this year too - only her costume has purple ruffles all around the hat. Her cape is rather gothic and is sheer with purple embrodery all to the ground. She feels really grown up and loves to practice her cackle... Of course this picture was from last night just trying things on.. she was buck naked in this thing.. today she is wearing a black shirt and jeans underneath! Wish you all could be here so we could knock on your doors!


The picture below is of Oaksie and her best friend Kimberly at their Brownies Halloween party from yesterday!

And my sister Tracy.. as a fairy princess! She looks so good, she is a SPARKS leader for Millie's unit.. I am sure they had a great time!

Freakish snow storm..

Well Friday it started to snow about 7 am and never stopped until last night. It was that we slushy gushy terrible snow that just stuck to everything. Collin actually flipped the Jetta onto it's side on Friday on his way home from work. Thankfully, the only damage was to a hub cap.. lucky. I am so glad that he was not hurt.
So here are some pictures.. though they don't do it any justice, of what our place looked like. The snow was so wet and so fast. We got at least a foot of snow overnight! A bunch of our trees were bent right over with the weight. Quite a few of them had the tops snap off and crash to the ground. Of course, this really gave Collin a chance to use the UGLY TRUCK to plow snow. So he was quite pleased. +++ he also got to get out the skidoo and rip around! We were out of power for the better part of Saturday but had a good time anyway. And the kids of course loved it cause it was perfect snow man weather.
So to sum it up - thank goodness for electricity and wood heat, and mittens.. we couldn't have made it without you.

Is it possible..

that I have run out of things to say?

I have not posted since Oct.12 and it is now the 20th and still, I've got nothing. Which for me is a phenomenon that I am not familiar with. I seem to have something to say or some event to talk about but this last week.. nothing but static.

So - I guess I'll just have to post about not posting and call it a day! Have a good weekend all!

Tony the CAT

We have a new kitty! We were really sad when our other cat Charlie died. And so we realized that we still had our other cat Jazzy - who was really aloof and pissy but had just this summer FINALLY turned into a decent mouser and was actually affectionate. The the day we got to move into our place, after 2 1/2 months of living there in the yard, she disappears and has not come back. I think she was eaten by something... so last Friday, Collin & Millie went to the SPCA and adopted a new cat... TONY. He's a 2 year old orange tabby.. he is still a bit shy but he's coming around. Oreo has officially been put in her place and get the full hiss/scratch routine everytime she is within 3 feet of Tony. It's actually kinda funny.

My nephews

It occured to me (after a bit of help ;)) that I haven't really posted all that often about my nephews. Mitchell is 9 and Brendan is 3. They live about 5 minutes drive from us and so we are lucky enough to get to see them all the time. I can remember when I was growing up, we didn't have all that many cousins around. I used to just adore the times when we would go to Summerland to visit Aunt Jess and Uncle Pete. Dono and Jason were so different from us back then and we got along so well as kids that it was THE GREATEST times when we got to hang out with them. We got to torture them a bit too.. tricking them into playing with chickens feet and other stupid Vanderhoof stuff! ( I still laugh about that Dono!).

So it's really cool that our girls get to have that kind of relationship with their cousins on a daily basis. Almost as if they are brothers and sisters. It's very neat. The four of them get along so well (most of the time) that it is cool seeing them together. Are they cute? I guess I get to live vicariously through Tracy as to what it would be like having boys and vice versa for her and girls!

Nechako White Sturgeon - Endangered

Nechako White Sturgeon Recovery Initiative (NWSRI)
Dwelling in deep pools of the Nechako River is a survivor from the age of the dinosaurs - the Nechako white sturgeon. This mysterious creature is the largest freshwater fish in Canada, and has existed relatively unchanged for millions of years – surviving volcanic eruptions, ice ages and climatic upheavals. But the Nechako white sturgeon is now swimming in a current of change that is taking it to the very brink of extinction. It is ranked as Critically Imperiled by the British Columbia Conservation Data Centre and is an Endangered Species according to the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC).
In the last 50 years, the Nechako white sturgeon population has dropped from what some scientists believe was a minimum of 5000 fish to less than 600. And the vast majority of those fish are more than 30 years old. The lack of younger fish means that sturgeon are either not reproducing successfully or that the young are not surviving to adulthood. As sturgeon do not begin spawning until they are 15 to 30 years old, the lack of young sturgeon in the Nechako means that an entire generation is already missing. (An exerpt from the Recovery Website http://www.nechakowhitesturgeon.org/sturgeon/).

As part of the recovery initiative, the local school district works with Fisheries to involve kids of all ages in this process. Earlier this year, a mother sturgeon was caught and since sturgeon spawn only once in a 2-6 year period, they (Fisheries) took full advantage. 5000 juveniles were raised and released into the Nechako River on Oct. 3/4 here in Vanderhoof. My girls each got to number, name & release a sturgeon of their own into the river. It was so cool!



So here go "Squirmy" & "Jackie" to grow into full sized sturgeons! Which by the way are a HUGE fish. Largest ever recorded was 1500lbs. And something over 15 feet long.. YIKES. They are very cool, and very prehistoric.

Fall is in the air

Almost (what seems like all of a sudden) the fall and winter is upon us here in Vanderhoof. The last 2 days have been -8C/-10C. Yikes. It feels like a real shocker. The late summers have been so warm and this little cold snap is a wake up call.

Collin's parents came to visit over the weekend. We had a short but sweet time, went quading lots and warmed ourselves by the fire. We quaded into a few local lake and had a wiener roast over an open fire - it was nice. The first night that we went out there were tonnes of deer out in the fields, I think we counted 10+. It was very cool for the girls to see them all, me too acutally I usually only see a couple a year, so I guess my year's done!
Now we just wait for snow.. though we don't generally have any until after Halloween, we will see - it certainly feels cold enough.
Collin, the girls & I also went out on Sunday and got a nice big load of firewood for the woodstove. It was a great day, we talked and played, and worked out butts off.. in fact I think I have new muscles (or at least some hurt that never existed before)! A full 6 hours of bucking with chainsaws, loading, stacking, unloading, chopping, then stacking again. Phew.. gee only 3 more to go for this winters supply! It's good family time though so I love it nonetheless.

A place to have a java by the fire..

We have a space in our new house that was kinda empty. I is in the informal dining room area and it just always seemed really empty, so, the chairs that I wanted went from $99/pc to $59/pc and the table went from $79/pc to $59/pc so, the whole 3 set was $208. Not too bad! So here are some pictures of how it looks.
It is so nice to sit there and read a book or have some cofee right by the fireplace, and looking out on our view!

A new nephew....

Keith and Angie finally had their baby... a boy!!!! DALEN MICHAEL , he was born yesterday the 24th at 4:30 in the morning.
I've heard through the grapevine that she did a great job (Angie) and she is feeling like going home already. Dalen is doing well so I think they might go home today. I am dying to see some pictures of the little man. So CONGRADULATIONS Keith & Ang on baby 3! And yippee for us, we get a baby to snuggle but without all the cravings & labour! Now that's the way to do it.

I have been elected as PRESIDENT!!!

But only of my daughters' school PAC committee! Out of a potential of about 600 parents, we only have around 5-7 parents who are involved in the Parent Advisory. There are a core of 4 of us and the old president was stepping down this year, so I hummed and hawwed, and then accepted. I am actually quite excited about it - we are very deep into fundraising for the school to buy more playground equipment, and also to maintian a bank flow to offer hot lunches to the kids every Friday and hold Christmas concerts, etc. I also designed and built a website for the school over last year and some of this and it will finally be used this year. YIPEE! So when it finally get's posted to the server I will send you the link and you can see. It's very cool!

...................... Grade K.........................

This week Millie has started Kindergarten, it is so cute. She is going for 1/2 days for Mon/Wed/Fri this week, then full days next week. She has a great teacher (Oaksana's old K teacher) and a really good friend from daycare in her class with about 4 other kids that she knows too. I went today to walk her to her regular line-up area and took some pictures, here's her with her friend Jessie..

She looks so small in comparison to all the kids in her class. Little shorty! And this next pic is of her and Oaksie. Oaksie was teaching Millie how to do a "spider" on the swings.. as you can see, they had a great time!
We also registered the girls in Sparks & Brownies on Monday so here's a pic of them in those uniforms.

Cuties..

Ahh, mon bébé a cinq ans..

Well let's see, on September 8th my baby turned 5. I cannot beleive that she is that old, she still seems sooooo small.

She is pleased as punch that she is now a "BIG GIRL"!

We had family over for cake on her big day and then she had 1 friend over on sunday so she was excited and made us sing her happy birthday for 3 straight days! It was cute.

Our holiday

Well since we had to kill some time and had some holidays booked we decided that we would do a bit of travelling. We went to Kamloops to visit a friend there and it was so nice to see her. We went to the BC Wildlife park http://www.kamloopswildlife.org/ . We sat through a falconry show which was very cool and one of the small vultures actually flew up and sat on Oaksana's head. She was breathless and so was I.. (clearly cause I didn't take a photo!) But I did get this shot of this horned owl afterwards. Half way through the park there is a spray park, so the kids cooled off there as it was about +38C that day... yikes.

We also went to a wedding at Roche Lake near Kamloops for Todd & Stephanie and it was so amazing. I love weddings, they are so fun and always make me cry, and make me feel warm and fuzzy about how much I love Collin! The resort also had a pool so the kids swam all day long and had a blast.. and of course danced their buts off till they were so tired! So CONGRATS to you TODD & STEPH!

It was a good (much needed) break from our long summer.

The Vanderhoof Fall fair

It was here over last weekend and the girls had a good time. There was a parade through town (which ended up being rather short and late, hence the look on Millies face featured below!), with horses and the Vanderhoof goose.

After that we had dinner at my sisters house and then went out to the fair for a few hours. We say horses, cows, a big mama cow with horns, some birds, and of course there was a band. The girls had so much fun, dances their buns off to the celtic music, ate a BLUE sno cone, and petted everything! It's all over till next year.. enjoy the photos.

The big 3-0 for Sherbear..

Happy birthday girl!!!

Sherie Ellen Green is absolutely without a doubt one of my best girly friends. We've been best friends since we were just tiny kids. We went through a lot together growing up, sneaking out, getting drunk, partying, breaking hearts, getting our hearts broken, moving to Victoria, bombing around in our cars.

Sherie, you are a wonderful mother, and friend. I really miss not having you so close to me. I hope that your day is filled with every joy your heart can hold!

daddy's got a brand new....

QUAD.. http://http://www.polarisindustries.com/en-us/ATV/2006Models/Sportsman/Sportsman500EFI/

As you can imagine he is ABSOLUTELY GIDDY with excitement. I'll upload some pics of him riding soon.

Self representing artists..

Though I am sure there are a million that I could mention,

S.Scott http://stores.ebay.ca/S-Scott-Fine-Art actually lives in Fort St. John, BC and is a wonderful artist. I recently bought a piece of hers - it's abstract and I can't wait to find a place for it on my wall.. seen below,

The other who I am very fond of is Rob Havassy (though I don't know if he is self representing) http://www.robbhavassy.com/. His originals are great but a little on the pricey side, not worth wise - just my pocket book wise. Below is one of his pieces that I like.. which runs about $1850.00 so basically a pipe dream for me but.. ahh one can wish!

a photo of me..

now okay, admittedly I do not like photo's of myself as a rule. This one was taken today by a gentleman at my office who oraganizes and produces a photo staff org chart for new people. I had a look and - well, I don't HATE it so.. I thought maybe I should post it. Now all ya'll can see a pic of me that is not from 1999! LOL

Our 6th Wedding Anniversary

It was on Saturday. I tell you, if ever there was a year (or summer rather) that we'd ever wondered if we would stay married it would be this one. Living in the holiday trailer has proven to be ab "experience" that has definately strengthened our relationship.

Though our anniversary is 6 years we have been together for 8 1/2 years. And in those years we have,

• had Oaksana, got married, then had Amelija
• moved to Houston, Carstairs, Didsbury, Burns Lake & then Vanderhoof
• rented a place, bought a mobile home, sold, bought a starter home, sold, and now waiting for the acreage
• bought a 10ft holiday trailer, sold, got a 24ft holiday trailer, sold, got a camper, got in a fight, sold, bought a 22 ft holiday trailer!
• we've had 2 boats, and a hot tub = the one brown boat we still have
• ARE YOU STARTING TO SEE A PATTERN HERE??????
• we've had a honda civic, sold, honda accord, traded, subaru justy, sold, and now have a volkswagon jetta
• had a toyota king cab truck, broke, got a chevy, sold, and now have a white dodge
• had a quad that Collin traded for my B~A~B~Y blue VW Bug (bless his soul) , which we sold this year, and turned into the "ugly truck" snow plow
• we've travelled to Barkerville, Alberta (numerous times & places), the Okanagan

WOW - when you write it down like that.. it seems a bit nutty. BUT - it's been GREAT, I couldn't have asked for a better 8 years of my life. Collin, I love you - thanks for everything! I sincerely look forward to anything and everything that is to come. (and trade & sell & borrow & break)!!

This weekend we bought a patio set for each other & for our new deck. I got Collin some fishing tackle & a fillet knife, and the Mortons gave us a Peony for the garden! It was a great day, we really enjoyed each other & the girls. :)

surprise visits are the best ones...

We had a fairly relaxed long weekend around here. We did some more gardening, translplanting, weeding, pruning, etc. We finally finished the dog pen for Oreo, and worked for the entire day yesterday on the girls' tree fort. We had finished that (well finished framing - we still have to get some plywood to sheet the thing) around; I dunno 1:30pm (or so). The cell phone rang and it was Joyce & Clint, Hilary and Marshall Magnus! They are Collin's Aunt and Uncle and cousins. We haven't seen them since last year at Ken & Gis' Anniversary party. I can't recall a time that they've ever been this way.. other than our wedding!
They are moving to Kitimat and were on their way with the U-Haul and everything and just stopped in! It was so cool. So we caught up over smoked salmon(which Hilary scrunched her nose at.. but Marshall L~O~V~E~D) & kokanee beer .. it was great. We already have plans to go their for Thanksgiving, thanks for the invite guys, can't wait to see you again!

Poor Noodle

Oaksana had a dentist appt today. She had a filling in a tooth and it fell out, and since then has really been breaking up and falling out. So she had to get it pulled. Because there was hardly anything left to grab onto, they had a really hard time, they have to give her 3 set of freezing and even then it wasn't helping. I have never heard her scream like that before, she was in so much pain. Poor thing. So much so that I almost threw up just being there - I can hardly imagine how she felt. And seriously you should have seen the size of the roots that came out of her gums. I know that she's gonna be pretty sore for the next couple of days. I will keep ya'll posted... geesh.. it's so tough being a kid!