It's Christmas Time!

And you know what that means? Concerts, concerts, concerts. Shopping, shopping, shopping. Birthday parties, parties, and baking, and cleaning, and decorating. And the list goes on. It's been a very busy month and I haven't had time to blog. But it's been a happy time.
Nicolle and Jason did excellently on their reports cards this term. Nicolle has an 89% average. We're very proud of her. Jason is "meeting expectations" and has lots of "Exceeding expectations". Amazingly smart kids!!! says the proud mommy! Here are their grade 7 and grade 2 pictures:


Jason had his birthday party last Friday. We invited 7 boys, 5 came. It was a wild, loud time. Boys are a handful! This year, Jason didn't want a theme! What???? I was lost. I hardly knew what to do for a 'normal' party. We just played games, ate and opened presents. Jason had a great time.

And here's the millenium boys at the family birthday party:

We had our church sunday school concert this past weekend, too. Nicolle was Mary and Jason was a shepherd. Aaron and Cassie were in it too, of course!

Nicolle played in her school band concert. She's really improving in her flute. I love to hear her practice. The band is 'one of the best the school's had' according to Mrs. Andrews and they're going to go to Halifax in April.
Jason's school concert was tonight. He was an elf. So cute! Here's a picture of him and his class:


We're eagerly awaiting Saturday. That's Pakie Day! Nieuwhof Christmas will be held at our house this year. We're looking forward to seeing Amanda and Matt. We'll really miss Dianna and Mary and their families this year. And of course, we always miss Tetcy and hers. We send our love and please know that we are thinking of you!

As usual, my mother and sister will join us on Christmas Eve and be with us for Christmas. My uncle Floyd will join us for the big meal and then later in the afternoon, my aunt and cousins will come! Can't have Christmas without them! It's tradition!

So that's a quick update on our lives. I wish you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Nicolle is Back!

Just to let you know -- Nicolle has posted a new blog. Check it out! :)

I haven't disappeared! Really!

I just haven't had any news to report.
Randall has reported on the digging situation. It has been a long fall. I miss Marten. They will hopefully finish up this week. With the snow on the ground, they are not starting to dig until this afternoon. But there is no more reports of snow or rain until Friday. Figures crossed.
I'll take you back in time right now. Before digging, Marten had a chance to finish the promised zipline. It's huge. Does Marten ever do anything small? Here's some picture of the fun.

Call me crazy, but I've already done some work on next year's VBS. We're 'going' to Crocodile Dock and the theme suggests swampy areas in the bayou. So.... because I love my children so much and I want to have them involved in church related activities... I had them climbing through swamps cutting down bull rushes for me. lol Actually, they had a lot of fun and they wanted to do it again the next weekend. This time we brought Marten along and it was a fun afternoon. This picture was taken at the end of the gathering. See... they're still smiling. :D


The kids enjoyed Halloween again this year. Candy! What kid wouldn't! Jason was a pirate (again!) and Nicolle started off as a pirate but didn't want to wear the hat and eyepatch... so in the end, she kinda looked like a maiden from the medevial days. (A wench, a barmaid... but we didn't use those terms in front of her. hee, hee) She was very excited to wear makeup. The picture shows them with Nicolle's friend Amanda. She's new to the island from Halifax and is at our house very often. She came trick-or-treating with us. Shyla came with us too. Poor Jason -- the only boy. :( He came out of his depression as soon as he dumped his bag full of candy on the living room floor.

I should have a picture of the snow that was STILL on the ground this morning but I can't bear it. Snow... this early. Argghhh! Give me back my summer!
Bundle up people and stay warm! Love to all! Karen

Vacation 2008

I know I said I'd choose a few pictures... but it was real hard. Can you stand to sit through 100? Just pretend you're on a mini-trip. Enjoy!

Trying To Get Back Into A Routine!

Hi everyone! We've been back from our vacation for a while now but I haven't found time to download pictures and write about our awesome time. I'll have to get back into a fall routine so I can spend time with you folk -- instead of this quick note.

We went right from vacation to Band Camp for Nicolle and setup for VBS. The last week in August was our VBS and it was AWESOME. We had 68 children. That's a record for Central. (42 in 2006 and 51 in 2007). What a fun week. The Lab theme was a real hit. We got tons of comments from parents about how much their child was enjoying it. Makes all the work worthwhile.

Then it was time for school preparation. Here's some pictures of them on the first day. Can you believe Nicolle is in Jr. High - Grade 7 and Jason is in Grade 2?

I have a million things to tell you about our vacation but it would take too long. (And I wouldn't want to bore you. hee, hee). I think I'll attempt a slide show so you can see in pictures what we've done. It'll be hard to choose a few pics from over 500 but I'll try.

Arghhhh... where's the summer going?

The end of July -- already? It's going so fast.
Jason has had his first encounter with Canoe Cove Christian Camp. He loved it. He camped from July 13-16th. It really helped that Nicolle and I were helpers in the kitchen all week. He didn't have a chance to miss us. Daddy did though. It sure was tiring being there all week. Last year, I only worked Tuesdays and Fridays. I had days inbetween to recuperate. :) I'm getting old.
Nicolle goes to camp tomorrow. Her 6th year being there. I'll be in the kitchen on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I want to thank Mom, Alice and Elisabeth for taking a turn looking after Jason for a day so I can do this work for my God. I so enjoy Canoe Cove and all it does for the children and I am blessed to be able to help out in this way (thanks to my family who are so willing to help me).
Nicolle gets home on Friday night. Saturday will be spent doing laundry, etc. and repacking. We're leaving on Sunday for our family vacation in Ontario. Marten and I have been googling some fun sites to visit and we're excited to go. We'll be visiting with Tetcy's on Monday and Tuesday. We'll visit the African Lion Zoo on Tuesday. On Wednesday, we'll travel to Niagara Falls. We'll be staying with my cousin Patsy for 3 nights. We're looking forward to a family BBQ; Marten's going to work one day with Adrian; and we'll do the 'touristy' stuff around Niagara Falls. We decided to travel through the states on the way home. We're looking forward to doing the 4 Natural Wonders of NY: Howe Caverns, High Falls Gorge, Ausable Chasm and the Natural Stone Bridge and Caves. Marten has even talked me into rafting. Yikes! We'll have to take pictures for sure.
Once we get home, I'll feel old and tired so I might as well have a birthday to celebrate that fact. :) ha, ha.
Then, it's into VBS preparation week for our POWER LAB VBS on Aug 25-29. How fun!
I'll post more after our vacation and I'll include some pics.
Love to all!

Happy Canada Day!

Hope you all had a great 'mini vacation' on Canada Day! We had a real great family day. It started off with a sleep-in. Sigh, gotta love that! Mmmmm, I love my bed. :) Then we got in the Camaro and headed to Cap Egmont where the bottle houses are. So neat! It's even in the books "Ripley's Believe It Or Not " and "100 Things To Do Before You Die".
(Here are some pictures: Marten in the Tavern. Nicolle 'getting drunk' in the Tavern. Jason and Nicolle in the chapel. Karen and Marten at the back of the 6 gabled house.)


Then we went to Sandspit for 2 hours. Oh my, I was hot. It said it was 29 outside but I think the pit was hotter. I was getting ready to have Marten shave my hair off just to get it off my neck. Oh well, the kids had a blast (all 3 of them) :). The only thing I did was the mini golf. I'm not one for rides but it's fun watching them have so much fun.
We had supper at Subway in Cavendish and then splurged on Cow's icecream. Almost $20 for the 4 of us. Yikes! We'll go home next time for icecream.
By the time we got home, it was 9ish. The kids vegged on the couch for a while until it was time for the fireworks. As usual, we went down to the farm but we were joined this year by Tineke and kids, Klaas and Alice and kids, and Alice's brother and family. It was great fun! The fireworks lasted longer this year (almost half an hour). So the kids didn't get in bed til 11 pm but did they sleep in the next morning? .... nope!
Marten continued his little vacation by taking Wednesday off to work on the zip line he's making for the kids. Wow. I think it's 130 feet long. Quite impressive. It's going to be so much fun when it's done. He seeded in grass seed today and he probably has another day needed to finish. Tomorrow, he and David are going over to Carl's for a 4 wheeling trip. He's very excited.
Nicolle and I spent the day at Canoe Cove Christian Camp learning the rules for the new kitchen. We're both working for the Gr2-3 camp (July 13-16) and then I'll be there again at the Gr6-7 camp. So much work but VERY rewarding.
Jason spent the day at Elisabeth's playing with Caleb (Thanks Elisabeth!). Damaris and Caleb are going to come over on Saturday to show us their new and improved swimming skills.

So, that's our exciting week. Hope you are all having as much fun. Love to all, Karen and gang

Congratulations to Julie and Kenneth!

I had the pleasure this afternoon of seeing my niece Julie and her boyfriend Kenneth all dressed up for Prom '08. Aren't they a handsome couple? :) Congratulations to both on graduating from Blue Field High School. We're so proud of you.

Father's Day Splash!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there! We celebrated with french toast for breakfast. (Marten usually makes Pancakes on Sundays so that was a treat to have me make this.) Later, we opened presents (inside the card was a subscription to Camaro Performers; a car cover for the winter, solar lights for the gardens; a shower stand for shampoo etc. -- he's getting a little annoyed at all MY bottles falling on his toes. Oops!; and summer pajamas).

Marten and the kids watched CARS, the movie.
Then we all went in the pool for the first time this year. Can you all say BRRRRRR!?!
In a few minutes we're going to go for a camaro drive to Kensington. Marten likes the Frosty Treat restaurant there. Supper! Yum!

So we all hope you had a great day too!

PS. The french toast reminded me of a cute story about Nicolle. The french immersion class and the english class girls are very clickish. They don't play together. But Emily, a new girl, who started off in the english then moved to french is doing her best to get them together. Bless her! It's so cute -- they call the french girls "french toast" and the english class "english muffins". :) Thought that might put a smile on your face. Cute!

Happy Birthday Randall!

Love from Marten, Karen, Nicolle and Jason

Have a GREAT day!

Mom's Doing Great!

Great news! Mom's surgery went great. We were at the hospital at 10am. The nurses did all their jobs (temp., blood pressure, putting the IV in, etc.) and then froze her eye. I was with her the whole time until they took her to the operating room. The doctor came at 11:30 and did some more prep work. He also informed her that she wouldn't be put to sleep. I'm glad she didn't know that beforehand. She was worried enough. The operation started at 11:45, was done at 12:30, and we were in the car at 12:50. Amazing. They put a plastic lens behind her eye. Unfortunately, Mom spent the rest of the day feeling sick to her stomach. She doesn't take drugs well. So, she slept and I didn't have much to do except wake her up to put eye drops in her eyes. She'll have to do that for 4 more weeks. Plus wear a sheild at night. Very cute!
Tuesday she was feeling much better and she could see remarkably well already. We were at the doctor's at 7:45am for a checkup and everything was looking great. I came home in the afternoon to see the kids and Marten and cook them supper but Mom wanted me to be with her for one more night so I headed back to town. She had a great day today so I came home feeling confident that she would be OK. I'll go in on Friday morning and take her to another doctor's appointment. Thanks for your prayers. They were answered!

On a different topic, tonight was Nicolle's end-of-the-year band concert. It was excellent! Mrs. Andrew does a terrific job with them. Very impressive.
And now I wait... for Marten to come home from planting. I haven't spent any time with him since Saturday. Hopefully, he won't be too late. :)

Love to all, Karen

Prayers for Mom

Hi everyone! I have no exciting news like some of you. I just wanted to update my blog.
I also would covet your prayers for my mother. She has to have eye surgery on Monday and she is very nervous and upset. She is so confused about the whole thing (things easily confuse her nowadays). They've changed the date of the operation 3 times. First, she was staying overnight, now she's not. She doesn't know if she'll be put to sleep or be awake for the operation. She has to take 3 different eye drops 4 times a day and she can't remember that. I've made her a calendar with the medicine names and the times she has to take them.
Usually Mom doesn't show emotion about anything but she was crying on Sunday. It was really hard for me to see. She wants to cancel the operation but we won't let her. It'll be over soon, I tell her, and everything will be back to normal.
I'm going to stay overnight at her apartment on Sunday and Monday so I won't be able to check all your blogs out. I'll update when I get home.
Thanks for your prayers.
Love, Karen

To all the Moms out there:

This is the card that I made for my Mom for Mother's Day. I wanted to share the sentiment with you. I hope you all have a wonderful day celebrating this wonderful thing we call motherhood. :D

God Gave To Me A Child

Author: James B. Singleton

God gave to me a child - and then I knew

The precious gift of life, the beating heart,

The little hand that clings in childish trust,

The shining eyes that are so much a part

Of every moment in a parent's day;

A language that no words could ever say.

God gave to me a child - and then I knew

The joy of love fulfilled, the quiet peace

Of home and fireside where, with strife denied,

The heart can calmly rest in love's release,

Can gain strength in knowing angels stand

Around little ones with guarding hand.

God gave to me a child - and then I knew

The parenthood of God, the eternal care

Of He who keeps the night watch and never sleeps

Who, when His children need Him, is always there.

I sought His kingdom for so long a while,

And then I found it in my little baby's smile.

Before I Was a Mom

Author: Unknown

Before I was a Mom - I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby. I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous. I never thought about immunizations. Before I was a Mom - I had never been puked on. Pooped on. Chewed on. Peed on. I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts. I slept all night. Before I was a Mom - I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests. Or give shots. I never looked into teary eyes and cried. I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin. I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom - I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put them down. I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt. I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much. I never knew I could love someone so much. I never knew I would love being a Mom. Before I was a Mom - I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body. I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby. I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child. I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy. Before I was a Mom- I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay. I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment of the satisfaction of being a Mom. I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom.

Happy Mother's Day!

Spoiled Rotten and Loving It!

It's Monday morning, after our big trip to Moncton. I've just spent the last hour reading everyone's blog (and may I remind some of you that you are seriously behind keeping us updated on your lives. :D I'd love to hear your news!). Now, I'm awake and I have a huge smile on my face. I was so excited to hear Amanda's news about her new job. I had an awesome time reading Tetcy's last blog. I felt like I had spent the evening with her. I reread some blogs and enjoyed seeing pictures of ... flowers, a cute little boy, and some beautiful scenery. You know what? I'm spoiled. I really like my family.
Marten and I had a wonderful time 'away'. I really thank Klaas and Alice for keeping the kids. What did we do, you ask? :) Well... we had a nice drive over without the chatter from the back seat. I almost forgot what it was like to have quiet in the car. After we settled into our hotel, we made a list of what we'd like to do. I wanted to shop although I had nothing in mind to buy, go to a restaurant I've never been to before, see the Fundy tide come in, and just have fun being with my hubbie. We accomplished almost
everything. Shopping was GREAT. Marten even convinced me to go to Canadian Tire and Princess Auto. That made him happy so I was happy, too. We've been wanting to buy steel cord for a zipline for the kids. It cost $.79 a foot here but we found 150 feet for $29.99 at Princess Auto. Wahoo. AND a car cover for his camaro was on sale for $22.99 (44% off) Another wahoo! We also got a great deal at CT. I thought it would be fun to put up a badminton net for Nicolle this summer since she likes the game so much. $29.99 for a cheap set here... we found one on sale for $12. 98 over there. Another wahoo! :) Of course, Marten bought some model cars, a camaro magazine and a car charger for his cel phone. He was happy! BUT... I was super excited. Marten decided that he wanted my digital camera and he wanted to buy me a new one for Mother's Day. Randall recommended a Sony, so we headed to a sony store. Great sales. We bought a pink cyber shot (DSC-W130 for all of you in the know). It came with a docking station and a cute little pink carrying case (as seen in the picture). I love it! And the really exciting part about shopping. .. I got summer sandles. That's really exciting to me because, as most of you are aware, I have to wear orthopedic insoles for my bad feet. Well, they don't fit into sandles -- that I would want to buy. Except in the very last store we went into. The inserts come out and my inserts fit in perfectly. A major WAHOO! I am so happy to have sandles. They were a little pricey but Marten insisted. You know what? I'm spoiled. I really like my husband.
So that was one very successful item off the list. Next, a restaurant that we've never been to? We decided on the Taj Mahal Indian Restaurant. Wow -- I've never eaten Indian food before. It was a relaxing, almost 2 hour, meal. I loved it because it took us more than 15 minutes to eat :) and because it was YUMMY (except for the green mushy stuff). Samosas, curry chicken, rice, pakaloo, Naan, indian mango icecream. mmmmm
Next... the tide. This is the part we didn't accomplish. :( We read the sign wrong. It said 2h40. We thought it meant in 2 hours and 40 minutes. So we set our watches so we would be back for 4:20pm. duh. It meant 2:40pm. Oh well, maybe next time.
We had a leisurely trip back. We took some exits to drive through Cappele, Point Prim, Cape Jarmaine, -- some places we never had time to visit on other trips. Here's a picture of us in at Cape Jarmaine. Awwww... don't we look happy?
We got home early and picked up the kids. We got Julie and Kenneth to babysit and we headed to David's birthday party. That was fun. Then they invited us back for a BBQ after church on Sunday. The kids played on the trampoline and Marten and David went four wheeling. That left Paula and I to have a nice visit. You know what? I'm spoiled. I really like my friends.
So, it was a very successful weekend. I needed to get away with Marten but it was good to get back to home and life.
Do you know what? I'm spoiled. God has giving me SO many blessings.
Blessings to you all --I love you! Karen

We told the kids about Disney!

Hi everyone! Most of you know by now that we have been planning a trip to Disney World for the last couple of months. We're going with Klaas, Alice and kids. We're not going til February 2009 so we've been keeping it a secret from the children since it's such a long time away. However, Julie had to be informed to make allowances with her UPEI classes. Since she knew, we thought we'd better tell the rest. I was so excited. We all gathered together yesterday and told the kids that we had a secret and they had to ask questions to find out what it was. We could only answer with 'yes' or 'no'. It took them awhile, but Andrew figured it out. They were pretty excited. Jason didn't have the reaction I would have thought. Later that night, while tucking him in bed, I found out that he was nervous to go because of all the talk about the rollarcoasters. I assured him that the two of us would do something else while everyone else was on the rollarcoasters. He's much happier now. Me too. A good excuse so I don't have to go on them. Phew!
It was Klaas and Alice's 18th wedding anniversary yesterday so they went to Moncton for the weekend. We had Julie and Andrew here. It was great fun. We watched I AM LEGEND on friday night -- creepy. Marten and David went to the car show in Moncton on Saturday and they took David's boy, Oliver, and Jason and Andrew. Julie was at work so it was just me and Nicolle for the day. Sunday was my mother's 83rd birthday. We shared some chinese food and cake and gave her presents after church. Then we headed back here to share the news about Disney.
I was giving Marten a hard time -- Klaas and Alice went away together, Randall and Elisabeth went away together and... Marten and David went away together. Sigh. Is there no romance in that boy?!?!? :) Well, I think he feels guilty because he informed me that Alice will look after the kids next Friday night and we're going to Moncton. How fun. But what will we do? I don't want to go all the way to Moncton to go and see a movie. I have nothing I want to shop for. What else is there to do in Moncton? Any suggestions? I'm sure we'll still have fun. It'll be nice to get away and just be with Marten.
Oh, and just to keep you updated... Nicolle did not make the badminton team. Awwwww. She was a little sad but happy that she had tried out. I was proud of her for trying.
I did get one call last week from the school regarding Jason. Don't worry, it wasn't an accident! He was supposed to get off the bus at Taylor's house and I forgot to send a note and the boys were panicing because they wouldn't allow Jason to go. Rose phoned to confirm their story. Ooops! He got to go and Nicolle and I went to town and bought her some much needed summer clothes. We had a great time. A girl's night out!
I have found my flower beds. The snow is now official melted off of them. We still have some in the yard but not on the beds and now the flowers have a chance to peek up. Nothing yet but we're always 1-2 weeks behind Alice and Elisabeth. I'll have to get out there this week and take away all the dead leaves and branches, etc. I hope we're going to have some nice weather.
Thanks for checking in on me. I know I don't write as faithfully as some of you but I love to read your blogs and you get to hear from me through those comments. :) I just love hearing from you all. I'll look forward to that. I think of you all lots with much love ... Karen.

I Really Have Nothing To Blog About...

... but I'll bore you anyway. I've been wanting to blog but didn't have anything blogworthy. Let's see: Since the last time I blogged we've had March Break and Easter. March break brought sleepovers, bowling, playdates, ... we didn't travel this year because of Easter celebrations. But Easter was great fun. We enjoyed our Good Friday breakfast at church with a lovely service. We had a family meal on Saturday with Mom, Kathy and Uncle Floyd. Turkey and Duck. Mmmmmm! Yum! I'm still full from it. We hid Easter eggs for the kids to find. They have so much fun with that. They laugh at the silly places we hide them. Then, they love to hide eggs for Nana and Aunt Kathy to find. Mom doesn't enjoy that so much but she participates to humor the kids. I think Kathy has a great time. Then , the kids hide eggs for Marten and me. What fun! There was an Easter Sunday service at church and then home. We were happy to have a surprise visit from Amanda and Matt. It was great to see them and catch up.
Back to school and another call from Jason's teacher. This time, he had been playing tag at recess and fell into a metal post. He broke his front tooth. I picked him up and took him to the dentist. It's amazing how they can fix it. It looks like new and you can't tell that he even has a fake tooth. That was the third call in 3 weeks. The first one was to inform us that Jason and his friend Taylor had been playing with ice (which was a no-no) and Jason fell on Taylor (a likely story) and had a huge scrape down his face. The second call was to inform us that Jason had been saying mean things to his classmates ("I hate you." "I'm going to kill you." ...). Yikes! I was horrified. However, Jason informs us that he had been playing a game where he was the bad guy and that he was just playing his part. He didn't mean to hurt anyone's feelings. He cried and cried. He felt awful. After a long talking to, I'm sure he won't do that again. Sigh, boys!
Nicolle's lastest adventure is to try out for the badminton team. She only won 1 out of 4 games on friday, but she has this Wednesday and Friday to impress Mr. Matthews (the gym teacher). I hope she does better on those two days. Either way, I'm proud and impressed that she wanted to try.
I'm still helping out at our church's youth group for age 4- grade 6. Nicolle and Jason enjoy it. They were excited to see Aaron and Cassie join us this past Thursday. And I was excited to meet Tineke's "new friend" Jason afterwards. He came to pick up the kids with her. Good first impression. Very cute Tineke! (Gee, I hope it's OK that I blogged this Tineke! I assume that because you changed your relationship status on facebook that it is public news! :P) Are you blushing?
I was envious of Tetcy's blog and her 'front yard friends'. I'm looking forward to spring and getting in my gardens. It was sad to wake up to 3 inches of snow today. Although... it WAS very pretty and hid all that dirty old snow. So I'm glad that God sent us a present today. Hope He was good to you too. Love to all, Karen

A New Addiction

Hi everyone. It's been awhile. I know you're all wondering what treat I came up with for the 100th day of school. Tada! Necklaces with 100 pieces of fruit loops. Notice that they are in blocks of 10 for each color (the kids are learning to count by 10s). Sounds easy to do -- Looks coloringful and appealing. BUT, remind me not to do this again. EVER. It took me 4 1/2 hours to make 28 of these. YIKES! I was sick of counting by the end of it. Jason informs me it was worth it, though. Everyone was very excited to receive 100 treats in this way. The next picture is of Jason being a 100 year old man (complete with glasses and cane and slippers).
This next part is for Tetcy (and for anyone who's interested): You have me hooked on a new hobby. Thank you for bringing your card supplies to PEI. I had a lot of fun on Monday morning with you, Elisabeth and Damaris. It was great to learn some new tricks. (I have a Stampin'Up Chocolate Chip InkPad on order :D) I am having incredible fun designing new cards and playing with paper and stamping and making shapes out of cardboard and... I haven't found my dining room table since I started. We eat our meals in the livingroom. For shame. I'm scared if I put it all away, I won't get it out again. So the family suffers. I'll have to give them a thank you card. lol So, here's a sample of what I've done:

The Green Collection:

(All the "Thank You" wording came on a sheet for $2. Great deal!
The paper was bought at BuyRite on our shopping spree!
I think of you everytime I make a card in green! )

What's been accomplished so far:

Kids got their report cards yesterday and they did GREAT. I have parent-teacher interviews tomorrow but there is nothing to worry about. Mom is coming for the day to visit with us and she'll stay around to babysit tomorrow night so Marten and I can go to the farewell party for Andre. What fun!
Marten is in town with the children right now. They are at Youth Group. I can only assume that Marten visited with David at the shop (he's always cleaning there on Thursday nights). Soon, they will be home and we'll settle the kids for the night. Then we'll watch Survivor and Do You Know the Lyrics. A nice relaxing evening. Hope you are having one too. Love to all, Karen

Winter Sleigh Rides

We had a fun Friday night. The sunday school teachers arranged for a sleigh ride at Terpstra's. There were 34 of us in total. We had to use 2 sleighs. It was a lot of fun. Thankfully, the weather was actually nice. Only 0 degrees and a light snow. It was so pretty. And we weren't even cold. Half way through the ride, they stop at a huge hill and everyone has 15-20 minutes to go sledding. Wow. What a hit with the kids (and some Dads).

After the ride, there was hot chocolate and cookies and a look at the other animals in the barn. They really have a nice setup there.

Later that night, Marten and I watched a special Celine Dion concert on TV. It was really good.
Saturday, Nicolle went to a movie with some friends and I took Jason to get his hair cut ("Just like Pete's"). Marten wasn't feeling well and by Sunday, he really didn't feel well and he stayed home from Church. The kids and I went to Dairy Queen after church with Mom, Kathy, Lorna, Wayne and Janelle. Then we all went to Mom's and shared Valentine treats. Kathy had made everyone a plate of heart-shaped scotch cookies. Yum! Mom had chocolates. It was fun! I purposely stayed in town til 5 so Marten could get a good rest without noise and interuptions.
Now, it's Monday and he still doesn't feel well. He stayed home from work and rested on the couch inbetween naps. :) Say a prayer that he feels better soon.
I actually got on the computer tonight to research snack ideas for the 100th day of school. I'm supposed to bring something for the class. Most sites just say to have 10 bowls of 10 different things (choc. chips, pretzels, marshmallows, etc). The kids take 10 of each and therefore have 100 snack items. I need to feed 26 kids and 2 teachers. That sounds expensive. They don't want a cake. It takes too long to cut it and pass it out and it's messy. Any ideas?
I really enjoy all your blogs and appreciate all your comments. Thanks so much. Love, Karen

I Survived!!!

By now, all of you from "away" have heard that the island had a huge ice storm. Our power went out before we got up on Tuesday morning and didn't return til Friday afternoon at 2:45. All I can say is 'thank goodness for generators!' I think I could deal without the electricity. It was actually kinda nice not to have TV or playstation or computer. We had some yummy BBQ meals because of the lack of stove and oven. I also liked having the candles at night time. I even enjoyed having the kids home from school and just having a relaxing week. It was the lack of water that did me in. I was so grateful when the generator arrived on Wednesday so I could have a shower. (hee, hee... so was everyone else, I imagine). It's so easy to take washing your hands and flushing the toilet for granted. It's times like these....

Here's two of the pictures I took around our house. Our birch trees were bent over touching the ground. I was worried about them but they snapped right back up a couple of days later. Phew! I really like the white birch trees. The firs and pines were all crooked with the weight of the ice but they, too, are recovering nicely. We just lost a few trees around the property. And, luckily, no damage to house or pool. It was quite something to drive around and see all the damage done. There will have to be alot of cleanup in the spring (picking up broken branches and such).

Elisabeth was here on Thursday and we were discussing the storm, of course. She compared it to our lives. We can be bent over in troubled times with the weight of our worries, etc. But through faith and time, we can stand tall again. Plus, wasn't it beautiful with the sun on the fields and trees? Our lives can reflect the beauty of God even in those trials. Nice analogy! Thanks Elisabeth. So wise! :)

This week, also brought about Nicolle's 11 birthday. We had the family party on Thursday afternoon. And Tetcy... I also bought the cakes. I just can't seem to make good cakes. It's a good thing that Sobey's does such a fine job!

Nicolle had her 3 bestfriends come for a sleepover on Friday night. They are quite the foursome. I am so glad that Nicolle has this group of girls to hang with. They do alot together. I had a lot of fun being with them (when I was allowed :P). As you can imagine, the house was full of shrieks and giggles and whispering. The girls painted t-shirts (the blue ones in the first "charlie's angel" picture), watched a movie, and talked and stayed up til 3am. I went to bed at midnight (giving up all hope that they would settle down). Oh well, it doesn't happen often. I was surprised to see them awake at 8am. After breakfast, we had a photo shoot. Should be easy, I said. It would be nice to have a picture of these 4 muskateers together. Well.... try to get a group of 4 giggling girls to sit still and all smile at the same time. It was so funny. We must have taken 30 pictures before they agreed on one they liked. I printed one out for each girl and they decorated a wooden frame to put it in to take home.

Best Friends: Heather Van Veen; Emily Ross, Nicolle and Katie Wedge

After games, another movie, lunch, more talking and giggling, we had planned an outdoor activity. I had filled all my plastic containers with colored water and put them outside 2 days before to freeze. The girls were to make an ice-castle out of it. Come Saturday, the ice was quickly melting and it was near impossible to build. It was sliding all over the place so instead of a castle, they made a 'pretty' sculpture. Oh well, they had fun! They also had fun destroying it (as seen in picture).

The girls left at 4 pm and Nicolle had a GREAT birthday. Phew! Another one accomplished.

To finish off my exciting week we went to church this morning (I helped with the grade 5-6 class). We spent lunch with Nana and Kathy and celebrated Nicolle's birthday again. We arrived home for supper and now I'm enjoying spending the last hours of my week with you. :)

So ... I survived a very busy, different week . And I believe I'm all the better for it.

I hope that you all can say the same! :) Love you all! Karen