DVRC

This morning, we went out to camp for the Sunday service.
Simon happily played in the bushes the entire service and Claire had one of her grand mal meltdowns for who knows why (did I mention she's a crazy toddler now?)

Trevor and I grew up as campers at Dallas Valley. We both played wide games with enthusiasm, rode horses and climbed high on the wall there. I have vague memories of a tall boy chasing me during Capture the Flag and giggling with him during a Drama skill. He remembers a very loud girl (who me?) who would tease him relentlessly. I have his phone number in one of my old journals.

Later, we worked on staff together. We have a collective memory of more wide games, drama skills and the chokecherry Olympics. (Later, we hung out in university, lost touch, got reacquainted and then fell in love).

Camp was the place I longed for every summer. It was the one place, growing up, that I felt totally free to be me: silly, ridiculous, clumsy and outdoorsy. I loved being a camper there but, even more so, I loved being a staff member.

Every Monday, new campers would roll in, spend the week challenging me and changing me and then, roll out on Sunday. Rinse, later and repeat for 8 weeks and camp life made me the person I am today. I loved the structure, the goofiness, the Christ-centeredness and the friendships that was my summer for 8 years.

It's weird going back now. I still know a lot of the staff. They're former students and campers and they've grown up so well. I still know the songs and the routines. However, my life has changed. I've grown up and moved on. I get sad about that. Sometimes I wish I could braid my hair, slip on some cut-offs and flip flops and go run around for a week or two.

In a few years, Claire and Simon will be ready to be staff kids and I'll braid my hair, stick on a bandana and head back to camp. I think I'll cook instead of counsel. I'll be in my late 30s by then and something tells me I won't be cool enough to be a counselor anymore.

Maybe, if I'm lucky, there will be a tall custodian who will chase me during Capture the Flag and give me his number. Maybe we can teach our kids the Chokecherry Olympics. (I'm always a sucker for a good camp romance.)

Toddler-hood

It's official. Claire is no longer a "baby". After having Shiya's sweet 5 month around the house for a while, I've realized that Claire is, at 20 months, a full-fledged toddler.

She has an ear infection. I took her to the doctor and then the pharmacist on Monday night. She was prescribed amoxycillian. This morning, she showed me her little chest and belly all covered in a rash. Just like me, she's allergic. Poor girl. She's been extra sad about life today.

I cleaned and put away our "baby" high chair today. Claire refuses to sit in it anymore. She wants to sit in just a booster like a big girl.

She wants me to unbuckle her from her car seat so that she can climb out like Simon. She freaks out when I "help". She wants to put her clothes on by herself and yells in frustration when her feet don't work in her shirt. She has to clean everything! She puts MegaBlocks away as Simon builds his towers. She's determined to drink without a lid. She wants to wear panties all the time and is pretty good at telling me when she needs to use the potty (yah!). She's become this fiercely independent little thing.

The thing is, I love it. However, it is soooooo frustrating. I love that she wants to do things herself and like a big girl. I love that she's so fiercely determined. I'm so proud of her. I know these qualities will serve her well. I need to remind myself to be patient with her as she learns and grows.

She's napping now. She needs a good snooze. Toddler-hood is rough.

Revolving Door

Remember how we just moved into our place? We're still super pumped!

One of the most attractive qualities of our new home (remember, I said "one" of - I'm very smitten with my house) is that we have a functional basement. It's nothing pretty; it's sprayfoamed and framed with rooms. This ALLOWS US TO HAVE COMPANY!

This week, we opened our home to our very first guests (my most wonderful best friend Shiya, her husband and their sweet, sweet baby boy). Yay us! We love having company and they are pretty easy company to have!

They leave on Thursday and one of my former Lanigan students shows up (for a wedding of another former student). She'll be here for the weekend. That will give us a quick breather and then, we're taking our little ones camping for the long weekend.

Eeek!

That's a lot on my plate. Pile on a specialist appt. for Simon, an ear infection for Claire, baby-sitting my favorite Zach kids and keeping up with summer playdates and some serious park time; I'm one busy Momma. I LOVE it!

I'm so thankful that I have a job where, for 2 months of the year, I can do all the hosting, playing, adventuring and house-wifing that I want. I need to keep soaking this happy busy-ness in because, it's fleeting.

Lately

Here's some pics of our life lately. Nothing really of the house. It's still in a state of disarray - I expect it'll be this way for a while.

Swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's

Our amazing moving crew!

Chaos - beautiful chaos

Family wedding

Super awkward family picture - this is where we're at, folks. (Happy 6th anniversary, love!)

Little Miss Coy

Finally - Someday!

We're in!

On Monday, we had 11 wonderful men unload our trailer in 1 hour and 15 minutes. AMAZING!!! My Mom and wonderful sister-in-law lined our shelves. We dropped the kids off at the baby-sitter and went hard the next day figuring out where the heck to put all our stuff. We slept in the house with the kids on Tuesday. Wednesday morning, we sent the kids back to the baby-sitter and organized/assembled some more.

Now, we're sorting and assembling while playing and checking out all the parks in our new neighbourhood (found 3 so far - another one's being built).

Trevor heads back to work tomorrow and the kids and I return to our regular summer stuff (play dates and parks). We still have a pile of boxes to go through but, we've got most stuff in new homes.

I feel like we live in our own little resort. I keep pinching myself and gleefully giggling. I never want to move from here!

Today's our 6th anniversary. This house is a pretty good gift that we gave each other.

Summer pics

We've been on summer holidays for almost a week.
Every morning, I wake up my little ones and we snuggle in bed together and plan our day. With the Big Move happening next week, I've been trying to pack our week full of great adventures. We've been to the Splash Park, Wascana for Canada Day, the beach, a bus trip to the downtown library, Nana's farm, Auntie Karri's farm, our old park and a pile of other crazy little places. It's been a blast! I love my job but, I love hanging out with my kids even more!!!
Here are a few pics of our start of summer adventures.

Splash Park fun - a little face paint.

Celebrating Simon's Day - ooops, I meant Canada Day.

Waiting for the bus.

Farm cousins.

Look what Grandma and Grandpa taught him (on Daddy's old trike).

Hope you're having a fun summer too!

Transition

We've almost completed our "transition time" (read homelessness). Now that we're approaching the end, I can say that it's been good. We've successfully lived inter-generationally with Trevor's parents.

On the building side of things, it'll be good to be done. I've enjoyed the process of making decisions and picking my finishes. I have not enjoyed the poor customer service from my builder and the delays. I know that the finished product will be amazing and that, in six months, all those things I've been irritated about will be long gone.

We move in next week. It'll be good to have our own space. It'll be good to turn our "Someday House" into to our "Always House".