Welcome Summer BBQ

This past weekend we decided to host a back yard BBQ party.


You see, 4 years ago when we were building our deck, we paid a lot of attention to the size of the deck. Our house came with a deck plate that only spanned about half the back of the house, I insisted to Adam that we needed the deck to go across the whole width of the house.

Also when he gave me an option of a deck 2 feet longer, I took the longer option.

You see I had a vision.

My vision was of friends and family hanging out on our deck, summer nights, drinks in hand and lots of laughs.

I knew I wanted a deck where a table and chairs could fit comfortably with other things on the deck.

So Adam built a very large deck (24 X 20 I think – he knows the dimensions – I guess that is a man thing).

We have a table & chairs, our black and blue bins, potted tomatoes and a few other potted plants, a play house for the kids, a kid’s picnic table and the BBQ – and there is still room to move around and hang out.

So this past weekend we decided to host a back yard party to celebrate summer. For no other reason than that – we have a great back yard, a wonderful deck and fantastic friends – what other reason do we need.

We moved the kids play house off the deck and onto the grass , bought some beer, wine and coolers, cooked up potato salad, burgers and dogs, and invited friends and family.

We had a blast! So much fun in fact that we managed to completely forget how to operate the camera. (Actually we did not get drunk – I was too busy chatting with everyone forgetting where I left my wine to get drunk).

If you were not invited, leave me a comment and I will make sure I add you to the list for next year!

For those of you that came – we were so happy you did. It was great to see you and catch up a bit – we definitely need to do it more often –but for sure next year!!

Camping Fun

Father's day weekend we always head out to the trailer.

We had a good time playing, doing a bit of work (building a wood shed), and eating many a marshmellow.

We were joined by Grandma and Grandpa, Jackie could not understand why they had to sleep in the bunk house - it is hard to explain to a child - "because you wake up too early in the morning - and Grandma & Grandpa want to have a good sleep..."

Look at this cutie pie!

I love how I was able to get a little bit of flame in this picture.



Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful father's out there (my Dad included).

But this post is dedicated to one very special Dad.

Adam.

You are an amazing Father.
I have loved seeing you develop into this role.

I love that you know how to put in pony tails in a pinch.

I love that you are Jackie's 'Hansom Prince'.

Love you tons!

Look at where we are now:

Look at where we've come from:

(Jacqueline)

(Anderson)

TV

I grew up without a TV in our house.

I know, shocking!  Who does that?

As weird as it sounds, I don't look back and think I missed much, yes I don't have childhood memories of certian TV shows, I never watched Fraggle Rock, or The Smurfs, but I know even if we did have a TV, my parents would never have let us watch much anyway.

But now, no TV, I would go insane.  I love my TV, Adam loves his TV and I know our kids do too.

When I was home with the kids on mat leave, I watched a lot of TV.

Okay, that is an understatment, I watched TV all the time.  If I was home, the TV was on.

I was not always sitting on the couch watching TV (rarely actually), but it was on in the background.

I learned to love Regis and Kelly, The View, Ellen and loved watching old drama show re-runs durring the day.

So now it is funny becasue I would preffer the TV off.

We do allow certian times the kids can watch TV, on a week day, they can watch TV in the morning but only if they are dressed (otherwise they would stay in their jammies all day).

On the weekend, they get to watch TV in their jammies when they wake up (trust me - they love this).

At night time, once they are in their jammies, they get to watch 1 or 2 shows (time dependant on when they get into their jammies) and have a snack.

What are your TV restrictions?

Morning Beach Fun

This past weekend we headed out to the trailer and were blessed with perfect weather.  It was warm and sunny!

Since we have a few early risers in our family we can only last so long in the trailer in the morning - as much as Mom & Dad want to sleep in, so off to the beach we go.

This kids had a blast helping to rise the water levels.

Look who gets to come along too...

We had a great weekend in spite of the early mornings and Anderson fighting us for naps and bedtime, can't wait to go back.

On My Nightstand - A Complicated Kindness

A Complicated Kindness - By Miriam Towes

On the back cover:
A 16-year-old rebels against the conventions of her strict Mennonite community and tries to come to terms with the collapse of her family in this insightful, irreverent coming-of-age novel. In bleak rural Manitoba, Nomi longs for her older sister, Tash ("she was so earmarked for damnation it wasn't even funny"), and mother, Trudie, each of whom has recently fled fundamentalist Christianity and their town. Her gentle, uncommunicative father, Ray, isn't much of a sounding board as Nomi plunges into bittersweet memory and grapples with teenage life in a "kind of a cult with pretend connections to some normal earthly conventions." Once a "curious, hopeful child" Nomi now relies on biting humor as her life spins out of control—she stops attending school, shaves her head and wanders around in a marijuana-induced haze—while Ray sells off most of their furniture, escapes on all-night drives and increasingly withdraws into himself. Still, she and Ray are linked in a tender, if fragile, partnership as each slips into despair.

My thoughts:
This was a book club pick (translate to say, I would not have read this book otherwise).
I did not like this book at all. I had a hard time believing any of it. The stuff Towes talks about happening in this strict Mennonite town is ridiculous.
Yes I believe Mennonite kids smoke, drink, party and even have pre-marital sex, but it the community is really as strict as she is telling us it is, I did not see how all the kids could get away with it all and there were no consequences nor this the adults seem to know about much of it.

I don't buy it.

I did not like her writing style and I really did not like Nomi (the main character), or her parents who seems more concerned with themselves rather than the well being of their children and the family.

My rating: 1 out of 5.