Unoriginal

Why do they make these things have titles anyway???

Here's a little of what we've been up to...

- we got to see Rebecca St James, Casting Crowns, Michael W Smith and Franklin Graham all in one weekend (not the exact artists I would have chosen to see, but it was good anyway). The girls were pretty excited to see RSJ, since they love her songs that they hear on the radio.

- Daryl has been home more than usual...he's working every other night for 2 weeks, so it's not too bad of a schedule.

- I feel like a REAL school mom since we have parent/teacher interviews coming up on Friday. So far we are so impressed with the school, so it should be easy to talk - as long as they are just as impressed with our daughter! :/ AC is writing her letters and numbers very well, so the other day Daryl and I were asking her if her teacher ever compliments her on her writing. She said no, but then she thought a little and said, "She just says to Mrs W [the t/a], (lowering her voice to a whisper) 'She does really well, doesn't she?' "

- We're enjoying have Matthew and Rhonda here, even though it's just a short visit for a dr. app't. Today the guys kept the kids and Rhonda and I got to go out for lunch!

- Adrienne is crawling! She still drags her butt by pulling herself with her arms (hard to explain, but it looks ridiculous!), if she's feeling lazy. She waves good-bye and hi too, which is terribly cute.

That's about it for this time. I was going to post my menu for the week, but it's getting all messed up anyway. Maybe next week. :-)

For Your Reading Enjoyment

I don't usually do this, but I can't resist. A few months ago, Kim introduced me to a great blog. I was determined that I would not become addicted to viewing the blogs of people that I don't even know, but I can't help it! This one is such a great author, and I've been enjoying her blog a lot. You will get a kick out of it. I know some of you have already looked up http://boomama.blogspot.com , but if you haven't, check it out. I also put a link on my sidebar.

A Month Late

Yes, my birthday was last month, but the post kind of got lost in the shuffle of my brain. Anyway, here I am with my dear friends who took me out for supper and bowling (miss you Jenn and Kim!!!). Thanks, girls! It was a lot of fun. If I look a little funny on here, it's because I was practically wetting myself with laughter. I won't even bother to explain it on here...you had to be there (and even some that were there didn't find it nearly as gut-wrenchingly funny!). :-) Good times.
P.S. Thanks for letting me steal the pic off your blog, Angie! And Val, it's you and me left baby. :-)

The Tradition Continues...

We missed the first snow (last year and this year!) but we made donuts anyway! It was fun to carry on my family's tradition of making donuts, and it worked out so well that Angie and her kids could join us! It even worked out for the husbands/daddys to be there for supper. What a crew! We will sure miss them when they move next week.

I am Thankful!

I had a discouraging morning yesterday, but I learned something I think. Yes, it's one of those lessons you learn early on in life, but God has a way of reminding us over and over.

This time it was the lesson in thankfulness. After kids waking up at 5:20 am, and 6:20 am, I was ready for more than just good coffee. I felt like walking out the door and selling my kids on the street to whoever would give me the highest bid. Anyway, I sat down, had a little cry, and opened my Bible. I passed through the book of Job, and without even reading it, was reminded that my life isn't so bad. Sure my husband works crazy hours, and my kids have ear aches and they fight and whine and talk back, and I don't seem to get out of the house alone very often, and I do loads and loads of laundry, dirty diapers, dirty dishes and runny noses. BUT!!! At least my kids are healthy enough to talk and whine, healthy enough to get out of bed by themselves at 5:20 am, and even though I don't feel like it, I'm healthy enough to get up too. I don't have any debilitating disease, and I have a roof over my head in the pouring rain. I have a God who loves me and watches me when I sleep, and I don't have to hide my Bible or the fact that I love Jesus Christ. I have a husband who loves me and is faithful to me and our kids. (And I had a good talk with my mom on the phone.)

There's so much more I could list. I read a lot of verses too that spoke to me. (Phil 4:12,13) I will learn to be content! That doesn't mean I have to be 100% happy with my life 100% of the time, but I will learn contentment and gratitude!!!

Our Week

Well, we started off with a great Thanksgiving weekend. Daryl had to work Sat-Sun but he napped before church and even came with us! On Sunday afternoon, we all drove to Beausejour and went hunting for anything that flies! I stayed in the van with Adrienne and relaxed, and Daryl and the girls did some walking, and then we drove some too. Our reward was 3 delicious grouse and a duck for Thanksgiving Dinner on Monday night. We decided to just enjoy our day together as a family instead of inviting company like we usually do. It was a very relaxing day...especially since Daryl sent me out for some alone time and I spent about 2 1/2 hours at Chapters drinking coffee and reading books!

The rest of the week has been uneventful. Just catching up on house work, laundry and the like. Today a few friends came over and it was nice to have some adult company and good coffee.

Daryl is working the whole weekend, with an exam in the middle of it all. Pray for us if you will. I'm already looking forward to his vacation time in December! That's all for now folks.

I'm 8 Months Old

Well, here I am, 8 months old. Aren't I cute? I love to get all over the place now, even though I can't crawl. I love to pull the magazines off the coffee table, and chew them to bits! I can pull myself up on all the furniture now, and especially in my crib, which I think is pretty cool when I'm supposed to be going to sleep. Mom has to keep a full stock of Cheerios around now because I will eat them all day. I'm a little piggy and sometimes they have to make me stop eating! I have one tooth, which I worked very hard to cut, thank you very much. Until next time...just keep kissing me and pinching my cheeks and I'll be happy.

First Day of School!

Family Stuff

Cousins reunited!

We had a great 2 weeks with the Nisly family. My parents came around the 18th of Sept, and by the 22nd, everyone else was here. That Friday, we all went to Wilderness Edge Conference Centre for the weekend. What a great way to spend the weekend before the wedding. It was the calm before the storm! No cooking, no cleaning up, only relaxing, playing games, visiting, biking, soccer, singing, etc. etc.

To sum up the past two weeks...let's see...Very busy. But good times, that's for sure. If you want to see wedding pictures, you can check out my parent's website
http://www.freewebs.com/merlerita
I can't post them all on here, and since Daryl and I were both in the wedding party, I didn't get a lot of good pictures of my own. Olivia and her cousins did very well as the adorable flower girls. She cracked me up as I watched her walk down the aisle - she would throw a rose petal, and then stomp on it, throw another, stomp! and so on. It was too funny. Anyway, it distracted me from crying too much. :-)

It was a beautiful day, beautiful wedding, and now the last little Nisly girl is married off. Hard to believe that we all have husbands, and that I now have 3 brothers.

The next day (Sunday) Daryl left for Rankin Inlet where he was along with another pediatrician doing a clinic. He was gone until Thursday and had a good time there. On Monday everyone else left (extended family, etc.) and I crashed! I slept for 2 hours that afternoon, and went to bed early every night that week. It was a fun, tiring, memory making couple of weeks.

Falafelmobile

Okay, here I am. The moment you've all been waiting for. Finally you click on the link to my page, and you see a different title than what you've been looking at for about a month now!

There is soooooo much catching up to do. I will start with a picture of Daryl's latest "hobby" that I promised last post. He has been working on an '82 diesel Mercedes Benz that he bought a year ago - to convert it to run on vegetable oil. I am so proud of my "green" husband! It is now running on used vegetable oil (he had to strain all the falafel out of it...it smelled rather tasty)! A lot of people laughed when he told them what he was doing. But the truth is, he didn't come up with this idea himself. A lot of others have done it and it's becoming quite popular. Being the cheapskate, uh, I mean, economical man that he is, he didn't just run out and buy the conversion kit, he made all the parts himself. So yeah, it was a few long hours spent in the garage, but now it's done and will be ready to roll come spring! So if you smell falafel coming down the road a mile away, it's just us.