Fall centerpieces

This year I am part of a leadership team for the Women's Ministry at our church. Part of my "job" is to take care of the creative side of things, like making centerpieces for the tables. So, for the month of November, I decided to stick with the fall theme and go from there. Michael's had all their fake flowers on sale for 80% off, and although I'm not always a big fan of fake flowers, these ones looked quite nice and were a good deal! Then I went off thrift store shopping to look for a few things. I found some old canning jars for $0.29 each! They are really old ones with the glass sealer and the "weathered" rings. A few other things from around the house, and this is what I came up with!

Reception and family stuff

Of course, what would a wedding be without a reception and some family. It was a great evening with delicious food, visiting with family, a little dancing and just having a good time (having no kids along helped too! - thanks for babysitting for the day/night, Carole and Sheldon!)

The 4 brothers: Al, Sid, Rich and Mel

The 7 siblings + mom: Al, Tina, me, mom, Rich, Mel, Sylvia and Sid (we are missing my sister Edna, who couldn't make it from Kasakhstan):

Me and my new sister-in-law, Janelle.

Rich and Janelle's Wedding

This past weekend, we went to Edmonton for the wedding of my younger brother Rich and his beautiful, now wife, Janelle. It was a gorgeous ceremony - everything from the venue, to the flowers, to the dresses, to the colours. It was amazing to see how happy and excited they both were just to be getting married to each other. What a beautiful day!

Deck expansion

Once we made the decision to stick around in this house for a while and not move somewhere else, we decided to make a few changes. The first of which was to make our deck a little bigger. We love sitting outside in the summer, BBQ'ing, watching the sunset and just watching the kids play outside. However, once you add a BBQ, a table and chairs, a kid-size table, a few flower pots and anything else that the kids decide they need on a 10x10 space, things were getting a little tight!

So, Kevin asked his nephew, Ryan, to come out for the day and together they ripped off the old stairs, framed in a deck addition and a new set of stairs and, voila!, we have some more space. Kevin was quite excited to strap on his old tool belt and do some building!





Kendra and Owen tried to get in on the building as well, designing and building their own benches. They might need a bit of work yet!

There is obviously some more work that needs to be done yet but the main structure is done! I'll post more pictures when it is all finished!

Fall = pumpkins!

Fall is definitely all around us right now. The weather has been absolutely perfect with crisp blue-sky days, leaves changing colours and, of course, pumpkins! We headed out to the Apple Barn this week to take in some farm kinda stuff, pumpkins, apples and just enjoying the outdoors. The kids had a great time climbing among the pumpkins and picking out just the right one they could take home with them.

Kendra thought this little goat was pretty cute, especially when it started to munch on her shirt!

What a great way to spend a fall morning!

A Saturday outing

This Saturday was a beautiful fall day. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and the leaves were beginning to change colour. So, it looked like the perfect day for a family outing. We had talked all summer of going out to the Aquarium and spending some time in Stanley park so we decided that today was the day! Even the drive there was a beautiful one. The kids thought driving through downtown Vancouver was quite fun too - in between all the HUGE towers. We often forget things that we are so used to that are new to kids!

Oh, the excitement once we arrived. Kendra hardly new which way to look! It was great fun to see them so interested in all the different fish, turtles, rainforest animals, dolphins, belugas, sea otters and other sea creatures!

We also did the 4D movie. This is like watching a 3D movie but with the added sensations of getting sprayed with water, being poked in the back of your seat, having things wiggle at you feet and feeling wind blowing. Pretty cool! Owen wasn't thrilled with the water part but doesn't he look cool in his glasses! Okay, he looks like a geek but at least we all did together!

We spent some time walking around the park after the aquarium but our camera battery died so we have no pictures of that. :( You'll just have to check in out yourself and go see the beauty of God's creation. I'm not sure there is a better time to witness what a creative God we have that fall!

We enjoyed a quiet drive home with both kids fast asleep in their carseats - okay, I had a little sleep too! A great family day!