welcome.

whats this, you say, but a humble little entrance way?? Well you're right, it is nothing special, except that you understand how far we've come. First of all, hats off to two men that all of us around here just adore: (1) Mr. S., designer of this fabulous project without whom I know we wouldn't have started the whole thing (and Mrs. S. for just being plain wonderful :) )
and (2) Erik, implementer of the fabulous plan, without whom we wouldn't have started or finished. well, its not quite finished yet but close enough for now.
It all started as a little thought in my head as Kev and I tried to plan our future a bit - whether to continue to settle here or to look into buying our own place...but how could we think of leaving?? Life is way too good here. :) And so we looked into making things work out a bit better. We've gained a front entrance and another bedroom (with en suite) and used one of the existing bedrooms for a playroom, so we've sort of gained that too. (we still only use 3 rooms for bedrooms). So here it all starts, last summer, with plans to re-do the deck that Dad & Opa lovingly built 20 years ago. It served us well for many years but was a bit narrow (for Mom's purposes, we all know that she is fond of entertaining crowds :) ) and a few too many people had the unfortunate experience of slivers lodged in their backside as a result of trying to squeeze past along the railing. haha. :)




As you can see, it was past its prime. :) what an eyesore. And so we re-did part of the deck, and left the other part with plans to add on a small entrance room. Which we started this fall and hopefully will finish someday!! You are probably still not impressed but the pictures will tell the story (i am never one to stop and take pictures mid-project, thankfully kev pulled out the camera b/c i do like to look back and be reminded of how far we've come :) ) What a disaster it was!!! and how i hate living in a disaster.
Although its worth it now. :)












Mike B. was Erik's framing partner, and the two of them made a winning combination. :) I must mention that this went from nothing but the cement foundation to framed in (with windows and doors installed) in little over a 24 hour day. They are supermen. (and Kevin, the trusty assistant of course!!)


a little geeky at times. And Erik got a birthday cake out of the deal. (sort of, it was actually more for me than for him i think. this is my favourite cake)



and so, it is certainly coming along. we have many others to thank also...Matty R., Pastor Rich B., Dad VD, Steve VD, Mr. V., Rob, Tim, Michele (for hours & hours of painting into the wee hours) Heritage Carpentry & crew... and of course my dear husband put in countless hours - drywall, drywall, drywall. (on top of everything else) Thanks so much, I love you all!!

home sweet home

oh, how sweet it is. how we missed the little ones!! I was so excited that none gave me the mad, silent treatment (as has been known to happen in the past, a total downer when you've done nothing but think about them for the past few days :) ) and aside from Joshua (who seemed confused like i was from a distant dream or something that he vaguely remembered but couldn't quite place) they were thrilled to see us :). and how thrilled we are to be here, we thank God for the opportunity to re-charge and especially for the sweet responsibilities He has given us here at home. Now to put all the resolutions i made after reading so many books into practice!! (the hard part, once the excitement of being home wears off a little :)... my two favourites. "Teach them diligently" i received as a gift from someone whose name i do not even know. When we went to the NANC conference in February the lady beside me and i started talking and she told me that this book changed her parenting so profoundly that it changed her life completely. She recommended i read it, of all parenting books. I had every intention of buying it myself when i went to the bookstore but when i came back after break it was sitting on my seat. :) I have to agree with her, it is a powerful book - very convicting and inspiring!! I have both books for the borrowing if you're interested!.

you can see Joshua's 2 little teeth above if you enlarge the pic :) and below is the hat that we were so excited to find for Jade. Much to Kevin's dismay he actually wanted nothing to do with it. :(...i had to force him to wear it for a picture!!
yesterday morning we arrived at our last hotel of the trip (back to Fort Lauderdale where we flew out from this aft) and it turned out to be our favourite.
it was a golf & country club with a 10-min shuttle to the sister hotel on the beach...where we gladly spent the day


getting ready to go out for dinner...can you imagine though that even i am ready to start cooking again?? (if you know me at all you probably would know that i absolutely LOVE to eat out.)...i am actually excited about eating my own food!! I hope that the excitement won't wear off too soon...
And below are some pics from our stay in Naples, on the gulf side.


can you imagine living in a house like this??!?!?! unreal. Can you imagine cleaning it is another question. besides, wouldn't it get moldy?? i guess they probably thought of that before building it. regardless, I'll take my humble little abode in snowy, freezing cold Canada anyday - if thats where my hard-working, loveable husband and 3 precious kiddies are!! And a faithful church and family and friends that i love too :) ...I praise the Lord for His goodness to us!
btw I KNEW there was a firefighter i was forgetting!! thakns to Sharon for the reminder. and God bless Tim, or dear new in law :) (sorry tim :( )

one more thing

btw my blog is going private again i'm afraid!! on the road and using public computers again (i know. i'm so sheltered) is making me realize that i just want to keep my stuff private, i just feel like it is safer for the kids that way. So if you're interested in getting access, just let me know at thesearethedayz @ gmail.com
(anyone with access to the old blog will get access to the new one)

Thanks!! :)

fireproof your marriage

greetings from Boca Raton!! well there were not many theatres playing this movie here anymore and it isn't likely to be brought to Canadian theatres, so Kev and i were just tickled pink to find a theatre not too far away and of all things, this was the opening weekend of the new Christian movie "Fireproof". It gets better, as it was close to the "world's greatest outlet centre" or something like that, one of the destinations on my agenda but not necessarily on Kevin's. So we set out this afternoon, hit the outlet malls (by this i mean i led the way, Kev followed along and waited on the bench outside the store, if there was a bench. OTherwise he would stand there, looking very uncomfortable and bored. shopping with Kevin is not my favourite activity, although I do love him dearly :) ). So we did that as long as I could stand to make him endure. One thing he did like (besides the hockey baseball cap he found in Jaden's size :) ) was on the way out of there we found a great Christian bookstore and Mom would be thrilled with all of the additions to my library. i'm so excited about that!! So from there it was off to dinner, sumptuous fare at TGIF and from there to find the theatre. Well it was no Princess of Wales theatre, but you can imagine our (Kevin's) delight to see the sign "$3.00 admission" hanging in front, it distracted us a little from focusing on the sorry-looking dive of a place that we were entering. Until the smell of urine hit us pretty much like a brick wall. :) ewwwwwww. well, it wasn't that bad but seriously, not nice. Thankfully we did get used to it by the time the trailers were finished and could sit down to enjoy the show. And enjoy it we did (even worth the smell :) ). What a great movie. Anyone seen it yet?? i think it comes out next month and Kev & I are buying it and borrowing a projector (ummm...maybe. Brad??!? :) ) and inviting you all to come and watch it with us, theatre-style. Kev will pop the popcorn and i promise you there will be no foul odours. :) Details to follow!! here is the trailer to get you psyched: http://www.fireproofthemovie.com/

oh, and another thing about the movie was a note to Steve (KEv's brother, newly recruited firefighter, who i don't even think checks this blog) and Derek (do we know any other firefighters?? I can't think of any but its kind of late...oh, and Paul the loyal police officer of course :) ) we were reminded to pray for you & others who willingly put themselves in danger to help others...may God bless & keep our dear "community helpers" (as Ashleigh is learning about in Grade 1) !! :)

and if you want the scoop on Florida, its been great so far!! arrived safely tuesday night, enjoyed normal florida temps pool-side on wed, it was cloudy on thurs so i shooooppppped till i dropped (nearly literally) that day and then today has been unseasonably cold. like supposedly 72 but it didn't even feel that warm. bummer. i for one am hoping that it warms up a little for the rest of our trip :) kev's business was done today at noon so tomorrow we are headed to Naples for the remainder of our stay. and thus the fairy-tale feasting and accommodations have come to an end and we will be enjoying much more average fare as it is all on Kevin's pocketbook. Note that I am not complaining, as he really does spoil me and i deserve none of it!!

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the pre-holiday hustle & bustle. it does seem weird here to listen to "jingle bells" and such. we can't wait to be home to our kiddies. seriously. its so bittersweet to be away from them!! we're loving it but we do talk about them all the time and wish we could see their cute little faces and kiss their sweet little cheeks. Anyone who sees them on Sunday, give them kisses for me!!

and, i can't wait for our movie night with you! anyone in??

love to you all!! :)

heard the news??

well considering that these pictures were taken in September, this baby should be just about born by now. Can't wait for the news, Steve & Jo!! ;)
Well here follows some pics that I shamefully never posted!! A great evening celebrating two great then-upcoming events, Sierra's birth and Charlene's wedding. Thanks to all who came out!!
The shower was a surprise for Amy, she thought it was only for Charlene :)
before anyone teases Kevin about being at the shower, it was because my grandmother wanted him to take the boys over for a minute...believe me he was not impressed to be pictured front & centre with the star of the show as she made her entrance (hence he awkwardly scratches his chin :) )
Above are two winners of the Fabulously Dressed Contest - Rachel, wearing her original wedding dress (credit also to Mrs. S. whose dress it was originally before Rachel! :) ) , and Liz, wearing her wedding hat. How fabulous!! :) Also Angela, not pictured, winner of the "Most Beautifully Dressed" category, if my memory serves me correctly. She certainly is a beauty. :)
and dear Mrs. Ubbens also won a prize for this beautiful dress I believe worn to a wedding in the 80's? 70's? sometime long ago, anyways :)
p.s. Congratulations to Jo, winner of the "Most Outrageously Dressed" category...what a lot of fun!! :)

Dear Sharon, we missed you there. Also Joyce...and probably others but it was so long ago that I don't remember who anymore!!