Kate is Happy

I'm happy for several reasons. First, we leave for Europe in 4 days! But yikes, am I behind on packing. I've discovered it's difficult to live out of a suitcase while trying to pack one. I'm sure I'll get a handle on everything. Probably best to conquer packing while the little ones are asleep.

I'm also happy because I spent a lovely day with 'Grandpa' today. Andy and the boys and I met for a park date which turned into lunch at Boston Pizza, then back to the park, and then dinner at the condo. We had herbed baked chicken with lemon dill squash and nonya seasoned stirfry veggies. Ethan is playing cars with Andy on the kitchen floor and after this post I'm going to put Rueben to bed. What a fun day.

I'm also very happy because we have been given good news about our mortgage situation. The gist of it is that we can afford more than what we thought we could. So now we're house hunting for an actual house, with a basement suit, garage and fenced yard. Things are looking up.

Busy busy busy

Well, if you haven't guessed from the title of this post, we've been busy. I've been house hunting, getting ready for a month long European vacation, catching up with friends and family and partying at a wedding and all the while living out of a suitcase/cardboard box!

Big news on the Rueben front... "he has a big meggie!" as papa would say. The Canadian translation is that he has his first tooth! He's also on the cusp of crawling. He can bear his weight on his knees and elbows but just seems to plow his forhead into the floor. He's discovered though that in the all fours position he can rock himself back and forth. It's very neat to see because Ethan never really mastered the art of crawling.

Time to put the cranky ones to bed.

The House hunt is on

I can't tell you what a thrill it was to be driving over the Port Mann Bridge at the break of dawn and thinking to myself "I'm home"! The boys and I left Fort St John at 10:30am and stopped just North of Hope at the lake of the woods rest stop at 1am. I unbuckled Ethan from his carseat cause I didn't think it fair that he should sleep sitting upright and I awoke at 5:30 to find him sprawled across my chest. We left Hope giddy with the thought that we would soon be rolling into the lowermainland. Smog and traffic congestion never looked so lovely, especially in the early morning sun. I litterally got goosebumps as we drove down Johnson hill, over the bridge and into Port Coquitlam. We spent the morning and early afternoon with Sylvia and Doug, and I'm glad we did cause they were planning to leave the next morning for a few weeks in California.

I've seen a few places already. Of them all, only one is really worth our time. I'm hoping we find something that we fall in love with. Our purchase in Fort St John just seemed meant to be. We weren't even looking and then one day while walking Lilly, I saw this house that met all of our criteria. Everything just fell into place, so I'm hoping the same thing happens down here for us too.

I'll keep you all posted on the progress.

I don't think I have enough bubble wrap!

Let's let the cat out of the bag, shall we?

Many of you have been asking me if we are moving and I haven't been giving a very definite answer until now. It's hard to keep these things under wraps, so I'll just blurt it out.

We're moving back to Vancouver!!!

We didn't want to say anything until our plans were concrete, but I figured you all might want to know. We have a few places in mind and I will be looking at them when I'm down next week. We have our lady at the bank at work to approve us for a second mortgage. It all depends on if she says it's a go. We are not selling our house up here. Andrew is not quitting his job up here.

How does that work? you ask...

He's going to either a 2 week on, 2 week off schedule, or 1 month on, 1 month off schedule and will travel between the Fort and Vancity to do that. Our friends will be renting the house up here, so Andrew can stay here when he needs to.

If all goes according to plan, we will be moved down by October at the latest.

Pure-eh!

Why anyone chooses to buy commercial baby food is beyond me. It's so easy to make your own at home and much cheaper too! All you have to do is steam some veggies, throw them in a blender or food processor with some liquid and then freeze in an ice cube tray.

I give you... pureed peas!

After they are frozen, pop them into freezer bags and mark the date. Then when it's feeding time, just take out a few cubes and pass them in the microwave until defrosted. So simple, so cheap, so fast, so go do it!

This is the reason why my house is never clean!

Milestones

It seems like Rueben is hitting them one after another. He celebrated his 6 month birthday with a bowl full of pureed peas which he gobbled up. The first two bites were tentative when he realised it wasn't rice cereal, but sure enough he ate almost the whole bowl. He has such a different personality than Ethan. After the first few bites, every time I brought the spoon close to his mouth he tried to pry it from my hands... a defiant 'I want to do it myself, mom!', which I'm really not used to.

He has also discovered his feet and toes! And perhaps not as filling as the peas, they sure do make a great snack!

All booked up

For those of you who have been asking, we have finally booked all the components for our trip to Europe this summer. You know who you are! So get your pencils and calendars ready cause here comes our info. Ethan, Rueben and I are driving down to Vancouver and expect to be there by the 9th of August, in time for my friends wedding. Note to Sylvia, I'm gonna need a babysitter. Andrew is flying to Vancouver on the afternoon of August18th and then we all fly out of Vancouver to Amsterdam on the afternoon of the 19th.

We arrive in Amsterdam on the 20th and spend one night there, waking early the next morning to board a train to Geneva, via Paris. My cousins live in a town called Annemasse, just across the Swiss border from Geneva so they will pick us up from the train station and we will spend a week and a half with them. I'm really excited to see them all again. I have a whole slew of second cousins who have been born since I last saw the fam. On September 1st, we pick up our motor home and bid adieu to France and say Ciao! to Italy.
This is the fancy dancy motorhome that we have rented. We plan to hit all the big touristy things... ie. Vatican city, sistine Chapel, Michealangelo's David, Pompeii, Davinci's the last supper, the Amalfi coast... and for Andrew, the lamborghini factory and museum.

We drop the camper back in France on the 11th of September and then spend 4 days in lovely Paris.

We arrive back in Vancouver on the 14th of September, and I suspect we'll stay in the lower mainland for a few days to take care of some businessy things. If you have any questions, just shoot me an email. I'm really very excited about this trip. I've never been to Italy before and cannot wait to see all the art and history there. I'm looking forward to Paris too.

A bientot!

Scorcher

Wow, It's going to be a hot one today! The house never really cooled down last night and there's not much of a breeze this morning so I think it's gonna get really hot here today. I was planning on taking the boys to the park, but might just go for a drive instead. We're supposed to hit 29*C this afternoon so I think I'd prefer to be enjoying the air conditioning!

Since Strongstart and Mothergoose are on hiatus for the summer, it's hard to keep up a routine with Ethan, so we've designated Mondays and Wednesdays as park days. Here are some pics of Ethan and his friends having fun at the park.

These are pictures from our park play date with my friend Carling and her son Braxton and baby Sophie. We went to Matthews park which is down the hill from us, behind the Walmart.

We also had a play date with my friend Arlyn and her son Breaden at Concord park. The dump truck was a big hit. She invited us back to her place for lunch afterward which was fun!