Birds, Bees, Books, even some Babes!

We've had some great fun the last little while! I'll backtrack a bit to tell about the unexpected visits we've had from my parents. Both of their extended visits were because of mechanical problems with their van. In September they had planned a trip for dentist appointments and were going to stay at our friend's house. Since Paul had to go out to Hope to rescue them, they ended up sleeping in our suite because it was empty (but paid for) for September. We set up the futon and they stayed with us rather than at someone else's house. I was able to help them run some errands, and they stayed in the truck with Marty while I went in with Max on his first day of preschool. That worked out so perfectly! So although we were busy doing other things, we still got lots of time together. We saw them again in October for Thanksgiving, and then they came down this past weekend to attend a memorial for a friend from their old church here. They stayed at the house of friends who are out of town for a few weeks, but we saw them a few times. This time, the vehicle troubles happened as they were ready to leave town. This put them back another day so we got in some more visiting. The boys loved having them here. They finally got the van on the road after supper yesterday.

On Thursday (I guess it's almost a week ago already!) we went out to Hope to look at a little truck that Paul is planning to buy. More about that when we actually get it, hopefully this weekend. The plan was for me to pick him up from work at 3:30 and go straight from there. (I had the car because it was a preschool day, and if we all went, it would save a lot of back and forth driving.) Well, his boss called a staff meeting for that afternoon, at 4:00. Paul thought it wouldn't likely go longer than half an hour ... 1 HOUR AND FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER, we finally left town. The truck is perfect, as I said, and we plan to buy it on Saturday. We rushed home for Paul to meet his friend at 8:00 for coffee. We just made it.

I worked on Saturday, which I really enjoyed. It was a big day at the store. Two special guests were there for booksignings. The first was with artist and author, Trisha Romance. The second author was William Young, author of The Shack. Eugene Peterson says of The Shack, "This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress did for his. It's that good!". My friend at work said that The Shack "exploded my notions about God." Staff at HoJ are encouraged to borrow product so that we can accurately represent it to our customers. I brought a copy home last week and only got through the forward before Paul got his hands on it. He's nearly done reading it and I'm anxious to keep going. I paid for the copy I borrowed because it's a keeper. We'll probably buy a few more.

Speaking of books ...

We finally found and unpacked the boys box of books. They've been devouring them. I had missed spending that time with them. The first night they were on the shelf, Max kept going from the shelf to a new spot to read. On the couch, on the floor, on the coffee table, in the tunnel.

Max has a few new little funny things he likes to do. The funniest is when he pretends to be Mommy Bird. He found a basket full of clean laundry, waiting to be put away (in MY house?!) and decided that he was a bird and this was his nest. He flies over to it, climbs in, even tucks his little bird feet under his tail feathers. He pops up once or twice to see who's watching, and tucks his head back into the nest for a little sleep. And yes, he does have baby birdies. He found a container with a lid that he uses for their water. Don't even think of sitting beside the nest, that's where the babies are. I did get a video but am having trouble loading it onto the computer. Hubby will help.


After work on Saturday we went for a walk out in the country with Scott, Cor & Soph. If you're wondering why we see them so much, it's because we think they're great. And they seem to like us too. After our walk I took my boys home while the others went to pick up sushi. On the way home Max asked me "Why do they come over so much?". I told him what I just told you, we think they're great. It's so super to have good friends so close by. Supper was yummy. Max enjoyed sushi once again. How many other 3-year olds love sushi?! Several months ago we were at a friends house when the man brought home his own dinner because he was late. Imagine his surprise when Max came up to the table twice to steal sushi off his plate! We're pretty proud.

Where are we now? Right, bees. And the Babes. We got to have a visit with some dear friends from Prince Rupert, Alanna and Julia. Max was so excited, although he said, "No Mommy, it's Nikki!" (Alanna's sister.) He'll get to see Nikki next week when she comes to watch the boys while Paul and I go on my birthday date. We loved that they got to see us in our new home here. We're finally starting to feel settled and feel like showing it off.

Julia, reacquainting with Marty. (She's away from home for an 8-month school/missions experience.)

Alanna, (grew up in PR and is attending TWU) helping Max get reacquainted with his books.

We had so much fun with them, and to top it off, we all went out to see The Bee Movie. What a cute movie. This was a first for both boys and they did remarkably well. Thanks to the bottomless popcorn, they sat pretty still. Marty was in the stroller and squirmed a bit but eventually fell asleep. I had given him a pack of cheese and breadsticks to munch on. Once he had eaten all the breadsticks, he started dipping his popcorn in the extra cheese.

Wasn't that fun? Adding to the excitement, today we went to sign the papers in preparation for the completion of our house sale in Prince Rupert. The long wait is nearly over! I hope that tomorrow is the last day I have to take Paul to work so I can use the car in the day. We hope to go pick up his "new" truck on the weekend. Many more stories and pictures coming soon!

One more thing ... Max was misbehaving this evening (around 6:00) and I sent him to his room for a time out. He asked if he could go to sleep. I agreed, not thinking he'd actually sleep. The plan was to wake him up for dinner. He was out COLD! (but kinda sweaty ...) when I tried to wake him. He's still asleep. I hope the yogurt he had right before that will tide him over till morning. He hasn't had many naps lately so maybe he just needs a little catch-up sleep.