Lynnwood, WA.

We begin our journey to Lynnwood, Washington with a little sneak peak at Nana & Papa's house: The cold, hard truth about their house. They have rats!!! Big ones! Well take a look if you don't belive me! Okay, okay... they don't have rats, not even one. This one is actually a stuffed toy, purchased for Atalie at Ikea of all places. Yes, I thought it was a mouse originally, but when Kevin pointed out the obvious features of a rat (long creepy tail and big buck teeth), I decided it would be cute anyways. It turned out that this is one of Atalie's favorite toys!...? While we were staying at Kev's parents house Kevin happened to stick the rat up on the beam accidentally while throwing it in the air repeatedly. We had a good laugh b/c it looked so real from far back.

Little munchkin was a real hoot this weekend!! She giggled and giggled and giggled - having us all in stitches:)

A tired pook gets a nice warm bottle and a snuggle with Daddy. Nana enjoyed every moment with her little Grandbaby! We only wish we could have gotten a picture of Atalie with both Nana & Papa this weekend. How'd we miss that one?!? Here's Attie with her proud new outfit that Nana & Papa bought for her for Christmas! And here she is exploring one of many things she likely shouldn't be. And last, Atalie undresses from her pretty little church clothes and pauses for a picture wearing only her tights and shiny black shoes. What a goof.

Thanks Nana & Papa (Mom & Dad) for a great weekend!!

A New Dream

I've decided to aspire to something within our budget! Wadaya think?? I call it, "The love shack". Whilst we find ourselves in a lovely little shack like this some day? Hey, on the bright side it looks homely - in a cozy, friendly sort of fashion. At least we'd have something to call our own ;) Right? I paid a little visit to the money store today (the bank of course) and they basically told me that we need to come up with a 25% down payment ($37,500) in order to afford a builders mortgage of $150,000; or come up with a 18% down payment ($30,600) to afford a buyers mortgage of $170,000. And for this area, we're talking a basic home (likely nothing compared to our fancy shmancy "dream home"). And I guess a builders mortgage is far more complicated than a buyers mortgage. Hmm... so the dream sits in the corner for now - still existent but just sitting. And it makes me wonder, is this something that will ever become reality??? I mean seriously. Ever?? How do people afford a house when on one income? And if they are both working, how is it worth the extra income when you have to pay for daycare? And then how is daycare worth 1/2 your hard-earned salary, when you don't even get to watch your kids grow up? So for now we continue on the bandwagon of burning $9,600/year on rent. That's a big one to swallow, not to mention that it will likely go up once we have to move out and find a different place in May (our Canmore landlords are moving back in for some summer cottage fun - rrrg). I realize full well that "the Lord will provide", as I've heard and even said many many many times. However, I just don't understand his logic of provision when that much money is going to waste every year. I guess we'll discover his logic eventually - or not, I suppose (he is a mysterious man). In the meantime we wait, reminding ourselves that all is well and not all is as it seems. Right?

Dream Home... :)

Ah yes. The dream of owning a home:) Aahhhh... such a lovely thought isn't it? Well, half of you already do own one, but remember what it was like to dream about it? To wonder when the day would come that it would be reality? Well we're currently, finally, debt-free (basically - nothing major owing) and have been doing some dreaming of our own. As you likely know, Kevin is a carpenter. This is a great lead on getting a good price on a home, as his boss would help him with some of the details, to cut costs where possible. Plus, Kevin could work on the finishing, even framing the basement on his own time. As you also likely know, my Dad is an electrical contractor and my brother-in-law is an electrical journeyman...hmmm;) Yes yes, we're sneaking around, working the system:) But it's all with great intentions of figuring out how we can make it happen. The stump comes when we skim the prices of lots around Invermere... yikes! Basically you'll pay a minimum of $100,000 - less if you're fortunate, and there are some around; but you either a) can't be too picky as to how far away from Invermere you live, say a minimum of 45 minutes; or b) are content with conforming to a building regulation requiring your house to look like every other house, and are willing to pay extra $$ for lots of stone and fancy trim. Anyway, we have done some dreaming yes, and here is one we both absolutely love:) Doesn't hurt to hope, does it? Here's prayin like a mad-man! And waiting some more... If you are at all curious, you may take a further look at the layout (now don't get too excited, this is not even close to being a reality, infact we have no idea what the package for this house costs - but it's nice:)) http://www.nelson-homes.com/houseplans/pioneer.pdf

Announcing...

"Nobody move!" "I have a message to deliver", said Atalie, as she pushed her postal delivery cart. I am going to have a little brother or sister next summer!!! "I think I may have some competition on my hands however... if he/she is as adorable as me! Wait, is that possible??"

Christmas 2006

This Christmas we invited Kevin's entire family over to our place in Windermere... however it happened that only his sister and her family were able to make it. Here's a few memories:) Atalie and Alisha in the bathtub, splish splashing away. Attie in her new dress, which Nana had to send from Washington. Jerah, with one of a few gifts she opened. Jerah and Andrew opening the gifts we gave them - Andrew got a set of hockey sticks and Jerah got a Doodle Bear (pretty fun actually, you can draw all over it and it glows in the dark - then you throw it in the washer and it comes clean again!). Alisha got a set of Winnie The Pooh blocks. Atalie got a Princess Mobile from her three cousins, Auntie Lisa & Uncle Sam:) It's quite a riot pushing her around while it sings Disney tunes... even the wheel in the front has princesses which spin around and light up. It even has a key to start it, a throttle and a horn with 3 different honks! (all pretend of course - shucks!) Who woulda thunk? Then we all took some time to watch Jerah & Andrew's new movie, Ice Age (among many others). Attie gets to try out her new car. The boys indulge in some kitchen hockey! Overall it was a smashing success complete with turkey, toys, ice skating - even a trip to the "hotties" (Radium Hot Springs). We told the kids we were going to the hotties, so while we were there Andrew declared, "I like the hotties!" We missed the other members of the Israelson crew though(!) After our time with Sam & Lisa (and fam) we headed to Coaldale and had Christmas all over again with Kev's brother Jeff, & Kristy (and fam) and then with Kendra's family. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures while we were there (?!?) but had a fantastic, relaxing time... turkey dinner of course, some games, movies, more food, even a bit of shopping. Grandma and Grandpa got to babysit quite a bit and even had a special visit from Attie early in the mornings as she crawled up 3 flights of stairs and leaped into their bed. Okay, not really. Mom & Dad were tired of being tired and decided to take matters into their own hands. But Attie didn't mind!! So our "second" Christmas was also a smashing hit. And if you ask Kevin, he'll even admit that the weather was nice. NICE! Sunny! No freezing blustering blow-you-over wind. Can you belive it?!?? It did however, blow at least 100km/h as we drove home the last day and received many new chips and dents in our windshield. Kev loved that. You should ask him. :)

Present #1

So Atalie got to open one gift early, on account of Grandpa & Grandma coming to visit. They bought her a little blue sleigh (too big to wrap - hense the green plastic bag). She was quite pleased, as you can see;) She watched some hockey with Uncle Tyler... ..and finally got to try out her sleigh on the frozen lake infront of our house. Chocolate...mmm! Atalie has a new best friend. His name is Zack. He moved here with his Mom & Dad (Devon & Ethan Baltrus) just over a week ago and Atalie could not be more pleased! She squeels with delight every time she sees him;) We're also quite happy to have some friends to hang out with! A mouse update, for those who were following: We have killed one mouse. Apparently there is yet another (Dad, yes, you were right). My brother saw him scurrying along the floor when crawling into bed on the weekend, which means this one is living in the basement... so we're on the hunt again. To kill!! This one is quite noisy at night and has an appetite for some nasty things, including old wasps nests which we discovered when taking a peak in the basement ceiling (eeew). He also almost ate right through the packaging of a Christmas present we bought for one of our nephews(rrrrg!!!) - he is going to die!