A glimpse of our November

So this morning Lucy needed a bath

because.....

...... she got into my makeup and destroyed my nice lipstick. That's right, I had nice lipstick. Actually it was some lipstick that mom didn't wear anymore so she gave it to me, but still, I loved it! She was so very proud of herself. When I put her in the bath, it was amazing to see all the places that she had managed to smear lipstick. Lucy gets into stuff, everything in fact. A couple of days ago, i found pink toothpaste smeared all over our bedroom wall. She came in as i was cleaning it off and pointed and giggled hysterically, thrilled that I had found her masterpiece. I explained in my best stern mother voice "no, we don't do that," only to have her come in two minutes later with the same toothpaste ready to paint again in the same spot. I think I really got through to her. We love our little lulubelle.

The first part of November is seriously a blur because we were all sick. I honestly don't remember much at all except for constantly giving the kids motrin, cleaning up Lucy's vomit and sleeping and when I wasn't sleeping, I was thinking about sleeping. I'm pretty sure that we had the H1N1. And we survived, who knew. On remembrance day, we were all feeling better so we attempted to have a normal day and took the kids out to Margaret Falls. It's a gorgeous little 1 km hike to a very pretty waterfall. It actually reminded me of being on Vancouver Island. It felt so nice to get out with the kids and enjoy some fresh air after being couped up in the house for so long.

The other night we had a French Bingo night at the school where Jared was the Bingo caller. As I'm sure you can all imagine, he did a fantastic job. However it was quite the night for me. Imagine me at a table playing three cards at one time (well, two I guess, but helping Jordan with hers as well) and trying to keep track of our active little Lucy. Nathan finally went to the front to help jared call numbers and I took Lucy out to the hall. I left jordan with some friends. Well, one of the friends ended up winning and was so nice to our little kids, she gave Jordan an eraser from her gift basket and came out to the hall and game me two erasers, one for Lucy and one for Nathan. Well, at the end of the night, nate was pretty disappointed that he didn't win the monster trucks and didn't want to leave. I told him when we got to the car he could have his eraser that Makenna had given him. To my surprise he perked right up and practically ran to the car. When I gave him his little green happy face eraser, he just stared at it and said "This can't go anywhere, it's not fast, it doesn't have wheels." Oh no! "Oh Nate, sorry bud, this is an eraser, not a racer!" Needless to say, we had one grumpy boy on the way home. It must be tough being a three year old.

This is the kids after their primary presentation at church back in October. The great thing about having a small primary (group of young kids) is that all the kids have huge parts during the presentation. Even Nathan, our three year old sunbeam had three speaking parts! How awesome is that! Jordan and Nathan both said their parts really well, but what I was most impressed with was how well they knew all the songs and they just sang their little hearts out.

Last month Jordan had her first piano recital at St. Andrews church. She played Jack be Nimble and played all two lines like a total pro. I have to admit, my heart was beating so fast as we entered the church from feeling a little anxiety for Jordan but mostly from remembering past recitals of my own. She had her second recital on Friday and played Good King Wenseslas. Mom, dad and Britt were gracious enough to come from Vernon to see our little rockstar. So we have definitely entered a new era in our lives.

We were so happy to have Grandma Lee Audrey with us.

We were so proud of our beautiful Jorji!

P.S. We were going to take family pictures tonight for our Christmas card, but last night Jordan and nathan were wresting on the bed and Nathan fell off and hit his eye on the CD player and now has a little black eye. Also Jordan woke up this morning with an orange/red swollen face from an allergic reaction she had to some product used at a birthday party yesterday (from a facial). Now that I think of it, maybe we should have taken them anyway, they would have been hilarious.

Happy Halloween!

We are the odd couple. Andi is just a country girl trying to make it big in the big city. One day she met a guy she thought she would never fall for. But something happened. Something magical.

We were so happy to have Jared's sister Jess come visit us this weekend. We knew it would be a perfect weekend for her to come because she loves Halloween as much as we do! We had such a jam-packed weekend. Friday was Jordan' s first piano recital followed by a halloween party in Vernon. Jared dressed up for school of Friday so yes that means that he went to Jordan's recital in costume. It was fun introducing him to Jordan's teacher. It was even funner having him walk into my grandma's retirement home to escort her out to our car. We started our halloween festivities at at about 2:30 on Saturday and didn't stop till late. Jess took the kids to the mall earlier in the day and had their face painted. That's how Nathan became a vampire grass hopper. We had so much visiting with Jess and having her with us for all the festivities.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, TO ALL AND TO ALL A FREAKY NIGHT!!

Notice the movie playing on the garage door. We set up a projector behind the door and showed Monster, Inc. for the trick or treaters. We even set up some chairs for those who needed to take a break.

Andi thought I looked so hot in my punk outfit. Was it the skinny jeans, the tattooed arms and neck, the floral collar, the eye liner and blue lipstick or erect hair. Take your pick.

We all love dressing up for Halloween!

Auntie Jess looking fantastic as a sorceress as our cute Ladybug Lucy hits up storekeepers to give her sweet, delicious candy.

Jorji with Olivia and cousin Chloe

Lucy with her punk rockin' father. I finally got to dress up like the person I always wanted to be. Bad to the bone, baby.

Trick or treating in downtown Salmon Arm. It was fantastic chaos!!

I think Andi should move out to the country and grow hops for a living. What a sexy Cowgirl! Giddy up!!

Nathan was a scary caterpillar for Halloween who was out for vengence and blood!

The kids out with some friends Trick or Treating at the mall. Quality candy was found there.

I don't know where Jordan learned to act like a witch, but she definately played the part. Hopefully a house doesn't fall on her, causing her feet to curl up and her evil sister to take revenge on a poor country girl from Kansas.

Again, great pose, Jorji.

Kids playing outside on one of the last nice days in September.
Thanksgiving Weekend!

Uncle Jared and Lucy with the animals at Davidsons.

Lucy taking aunt B for a spin.

We took the kids to Davidson Orchards in Vernon on Thanksgiving Monday. For those of you that have been there, they've added a whole new section for kids that the kids absolutely loved. They had duck races (Jordan and Nathan were super competitive with eachother hence Nathan's deep concentration), hay mazes, tractors and other "farming" things to keep their little bodies busy.

Mom strutted her stuff on a John Deere Trike.

Poor aunt Bee just couldn't get the hang of it:)

I love this picture! The kids had so much fun playing in the hay. And I had so much fun trying to get hay out of their clothes the next day. How do farmers do it?

The three cutest villains I've ever seen.

Lucy just loves animals! Any kind, but especially dogs. She will chase them down and then bark frantically at them in between giggles and screams. Big or little, she loves them all. She had a blast at the petting zoo and expecially loved discovering these little bunnies.

Nathan was so brave and fed these donkeys apple cores right from his hand. Jordan not so much.

Aren't these snake squash the coolest thing ever?

Jordan and Nate with their new adopted parents, I think Nate likes them more than us.

Mom made the most beautiful pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving that I just had to document it!

We were so happy to be able to spend thanksgiving at mom and dad's in Vernon. They are always such wonderful hosts. We had a blast playing killer bunnies, playing Wii and eating delicious food together.

All the ladies at Thanksgiving dinner ready to dig into some pie. Apple pie is one of Jordan and Nathan's favourite desserts. This year, they loved the pumpkin pie too!

Ok, so Thanksgiving weekend, I ran my first 10 Km race in Kelowna. At the end of the summer I decided that I needed a new goal physically so I decided to register for this run. Because of soccer and the gym, I wasn't starting from square one, so it was reasonable to train for 10 km with the 5 weeks that I had. Jared drove with me early Sunday morning down to Kelowna for my run that started at 7:30am. I was so nervous! Primarily because it was a unusually COLD (it was -6 degrees) morning and I wasn't sure how warm I'd be by the time we started. Fortunately I had a great warm up and felt ready to go by the time the run started. I love race atmospheres, the people, the music, everything. There was just over 600 people running so it was a good size! I had such a blast running, Jared made me a killer playlist to listen to! It was a nice flat course through downtown, along the lake and through a couple of neighbourhoods. My goal was to finish at the 50 minute mark but i ended up finishing in 48:40. I was really please and felt that I'd had a pretty good run. It wasn't until after the results had been posted that someone I knew notified me that I was first in my age class females 30-39. I was totally surprised. And also hooked. I think 10 km is a good distance for me. Long enough to be challenging but short enought that you can give just give her.

Mom and Britt are the best! They drove the kids down to see me finish! So happy to see them there!

The kids being brave for the picture, but they were about to freeze to death in this picture! Good thing Grandpa sent some hot chocolate.