Friday, May 26, 2006

What to say...

I always think of so many things throughout the week that I want to post on my blog and then when I finally get a chance to sit down and write something, I am speechless! Maybe some pictures will jog my memory...

For my birthday we made a trip to Gimli. Unfortunately it was cold and rainy so it was hard to appreciate the atmosphere! Deyan had told Simeon, however, that we were going to see the "Big Viking". He was very excited (thinking somehow it would be connected to Veggie Tales) and was rather disappointed that this statue was "the Viking".

He was very happy to play on the beach though! It was fun to watch Dada and Uncle Tyler 'skipping' stones in the lake. And we all enjoyed our fish and chips for lunch! We took a nice scenic drive home - saw lots of pelicans! Stopped for ice cream, had supper and birthday cake, went to housegroup and had more birthday cake...ya, not a great day to be on a diet!

Baba arrived on Friday and we spent most of Saturday together at the Forks. (Notice how there are rarely any pictures of me? This is because I'm always taking them! And when Deyan takes any, he seems to prefer the scenery around us so we all end up as small as ants!)

Since the moment Baba arrived, Simeon has been asking her to take him to the water to swim with his hippo. You see, last summer we spent a month in Bulgaria including a week on the Black Sea shore where Sim really enjoyed the waves! So, since it's not quite beach weather here, we decided to go to PanAm pool for a swim with the kids! They both really enjoyed it. Simeon took a couple of tumbles underwater but got up and kept going! I hope that means he'll be a good swimmer - no fear! :)

We also went to the Pancake House for lunch. Sim, Baba and I were spent and nearly falling asleep at the table. But not Esther! She was her happy, energetic self! :) She is sitting really well now (still topples sometimes) and LOVES to eat! She gets so excited when she sees me bringing the plate and spoon! Her favorite so far is definitely the sweet potato.

Well, I think I will go to bed now. The architectural job didn't work out for Deyan for the summer, but there is promise for the fall. He and Tyler still need jobs so please pray for that. My work is picking up now too. Good thing Baba is here to help with the kiddies! :)

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Sorry for the Silence!



Yes, it has been awhile. I would say that I've been really busy...which I have...sort of! But I do have the boys around all the time to help, so it's probably more an issue of fighting for our turn on the computer! :)

So, not much is new around here...at least not very exciting! Esther is all better! Hooray! Please continue to pray that it was just a random infection and that all the other tests come back negative. She is rolling around, creeping backwards, and sitting up (mostly unassisted). She is 'talking' more these days, in a deep voice which is pretty funny. She even said, "mama" on mother's day! Her uncle and brother seem to be able to get the best giggles out of her too! We've given her a few tastes of solid food which she surprisingly wasn't very into. She's not super keen on banana and avacado, likes rice (her first taste of thai food -haha), and squash. I'm not being totally diligent right now (she is just over 6 months old) but I'm also not doing the 'wait 5 days before trying new foods'. We don't have any food allergies and so far I'm only feeding her easy-to-digest stuff so I'm not worried.

Tyler is still jobless, but he has been having lots of fun hanging out with us, especially Deyan...the other jobless one! We've been enjoying the downtime and showing Ty around the city a bit. We went to our favorite Thai restaurant for Mother's Day and took the kids to the zoo yesterday. We hope he finds a job he likes and sticks around for awhile, but he may get sick of us and move to Alberta to join the boom there instead. :) We'll keep you posted!

Deyan had a job interview on Monday with a great architectural firm. They are not currently looking for students to hire, however they were impressed with Dey and may still consider him for a position as an 'experienced' technician. It would be a steep learning curve for him, but would offer a great opportunity to gain some experience and work towards his certification as an architect. It might not be the most fun job for him because he probably won't be able to do alot of design work. It would be more related to technical drafting. But he's still excited about it. It would bring a bit of security for us in the next season as we hope to buy a home soon!

I'm getting busier with work stuff, especially with all the new babies joining our own group! It's a busy season for Birth Roots and there's always lots to do! I didn't mention it, but Tara and Richard named their little boy Bryce (the cute one in the picture below). I'm having fun with the kids, Sanctuary House of Prayer, mother's day, birthday, etc.

Simeon is cute as always. He has learned the art of stalling, which is not so fun for us! He has a whole little bedtime routine which I don't mind too much. But once he's in bed, I would expect him to settle down and instead I hear things like: "I need tigger and junior and bob tomato and blankies...etc. (all said one at a time). I've gotten smarter and started putting everything in his little bed at once and when he asks just telling him they're all there! So now he says, "I need to go poo!" Ah yes, the potty training is still not really happening. All I have to say about that is "whatever". So we've tried getting him out and sitting him on the potty to ENCOURAGE the potty training when he asks to go poo. This however also ENCOURAGEs the stalling! He ends up just sitting there and goofing off until we put him back to bed 15 minutes later. And he won't poo that night at all so I know it was just a trick! Little monkey. The other new thing he is doing is negotiating. This isn't something he has been taught so it's pretty interesting to watch! We'll feed him supper and tell him he needs to finish x amount of bites before he can be all done (or get dessert). Usually it's 5, depending on the situation. So the other day he says, "No, I eat 1 bite." I replied, "No Sim, you need to eat 5 bites if you want ice cream." To which he answered, "2 bites?" I had to laugh and let him get away with only 4!

Other than that...Deyan's mom arrives in 2 days! We will be blessed to have her with us for 2 months. She hasn't met Esther yet and Simeon has been missing her so it should be lots of fun!