Getting Near Deer -- Thankfulness

Thankfulness -- Summer vacation edition

39. Camping!  This was our first camping trip in 4 years so it was really special.  We found a campground where we could play horseshoes, ride a zipline (even the adults tried it!) and spot chipmunks (bottom right picture of Elijah).




40. Spending time with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa -- We don't get to see them very often because they live so far away.  We were able to see them a few times -- once they even came to the campground to visit us there! 

41. Making S'mores and listening to the kids sing the S'mores song:







"Graham cracker, graham cracker, chocolate bar.
Sitting 'round the campfire under the stars.
Marshmallow, marshmallow sticky and sweet.
Put 'em all together and you've got a treat."  (Veggie Tales)

42. Pony Rides

Elijah picked Princess and Desiree picked Snickers.  The kids were thrilled with their ride around the campground and with getting to feed the ponies afterwards.

43. Visiting Grandma, Papa, Uncle Daniel, Uncle David & Karlee, Great Uncle Bryan and Grandma's kittens. 

44.  Getting near deer






My parents' backyard is often visited by deer.  It was amazing to see them (and for the kids to see how close they could get!)


~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Fishing off the Balcony -- Thankfulness

More things I'm thankful for:

34. Vacation Bible School -- the kids has a blast at Space VBS this year. Now that Elijah is four, this was his first time participating officially (and not via the nursery with me) so it was monumental for him.

Unfortunately, the first day when I attempted to "let go" a little and let Elijah go with his group and teacher without me, he ended up outside... alone... He finished a robot craft and then was told he had to leave it there. Poor Elijah didn't know he would get his robot back at the end of the day... After that I shadowed his group for the rest of the week. Maybe I'll let go next year...

It was great watching my kids and all the other kids learn about God and about creation! I especially loved the singing time and love hearing my kids continue to sing the songs they learned there.

35. Boating on the lake in our inflatable dinghies. We went out two by two -- boys in one boat and girls in the other and then Desiree and I watched as those boys flew across the lake thanks to Daddy's muscles. Desiree commented a time or two about it and I told her clearly she had picked the wrong boat to go in if she wanted to go fast.

On the return trip it was even worse because the wind was against us. I honestly wasn't sure if we'd make it back to shore without being towed by a motor boat. But -- we finally did! The silver lining is that Desiree learned a lot about rowing through first hand experience (when I needed to take breaks) and the lake was so beautiful.

36. Watching the kids practice fishing off the balcony. Desiree (6) had one particular amazing cast that landed her fish weight right in the neighbour's tree! Daddy said "Kiss it goodbye", but Mommy (that's me) climbed the fence and then the neighbour's tree up to about 15 feet and rescued the fish weight. Interestingly, climbing that tree worked more muscles than the 2+ hours rowing out on the lake did?!?!

37. Fishing for real at the lake. Now this was technically a horrible day because Ernie had a meltdown (due to his stroke symptoms) and didn't actually fish with us after all, but if you look at the pictures it looks like we've had the time of our lives... Parts were great. I fished with the kids and rescued snagged hooks (although Elijah didn't get the benefit of a real hook due to age and impulsivity!).

Desiree's attitude impressed me most of all. After saying all day "I'll be so disappointed if I don't catch a fish" she left the lake saying "At least I got to feed a fish!" One tiny 3 inch fish nipped her bait off the hook and swam away...

38. Matching outfits. See in the fishing trip pictures how Desiree and Elijah have matching shirts? I love matching outfits...

I know some people are upset when they find out what they're wearing matches someone else, but not me... When I was growing up my Grandma would make matching dresses for my two cousins and me. We'd plan intentionally to match. Being an only child for 11 years I think it was important to me because it symbolized belonging.

PS: At my wedding, my mom and my mother in law unintentionally had matching brocade dresses in two different shades of blue. Thankfully both of them are like me when it comes to matching and they thought it was so neat (and funny) that they matched!!!

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Spending Time with Oma -- Thankfulness

The continuation of thankfulness...

27. Desiree "reminding" us that it was the birthday of her stuffed cat, Meows. We went to an event at a farmer's market with face painting, hot dogs, corn on the cob and watermelon (all free!). We called this event Meows' "birthday party". Maybe your family doesn't celebrate the birthdays of stuffed animals, but we do and we have great fun doing it!

28. Desiree's reaction to finding rhubarb at the produce store: "Mom!!!! Come and see!!!! They have rhubarb!!!" She was ecstatic! We also grow it in our backyard, but mostly pencil sized. Desiree, Elijah and I made a rhubarb meringue when my parents were here for a one night stop over on their way home. My dad loves rhubarb, but his reaction was quite subdued compared with Desiree's.

29. Being given a baby butterfly to take home from school. The class had hatched butterflies and when it was time to let them go this one wouldn't fly away. I carefully carried it all the way home and protected it from the wind. We took pictures with it and then let it free on a snapdragon plant in our backyard -- never to be seen again...

30. Time with "the cousins" -- my cousin, her husband and their kids who came from Alberta to visit for a couple days. My kids have never met their first cousins so these third cousins are quite a big deal! They had water fights, played Wii and we all had a trip to the water park together.

31. Going to the school's Beach day -- it was dreary and windy, but good fun still. Elijah crying as if his heart were broken when he saw a dead crab with no legs... Elijah yelling excitedly when he saw a live crab in the wild for the first time (that's his expression in the collage). Me convincing the kids that it was okay to catch them!

32. The little girl in the center of this photo from Ernie's 36km run. We asked her dad to take a photo for us so we wouldn't have a person missing from the picture and she automatically ran into the picture. How cute is that? She figured if her dad was taking the picture she should be in it!

33. Ernie's mom, Oma, coming from Ontario for a long-awaited visit and to see Ernie's run. It had been two years since we'd seen her last so the kids (now 4 and 6) were super excited. While she was here she gave me a tutorial on my sewing machine, baked all sorts of goodies for us, learned how to play Wii, gardened with Ernie and went for a hike at the river with the family. We all miss her now that she's back in Ontario...

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Listening to Echoes -- Thankfulness

One Thousand Gifts Continued...


18. Elijah's excitement at seeing a moving train up close! He kept saying "I always wanted to see a train for my birthday!" (which was in March lol)




19. A Wii Fit workout -- the only kind I do... (and haven't done in such a long time prior to this workout).

20. Watching Desiree on her hands and knees hollering down a storm drain and listening to the echoes.

21. All the amazing animals that God has made! -- like capybaras which are the largest rodents in the world.

22. Going to the zoo for a Family Fun Day and taking the train while we were there:


23. Desiree and Elijah collecting wood bugs / potato bugs / tank bugs to bring to school in a jar with holes in the lid that Daddy banged for them.

24. Reading a book about a family living during the Depression Era ("The Booky Trilogy") and remembering to count my blessings because finances could always be worse...

25. Our first visit to the outdoor splash park this year. The kids had a blast sending Desiree's crocs floating down the little creek and chasing after them.

26. Pre-teen boys who are kind enough to share a few of their water balloons with my little on-lookers.

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Handy Bags

Since I was talking about having bags for a variety of purposes, I thought I'd show the bags the kids and I "made" for taking to Awana and storing everything in during the week.



I found canvas bags at the dollar store and got the kids to "personalize" each bag with their own hand print in acrylic paint. Here is a picture of Elijah ironing his bag (with my vintage TOY iron) after being inspired by my ironing the bags.



Here's another picture of Desiree and Elijah modelling the bags before using them to hunt for Easter eggs in the backyard. (Note: they picked out the sweaters themselves because they thought the stripes on the sweaters looked liked the stripes on decorated Easter eggs.)



These bags are great for organizing the Cubbies and Sparks books, Desiree's Bible and Awana bucks. Elijah even uses his bag to bring along his stuffed elephant which he named Ernie elephant after the elephant in his Cubbies book (and I suppose after daddy too!).

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Ultimate Blog Party 2010!!!

Hi! I'm Chelsey. This is my first time ever participating in the Ultimate Blog Party so thanks for mingling with me in the corner of the virtual room.



When I was little I told my mom when I grew up I wanted to be a teacher, a singer, an artist, an author & a mom. My mom asked how I was going to do all that & I told her "Well, I'm going to be a mom & a mom IS all those things!"
Now I know how true that was! I am currently an elementary teacher turned stay at home mom. I'm singing, drawing, making up stories & teaching my kids every moment I get & loving nearly every minute of it! (See how honest I was to add "nearly"? lol)


My husband, Ernie, and I met when we were both counselors at a Kid's Camp. We have been married for 13 years this summer. It's unbelievable how fast time flies!

Ernie had a stroke for unexplained reasons at the age of 33 when our son was only 3 months old. He is permanently disabled because of the effects of the stroke -- comprehension, memory, impulsivity, insomnia & mood management issues as well as random balance issues & seizures (which took a year to get under control with medication).

Despite all the daily struggles my husband & I continue to love one another, love our kids & love God.

Desiree(6) is in grade one and loves singing, drawing, climbing trees and pretending. Elijah (4) loves doing the same things -- especially with his big sister. Desiree is sensitive and crafty. Elijah is mischievous and cuddly. Life with them is always interesting!


I love all things childish (watching animated movies, browsing in the toy section, etc). I like reading (kid and adult books) and love crafting in random moments of free time (knitting, crocheting, paper crafts...). I especially love making memories with my family. On this blog I post about a bit of everything -- the fun childish things, the simple things and every so often (I hope) something profound.

If you're interested, please feel free to follow me!

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

August 24 - I ♥ Faces - Nostalgic Photos

This picture is nostalgic to me because it's of my son wearing a 30 year old sweater that belonged to my cousins when they were his age.

My Grandma actually made one in the same pattern with different colours for me that my daughter now wears. Both sweaters have a large print of Bambi on the back. I do have pictures of the two of them wearing their sweaters together, but this picture was so cute of Elijah (before his first hair cut) exploring the woods at the park.

Thanks for visiting and especially for leaving comments! Check out the great nostalgic entries this week at I ♥ Faces!

July 27 - I ♥ Faces - Beach Photos

This was taken April 2005 when my husband, our 1 1/2 year old daughter and I went for a week's vacation to celebrate my 30th birthday! This is only an hour and a half away from us, but it was such a great trip. The weather was uncharacteristically summery for April and we had such a great time together. My favourite part of the trip was watching our daughter exploring with the sand, rocks and water for the first time. I love this photo because it highlights her exploration as well as the bond between Daddy and daughter.

Thanks for stopping by and extra thanks for leaving a comment! Check out all the amazing beach entries this week at I ♥ Faces!

July 20 - I ♥ Faces - Feet photo

I recently found out about I ♥ Faces and I'm so excited to participate. I've been inspired by all the photos I've seen and can't wait to learn more about photography and editing. This is my first entry (and thankfully I figured out all the linkage correctly!)

When I saw "feet" was the theme I instantly thought of this picture I took at the start of summer. I was taking backyard pictures of my daughter in her pretty dress in honour of her kindergarten graduation. I kept snapping while she wandered around. This was her impromptu stick-between-the-toes pose.

I took the picture using "auto" with my point and shoot and it's SOOC (see how I'm learning the lingo?). I don't know exactly what all this means yet, but the details are: ISO 80 1/80 F3.2

Thanks for stopping by and extra thanks for leaving a comment! Check out all the amazing feet entries this week at I ♥ Faces!