Apple for Mom

It was a beautiful outing. White Rock is stunning and full of good memories for us.   

We three went to Minter Country Gardens to see what we could see. It was fun! Then we used up my Starbucks card on fancy drinks. Quite fun.   

We watch Luke play hockey regularly now that his broken arm is healed. So it was also nice that we were able to watch Caleb play.   

Moxi is growing and growing. She is rather sweet and perfect for Elise. Creative Elise made this while we played Ticket to Ride.   

Matthew gave a lesson on origami. He showed us how to make a flower. Really neat!   

Caleb took Jill out for a romantic dinner and somehow came back beaming and engaged!   

Our yearly tradition of finding shoes for Sinterklaas continued. Matthew was new to this tradition and hopefully enjoyed it. 😊 Of course, Valerie introduced Matthew to our wonderful stairs hike.   

So neat to have a READER in the house again. 😊 Logo design by Elise❤️ This puzzle was started by Opa and Oma when they needed to be in our house for the carpet guys (new carpet for Luke and Elise) and we were both gone. It was very hard! I was determined to get it finished to make sure no pieces were missing- and then sell it. With lots of help, this goal was accomplished.   

Matthew and Valerie arrived shortly after Micah and Stephanie. It was our first time meeting him and we thought he was very good for Val. He is even keeled and level headed- and she has enough enthusiasm for both of them. ❤️  We had quite a full house and two tables of people and spent Christmas feeling blessed. 

We picked the kids up from school 🏫 unexpectedly(for them).  We drove towards Abbotsford, triggering questions we deflected. As we got closer to the airport, the questions became more urgent. We told them we were picking up a parcel. Luke thought that was weird as he couldn’t recall a parcel pickup desk. He searched all over the airport and concluded there was no such desk. He didn’t think parcels came through the baggage belt unless brought by a passenger, so he started guessing it was a someone, not a something. Deflection was getting difficult. We told him perhaps the stewardess would bring it, so he should watch the incoming people.  Luke spotted the parcel.  Luke told Elise to cover her eyes and wait for the surprise. So she did. She didn’t cheat either. When the parcel arrived, she didn’t even realize until I noticed- and told her to open her eyes. She flew into Stephanie’s arms then! Micah was busy hugging Luke.  I don’t think we will be able to trick them ag...

She did it! Elise was quite worried about hiking, so she and I hiked from the short side while everyone else came the long way. I brought “Mr. Popper’s Penguins”to read to her at the top. Stacy and Braedan dropped us off, so they had the hard task of trying to catch up from a delayed start.  The next ones to arrive. The whole group