The pictures!

I was finally able to access my pictures....enjoy!

The drive to Calgary....notice Hannah taking a picture of me taking a picture!

The Girls with Nana and Grandpa

The AMAZING store....Molly loved this bear!

What is a trip with Nana and Grandpa without ice cream?!  I promise...they can find this stuff anywhere!

The shooting gallery

The Girls in their new outfits from Nana

Talk about Committment....

I was passed on to this article in the NY Times....what an amazing story! Take a moment to read it...

Generation B - Father and Daughter Bond by Years of Reading - NYTimes.com

What's the most spectacular about this is: 1) the committment of both parties to read and 2) how it impacted the people around them.....

I love it!

Our Mini-Vacation

So this week is Spring Break here in Alberta.  Last week, my parents called and wanted to know if we wanted to meet them in Calgary for a mini-vacation.  My mom called my aunt who works for the Sheraton, we got ourselves a room (thanks, Aunt Rhonda!!), packed some clothes and our bathing suits and headed out.   We left Friday morning with a quick stop in Red Deer for Art to check out a cabinet company, and then headed off to Calgary.  After we arrived mid-afternoon and met up with my parents, we headed off to Bass Pro Sports....the MOST AMAZING store ever!  It's this huge sports store with quads and boats and clothing and fishing stuff.  There are these amazing vingnettes everywhere with stuffed (as in taxidermy) animals.  There are waterfalls and a general store and live fish.  I am telling you, whoever designed this place thought of EVERYTHING.  We spent a good couple of hours in there....even got ice cream cones and Art got his fishing licence.  Amazing.....  Then, we headed back to the hotel for an evening swim (first of 4 during our 3 day trip), and finished off the evening with pizza in our room (the Girls thought that was pretty cool!), put the ladies to bed and watched "The Blind Side"....which, by the way, is an excellent flick!

The next morning, after breakfast, Mom and I headed to the new CrossIron Mills mall for some retail therapy, met up with the boys (and Girls) after they went swimming for an easter egg hunt back at THE AMAZING STORE.  After a quick nap, headed out for the worst steak dinner EVER!  Note to self:  never, ever, EVER, go back to Mother Tucker's downtown Calgary.  Swimming was next (AGAIN!), and then the Girls went to bed, Art and Dad went out for a supplementary dinner (and brought back appies!), and another movie (which I didn't quite make it through!).

Sunday am, after the last and final swim of the weekend (my skin STILL smells like chlorine!), we had a yummy lunch, said goodbye to the folks, and headed home....just in time to enjoy Sunday night nachos.

Thanks for the great weekend, Mom and Dad! 

By the way, I tried posting pictures, but for some reason, I can't.  I'll keep trying, and hopefully get them up here at some point...

My Lantern

Since we have higher ceilings in our living areas, it's been a bit of a challenge finding things of the right size....BIG! So yesterday, when I was at HomeSense, I found this lantern that I HAD to buy! I took a picture of it by itself, and then a picture with Molly and Ellie Mae to give you a bit of perspective. I need to clean it up, and figure out where I want to put it, but I love it with my whole heart!

Apparently, Ellie Mae is becoming quite a little model...

Easter Egg Tree

I have had this idea for quite a while... And on the weekend, I finally did it! We went for a walk in the woods in our backyard, and I was on a mission. To find the perfect branches for my house. I've been wanting to put some very fun easter eggs on it, which I recently found at HomeSense. They are a little hard to see in the picture, but they are blue and green with jute attached to them to hang them.  With my handy helper-man, Art (he really is the best!), we found some deadfall, cut it up, and dragged it to the house. I love the tree in my house so much that I think I may keep it for a while...and decorate it for different seasons maybe?

I love that you can see it from the kitchen as well.  I'm hoping nobody gets tangled in the branches when they sit down at the table!

After the beautiful day we had on Sunday, walking in the woods with our rubber boots and hoodies, this is what we woke up to on Monday.   Ahh, Alberta..... (snif!snif!)

My Dream Home

I found this house on a website which advertises historic properties for sale. I must say, it is probably one of my favorite homes ever!  I am in love with old homes, which are few and far between in my neck of the woods.  However, if we were ever to build, I think I would build something like this....

I especially LOVE the front porch with the rockers....it would be a perfect place to sit and watch The Girls play, while reading a book and sipping an iced tea!  I might also put in a porch swing....

Lastly, the only place I would ever want to build a house like this would be on a good sized chunk of land....I would have chickens and rabbits too (just for good measure!).  Now, all I need is about $1,000,000.....

Domestic Goddess

There is nothing like donning an apron and doing a little bit of baking to remind me of my love of all (well ok, most) things domestic! The other day I was in the mall, and of course, had to stop in to one of my favorite stores, Anthropologie. And guess what! They had some of their aprons on sale. Of couse, I had to pick one up. This may be a little known fact, but I LOVE aprons. I have a drawer full of them, that I've picked up or made over the years. Some from stores, some from garage sales (the vintage ones are the best!). So, here's my latest addition to my collection:

I put this bad boy on, and let me tell you friends....it's very cute!  I especially love the smocking on the top, as well, it's little bit shorter, which will be nice for summer.  And while I had the apron on, I made some yummy apple platz.  A whole fan full....of which there are 2 pieces left.  That's alright....these things are always better when eaten fresh!

Sensible Teeth

Abby:  "Dad, can I please use your toothpaste?"

Art: "Sure."

Abby: "No.  YOUR toothpaste.....you know, the one for sensible teeth?"

Monday Morning

This morning, Art and I were still in bed, just chatting about the upcoming day. It was about 8:45 am, and the door opens, oh so slowly AND quietly. In walks Abby....and then Hannah...and then Molly...and then Ellie Mae. Abby and Hannah were carrying trays, with breakfast on them for us. They had toasted some bread (white for me, sourdough for Art), poured milk in a glass, brought knives and peanut butter and jam...even napkins! They gave us the trays, and all crawled onto our bed to visit while we ate.

Then, they took all the dishes downstairs, and started on their schoolwork. A great start to a Monday, I would say!

The Table

So here is another post about another item in my home, with a story.  Art bought this old farmhouse table before we were married.  A friend of his was going to an auction and picked it up there, and then didn't end up wanting it, so he asked Art if he would buy it off him.  I think he paid $20 for it.  Art was going to scrape the paint off and stain it, but then, halfway through, he liked the look of it, and decided to leave it.  The table was used for his desk when we lived in Abbotsford.  He took a piece of laminate in the place where the drawer was supposed to be (there never was a drawer), and put his keyboard there.

Then, we moved to Alberta, and used this for many years as our kitchen table....and then as a base for our kitchen table.  And now, the legs are cut down (that was very hard for me to do!!), and it's our coffee table...which I love.

I love having a table that I don't have to worry about getting scratched....or dented....or a bit of crayon on....I can put my feet up, put my drink on it (WITHOUT a coaster!), and relax.  And I guess it's been with Art longer than I have....

A Little Bit O' Chaos

Here's my day today: I have my Girls at home, doing school. I have a friend's 2 little people here, hanging out, because she is sick. And, I have 2 girlfriends coming over with 2 more little people. The crazy thing? The oldest are 9 & 7 (my Girls), and the rest of 4, 2x3 yrs., 2 yrs., 1 yr. and 4 months. It's gonna be a loud one, friends. Thankfully, the Girls are done school, so they can be on 'little kid duty'. Oh yes. One more thing.....there's one boy in the whole bunch.

My Mantle

I saw a cool picture in a magazine with a mantle similar to this. I loved it so much that I decided to try it out, and here are the pictures.


I quite love the effect of lighting the candles, and wow! Does it ever give off a lot of light! (I think that there are a total of 34 candles). However, the window up above it may have suffered a little bit of damaged from the candles being so close (oops!). The only thing that I do not love is that this week I am I hoping to put my spring decorations, so the candles will have to be put away until the fall. Oh well, I did enjoy it while it lasted.

One final note. Many people have asked me what the word 'Adullam' means. This is a word taken from the bible. It is Hebrew for "Place of Refuge". That is what we hope our home is for everyone who enters....a place of refuge.

If these walls (or things) could talk...

Something that I love about the things in my home is the idea that there are stories behind them. So, I thought that I would take a few pictures of some of those things that I know the stories of, and over the next few weeks (or months), post the picture with the story. So, here is the first one:

This is a barn door that we took off of a barn right close to our home. For years I admired the barn, which has been sitting empty. One day, my hubby was driving by, and saw a truck in the yard. He stopped, and asked what they were doing with the barn. The farmer said that it was going to be ripped down the very next day, and we were free to take whatever we wanted from there. So, he called me, and I came out and we picked a bunch of stuff out of the barn. This door was up in the hayloft, and he had to climb up about 15 feet and bang on the hinges from the side. When the last one was ready to give, we prayed that the door wouldn't swing over to the side that he was precariously balanced on and knock him off his little post, but that it would just fall to the ground. Thankfully, that's just what happened. We then had to drag this door down the tiny little stairs, which were not big enough, and we ended up having to cut out the floor (which wasn't a big deal because of the demo that was happening the next day) to get it out of the hayloft.

We brought the door home (as well as a few other treasures!), and had it sitting outside for probably close to 2 yrs. until we did our reno and had the perfect spot for it. The hardware isn't original - since it was not a sliding door. We picked up this hardware at UFA, and oh my, was it shiny! My ingenious husband bought some gun metal bluing stuff, and used that to give it a bit more of an aged look.

This is one of my favorite things in my home.... When we are having large groups of people over, I will often close the door, since Hannah & Abby's bedroom is on the main level, to keep it a bit quieter for them.

The crazy thing is that we didn't even have to modify this door at all...it fit perfectly in this spot.

Parenthood

The other night, we watched the new show, "Parenthood" for the first time. I must say....I cried like a baby!! When I watch shows that have families with adult children, I can't help but think, "Is this how our family will be?"

I know what I want for my girls, and for their lives. I want them to love the Lord, and each other, and have healthy relationships and marriages. I want to be able to communicate with them when issues come up (because I know they will). I want to watch and help them raise their families. Not so much to ask, is it?

Today, Hannah and Abby were at the Ukrainian Culteral Village for a field trip. They came home, and we were sitting on the couch, all of us girls, listening to them talk about their day and the activities that they did. Then, we started talking about some of their relationships, and friendships that they had. It was a bit of a crazy moment for me....thinking ahead 10 years....and hoping that we will still do that. I wish, I wish....