I'm NOT a child of God... I'm just Noe'!

So, a few months ago we had our annual Primary Sacrament Meeting Presentation, and all our kids were very excited to do their parts. Emilie had quite the paragraph to read, and though she's never been taught to read in english she did it very well. Mathieu too was very excited to actually be allowed to speak into the microphone. He not only said his line, but tried to speak on behalf of many other children as well, to the amusment of the congregation. Then there was Noe... all Noe had to say was "My name is Noe, and I am a child of God" He got as far as "My name is Noe'" but that was as far as he would ever go. Whether in practice or when show time came, he simply refused to say more. When asked why, he gave a perfectly simple and yet logical answer... "My name's not "I am a child of God", I'm just "Noe"! "

My little man is learning how to spell his name in french at school, and this is him before christmas showing the fruits of his labours =)

He's just down right adorable!

He's just "That kid"

Today we had the opprotunity to add one more injury to the list Noe's been racking up for himself these last four years.

"What are some of his previous mishaps?" you may ask... well, he's eaten earwig poison, had the trunk of the car slammed on his head, had the cat take a chunk of skin out just under his eye, and the list goes on.

Today though, he did the typical "lets see if the oven burner is actually hot!" test. I was just finishing making dinner, and out of the corner of my eye, i see his hand reach over to the stove that had just been turned off. Sure enough, my "STOP!" is that second too late, and he ends up with not only a burnt finger, but fried nerves from my panicked scream! Patrick took over then, and set him up with his hand in a bowl of ice water. So, for 20 mins, there he sat holding his fork in one hand and a block of ice in the other.

I guess every family has to have one danger magnet, and Noe just happens to be ours. To think this is only the beginning is just a little bit frightening!

"That's not Daddy... that's somebody else with you mom!"

While i was putting away my laundry today, Noe' gave me a good giggle that I thought i'd share with you all.

On our dresser in our room, our engagment photo from 8yrs ago sits. Today Noe' was checking it out, as he's done often before, and pointing to it, he looks at me and asks "Who's that with you mommy?" Wondering why he would ask, I told him it was Daddy, and he reply's with "That's not Daddy! That's somebody else!" This comment totally takes me off guard and actually made me laugh (which in turn embarrassed the poor guy) but he didn't give up in the least and went on to ask again and a again who it was in the picture.

At one point we were having one of those purly typical little kid arguments of "no it isn't"/"yes it is" repeated till your blue in the face, when i gave up and called Daddy for him so Noe could ask him himself. I guess he figured if i got Daddy involved i must be telling the truth, because he refused to talk to Patrick about it, and after i hung up, said with a half smile on his face, "Ok, maybe Daddy just looks different"

attached is the picture we were arguing over =p

Emilie's directorial debut!

Here's a taste of Emilie's latest work... this was at Patrick's house shortly before we left to return home. She's really too funny!

Christmas with Daddy...

This year we decided that for Christmas, we'd all go down to Anacortes and spend our break at Patrick's house. This turned out to be a wonderful idea! Not only was it nice to spend almost three solid weeks together, but because we weren't at home in Vic, it actually felt more like a holiday than just some time off.
We, like the rest of the province were snowed in for the first week we were there, and with no where to go, we really did enjoy it. Luckily, i had had enough sense to buy two weeks worth of food (included a full christmas dinner) when i first arrived, so we really had nothing to fear, and no where to go. The only issue that really came up was that in my haste of leaving Victoria to catch our ferry, i managed to forget all my personal luggage at home! Luckily i stowed a few last minute items in Emilie's suitcase though (obviously an inspired moment as i look back on it now!) so i at least had three (if not perfectly co-ordinated at least there!) outfits.
Patrick's car didn't fare well in the snow unfortunatly, and he managed to crunch up his front end right before Christmas. Luckily, everyone was fine, but almost five weeks later, we're still waiting on our insurance, and he's still without a vehicle. Hopefully things will be fixed up and back to normal soon... with the lesson that the next time it snows he had better have something with 4WD or else he's to simply stay put!
All in all, we had a great few weeks with Patrick, and made some great memories. Here are some pictures for you to view of not only Christmas, but us playing in the snow, and also some after the snow melted as well =)

Our life of late...

So for all those who don't yet know, Patrick has recently accepted a 3 year posting to Whidbey Island, WA. Due to Mathieu's special needs though, and the obvious lack of french education in the States, we decided to do what's called in the military an IR. That being Patrick moves to the location of his posting but the kids and I stay here. This is actually going alot easier (and faster) than i anticipated, with only a few real hiccup's along the way so far. With it now being January, we find ourselves entering the half way point of our first year apart, and i can only hope that the next 5 batches of "6 month marks" go by just as easily.

I thought that i'd post some of our pics from "down south" for those of you who haven't yet had opprotunity to view them. They're taken at Patrick new home down there, and at the State beach just a few minutes from his place. We all love going down there, it's one of the most beautiful places i've ever seen. He truly lives in one of those little towns where everyone knows everyone else, and no large discount chain is allowed entrace! One day i'll have to go around the town and take some pics of the beautiful colloniel houses. They're beautiful, and everywhere it seems! Enjoy!

Rain, mud, and a few good men

Today was the day that we had to take down my neighbours fence, and put it up on our side. We've been planning this for a month, but with church closed down for two sundays and then me absent this one past, getting help organized proved to be harder than expected, and to top it off the weather forecast for today was supposed to be high winds and rain! We made a date for 10am this morning anyhew, and simply hoped and prayed that the weather would co-operate and that a few kind souls would come and help at least take it down... putting it back up could always wait till later.

By last night, i still only had two confirmed helpers, and the weather forecast hadn't changed a smidge, and worry was really setting in! With Patrick stuck in the states without a vehicle, and my dad working, i really didn't know how i was going to make this work with only two ppl and myself (none of which with any real prior experience putting up a fence to boot!) So, i simply prayed like heck that all would work out and attempted to fall asleep.

Morning came, and 10am rolled round with the arrival of Bro. McCall and Dan Arnott. Between the three of us, we got going pretty quick and by the time the next two showed up 25 minutes later, we already had most of the fence down! By 11am we had a crew of six wonderful men working in the mud and rain, not only taking the fence down, but also putting it up again in my yard! By noon, there was not one of us who was clean or dry, but the work was done, lunch was served, and all with my sincere gratitude.

I'm so thankful to all who came to help, and the next time any of them need a fence put up... count me in! =)

Hello and Welcome!

So, I've decided that I should finally take the plunge and start a family blog. There were many reasons as to why i decided to do this, but two stand out more than any others...

#1) I'm HORRID when it comes to keeping in touch via phone calls or mail, and for all those who do not yet (or may ever!) use facebook, this is a much easier way for me to keep you all informed on our daily lives!

#2) I was thinking the other day about the circumstances of house fires and natural disasters and how, if one should occur, what i would consider cherished enough to want to take with us. One of those major things is, of course, family memorabilia (photo's, journals, etc). Thanks to the lovely internet, we can now use it as a tool of sorts, to preserve our history a bit differently, but safely none the less. So, here i sit, beginning a blog of our daily lives. This way, when the time of crisis comes, i can use my hands to save ourselves rather than trying to gather up a lifetime of papers and albums.

So, here's to a new age of emergency prepardness, and if all goes well, a glimpse into our daily lives =)

Jacqueline