Milestones

We've had a couple of milestones this week... I wanted to tell about Brennan's first but I don't know how to make his the first picture on here. I think I need some blog assistance. Well, first for Biscuit. He is officially sleeping through the night!!! I am really thankful for that because I don't do well with interrupted sleep and I'm too busy to take naps these days, so I was driving around way too tired. Also, he's already gained 3 and a half pounds. What a big puppy ;) He still needs to figure out that outside is the ONLY place he's allowed to do his business.

Brennan joined karate in September and yesterday he earned his first stripe. He's well on his way to becoming a "karate master". He is my only child interested in this and it's neat to see him learning so much in only six weeks. He also has to really listen and concentrate which is good practice for my lively, rambunctious, easily distracted boy :)
Crongratulations Brennan. All my children got report cards yesterday as well and they're all doing very good. Good enough to get a trip off this island and have a swim at Duncan's brand spankin new pool this weekend. Yipee, I get to wear a bathing suit! Help me Jenny Craig!!

Christmas planning...

Just wanted to write a quick post to say that I'm soooooo excited to have the house full this Christmas! My whole family is coming!! If my auntie and cousin join us that will be ten adults and nine lively, noisy kiddos. :)

I love Christmas and my brain is now busy full time thinking of activities and food and traditions we can incorporate into our celebrations this year.

I've got to get myself in gear and start decorating... I know, some of you already have your tree up! Since, we just got the puppy, we're not spending too much on Christmas gifts this year, so my shopping is pretty much done. That is a first in my life to be almost gift ready in November! Hopefully that will help me to have some quiet time reflecting on the great gift God gave and how Jesus's birth has changed my family's history and future.

Our new family member!!

Meet our new puppy Biscuit! On Monday, Christian completely surprised me with an overnight trip to Victoria and a concert. He packed everything and had the kids all farmed out to different friends. We had such a blast having a couple of days on our own. At some point, Christian said, "wouldn't it be fun to bring a puppy home for the kids." We've been discussing getting a puppy for months now and the right timing of it etc. So Tuesday morning after breakfast we set out puppy hunting. By 12:30pm we'd found our pup. An eight week old Zuchon, which is a Bichon/Shitzu cross. We fell in love with him and within half an hour decided to bring him home. We were like a couple of giddy children all the way home on the drive and ferry ride. We could hardly wait to see what the kids would say and do...

We picked up Brennan first and when we told him it was his new puppy, he got a perma-grin. He held him in the car on the way to pick up Isaiah and Abby and at one point said, "I feel like I'm dreaming." Isaiah and Abby were completely thrilled and Isaiah always says, "He's just sooooo cute!", and Abby keeps telling me, "Mom that was the best surprise ever when you brought home our puppy." When we got home we started looking up dog names on the internet and within an hour all of us agreed on Biscuit. It was so cool because I had wanted to name him Poppy since we adopted him on Remembrance day but the kids didn't agree. After I put them all to bed, I opened up the Times Colonist newspaper to the Remembrance Day section to read a letter a man had wrote to his mother in World War I telling her that he's been injured by a musket ball hitting him in the chest, but it would have been much worse had it not been for the biscuit he was keeping in his chest pocket as a snack. So, I guess Biscuit does have a good Remembrance Day name!
So now I'm in the middle of the not getting much sleep as I deal with this puppy at night and spend lots of time researching how to have a well mannered, good sleeping, house broken puppy. It's a bit like having my first baby! If you have any good puppy advice, I could sure use it... Christian and I are so excited to have our first pet (other than goldfish) in fifteen years of marriage! Life is good :)

Summer fun

We've had a great summer so far... Lots of sun, beaches, company, and a bit of work around the house. We were so fortunate to get to go to Mt. Washington a couple of times as my good friend let us go up to their chalet for free while they were away on holiday. The kids had so much fun disc golfing, and going on the bungee trampoline. The chalet is huge and peaceful and a nice break from everyday life on Salt Spring. The second time we went in late July we were hoping to take the chair lift to the top and hike, but we got socked in by cloud and some rain. So instead we went down the mountain into Courtney/Comox for a lovely walk and trip to a petting zoo. Abby and Brennan loved the rats. Yikes!! We also hit a really fun mini-golf in Parksville. The kids loved that!We've been able to see more of Mom and Dad as they're stationed in Naniamo for the summer. They bought a bigger 5th wheel to live in that much better accomodates Mom's needs. I'm so proud of them for choosing to live in their trailer so they can volunteer all over Canada and the U.S. with Sowers.
We were also blessed with visits from Heather, Richard, Charlie, Sam and Violet. We had so much fun hanging out and showing them around Salt Spring a bit more. Our kids have so much fun with their cousins and I'm so happy that we all live close enough to see each other a least a few times every year.
My sister took a family picture of us. I think it's been a very long time since we had a pic taken of us all together, so thanks Heather!
Isaiah bought himself a new mountain bike. He's worked very hard since his birthday saving money and had enough to buy himself a great bike and a lock. He had lots of fun trying it out at the mountain.

So, how's your summer been?

I'm Becoming a Gardener!

We've been working lots on the outside of our house while the suns shines and I must say it is very hard work, but I'm really enjoying it! I loved researching which plants were deer proof, low maintenance and pretty and planting them. Moving all the rocks that were all found on our property was a lot harder but still fun.
We've got a ton of work left to do... We're going to put a gravel path to the front door, and gravel down the driveway. We've got grass to plant in the back, junk to take to the dump, and outside trim work to finish. I'm thinking of painting my front door black... What do you think?
We've also got a raised bed at the elementary school that is completely deer fenced and I've planted lettuce, spinach, green beans, tomatoes, carrots, snap peas, onions, and radishes. I'm really enjoying that too. I was so shocked at how tiny some of the seeds were when I planted. It's amazing that veggies can grow from those! So, what are you all up to outside this summer??

Fun With Cousins

We had a great weekend. My sister Dinah and her hubby Russ and their three boys, Elijah, Hayden, and Joseph came for a visit. This was special because, even though they only live about an hour away, this past year has been crazy for us and them and they have never been to visit us all and stay here since before we started building our house. That's been over two years! It was warm and perfect and we got to show them some fun places to swim and hang out here on Salt Spring. My kids had lots of fun with their cousins! We are really blessed on this island and have lots of great places we can hang out in the summer. We spent a lot of time swimming and boating and my two oldest nephews even got to try tubing behind a motor boat for the first time.


My nephew Hayden was so funny. On the second day, I took him and a couple of my kids grocery shopping. After putting chips, marshmallows, chocolate, and ice cream in our kart, Hayden announced, "My Mom would never be this nice!" My son Isaiah quickly sorted him out and told him that I hardly ever buy junk like that and it was only because they were visiting. Well, they are pretty special!
Thanks for coming Bueckert family! We love you!!

My Baby's Not a Baby!

Today is Abby's last day of preschool. It just hit me this morning that I'm officially out of the toddler/preschool days and that all my kids will be in elementary school. I don't know where the time went!! Part of me is relieved as being the secretary for the co-op preschool has been more work than I ever knew. But I'm sad that there'll be no more duty days in the classroom, preschool teddy bear sleep overs, spring carnivals to set up and tear down, and hearing the funny things one of the boys in her class always says... The preschool has been so important for our family in connecting with other families on Salt Spring. It has really made us feel that we're part of this community and helped me make some wonderful friends. Goodbye preschool...we'll miss you.

We're Simple Folk

Some of you may not know our exciting news on Salt Spring Island. We finally have a bus! The kids are so pumped whenever they see it and yell, "Look, it's the city bus!" It doesn't take much to get Salt Spring kids impressed ;) So, last week I decided to take Abby and her friend Amy that I take care of on a bus ride from Ganges to Fulford. Oh, you would have though I was taking those girls to Disneyland, they were so happy!

We had enough time in Fulford to hang out on the dock, eat our picnic lunch, and watch the ferry come in...
Abby actually started feeling a wee bit bus sick on the way home, so I quickly drank my to go coffee from Rock Salt in case the cup was needed as a barf cup. You'll be happy to know we made it home safe and throw up free!

Spring Madness

Little late as always, but I wanted to post some pics of our spring vacation. We were looking forward to this so much as Christian hasn't had a full week off since Abby was a baby! We started off with a visit in Chilliwack to see my sister Heather and her family and my parents who had just come back from volunteer work in Texas. Our first day, Sunday, was amazing... sun, visiting, quad rides, campfires, reading. And then Christian started to get sick. My poor hubby could hardly get out of bed the next morning and this was pretty much the state he remained in for the rest of our trip! I was determined to keep on with the plan and packed us up on Tuesday to head to Kamloops to a cabin I'd booked on Pinantan Lake. I drove all the way and when we arrived around dinner, Christian crashed on the couch and I unpacked, made dinner which he couldn't eat, took the kids for a walk on the ice covered lake, and put the kids to bed. Not quite the way we'd pictured things! Needless to say we did have a lot of fun, thanks to lots of drugs for Christian, but I had to do most of the packing/unpacking, and care of the kids. We enjoyed the sun, which has been severely lacking on Salt Spring...
Got to try ice fishing...

Go for a go-kart ride... Brennan threw up on the way to go-karting and then was fine. He went on a high speed one with Christian and steered like a maniac and then threw up again as soon as we started to drive away in our car. The throwing up lasting til about midnight on Wednesday. This is when I seriously began to think about packing up and going home and beginning to feel a bit ticked that my family was so sick for our only holiday in over four years!
On Thursday, after Christian visited a walk-in clinic in Kamloops, we headed to Sunpeaks, and had a great time exploring the village and swimming and then drove back to Chilliwack. That's when Isaiah started to get sick.
We did get to visit some dear friends in Chilliwack/Abbotsford and then I got to attend a cancer fund raiser at Heather's church to hear Feather Janz speak and some great music. I was blown away by Lisa Adrianne's story and singing and I cried a lot, which I think was a great way to get over our vacation that did not turn out the way I'd planned... My sickness started on the ferry ride back to Salt Spring and I came home exhausted. After times like that, all I can usually say is "c'est la vie" and that I believe the verse that says that God works all things together for good... I'd like to say I always rest in that belief but then I'd be lying about the tantrums I throw :) Funny thing is, that we're already talking about the memories we made and all the kids remember was the fun!

I'm A Lazy Blogger

It's been a while since I did this... I forget about blogging sometimes, although I have been reading lots of other's bloggity goodness. We're all doing well but we've just come through a bad run of colds and the flu. I have only felt well for the last two days, so I guess I was sick for almost all of February. Aaaaah, the month of love. I did get a chance to take the kids up to the top of Mt. Erskine late in January. They were such troopers and I told them they're all now officially mountain climbers. It hit me on the way down, that I may be partly insane bringing my children up there by myself in pretty cold weather. There are parts that are super steep and there's lots of rocks on the trail, so I'm very thankful that nobody sprained an ankle or fell off a cliff!!

This next pic is from a hike we did together on Sunday. That is Mt. Maxwell in the background and boy did we ever enjoy the sun. Haven't seen enough of that around here until the last week! I love hiking with my family and I'm so blessed that my kids are totally into it. Abby used to need to get carried a lot last year but she's definitely grown up!

Isaiah is great. He's doing excellent in school and is really into soccer, hockey, and basketball at the moment. It's actually hard to find something he's not good at which is kind of sickening! He is also very humble and just generally a joy to be with. He takes after his Daddy in so many ways :) Isaiah has also taken a keen interest in creation science and singing . I can't believe he'll be ten in April!!!
Brennan is my sweetie with a stubborn streak... He is really enjoying grade one (especially math) but tells me that whenever his teacher talks, he thinks "I hope she's going to say it's time for gym". Typical boy! Brenn's also really into soccer right now and also tried rock climbing this month and loved it. I've known since before he was two that he was going to be a rock climber. My favorite time with Brennan is usually just before bed when we do devotions. He has a compassionate heart for those who are hurting and wants to please God. I love hearing him pray.
Abby is busy with preschool and soccer too. She's a busy girl and fits in great with her brothers. She is more moody than the boys though and screams A LOT! It really hit me yesterday hard that my baby is growing up after I registered her for kindergarden... Time really seems to be flying fast. Abby is asking a lot of big questions about life right now and loves doing puzzles. I think she's really smart, but I am totally biased!
Christian has been....you guessed it...busy!! The poor guy hasn't had a break in more than a year and a half. Between work and this house and the occasional gig, he hardly gets to sit. I'm sure he's questioned many times why he ever came up with the idea to build a house. The good news is that he gets a week of paid time off in March! I can't even tell you how much this means to us. We'll be hanging out in the lower mainland for a few days visiting family and friends :) The house is so close to being finished. We should have our final soon... I'm good and really busy with preschool secretary stuff, teaching at the gym, and being a mom. God is definitely teaching me to be content. It's so easy (especially now with Facebook), to look at all the exotic places friends are traveling and start to feel envious... It's kind of weird having access to everyone's pictures so quickly. I wish someone would post a picture album of a regular week! My pictures would include wiping snot off my kid's noses, scrubbing toilets, arguing with Christian, and cooking dinner ;) It will be quite awhile before we travel anywhere exciting and I'm fine with that; I'm counting all my blessings and having a blast living on this beautiful island. I'm going to try and blog more often. It's almost like a sort of journal and it's fun to look back on.
Chow!

This year I love snow!

We had so much fun in the snow today! When we moved here three years ago, everyone told us that snow was rare here, but each year we've been treated to a winter wonderland. Of course, here on Salt Spring it pretty much means you're snowed in and your power goes off and on and off and on again... This year, Abby loved it too. Last year she was scared of the snow and wouldn't even walk on it!
As I was looking out the window today watching the kids sled and build snowmen, I was feeling very blessed. There is something very special about watching your children have fun in snow. I began just thanking God for them and for this year He's brought us through. Last year at this exact time was when we abandoned the trailer for a cottage after our water had been frozen for over for two days and we could hardly keep the trailer warm anymore. That began a wild ride of moving around to different places that I've tried to block from my memories! Things are still taking longer than we'd ever hoped, but we're in our house now and it's warm and dry and getting lovelier by the day :) Here's a couple pics of our kitchen so far. It still needs it's tile backsplash, window trim, and finishing touches on the cupboards, but it's almost done!!! I even have a walk in pantry behind that little door!
I'm going to go and make some tea, enjoy the quiet, and hope we don't lose power again. Hope you're all enjoying the snow while it lasts...

Random Bits

Happy November ya'll! As always, it takes me awhile to post anything, but I thought I'd try and give a quick run down of what we've been up to... It's been busy around here as usual and I never seem to be caught up with all the things I want/need to do. I'm really starting to enjoy our house and I think that's cause I'm starting to be able to put things away. Wooohoooo!!! In the past week, Christian has finished all of the shelving for our closets, except one, so I'm having a grand old time organizing. Also, we finished tiling both our tubs, so we've been able to shower for about a week. A bath just does not do it for me for waking up in the morning and we hadn't had a shower since the beginning of June! That is a LONG time.
Anyways, Christian is bustin his butt trying to be completely done by Christmas. So, he is tired and sometimes grumpy. (Don't tell him I told you!)
Our dear, dear, friends Brad and Elisa Boschman are coming tomorrow from Calgary, so they will be our first company in our new house. Actually, no, my Mom and Dad were, so I guess they're second.
Here's my cuties dressed up for Halloween. I always wanted to be the mother of a princess, jedi, and goalie!
I got to dress up too :) I had to teach my cardio kickbox class on Halloween morning, so I thought I'd play it up a bit. My wig is falling off in this pic, but other than that, I looked hot. And let me tell you, it is not easy doing a cardio class in a wig, heavy make-up, and a long dress! After class, I decided to stay dressed up and party hop to all the kid school parties. I think Brennan was a tad bit embarrassed by me. He whispered to me at one point, "Mom are you sure you don't want to go get changed and get back to yourself yet?"
This is Christian having the first shower ever in our new house! He was one happy man. It sure feels good to finally use it after over a month of tiling. Yech!
This is our ensuite bathroom. Not quite finished yet as we've got to put the baseboards and trim up.

So, that's a bit of what we've been doin. Things will be crazy around here til Christmas... Youth conferences, choir practices for the kids, soccer games (LOTS of soccer games), working on the house til the wee hours, Christmas concerts and all the business of decorating, shopping, and entertaining. I'm hoping to get more sleep in 2008!!

Almost there...

So, here's a few pics of where we're at with the house :) I love having a functioning camera again. Outside we still have some finishing to do and a deck to build on the back and a whole lot of property clean up and landscaping to do. I can hardly wait unil the burn ban is off so we can start burning scraps etc. It will make a huge difference.

I stand outside many days and just try to remember the whole process we've been through to build this. I will never look at a house in the same way again. I've really taken it for granted all these years how much work goes into putting a house up. There's so many details that you have to focus in on. I really look at other people's houses with a much more detailed eye now. Yes, I am saying that I will pick apart your house when I visit!

Inside, Christian is tiling around one of the bathtubs and man is that ever time consuming! We still need to install hardwood in the hallway and main entrance, do the finishing like kickboards in the kitchen, all the window and baseboard trim, tile another bathtub surround, put up a few more doors, and finish the closets shelves. I'm looking forward to the closets being done, so I can put more things away. I've filled many boxes that are destined for Value Village. Living without a lot of our stuff for over a year has really made me realize how much stuff we didn't miss and don't need.

I'm also working on refinishing our table set. I'm finished the table, but not the chairs, so it doesn't match right now. We are REALLY looking forward to being done and moving into a different season of life... Maybe a season that might include a vacation! I really wanted to post a picture of our kitchen, but it's not quite done and my island was full of items to return to our church library that I found while unpacking. I'm surprised they still let us take books and videos out! We keep taking stuff and then packing it in a box somewhere as we moved from one place to another. It does feel good to know that we don't have to move for awhile. We did build this house to flip though within a year or two so I won't get too comfy!

I'll try and post pics more often now so we can show you more of what we've done. I can hardly wait to have some visitors come and stay, especially ones with decorating and organizing talents that can tell me where to put everything!

We Finally Got a Camera!

The time has finally come for me to post some pictures! We finally bought a new camera and I'm so excited to better blog our life again... I thought I'd start by posting a few of my favs from my trip to Chilliwack to visit my sister Heather and her family. We had so much fun just hangin out (something I wish we could do more often). Here's the kids on the ferry on our way over to the mainland.










































































It's surprising my sister Heather and I look so well! Especially considering all the stress we've been through building houses. I have a full understanding now why Heather, after just finishing their new house, screamed, "DON'T DO IT!!!" over the phone to me when she found out we would be building one of our own!
That picture of the kids on the train is my favourite. Who knew a cheesy fake train at "Fun Land", could bring my nephew Sam so much joy!
And how could summer be complete without a round of ice cream with your cousins?
We are in our house now as many of you know. It's so good to be in here, although we still have a ton of finishing work to do which can seem overwhelming. The overwhelming part really depends on whether or not I'm P.M.S.ing ;) My next post will be some pics of where things are at. I can hardly wait to share them!
Thanks for the awesome visit Heather. I left Chilliwack and went straight to Naniamo to go out to coffee with my sister Dinah. I'm feeling very blessed to have sisters that I love being with and love laughing with and can always count on for support and encouragement.

Air Conditioning Would Be Nice

I'm really hot right now and I can't sleep, so I thought, what a better time than this to update our blog... It's been awhile as usual.
Just over a week ago, we moved out of the guest house at Randy B's and started housesitting for one of our friends. Originally when they asked us to do this, we thought our house would be done and it would be a great place to relax and spend time as a family. Ha, ha. Well the house is not quite done so it hasn't exactly been relaxing here. Christian continues to work all day and all evening between the studio and the house and he's been doing that for about two months straight! I was so tired last week from moving and feeling stressed, that I had a rough start to the week. I think I've just had enough of building stress and moving... But even though we're super busy, we are getting some time to enjoy this ocean front home and the hot tub that looks over Tent and Kuper Island and the breath taking sunsets. The house comes with a boat, so on Sunday we skipped church and instead spent time as a family boating around the gulf islands, picnicing on Valdes island, and ocean swimming off Tent island. The kids had so much fun (well, we all did!) and the boys were so excited to get a chance to drive the boat.
We are working on installing the hard wood on our main level and will continue putting up kitchen cabinets once IKEA couriers us a new corner cabinet to replace the one that was a dud. The house is painted and the bathroom floors are in and all the lights are installed. I'm getting really excited to move in! I wish I had a way to post pics right now, but the camera is broken and I think we're going to have to buy a new one. The house looks nice, you'll just have to trust me.
Our plan is to move onto the property and "camp out" in a tent and the garage for a couple of weeks until we have a temporary occupancy permit. We'll have a toilet and a sink and a washer, dryer and fridge.
Whew! What a year! I don't EVER want to do this again!!!!
The kids are all doing great. They're enjoying summer so far with trips to the beach outside our door, lots of lake swimming, water fights, hot tubbing, boating, and going to the Vacation Bible Camp that is running at church this week. They love having a dog and cat to take care of at this house and I think we might have to seriously consider getting a pet soon :)
You can pray for Christian as he's exhausted but has a drive and work ethic that amazes me daily. I have an awesome husband!
I can hardly wait to connect better with so many of our friends. I feel like this journey we embarked on to build has been all encompassing and has left me with little energy to keep up with many of you.
I'd better try and get to sleep now. I have to teach a class at the gym in the morning!
Later,
Jenn

May already!

I don't know where time has gone and I can't believe we're into May already! I haven't posted for ages for two reasons... One, I signed in with my wrong email address when I changed over to the new Blogger and it took me this long to fix it, and secondly I can't post pics right now! We're all doing good but we're extremely busy. Christian has had a ton of extra studio work, and he is also working at the house any evenings and days he's not at the studio. So, I'm a bit of a single mother right now it seems. I know this season of our life will come to an end soon enough though so that makes it easier for me to handle. The dry wallers start on Wednesday or Thursday, so that will be really exciting! I feel that I've been looking at the framing of our house WAY to long!! Christian has been busy insulating which is a nasty job and takes longer than you would think (or maybe just longer than I would think)! The phrase Christian and I are saying too much is "when we get in the house, then we'll..." Christian jokingly says that everything will be perfect in the new house. We'll be totally organized, and get our budget together, and have more quality time as a family, and have perfectly behaved children. Teehee!
Abby turns four on Wednesday and I can't believe that either. It's been really hitting me that we are out of the baby days for good. We can actually all go out to eat at a restaurant and leave with our sanity in tact! The kids just sit in their seats and colour and converse with us! Maybe we should have just one more baby ;) I held a newborn all the way through our church service this morning and it felt so good to give her back to the mother at the end and not have to change her poopy diaper.
I'm going to try and post some pictures soon, but I really need my hubby's help because our own computer isn't hooked up to internet right now. That's really going to be hard as he's not home much! Oh well you'll all be surprised when one day you visit my blog and see how much our kids have grown, and how much the house has come along!