Rent-A-Kid

Our family of three has become a family of four, sometimes even five for the last few years. We have welcomed six different Korean International students into our home. Every new boy that comes to our home brings with him a new dynamic. Our first student was a girl named Sabrina. At this time Cayden was not quite two. She lived with us for six weeks.

We then welcomed a wonderful boy named Jared. He was with us for a year and a half. Two years later we still miss him. If I could have I would have adopted him and never let him go. He was only nine years old at the time and is turning thirteen next month. He was incredibly good with Cayden and was just a natural fit for our family

While Jared was with us we had David come to live with us for six weeks during the summer. Wow, he is memorable! He was fun, messy and loud. I have to say six weeks was long enough though. He is still in Chilliwack and I get to see him often. And he still makes me laugh.

The next boy who came to stay with us was Joey. He was also unique. He laughed often, was chatty, and loved food. At first I wasn't sure that I would become attached to him because Jared had just left and I was really missing him. After a month I really came to like Joey for his own qualities. Joey left our home after six months to move with his family to Texas, USA.

Ivan is our current student. At fifteen years old, he is the oldest of all the boys. He immediately fit in with our family and the first eight months of him staying with us have been wonderful. He loves sports and so do I. We enjoy the same TV shows and movies. He is patient with Cayden as well. Currently, we are keeping our fingers crossed that he will get to stay here another year.

This is Ivan. This picture was taken on a trip to White Rock last September.

This is David. He was the life of the party. How do you like Cayden's earphones?

This is Joey. This smile was the norm. A boy that cared little about what others thought and had a heart of gold.

This is Jared. We will never forget what a wonderful boy he was. He was an extremely pleasant boy and always fun to have around.

I look forward to hopefully one day getting updates when they one day become adults. I often wonder what they will be like one day. It's funny because they say the same thing to me. They have said to me that they wonder what Cayden will be like when he grows up. Time will tell I guess.

Happy Birthday Tanya!

My co-worker Tanya hates recognition. At least she says she does. The juries still out on that one. Anyway, today was her birthday and also the anniversary of two years of work at Denbow. Two great years. She figured that if she was quiet about it no one would remember, which suited her. I didn't forget although I pretended to. Until 10:30, then game over. I got busy. I sent an inter-office e-mail to let everyone know. Then I sent a GPS message to all the drivers to let them know. Her first phone call came from Kelly. At this point she didn't realize that I had done this. She was shocked that he knew. He says to her, "I know I'm not supposed to ask a girl her age. So I'm just telling everyone your forty. Oh, I have a really good Birthday present for you as well. I lined you up with a date. Be ready for ________ to pick you up at 5:00". The humour of it all is that firstly, she's married. Secondly, she doe not like _____at all. (I can't put the name in, but if you know Denbow, you'll know who it is!) I just about died laughing when she repeated the conversation. Immediately after she hung up the phone, completely mortified, she threw not just one pen, but four plus an eraser at me! I absolutely loved it. She swears she's going to get me back one day.

I brought a slice of lemon cake, lit a candle and put it on her desk. Just then a customer came in and said 'Happy Birthday". Again she was embarrassed.

The above is the GPS that everyone got. She got a whole lot more phone calls than she wanted today.

Happy Birthday Tanya! Hope that we can continue celebrating together!

Michelle

I Don't Like Needles!

Cayden finally made it to his 18 months health check-up and vaccinations. Only two and a half years behind. On Monday I thought I'd see how Cayden would react to having his shots so I kind of teased him by telling him that he was going to get a needle. Instant tears. I guess that wasn't very nice of me. First came the weigh-in. A whopping 35 lbs.

Then came the first needle. A little moan, but no tears.
Then came the second needle. Not such a quiet moan. This time full out wailing. Poor little guy. I quickly took the picture, then soothed.

Not long later, two Hotwheels stickers in hand, tears wiped dry, we were on our way home.

This picture was taken when Cayden was just 6 weeks old. I remember Cheryl's surprise when I asked for a picture to be taken while Cayden had his first shots. I guess I was the first person that she came across with this request. I didn't find it that strange considering I am a scrapbooker and like to keep these memories of first's alive.

It Was A Humdinger Of A Night

The place to be to dream big this past weekend was at the Humdinger RV Show at the Chilliwack Heritage Park. The place was loaded with people dreaming big. Some making their dreams a reality. This was not the case for my dear husband Jeremy. He has three more years to enjoy hauling our 1979 Prowler around. Yes, he really had hoped that I would change my mind. Yes, I was very tempted by these wonderful 30 years newer travel trailers. Good thing about having willpower when it counts! We have an agreement to have our truck paid off prior to our next big purchase. It is the wise thing, although the temptations to upgrade face us every year at this time when camping season is just on the horizon. If nothing else, we did enjoy our night out together browsing and dreaming. It never hurts to look, if you don't touch.

The entertainment of the show was in front of this unique camper wagon.
Jeremy and Cayden sitting at the table of what could possibly be our future travel trailer. The Jayco 29 foot with a slide.


Cayden entertained himself by smelling the flowers on display outside the trailers. Checking to see if they were real. "Yep" he says, "they is real"!

And, as usual he had to make faces when I was looking to take a nice picture. This is the case in about seventy-five percent of pictures these days!

Robert H. Schuller

You can often measure a person by the size of his dream.

Michelle

No, You Aren't Seeing Things

Hey, this bridge stood up to many a bike and rider crossing.

It took five city planners to draft up the plans for this new walking path.

Holy Cow! Gives a new meaning to cattle hauling.

Have a great laugh. Laughter is said to be the best medicine!

Michelle

A Little Road Trip To Ikea

What better place to find some storage ideas than at Ikea. I don't buy a lot of furniture here but am always drawn to the functional and great looking rooms that display their wares. One of my favorite lines of storage units is the Expedite line. I love the way you can fill them up with baskets to hide the messy things as well as books and other display items.

Just a little over 1 year ago a friend and I decided to make a similar trip to Ikea. Cayden was just shy of 3 years old. We got him totally excited about the trip to Ikea with the promise of a wonderful time playing in Smaland with other children. We got there, took his shoes off, stood him at the "Check Height" line, saw that he was mere millimetres under the line and lined up to sign him in. Well, we got him to the counter, they measured him again and told us that millimetres under the line was not tall enough. Wow, the happy moment quickly became a sad moment.

This trip Cayden was a little over 4 years old and measured a little above the "Check Height" line and made it in to Smaland. He had a blast and I got 1 hour of time to myself to wander the store. We both left Ikea happy. He got 'play time' and I got 'alone time.' Such a wonderful thing when we have 'win-win' situations.

Have a wonderful day!

Pass It On

By Ricky D. Claar

Smiling is infectious you can catch it like the flu
when someone smiled at me I started smiling too
when I passed the corner someone saw my grin
when he smiled I realized I passed it onto him

I thought about that smile and realized its worth
a single smile just like mine could travel round the earth
so if you feel a smile begin don't leave it undetected
lets start an epidemic quick and get the world infected