It's been a long time a comin'

It really has! I believe 2 whole years have passed since I last blogged anything, which is really a cryin' shame - for me that is. It is a shame since I enjoy this creative outlet a whole lot!
Thankfully, I have my wonderful bakery friends to remind me that writing is a good way to feed my soul and for encouraging me to continue, so THANKs guys! (you know who you are ;-)

Looking back over the things I have written in the past I can see that in some ways things change so incredibly fast, yet some things remain constant. Our family is growing and changing...allow me to clarify, "growing" as in growing up... not expanding in numbers - I don't want to be the next Sunny South news headline .. "Crazy Mennonite woman - leaves bakery life for one more bumpy ride on the baby train" ACH! Perish the thought ;-) The changes and growth I am referring to are things like graduations, puberty, athletic accomplishments, drivers licenses...and babies in grade three. that play football..did I mention.. our tiny little baby started grade three and plays football??? It's just not right. Nevertheless, amid all the changes, some things still remain. Our Faith, values, beliefs, interests and core relationships are mostly in tact. This is encouraging to me. Lately I've been reflecting a fair bit on "where I'm at in life"... "oh dear" you say ---"NO", you can relax..I'm certain I hear a collective groan around cyberspace from my imaginary audience. It's not really all that in depth or involved, I've been thinking about the fact that I am incredibly blessed.. blessed with fantastic family - children who amaze me every day, friends and co-workers - unbelievably and oddly enough, all of these categories overlap. I am blessed with hobbies that I enjoy that make my life full and rich, blessed with health, blessed with resources, blessed with my favorite things like wine and cookies, and occasional moments of peace and quiet where i can engage in said activities like running, singing, reading, writing and cooking, blessed with a relationship with my husband that continues to evolve - i know this is family, but it's a different "sort' of family, so Jamie - you get your own category! All in all, I can honestly say "I am richly blessed". As I dawdle along the path towards middle age taking a mental inventory of where i am and where I've been, I'm learning to relax, let the little things slide, stop trying to be something that I am not, stop trying to meet some perfect "churchy" or "worky' ideal but yet somehow figure out what is important and still strive to improve myself on that level - not because society expects it, or because it will impress someone, but because it involves becoming the woman of God that i know God wants me to be and based on that, that I want to be. So I suppose the purpose of this post is a bit redundant, I'm merely posting to begin posting. I have no set plan of how often I'd like to post and the newer.. nearing 40 me doesn't care so much about stressing herself out with a post every day or a new insight full thought bi-weekly. The new almost 40ish Bonnie would like to use this outlet when she has something to say. It doesn't matter if no one wants to read it, it doesn't matter if it is updated once a day, week, hour, month, or year what matters most are two things, growth that inspires change for the sake of betterment, not for the sake of outside influences and the things that remain the same ; Faith, values, beliefs and core relationships. If writing inspires me to remain the same in those aspects or to change in things that actually matter or simply to voice an opinion or an inspired recipie then I am going to do so, if for no other reason than to resonate the thought that I am truly blessed and to push away any other misgivings, self-doubt or cranky ungrateful thoughts that often plague my conciousness.. be gone nastiness.. hello gratefull , inspired heart:-)

Happy Easter from the Egg Family!

Meet our Egg Family!

Baby Stinkbreath - This egg is an evil space alien. He has one eye, 2 feet, and one very large hand protruding from his foot. He is going to destroy the whole egg planet.
Her name is Kimmie. She is the hottest egg eva', nevertheless she will probably crack due to the evil scheming powers of baby stinkbreath.
Gerardo - is a lonesome, but sophisticated buisnessman who lives in an apartment by himself. He's looking for a date.
Miss Yokelmire - is an eccentric, fun loving Mom.

Wendy - Loves to shop, her favorie color is pink and she's an eggstraterestrial!

Happy Easter From the Egg Family, also from Ben, Taylor, Tannis, Mc Kenna and I!!!!

Well, I'd just like to say that if Ann Murray is correct and the answer is indeed "blowing in the wind..." I am pretty sure we have got all the answers in this little corner of the world! This picture is just a tiny glimpse into how incredibly windy it was today... This is our front lawn... yes, I do mean LAWN!

The property accross from us was razed for construction recently and therefore there is no longer any grass to hold down the dirt... gross, eh? It looks like the Sahara in my front yard.. I'll try not to look.
So... by now you've noticed... I got SPOILED!!! Carol sent us a new camera.. I feel like a pooper for complaining that I missed the other one, but on the other hand I am SOOO excited, and just in time for the kid's play this weekend, and our road trip to Calgary on Thursday for Avril. Get ready for photo/extravaganza. For today, I settled on the big news only... 1. The dessert sands come to Coaldale. 2. Fridge art:

I suppose you can't read our crazy acrostic about our family that we have arranged with the magnetic scrabble letters that we created, but you'll have to trust me when I tell you just how cool they really are! Cool as well, is Ben's picture of a monster posted below the letters... impressive, I know... Picasso, look out! And finally 3. Yes I did make a totally new funky recipie with ingredients we don't normally incorporate into our diet, and yes indeed it was healthy and full of antioxidants and dang was it good.. we really liked it.. Mangos and all!!!! WIERD!

It is called Brazillian Black Bean Stew, and it Rox! If you click on the title you can get the recipie... if i'm that coool - then you too, can make whacko, mango, sweet potato, healthy anti-oxident stew! Not sure if I was successful tho... Anyhow, Hope your day was as fulfilling as ours.. and hope you can get some sleep, cause the wind's not ROARING in your ears! Cheers!

Another One Bites the Dust

It has been a fairly social week at the Chartier's. Monday Jamie and I went out with some friends and partied like it was 1984... I really don't know what about 1984, but we had a great time, stayed out a little late, and paid for it like old people. Nevertheless, it was really nice to see some friends that we haven't seen in a while, and connect socially with the rest of the world. Tuesday was spent working and trying to cement it into our minds why we don't usually go out late, also on Tuesday Jamie joined the gym!!!! Collective applause from accross cyberspace please!! I was sooo impressed, I worry about that guys heart and really want him to be healthy, plus it is fun time we can have together when our schedules permit. Tuesday night Brenda and I went to Bible Study sans Jamie (he was studying). We are still discussing Nehemiah, and the topic this week was discouragment.. hmmm... what are the causes... stress, sleeplessness etc. Funny, Tim our "leader" told me that he thought of me as an Otter, fun, fun, fun, and never discouraged.... baha!!! I still havent stopped laughing. Aside from that the entire night was quite enjoyable, I feel like I got to know the people in our group just a little better. Any input you have into dealing with discouragement, or causes of would be greatly appreciated, we're continuing our discussion next week.. I love our group! Wednesday Brenda and I spent most of the day pre-planning and shopping for Friday, we had two major catering events totalling about 450 people, so we made meatballs and Lasagna for 2 different events for about 200-250 people each, It was a long but reallllly productive day. At the end of the day, Brenda and I were scanning the internet researching her plans for a trip to Cuba when suddenly a bird was chirping in our midst. You have NEVER seen two more afraid people, we jumped so high we nearly hit the roof, What the.... heck!!!???? We looked around and suddenly felt incredibly foolish to realize that the sound was actually coming from the hidden computer speaker. It was a sound effect from the website... hmmm.. I'd say we blushed (and giggled) a little! Thursday was my day off and was spent cursing the gymnastics club and T4 slips, I am NOT, I repeat ... NOT meant to be an accountant. We are talking about the girl who couldn't organize herself out of a paper bag, nor add a column of numbers twice and end up with the same answer, but the long and the short of it was it is done (mostly :-) In the evening we had friends over for a BarBQ, it was a fun, but NOISY evening, our kids were REALLY rambunctious (if that is even how you spell that word). We watched our new favorite show, "Big Love", it is really quite an interesting show about a group of polygamist mormons. It's not anti-mormon, it is obvious that these people are a unique sect, but the whole concept is kind of intreiging (?) in a creepy and crazy sort of way. Friday we catered, catered, catered and still found time in the middle of the day to stop for a cheeseburger at "Good ol' boys" (tee hee) what a trashy week! It was really fun, and thanks to mucho prayers all the catering turned out well. For the evening catering we made lasagna for 250 people. When we took it out of the oven, finally.. we were worried it wouldn't be hot enough.. at the last minute it was, but... it was runny like soup. We were thinking Oh no! Do we need to bring bowls, spoons and crackers... ARGH, we were 1/2 an hour until show time, and there were no adjustments that could be made... so we got in the van and prayed. Our destination was about 20 minutes away, and when we arrived I sneakily peeked under the foil of a pan and... VOILA!!! Perfectly set.. Thank you Lord! I don't know how it happened, I knew it would "set" a bit, but really, it was way more than I could have hoped for! Everything was set and it was home to bed! Saturday Tannis and I went on a shopping spree! Probably we should not shop together, as for the one child that recieved almost 100% of my DNA, it was crazy! You have never seen two more distracted people. We needed Jeans for Tannis and Runners for me, we got both... and a bit more.. and ALOT of "oooh look at this" and "check this out.. I really should...." and "Hey one time we could get something like this for..." Wow, it's a wonder that we made it home by our deadline, we had a blast! We got 2 pair of Jeans for Tannis... success since she's so skinny and long, and I got a pair of CRAZY FANTASTIC runners that I've been begging for. To punish myself for spending a ridiculous amount on runners (even though my old ones had holes right through each of the soles) I went for a SUPER long run when I got home, I beat my personal best, I ran 7.5 miles in 65 min. It was SOOOOO fun! Anyhow, after that we have mostly just watched Connor and Ben playing their new Monopoly game that Tannis and I picked up at Value Village, and waiting to make the fridge magnets from scrabble pieces from the game we also picked up... fun eh??? I can't wait, maybe we'll post a picture once we're done and writing words on our fridge with magnetic scrabble peices. Anyhow, that was our action packed week.. Also, another Praise item :-) Jamie got %84 on his most recent EMT test, and is carrying an average well into the 80's. His next section is about learning how to read EKGs, and he's a bit worried, so keep praying. Any test scores under 80 are a fail and if your average at the end of the course is below 80 it is an automatic FLUNK... so far, so good, my man is brilliant, but he's still got to work at it and prayer never hurt! So, that is life within the walls of this house, full of fun, busy, crazy, little bit of everything but all in all... I am the luckiest gal alive! Mmmm.. me and my coffee are going to trip over a "middle of the floor game of Monopoly" and stumble bleary eyed but cheerfull to a really warm shower. Hopefully today will be somewhat productive! Cheers!

I miss my Camera!

Ho humm, I really do miss my camera.. I'm actually blaming the petty, selfish theives who stole it from my van for my lack of blogging! Somehow, a picture of Tannis riding the Chair Lift back down Castle mountain (because she forgot to get off), or a picture of me bleeding out as Jamie was practising IV's on me at the firehall, would be much more fun, than just plain words! Boo Hoo, I know, I really should still be writing, but there are a million circumstances that you've just got to see to believe. Crazy stuff happens around here. I believe I live in a zoo. Not that I don't love my zoo!
This afternoon, Ben was reaching for a "Sunny D", I said to him, "Ben, please check your backpack and finish the one that we sent to school with you for snack time." Ben said " I drank alot, are you checking,.... don't check" (little liar :-) Taking this opportunity for a teachable moment I told him that Jesus could see what we did all the time, he loved us and he didn't want us to lie. He, in turn looked at me with a twinkle in his eye and said "Is he peeking in my backpack???" Awww, sometimes I just want to freeze frame the moments. So, generally what I'm saying is that life is going as usual here. Our quest for health is going well, I have been a dilligent gymite for 2 1/2 months now, and am down about 13 lbs, and back running again! It feels so good! I'm up to six miles a day, I'm just waiting for the perfect race to finally take the plunge and run with some others, maybe I see a 1/2 marathon in my future... MAYBE! I'm just starting to add some weight training to that and my body doth protest.... LOUDLY, but you know what they say.. no pain no gain... idiots! Jamie and I are taking walks on a more regular basis, he often refers to them as the "walk to skinny" or "journey for lives", at least he has a sense of humor to go with that hot body:-) The girls are trying really hard to eat healthy and try new stuff... like fish, smoothie building, brown rice and a few new fruits and cleverly disguised vegetables. The boys... well, I believe that they believe that they need junk food for survival.. we still cave... alot! The great part about life in this part of the country is the variable weather conditions. If one were to go outside today he would think to himself... "what an amazing spring day!" ... at least a month early!! This morning we had snow... now it's beautiful.. aside from being a bit confused, we are loving it... I'm pretty sure a run outdoors is in order, seems silly to hop on that old treadmill on a day like today when the sun is shining like... well, like my flylady sink! I suppose I should get my little fingers off the computer, I've been feeling alot of mother-guilt lately for not spending more quality time with the kids and currently ben is manipulating his toes with a log pincher from the fireplace set and begging me to "see if we have all the stuff for play-dough", I on the other hand am sitting with a blank stare, considering making supper and sipping a cup of tepid coffee... hmmm... time to burst into action I'd say... off to playdough and dinnerville! C U Soon! Hopefully I have something more exciting to add, or maybe even insightfull --- hey, what about some pictures! (tee hee!) Hopefully soon!:-) Cheers!

A Valentines Rock Out!

Upon my arrival home from work at about 8am on valentines day I was greeted in the street by my daughter's music. Not unusual. Avril Lavigne's "Hey, Hey, you, you, I don't like your girlfriend" was being belted out in the way only distorted computer speakers could manage on their way to being blasted to smitherines. It was one of those belly laughing, doubled over moments when Ben greeted me at the door with a shout: "Taylor is listening to this song..... and it's not very VALENTINESY!" Who would've thought that a four year old could be so astute, all day we were tutored about our actions having them labled as valentinesey or not valentinesy. At least we have one day in our house when the kindness police are on our side, it's usually such a lonely task... THANKS BEN!

River
This is a metaphorical poem Taylor wrote for her dad in English.. she's SOOO smart.

River

My Dad is the river
The soft smooth flow
Of calm and alming
That makes one smile

The vigorous rush
Determined to be somewhere
Faster and faster
Never stopping

A current that pushes you
Places where you don't kow you could go
And you scream because it's hard to swim
But all of a sudden you arrive and you're happy

A river that is hard to swim against
And will never change it's direction
A river that knows it's purpose
And never stops flowing

A river that gets frozen over
And you think it's only ice
But there is so much life and activity underneath
It's just hidden for a while

A river that makes sure
If your arms are tired
All you have to do is float
And let it's current carry you