The BIG NEWS!

On Saturday we got some EXCITING NEWS! My brother Shane and his girlfriend Becky came over and surprised us with.........

their Engagment!

Late friday night my bro popped the big question! And she accepted. Nothing was going there way that night and the story really is a comedy of errors but all to make it even more memorible! We are so excited for them and can't wait til the big day...which is still to be announced!

Today Abby was following me down the stairs I went ahead of her into the kitchen and a few seconds later I heard thud, thud, thud. I think she did a HUGE tumble down the last group of stairs. It was so sad! She was not happy understandably so! Barney seemed to help calm the tears though!

Caleb is 4!

April 18th is his for real birthday but we had a family bash on Easter Monday! Caleb had his wish and it was to have a family soccer game and he got his WISH! We headed down to Josh's school down the street where there was obstacle training, a few soccer drills, goal celebrations, and a family soccer game, Old Guns vs Young Guns! After a young gun victory we headed back to our place for supper, cake gifts a tough game of hide and seek! Uncle Marc was the best hider but he really did break the safety rules!!! He hid outside so I guess that means Auntie Natalie was best hider behind the office chair under a blanket....didn't want to tell her at the time that is where we saw the mouse shhhh! Caleb had a great time and really loves all his family!

Part of the obstacle course!

Dribbling through the cones!

Ry paired the kids with a grown up and they had to come up with the best goal celebration! Josh relieved Uncle David of his duties and came up with the super spinner winner! Caleb chickened out and left Uncle Marc hanging with his tummy bare!

Auntie Cara Lee had to play in net for the shooting drill, luck of the draw!

The two teams, Old Guns and Young Guns!

The Cheerleaders!

Our Anti-hugger surprised us all when David was overjoyed with the Young Guns win and scooped up Josh in a HUGE HUG!

Last picture "waiting for supper" then the battery died!

Happy Easter!

The morning started out with an egg hunt and basket find then off to church we were only 15 minutes late!

The rest of the day was filled with MASS amounts of chocolate eating!!!

Abby found Ry's ref whistle and LOVED it! She took charge of events.

We had Auntie Natalie and Uncle Marc over for Easter dinner, an impromptu one!

Mouse in the House

It started thursday morning. I came down stairs still in a fog, I stopped half way down the stairs because something dark grey and fuzzy caught my eye. I paused and thought am I seeing what I think I am seeing! I began shouting for Ryan, who was determined to ignore me and keep sleeping, but I was persistent enough, and not moving from my position of half way down the stairs. After Ryan hunted the entire main floor he was convinced I was seeing things. He even brought a toy rhino and said no this must of been what you say. I told him he was nuts and the toy rhino can not move and this thing was moving. But he would not believe me. The rest of the day went by I cleaned every cupboard, closet, corner and then some found nothing thankfully cause I don't know what I would of done! Around 3pm Eric (our room and board guy) came up and said you know I don't want to be the one to tell ya this but I am pretty sure I saw a mouse this morning. I was THRILLED! Finally someone who could verify my belief, I phoned Ryan straight away told him I was NOT crazy and he needed to take care of this or I would not be sleeping at home tonight. I was way too scared! I took the kids to ikea, then we went shopping and we managed to stay away from home from 3:30-9pm! We came home and saw the mickey mouse (tee hee mickey mouse) trap Ryan had set (Natalie is positive it works, that is his resource). This trap is a bucket with water string across the top with a pop can in the middle on the string covered in peanut butter. This just wasn't cutting it for me so I insisted ryan go and get some snap your neck kinda traps from the store. Ry finally got home around10pm, he set the traps up all around and we went to bed..I guess I didn't' follow through with my threat! The next morning (it was a restless night) we looked at all the traps nothing in the house but we did catch one in the garage. Ry reset the one in the garage and about an hour later another one was caught in the garage. I am pleased to say it has been 6 days and the traps have been up but we have caught nothing so we are hoping our problem is gone!!! That or they are not being enticed by our traps anymore? Mice aren't that smart are they?
One funny side note is on saturday I was telling my mom and dad about the all the mice we caught and told them we had caught four, all in the garage same spot too! Later when telling Ry there was another mouse in the trap which made four in total he laughed and informed me no it is the second one still I just haven't gotten it out of the trap yet...oops I had counted that stinkin thing a bunch of times....I will keep ya posted on the mouse action or lack there of!!

It isn't Terrible Two's it is Oh-Oh ONE's!

Our angelic little PRINCESS, Abby! Hmmm can you really use Angelic and Princess and Abby all in the same sentence. Um ya but only when she is sleeping. All my life I would hear about the "Terrible Two's" yet I have not experienced it. I think two year olds are great, it is one year olds that seem to take the cake here, or really they take, grab, eat, break anything they can get their hands on! I think the thing is two year olds start to understand that when the parent says NO they mean NO, the one year old is all about learning what this means. And trust me Abby is learning! Let me shed some light into Abby's World. Just in the past week she has accomplished all of the following:
Thursday: While playing outside with the three kids, we began a big soccer game. Mom vs the Rangers (Josh and Caleb). As we kicked the ball to and fro Abby ran around us and cheered, screamed and just walked about everywhere. As I was going in for my big GOAL! I realized oh my where is abby (don't' worry I kicked the ball and scored first) I glanced around checking all of her usual destinations, the garage, the porch and nothing. I then began to run over to a path right next to us to see if she had wandered but thinking it has been about 30 seconds how far could she really get? Josh had his nervous laughter going on, suggesting to me she ran down the street as I began to shout her name a bit more forcefully, Josh and Caleb both started laughing I turn and there is our angelic little Abby on our neighbors porch just running back and forth watching us!
Thursday night: I went into my bathroom at 9pm to discover an empty bottle of children's chewable tylenol on the floor. Knowing there were at least 5 tablets left I freaked! Ran into Abby's room yet she seemed fine....Thinking back I recall a pink beard on her but we thought she got a candy that had been on the floor in the kitchen. Poison control assured me that at abby's age and weight she would have to eat 13 for them to even be worried. She had a really great sleep that night!
Friday: I was telling my mom about her adventures (I am sure there are more that I am now blocking out). So Mom begins to tell me yes I know exactly what you mean After I few good swigs of chocolate sauce she got out of the cupboard she then decorated the floor at grandma's with the sauce! Better there than here though hee hee hee.
Saturday and Sunday were good she spent a good chunk of the day with her Aunt on one and her grandma on the other! But as we now know it doesn't mean nothing happened it just means that one of those two had to clean it up!
Monday: Abby found the bag of jelly beans...but of course only the black ones were left cause who likes black jelly beans.....let me tell you ABBY! She chewed, ate, who knows what else the remaining beans which left a beautiful black trail everywhere she traveled. The good news is after getting into the jellybeans she got into a almost empty bottle of tilex and dumped it on her clothes which actually prevented staining!
Tuesday: I was giving her a bath and she demonstrated her diving skills. She is sitting up and then POW she throws her body back goes under water completely, does a side roll and comes up laughing waiting for you to cheer! After I start breathing again I was able to show excitement, but more for the fact that she was still alive! Of course she does it over and over again!
So that is a week in the life of a one year old. Are you still thinking Angelic and Princess are the best words to describe Abby?

I am a Graduate NOW!

Saturday April 1st was not only Auntie Natalie's 27th birthday it was Josh's Wee College Graduation. A cap and gown event! Josh has successfully completed his second year of wee college this year he learned all the divisions of the bible, books of the bible, Psalm 23, 14 memory verses which he really can tell you and 17 stories from the bible! The program is amazing but what is even more amazing is how the kids take it right in and learn it for life!!






The ceremony began with the 50+ students (3 groups freshman, sophomore, graduates) marching in to the tune of "pomp and circumstance" they filled the stage and continued to sing a few of their theme songs for Wee College. After the large group performed they proceeded to do individual class highlights. The sophomore class which Josh was in, demonstrated their knowledge of the books and divisions of the bible. Josh said the blue division minor prophets and one of the memory verses he learned Acts 1:8. The entire group also recited Psalm 23.







They ended the ceremony with the children passing through the arch way moving onto to their next class or being recognized for completing the whole wee college course. There was a lunch afterward for family and friends to enjoy with the college grads! Basically tons of kids running around from the high of sugar from eating one too many cupcakes.












When asked Josh stated his favorite part of the whole event was when he had the microphone and said his verse and blue books.

They Came we Saw we Conquered

Veggie Tales LIVE was here on Friday!

We had a great time, we went with a whole crew of friends. The kids loved it even though their facial expressions suggest otherwise. Our boys sat with jaws open glazed look the whole time, but assured us they were loving it. There was big smiles when Larry Boy made his appearance. Abby on the other hand was shrieking and clapping and loving every minute of it. We were really high up for the first half then we followed Janelle and Daryl to the floor where we sat and watched the last half and it made a HUGE difference.

On our walk back to the car we had to cross a street so Josh and Emily Terrett grabbed eachothers hands crossed the street and continued to walk 2 more blocks hand in hand it was really cute! Hence why there are so many pictures.

Spring Break at the Aquarium

On the Last day of Spring Break we all went to the Aquarium and had a blast. Got soaked by a beluga whale, saw the sharks, observed an octopus, walked about a hundred times through the rainforest, and saw many more creatures of the sea! We ended our day with a stroll along the beach at Stanley Park and collected seashells. It was a great day!

Fender Bender

Yesterday was so beautiful out you would think it would be perfect driving conditions. Unfortunately Ryan did not quite have that experience. He was driving along somewhere in Surrey, when he saw someone come up on the right hand shoulder and was saying to himself this guy does not see me this guy does not see me!! And guess what he was right this guy did not see him at all. The guy side swiped the front right of the car. They pulled over and to Ryan's surprise the man was livid. He was swearing a streak, almost ready to lunge at Ry another car pulled over came out and said I saw the whole thing and looked at ryan and said it is not your fault that guy totally hit you. Which in turn made the crazy driver even more crazy, He verbally attacked the witness spitting out a few racial slurs along the way. There was no talking to this guy so Ry got the information he needed and will let ICBC take it from here. But nothing worse then an accident to through your day off. Thankfully no one was hurt.

Barf-O-Rama!

Things are NOT so good here at the Douglas House! Everyone (except for Abby) Has had a touch of the flu. Ryan, Josh and Myself all had the stomach flu on Friday...it was horrible. Saturday was fine and I thought we may be in the clear. But at around 2am I was proven otherwise. Caleb woke up and had blessed the bed with his stomach contents. It wasn't too bad actually I was able to clean it up he didn't get too much on his bed so we were all good and back to bed by like 2:15! My eyes finally closed and I began to drift when I hear a HORRIBLE sound and Caleb crying....I ran into his room and he had done it again. This time there was no quick solution. I changed him again put all the bedding in the laundry and him and I lay on the floor in his room. I tried to give him some anti nausea medicine but of course as soon as he swallowed it, it came flying back out! After lying there for an hour and seeing that this was not passing we set up camp on the couch in front of the TV with a BIG bowl in hand. We stayed there til 7am! Caleb BARFED from 2am-6:30am every 15minutes. Finally at 7am I carried him to his bed, and went to bed myself....informing Ryan that any noise, cry, or movement was on his clock I need sleep! And of course 15minutes later we hear Caleb at it again. The good news is that was his finally episode, he then did go to sleep. And so far he seems much better. Lets just hope and pray it isn't' Abby's turn tonight. Why can't kids be sick during the day???

Guess Who is on the Move?

Not sure if I can make this work but here is my latest attempt!

Abby's on the Move

Funny Little Quote!

Last Sunday we took all the boys swimming left the girls (Abby and Emily) with the grandparents and took the four cousins to the Leisure Center. As you know from my bloggin, I can always count on the Maple Ridge Leisure Center for a good time! Well we did have a good time, we swam, we froze, the warm pool was closed as was the slide but we still had fun a few waterfall dunks, but I survived! But the funniest thing was said as we were getting ready to go. We were looking for a family room for all the boys to go in to get changed we found one, and as we walked in we all noticed it really stunk! The four boys congregated at the shower and I was about to turn the water on for them, as I asked "do you guys smell poo?" They agreed and we thought hmmm this is REALLY disgusting. To my relief it wasn't any of them, as I scouted around I spotted the garbage can and it had a disgusting full diaper in it. I explained to the boys "don't worry there is no free range poo anywhere it is contained" but oh MAN did it stink. We removed the garbage can from the room but it didn't help so we decided to change rooms as we were leaving that room Connor said to me "ya that was probably ours" I said " Oh no buddy it was from someone who had a diaper it isn't us" he confirmed with me " No Auntie we were here last week and Emily had a really stinky diaper, I think that was ours" I nearly died laughing. At this point both Buzza boys held their heads in disgust with their sister or maybe it was with their parents, Man can you believe them leaving a poopy diaper in the garbage can for a whole week!

Abby finally takes Her first steps!

Abby was a bit of a late walker(she is 16 months), but lets just say she is making up for lost time! Most kids cautiously take their steps slowly and with care. Not our Abs, she basically took of in a quick toddle once she finally decided to move. We were at my parents for dinner and I mentioned that Abby had taken five steps that day, I went to show them and my dad said oh wait I have to charge the video camera and off he went. We all moved on to something different, well after supper I realized I hadn't shown Abby's new move off so I got everyone ready to witness her amazing five steps, Papa Bear had the camera on and we were all sitting ready to watch. Let me tell ya Abby did not disappoint. She started off with her first steps everyone cheered and she just kept going and picking up speed. She started in the hallway proceeded to the kitchen and to make her way around the island, she did fall but continued to do this all night long. The best thing is we got it all on tape, phew! Unfortunately it is on my dad's camera so I don't have it to share but I took some video tonight of her trotting her stuff. Abby had taken a week off of walking she was miserably ill hence the lack of blogging but we are back and healthy and ready to make up for lost time.
Here are the videos click on the picture to watch!

Our Answer To Prayer

After my phone conversation with my very compassionate sister in law (she informed me that she too was full of tears trying to accept my loss). She brought me to the realization that I should be praying that we are able to save all our valuable memory's from our rebellious hard drive. She had been praying all morning and I know that because of this IT HAS ALL BEEN SAVED! Wuhoo. My life did exist last year Abby will have her first year in her scrapbook, Caleb will remember how adorable he was at three and we will have our photo's that capture the essence of Josh at 5! Praise the Lord.
oh ya and thanks to the computer dude #2 too!

The Bad news or the Bad news?

Have you noticed I have not been bloggin up to speed these past weeks? There is a reason for that, yes life is busy and the kids are a wee bit sick but the truth of the matter is ARE COMPUTER REBELLED. I have been bugging Ryan over the past three months "we need to get the computer looked at, we need to get the computer looked at" basically I was a broken record. It had been doing some weird things. Finally Ry takes it in to have the computer dude check it out. It was gone for two days which was extremely hard for me. I slipped into email withdrawal finger cramping from lack of typing, vision blurred from missing out on my daily dosage of computer screen rays, friends phoning (the phone who uses a phone?) to check in on me it has been a hard week. After computer dude #1 not being able to figure out the problem computer dude #2 solved the puzzle. The problem was our hard drive it died. So there is the bad news. Now here is the BAD NEWS, our computer is back with new hard drive installed and working wonderfully and all of the sudden I am realizing I have lost EVERYTHING. All my planning for my preschool class that I teach, all my sunday school info for the preschool department I coordinate, all my email contacts BUT the absolute worst thing is ALL my pictures and videos from the past year. *%#@* I am bloggin about and realizing we have no proof of Abby's existence, no visual aid on Josh's appearance at the age of 5, and poor Caleb will never be able to look back at his wonderful year of 3. Ya I am being a bit dramatic it is for effect do you feel my pain yet? Ryan is taking our rebellious hard drive to the computer dude #2 so lets PRAY that he is able to retrieve all of our photos and video's of the past year. And from now on the douglas family will back up there files....I promise.

Quote by Caleb...

After brushing his teeth he informed us
"Hey my tooth paste tastes like buggle-gum!"

Germ Boy

I thought you would like to get an up close and personal look at GERM BOY!
This was a week ago, don't be deceived by the beginning of the video Josh will make his appearance.
click on the picture to watch the video.

I have to say this phase is fading, thank the Lord.

Parent Teacher Meeting!

Today we met with Mrs. Mitchell, Josh's Kindergarten teacher. Its report card time and parent teacher meeting as well. There wasn't too much to say. I do get the feeling she knows him pretty well. The one thing that surprised me was she stated that he is quiet, if you know Josh you know he is anything but. Ryan explained to me that there are many similarities he noticed that him and Josh have, especially after hearing how he is in a classroom setting. Very independent, doesn't care what others are doing, has his own goal in mind, polite, quiet and right on target academically. All of Josh's wee college teachers will be very surprised by his quiet disposition I don't think they have had an opportunity to see this quiet side of Josh.

Around the World in Three Days!

Today we picked up David from school, as he comes in the house he begins to tell me that the next three days are sure gonna be busy! Now you have to picture a small 6 year old standing infront of you with his head tilted to the side smiling with his very new toothless grin and stating how busy his life is going to be these next few days. Do you kinda get the picture? It was priceless! His Mom has a work related conference the next three days so he is being picked up by various relatives and having playdates here and there. I asked David why he thought it would be so busy and he told me, "well I am going to go around the world in three days!" He is quite proud of this and seems pretty excited too. You know he will be East Maple Ridge to West Maple Ridge back to East Maple Ridge and ALL the way to Coquitlam in this short time, I know not many of us have traveled such lengths in such a small time frame! On the way to pick up his cousin and brother from their preschool, I told him he should write a book about such an experience, and that I understood that he pretty much will be around the world in this quick oh yes BUSY three days! I am sure we will all be able to pick up a copy of "Around the World in Three Days" by David Buzza aka noble steed (kinda an inside joke between me and my nephew) at a local book store near you! I'll keep you posted on this great adventure in a small 6 year old boys life.