since we've been home.

James is gnawing on a cucumber. 

finding out climbing can be fun!

the look.

trying on daddy's shirt!

this face is worn most of the time by James. 

He knows he's a cool dude. If we weren't outside, 

he'd be asking to see the mirror...

We were invited to join some friends and their family at a swimming hole, tucked back in the Canadian countryside. It was a relaxing and fun day... and yes, we are making friends finally!

Enjoying these last beautiful and perfect days of summer. Enjoying each other and our Saturday morning walks to the farmer's market. Enjoying the silly new things James comes up with...

Home.

Home again. Home is where Ron is :) James I just follow. This summer we are happy to be in the beautiful Canadian sun, which doesn't beat as hotly as in Texas. We enjoyed the past weekend, soaking up family time. We spent time at the lake just north of us, and took a walk through our little town. Ron also had Monday off since it was Saskatchewan Day (who knew?), and it was a pleasant surprise to me! 

Also, for all of those Burchell kids at home, yes, I have successfully hooked Ron to farkel, too :) Right now Bean and I are just settling into routine, getting the house back in order (while listening to some borrowed Odysseys!). 

I'll work on getting photos done and up. I take so many, and need to share. Please share yours with me, too, if you have some from this summer in Wisconsin. 

We sure will miss our Wisconsin family. Also we're missing those Texans these days...

settling in.

for the second time now. 

Canada has been an adventure so far, though one I would rather not repeat. From now on I would like to take trips to the mountains, enjoy our backyard, and bask in the beautiful weather... vs. extended hotel stays, boxes to unpack (still), and a rattlesnake scare. 

God has been good to us, however (as He always is.), and we are safely back in our house. An expert told us he was completely certain that there was never a snake in this house. We feel good about how he searched the place. He had a solid system and looked in the obscurest of places. And, just to cover human error we did a couple extra things. One, snake guy Dave told us to do just to ease our minds: heated the house up and covered the floors with flour and moldy beer cans, since we don't drink soda and couldn't find any used soda cans in a pinch! Secondly, we prayed over the house, which does more than anything, I believe. I felt peace in our house as we prayed. 

Story goes... Somehow we dragged a rattlesnake tail with us from Texas, potentially on a piece of used furniture we bought there. Imagining, however, that there was a rattlesnake in our house at all was both frightening and something we never thought we'd have to worry about in Canada. And did I mention the tail belonged to an Eastern Diamondback, the largest of all rattlesnakes? Snake guy Dave was looking for a 6 foot couple inch around snake, based on the tail. It's possible that we never had a a rattlesnake in any of our houses at all, it's also possible that it came to visit our old full-of-holes house in the country and decided to then leave. We really weren't thinking when we moved there :) but it was a good little house. Anyway, whatever happened, God protected us. Sometimes not knowing is hard, though, and has been an interesting test of our faith. We did the best we knew how, and must trust God for the rest. By the way, do you know how hard it is to find a snake expert in Canada? Especially rattlesnakes? Even though the Prairie Rattler is said to be in southern Saskatchewan, we could not find anyone in the province qualified to come help us remove a potential snake. Snake guy Dave drove about 8 hours from near Calgary, and works at a place called Reptile World, so we were happy with his experience :) He came in with long poles of various sorts and a net, and there was nothing we wanted more than to bag us a snake! But it's over now, and even though we don't have any cool pictures to show you, Ron and I won't be forgetting the things we've learned along the way... 

This week it is my mission to get/sort/post photos for you all. I have many blog entries worth, so hopefully you will enjoy them at your leisure. It is also my mission to harvest the rhubarb, get close to done unpacking, and take some long walks with James.

Why don't we get to eat cake like that anymore!?

Well, Sarah, in answer to your question I thought I would show you some pictures from our friend James' birthday. We made him eat cake like that. Or else he didn't get his present, which was in the cake. :) This is the fun way to do a gift card.

James turns one!

Ron actually had to change the bath water once :)

Bearathon

This past March I ran a local half marathon, called the Bearathon. It's sponsored by Baylor College, and all the proceeds go to scholarships. A lot of students run it, and many other people from the community. It was a nice turnout. The weather was perfect. I was a little daunted going into it because two weeks before the race I had an awful 11 mile run. Probably awful and 11 mile run go together fairly often, but I hurt after this run like I'd never hurt before. My knees, my hip. I literally waddled around after that and felt like an old woman. Or like I'd just had a kid. Ok, maybe not quite. But I was scared. After consulting my wise big sister, I was encouraged. I didn't do all of the runs that I was supposed to in those two weeks, sometimes out of laziness :( But it paid off (kids, don't try this at home: laziness never pays off!) because my body really needed that rest. Race day I felt great and did a much better time than I expected. There were lots of hills in this race. Pretty much mile 5-10 was one giant hill. I finished in 2 hours 13 minutes, very happy with that. I wasn't really running this one for time, just wanted to finish! But next time I'll try train better and work on my time. First goal there is under 2 hours. The run felt great, I got a cool medal that Bean enjoyed, too. And I got to say my little farewell to Waco while running in it's prettiest park.

I have to also note that this race had great volunteers. Every MILE there was a water/gaterade station. People were even handing out vaseline! That impressed me. All the stations were different sororities, so there was much high pitched cheering, which actually helped me! It was a fun race. I saw my doctor about mile nine and chatted with her for a minute. I just love runners. Runners are the best.

in between

It's still 3 in the morning. While I'm awake I thought I should make myself useful. My left eye has been twitching because stress has been setting in and I don't have enough time to do the things I want to get done. One thing, probably toward the bottom of my list but nonetheless there, is to get some more pictures up on this blog. And tell you about our lives.

Right now we are in between. that is such a silly word. Between. between. Between.

We are getting ready for Canada, and therefore have a lot to think about and do. There's paperwork, and billing to arrange, and phones to figure out, and what to pack with us and what to leave for the movers? What will we need for two weeks in Canada before our stuff arrives, for instance? I haven't even started that list. Because I'm focused on James' birthday party, which Ron says I should do less for and give myself a break. But... but... I want to make cake pops! And a big cake! And perfect little goodie bags! and yes, I want to design all the cards myself! eeks. I have cut back from the original plan a bit.

And while Canada is on our brain, we want to focus on here and now with our friends. Enjoy these last moments. Enjoy these last church services. It's almost harder having weeks to say goodbye, prolonging the moment when we know we won't see each other for a long long time.

This place has been good for us. This church. These friends. God has blessed us with good friends here. I have had close girlfriends here for the first time since high school. two in particular. And they were both there the night James was born. And they'll be there on his actual birthday. They'll be at the birthday party, and the after party (doesn't every one year old have an after party?), they've been in my lives the most.

And I will cry. I have teared up. But I will cry sometime. Maybe here, maybe in Canada. You know how guys play fantasy football or whatever it is they do? I wish I could create my A-team for life. I would truck around all my best people with me. So, sorry family, you'd have to pack up and come, too.

This weekend we're heading out of town with our dear friends James and Ashley Smith. I'm glad we made those plans. I'm glad we'll take some more time to relax together, play some dutch blitz and clue, make each other laugh. I don't take these things for granted anymore because I lived for awhile without good friendships like this in my daily life.

It's like God gave this time to us, this spring of water. Friendship. A good church where we've grown and learned more about Him, a church that has felt like family and a Pastor that teaches Truth.

I know He goes before us now. And just for this in between time, I will try to make my eye stop twitching, and enjoy my surroundings.

i feel like my mother

because I'm up at 3:02 am. Did it really have to come to this?

Somewhere after James was fed and full and before he stopped screaming from being laid in his own bed, I slipped out and left Daddy to comfort the babe. Ron just got home from playing some video games with a friend, and he doesn't have to work tomorrow, it should be noted :)

It also should be noted that I am so tired of being tired. I do not want to make this a whiny blog, so perhaps I should stop here. Just a little more... I sure do love that kid, but as he was wailing tonight I thought to myself, he is never going to sleep on his own. or through the night. ever.

Is this true?

Because he is one next week. I also can't believe that... my baby!

swinging with friends

mommy's attempt at being artistic :) It seems like a while since I've tried that! James really loved the park and swinging the past couple days. Since yesterday morning, we have now been to the park 3 times! He loves to swing now, he's decided!

He's getting a little big for this swing... comes with his own built in brakes...

James and Olivia share a cart!

Kiss him, Olivia!

Olivia likes to give James hugs and kisses when she sees him, and he thoroughly enjoys her company, too! They get along quite well, and spend time playing no less than once a week, usually much more often. They laugh and play together, and were working on sharing this morning. That consisted of Olivia taking James' toy and James looking to mama for support. But watch out, Olivia... he's crawling all over now, and when he can walk he'll be a force to be reckoned with :) Olivia's a doll, and of the three kids (James, Olivia, Caden) that usually hang out together, she's the oldest. She enjoys being the ringleader, and James for one likes to learn from her and enjoys when she entertains him!

recent days...

James and Ron like to do laundry together. They like to watch the laundry spin in the washer. They like to walk together to find any leftover kitchen towels to add to the load. After it's all done, Ron likes to pull James around in the laundry basket. This is somewhere in between all that, just being goofy :) those are clean clothes :)

After church a couple Sundays ago we went to Panera for lunch. we met a nice young couple who have a little boy about James' age, so we sat next to them and all ended up gabbing. It was enjoyable, and always fun to me to meet people in random places. What a joy! After that we walked to Coldstone, and we all shared a treat. James ended up double fisting it with two spoons and enjoyed trying the ice cream. Here he is after the fact, spoons in hand :)

Glen Rose Weekend

Bear with me, there are a lot of pictures here from last weekend that I wanted to share with you all. I'll feebly (that was one of my recent banana grams words) try to group them together in some semblance of order.

As I am training for this half marathon, I decided that this time around I really wanted to do what my training suggests, and run a race ahead of time. I have never done a 10k, so I found one in Glen Rose, TX, on Valentine's weekend. It's called the Sweetheart Run. aw. We decided to make a weekend of it, and had a really lovely time. The car ride was even pleasant, and only an hour and half or so from home.

Glen Rose is the "dinosaur capital of Texas"... I think they're milking it a little, but their dinosaur park (which we didn't go to, but is like a fake dinosaur version of Jurassic park) is quite the attraction. We talked to the town's souvenir lady, and Glen Rose really knows how to keep itself going. It is also the moonshine capital of Texas, made so during prohibition, so if there aren't jobs at any given point, Glen Rose will make some up just to stay on the map. We found it to be a charming little town :)

this is a dinosaur footprint. so they say...

This is James in the dinosaur footprint!

We stayed in an old railroad car! It was a unique experience, and we enjoyed it. Ron particularly appreciated the Boxcar Children book that he breezed through while we were there. I'm sure he felt a little closer to Benny, just staying in a boxcar ourselves. We also loved that it had a full kitchen (with quart jars of milk and orange juice!)... We just stayed in the first night and made pizza and relaxed, listening to the crickets. We found a neat restaurant the second night that was kind of fancy/casual (if that makes sense). It was converted from a big old house, and decorated beautifully. During dinner there was a violinist playing, and since we stayed so long (because that's how we do dinners out, and because James was being good!) he eventually wandered around when the crowd was thinner and played tunes for us. He played James two lullabies, which James loved :) and he chatted with us for a bit. Everyone there was so super nice, it was a great time, and our Valentine's dinner out! It's fun to meet random nice people and get to know them a tiny bit.

At the bed and breakfast, which is very kid friendly!

James and I after my 10k. I have to say, I was bit nervous going into it. We got there and I whisper to Ron, "There are REAL runners here!" which always intimidates me a little bit. But I have to say, I did pretty good. I did better than I thought for time, which I was pleased with. I had been a bit worried that the transition from the treadmill (which is all I had been on recently) would be harsh, but it wasn't bad. Also, I am used to running flat and there were a lot of hills on this course. But they were actually a good challenge, and preparing me for my half marathon coming up in March. One of the hills on the 10k course was called "Vomit Hill". That was fun. Oh, and... not to brag or anything, but I came in first for my age group. Now I must tell you that there were only 3 of us. It was a nice little local run, out on somebody's HUGE ranch. We ran past their castle once. I had such a great time and was encouraged for my upcoming run, too.

Taking a walk by the river to go downtown for lunch. We went to a little cafe that also is a bookstore, and read for a while to each other and to ourselves while James slept. Afterward we found a store that just sold pies! Imagine that! and shared a piece of strawberry rhubarb. We couldn't resist giving James some vanilla ice cream, and he LOVED it. Since he still doesn't eat his solids very well, it was funny to see him gobble something up :) Now we know he's capable, just holding out :)

we tried swinging at the park for the first time, I think.

He thought it was... ok...

the B&B had all these farm animals to pet and look at!

It was fun to show James!

This is one of those moments where Jo says, "Don't let him hold the fence, he might get bitten!" and Ron tells me not to worry about it, he's fine. He is fine, but still... so it begins. Below is a girl that tried to help us (and failed to, actually!) get the bunny out to pet it... James really seemed to like her, though!

thought my Grandpa Cawkins would like this :)

look, we're all waving!

Ok, I have to explain the photos below. Not much explanation is needed, I guess. Ron decided to run up the hill behind our train car before we left. It was steeper than he thought, but he was sure glad he did it. I just thought it was funny how much these first photos reminded me of bigfoot, as in Harry and the Hendersons...

Ron and James down at Big Rock City Park. They really are big rocks. It was hot out, and sitting in the shade of rock was quite pleasant and uncannily cooler than you'd think. We both tried out turn at climbing them, even Bean got to get up on a rock. It was a fun way to end the weekend :)