A Very Naegeli Christmas

What a fun and crazy and loud time as we shared our gifts with each other on Dec 28th! Robots, headbands, matching shirts, lens coffee cups: interesting times!! I say we all weigh in on Julie's new scale now and try again in a month!

Boxing Day 2010

We joined the Strybos' and their extended family, and the Burnham's for a sleigh ride out at Tabor Lake. We had a fun time and then got to visit at the Strybos home. Below is Dana and her husband Kelly, this one's for you, Dana, my secret blog follower!!

The Best of Christmas Past!

The "joy" of our lives!!

Christmas morning was lots of fun even after 2 kids not being able to sleep until about 1:30 am!! Can't believe Everest was with us for another Christmas, he always lays down nearby so he doesn't miss the excitement!

Christmas brunch was yummy !

I call this picture "Can't you just see the love between Mike and Julie?"! GET IT??

Why do the fun days always go by so quickly?!

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever!!

This is my awesome 2 & 3 year old Sunday School class. They sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and did a great job! The picture of Mitchell is just before a classic Costley meltdown on the sanctuary floor, that's why he never got up front! Once we got back to our classroom he cried and wanted to go back to sing!

The Brer Rabbit part of the show was full of interesting characters, including Ethan as little brother donkey and Maren as a grandaughter, Micah as Brer Donkey and Wayne Hamilton as Brer Bear. Really cute!

We saw the story of the birth of Jesus unfold before us, with a real live baby Jesus. Josh played a great shepherd and Grace was the perfect little girl with nothing to give Jesus. She reminded us, simply, to give Him our hearts. Amazing! All the kids and adults were fantastic! And Hannah was terrific in the choir but I never got a clear shot of her, I'm sure her dad did!!

Christmas is Coming!

So Thankful

God has blessed us richly and we are very grateful. The Leboes, Naegelis and Costleys joined forces to create a very delicious Thanksgiving dinner over the long weekend. We missed the rest of the family! In true turkey form everyone was exhaused within an hour after dinner, well everyone over the age of 12!!

September has slipped away...

It was back to school this month for 2/3 of the Costley kids! They were so excited to go back, now that a month is up, they're not liking the mornings quite as much!!

I love sunflowers, don't they just make you smile :)??

The harvest moon hung around for quite a few nights, reminding us that "He's the only one who makes the moon reflect the sun" and my feeble attempt at capturing it certainly doesn't do God's creation justice!!

To-sink-it Lake

We joined the Leboes out at the cabin for the last weekend in Aug. "Chick-a-down", styrofoam up the nose, Sunday night steak dinner and fishing were some of the more memorable moments!

Unplugged.

So, here we have it. The styrofoam has been extracted from Mitchell's nose by the handywork of Jim with a turkey baster!! He stuffed it up there while we were out at Leboe's cabin today and we couldn't get it out earlier today. Hopefully he has learned the all important lesson of not putting stuff in your nose!

Summer

Here is much of the summer of 2010, as promised! Some backyard pool fun in July. The picture of Mitchell reminds me of the "Baywatch" picture of Jim at Shuswap a few years ago, like father, like son!

Ethan ambitiously attended his first YWAM hockey camp and first time doing hockey for a week in July. He did awesome and loved it! Even scored a goal in his first game ever!

Here's the pictures no one wants to see because they bring back memories of the worst plague that has ever hit our extended family! Well, it was Mitchell's party and he can puke if he wants to...I'm just surprised we all stuck around!! Happy 2nd Birthday Mitchell, you gave a gift that kept on giving!

To make sure the virus got around, we had a 2nd BBQ and birthday cake for Mitchell! It was lots of fun at the time!

Happy Birthday to Mitchell!

We ended the cool evening with some time around the fire.

The following weekend we all met up at 10 Mile Lake for a couple nights away and the annual Swiss club party. It was warm, although a little smoky, so we spent lots of time on the beach!

We headed down to Vancouver for the second week of August to spend the week with the Breedvelds. The Vancouver Aquarium was our first stop. It started to rain minutes before we arrived, so we got to wait in line in the rain for about 1/2 an hour. Little did we know that the Premier of BC and the Prime Minister of Canada were attending that day to announce $25 million dollars of funding for the aquarium. We saw both of them very up close, just an arm's length away but I didn't get any pics, too busy looking after 4 kids! It was a very busy visit!

The next day was much more relaxed, watching 5 kids at the park is easier than at the aquarium!

Centennial Beach held lots of treasures for these amateur beach combers!! The park was a blast too!

The kids beat the heat in the pool in the backyard, "Rambo" also made an appearance on the swingset!

We had to make a visit to Thomas the Train, what a neat place!! You see Mitchell was more interested in getting in the pond than smiling for the picture!

Sushi and Krispy Kremes by lantern light were on the menu for Friday night dinner. We taught Brad and Carolyne how to make sushi so they can attempt it on their own next time!

The spray park by Brad and Carolyne's place was awesome!! Saturday was so hot and it was perfect!

On Saturday night we made the trip to Steveston for fish & chips and ice cream, and of course, the park! We had lots of fun, thanks guys!

The past few days, my kitchen has been busy, the "berries" of our labour (couldn't resist)! Chris showed you pictures of the raspberry picking, now I'll show you pictures of the raspberry making!! Plus a yummy pizza and some lovely roses that don't have anything to do with the berries!

COMING SOON!!!!

Some serious summer blogging will be coming soon, and by serious I mean lots! Sorry for any inconvenient delays!!

Mariners Game

Yesterday was a beautiful day, it is hard to beat a sunny day and a baseball game in the summer. When I was a kid we would go to lots of Blue Jay games and yesterday made me realize how much fun it was to go to a major league baseball game and how I miss it. You got the sunshine, foot long hotdog, warm beer, peanuts and the crack of the bat. Thanks Jeff for getting the tickets they were amazing seats right behind home plate. Wow it was a great day!

Creepy and Crawly Yard

The past 2 days have been a bit much for me. We found this lovely snake in the backyard. It tried making friends with our rope but I guess it lacked some personality! It sunned itself for a while beside the planter and then it disappeared. I also found this large beetle in my hanging basket. The creepiest of all is the white "fluff" on our bush. Those are bugs, disgusting! Dezene, help, what is it and what do we do??!!

Camping at 10 Mile Lake

Great weather, no bugs and good friends, made a winning combination for a fun weekend camping trip. We found 6 inch leeches in the lake, gross! Also made some yummy pit pies with the trusty grill-a-snack pie makers!