May 1 - 23, 2009

May 23, 2009
Hot Spring day, lots to do, much fun had! Mom did a photoshoot, Dad took the kids to the store, then it was off to a fun EMS open house with demos, balloons, and food! Then it was off to Evraz Place to play and look at the animals.


May 22, 2009
End of May and we BARELY were able to plant our vegetable garden! Frost warnings, snow, and freezing rain has prevented us so far. CRAZY! I'll be so glad to see our carrots, onions, peas, tomatoes, and Swiss Chard coming up!

May 21, 2009
Quick song practice for Lyndon, Bishop Howie, Bro. Bates, and Bro. Harker - they were singing a hymn for the Stake Priesthood meeting while Hubby played. They were missing one member of their quartet, though - Bro. Millar, who joined them for another practice later.

May 20, 2009
Jersey day at school. Well, we aren't a "sporty" type family, so we had zero jerseys around here. Therefore, a trip to Le Village was in order. After a short look through the boys' section, we came away with three cute jerseys for our girls to wear.

May 19, 2009
Tuesday was a slow day, doing nothing but laundry and editing pics from the photoshoot on Saturday. I loved every second of the boring, slowness. Hubby treated us to a dinner out at a favorite Chinese restaurant nearby. It was the perfect ending to a perfectly boring day :)

May 18, 2009
We headed out to the YMCA to play, since nothing else seemed to be open on this Victoria Day Monday! We played at the indoor play structure for a while, then realized that our day pass also included the pool! We got the kids in their swim suits and all headed into the pool for some fun. We loved it. The water was so warm - even in the regular swimming pools!

May 17, 2009
Sunday was like most Sundays - busy and wonderful. We magically all got out the door early enough for a quick picture and time to race back home to look for forgotten church keys :)

May 16, 2009
When grandma and grandpa visit, we put them straight to work! They were so awesome to purchase fabric and foam to help us recover our kitchen chairs. They look like new! I LOVE them! They worked so hard to help us - I am so grateful!

May 15, 2009
Grandma and Grandpa G arrived with little cousin 'S' in tow! We visited for a short while before heading off to bed. It was hard to sleep while we were so excited to have them here!

May 14, 2009
On Thursday (May 14) the girls had a day off school, so they decided that, while cleaning their room, that they would like to rearrange it. Okay - sounds fun! We moved furniture, washed walls, scrubbed down dressers, desks, you name it! In the end, the girls love their 'new' room. It gives them lots of space to play, AND we managed to get rid of bags full of trash and give aways. Nice!

May 13, 2009
Spirit days at school are here again! TJ and her BFF, Chassity, dressed in the same jeans, sweaters, and jackets - and even did their hair the same way. So fun to have best friends!

May 12, 2009Monsters vs Aliens 3D! What a great movie - even JJ kept her glasses on the whole time. It's amazing the technology we enjoy today!

May 11. 2009
Family Home Evening treat #2046 - okay maybe not, but it certainly COULD be. We treated the kids to some cones at our favorite ice cream shoppe - Milky Way!

May 10, 2009
Mothers day. "And thou shalt in thy daughter see,
This picture, once, resembled thee.~Ambrose Philips"

May 9, 2009
What a wonderful day for me. We had our Stake Relief Society Meeting and I was able to attend 3 wonderful workshops. This one was my good friend, Ketrisse, who taught about finding joy every minute. She was the perfect one to teach this class and it was awesome.

May 8, 2009
Dentist time once again. Seeing as we now have coverage, it was time for a family visit! Good news - zero cavities! Which is quite good seeing as it had been nearly 2 years since we've seen a dentist!

May 7, 2009
Mr. Oreo - he's a humongous hamster - seriously verging on rat size, but the sweetest, most gentle creature I've met. Since buying him back in December, he's never bitten anyone, and is so patient with the girls who love to maul him a few times every day!

May 6, 2009
The girls know that they are allowed to have friends over ONCE a week. Our lives are too hectic to have them over more than that. This was TJ's turn to have a friend over - and who else but Chassity? They enjoyed their time by playing board games.

May 5, 2009
Seeing as we're nothing if not a family of winners - our girls entered a video for the WCB safety video contest, and WON! They each won a prize pack including T-shirts, stickers, coloring books, whistles, crayons AND $100 to the Cineplex theaters! WAHOO! It pays to be safe!

May 4, 2009
B finally lost her front top tooth. Isn't that a HUGE rite of passage? She was thrilled to lose it and even more thrilled with the moolah the tooth fairy left her :)

May 3, 2009
Oh happy day! Lyndon finally returned home from his school trip to Brazil. We were ALL over joyed to see him again, and it had nothing to do with all of the fun gifts he brought back for us!

May 2, 2009
TJ won FIRST PLACE in the Queen's City Comic Contest by drawing a one - page comic above, The prize was $100! We were SO proud of her. She is quite the little artist!

May 1, 2009

Dreaming of hubby who is enjoying his time in Brazil. It's true what they say - absence DOES make the heart grow fonder!

April 30, 2009

Some might say "What big shoes to fill!", but my thoughts are, I hope the shoes she fills are much better than mine.

April 19 - 29, 2009

April 19, 2009

We are slowly trying to read through the Book of Mormon with the kids. Slowly. They can only sit through maybe a page before the ants in the pants show up. But, as we plod along, I am noticing the light going on in their minds and they are starting to grasp the principles being taught in the scriptures. It's a wonderful thing!

April 20, 2009
Brazil. A country none of us really knew much about. So, we sat down together for Family Home Evening to do a little research on it. Lyndon and the girls really enjoyed it. I didn't. I didn't enjoy learning about the place that was taking my husband away from me. In fact, I may have developed a slight grudge against the place. I *might* get over it, if Lyndon takes me with him next time :)

April 21, 2009
Passport time! Not sure why I put this off. Probably a fear of long line ups and passport photos. I survived the horrible corpse-like photo, and even better -absolutely NO ONE in line! YES! I was in and out in less than 10 minutes. Maybe this passport thing will grow on me.

April 22, 2009
I helped TJ at her Achievement Days activity. There were 12 girls there and they were one craft short. TJ made me proud by immediately raising her hand to offer to go without so another girl, a visitor, could have one. What a doll. Her teacher smiled and offered to bring her a pot to paint another day, which she did, and we all painted pots together on a future Family Home Evening.

April 23, 2009

There is a lot to get organized when you plan to travel out of the country. My heart was aching watching him pack, knowing that he'd be so far away for 10 long days. Is it normal to be excited for him, jealous of him, scared for him, and miss him all at the same time? And all before he's even gone?


April 24, 2009And he's off... Many hugs were given. And I did not cry, or blubber, or lose it. Really. At least, not too badly. And not in front of him. Much. I'm a big girl and this is no big deal. We'll all be fine. Seriously. I missed him the moment he was out of my sight. Who am I kidding, I missed him before that. But I'm happy for him. So happy :)

April 25, 2009
We had 5 young women and their YW leader billet at our house from Winnipeg this weekend. They were so sweet, though I didn't actually get to see much of them. They spent from 8am until 11pm at the church for the conference, so I basically was here while they slept :) They left me this sweet card and a lovely gift - a bar of strawberry soap from the Body Shop. My girls all wanted to use it so they could smell like perfume.

April 26, 2009
Do you ever just thank your lucky stars for a certain someone in your life? I do from time to time. In my case, I have a certain FAMILY in my life that I adore and who were kind enough to invite me and my girls over to dinner (and some wonderful adult conversation) while my husband is away. They are truly some of our very best friends, and also some of the most Christlike people I've ever had the pleasure to know. I mean, who has the wheaties to invite 5 extra mouths over for dinner? These folks, that's who! I enjoyed visiting with Ketrisse and watching her sweet relationship with her children.

April 27, 2009
Ooooh la la. These would be what I call a "Sweet" success. I've never before made cinnamon rolls, but in my ever increasing attempt to keep busy this week, I thought I'd give them a shot. Oh, heaven! They turned out PERFECT!

April 28, 2009

Oh, what do you do in the Springtime, when all the world is white? Take it easy and scrapbook, that's what! Thankfully the temperatures warmed up enough that it was all melted by evening :)


April 29, 2009
Lyndon is still alive and well in Brazil, seeing the sights, eating the food, enjoying the company, and missing us. It's been hard on us both, but being able to chat online at night has helped.

April 4 - 18, 2009

Saturday April 4, 2009
Watching the most wonderful sessions of General Conference. So touching, so emotional, so true, so uplifting. I wish Lyndon didn't have to be in school and miss it.

April 5, 2009
Busy trying to keep the children occupied with good activities during Sunday's Conference sessions. They did church coloring sheets and activities and enjoyed themselves. Hopefully they also caught a little bit from the talks, too.

April 6, 2009
Easter Family Home Evening - a sweet little lesson on the last days of Jesus' life on earth, and the joy of His glorious Resurrection. We learned the Children's Primary song "Did Jesus Really Live Again?" which is one of my favorite Easter songs, then played a fun game together. I love Family Home Evening - even when the planning can seem to get in the way of other things that need to be done, I never regret doing it.

April 7, 2009
Swimming lessons for TJ - last day. Parent Day. Play day. They pretty much splashed around the entire time, enjoying themselves, having fun. I was glad I decided to go - I never want to miss things like this.

April 8, 2009
Bayboo and her little pre-Kindergarten class had been working for 2 months to learn a Metis Rabbit dance to perform for their parents and other classes.

The story goes that a Metis hunter, while on his way home from the hunt, saw several rabbits lined up beside each other, and several dogs lined up beside each other, facing the rabbits. One dog would chase the rabbit around the lines in a figure eight pattern, then they would trade and the rabbit would chase the dog, then the next rabbit and dog in line would do it. The Hunter ran back to his home and showed the "Rabbit" dance to the others in the home and they all learned it. It's very lively and fun. I was so proud of my girl - she knew every step without help and was chosen to be the leader "rabbit" in her group, even though she is by far the tiniest in her class :)

April 9, 2009
A familiar sight for Lyndon as he rides the bus to and from work with mostly the same people each time. We're blessed to have access to a great transit system so I can have a vehicle during the day.

April 10, 2009
TJ's 9th birthday party! This year she decided on only inviting one friend and going to see a movie at the theatre. Sounds good to me! She was sooooo excited all day, driving the rest of us batty with her giggly chatter. I'm taking it all in, though, because I fear the time will come when she won't be so quick to want to chat with me. I hope that day is far off!

April 11, 2009
Easter celebrations! In our family, we have the Easter bunny visit on Saturday so we can focus on the Savior on Sunday. We had our Easter basket hunt, decorated eggs, and went on a little bike ride. A wonderful, warm, fun Easter day!

April 12, 2009
The Howies invited us over for a turkey dinner! To our pleasant surprise there was another great couple from our ward there to enjoy dinner, too- the Burgesses. This couple blow me away with their testimony, service, and genuine love for others. It was such a pleasure to spend the evening visiting with them and getting to know them better.

April 13, 2009
TJ turns 9. I love this girl. She is an example to me, she is a good and faithful daughter - to us, and to her Heavenly parents. We love her and have felt blessed to have her as a part of our family these past nine years! Now I can look forward to the next 9!

April 14, 2009
Hooray for warm Spring weather and no school! We spent the morning at a fun park near our house. The girls especially loved this sill twirly dizzy thing. Crazy kids.

April 15, 2009
Cool cat in a hat. Lyndon needed to buy a hat for his trip to Brazil, so what could be more fun than accompanying him? The girls all looked smashing in their mountain man hats, but my hubby looked HOT in his!

April 16, 2009
How many Barbie movies does it take to make a mommy go insane? Probably 1, but we're not taking any chances. Our girls LOVE these flicks, the music, the stories, the beautiful princesses. What's not to love?

April 17, 2009
BB surprised me by making my bed. What a sweetie - and a pretty awesome bed maker at that!

April 18, 2009

Now that the weather is warmer, I can always find at least one of the kids in the back yard. This day was spent making a make-shift playground out of logs and planks of wood. Ingenuitive!