Hockey

Hockey is a sport that we don't get to go to very often. I remember going to many games in Calgary days and Ray remembers going to many Spartans games with Graeme years ago but since then we've done one Moose game together, and Ray has been to a few here and there with friends. Today was the first hockey game we went to as a whole family - Mark's first time watching a live game. It was fun. Ray's cousins were in town and their 15 year old son was playing in a Major midget league. He's been drafted for WHL for next year. A bit of a rough game but so fun to watch not only the game but also Mark's reactions to all of it - watching the puck, cheering for Taylor, and the Zamboni. The first time brings so much joy and excitement!!

This 2ND cousin he didn't know about, was suddenly famous to him. He was cautious not to get too close for a picture afterwards though and I asked why...."He's too stinky!!"

Christmas Treats

Christmas is when there are traditions in every family. Some traditions revolve around treats. I love Nuts and Bolts. My mom has always made a gingerbread house with us for as long as I can remember. I must say though, the year we made the chocolate one was my favorite year. Anyways, this year was my first year without my mom here to make it with me. Even though I have been away from her these last two years, she comes just in time to assist me. This year my creation was not as elaborate without her. Mark was very much apart of the whole process which was fun. From the making the dough, cutting of shapes to even deciding on the scene, all the way to choosing the candies and the decorating with the icing. It was fun. The first roof collapsed as the angel on top fell and took part of the roof with her but we fixed it. I would be ashamed to show you all a picture of it, but since it was Mark's creation too, I must be a proud mom.

Some of my other favorite traditional treats are peanut butter fingers, vanilla dipped sugar cookies and poppycock. Why is it that we put all the good treats all at one time of the year? We should spread it out during the year so we don't all get a sugar high at the same time of the year. Just a thought.

There are many traditions in every family. Some having to do with food, some with gifts, or when they're opened, some with celebrations. I love it all. Even family tension could be considered a tradition - think about it...what would a holiday be with a family gathering if someone didn't cause tension at least at some point. Not to be taken the wrong way, nor saying anything about either family I'm involved it, just a thought.

Symphony

This last weekend Ray and I went to Vancouver. It was nice to get away (so thankful for Gramma and Grandpa for watching the kids). It was however not all vacation as I was in a course the whole weekend. It was full of information, great networking, and very practical for my work environment. Some of you know already the home I've been working in will be shut down in the new year, but it was still great to go. I learnt a lot and my supervisor was actually in the course with me and took me to my clients new home which was great for some closure. The course is apart of 10 that I am working on completing for my DeafBlind Studies. I think I am 1/2 done now.

I was hoping to see some of my extended family but as it turned out we didn't get in touch with them. It's hard to fit everything in but hopefully we'll see them next time. We stayed with Ray's sister (and brother-in-law) and did take Saturday night for some fun. The four of us went to the Vancouver Symphony. It was amazing!!! I highly recommend a "Broadway Rocks" symphony, especially to anyone who hasn't been to one before. I think it was one of my favorites so far. It was nice to add something special to a weekend of studies. It's always fun to get dressed up - we looked good too!!!

Take a Break

As Christmas comes closer many things come to an end for the season. This fall I have been very involved in a Ladies morning out called "Take-A-Break". The committee has been a blessing of new friends, supporters and spiritual leaders. Last summer I went back to our church in Winnipeg and was sadden to know that even though I have lived here for two years I still felt like Riverwood was my home church. After prayer and discussion I realized it was my own personal involvement that makes a church feel more like "home". I was asked to be on this committee and knew that was God's calling. I knew very few of them before starting and now it feels like we've known each other a lot longer. There are around 70 ladies that come out every Thursday and my role has been the speaker coordinator. That alone has been fun and a challenge not knowing many people. I meet with the speakers before hand, and again for coffee the week before and the morning of their talk for prayer. The ladies are all in small groups around tables and that also was good this year. My table went for coffee the other night to get to know each other better outside of the Thursday morning discussion time.
Another part of the morning has been blessing a local women's shelter. Each week the ladies are asked to bring one item (toothbrush, toothpaste, body wash, pads, socks...). For our final week we brought gift bags and the ladies brought small items to fill the bags. I was blown away by the variety of small gifts and the number of bags that were filled.
This last session has been on "Doors" and I'm looking forward to January as we dive into the "Be Attitudes for Women".

Getting ready for Christmas

We went to get our tree from a Christmas tree farm. The whole decision of fake or real trees is all around us. I know a fake tree would save the enviroment, but it somehow seems ok to get a tree from a farm grown lot specifically for Christmas. Anyways, we did it and loved the experience. Mark got to ride on a sled down to the mini, mini forest while Kyla slept through the whole experience in Ray's arms. She woke up as the tree was being put into our trunk. The family provides hot apple juice around a fire to all of us. There are sheep there as well which Mark got to feed.

Up Your Nose!!!

The never ending adventures of Mark. I think we should write a book some time. Lisa said if we don't maybe she should - maybe not literally.

This afternoon as the cousins were hanging out they each got to choose one Halloween candy. Little did I know the candy bin actually contained a variety of candies from Halloween to decorating candy from the baking cupboard. Mark was being silly and decided to put one small pea size hard candy into each of his nostrils. "look at me" he said and I yelled "Mark, get that out of your nose right now - you never put things into your nose!". Well, no sooner had I said it, Mark flicked one candy out but put his finger into the other pushing the candy further up.
Seriously - who does that? - or should I ask isn't that normal for a boy?

Blowing his nose didn't work so I called the Health line. They told me what to do and that didn't work. By this time Ray had shown up at his brother's house and took Mark to the walk in clinic. Now, don't think the story ends there as that would be boring...

The doctor tried a few things but couldn't get it out either and sent the two to the emergency. They did try a few things and took an X ray. They even stuck a catheter up his nose and inflated the balloon hoping to pull it out. The ENT doctor said that usually works 99% of the time...not for Mark...

Next they put Mark out using an IV (They had numbed his hand an hour before inserting the IV - good thing as if you know Ray he would have passed out at that stage if there was any pain/blood). While he was out they used a scope and discovered they couldn't find it anymore. More X rays and finally Mark was labelled clear for discharge.

A small candy snack turned into almost 6 hours (3pm-8:45pm) of adventure. As much as we never want that to happen again, it's not likely we're really going to prevent everything from happening in this boys life. The RN nurse in the emergency room actually was telling the other nurse all the different things she stuck up her nose as a kid - from peas to mashed potatoes. I guess girls do it too - lets hope not!!

STAY TUNED FOR MORE MARK ADVENTURES RECORDED ON THIS BLOG....

October

Story time each night is a special time for Ray and I and both our kids. I love the chance to sit with both of them on my lap, or lay on our bed like we are here, and on the rare time they will both be on their bunk beds listening while we sit on the chair. For some reason I still treasure the cudding on the chair while we still all fit. This particular story time we were listening to a story on tape. Even though Mark is not quite 5 yet we have already started reading short chapter books, as much as we have looked forward to the longer stories with a bit more meat to them, they are above Kyla and she won't sit that long. On the nights that I'm at work I hear that there is a lot more animation to the stories from the comments like "that's not how Daddy reads it".



Instead of Halloween, Mark had a NOAH'S ART party at school. For the second year in a row Ray took the kids to the school's Halloween alternative that night. As much as we don't like this holiday the kids can at least get to dress up and go to the school's party. This way there is some candy too but not a whole lot. Somehow I didn't get a picture of Mark's caterpillar costume or Kyla as a Rabbit. She was an elephant first then decided to be a Rabbit instead for that day. I was so happy to get the Mouse costume from Dad last summer for my childhood cabbage patch kid. Here Kyla is an elephant holding her little mouse.

Our kido's

Our kids are growing and it's time for an updated photo. This was taken at Thanksgiving. We actually had all 5 kids (cousins on Ray's side)matching for an updated cousin photo shot. As hard as it is to get all 5 kids under 5 smiling and looking at the camera at the same time, somehow we think it's worth it. We think this one of Kyla and Mark is super cute but if you look closely you can see the tears in Kyla's eyes. As Uncle Don says "she always has a precious moments tear drop".

Fall Pumpkins

Pumpkins...I just love my picture here of all the pumpkins. (reminds me of something Shelley would take). I love harvest and all that it brings. I love all the colours everywhere. The kids love the day that we go to the farm and pick out our pumpkin and they are so fun to watch too. The field that we go to here is about an hour drive away. The patch is on a hill and if I could do video on this blog I would show you all the rolling pumpkins coming down the hill. I think it was 2 years ago - our first time here that Mark almost got run over by one. We all go in apple crates for a tractor ride to the patch, come back to see the animals and take a taste of apples or something. There is a playground to play on and this year instead of a sandbox the kids found the corn box - full of corn kernels. Thanks Grandma for joining us on our day adventure, I'm glad we waited for you to be there too.

The Pixie Girl

Although I can't say I was OK when the whole scenario occur ed, I can say that I am doing much better, and getting use to the little pixie hair cut on Kyla. It did take care of the bangs issue which we weren't sure how to deal with. Neither Ray or I like the look of bangs cut straight across the forehead so this worked well. Ray likes that there is no need for pigtails for him to do. She is still the same Kyla and as cute as ever. I probably never would have done it this short if I had the say, but it really does look good on her. She proudly tells people that "brother gave me hair cut" - obviously not affected the way I was.

Since Kyla's hair was shorter then Mark's hair we needed to take care of that too. I think that is were the whole idea came from to start with. Earlier on Sunday we had talked about shaving Mark's hair again the following day. The topic came up about cutting Kyla's bangs so they weren't in her eyes but we hadn't decided yet what to do. That's when I think, where Mark got the idea but, instead of waiting till Monday he just took it upon himself to deal with it.

The Haircut disaster!!!

On Sunday night, while having a games night at Karen and Terry's house our kids were suppose to be sleeping. An hour later we hear them coming up stairs. Mark immediately told us he cut Kyla's hair to help her get the hair out of her face. The innocence in his voice " just think mom, now you don't have to put pony tails in her hair anymore!" There were no words to describe my total disappointment. I guess the biggest thing was that I had set a goal not to cut Kyla's hair until she was 3 years old. There was not a reason for my goal, no Samson and Delilah reason at least, just a goal to see it grow naturally. Amazingly enough there was relief under all my tears that no one got hurt; no ears cut off, not eyes poked out. We came home after having a talk with Mark about the importance of ADULTS cutting hair, it is never OK to cut your own hair nor anyone Else's without an adult helping. The next day we went to the kids haircut studio "Beaners". If you have one in your area I think they are the best invention ever for kids hair cuts!!

At Beaners, Kyla got to sit on each of the 4 rides (not on while cutting) while the hair dresser quickly and effectively fixed her hair. She was so tolerable about Kyla turning her head, moving from one seat(ride) to another. The Beaners place has 4 different mall type rides that the kids sit on while getting thier hair cut. Once the cut is done they provide a dish full of quarters for them to ride the Hippo, car, duck, or motorbike. There is a ball pit in the middle of the shop for kids waiting or siblings to play in. The older kids - Mark's age and up have different seats - more typical to hair dressers but there are TV's with playstation (Curious George, ect...) for them to play while getting thier hair cuts. Also they have a few TV's around for a movie to be playing try to keep the kids looking forward.


The hair cut fixed the disaster, but it's a style more for an older 20 yr old or something, not a little girl. Anyways, it's hair and it will grow back. It's a moment to remember, one that will be remembered for a long time.

Turning two

After our trip our little girl turned two. The actually "two stage" begins a few months before the birthday but she is offical now.

On her actual birthday we were at the Farmer's Market for kids day with balloons to hold and a bounce house to play in. Mark liked the magician but Kyla didn't really care for it. Later that day she had an unoffical pool party with cupcakes and fun in the community pool (A friend of ours had invited us over and made it like a party).

We had a small tea party with her and 3 friends. The kids were cute pouring the water into their cups and enjoying their crackers and cake. Many people to thank for all the gifts. The sleeping bag bed was appreciated all summer (before her birthday) and the bike has been loved by more than just her. It's cute to see this little girl dress up in her jewlery and mini cell phone in her purse - such a girl at times, yet thankfully she still loves to drive the cars around with her brother!

The end of our summer trip

I guess I never did get back to finishing off our trip here. We had a great time in Vancouver WA, then down to Newport Oregon, then drove up and rode the ferry over to Whidby Island. That was Mark and Kyla's first ferry ride. It was small and short for what we were use to. To the kids it was very cool that our car got to drive onto the boat and we got to go up and see the waves. While on the Island we saw the only full scaled Grey Wale skeleton hanging for public viewing. We all thought it was neat and Mark really liked it. His highlight that day was actually walking out of where the whale was and seeing the jelly fish in the shallow water below the pier. We're finished the trip early for a number of reasons but really enjoyed all the sights we got to see. We stoped in Vancouver to see Antie Shelley and Uncle Levi. Finally we were home and ready for some rest.

lighthouses

While we were on our holiday we saw some amazing sights.

We loved the lighthouses the most I think. It was a sure high light for Mark and something about lighthouses draw them Ray and I too.

We now have a picture of one in our livingroom that we've had since we got married, and now on this trip we bought a print of one we've visited.

God calls us to be "light in the darkness" and I love how a lighthouse can remind us of that.

Camping five nights...

Most people are in question whether camping with two kids (4 and 2) for 5 days in a row is actually considered a vacation. Others debate even more whether driving a car with those same two kids more than 2000km, for approximately 35 1/2 hours within a week, is a vacation either. Well, WE DO, and WE DID IT - AND SURVIVED!!!

You wouldn't believe it, but the only time we heard the famous words spoken was after our first hour drive, the first day, after we realized we forgot something major and had to turn around and drive back home. 10 minuites into the drive back home Mark asked "ARE WE THERE YET?". Little did he know of the 34 more hours to come...

We had a great time meeting up with friends the night before in WA, and preparing for both our families to camp together the first 3 nights.

With 5 kids under 5 and 4 adults on the same site, it went amazing well. There were a few hickups - a borrowed tent without a fly, sharing one scooter between 3 or 4 kids, worring about fire safety while the kids played and got dirty. Sleep depervation is an obvious, but the amount of laundry was unexpected. Maybe we should have known we wouldn't have been on the beach as much as we wanted, but somehow I expected even if we didn't swim, we could have enjoyed sitting on the beach. The winds were harsh and cold but that didn't stop Mark and Ray from flying their kites. Ray was truely a kid at heart that day watching the kite take the wind and Mark was right there with him with his own Spiderman kite.

Discovering on the beach...

We enjoyed our first day of holidays beach combing with Joel, Josh, Mel and Don. The unexpected one extra morning with them was great. It may have taken extra long to get to our first destination, due to forgetful packing, but it was worth it.

As we walked the beach that morning, we were amazed at the opportunity to see a Bald Eagle resting on a rock. As we got closer the Eagle took flight.
It took a few shots but I actually am proud of my shot and couldn't have placed the boat more perfectly.





The kids loved walking through the tide pools and looking for sea life. Ray was also looking for crabs and after seeing many small ones picked up a rock for the kids and found a crab hiding underneath. It was a great start to our beach vacation.



What a great surprise to see Brianna and Derek while walking towards the pier as well.

At 11am we said our goodbyes and headed for the car to begin our coastal vacation.
Of course we had an hour and a half- almost 2hr. boarder crossing wait first.

New Aunties to play with...

My Dad arrived with Carolyn, Mikaela and Jessica on Tuesday of our family fun filled week. The anticipation of Grandpa arriving was big for the boys. I don't know if Carolyn or the these two newAunties knew ahead of time the energy 3 boys and a little girl have, but they were quick to find out. A cannon ball fight started it all. The boys were throwing the pine cones down at them from high in the tree house and then hiding as the girls reloaded the cannon balls back into the tree house. Kyla loved bringing dolls to show and sitting on laps for stories. Jessica was a huge hit with the animated voices reading "Pirates of the Caribbean" story and Micaela is most remembered by Mark as the "bestest" rock jumper into the waterfall. There was play time and story time, Farmer's Market shoping for fruit, beach time relaxing and building sand castles. Jet skiing and hiking, mini golfing, badminton, basket ball, boccie and water balloon fights. Ray also gave motocycle rides to almost all (except kids). We also had a Auntie Alma (my Dad's sister) and Lee come for a day all the way from Texas for a short visit while we were all together. They blessed us all with Jumbo shrip from Mexico - Yummy!!

We had a great time getting to know eachother a bit, and building memories and appreciated hearing all about their family trip to DR that they had taken before coming out here. We celebrated Kyla's birthday and she got Dora books and a Dora movie. Just in time for our own family holiday. The books were a huge hit for both kids all making noise - (thank goodness for mommy and daddy the three different books provided variety to the sounds) and the movie was a hit as well. How do you travel over 1800kms without new movies to watch and new toys to play with!!

Saturday they headed off to continue their trip on Westward as did the rest of us to begin our own separate family holidays. Stay tuned for the next entry of our continued family fun filled summer adventures....

The Harders arrive...

The waiting... The countdowns are finally here...the moment the Harder's pulled into the driveway was the beginning of a fun filled week of cousin Loven'!!! The boys came running to each other and Josh ran over to be the first to hug Kyla. Other than my poor directions they arrived safely. Why would you ask me for direction to begin with who knows. Am I not the one that can't tell which way is North or West to begin with? Why not ask Ray? He grew up here and He can tell you how to get somewhere having only been there once or even not at all (OK - that was because Nana couldn't remember either and it was safer to trust Ray getting out of Regina then Nana at the time!! but that's another story). OK,OK, they arrived and the fun began.

I don't even know where to start on this recap of our week together. We were so excited to show them were we lived.

They played toys, cannon ball fights in the tree fort, read books, exchanged gifts, splash parks, the lake, walks to the river for a cold - freezing dip(and Don pretending he was in a hot tub as his body turned numb from the cold), jumped off the rocks of a waterfall( I didn't jump as I'm afraid of heights but Joel and others did), hiked two mountains (actually Don, Joel, Mark and I hiked the one and we drove to the top of the other one as a family). Anyways, there was so much fun and great family time.

Can't wait till our next visit....