The fair!

We had Northern Appreciation days last weekend, and the fair was in town. Overpriced rides! Woo hoo!

Of course, the kids loved it.



Although, it's no Playland. Which we talked about to the kids, and is now on their hit list of things to do when we head west.

As per a conversation with Nanny....

The link to the Cake Wrecks blog. There are some seriously out there cakes out there.

*fixed link*

"oh please don't go, we love you so"

That was what Norah was saying to her "new best friend" this week. We had a lovely visit with our dear friends, the D's. It was indeed sad to see them go, but we really enjoyed them while they were here.

Norah and Bel - fast friends, with a shared love of dress up and pink


All 6 kids having lunch. Mo showing them just how far Ottawa is from here. Too far indeed.


The beautiful Bel, soon to be 6


Little miss Bibby, just turned 2


The sweet and petite Bean, shares her birth month with Norah. She's singing along with her daddy. Ruby has proclaimed Bean to be her best friend.


Trying to get 6 kids to pose and smile, not easy.

Ta-daa!

Some birthday money for dad turns into a new bike for a little boy!
That's a generous dad, and his son is thankful.

Give a 6 year old a camera at a restaurant...

a few more random shots - zoo, park, fun

To sum up the week in the city:
-spray park
-new bathing suits and haircuts
-splash pool and park
-hot temperatures
-picnics
-"the other Isaac" at the splash pool, and his big sister
-golfing with Nanny
- riding the mini train and carousel
-zoo!
-Wall-e
-picking dad up at the library
-new bike for Isaac!
-popsicles and pink donuts
-lots of laughing, lots of sun, lots of water play

Ranom pics from the S'toon trip

a Ruby funny

From VBS:

Rob was asking the kids their middle name. Got to Ruby. Norah answers for Ruby. Ruby yells "no it is not. It's Cinderella."

Wonder if she thinks she fooled dad.

overheard at supper tonight

Isaac: why do some people not believe in God?
Mom: some people don't love God, that is their choice. Why do you ask?
I: because of that story from church last week. The guy who went to tell people about God
M: You mean Jonah?
I: Yeah, him
Dad: What about Jonah?
I: he went to tell those people who didn't love God that they should love God
Norah: and then that big fish ate him up. Yum, yum, yum
M: and then what happened?
N: the fish spit him up (said with particular intensity)
I: then he could do what God told him to do, right? I bet the fish did that because Jonah was out of flavor, like gum.

A pic from dad's new church

The kids were doing laps at church last Sunday night. I have no idea how they could, it was 32 degrees (90 for our American readers) and in direct sun. It was cooking, but they were running!

Hair!

The girls wanted to wear their "fancy party dresses" last Sunday. The dresses needed to be ironed. Being the cunningly smart mom that I am, I negotiated with them. I would iron the dresses IF they let me do their hair pretty.

They went for it. I ironed, then I tried out some flippy pigtails. There were compliments all day on their adorable hair.

Goodness, she's actually choosing to smile for the camera!



A look from behind.


Walking to church.


They loved hearing about their pretty hair, which was a win/win. They have let me continue to do it. However, they all got haircuts on Monday. Not much cut off, but it's tidied up a lot.

First summer getaway

Found these in the garden yesterday afternoon. Small, but delicious!

The kids and mom had a mini road trip yesterday. A friend of mom's who lives in Colorado, but is moving to Japan was actually in our neck of the woods. So we drove to meet up with her and her two little girls for a picnic lunch. What fun! This is the first really hot weekend of summer, and we discovered how hot when the popsicles I gave the kids for the drive were melting faster then they could eat them, even with the air on high. A slightly sticky mess.

Today, after our evening service at Rob's "new" church, we are heading out for another getaway! Rob is taking a much overdue, and very timely Study Leave week. We're heading to the city, where he can hang out reading and planning in the air conditioned comfort of libraries. Meanwhile, mom and the kids get to have a week long play date with Nanny, and all the fun things the big city has to offer. See you when we get home again!

Awards day at school

Isaac receiving his certificate from Madame. He was awarded "Most Improved" student in his class.



The class, all lined up.


The girls, playing outside at the school while the awards ceremony winds up.

oh little apple, you fell too close to the tree

Had a follow up appointment with the doctor for Isaac today. He needs to re-do chest x-rays because of some small but probably not important abnormalities that came up. After talking to the doctor, the abnormalities could very well be what I've suspected for a few months now. A check over and some stethoscope time pretty much confirmed it. Asthma.

Now we get to teach him how to use the inhalers we had to buy today. Fun times.

It makes a lot of sense though. With an asthma in the family, including mom, it's not a big shock. Especially given how bad his last few colds were, and the flu we all had in January. Also, he's been quite wheezy lately, especially after soccer. Just wasn't something I was hoping to pass along in the genetic soup that got handed to our children.

tired

Yesterday afternoon was the local walk for Chrons and Colitis, which a member of the church organized in memory of her brother. Subsequently, Rob was roped into participating. Isaac brought his (now much too small, but won't ride his sister's slightly larger and pink) bike along to join in. Mom and the girls were invited out for lunch, and tagged along later. The girls enjoyed face painting and running about.

There were no naps that day. Until later, when I found snacktime particularly quiet. This is what I found.

I let her get 10 minutes in before I woke her, or she fell off the chair. Unfortunately, her face rashed out from the face paint this morning. A puffy and red faced girl was she. Benadryl helps.

Welcome summer!

Nothing says "welcome to summer" quite like an outdoor party. Especially an impromptu one. So we had one.

Woke up to a beautiful, sunny and hot day on Saturday and decided that having a little solstice celebration was a good idea. Then realized that it would be even more fun with friends! A few phone calls and a trip to the grocery and liquor stores later, we were set. Punch for the kids, Corona and margaritas for the adults. Sparklers for some fun, "firework" centerpieces made by mom and Isaac (skittles, clear wrap and pipe cleaners), and a few summery tunes on the ipod. (ipods? wonder if ipod has a plural form. probably could google that) We were set.

What fun! Would have taken more pictures, but we were all having too much fun laughing. 11 kids from age 1 to 6, and 8 adults. We stayed out until 10, until the motion sensor light out back came on and the sun was almost all set, and all went to bed tired and happy.

Rob lighting the sparklers. I really tried to get a shot of him without his rear end. Tried, and pretty much failed. The kids loved the sparklers and our loud calling of "hello summer!".


ahh, no rear end shot of Rob. Only the backs of our kids heads though.

Final Game

Tonight was the final playoff game for the Gold team. They actually won the game 5-0. I think that was actually their first win, after a season of losses and a tie. To quote the coach "they were really on the ball tonight, I wonder where that team was all season". Actually they did play really really well.


Especially this player. He scored 4 of the team's 5 goals. He's cute too.

Happy Father's Day!

On Father's Day, we hosted our church's annual Sunday school wind up bbq picnic. At some point along the way, we (meaning Rob) decided that it would be nice to combine it with a "thanks to volunteers" event. Which meant that we were catering the event as well. We meaning Kristin.

It all went very well in the end, and there were many compliments on the lunch and how pretty everything looked.

children's focus/object lesson in the sand



Naptime after doing 2 services, and before the third.

Children's Festival Saskatoon!

Last weekend was the wind up of the Children's Festival in Saskatoon. What fun! We pulled Isaac out of school for the Friday and drove down that day. There was a variety show on the Friday night. That was a fantastic show, with over 90 minutes of fantastic entertainment.

The next morning, we had tickets for the Music with Marnie show which included a pancake breakfast...in the rain (and we were not prepared for rain - teach us to actually believe a weather forecast in early June) After the show, the girls got their faces painted. Then we met up for lunch with Meghan, an old friend from Vancouver, who was in town for the weekend. Meghan and her friend Lisa were great fun over lunch, and it was SO good to visit and catch up.

Friday night


In the tent for the show


Light up tiaras and candy necklaces for the girls - best value for $2. Isaac got a whoopie cushion and a candy watch. Fun.


Norah as a "fairy princess"


Ruby's ladybug. And more candy. When one doesn't get that much candy, one must be serious about it.



Isaac wanted me to take this photo.


Mom and Meghan.

Soccer!

It's kind of blurry because it's a picture of a picture. They are really cute, if not the best team in the league. Their coach is encouraging and kind, and they work as hard as they can. That's good enough.