The road to nowhere

Warning: Just needed to vent.

2012-02-11T17:34:00.004-07:00

I need a holiday somewhere really hot where I can soak up some real vitamine D. I'm feeling blue. My children and I have been trapped in the house for too long with no spouse/dad around, I've been cleaning the house and doing laundry for a week....it was clean for meeting and then my disrespectful children destroyed it in no time flat....now we have the workers coming (this is the good part) and I get to start cleaning all over again. Then Chelsea shot me in the face with a nerf gun and I lost it!!! So Steve took the kids and ran. Hope he brings home food. I'm hungry. Don't you wish you were here?

The Telus World of Science...

2012-02-10T16:45:00.005-07:00

Today was quite an experience. We decided to go get a membership to the science center so we could go play whenever we wanted. Invited aunty Jess and kids and a few friends and their kids. It was soooo busy. I thought it'd be good since it was just the surrounding area schools that had the day off, but apparently Edmonton schools planned the day out too. Anyhow, the kids still enjoyed it. Stayed for about 4 hours. We started in the IMAX with the showing of rescue. I thought it was interesting. Some of the kids thought it was great and others thought it was scary. I should have known, being that we can't even get in the CAR WASH line up without Chelsea having a meltdown, that the IMAX would not be for her. So we had to stand in the stairwell where she couldn't see anything or she'd scream. Little brat. Thankgoodness she fell asleep half way through and I could sit down!

Our little computer geek :) This is a new area. Really neat kids area. The airplane area was the biggest hit.

Flying the plane.

Chelsea dreaming of going somewhere warm

Abby chatting up the security guy :)

Kylie putting luggage through the scanner.

Chelsea drying her hands after getting drenched in the water area.

So then we tried to go in to the star theater to learn about stars etc... yeah we didn't even make it to the doors and she had a fit!!! So we sat outside and waiting for everyone else to enjoy the show.

Overall it was a pretty good day. Tired the kids out good. Now we can go any time for free and pay half price on the IMAX shows so I think we will get some use out of the membership. It includes 2 adults and 4 kids which is unusual but perfect for us!!

Also got my gorgeous watch from Jess. Will have to take a picture and post it. Time for tea and supper. I'm ready for bed but guess I will wait until Steve is home and head out to the grocery store. UGH!

Steve's been rubbing shoulders with the high faluten (sp?? haha) people of our city with a little party last night and a luncheon function today.....oh to have the life of a working man. Hahaha. No...wouldn't trade him places.

Have a spectacular day.

A BEAUTIFUL DAY!

2012-02-04T20:57:00.003-07:00

I'm sorry mom C, still no pictures of me. Some day. But I can share a part of me with you...

Just have to share cuz this is so exciting to me (my husband gets soooo sick of my house designing) HA!:

I have spent probably 5 years searching for the perfect house plan and designing my own....I have finally found my dream house. Ahhhh.....some day.....maybe? Maybe not but hey it's a fun hobby. The only thing I would change is to turn the office into a large [ shaped stairwell since we want a basement.

Today was such a gorgeous day. In fact it was so gorgeous that I washed all the windows I could reach inside and out. That would be 9 windows!! My shoulder is now KILLING me. I'm hoping I do NOT inherit my father, mother, and sister's shoulder issues. So far, I'm the healthy one! I'd like to keep it that way. Unfortunately when I'm as old as they are, I may fall apart. I have always been able to dislocate my shoulder but it has never hurt until today. Could simply be overworked as I also helped Steve take all the decals off his truck. What should have been an easy job, is not actually as easy as it looks! He heated them up and then we peeled them off but the adhesive remover didn't work real great so we had to scrub it and scrub it and scrub it.....you get the idea. Now it looks beautiful though and ready to sell.

We get to have our workers next week so we're excited about that. I think there may be a lot of meeting changes coming up as there has been several elders meetings lately so I'm excited to see the new list. No idea if or when it'll come out but I may just ask :)

So my kids have Thursday and Friday off. Anyone want to come entertain some kids? Steve won't even be home much as he has an open house at work Thursday night with the company who nominated them for "construction company of the year for work under 50 million." So I guess he better go. Then he is celebrated hockey day in Canada as is his tradition every year with a game of shinny during the day and supper out with the guys to watch the oilers game. I think the kids and I will go to an IMAX Thursday. Anyone want to join us? Then Friday we might go skiing. Then Saturday we are going to stay home.

Here are a couple picture for you. Chelsea having her Sunday afternoon nap, Kylie skating, and a video of Hayley teaching Chelsea to skate. She is doing soooo good now. At the beginning of the season she couldn't even stand up!

Oh and I found this hillarious statement while browsing for poems about girls to put with my girls picture....

A good answer to give those overly smug parents of children of both sexes when they express sympathy for your lack of ability to produce a son: "If the good Lord thought another man was needed in my house, He would send one."

Laugh of the day

2012-01-29T21:46:00.002-07:00

Found this picture as I was cleaning above my fridge. HAhahahahahahaha. Hayley looks like she is about to puke, Steve said Kylie was hanging on so tight she really didn't need the seatbelt, and Steve himself looks a little terrified. I was on a different ride with Abby so we missed the excitment but we'll definately have to try it again....if these 3 are game!!

A heartwarming experience

2012-01-24T21:08:00.002-07:00

Today Hayley came home upset. You always know when she is upset because she is cranky and snotty about everything when something is wrong. So I say "Hayley you look upset. Is something the matter?" She says "I couldn't find Abby." and then she starts crying. So between Hayley and Abby this is the story I managed to piece together:

Hayley usually meets Abby at a certain location after school and they get on the bus together. Hayley was a bit late today showing up so Abby just got on the bus. It was almost time for the bus to leave and Hayley started panicking so the bus driver shut off the bus to help her look for Abby, the neighbore boy started helping her look....Hayley is very distressed that they have lost Abby. Of course Abby was on the bus the whole time.

It just made me feel so good to think of how much Hayley loves and cares for her little sister. Especially since tonight after piano her and Abby quit speaking to each other! HA! That lasted all of 5 seconds. Anyhow, we came to the conclusion that Hayley won't wait for Abby anymore and vice versa. If someone misses the bus they will have to wait at the office until I pick them up.

Just had to share my feel good about my girls story of the day.

Now it's bedtime. The house is quiet, Steve is at hockey...OH! Another quick story:

Steve called after piano tonight on his way home and said "You know...it'd be nice to have a fresh chocolate cookie after supper." So I laughed it off and finished feeding the girls and then thought "hmmm....cookies would be good." So to back up a bit, I had this gorgeous kitchen aid that I use ALL THE TIME and I broke the wisk, and somehow putting it away I bent the lever to increase the speed.....so it's kinda garbage. So I go to use it anyway cuz it's all I have, and here on my counter is a brand new one!!! HA! So THAT's why Steve wanted cookies. I'm so slow. IT made some yummy ones too. He had been to a future shop that was closing down and they had all this stuff on for amazing prices. He bought it for $200!!! That's cheap ladies right? I thought so.

Okay well goodnight.

A New Era

2012-01-24T08:06:00.003-07:00

I guess it was inevitable...they all have to grow up sometime. *sniff sniff* Chelsea is now completely out of diapers. Well....we still put one on at night even though she wakes up dry because I don't have a plastic sheet yet for any night time oopsies. So my diaper bill has dropped drastically which is a bonus. The sad part is I have no babies anymore :( So that's whats up in her little life. She is just like having another Abby all over again. She could sit downstairs and play with the doll house forever talking to herself telling all kinds of stories. Mostly she takes her babies potty.

Abby reached a new stage in her little life too. She lost a tooth! It was hanging by a thread and she refused to let her dad rip it out. Finally one day she said "Okay dad. I'm ready. You can pull it out!" So out it came. This is our intellectual kid who helps her Gr.2 sister with her spelling. She's doing very well in school and if you can drag her kicking and screaming out of bed, she really does enjoy going and has really broken out of her shell.

Hayley is doing great in school too! It took a few months but we finally adapted some things with her teacher and she has gone from getting 10% to getting 100% on her spelling tests! I think the new confidence she has now will help her do better. She is composing music in piano right now and wrote and really cool song. Will post it when she has finished adding the left hand.

Kylie is our little snuggle bum. Going through an "I need my mom all the time" stage. She had a meltdown when I left to go to Zumba the other night. Her dad was home, and I'm only gone for an hour and a half tops! I had to peel her off me and sneak out the door. I'm terrified for the day she starts kindergarten. Thank goodness we put her in preschool. I've always taken the girls on their first day but I think Steve might have to take over this time.

Steve is still working hard. Having some stressful days I think. They are extremely busy which is a good thing financially but can be hard on the guys. It'll pay off in the long run I'm sure. Steve got a new truck the other day. He's back to using a company truck which is nice for us. It's a nice truck too. Apparently though we are now totally a Dodge family! I find it humerous as we love our Dodge van, but Steve said he'd never buy a Dodge truck! Ha! Never say never. So now we are selling the truck he bought a few months ago.

As for me, I am just the same. I started a Zumba class with 3 other ladies and I love it! Time goes so fast and even though I am clumsy and uncoordinated, I just stand at the back and pretend I know what I'm doing. I have a large rear end which makes it easy to shake it! Hahahahaha. I will MAYBE post a video if I feel brave one day. I need another class to learn the moves. If you don't know what Zumba is, youtube it. It is latin based and it make you SWEAT!! You are moving the whole hour and yet it goes so fast.

Okay well now that I have totally bored you, I will leave you to get on with your day. I have printed my last 2 years blogs in books, so even though this may be boring to you, it is a picture diary for our family to see what we were up to in years past since I keep up on printing pictures of the girls for their photo albums but I'm not so good at printing pictures of Steve and I or other random things. If you are interesting in doing the same, check out blogger books on google.

Love to all,

Jen

Winter Sports

2012-01-07T20:50:00.007-07:00

Well it has sure been a Canadian weekend for us! Skating, skiing, hockey....so many precious memories with family and friends. Again, some of the pictures are poor quality thanks to my phone but some are okay cuz I got my charger (thanks mom!) and my camera is back in action.

Friday: Joined up with Raeanne Miles and her 3 kids for some skating at Hawrelak Park.

Saturday morning: Our minds travelled back 25 years or so to the first time Jessica and I stepped into our first pair of skis on this very hill. Now our kids all got to enjoy the experience together (except Nat and Chels but they maybe get to try next year.) They are did exceptionally well. I admit I had some nightmare of kids barrelling down the hill and taking out everything in their path, but they did just fine.

Abby is an interesting child. She doesn't take a lot of risk and doesn't like trying new things. In fact, she didn't even want to go this morning. We got her out there and she just took to it like a duck in water. There were many tears when we said it was time to go. She was ready for the "big hill" she thought and wanted to stay.

I was so impressed how well Hayley did at snowboarding. It looks really hard, but she did great! She loved it so much that she begged for a second lesson (she needed it as she was just really getting going when the first lesson ended) so after 2.5 hours of lessons she was doing pretty good. She was the only one in her 'group' lesson so that helped.

I just love the disgusted look on Chelsea's face in the picture below.

Steve took group lessons too. He was the only one in his lesson as well and he was going like he'd been doing it all his life by the end.

Kylie: "Watch this move guys" So uncle watches her go down the hill, (don't bother with stopping, it's all about speed) crashes into the snowbank, legs go up in the air, skis come off...oh Kylie. You're all about adventure aren't you?

Steve on left, Hayley on right.

Then Saturday evening, because Steve's hockey game was an early one, we had the privilage of watching the Emcee Hammers take down the Moose Knuckles 8-3. Here's some pics. Steve is #4. Yellow laces. The poor guy using my camera only got 400 pictures taken before taking a puck in the forehead!! OUCH!

Now we are all absolutely BEAT! Ready for a hot shower and bed.

Love you all,
S, J and crew.

Christmas holidays in pictures

2011-12-30T19:17:00.016-07:00

So I thought the easiest way to describe our holiday experiences would be to simply comment on the pictures. Unfortunately we left our battery charger in Florida and we're too cheap to pay $80 for a new one so these are all phone pictures/videos. I wish this one wasn't so blurry because it is absolutely hillarious. Kylie fell asleep and her head always flops over like this. Chelsea grabbed on to her ponytail and was pulling. She thought it was so funny. I'm not sure Kylie did. Who knows....she slept!!

No better way to spend a holiday then to sleep in a sunbeam.

December 20th: Our little Kylie had a bit of cosmetic surgery to fix her droopy eyelid. We had to leave the house by 7:00 and didn't leave the hospital until 2:30 so it was a long day. She was such a brave girl but she said it really hurt and she will never have it done again! Poor thing. Hope the doctor is happy with the results so she doesn't have to go through it again. We had to mark her eye so the doctor got the right one:)

She slept for a really long time after coming out of recovery. It was interesting the way they did the surgery. They flipped the eyelid inside out and made the incision on the inside so all you see now is 2 little dots where the knots were tied on the outside of the lid.

The nurses gave her a Christmas bear to take home with her.

December 21: Post-op day 1, looking great.

December 22: Post-Op day 2, you can tell she is back to her ornery old self.

We have been having the most gorgeous weather so the kids have been living outside!

December 23: We celebrated my birthday a day early so that we could do Christmas on Saturday instead of Sunday. The kids got me some wonderful presents for my birthday. Excuse Chelsea. She has decided that she doesn't like diapers so we've been letting her run in her underware for quick potty trips.

I love that kids pick out what they want so they can steal it after. Haha.

December 24: Christmas came early to our house.

Kylie and Abby showing off their new pajamas. They might fit for the next 3 years as I got them kind of big. Oh well. I find Carters stuff always shrinks so maybe they will shrink in the wash.

Chelsea and Lucky - The singing, talking, ride on horse.

There's always the toys that require hours of assembly before use. Maybe we should have thought of this before we wrapped it!

And the big gift that has been in hiding for the last 3 months!

That evening we went to Japanese Village for supper with Glen and Jess, The Triska family, and cousin Devin and Shauna Daku and family. Then went to Glen and Jess's for coffee and cake. See her blog for Christmas dinner pictures and cake photos as I didn't have a camera.

This is one of those restaurants that make your meal in front of you. It was okay but very expensive so likely not a place we would go back to. We probably could have all had steak dinners for the same price.

Daku family

December 26: So in my birthday card, my wonderful amazing hubby wrote "Kananaskis booked December 27th to 30th!" YAY!!!! So on the 26th, he was so anxious to go that he said 'lets go halfway and shop a bit on Tuesday before heading out.' It was funny because we didn't tell the kids we were going to Kananaskis, just that we had a surprise for them. So we get to this hotel and they think this is the surprise. We went swimming and then shopped the next day so Steve could find some work boots and the kids could spend their Christmas money from grandpa and grandma. By the time we were done it was getting dark so we told the kids it was time to go home but we were going to take a different way. They never clued in until we got there. It was awesome.

Hotel #1. I forgot their pajamas in the other suitcase hiding in the trunk.

Kylie had just woken up when we got there but the other girls were pretty excited.

My hubby is really good at getting free stuff so when we got there, we got a room upgrade to a loft at the same price, and breakfast vouchers for free buffet all 3 mornings. That is a huge deal you see, because their breakfast buffet is $21 a person! The kids are all free except Hayley, but it can be pricey to eat there. We usually bring our own breakfast and lunch. The breakfast was amazing!! Anything you can think of they had. WE took advantage of their wonderful omlette station every day. YUM!!

The girls showing off their new hoodies and slippers from Grandpa and grandma. Can you believe they had gap sweaters on for $10.00????? They are usually $39.50. I felt like stocking up for the next 5 years!

The weather was GORGEOUS the whole time we were there. Hence the sweaters and no coat.

We have been there in every season now except for summer. Was fun to see the pond used as a skating rink now.

Craft time. We made chinese lanterns.

Even Steve got into it :)

We had such a big day that Chelsea just couldn't keep her eyes open to eat supper. Glad supper is free for kids under 6!!

Yup! That's tired when you can sleep with your nose squished against the table like that, sitting up!

The view out our window.

My girls and I. The best girls I could ever wish for. Okay so even though I absolutely LOVE this place, if I could make one small complaint, THE POOL IS FREEZING!!!! You can't do solar heated pools in the mountains folks. Abby and the Christmas tree in Mount Kidd, where we stay.

Another activity we have never done here. Sledding. The hill is narrow so you have to wait your turn since only 1 kid can go down at a time, but it wasn't too busy so that was fine.

Chelsea didn't feel the need to have a nap during down time at lunch so we had to pull her back to the room like this.

Afterwards we enjoyed a nice hot cocoa with whipped cream and chocolate bits on it, and we roasted marshmallows and dipped them in chocolate and coconut. YUM!!

After a really big day we got back to the room and Steve says "Do I have any appointments tonight?" I think this is a wierd question and assume he means "are we going and doing something tonight". So I say no and take my boots off. He hands me his phone open to his calendar and there is a pedicure booked for me!! I like to snoop on his phone but I don't usually read his calendar. I've never had one before due to my toe fungus issue (which by the way is totally clear thanks to the miracle drug sporanox). IT was WONDERFUL!!! The ladies didn't understand why I wouldn't want colored polish but anyhow...can you believe these toes were once a thick yellow nasty mess?

Gotta catch those snowflakes on your tongue.

Saying goodbye to the mountains.

This is Nakiska. The ski hill that is really close by. The lodge has this amazing deal for 256$ a night you get your room and lift tickets and ski rentals and shuttle to the hill! So next year, being that all our kids are finally old enough to ski, we are going to come back for that package. I have lots of good memories of skiing and kananaskis as a kid. At supper one night a lady came up to us and told us she had 4 girls too and how much fun it was even now that they were 33, 31, 28 and 26. So I look forward to those days too!

So that has been our WONDERFUL holiday season in a nutshell. Again, visit Jessica's blog for Christmas day update. She did a wonderful meal and the kids all seemed to get along great. It was fun. Unfortunately they all took turns with the flu. Jess on Saturday, Wyatt on Sunday, and I guess Glen a few days later? YUCK! Poor wyatt was literally GREEN! I have never seen a kid look so sick. Poor guy.

This last video is of Hayley snoring. And the doctor doesn't want to take out her tonsils??? YIKES! I had to video it so I can beg him. Even if it doesn't help her sleep, at least the rest of us can maybe get some sleep??? This was one of her worst nights, and because of it, she doesn't sleep well so she gets up and wanders around and we have to keep taking her back to bed. In the morning she doesn't remember any of it.

Okay so this has taken way too long. I am off to bed with a cup of smooth move tea. Cuz we all know how hard it is to have a good poop on holidays. Hahahaha. TMI??

Love you!

Jen

Christmas concerts....

2011-12-15T20:15:00.003-07:00

So Christmas concerts are always exciting aren't they? Well except for the kid who started puking all over the stage. The dad runs up to grab him and as he's bolting for the door the kid barfs all down his dad's crisp white dress shirt and the audience all goes "oohhhhh" Hahahaha. IT'll be funny for the poor little guy when he has kids of his own. He can say "Hey in your dad's first concert he was the star of the show!"

So today I finally lost my Christmas spirit. All I have done is bake for different functions. I have been to 2 different concerts, tomorrow is another one, and Monday is another one and I am SO SICK OF PARTIES!!!! I just can't wait until holidays. I think my big girl is tired too. She fell asleep in the chair today after school and she never does that. Then she started crying at bed time that nobody will play with her at recess. I think a good sleep is needed.

Tuesday is Kylie's eyelid surgery. We were watching a youtube video on the procedure (blepharoplasty) and it was a little too graphic. Kylie says "Well that's not what they are doing to me. They're doing a different one." HA! Well Kylie.... I didn't get to watch the whole thing because I thought it was too graphic for her but it was pretty interesting.

Another stressful job is trying to organize my hubby's company's shareholders meeting in Banff. The guy who was supposed to do it is super busy at the Men's prison and he isn't allowed to bring his phone in so it's kinda hard to organize something during the day so I got the job. I think it's good to go I just hope the hotel is nice because I've never been there!!!

Okay I know it's only 8:30 but I have to go have a bath and get to bed. I'm beat.

Hayley - she's right under the tree

Abby - second row, second from the left. This boy kept pushing her and standing in front of her so it was kinda hard to get a good picture. I was way in the back too so my pics are all blurry. Oh well. Hayley had a reading part. It was great! She was so nice and clear!

Hayley's class song

Abby's song. You can see the dad at the end run up to get the vomiting child. The other kindergarteners did sooooooo good. The piano player kept going and the kids kept on singing while other parents cleaned up.

My little girl is learning some hymns we like to play together.

Christmas concert

2011-12-08T08:59:00.005-07:00

Ahhhhh tis the season of the kids Christmas concert! Kylie's was on a Sunday of all things but it went quick and was adorable as always. Abby and Hayley's school concert is next Thursday and Hayley's piano recital on Friday! Then I think we are finally done with it! Looking forward to the Christmas break soooooo much.

The annual shareholders meeting is going to be in Banff this year (January) so looking forward to that too. We will have a day where the kids and I will have to hang out by ourselves while the guys are in a meeting, but that just means unlimited time at the infamous candy store!!! Or maybe we will hang out at the hotsprings?? So many posibilities. Glen and Jess - I see Douglas Fir has 2 new waterslides so I put in my vote for that hotel but they have no meeting/catering facility! BUMMER! Oh well...not sure yet which hotel we will be at.

Busy days still....

2011-11-28T13:02:00.003-07:00

Just some pictures of the skating party we went to a few weeks ago. Chelsea's first time on skates. She did great. Can't stand on her own yet, but enjoyed it anyhow.

First of all, Rebecca Watkins, I can't seem to post on your blog :( and I don't have an email address. Can you please send me one when you have a moment? Thanks!!! Enjoy hunting season! My hubby is off to Saskatchewan for 3 days in search of his trophy! I honestly hope he has a great time but the timing is kinda terrible! Hayley has an appointment with an ENT on Wednesday at 7:45 in the morning. Takes me about an hour to get in and parked and into the children's hospital so how on earth am I going to get 4 kids out the door at 6:45 and have 2 ready for school and 1 ready for swimming lessons??!! YIKES!!! Will have to dig out the supermom cape I guess. I am assuming her sleep study was normal and now we talk about whether or not to remove tonsils and adenoids to stop her snoring. Hmmm... not real game to put her through that but we'll see.

So we had an absolutely WONDERFUL weekend. We had the privilage of having Steve's cousin Rob Petersen, who has been laboring in Ecuador, with us for 3 nights!!! and then Specials on Sunday. We are so spoiled. It's like having a little piece of heaven in your home when the workers come to stay. He's great with the kids. They loved him.

Well I have to go get Hayley in an hour to take her to the dentist so I better get off here. Have a wonderful day.

Love Jen.

Final warm thoughts

2011-11-17T18:22:00.006-07:00

So I accidently wrote first and when you do that, loading pictures after, the pictures end up on top!! So happy picture looking and then the rest of the 'stuff' is at the end. Enjoy.

lego cities. pictures that should have been on the last blog

and a girl too tired out to go any more. wow. Abby looks A LOT like Kylie in the photo below!

This is Steve on holidays.

2 blogs in one day!! What's this you ask? It's called house clean-supper done-supper cleaned up- outside is blizzarding - fire is going - kids are playing. So here I sit and await my prince. He did my Christmas shopping today since he was already in the city and the sale ends today. He took my list to Toys-R-us and asked a lady where the stuff was - she just walked around and filled the cart for him. Talk about lazy shopping. Or perhaps smart shopping??

So the last day in Florida since we had to do our packing etc... we had a pretty quiet day. Steve and I went looking for an extra suitcase and enjoyed a coffee together, and then headed over for a quick swim at Chris and Michelle's awesome pool. Funny story - Steve and I were browsing and bought something for Chelsea and long story short this lady says "You have 4 kids and you still LIKE each other??!" She was serious and just absolutely amazed. She was further blown away by the fact we'd been married almost 10 years. Seriously? People don't like each other once kids come along? and isn't 30, 40, 50 years of marriage a greater feat?? Sad world we live in. Anyhow, once again I'm off on a tangent. Here are more photos for you. Please pray the snow ends soon or I will get stuck in the driveway attempting to get groceries tomorrow!!

Next part in Florida trip

2011-11-17T14:29:00.007-07:00

So since today is a day to reminisce about what warm weather actually feels like, I will attempt to blog about our second last day in Florida. Let me tell you about today. The weather fairies have something against me having time out on the town by myself. This is the second time in 2 weeks that I have had to cancle my evening plans because of the stinkin weather. Stupid snow storm. I officially declare that I WILL be a snowbird when I am legally able to be one. I did attempt to take Kylie to swimming lessons and we made it there and back with no disasters, but when the truck drivers are even saying they won't drive the highways....I guess I won't attempt it with my minivan! It's actually not too icy, it's just super windy so there are drifts across the road that are hard to plow through, and some places it's hard to tell where the road ends and the ditch begins!! I didn't see 1 single snowplow when I was out. Talk about disappointing! This is NOVEMBER people, and we live in CANADA!!! Oh and I had a little transmission fluid explosion the other day too so now we have to put MORE money into the van. The $3000 we put into it last month wasn't enough I guess. Grrr.....So....I digress...

LEGOLAND! The perfect place for your 2-77 year old. Actually there wasn't too many rides for the 2 year old so she got to hang out with her grandmas more often then not.

An early start so we can get to the park before it opens.

Chelsea was terrified of Mr. legoman. That's why she's missing!!Grandma had a thing for the plumber. Hahaha.
Abby trying to figure out where we are and where we go to next!Steve took about 6 million pictures of this ride for some reason! HA! I narrowed it down to 2.Yes all these things are made out of lego! AMAZING!Abby and me trying not to get too wet!! The other girls wanted to go on the roller coaster but Abby didn't so we went on this instead.

Driving school Thanks for the drinks grandma! They were badly needed! A good bandaid too for a sore elbow!

Lego men ski show You pull yourself up by the rope to get to the top. Not as hard as it sound apparently.

So that was legoland! Another great experience that the kids still talk lots about, and a place that will definately be on the list to go back to. They were only open 10-5 but they stayed open an hour later because it was so busy. You really do need 2 days to do everything.

Next on the list - a short visit to Chris and Michelle's pool.

Coming soon - skating party and Chelsea on skates for the first time.

Stay tuned.

Love you all,

Jen

PART 5?? I've lost track

2011-11-01T20:31:00.007-06:00

I've actually lost track of my brain. AGAIN!! I think it is still on holidays. All day I thought it was Monday. Turns out it's actually Tuesday! Then I forgot Hayley's music again for piano so Steve had to run it to me on his way home from work (I don't claim responsibility to this as Hayley should look after her OWN music). I hate days like this. It seems they come more often now. It's hard getting old.

We also had to throw out most of the halloween candy and freeze the rest. Hayley reacts so badly to lots of sugar. So she is sick, has the runs, and her itchy torso rash is back. Happens every time there is a party or some occasion for an overload of sugar. She gets super dizzy too. She has been tested for diabetes but it was negative. Must just be sensitive. I'm trying us all on a low g.i. diet to see if it helps. So far it's pretty easy as the kids love salad, fruits, and veggies, and water. It's probably hardest for me, the sweet tooth!

So here is our piratess, Dr. Campbell, hippy chick, and our little pumpkin. We did the acerage culdesac with the Howden kids and then headed home so it wasn't too late a night which was good. Kids had school today and it was hard getting them up but they went to bed easy! Chelsea is still doing great in her big girl bed. I didn't get up at all last night. I must say I am loving my big girl bed too. I can't believe that a person can actually wake up and feel awake in the morning!!

Here are our 4 'things' with the mother of all things in the middle. Heehee. I thought it was cute. Had to trim out my legs. My skirt had ridden up and it's way too short!! YIPES!
Saturday found us at the children's museum. A very cool place for little humans. They had a great time. Even Hayley was wanting to go back when we were finished.

Isn't the above a cool climbing structure?

Kylie LOVES big mascot type things. She hugs and hugs and hugs......

Playing goalie.

Discovered after this day that Abby, like her aunty Jessica, is allergic to face paint. OOPS!

So more great fun was had by all. I will have to save legoland for another day as I am ready for bed. Tomorrow is: Hayley to school, drop Kylie off at school, head to swimming lessons with Abby, pick Kylie up, do some banking for the preschool, eat lunch and try to get some laundry done! Hopefully my brain comes back from holidays.

part 4 - adult time

2011-11-01T12:19:00.006-06:00

Okay so we survived halloween. Now to get rid of all this candy ASAP! I sent a bunch with Steve to leave at the office so it's out of my sight. The kids stuff we'll just have to tell them to go to town so it disappears real quick!

So thanks to mom and grandma and dad, Steve and I were able to take off for a few nights to Orlando for a date! In looking for a hotel I came across this deal through hotwire.com called the 'mystery hotel'. They guarantee a 4 star or greater hotel but they don't tell you which one until you pay. For $96 a night I was a little nervous. You can't even get a super 8 for that price. But I stepped out on a limb and booked it. We ended up at the Omni Orlando in Champions Gate. Talk about feeling out of place. When you are greeted by valet and men in tuxedos at the front door it's a little nervewracking for 2 country bumpkins. It was beautiful. Here are some pictures.

view out of our window.

LobbySteve :)

Looking out the back of the hotel towards the formal pool (in the distance)

Formal pool. Hmm..missed getting pictures of the lazy river and other pool. Then we went to downtown disney to the cirque du soleil. Another first cultural experience for us. After we wandered the streets of disney and then headed back to the hotel as we had to be up early to go to universal studios the next day. This dragon is made out of lego!

Ride #1 at universal, after which I was so motion sickness I had to buy pills to keep my breakfast down! Had to keep my eyes closed through the next ride, the coolest 3D spiderman one, so I didn't throw up. Grrrr. I never got sick on rides until I got old!

For those of you into the Harry Potter stuff, here is the castle. This was the busiest part of the whole park. Fortunately Steve and I could care less about HP and haven't read any of the books or anything so we avoided it.

And who can't help but think about their kids a little bit when they are apart. The kids would've had a blast here.

Back to downtown disney for supper at the world's biggest Planet Hollywood. 3 levels of restaurant and the best pulled pork sandwhich I have ever had.

The next morning was back to see the little humans and their grandparents. Don't go too far, it'll soon be time for halloween pictures and part 5......museum and LEGOLAND! Right now however, I must venture out in the chilly wind and clean out the van. It looks nasty, and since we will be living in it for the month of November trecking back and forth to swimming lessons, it would be nice if it were clean. And best do it before it snows or something crazy. Then we have supper and piano lessons and homework and all that fun stuff so we will have to hang out tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by.

Love Jen

Part 3 - the waterpark

2011-10-31T13:43:00.002-06:00

After a few busy days I am back with part 3. I apologize to my loyal followers for the delay. On Saturday Steve and I went bed and pillow shopping. We had finally had it with out bed. Our new one is AMAZING! So far. We got a free 50'' TV with it too! Hahaha. Sold it for $500 to a guy Steve works with. That will go to pay off the mattress. We also got a bed for Chelsea. No more crib in our house!! I'm not sure how I feel about this new chapter in life :( Anyhow, I only had to put her back in bed once last night so I think it'll go okay. She was quite put out at first that we were taking her crib apart. She's not one for change when it comes to the sleep department but I was sick of her yelling for me to come get her at 6 every morning. Now if I have the opportunity to sleep in I can!

Funny thing. Steve talked me in to these super expensive pillows. I was a bit skeptical of them. As if a pillow cn be worth THAT MUCH! But after 1 night of sleeping on it I was sold. For the first time in YEARS I woke up with no jaw pain or subsequent headache! Steve on the other hand said it's going to take some getting used to. He didn't like it! Hahahaha.

So back to our trip, we decided we should do something with the kids before we left them for a few days. We looked into the disneyland, busch gardens, seaworld type things and then found this hotel for a great price with this fun waterpark. The thought was that we could pay $500 or more for a day of disneyland where they are probably too small for all the rides anyhow, or we could do the hotel/waterpark for half that and have just as much fun. It turned out to be perfect. We were the only ones using the waterpark during the day, and the kids had a great time. Our hotel room had a bunk bed, pull out couch, 2 queen beds, and a full kitchen. Couldn't believe how cheap it was. We would definately stay there again. Here are our pictures.

Stay tuned for part 4 - Adult escape.

Tonight is halloween. I would like to be excited but I could very well do without it. I don't need all that sugar in the house!! I am happy to sit at home with the lights out and read a book. I suppose we will do a few houses though.

Part 2 - the beach

2011-10-28T10:30:00.003-06:00

As a side note: my daughter's teachers think she is wonderful and doing just fine and get this....FOCUSED in class. HAHAHAHAhahaha. I had an LOL moment when she said that. Maybe that's why her head is in the clouds most of the time at home. Heehee.

So on Saturday, my daddy took us to the beach. It was another wonderful day. We had our first taste of alligator there!! The meat tasted slightly fishy and a bit tough. Not something I would order every day but hey! You have to try everything once right? Then dad made us the BEST fish and chips ever. Unfortunately I don't have a picture but it was super yummy.

Here are some photos.

The trip continues tonight with part 3 - waterpark

Florida trip part 1- Dinosaur world

2011-10-27T15:03:00.006-06:00

Oh dear. Hard to get back to life in this BITTER COLD climate. I know I shouldn't whine since it really is beautiful for this time of year, but when you've been in a GORGEOUS climate for 2 weeks it's kinda hard to get back into the swing of things. Thank goodness the kids all went to bed early last night. They were all up without having to be awakened this morning and shipped off to school. With the exception of Hayley but I always have to wake her up :)

So would you like a little glimps into our wonderful holiday? Mom, dad and grandma all took great care of us in spite of mom's lack of an arm. Mom is having a hard time with her 'poof' getting just right. Seems none of us can get it perfect. We're not sure how she is going to survive going back to work and not having grandma there to do her hair!! Good luck mom!!

So things got off to a rocky start when Steve decided to play midnight hockey and broke a knuckle. He got home at 4:15 am, just in time to get all the kids up and off to the airport. He's lucky he made it home or we would've left without him!! I know....not real sympathetic am I?!

Anyhow, after a delicious lunch at Bob Evans (they have AMAZING pumkin bread) we headed to dinosaur world. It was a lovely hot day.

The kids got to sift in the sand and find fossils. They could keep any 3. My girls apparently like shark teeth!

then they got to get right in and dig!!

Okay so that is all for post #1. We had a super fun day and I think successfully wore everyone out. Now you will have to wait a few hours (like you will probably be in bed as it will be late) for the posting of part 2 - the beach, as I have to get supper ready and get to Hayley's parent/teacher interview. Yes we are back into it full swing.

Love Jen and family

HAAPY BIRTHDAY

2011-09-24T14:33:00.004-06:00

When we woke up Friday morning the sky was this beautiful pink color. Looked kind of surreal so I took a picture.

Preparing for my l'il cupcake's 2nd birthday.

Got the table all set...

and then the company showed up :)

Not sure what the deal is with serious face there.

The kids table...

Chelsea is ready for cake!!

Hmmm...I think she likes being the center of attention.

Daddy showed her how to blow out the candle and then she did it all by herself.

Present time. Big sister Kylie can hardly refrain from opening the gifts for her.

Finally Kylie got to help her get the card out.

pull-string piniata time.

WOW! IT'S A CANDY EXPLOSION!!!

And that was that. They all had so much fun they were sound asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow. So then Steve and I got some quiet time around the fire. It was a lovely evening and thanks to all who came and made her day special.

Check out the video at the end. She even learned how to say happy birthday!! She is really starting to say lots. I LOVE the learn-to-talk age. Listen close. It's hard to hear with Abby annoying her.

So today I went to the dentist and when I got home my house was clean!! Steve said "I knew you wanted to come home and just read your book and you wouldn't if the house was a mess so I cleaned up." Awww. Yes ladies I have the greatest husband ever!! Now he is having a nap because he has to go to RedDeer (1.5 hours away) to pick up the girls Christmas present. Yes I know it's early but when you find deals on Kijiji you have to snag them. Although how to hide it..hmmm.

We also went to costco this morning because they had a super cheap tub!!! So now I have a tub in the garage, a vanity in my bedroom, perhaps next year we will get some tile, the year after that fixtures, and maybe in 3 years time I will have a renovated bathroom!!

Okay well enjoy.

My little Athlete

2011-09-22T19:38:00.004-06:00

I am ashamed to admit that I have judged before I have witnessed. When you watch my daughter run, you would think she is trying to ice skate. Her feet go way out and I about die laughing. I know....terrible mother. So when she joined the cross-country team last year we didn't sign up for any races. This year I thought...whatever. We'll do 3 of the 5 and if she comes in last every time....so be it. So today was her first race. Rough terrain too!! But she did AMAZING!!!! She was all red and sweaty and about hyperventilating, but she came in right with the majority of her age group and she loved it! Good for you Hayley!!!! It was 800m. Next year I think she has to run the full km.

Here is her before the race. We had to walk a few km's in to her start point so she was tired already. Oh great....off to a good start.

But she was so proud of herself in the end. And so she should be!! WOOO HOOOO.
So my camera focused on a big fat man that I cut out of the picture but there she comes in her red vest.

About ready to drop. Anyhow, this is all of parkland county. I would say there is about 50 in her age group and she was about 24th so not too shabby at all. So many of them came in all at once that they had to line up so they could record who was in what place. This mom thinks there was probably some ties :)

Okay well next post......CHELSEA'S BIRTHDAY PARTY!! My husband is upstairs filling up baloons and sucking on helium so I better go stop him ;)

Love Jen

Kylie goes to School

2011-09-15T22:12:00.004-06:00

Abby drew this for us on her first day of school. I love it so it went in the 'school treasures' box.

Here is my big Kylie bear. Doesn't she look grown up?? Wow. She is so pretty. I guess that's 'cuz we named her Kylie. Her name is Australian for 'pretty'. She has recently gone threw ANOTHER big growth spurt and is now a half inch or more taller than Abby. Hmm....oh well. She will love her height since she is a solid built girl. She was amazing going to school. I think she is probably very reserved but yet very chatty when it's structured time. I see Hayley-style report cards in her future. "Kylie needs to learn when it's appropriate to socialize!" They have a new teacher and I think she's really good. I agreed to be the treasurer this year. What a stupid idea on my part. It's a lot more involved than I thought. Bill paying, record keeping, check cashing....sounds easy if you like that kind of thing. I don't!! I have enough budgeting and bill paying to do on a personal level. Oh well....one year. I can do it for these next 8 months.

Here is our front yard. Well what used to be somewhat of a front yard. This year we finally got eavestrough so we decided to put a front porch there under the living room window (the dark area. About 10 feet by 7 feet) and then put in a new front step and sidewalk....oops. There goes the hubby's bonus. It will be all concrete with an aluminum white fencing around the patio. No paniting for me. I also got a couple chairs to put out there. Can't wait to sit out there with my tea. Might have to wait until spring though. It's a little chilly. Come join us!!

Hayley babysat

Chelsea watched the guys work

Check out my new chair. Have 2 of them so please do come sit and visit with me this next summer.

And here is my oldest child at the hospital for her sleep study. Steve sent me an email with the subject "RUN! She's gonna blow!" Heehee. I thought it was funny. She looks exhausted. Hope she snores for them like she does for us. The walls will rattle!! Hope Steve gets some sleep too. I opted to stay home so I could get Abby off to school in the morning. First time taking the bus by herself. I'm sure she'll do fine. Although recess could be interesting. She still relies on Hayley to play with. Be good for her.

Well I am going to bed. I can't seem to get enough sleep these days. I've just been so tired. I think I need to start up the iron again. Hope you are all having a fantastic fall.

Love Jen and her fantasticly awesome husband and wonderfully sweet babies.

ps. Stayed tuned for a CUPCAKE-A-LICIOUS 2nd BIRTHDAY update. You are all invited. It will be held at our residence on the 23rd of September. My little baby's real birthday is the 17th!!

Skool dayz

2011-09-01T14:44:00.003-06:00

So yesterday I had to sent my firstborn off to grade 2, and today I released my second child into school's evil clutches. *sniff sniff* I did very very well until the end of our 'put your supplies away scavenger hunt.' It said:

#8. Mary had a little lamb who followed her to school. Put your scissors in the house sink...now YOU are ready for school.

Your work here, mom/dad, is done and now it's time for your child to have some fun. Time to say goodbye.

Now THAT was a wake up call. I don't want my work to be done. I want Abby to come home and entertain Kylie who apparently doesn't like to play on her own (we had a looonnngggg day). But Abby was still smiling so I left her doing puzzels.

We started our day with some ABC pancakes

Got lunches packed, hair done, and backpacks ready to go.

Hayley is going to be great at looking after Abby. She has a big sister independence that Abby doesn't quite have yet but I'm sure she will when it's time for Kylie to go to school (is that next year already??!!!!)

The mist hanging in the air this morning. It was FREEZING this morning. Literally. It was -1 and Abby insisted on leaving a half hour before the bus was to come.

Hayley before Grade 2

Abby on her first day of school

The helpful big sister showing her the ropes.

Running to the bus stop.

And there she goes :(

Taken on my iphone so not real clear. This is Abby in her new classroom.

So now that Kylie has been asking when Abby is coming home for the last 5 hours, I guess we will get Chelsea up from her nap and think about heading to the neighbor's house and waiting for the bus. I wish now even more that Abby and Kylie went to school on the same day. I am going to go absolutely nuts this year just to warn you. November might not be so bad running to swimming every day. At least we will get Kylie out of the house. Might have to try some library programs or something in the new year too.

Happy skool dayz everyone.

Love Jen

2011-08-18T22:09:00.008-06:00

First of all, a HUGE HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful honeybun, Stevo. You may be middle aged now hunny, but you still have a 20-something wife on your arm :) Hee hee. For another 4 months anyhow. May this be the best decade yet!

So you will have to bear with me here. We just got back from Fairmont BC, and I have about a million and 5 emails and I am exhausted so hope this tides you over while I sort through those and answer them.

We left last Thursday after letting Steve open his presents (a ripstik, lots of candy and chocolate, a yo-yo, and an itunes gift card) and spent the night in airdrie. We had family pictures on Friday morning, walked around the outlet mall (cuz we had to visit the BAss Pro Shop of course...needed lifejackets so it worked out ok), and then got a few groceries and headed for the mountains. We really loved our time with Fraser and Janel Holt and their 7 year old girl and 5 year old girl/boy twins. The kids played so great together.

My 30-year-old spouse. Mid life crisis.

My girls :)

I love the view in the mountains. One of my favorite places on earth. I have severe Kananaskis withdrawl at the moment :(

We spent the day on Saturday at Invermere lake. Water is kinda cold in the mountains but it was a great day still. Janel and I even managed to sneak away for an hour or so of shopping while the guys watched the 7 kids! I got stung on the lip by a wasp as I tried to eat my sandwhich and ended up with an INCREDIBLY painful fat lip but after 5 days I think I FINALLY have normal shape and most of the feeling back in it.

The 7 kids. Braden you are going to be one lucky guy in a few years :) On Sunday we had a wonderful meeting and after a quick lunch, headed to the hot springs.

Men on a misson!

So these are the natural hot pools. They are actually luke warm but it still felt nice on a somewhat windy day. It is a bit scary since this is in the middle of the mountain and there are drop offs at the edge of some of the pools. Plus wet rock grows moss which is incredibly slippery. Anyhow it was nice and relaxing and it wore the kids out. BONUS!

All I have to say is thank goodness I don't have TV! Kept the kids quiet and entertained as you can see but kept me up late!!

On Monday it rained so we went to the rec center and swam at the indoor pool. I think the kids got in some form of pool every day we were there. They will be feeling water logged. They all loved the water.

On Tuesday, after more swimming and playground etc... we had the privilage of going to John and Jackie Faulken's campsite to have supper with them and their daughter Jen and their 2 grandkids Emma and Mason. It was so much fun to catch up on news of the old Calgary folk etc...they were backing onto a river so the kids had fun throwing rocks etc... too.

John, Jackie, and Jennifer.

Such good friends. Janel and I found these skirts when we were out shopping.

Sunset over the winding river.

Awwww....Isn't that sweet? Ha! My man is still gorgeous at 30.

Thanks Holts for the invite. We had a really great time. Hope you aren't too exhausted from sharing your space with us :)

We spent a lot of time at this park too. Unfortunately I never took my camera to the water park/ spray park/ pool, but oh well.

Thursday morning on the way home. I love how the clouds hung half way down the mountain.

Interesting color in the rock. Made my husband pull over for this picture because this coloring isn't that typical in our mountains.

So anyhow...now we are home and school will soon begin. It is going to be a real struggle getting back into a routine. We have supper plans tomorrow, supper AND lunch plans on Sunday....so it's busy busy as usual. Steve goes to work tomorrow even though it's only one day before the weekend. They are extremely busy, lose all their summer help soon, and lose 4 guys to schooling so they are desperate for good help. If you know anyone who wants to work construction, PLEASE call Steve!!!!

Well I HAVE to get this old body to bed before I drop off the chair. I don't even have energy for tea if you can believe it!!!

Love you all,

Jen and family.

Busy days of summer

2011-08-09T17:04:00.007-06:00

Not much time to sit at the computer as I try to get the house ready for meeting tomorrow so we can do school and grocery shoping during the day tomorrow, and then we are off to Fairmont BC for a few days. I guess I have to toilet train Chelsea. BLAH!! HAte this stage, but she has pulled off her diaper and peed in her potty 3 times in the last 2 days. Will update again when we are back, but in the meantime....

This summer we have:
visited the splash park....

Bought Chelsea her first bike...

Went to the cornmaze and rode cool peddle cars...

Jumped on the fancy jumping pillow...

At the cornmaze, you have to solve little puzzels to tell you what way to turn next. Abby had to sing 'I'm a little teapot' and turn the direction the tea pours out.

Then we went to a new beach with some friends. 3 moms.....11 kids!!!!

Hayley is turning into a bit of a teenager. Into the whole suntanning thing...

The water was shallow for a loooonnnnggg ways out so one didn't have to worry much,

The water at most lakes around here looks a bit murkey. I guess a lot of it is the weather is producing algae etc.. kids didn't mind.

Can't get Chelsea in the water OR the sand. Until 5 minutes before we left...

YAE CHELSEA!!! What a miracle. Next step....getting her wet.

Me and my shiny head. I paid for the lack of sunscreen with a major burn!!!

My tween!!!! YIKES!

convention etc

2011-07-04T22:11:00.006-06:00

I'm so tired that I'm not sure how much I can write but wanted to say that convention was once again sooooo wonderful. Yes it rained and was muddy and the clothes got filthy...Abby got a diarrhea bug and pooped her pants twice....but it was still so great. I told someone it was my worst convention yet with kids being wiggly and fussy etc. but then I got home and realized I DID hear something and it was probably my best one yet. Not a great family picture but had to hurry and get the tent down before it rined again.

This is a photo of my beautiful girls. I love them so much I think we should have six :) Then I remember how busy life is with 4 and the thought disappears. The school didn't grant me my request and so now Abby and Kylie are going to school on opposite days. IT's so frustrating but I can't think about it too much or I get really upset. It is going to be hard on Abby being up late Wednesday night and being up early Thursday but I guess she has to get used to it sometime. I just keep telling myself that it will be good because some days it'll just be Abby and Chelsea and some days it'll just be Kylie and Chelsea. It's not often that either has the opportunity to be the "Big sister" so it'll be good for both of them. I just have to psych myself up to be extremely busy next year.

Another picture of the munchkins. Would you believe that Chelsea is even busier than Kylie? I know....I didn't think it was possible either. Kylie told me today "You can spank me but I'm not going to cry" (she cried). Chelsea you discipline and she smiles at you.

Hayley doing Ashley's hair.

Some of the girls being goofy. There was about 800-900 people there. I would say almost half were under 25 and of that half I bet half were 4-8 years old. LOTS of little girls. It was the first convention that I hardly saw my girls. Just Chelsea.

Brushing teeth in the morning.

So here is Chelsea having a nice drink of water....all ready for meeting. Then she goes into the tent while I stand outside brushing my teeth or something....

Then she comes out like this!!!!!!! She got into the bag of little M&Ms I bought for Steve and shoved HALF the BAG into her mouth!!!! Look at those cheeks!! Thank goodness her Wednesday night shirt matched the skirt. We did a quick switch.

The girls started the night sleeping all neatly like this....

They ended like this!

Here is a little baby Robin that couldn't fly yet. An interesting spiritual thought....The baby Robin either fell or wandered from the nest. We stood all around and looked at him. His mother was in the tree beside us not doing anything to save her baby but always keeping a watchful eye on him. I thought isn't that like us...we go into a world filled with danger because it is necessary for us to live 'in' the world, but God knows we aren't capable of much and when we fall or wander too far he'll still be there keeping a watchful eye. When we left the mommy Robin must have come for him as he was gone when we got back from meeting.

Okay well I am going to my tea as per nightly ritual. Some other pleasant news....I didn't lose any more weight at convention but I did maintain in spite of the occasional slice of pie. So....can I lose 2.4 this week before our little trip?? Hmmmm.....stay tuned.

Will leave you with a little picture of my big girl on her last day of Grade 1!!!

So much to blog....so little time

2011-06-26T19:45:00.015-06:00

I must start with a picture of my 4 precious little girls.

....and then we throw in a handsome husband.

Now I will begin the rest of the blog by saying that I am so proud of Steve. This is the bank Emcee just built. Isn't it beautiful? Steve did such a great job running his first new construction project. Here are some pictures of the inside. Maybe later I will get pictures of the outside.

(I have tried to edit this so there isn't a big space between the text and pictures but stupid blogger won't let me so jsut scroll down)

Hallway to some offices

What you see when you walk in. Steve said there was so much light that it was hard to get a real good clear photo.

Their kitchen

The greeter desk etc. Those big fuzzy light fixtures are what came in the box that the girls are now using as a house

I had a day where it was just Chelsea and I bonding. So I put her to work unloading the dishwasher.

Our awesome new waterslide. We make mom set it up even if it is cold out. Which....pretty much seems like our entire summer is going to be. But it's going to be GREAT this summer for keeping the kids happy and entertained at home.

Kylie getting some air! She has gone over the edge three times now. I'm just waiting for the first broken bone and hoping it's not her neck!

Chelsea thinking her sisters are crazy. It's cold out!

Hayley and Mia reading books together

Kylie's Sunday lunch birthday party. Yes my second youngest is 4 now!!!! She's the same old loveable kid with selective hearing issues :)

Blowing out the candle

New dress for convention. I love that these long dresses are coming back into style.

She wanted flip-flops for her birthday cake so this was my attempt. We pretended it was summer.

Chelsea the train conductor.

It's just so frustrating when you can't get the boogers out.

Making bubbles

Kylie's mid-week party at chuckie cheese. "What do you think Breeya.....should we make it go up?"

Poor Chuck E. he was super loved by the girls.

Ride Kylie Ride!

So that was our week this past week. Now I am TRYING to get myself motivated to pack for convention but it's sooooo hard. All I've done is wash clothes. I am sure I will be running around all crazy like when it is actually Wednesday morning!! Kylie is having a hard time understanding that it is convention on Wednesday. She insists that there is one more day of preps. So I told her we'd go to preps on Wednesday. It will be interesting to see the responce when she sees everything is done!

Well I am off to my nightly cup of tea, but it has been fun chatting. Some of you distant family and friends I wish we could see each other and speak in more than pictures and blogs. One day......

Love you all from the bottem of my heart.

Jen and family.

Life in our Madhouse

2011-06-11T19:28:00.005-06:00

So what has been happening? The girls and I had fun on Friday. I went on Hayley's fieldtrip, then we came home and built this cardboard house (yes that's my lopsided roof line....not the carpenter husbands!). I was then informed not only were no boys and men allowed in it but no women either! So anyhow, then we had supper and a marshmellow roast. Those massive ones you can get now are not kid material we found out. Granted they taste great and they are HUGE but they stick to EVERYTHING. You thought the normal big ones were bad....these are like glue. After that we went for a bike ride/run and made it home just before the wonderfully HUGE thunderstorm. I just love a good storm.

Saturday we went to preps for the morning and came home so Steve could work in the afternoon. A quiet day planned tomorrow. A lovely, blessed, much needed, day of rest. Hayley is to have her tooth pulled on Monday so I guess we need to make a decision regarding appliance versus spacer.

Ooey-gooey mess

I think her hand is permanently stuck to her knee.

And this is the house that mom built!

The girls pulled benches inside and made beds. I told them they couldn't sleep there but they might as well. I don't know why we bother to provide them with beds. Abby is the only one (and Chelsea obviously) who stays in her bed. You never know where you might find the other 2. Unless they are at your feet or kicking you in the back. Below you see a picture of where Kylie chose to spend the night last night.

Look at that door. The people who lived here before us painted over those old nasty brown wood doors with the wrong kind of paint that is now falling off in chunks. Can't wait for new carpet and interior doors.

Hayley's trip was to a place where they learned about how things were done in pioneer days. Here they are doing math on tablets. I wonder what Hayley will do when she realizes she doesn't have 11 fingers to use. Hahahaha. They made me feel old talking about what a chalkboard was!!! Hayley's class has a whiteboard and a SMART board. Technology......hmmm....

They had races

That's MY girl in the lead :)

They made homemade icecream so here they are all eating it.

Then they learned how to farm. By this point Hayley is apparently bored?? She is standing there because she knew that after the seeder, the next thing you need is a tractor to pull it. This was an easy task since 95% of these kids are farm kids.

We made cupcakes with whole wheat flour that the kids freshly ground. (She's reaching for another spoon in the bowl, not grabbing the batter).

It was fun going and seeing how the kids interact with each other. Hayley has an amazing teacher who has incredible control over her class. If the kids are being noisy and wild she says "Class class" and they say "yes yes" and then they go totally quiet. She never once had to raise her voice.

Well that's all folks. Only 2.5 weeks now until convention. Looking forward to it.

Love Jen, her wonderful husband, and her little peanuts.

Picture time.

2011-06-04T20:38:00.005-06:00

We had to get the kids sleeping bags and self-inflating mattresses this year since they outgrew being able to share the double bed in the tent.

They had a sleepover in the living room the first night they had them. I believe only Hayley and Kylie stayed in the living room all night :)

Enjoying a rare warm day outside. I cannot BELIEVE we had snow this weekend!!!!!

The most tolerent cat in the world.

Just in case you forget what I look like. Hahahaha.

Abby comes out with the wierdest statements. She does this (as above) and says "Look mom. I'm really skinny and I have no neck."

Congratulations to Abby Makayla Campbell for graduating from preschool.

Yae Abby!

Chelsea had this little bouncy thing all to herself. The older kids all swarmed all over the big one.

Chelsea just hanging out with her sister.

Apparently she likes to play dress up.

She did the hat accessory herself.

4 little monkeys jumping on the bed.....

That's all for now folks. Pleasant dreams to you all.

Love Jen

Another fieldtrip

2011-05-24T15:52:00.004-06:00

We had another fieldtrip with Abby today. It has been a looonnngggg day. Glad that summer holidays are almost here. I am totally worn out. Or maybe just plain old lazy....:) We went to a farm. Abby has now decided we need all these animals and our very own farm. Her favorite was the sheep. IT was FREEZING and MUDDY but the kids didn't seem to mind.

"Protect me Abby"

Have you ever seen a purple chicken?

or a pink or green one? Now you have :)

Chelsea is finally where she belongs. :)

feeding the goats

Abby and her newborn chick

Chelsea trying to kill the chick :)

bunnies

baby goats

walking the alpaca

Tomorrow is to the dentist with Chelsea, the doctor with Kylie, and kindergarten open house with Abby and Ashley right before we run off to meeting. Wondering how Kylie will do. She's back to wetting her pants and saying it hurts to pee.....after 20 days of antibiotics!!!!! ARGH!!! I'm worried she'll be admitted for IV antibiotics!! Kylie, tell your bladder that you don't have time to be sick :) But we want her healthy so we do whatever we need to do.

Time to prepare the children for piano. I am learning that it takes 5 minutes per kid to get ready to get out the door. 5 kids times 5 minutes.....25 minutes and we need to be gone so guess I should get off here!

Just pictures of life lately

2011-05-21T15:09:00.005-06:00

On Friday, Kylie had a birthday party to go to. It was an hour away so we wondered what to do for 3 hours until we were to meet back there for supper. Turns out there is this place called Jurassic forest about 5 minutes away so we went there with the Ott family. It was really interesting. The dinosaurs moved and roared....basically just a footpath with all kinds of signs telling not only about dinosaurs but also the type of flowers and birds and insects that live in the area. The kids enjoyed it anyhow. Perfect weather!!

I'm not sure why Cheslea's flower on her dress looks like it's glowing!!! Need more practice with my camera.

Now this was intereting. Chelsea refused to step foot in the sand. When I put her in it, she freaked out that her feet were dirty so she sat and wiped them off.....

Then freaked out that her hands were dirty. She kep saying "dirty! dirty!"

Hmm......do I DARE get in this stuff???!! Florida beaches will be fun with a child who hates the sand!

Abby and Benjamin both start kindergarten this year but will be in different schools.

A picnic outside

The birthday party!

Kylie: She can never just be a princess.....

soccer pictures. I didn't get any good ones of Hayley so will have to take my camera back to the field. The kids play in 3 different corners so I spend my time running back and forth for an hour and a half!!

Well that's all. We have a very very busy week coming up. Abby has a fieldtrip, Chelsea sees the dental hygenist, Kylie has a doctor's appointment, piano, soccer......it's never ending. I'm not sure actually how I am going to time manage some of these things this week so it could be interesting. I might actually just cancel a few things to make life easier. Thank goodness Monday is a holiday. I feel like I need to get away somewhere but HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA as if that'll happen any time soon. :( Oh well. One day.

Random events in our life lately

2011-05-06T23:12:00.003-06:00

Here's our Kylie girl. She has been so sick lately. About a month or so ago I noticed that she wasn't eating and she was sleeping A LOT! But then I figured she must be due for a growth spurt so maybe that was all it was. But then she would run these fevers and they'd come and go but then Chelsea got one so I figured she just had a bug. Then she started peeing her pants ALL the time. I was getting very angry and frustrated. Then she started getting a tummy ache and people suggested it might be an infection. Yes I'm a dumb mother. Should've known. She has a terrible bladder infection!!! Poor thing. She has 4 days left of meds and still has terrible tummy aches although she isn't peeing her pants anymore so dr. says finish the meds....she may need a stronger one though if there is any bacteria left in her urine.

This kid is so tough that I would have no clue how much it actually hurts. Well....tough pain-wise. Have a bug land anywhere near her and she'll either beat it beyond recognition or she'll scream and carry on like she's being slaughtered!!

Here is my Chelsea. She's 100% trouble. But she loves her mom so much I just gotta excuse her. She THINKS she wants to potty train but I'M not ready so she waits. She'll pull off her diaper or lift up her shirt and pull on her pants saying 'pee' or 'poo' but then I sit her on and nothing. But this is okay. I hate the potty training stage and we are waiting until after she's 2. Maybe she'll train herself. I love that she is starting to talk. Although....the other night a said "night-night time..." and she said NO! Hmmm....

Check out the rolls!!! Mommy's girl for sure....although she looks like her dad!

This is my Abs. She loves her computer games. Sigh....however she also is learning to love the outdoors so that's great! She just finished her Kindergarten readiness class and is almost done preschool :(:( I love watching her. In the kindergarten readiness class they are partnered up (teacher's choice) for center time. She is not shy at all but actually interacts when she doesn't know I'm watching. She is going to be just fine at school. Thankful we put her in preschool as she was so shy and timid at the beginning of the year. Not anymore!!!

This is studly Steve. I love him so much. He's such a good man. Big decisions coming up in his future but we'll talk about those only if they happen.

And this is my big girl!!!! I'm not sure what is going on here but hope it's not playing meeting in that outfit. This kid is obsessed with peace signs. I think maybe her real mom was a hippy??!! She fell down the stairs the other day. She screamed a horrible scream and I told her it wasn't going to get her out of cleaning her room and to get right back upstairs. Well for the next 3 hours she wouldn't walk on it. I tried to make her.....she wouldn't. So finally I looked at it and it had this extra lump on it and ended up quite swollen. Took her to emerg. The doctor was soooo nasty. Told her to not be so dramatic, it was only a sprain and to get walking on it. She tried playing soccer 3 days later and did okay but now the bruising is coming out and she was teary tonight as I put her to bed saying it hurt so badly. Sigh.....oh well. It'll heal.

Okay now to me. I found out this week I am severly anemic!! I have no idea why. I went in for bloodwork to make sure my liver could handle these strong pills I am taking for my toenail fungus. Dr. called me back and told me to get on iron pills!!! I am at a 5. Low levels are about 25?? Hmm....I suppose that's maybe contributing to the fact I feel sluggish and tired. Couldn't be running after 4 kids right? :) So we'll do that. Found out today that the pills for my toes are $400 a month!!!!!!! Thank goodness for insurance. I only pay $90. Still.....I have to take them for a year. That's $1000 to have pretty toes again. ARGH!!!!

Anyhow. My sweet sweet husband bought me a lovely card for mother's day and a CAMERA!!!! A nice Nikon SLR and I am so excited to learn how to use it. Lots of pictures coming up!!

I can't believe it is almost time for preps. I can't wait for convention and it seems to come at the right time every year.

Well thanks for reading. Stop by again soon. We'll have tea. Even if it's just cyber tea time.

Love you all

Jen and family

SPRING HAS SPRUNG

2011-04-23T15:52:00.006-06:00

We have had an extremely busy easter. Pretty sure that's why I feel so crummy. Just a sore throat but I feel so sluggish with it. Steve and Dan got a hotel room for the day to watch some of the hockey playoffs. They like to do that once a year at this time. I was going to take the kids swimming there in the afternoon but after getting gas, standing in line to get our car registration for half an hour and then venturing to wal-mart looking for a birthday present, I was done in. Was suppose to go grocery shopping but I've put that off until Monday. Will still have the kids all home but at least easter will be over and hopefully the grocery store won't be as nuts.

Interesting story about my car registration but will get to that later. First things first. So we started our long weekend on Thursday. I dropped Hayley off at Howden's and grabbed Ashley. Took the 3 middle girls and Chelsea to swimming lessons. Then we had to run to get pizza for supper and to the $ store to try and find a few things, got a car wash etc....it was a big job with two 4 year olds, a 3 year old and a 1 year old. Then I get home and realize I have no eggs to make Abby's cake so I load them all up again and off we go to the grocery store. I spent the rest of the afternoon decorating cookies, and making Abby's cake. Then we had company for supper for Abby's birthday (yes my second baby is almost 5!!!!!!!!) and Mia and Wyatt stayed for the night.

My left over cookies. They were a TON of work. Should've decorated them the night before.

Abby and her flower pot cake. HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY PRINCESS!!! Not as great as Hayley's but I ran out of icing and the pots were kinda hard to make. The cookies were heavy too and started to tip so we had to take pictures fast. Poor Abby. I lost the candles!!! Oh well.

The next day we spent the entire day outside. Steve got some easter eggs and hid them all over the backyard and they had lots of fun together.

I am soooo happy that chelsea is comfortable walking around the yard by herself. Unless of course the dogs hang around her for too long. If they don't leave when she screams NO then she cries. She got stuck here. No way to get up through the snow :)

Waiting for Steve to hide eggs. Mia says "I'm so bored. Why aren't we doing easter things?" So we had to have an egg hunt.

Looking for eggs.

Glen and Jessica came later afternoon and we decided that since we were too tired to think about supper, we'd just go out. Supper was lovely until......

on the way home Steve did a half-hearted stop at a stop sign and got caught!!!! Thank goodness the guy was nice and Chelsea was smiling at him! He changed the ticket from 250$ (failure to stop at a stop sign) to 115$ (failure to stop before entering a primary highway) and gave us an extra month to pay. He also didn't care that my registration seemed to have disappeared from the glove box. I had found out on a previous occasion (I have a registration ghost thief in my van) that the fine for that is 2000$ and they can refuse to let you drive your car home even!!! This guy just said "Oh whatever. I have the info anyways and I see you need to renew it next month anyhow." Whew! Still.....an expensive supper.

Now I think it is all catching up to me and I am TOTALLY exhausted. I'm so thankful the weather is nice and the kids love to be outside.

So Jess picked me up one of these weighted hoola hoops and it is just about killing me. The bumps on the inside bruise you entire abdomen. I cringe when I do my 4-5 minutes a day. However, if I lose 2 inches in a month with it, it will be worth it. Plus I enjoy hoola hooping so it's an easy way to get a bit of exercise. Another interesting fact....the most bruise feeling pain is in the area where I often have such an intestinal blockage that I feel a lump. Well the next day I had bad diarrhea. Don't know if Jess just spread her disease when she was here (the bad tummy cramps. Thank you) or if the hoola hoop worked something loose!!! It's very very tender in that area anyhow.

Well I am going to sign off. Have my signature post-blog tea and think about supper. Love you all and thank you for joining me for a few moments.

Love Jen

A pictoral journey

2011-04-08T19:38:00.003-06:00

Okay so lets be honest here. When we look at people's blogs we are looking to see pictures right? The words are just spots on a page, and if a picture tells a thousand words.....well here is my wordy blog for this week. Steve dug a path through the snow for the girls. Not sure why but anyhow, they enjoyed it. Here they are making 'toilets' in the snow.

Kylie thought this was a good idea. If she fell backwards the landing would have been okay. If she went towards the play house it could have been broken bones. She successfully made it to the other side.

So I went to exchange some stuff for Steve and I had to call him and ask him a question. Turns out I woke him up. Kylie was asleep on his lap, and as I was talking to him he goes "I can't find Chelsea"!! So he's calling her and she's not responding....the older 2 are in the tub, and finally he discovers that she has fallen asleep behind our bedroom door!! She shuts the door of whatever room she is in and she probably couldn't get out and when no one responded to her banging on the door (you all know how soundly Steve sleeps) she gave up and went to sleep. This was all at 6:30!!!!!! Some tired kids I guess. I tease Steve about his parenting skills. 2 kids in the bath and 1 missing and 1 sleeping while he sleeps!!!

On the other hand, something is wrong with our Kylie. She is falling asleep around 6:30, sleeping until 7, and then having a nap in the day. The other day she had 13 hours of sleep, laid down after BREAKFAST and fell back to sleep!!! She hasn't eaten much for 3 days either and has swollen glands in her neck. I am thinking growth spurt? But then in the back of my mind because of the lymph nodes, I get thinking mono!! Oh well....if it lasts a lot longer we'll run her in.

Back to pictures...

Abby has gone from hating the outdoors to loving it (thank goodness). She will even go out and play by herself out there. My child is growing lots of confidence. YAE! Finally! I was worried she'd be like me forever!

Here is Hayley and I playing a duet and then her playing a solo. She just learned her part yesterday. I was amazed. She is in a program called music for young children. Very much a focus on parent teaching. We both get extremely frustrated with each other so it might be private lessons next year. Right now it is an hour a week group lesson. She's only been playing for 8 months so I'm proud of what she has accomplished. Maybe 1 more year of this program. We'll see if we survive the last 6 weeks.

So that is all. Steve is upstairs putting kids to bed. I need to clean up supper dishes and have some tea.

Love you all,

Steve, Jen, Hayley, Abby, Kylie, and Chelsea.

HAPPY DAYS!

2011-03-30T12:43:00.005-06:00

Today is happy birthday to my big girl Hayley!!! I can hardly believe it's been 7 years since our first born entered the world. It was a GORGEOUS day the day she was born. It was 25 degrees outside and everyone was out enjoying the sunshine. Quite a contrast to today when it's only 0 out!!! Hayley was born at 8:45 in the morning. That night, there was a huge blizzard so Steve skipped school and hung out at the hospital with baby Hayley and me. Lets hope that this year, there is the opposite effect. I will take 25 degree weather tomorrow please!!!

It is also Steve and I's anniversary. It has been a glorious 9 years. I apologize to all women out there who missed out but I'm pretty sure there is no husband as wonderful as mine :) I'm pretty lucky to have snagged him.

It's been wonderful having mom and dad here. Unfortunately it is spring break and so I have all 4 at home all the time and it's this time they chose to be difficult but what can you do. They've had fun with grandpa and grandma so thats good.

No other news so I will leave you with a few pictures.

I was so proud of this cake. My first attempt at a nice cake. A tea party for my little lady.

The girls and their snow bunny.

A great picture of grandma and our mommy's girl!

Chelsea's way of playing uno.

Congrats!

2011-03-01T11:49:00.002-07:00

Today is my husband's anniversary. No not OUR marriage. His other one. The work one. He has been at his job for 10 years now!!! Can you believe it??? He got a Ball watch from his boss to commemorate the occasion. So now, Steve should always be 'on the ball' hahahahahahaha. Funny enough, that is where the expression came from.

For you history buffs:

From Wikipedia - In 1891 there was a collision between Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway trains at Kipton, Ohio, which occurred because an engineer's watch had stopped. The railroad officials commissioned Webb C. Ball as their Chief Time Inspector, in order to establish precision standards and a reliable timepiece inspection system for railroad chronometers.

So....to be 'on the ball' would be to be on accurate Ball time.

The last 10 years have flown and the company have grown exponentially. Will be interesting to see where the next 10 take him.

What else to share.....my friend Charlene and I joined curves for two months. We got a groupon. We figured instead of eating out on our Monday nights out we would excersize instead. We shall see if we see any results from it. Its a fun night out anyhow.

This country is the perfect example of why global warming is a spoof!!! -35, -34, -32.....these are the temps we are seeing BEFORE the windchill. So it's more like -45, -44, -42....I am starting to get cranky. Plus, I think the city of Edmonton has misplaced it's sanding trucks. I was out last night, and could almost see my reflection in the street, and didn't see 1 single sanding truck! Anyhow, I live here and it's always cold in the winter so I will jsut deal with it.

Interesting question this week. Why is everyone I meet, including strangers, telling me they hope I'm done having kids?? Are my kids that bad? That ugly? Who cares if I want more? That's noone elses business is it? Plus....makes me want to have 3 more to spite them (even though we are DONE for those wondering.) Just found it odd (extremely irritating) that this week I've had so many people make weird comments like that to me. May I share the verse in psalms:

Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: etc.....

My children make me happy. If I want to be extra happy....I will be :):) Plus....remember now people.....I am still in my youth. For another 10 months anyhow.....

Our house appraisal went through. WOOHOO!!! So that's a relief. Now we can renew our mortgage on the house and know that even if one day we sell we will still make money on it. I can't tell you how excited we are that our monthly payment is actually dropping!!!!

Okay so my life is busy but really uneventful so I will let you go back to doing something interesting. Wish I had pictures to show you but I haven't taken any for several months. Guess I better get back on that.

Love Steve, Jen, and their litter of little people

The new me

2011-02-08T11:43:00.001-07:00

So some people have said they haven't seen a picture of me lately. So here it is. I've done really well losing those last 10 pounds.

MISSING!!

2011-02-05T17:26:00.002-07:00

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN???

Hia name is Stephen Campbell but he goes by Steve. He's approximately 5'10'', brown hair with scattered blond patches, blue eyes and different colored eyebrows! He has a wife and 4 offspring who haven't seen him in well over 2 weeks. We think someone with his likeness comes home at night to sleep, but we can't be sure because he's gone before we are up (and no we don't sleep in too much. We're usually up by 6:30). We need him home. His children miss him terribly.

Sigh....most of all we need him home because I got the van stuck in a snowdrift. AGAIN!!!

I will not complain

at least he has a good job

okay thats it.....we're moving to Australia. I need my spouse back.

The good the bad and the ugly...

2011-01-31T11:36:00.003-07:00

Lets start with the bad and get that out of the way:
1. We had ice damming that caused water to run into the ceiling and down the wall of the back entrance, and now we have to replace said drywall, repaint and re-stipple. The result? Lots of $$$$$ out the window.

2. The septic backed up. The septic guy promised he could fix it. 315$$$$$ later he tells me he actually can't fix it. I'll have to call a plumber. Just about dumped HIM down the septic tank. ARGH!!!!

3. The city of Edmonton doesn't want to clear the ruts out of the city streets reulting in the 3rd!!!!! Time we've blown the power steering hose bottoming out on the snow packed streets!!! ARGH!!! The result? More $$$$$$$$ we DON'T have!!!! I may send a bill to the city of Edmonton.

4. Hayley just got over a really nasty flu just in time for her and Abby to get the chicken pox. They were vaccinated so I'm stumped. Hmmm.....Kylie also got a rash last night. Don't know if it is chicken pox but if it is it's mild as well. Oh well....at least they're feeling fine and it isn't costing money!!!

The Ugly part....me!!! I'm cranky!!!!

OKay lets move on to the good. We had a wonderful weekend in Jasper. Why were we there? It was the first official share holders meeting for Emcee construction and management. Yes a huge congratulations to my hubby Mr. Stephen Campbell for 10 years with the company and now a 5% owner. WOOHOO!!! Perhaps the dividend check can turn my bad and uglies into goods?? Steve has seen the company go from just a few guys doing home renovations to several employees and subtrades doing major commercial renovations and even now new commercial construction!! What a change in 10 years!

Here are the 5 owners. Mark Lindquist is the one in the middle. He is one of the friends here in Edmonton. His sister is married to our cousin Dan Howden. He is the major share holder and only director. The other 4 are partial owners.

Here are some other pictures of our trip. The guys were in a meeting all day Friday so I just hung out with the kids. Swam with Daph and the kids in the morning, gave the kids naps in the afternoon, visited with Tim's wife and their son in the afternoon as well and then there was a company dinner in the evening. Saturday we swam more, went out for supper with Tim and his wife and son and met Mark and Daph and kids there. Then hung out at the street festival for a bit. Sunday was meeting and lunch in Hinton and then on home. It was so great to get away.

Yes it was an outdoor pool. Quite an experience in the winter, but it was fun. It was like a warm bath. The kids didn't mind it anyhow. They liked jumping in the snow and then into the water.

A little cold on the nose and ears but that's okay.

Lunch time. Mommy and Kylie.

Abby with the cutest little bottle of ketchup.

Our room was beautiful. There was a seperate room you can see behind the couch with these sliding doors to block it off if you want. Then the living room had a big wood burning fireplace in the corner.

At the street festival. Kylie playing a game.

Back at our house. The snow was up to their waist in places.

Trudging through the snow. It's fun for awhile. It is wearing a little thin though. I can't wait for spring when I can open the windows, air out the house, go for a long walk....

Steve out for lunch. He doesn't look tired at all hey?

My baby girl.

So that's about all the news around here. I get to play the piano for Wednesday night gospel meeting the last 2 weeks of February so that should be interesting. I think it's been about 7 years since I've done that. I may be a little rusty. It's a bit tricky on the keyboard as I rely on my footpedal and there isn't one.

Wishing you all pleasant spring-like days.

Love the Campbell family.

Routine....isn't it great.

2011-01-03T13:05:00.006-07:00

We'll being the blog with a few random pictures because I am too lazy to put them in their proper place :)

Kylie ran into a door on new years eve and split her head open. Looks pretty minor compared to the copious amounts of blood!

Our table at Christmas. Looks like there is no food (it's hiding) the bottles are sparkling juice :)

Putting together lego. Hey it was Christmas....no need to do our hair right?

Have I not updated since before christmas? Goodness. I'm slacking.

Lets see....the greatest news of the week is that Kylie is no longer needing pull-ups at night. Now.....to get Abby on that bandwagon!!! As a past bed-wetter myself, I'm not seeing that happening in the near future so whatever....she'll grow out of it eventually.

I had a birthday this season. My last one ever. I refuse to acknowledge that I will be 30 next year. We had a lovely family supper at gramma, jess made me a cake. Kids got me some neat gifts. It was a nice night.

My sister is really classy :)

Christmas was lovely, boxing day was not so much. There should be a law against 2 parents getting the flu on the same day. It was 'fend for yoursef' day for the kids. My hubby bought me an iphone for Christmas. I love it!! He's still a blackberry sort of guy but I think mine is better :)

The girls and I made this nifty gingerbread christmas tree. It was YUMMMMMMY!

We also got together with the chatten boys to make gingerbread men. These 8 kids did soooo good. They play so well together. They're all 7 and under.

Steve took the girls skating a few times and we spent a day at the waterpark which was lots of fun. Chelsea LOVEs the waves. She would sit down and let them knock her over and then when they were done she'd get up and run into the deeper pool....so I spent most of my time chasing her around.

Now school has started again and so has the routines of life. I'm looking forward to that. Chelsea woke up at 2:30 this morning and cried until I had to get up at 6. IT was lovely. So I am going to go have a nap while she does. Yes grandmas....I did get up and sit in the rocking chair with her don't worry. I didn't just let her cry:)

Steve got an ipad for Christmas so we all fight over that. Even Chelsea has a game on it.

Love you all

Jen

Sooooo tired

2010-12-11T12:31:00.003-07:00

What do you do when you are tired AND hungry? Well.....you sleep eat.

Just a few more of the winter fun around here. Didn't get any of Hayley. She was a wee bit cranky today after a big sleepover.

Hayley's concert

2010-12-09T15:46:00.004-07:00

Pretty self explainatory. Hayley's concert. So sweet. The little guy with the glasses is Dawson, her good friend. They ride the bus together, she chases him at recess....Hayley is going to be interesting. She makes friends with the boys much easier than with girls. She's a flirt. At piano lessons she giggles at everything this one boy says and so he purposly does stupid stuff to make her laugh. We have a true blond on our hands. Anyhow, she also read a little poem and did very well. I didn't get a good picture of it since I dropped my camera at Kananaskis this year. Broke the zoom and sometimes it just doesn't want to take pictures. Mom C.....sound familiar??

Christmas is upon us.....

2010-12-06T12:29:00.006-07:00

...and with that come the joyous Christmas concerts for the little ones. More pictures and a little video at the end of blog. This one was on Sunday so I guess we shouldn't have gone but we did since there is no gospel meeting. Hayley has a Christmas piano recital and Abby has a preschool Christmas dinner on the same evening, so to make it fair we are going to neither. We are going to go to the teddybear toss hockey game instead. When the oilkings score the first goal everyone throws teddy bears on the ice and it goes to Santa's anonymous. We going with 3 other families. Glen and Jess will be there too but they got free tickets from Glens work so we won't get to sit together.

I guess the tupperware drawer is more fun than the bucket of toys in the living room and the full basement full of toys. Maybe I should dump all the toys in these bottom two drawers?

Chelsea LOVES ceasar salad. Worries me a bit that she'll choke on the lettuce, but it's one way to get greens in her. This is Kylie's bowl she stole. Her pieces are much smaller.

Chelsea also loves being able to eat at the table with the big girls. Our table in now all filled up for supper. It's great! She doesn't even try to escape.

Abby and Kylie just finished and both passed swimming lessons. Only had my camera there for Kylies lessons. She did so great. She's much more risky and adventurous than the other girls.

Chelsea is FINALLY!!!!!! getting used to other people a little bit. She walked around Clymont hall by herself even though there was a crowd and she sat on santas knee with no fuss. I think it might have something to do with the donut in her hand?!

Our shy sweet princess who is either biting her lip or crossing her arms like this :) She's the strong silent type. Until she's angry. Then....WATCH OUT!

Here's our gorgeous oldest. She's the boss of the tribe. A bit munipulative and sneaky about it too. I think she's going to be a real beauty. Watch out boys!!!! In fact, at the Christmas concert she was chasing her friend Dawson all over. Poor boy.

Here's Kylie. Love that crinkle nose smile of hers. It says "I'm trouble but I love life!" She loves everything and everyone and isn't afraid of anything or anyone either. Kylie will have the first broken bone of the 4. Kylie asked santa for a TV!!?????

And I will leave you with a precious little song. The other video is of Kylie and Abby making fun of me as I was singing "Happy holidays......happy holidays....happy holiday Toooooo youuuuu!"

Stephen Scott

2010-12-02T10:27:00.006-07:00

Hey there handsome!!!

Steve with his old baby. The van. I think he is getting past his loss though now that he has a truck with heated seats.

Steve's current job. Building an ATB financial. We had a laugh over the fact he just grabbed the first tool he saw lying around and posed for the picture on the left. He's not actually doing anything!!! The guy he's with below is one of the guys in the office. A project manager I believe.

The handsome model.

So a lady came by Steve's work to take pictures for their updated website. Doesn't he look good???? I think he looks so handsome. He has a meeting in Jasper in 6 weeks and the kids and I even get to come along!!! I'm so excited! The guys will be in a meeting all day on Friday, but I can just wander around town with the girls if the weather is nice or we can hang out in the pool. Then Saturday and Sunday are ours to do whatever we want. Will have to find out if there is a meeting there.

I am having the first stay at home day I've had for more than a month and it feels sooooooo good. I am cleaning the house (it was terrible!!!!), doing a little Christmas baking, etc.....no swimming, piano, preschool.....BLISS!!

Kylie and Abby have been getting along so well lately. I love it. There is something to be said for having your kids close together. The giggle all day long. Right now they are reading comics and Chelsea is sleeping so it is blessedly peaceful.

Will leave you with a few pictures and then I better go do some dishes and vacuum.

This was the best picture I could get before specials. Hayley's hair is wonky, Chelsea is about to cry, Abby is leaving the seat, and Kylie's doing her squinty eye thing. Oh well.

Abby and Kylie with a major case of giggles.

My little butterfly after her bath. When I sit to take her picture she runs at me full force so it's hard to get a picture.

Winter has Struck!!!

2010-11-23T14:11:00.003-07:00

It is BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR so cold here. For the Canadians and Australians, it has been about -32 at night. Americans you'll have to convert, but just think "really stinkin cold!!!!" The cold makes me cranky. My hubby is getting sick of it. The floor in our house gets freezing cold and the bedrooms upstairs get none of the fireplace heat. COLD COLD COLD. I HATE being COLD! The I got feeling sorry for the dogs and the cat because they are freezing so my dear hubby thought he'd do something about it, and he traded some hours of work with Dan (our heating and airconditioning expert) and I now have his guy here putting our old furnace into the garage and venting the house so the heat from the fireplace goes up to the bedrooms. YAE FOR HEAT!!!! As for the ice cold spot on the kitchen floor, I fixed that solution with a rug. Back to good mood!

Yes, as you can see, Kylie is now taller than Abby. Although, her legs are short so she can still have Abby's old pants. It all works out.

Can't wait until we're done swimming. It takes forever to bundle everyone up and then trudge out on bad roads to get to lessons. I think they'll both pass. The teacher at half-way report told me Kylie's a little fish and she has no worries. Abby swims amazing. You would not believe this is the kid who wouldn't put her face in the water last year. She swims lengths under water now. WOOHOO!!!

Steve worked 72 hours last week. Whew! Now this week he is having some early days so that's great. Hope he gets some sleep now. Oops. Chelsea is awake so I better go. I also need to make cookies for the bake sale at Abby's school.

Love you all,

Jen and family.

I am tired

2010-11-16T08:15:00.002-07:00

Beyond tired actually. I would like to go back to bed for the entire day, but alas....it is not meant to be. Perhaps an afternoon nap is in order? Pretty sure with a new bed and a new back I'd feel a lot more refreshed. I slept on the hump in the middle last night and it was a wee bit better. The kids are awake. Well better go get the week over with and hope that this weekend I'll actually have my husband home with me. Feels like it has been MONTHS! Happy Tuesday.

Love,
a very tired Jen

Just another day in crazy town

2010-11-09T20:13:00.003-07:00

Hi. How are you? What's new? I hope you're having a good November. We are so far, in spite of the business of life. The little people have been doctoring a little bit. Hayley has a home sleep study on December 9th to rule out sleep apnea as part of her snoring issues. Her teacher has also informed me that Hayley pees way more than the average student so guess we'll try to figure that out too. Abby has this intense sore throat that has her crying all day and night and not eating. She even cries when she drinks water. She had a 2-3 day fever that went away but didn't take care of the sore throat. I was thinking strep....the doctor thinks hand, foot, mouth disease??? We'll see who's right when the swab comes back. In the meantime we will be sleepless. Oh yes and lice came back to live with Hayley and Abby so this week we have been trying to comb lice out of a fever ridden child while doing 40 loads of laundry and disinfecting furniture....it has been exhausting to say the least.

So I went out for my usual Monday night coffee and finally found some really cool big tea cups. Love them. I've been looking for big mugs for a long time so that was exciting to finally find some neat ones.

And that's it. Nothing else is happening around here. We continue to do all the things we normally do....school, swimming, piano etc..etc... we're not bored anyhow.

Steve works hard at work. Or....plays hard :) It would seem that when I call him he's just discovered some new game on his computer. But I know it's hard work organizing his sub trades and making sure he knows what the plans say and it must be kind of boring when there's nothing to do but supervise.

Well I am freezing cold because I let the fire die out so this is all for now. I'll maybe write next month. I am getting anxious for a hot holiday and it hasn't even snowed yet! I think I'm in for a looonnnggggg winter!

Until next time,

The 6 of us.

Let it snow let it snow let it snow....

2010-10-25T07:35:00.003-06:00

Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is sooooo delightful (or something like that. I forget the words.) It is snowing!!! 2 days after Steve got the rink all set up so it was perfect timing. The kids are excited to go skating and tobogganing. We have the fireplace on pretty well all day and night now because we LOVE the coziness of the fire and well....we're cheap and it keeps the furnace off.

I'm most excited for Christmas time! Almost have my shopping all done. Just Kylie and Chelsea left now. We listen to Christmas carols in the van (yes I will be sick of them I'm sure by NOVEMBER 25th). We're having Glen and Jess and kids over for a cozy day of eating and game playing. Will see if grandma wants to join us for an early meal.

Look at how Chelsea fell asleep. She really is sound asleep. Snoring and everything. My little baby is getting better in some ways and worse in others when it comes to her attachement issues. She is now getting a wee bit shy with her daddy which is not good!!! However, I can put her on the floor in a crowd of people, and as long as nobody touches her she's fine. At least I don't have to hold her all the time. She's learning a few signs like milk, and when I say "p.u. you stink." she pinches her nose. Cute. Love all my girls to bits.

Here are the preschool pictures I ordered of Abby. I was looking at Abby's baby pictures as I work on her pregnancy - kindergarten scrapbook and her and Chelsea are identical!! I am learning they are also very very similar in personality. So this should be interesting. We have 2 fairly easy going kids and 2 very shy and sensitive kids! Hmm.... Abby starts swimming lessons tomorrow. This will be the 3rd time we've done this level. The first time Abby wouldn't put her face in the water, and the second time the teacher didn't get through the list of stuff to do in time and so failed everyone. I was not impressed. So we're back to the trileisure center and we'll see how it goes. Kylie starts next Monday. Only 1 more week until the most insanely busy month of the year. Sigh....

I didn't order very many of these. They were way too expensive. Hayley's school picture proofs should come in a few weeks.

I think Steve is a little more stressed about his job than he lets on. He dreams about it every night so it must be on his subconscious somewhere. He even asks me questions when he's half asleep like I'm one of the guys on site. It's so funny. I just give some answer that sounds like I AM one of the guys. Heehee. Oh well.....he loves that the project is something other than relacing windows!!! This is what he wants to do all the time I think. Brand new commercial construction. It'll be an interesting winter. As long as there are trades on site he'll be outside. Otherwise he's in his little tin shack trying to keep warm.

Well I think everyone is waking up so I better go! Happy days everyone. Keep warm.

Just me....

2010-10-18T17:24:00.003-06:00

....rambling about nothing. I actually have one small complaint these days and I promise to never complain about it ever again. Just need to spit it out. My husband has a great job, great boss, works hard so I can enjoy every moment with my rugrats. The issue? We never see him and we hate that. He leaves at 6:30 and gets home at 7 (at the earliest). Gotta admit it's not good for me or the kids and we miss rarely seeing him. That being said....he works so hard for us and he's a wonderful husband and father so we manage.

Nothing else is new. This next month is filled with school, swimming, piano, go to bed and do it all over again the next day type days. Chelsea has spent the last week refusing to eat anything but her bottles, bread, and crackers. She also cried unless I'm holding her. She's either sick or going through a really annoying stage. Oh well. Can you believe she's 13 months old?!!! Me either!! In 3 years I will be all alone at home 2 days a week. Hmm....then I will wish for days that are extremely busy I'm sure.

My supper is ready so I guess this is going to be a short one.

Love you all. Have very happy days.

Love Steve, Jen, and their babies.

KANANASKIS 2010!!!

2010-10-12T20:05:00.013-06:00

We just got home from the best 5 days of my entire year. I DREAD getting back into real life. Last year, it was cold and we had at least a foot of snow on the ground. The winter came so quick that the leaves didn't even change color so it was a pretty sad outdoor experience. This year, the fall came and went a few weeks early so there wasn't too much in the form of pretty colors, but the weather was GORGEOUS!!!! I will take you on a pictoral journey though our long weekend.

This was what we woke up too every morning. Nothing like the sun rising on the mountains out your patio door. What a view.

When we got there, Steve had to do a minor toilet repair and Chelsea thought she'd help out. It was too funny to not take a video.

She also thought she'd help unpack our food!

Anyhow, we left on Friday after Steve's breakfast meeting (which means we left about lunch time) and we got there at 4ish. This hotel has the best customer service. They greet you at the door, escort you to the desk and say "Mr. Campbell is here to check in." Then they ask Mr. Campbell if he needs any help with his bags, and they give the kids all a bag with 3 different games and some fun stuff in it. Steve is also the pro at asking for free stuff so he asked if they had any breakfast vouchers. They are allowed to give you 2 so we got free breakfast 2 days out of 4. The breakfast is anything you could ever want. They have an omlette station, hot and cold cereal, toast, bacon, sausage, eggs, french toast, fruit....YUM! Steve and I usually bring breakfast and lunch since meals are pricey. Our suppers are about 50$ and that is with all our kids eating free since they are 6 and under.

Here's Kylie excited to get her bag. Yes that is nasty carpet :)

The resort was built for the 1988 winter olympics and the main lodge hasn't been renovated so it's pretty dated, but that's okay. We usually stay in Mount Kidd which is the newest building, but for our size of family and late booking, this was all they had left. The hotel has 400 some rooms and they were at 90% capacity! That being said, it never felt crowded. The pool was never busy, and any time we went to the new indoor play area we were the only ones there. Here are some photos of our loft suite.

Our kids don't have TV at home....can ya tell? They could've stayed here the whole time!!

On Saturday Steve surprised me by booking me an hour long massage!! That was amazing! While I did that he took the kids to the new playroom. Then we made candy indian corn, did the pool thing, went for a short walk, had supper and went to a magic show!

Indian corn... which consists of 3 rice crispy squares mushed together, candy, and fruit-by-the-foot for the ears.

At the play area you can play with the magnetic wall....

color a picture....

Play in the playhouse (or attempt to break your neck...)...

Play games....

or watch a kids movie on the HUGE TV

On Sunday we had a little study, then we attempted to hike a new trail that nearly killed me. It was uphill both ways FOR SURE and rough terrain...I don't know how the kids managed to do it. Guess they aren't lugging around as much weight as their old mom! We did get a nice family picture though as seen at the top of this blog entry (excuse Kylie. She was a disaster.) We also did more of the pool thing, carved pumpkins, and played in the playroom, etc... Then....THE BEST 3 COURSE THANKSGIVING DINNER EVER!!! I was sooooo full I felt sick the rest of the night!!

The kids really did enjoy it even though their faces are saying "we're totally bored."

Can you tell that Kylie found the candy jar? Her cheeks are FULL!

My little pumpkin patch kids. At night they light these up and you get free hot chocolate while you stand outside looking at all the cool pumpkin designs.

Our view on the easy trail.

This is about all the wildlife we saw until we left and then we saw some deer and some mountain sheep with babies.

On Monday night we brought our supper to the playroom (we didn't think anyone would mind as by Monday everyone had gone home and there were only 40 of the 400 some rooms occupied) and had movie night. An awesome ending to a perfect holiday. Now.....when can I go back???!! I hear they have Santa coming for Christmas bringing presents, and sleigh rides and skating and tobogganing......sigh....all I want for Christmas....another holiday please.

Now the next blog might be a bit slow coming as I adjust to real life once again. Meeting here tomorrow night. Busy busy.

Love The Campbells.

ps. PLEASE COME JOIN US HERE SOME YEAR!! WE'D LOVE YOU TO EXPERIENCE OUR THANKSGIVING TRADITION! THIS WAS OUR 7TH YEAR! although I think we missed 1 year in there somewhere.

I am...

2010-09-21T20:32:00.003-06:00

A bottle feeding, public schooling, disposable diapering, immunizing mother and proud of it!!!!

I'm not sure what set off this argument in my mind, actually I do know....someone made a comment that they were having to explain to their child why they would not be homeschooling and someone else asked them if they had seriously considered the idea. That, combined with the fact that all the new first time moms I know are going all new-age on me and not immunizing and the fact that Chelsea has her 1 year shots on Friday have got me arguing in my head with these people. I mean no offence but am not ashamed to declare the following:

1. If you judge those who bottle feed you have obviously a) never had a baby or b) have been fortunate enough to have been able to breastfeed. Next time you look at a bottle feeding mommy and tsk, consider that maybe she would love to breastfeed but has chosen not to starve her child with her lack of, or insufficient supply of milk.

2. I am a mother and it breaks my heart when my little girl comes home from school and says " so and so told me they aren't my friend anymore" it makes me want to go to the playground and beat up the little booger who hurt my baby's feelings. But know what? The next day they're best friends again. Kids are resilient. Quick to make friends and quick to forgive and quicker to forget. So to home school my kids to "protect" them is pointless. Yeah peer pressure is tough. But can you imagine how much tougher it will be when they reach adulthood and they can't keep a job because you've taught them that when the going gets tough you quit and stay home? Some people might say they get enough socializing with the friends kids. Well...hate to break it to you....but that's not real life. We all wish we could live in a little bubble of people that love what we love but we are meant to live IN the world. Teach your children to pray and they will know the difference between being IN the world and being OF the world. God will watch our little ones as they set out on the journey through public school if we ask him to. Besides our little lights might be the only bible some other child reads.

3. Cloth diapers - all I have to say about this is "we all had great plans when we only had 1 child". Heehee. Actually I have no problem with this and would likely get more interested if a) I only had 1 child and thus less regular laundry to do b) we didn't have to be careful of our water consumption and c) it wasn't so expensive!! Yeah. I priced it out. I spend the same amount in 2 years of disposables as I would on a set of disposables.

4. To those who don't immunize because they are afraid of autism. Have you truely done any research??? Do you know that when the numbers of Autistic children rose that it was around the time that Autism changed to "Autistic spectrum disorder" which included a range of disorders and not just Autism?? Of course the numbers are going to go up!!! And how dare you rely on me to keep your child safe. And now we are all scratching our heads wonding why the incidents of Polio and menengitis and potentially FATAL childhood diseases are back on the rise. Sigh...

So yes. I guess I am old fashioned. I do all the "wrong" things when it comes to rearing my children. I even.....get ready for it....spank!! Yes when the children are being turds they get disciplined. There is only 1 child in this house that a time out works best for and the others could care less if I put them in a chair all day. Ya do what works with each child.

So there is my rant. I guess it's good I am done with babies. Oh my.....what kind of a grandmother will I be???!!!

So on the other side of life, Steve is doing some work for Mark and Dan so it'll be a week of evenings and weekends where I get to do bedtime. Today they were all snoring by 7:30 so I guess I did good! The evenings go fast when you run from piano to supper and by then it's already bedtime.

The other day it was nearly snowing and now I see that it is supposed to be 20 this weekend!!!! I am so thankful to have nothing to do but yard clean-up this weekend. I am hoping that the weather stays mild-nice for our long weekend. We are both sooooooo excited to get there where there are no computers or work or alarms.....the TV even has terrible reception. It will be pure relaxation. And this year the fall colors will be out for sure!!! I will post pictures.

Well I see it is time for tea and bed.

Love you all
Jen and the 5 loves of her life.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHELSEA!!!

2010-09-17T12:01:00.004-06:00

So, my baby girl is 1. Sigh....this is a not so happy occasion for me. It means no more babies in my world. On one hand it is so nice to be moving on to the next stage. On the other hand....it stinks!!!! I have loved every minute, even the not so great ones, of babyhood. We are selling all our baby stuff at Jess's baby sale today. Have to admit to a few tears as I priced things and packed them up. Chelsea thought all these old toys in the living room were pretty great.

Chelsea's accomplishments in a year:

She can walk, babbles on the phone all the time, screams when she is mad at her sisters, loves food (but then again who doesn't), loves her mom lots (a little too much sometimes) and is overall a pretty precious little princess.

Here's some pictures of her with a few of her birthday gifts. Will post some pictures of the party later. We're doing cake at grandma's on Sunday and then a party with other 1 year old friends Kiera and Tahlia on the 28th.

So here's the next great stage of toddler, preschoolers and schoolers

Love Jen

So much to say about nothing!

2010-09-09T20:00:00.002-06:00

Today was a beautiful day! Fall is in the air and I love love love love love it!!! I don't know if I could live in a world without fall. The trees are gorgeous as they change color and die. There is a little spiritual thought for you. The beauty in dying. I just love to stand outside when all is peaceful calm and still and look at the beautiful colors and breath in the crisp night air....ahhhh....

Hey we are not going to Fort Mac! Not right now anyhow. I have to admit I am slightly disappointed. I was looking forward to the debt relief, but alas it was not to be so we just go on about our lives. I need to get applying for more work. Maybe stop being so picky or something.

So last night Steve came home from work sick!!! EEEKS!!! of all the days of course it was the day we have meeting at our place so that left me cleaning the garage too as people come in the back door and Steve usually does that. I was totally worn out last night from our holiday sick and then getting the house ready for meeting and then looking after sick people for the last 3 days. My poor man threw up all meeting and still today went in to work late and isn't feeling good. He never throws up so he must be feeling terrible. Kylie had a relapse tonight now has a fever as well. Sigh....this thing seems to be mutating and getting worse as it goes. It terrifies me, as there is noone left to look after "mom" when she gets sick and I am the only one who hasn't had it. I guess if I get it it's either suck it up or let the kids have free reign.

Today one of the young kids, Kandis, took Ashley and Abby to Chuckie cheese! She is so brave. She is not in very good health and in fact has a broken foot with torn ligaments and yet she's just always smiling. Abby had a great time. So since it was special mom and Kylie day (and our little Chelsea of course) I asked Kylie what she wanted to do. I suggested we go to Chapters and read books. She said "no. go to a mall." I said "I can't buy anything. You still want to go to the mall?" and she said "yah. Walk a mall." So walk a mall we did! I think that is what wore her out and back into sickness. Anyhow, I did find a cute winter snowsuit for Chelsea finally. Had no hand me downs that fit her. Then Kylie got a cheap but super cute outfit. Hence the reason I never go shopping anymore. I always spend money! We watched the sea lions and the people swimming at the waterpark. It was fun hanging out with just 2 kids!!!

Hayley started piano on Tuesday and she thinks it is the greatest thing ever. She has homework 5 days a week which I think is rotten and will be worse if she gets school homework on top of that, but as long as she likes it I guess I should encourage it. It is a program called "Music for young children" and it is 1 hour group lessons once a week. I really like the program layout and think she'll learn lots. They start with learning the black keys which I find super interesting.

Well here is our shopping purchases. Time for bed. Steve is inside now. Had to clean out his van since the project manager is coming to Camrose with him tomorrow and I don't think he'd cleaned in out in the 6 years he'd had it. :) Busy weekend ahead. I babysit 4 extras on Saturday.

Love you all so much. Happy happy fall days to you.