Dog narrowly escapes death!!

Should've just killed the thing really. I tried to avoid him, but with the rain and snow and warm weather, I went down through the ditch and up onto some sweet old man's driveway, running over a sign he had pegged into the ground telling people not to come on to his driveway. Hahahahaha. How ironic eh? I lodged the stake under the van and can't get it out for anything. I probably destroyed the van. Oh well. I can afford a new one right *eye roll*. So I'm a little mad at myself. Oh yes and I had 5 kids with me. Thankgoodness they all handled it well. Very brave young ones. I think I may have had a small heart attack. We managed to drive the vibrating van all the way home.

Swimming lessons is over again until May. Hayley was 1 of 2 out of 5 that passed! The other mothers sitting beside me were a little upset. They felt that the teacher gave Hayley more attention because she was the only girl in the class, and because she's a girl she doesn't act up!!! Oh boy....you can tell they don't know girls very well. Just teach your antsy boys to behave! That's a dumb excuse I think "Oh he's just a boy." I know we went through a stage with Hayley where she wouldn't listen to the teacher, but threaten and bribe and discipline a bit and now she's okay. So they were mad (didn't realize I was 'that girl's' mom and I was eavesdropping. I giggled to myself.) The lady who sat on the other side of me spent the whole lesson complaining about her husband. I felt like standing on the bench and saying "Listen parents.....if you can't say anything nice......" So one more lesson for Hayley and then she's in the red cross program. I'm glad she can jump off the diving board and get back to the edge now. A little less stressful. Abby starts the preschool swim lessons in May.

We are getting very very excited for our trip to Florida. We leave in 2 sleeps!!! Steve is tired and ready to relax. I'm ready to shop shop and shop and swim and tan!!!!

Well I will leave you with a video of the girls singing (Kylie is actually saying 'cheeeeeeese' because she thinks I am taking her picture). The picture is Abby at supper last night. She fell asleep at 5:30, woke up for about 30 minutes at 8:30, and then went back to sleep for the night!! She must've been worn right out.

Have a very pleasant end of the month!!!!! Imagine.....spring is only 50 days away!!! Then it's birthday central. Hayley-5 in March, Abby-3 in April, Kylie-2 in June!!!

A Winter wonderland....or is it???

Welcome to Alberta, where we wake up to +2, go to lunch when it starts getting so windy that the heavy snow coming down starts blowing sideways and the temp drops to -10, then the sun comes out, but on the way home at supper time, it's hailing!!! Oh well. That is life here in this country.

So yesterday we met up with Lars & Artica and their kids, Uncle John and Aunty Bev, and Jess and Glen and kids to watch the IMAX the Alps! It was pretty amazing. In fact, Steve is planning his next big trip to be to Switzerland! It is such gorgeous country with all the little villages scattered in the valleys of the mountains.

Then Glen and Jess came back for supper and the kids went skating on the little rink in the backyard. Was a good day, although tiring.

Here is a few videos of the kids skating. (Good grief these videos take forever to load). Have a spectacular week. We have plans to do swimming lessons, babysit, go to the playplace, and that's about all! Now don't you all wish you could be here?

21 days until our Florida trip. YAE!!!!!!!

Snowmobile pictures

The top black spec is Mark upside down, and the bottem speck is Steve. You think it'd be more fun to ride upright??

This is what a burnt snowmobile engine looks like up close.

At least the view was gorgeous.

Yeah Steve...that's tree. Should've turned another foot to the right. He's glad I wasn't there backseat driving :)

Taking a break?

I just thought you might be interested in seeing some pictures of the snowmobiling experience. These just got sent to me which is nice since Steve didn't have a camara with him.

Today is the last day of holidays for me. January is just going to be INSANE~ Hayley had swimming lessons today. She is the only girl in her class!! Seems that 2004 was the year of the boy. There are very few 4 year old girls in swimming or preschool. The girls we do know that will go to her school are all only children. Just found that kind of interesting. This is the last round of preschool swim classes and then she will start the red cross course. Not sure if we'll do that on our own since she gets lessons as part of school anyhow.

Well I need a sweater. I'm freezing. Go figure. One of the warmest days we've had in a long time and I am frozen. Could be the cold pepsi I am drinking I guess.

GO CANADA GO!! They are to beat Sweden for gold tonight!!!

Diarrhea diaries

Our house has become infected with a diarrhea bug. It's great really. Cleans out the system. Steve caught it first, and 2 weeks later is just starting to get rid of it. I was introduced to it today. The awful part is that not only does Starbucks make it worse, you don't feel sick with it! Why is that so bad you ask? Well you will be happily playing a game of canasta or scrabble with your husband and listening to the hockey game, and all of a sudden you've gotta go!!! Have you ever tried running up a flight of stairs with your cheeks clentched tightly so you don't spill out? It should really be an olympic event. Then you get sat down and absolutely explode. The sound effect are enough to make you laugh until your guts DO hurt and your husband is cheering you on from the kitchen!

So tonight we went to eat a our favorite little Japanese place called Teriyaki corner. They have the world's best spring rolls. In fact our kids can polish off 5 or 6 each!! Steve and I usually accompany it with a chicken rice bowl and a glass of peach bubble tea for him and watermellon for me. Have you had bubble tea? It's a very unique taste. It is basically flavored green tea with these big 'pearls' on the bottem. They are basically coconut balls but chewy like tapioca. Then to top it all off, regardless of the fact it is -34, Steve ordered a bowl of green tea ice cream. I didn't enjoy that. It was like chewing on tree bark. If you ever come visit us we will take you there. You sit to eat on a large swing! Fun!

Canada beat Russia today with the oiler's draft pick scoring in the last 5 seconds to tie it up and then winning in a shoot out. They will play Sweden in the gold metal game. How exciting. Oiler's won tonight as well.

Tomorrow is our niece Mia's birthday! She will be the big 4. We will go eat butterfly cake after meeting tomorrow. Gramma is sick so it's nice to have lunch plans. She misses the kids when she doesn't do Sunday lunch. We will have to drop in later in the week when she is feeling better.

Christmas by the way was a blast. It has been bitterly cold these last few weeks of holidays thogh so that's a bummer. It is to warm up considerably on Monday when everyone heads back to work. Hayley starts swimming Monday and wednesday mornings and I babysit the rest of the days of the week so it is going to be extremely busy. I am looking forward to February with great excitment. Feb.1st we are off to Florida!!! Have all my shopping money all saved up.

Well I am going to sign off now and will leave you with a few photos for your viewing pleasure.

Love Jen