Our summer so far...

Well, this summer is going by quickly. I am grateful for that! I admit, at the beginning of summer I counted how many weeks the kids had off from school. TEN WEEKS. Oh my! I love having the kids home and having a break from the regular routines of the school year, but 10 weeks can be a looong time. Well, we are now 7 weeks down and only 3 weeks to go. I admit that the first week was a little hairy, but things have been very good, for the most part.

Here's Adam running around in pajama bottoms, his little housecoat, hospital green colored Crocs (which he adores!) and a Star Wars light Saber. Crazy outfit, I know, but this is Adam's choice of 'Jedi' clothing to wear in the summer... he's ready to fight off who knows what. Meanwhile I stand inside and shake my head and wonder what the neighbors must think of how I 'let' my kids dress!



We decided that this summer we would stay close to home and vacation in Manitoba. Bryce is from Manitoba, but the rest of us aren't, so we decided to venture out and explore at home. The kids are just happy to go wherever we go. As long as we promise food & a road trip of any sort, they are thrilled. Simple expectations, I love it!

One of the first things we did this summer was to go see 'Sarah the camel' in Glenboro. The kids LOVED the camel... and when it was time to leave, it took a bit to round the kids up & convince them that it was time to go.

Here's Madi and June having fun together. FYI, June loves to match her clothes with Madi's clothes. She also loves to pick out what Madi wears. Little type A mom in the making...

When we did get them rounded up, we took the kids for a picnic at Spruce Woods. It was an impromptu picnic, I grabbed some watermelon, cucumbers & carrots from home and then we stopped by the store & picked up some ice cream drumsticks on the way out. We also stopped by the Kelley's bakery and picked up some yummy pizza! We had a fun time!



We also had another picnic in Spruce Woods. This time we had more time to spend there. So we took the kids to the play park there and also to see the sand dunes, also known as the Spirit Sands.



















And this is what my kids look like when they are getting tired... it was 1.6 kms to get to the sand dunes. They slept well that night! :)



Oh, and how could I forget?!! I went away by MYSELF. Try not to die of shock. Yes, I did leave Bryce "alone with his own children" for 4 days. I flew to Edmonton to visit my family and Bryce took the kids home He survived me leaving, I came home to the same number of children... and most importantly, I returned home feeling sane again! It was a great visit and I was able to see all my brothers, my sister & my parents... we ate lots of good food & shopped a bunch too! Good trip! Thank you Mom, Dad, Lindsay & Liam for having me! (I realize now that I don't think I even took one picture while I was there. I guess if I'm not taking a picture, there's no reason for me to actually have a picture taken of me...)

We also decided to take the kids horseback riding. Dorothy Heaman, a lady from our church, has a bunch of horses at her home. She was nice enough to have us over so the kids could pet & ride the horses. The kids had a wonderful time! We are so glad they were able to go.

Here's June petting the horse.

Adam is cute as a button!

Noah had a GREAT time!

Madi before the ride...

... and after her ride.

And here is Madi after her ride... she was SO upset that we took her off of the horse!



And here's Bryce trying to console Madi.











Dorothy also showed the kids her chickens! The kids had so much fun!

Please chicken, be a nice chicken and do not peck my Madi!

And afterwards, she took us to see if the chickens had laid any eggs. And they had... 4 eggs! They were still watm. The kids thought it was so neat to hold a fresh egg.

I was a bit worried Madi would break the egg but she didn't.

Another highlight this summer was that Adam lost 3 teeth in one week! His bottom tooth was the first to go & if I remember correctly, it was on a Monday night. He was thrilled! Then on Thursday, the kids were jumping on our neighbors trampoline & Adam hit his mouth on Kimmie's head. His top, front 2 teeth were already loose, but after hitting his face, his tooth was just hanging there. It came out later that night when he was brushing his teeth... and he caught it just before it fell down the drain. Good reflexes Adam! Well, Adam obviously didn't think he had lost enough teeth at that point... by time Saturday came around, he pulled out his other loose tooth! He was so proud of himself. I think he may be a dentist in the making... he was so happy that he had a good method to pull out teeth. I have heard him telling the neighborhood kids exactly how to get a loose tooth out. Funny boy. Currently, Adam has one more loose tooth and he's wiggling it like crazy. It's just a matter of time before it's gone...

Tooth #1 gone

Tooth #2 gone. (I like Adam's checkerboard/hill billy smile!)

Tooth #3 gone. My boy the toothless wonder!

August long weekend we decided to take a trip to Winnipeg. We had initially planned to take the kids to the zoo, but once we got there, we realized that the weather wasn't co-operating and we weren't dressed properly. So we took the kids to Toys R Us and did a little bit of shopping at the mall. I can tell that the kids are related to me... they are always happy to go shopping! ;) We also took them to Olive Garden for lunch, which was fun. It's always nice to eat out... I love it because it means that I didn't make it and I don't have to clean up! Good times!





And Bryce wins the reward for telling the boys to bring in their new lego! It was wonderful! The girls colored & the boys built lego... very good!





We also met up with my childhood friend, Leslie Newton, now Keating. Leslie and I were neighbors & friends as little babies & toddlers and our mothers were really good friends too. Her family moved away & we didn't see each other for a number of years. Then my family moved to St. Albert and on my first day in a new school, Leslie & I were reunited! We were good friends for a number of years... which brought our moms together again.... they were always comparing notes to see if we were really doing what we said we were doing! Anyways, that's another story for another time! OK, long story short, Leslie & I found each other on Facebook a little while ago & we realized that we had the opportunity to meet up with each other again. So Bryce, the kids & I went over for a BBQ at one of Leslie's friends house in Winnipeg. It was absolutely GREAT to see her again! It was like we had never been seperated. The only thing that was clearly different was that we had husbands & children and she has a bit of an accent becuase she is now living in Australia! What a wonderful night we had. I hope we will have the chance to do this again one day. :) Love you Leslie!! :)



June had the camera and took some random shots... many were VERY random, but this one was good. Bryce & I are talking with Leslie & her husband, Shane, while Madi & her daughter, Mae play together.



We are still planning on taking a few more weekend trips. We'll see how things go with the weather. I'll post some more as the summer goes on. Oh yes, that reminds me.... only THREE WEEKS UNTIL SCHOOL STARTS! Still very excited about that.... :)

Easter April 2009

Easter weekend turned out completely different than what I had initially anticipated. I thought that we would have a quiet weekend at home, just me & the kids. (Bryce was away, working in Alberta, of course!) Then I got a call on the Wednesday night before the weekend. My mom called at about 9:30pm & said that she & my dad were thinking about driving out to see us... THE NEXT DAY! So I was excited & decided not to tell the kids, I thought it would be a good surprise for the kids. So I sent the kids off to school the next day and then I spilled the beans to one of the kids... I told Madi!! Hehehe... I couldn't keep it a complete secret, so I told the child who doesn't know how to talk!! Anyways, my parents came & brought Liam (my sister Lindsay's son) with them. We had such a fun weekend with them! It was great to have them come & visit, even if it was only for 3 days. :)

The first day we decided to go to the Sportsplex in Brandon. We had heard that there was a good pool there. It was awesome! The pool had a really fun water slide & a floating climbing mountain & lots of really cool pool toys. We spent a couple hours there & afterwards we went out to dinner together. It was a fun day together. :)

On our second day together we decided to go to Play Time so the kids could burn off some of their energy. The kids did just that! They ran and played and jumped for a good couple hours. In the last 20 minutes, Madi hurt her foot and couldn't stand on it. I thought maybe she was just tired & hungry initially, but then I realized that wasn't the case, she had actually hurt herself. So off to the hospital we went... all 8 of us! Grandma & Grandpa, Liam, my 4 kids & myself. Kinda a gong show. We soon realized that sitting in the ER with those numbers wasn't the most practical idea. My Dad was a good, good man... he took all the uninjured kids back home & put them to bed, while my mom & I did the hospital visit with Miss Madi. It turned out that Madi had a 'buckle fracture' on one of her bones in her left foot. Poor little muffin! Here's Madi, very overtired & unhappy with her temporary cast.



Since it was a Saturday night, Madi was only able to have a temporary cast. We went back to the cast room in the hospital the following Tuesday. She did really well... and she got a very cute hot pink cast! So cute! Well, at least at the end of this all, she looks adorable in her cast. :)




Here's a picture of Madi getting ready for her bath. I wrap her cast in towel & then double bag it and seal it with an elastic. She doesn't mind doing all of that... she just loves getting in the tub & will do whatever it takes to get in!!



See, Madi just couldn't wait any longer... apparently she was more interested in getting into the tub than having her picture taken! That's Madi for you! :)



Here's a video clip of Madi getting around in her cast. The doctors told me the first night that I would likely have to carry her everywhere & that she wouldn't walk much. They don't know our Madi. It didn't take her long to figure out how to maneuver herself & now after almost 2 weeks of her being in a cast, she's almost as fast in her cast as she is without it. She's so cute as she hobbles along. We love our little Madi! (If you want to hear the video clip without the music that plays on my blog, go to the sidebar and press the pause button on the music playlist!)





Sunday was Easter and we had a yummy turkey dinner. Mom, Dad & I decided that it was easy to do a turkey dinner when there are 3 people making it! We enjoyed our visit with Grandma & Grandpa & Liam! So glad they came & can't wait to see them again!

Spring Break March 2009

We had a nice surprise for Spring Break... Bryce was home! Bryce has been away in Suffield, Alberta since about mid March. (He has been working, doing military stuff.) He initially wasn't supposed to be home until mid May, but we all got lucky, Daddy came home for about 13 days! And thank heavens the 13 days went over the kids Spring Break! I thought I had died and gone to heaven! The kids were home & so was Bryce ~ wonderful timing! We sat down as a family & did some brainstorming as to how to spend our time together. The list was long & the kids had MANY ideas. (no surprise there!) Some ideas involved us going away & spending lots of $$ and others were more simple & much less expensive. Bryce & I thought about our options & made up an itinerary. We decided to stay closer to home & do more things (& spend less $$!)... we wanted the kids to feel like they had a fun week of activities & that they were put first. So here's what we did!

Monday we took the kids swimming. They had a blast & Madi went for her first swim. She hated it at first but after about 1/2 an hour or so, she warmed up to the idea of being in a huge 'bath tub' & by the end was actually enjoying herself. Good times! Noah, June & Adam virtually had the pool to themselves & thought that they had died and gone to heaven. The waterslide was a big hit too... Mommy & Daddy had a good time on it too!



Tuesday we took the kids to Ruckers. Ruckers is kinda like a small version of Chucky Cheese. Yes, it is noisy & is easily the last place I would like to spend my morning, but the kids LOVED it there! They played just about every game there & collected as many tickets as they possibly could. One machine gave out so many tickets to Adam, I thought that maybe it was broken!







After our morning in Ruckers, we treated the kids to lunch at Applebees. The kids had never eaten there before so we thought we would switch things up a bit and try somewhere different. They didn't want to go there at first but it didn't take much for them to change their minds... once they were seated, they were happy campers. :)





Wednesday we had a play day at home. I had laundry & things to catch up on so we stayed close to home.

Thursday we took the kids to Play Time. That is another place the kids love to go to and I can only stand to be there for a limited time. The kids ran & played basically until Bryce & I couldn't stand to be there anymore! ;)










Afterwards, we went to Grandma Rogers house for lunch. (Grandma Rogers is Bryce's grandma... we just love her to pieces! And she loves her great- grandbabies even more!!) We had a yummy lunch, as always, and a very nice visit too.





Friday night we had a Fun Friday with the kids. Daddy went to the Canex & bought a ton of treats for the kids & over to the movie store and rented 'Spiderwick Cronicles' for the kids. Grandpa Rollins invited Adam to go to the Winter Fair in Brandon & also for a sleep over. So he went out with Grandpa & had a fun time, while the rest of us stayed back & ate pizza in the living room & watched our movie.

Bryce was a little sad that he wasn't going to home over Easter & really wanted to see the kids do the Easter egg hunt & have their treats. So we decided that on Saturday we would celebrate Easter. The kids were ALL OVER that idea! So Saturday morning we got up & the kids did their egg hunt. So much fun! This was the first year that Madi kinda had a clue about what was going on. She would find an egg and then would pop it into her mouth, package and all (gross!) and then would move on to find another one. I was really impressed with June. She would lead Madi to the eggs & put them in her little bag & June often would take eggs from her own bag & put them into Madi's. I thought that was so nice of her to do that! Sweet moment for June & Madi! (They sure are good friends, I hope that always lasts.) At the end of the egg hunt, we combined what everyone found & split it up evenly. Then we gave them their bigger Easter treat. They were ready to eat!

And that was our Spring Break for 2009! We all had a good week! :)