BEAUTIFUL OCTOBER

Our October weather has been absolutely gorgeous, double digits, no wind, no rain. It's been glorious and we have been taking full advantage of it. I get up every morning and go for an 8 KM walk with Kansas in the stroller and Lily. Lily has been loving these nice long daily walks. Then when the kids get home from school we hop on our bikes, or walk to the park and play as long and as hard as we can until the sun goes down. I noticed such a difference in my kids behaviour when we can get outside and play after school for a good hour or two. They eat supper better, practice there piano better and do a better job reading at night. I am not looking forward to when the weather finally turns bad and the sun is set buy 4:00. But for now we are so grateful for this beautiful weather and soaking up every minute we can. 

WADE!!!

Crocodile Cake

special props

Wade loving his Crocodile cake

OK this Kid is 5 years old. Crazy, right! Wade has grown so much this past year and especially over the summer. He no longer looks like a toddler he is a full fledged kid now. He started French Immersion Kindergarten this year and is loving it. His best friend Brylin is in his class with him and his other two best buddies are across the hall in the other classroom. He comes home everyday with a smile on his face and always good things to say about how awesome school was today. Wade has a parade of friends always following him around and wanting to play with him. He is such a fun easy going kid and so well liked buy probably everybody or almost everybody. He is so lucky to be blessed with so many talents and abilities. He is very smart and his comprehension is very good, he is such a handsome boy and so photogenic, he is very athletic (except on a bike, he tries his hardest though when we go for bike rides) He does Gymnastics one night a week, Hip Hop on Fridays with Macie and Piano lesson on Monday right after school. He is absolutely loving piano lessons and is learning how to play so quickly. He is so excited to practice at home and will sit and play for a good 30 minutes everyday. Wades reading has come a long ways this past year and he is reading a lot of words and simple reading books. He still loves to just play play and play all day. When school first started the hardest part for him was not getting to play with his toys all day long. The second he would get home from school we would be in his room playing Transformers or with his dinosaurs. He would even wake up early sometimes just to get some play time in before school started. He's grown a lot this year and is almost as tall as Macie was at 6 years old. He loves his food (Pizza, pancakes, hot dogs, chips, muffins) but will thankfully eat lots of healthy food for me so he stays strong and healthy. Wade is so naturally funny, half the time he doesn't even realize he is making everyone around him laugh. He has really become a Momma's boy this past year and I love every minute of it. He still needs so much love and snuggles and tender moments. His heart is so kind and sweet and he can get his feelings hurt pretty easily. At night he still needs me to sing him a song and say a special poem to make his bad dreams go away. He still has many night terrors and at least 2-3 times a week is running into my bed in the middle of the night from a scary dream. I just love this kid so much and he brings so much Joy and Love into my life. He was a very difficult baby but over these past 2 1/2 years he has changed so much and is growing into one pretty amazing kid. We are so lucky to have you in our family Wade. Happy 5th Birthday!!!

a special surprise me and macie made for his lunch today

5 years old today

these two are becoming better and better friends everyday and I love it!

I LOVE THESE THREE

Mark has been away a lot these past 6 weeks, which has left me to do most of the parenting full time. There has been some hard moments and rough days, but overall these three kids of mine just amaze me everyday. They are growing up to be pretty amazing kiddos and I love spending time with them and watching them grow. They each have there own amazing qualities and characteristics and bring such a fun unique dynamic to our family. I am so excited for the many adventures we are having and our going to have as a family.

Science Experiment

Macie and Wade were needing some special time to have with mommy so mom thought that it would be a good idea to do a science experiment with the classic vinegar and banking soda with the addition of some food colour for effects.

Macie learned that if you combine certain chemicals they react- in this case they erupt like a volcano.


Wade learned that it was like a volcano exploding and it was fun.

Wade's Spirit Excellence Award

Each month, Holy Cross gives one special student  an award that was recommended by the teach. This month Wade received the award because of he was kind to his class mates band because he helps others around him. We are so proud of Wade because he chooses to help others instead of being selfish. Keep up the good work Wade. Always remember, that you will find more happiness in helping others that you will is satisfying your own wants..

Kalinda's Birthday

What do you get the girl who has everything....? ok not everything but lots of things.... answer: A night out.  But that requires a baby sitter.    Ahh Check.. got that figured out. Lydia Burgess, she can drive. and she brought a huge bag of garden items.
What can be done in Cold Lake on a week night/ school night.. Ahh

Lets try an escape room. And dinner. 

Kalinda is so keen on using her new bike that we had to bike around for the evening. 

Stop 1: Dinner at OJs. Ok this means sweet potato fries and dill dip no question, followed by 3 or 4 other appetizers... all of which were delicious.

Stop 2: Off to the escape room... Our friends the Ellis showed up to help add fun to the night. The owner, who opened up shop for us, because he had nothing else going, on was super awesome and he showed us all 4 rooms and  gave us the chance to choose. We had to choose "Violet's Room"

Violet and her family disappeared decades ago from their home, and the mystery continues to haunt the town. How did they vanish without a trace that fateful night and who or WHAT was responsible? Many feel the answer lies right here in Violets room, but it was locked for fear it will curse any who enter. Visitors flock from far and wide to attempt to unveil the mystery, to lift the curse of Violets room once and for all.

It was so well done up with very creepy props and trap doors, latch's, hidden doors, black light effects.  it was awesome. We had a blast, but we needed some hints to help us get going.  There were some very tricky items to figure out. Good exercise for the brain. Cant wait to go again.

A SPECIAL VISIT

All Summer long Macie and Wade have been collecting cards from the Peace Officers here in the town of Cold Lake. There was a total of 6 that we needed to find. Anytime we saw a Peace Officer the kids would run up and ask them for there card. A couple times we lucked out and got 2 at the same time. One of the Officers was even nice enough to come to our house after we had helped him move a heavy rock that was stuck on the road. He didn't have any of his cards with him and so he drove to our house later that night to bring us his card and some fun colouring books. It was such a fun part of our summer and finally last week we got our 6th and last card. The Officers ended up surprising Macie and Wade buy coming to there school and pulling Macie out of class and giving them a certificate and a stuffed animal and a cool touque. It was so sweet and our kids absolutely loved it. We are so impressed with the Peace Officers here in Cold Lake, they are always finding a way to make our community a better and safer place. 

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!

Summer is over and it is time for back to School. Macie was not scared but sad to not be at home with Mom and Dad all day. She put on a brave face though and had a very successful first day of school, even had a special visit which I will talk about in my next post. Wade was worried all summer long but last night something changed and he was so excited this morning to go to school. He went inside with no hesitations and came out grinning from ear to ear and the end of his first day. Macie's teacher Mme Sarah seams awesome and we already know Wade's teacher Mme Valerie is superb. So excited for these two and all the knew things they are going to learn this year.

SOMEONE'S WALKING

Well she took a little longer then our other two, but she has been wanting to do it forever. Finally last Wednesday night me and the kiddos were hanging out in the family room and she just started doing it. She had been walking for quit a long time but she always needed to hold our hand or use her walker. So when she finally started doing it on her own she was a maniac. She was practically running. For almost over an hour that first night she went back and forth between  Me and the piano bench just laughing and smiling and feeling so proud of herself. Since figuring out this whole walking thing it is all she wants to do now. She is pretty darn cute when she does it and still so proud of herself.

Summer Camping In Devon

We had big dream of a large family vacation to California, but we didn't save enough money, so we decided to change the destination to a little closer location. So we chose South Dakota, well our time line was such that we would be right in the middle of Sturgis bike rally, the biggest bike rally north of the Mississippi, so we changed again to go to Kelowna. Well, Kalinda ended up getting ankle surgery in July, and we knew that she would be in a lot of pain and would miss out on too much so we changed it to camping along the river in Devon AB. That is quite the change, I know.... 

     Our journey commenced Monday August 13 with a truck and trailer full of stuff. Our first stop was Glendon at the perogy park where there is a tram that the kids love to ride. Even Kansas took a ride. Mommy was denied any such pleasure. 

     Our next stop was the Ukrainian Village heritage site.  We did the quick tour and found out life in Alberta in the early 1900s. We saw the grain elevator, the police station, the train station, a gas station, a blacksmith and a school house. The kids got to take a ride on a horse drawn buggy for the large tour of all the different homesteads. We ended with some Ukrainian food. It was worth the stop. 

      We made it to our campsite in the Lions Park Campground in Devon just in time to set up and do some small scale exploring of the camp grounds. Luckily the park was right next to our camper, but the bathroom was not (poor mom). 

      Tuesday, we tried the bike trails around the park, which were a bit too hilly for our kids so we just biked around the camp ground. In the afternoon we rented tubes and Macie, Wade and Daddy floated down the river for an hour. That was a blast. Our tubes got tethered together so no one would get separated. Daddy's tube did not have a bottom in it so his bottom got wet, which the kids loved.  Thanks to Wade for carrying Daddy's sandals on your tube and keeping them nice and dry. After the tube trip, we found a beach area to play in the water for a bit. We forgot Kansas' bathing suit so she wore the only suit she had, her birthday suit.. :(  We got back to camp around 530 and ate a tinfoil dinner after which the kids played at the park till it was too dark to think so they wondered back to our site.

       Wednesday, we went to the city and checked out Telus World of Science the dinosaur exhibit.

we also watched the panda bear IMAX movie. The kids loved the whole thing, the movie, the exhibit, the hands on science exhibits, and the space area.  I caught both kids touching copperlite. ;) 

      After that we tried our luck at West Edmonton Mall. Poor Mom hiked a few Kms up and down that mall, even with the wheel chair we borrowed. We took a photo of big foot, a hockey player, a beautiful princess with her horse, and some creepy dude trying to be a cowboy. 

     Before bed time we tried our luck fishing on the river. It was hard to find a good spot, so we just got some practice in, no fish. We did catch a Macie, some salid, a few sticks and some branches.

      Thursday was pack up and head home, it was a short trip but we had lots of fun. Always glad we do things like this even though they seem overwhelming, its always so worth it.