Fleetingly...

That really is how time seems to go.  Especially as I'm on the other side of childhood now.  It seems so crazy to remember when a school year was an eternity and summer seemed to last forever.  Now, I look at my kids and think, how can they even get to know their teacher in such a short time and where on earth did the summer go?  Today was the first day of school here.  My oldest is in grade 2 and my second boy just started kindergarten.  Wow.  The oldest isn't home from school yet but I hope his day went better than his drop off.  Evan came home full of smiles and reports that he'd made lots of new friends (not that he can remember any of their names).  I get nervous every first day of school, too, but I always have and it always turns out fine.

We spent the last weekend of summer just hanging out around the house.  We went down the the Dragon Boast Festival for a bit (not as exciting as I'd hoped - the kids definitely liked the chuck wagons better) and took the boys bike out for a ride - trying to teach them both.  We walked the bus drop off and went to music lessons and stuck a little bit of last minute shopping in there.  It really didn't seem like enough, though.  This morning came way too early.  Now, Evan gets a day off and I hope it will be easier to get Xander on the bus tomorrow.

Anyway, here are the rest of May's photos (I know, I know, at this speed I might catch up some day!).

May 16 - A friend of ours (from our Care Group) brought these back from Hong Kong for all the ladies.  It's a foot crack cream and, let me tell you, if you've ever seen my feet you know I could use it!

May 17 - Well, I guess there are a few pictures of me in here :).  I was making Jonathan's birthday cake and aren't I just adorable?  This is what happens when you test the VERY blue icing you are making.

May 18 - Once again, this is a two-picture day...mostly because we had Jonathan's 2nd birthday party on our anniversary.  This is Jason opening up his anniversary gift (which he thought we'd order that night but I had already done so :) ).  I got him an iPhone, which he'd been wanting for a LONG time.  So now his joke is that he has the most expensive cell phone ever with the cheapest cell plan ever.  And it's true.

We also celebrated Jonathan's second birthday that day.  He adores Cookie Monster and I wanted to make an easy cake so a giant cookie seemed appropriate.  I had extra batter so the Cookie Monster cupcakes turned out to be a nice accent.  Also, he went through about 3 vests that day but every time one got dirty, he insisted on a new one!

May 19 - The big boy gets his bed.  Jason went down to Madison's to pick up Jonathan's mattress so that he could now have a big boy bed.  He hadn't been too thrilled about sleeping in the crib or play pen for a while now.

May 20 - Long weekend celebrations at the farm.  The kids have a blast running around outside all day and stuffing their faces full of marshmallows.  It's always finished off by a fireworks show.  This is one of my better photos from that night.

May 21 - I just thought it was cute.  Jason and Xander were playing Super Mario Galaxy and Xander was wearing his matching shirt.  So I took a picture :).

May 22 - Trying to make Xander's hair last until Jessica's wedding without a hair cut.  I'm cheap that way.  I figure if I'm patient and pay a bit of attention at the salon, I can trim it up a bit.  I didn't even do too bad a job.

May 23 - FedEx...I actually discovered where they are in the city and went out to the airport to send something to my brother.  In fact, I had to return home because I'd forgotten something and then drive out to the airport AGAIN.  I can't remember exactly why, though.

May 24 - Getting ready to place the caterpillars.  Every creature deserves a pretty home so the boys decked out the boxes in preparation for moving the critters.

May 25 - SaskEnergy - for some reason, they're trying to make sure the neighbourhood doesn't blow up.  They came and did a bit of worked and staked out the lines so that they could dig up the easement. I just checked a couple days ago and, not only did they NOT kill the rhubarb, as I had hoped but they actually SPREAD it and there was another plant out our door!!

May 26 - Off to the bank we go.  Xander made his very first deposit of his savings into his very own bank account.  A big day for the young lad.

May 27 - Race day!  Not sure which race this was, exactly, but the boys don't seem to care.  They always want to watch the race, but mostly end up playing while Dad ATTEMPTS to watch the race!

Yeah, yeah, I missed May 28th...it was a Monday and probably boring...or I was tired and forgot.  That seems to happen a lot lately.

 May 29 - Hmmm...I wonder what we are doing.  Looks like t-ball to me!  This may have been a game that I took Evan to, while Jason took Xander to his.  It has that look to it.  That would also explain why I have fewer photos of Xander playing ball.

May 30 - Our caterpillars are all cozily cocooned and about ready to move into their new homes (that's Jason's job, by the way!)

May 31 - Today I was obviously at Xander's ball game...can't you tell by his professional stance and equipment?  Well, there was a little distraction in that there was a small hill by the field where the boys (Xander and his teammates) discovered they could have a lot of fun rolling down the hill.  Post game celebration, I guess! :)

There, I am not completed May and it's just about time to go watch for Xander and his bus so I guess it's just in time.

Until next time...

Where Has Summer Gone?

Well, I know it's been forever since I've posted but somehow I thought I'd have more time this summer.  Between painting, car races, weekends out of town, VBS and just trying to get some chores done at SOME time, the days have flown by!!  We are in the middle of VBS and it, in itself is exhausting, never mind doing it while I'm pregnant and tired, anyway.  Today we had 319 kids...it's crazy.  Plus, we're using a new system in registration and it's just a little chaotic at times.  But, I did manage to get a few photos together from....eek, I think I'm on May...so I'll share them with you and we'll see how far we get!

May 1 - Ball season starts!!  This year, Evan gets to play too.  This is his first t-ball game.

May 2 - Spring really has shown up.  I noticed that the hedges were finally covered in spring leaves.

May 3 - I finally got to use my stove for its intended purpose.  For the very first time, I cooked two different things at two temperatures in one oven.  YAY!

May 4 - The beginning of date nights!  Jason's sister agreed to exchange date nights/babysitting nights with us each month and it's fabulous knowing we'll get a night out without having to search for and pay a babysitter.  This is the day we babysat.

May 5 - SaskEnergy came to call.  Since our neighbourhood had many gas leaks and a couple of explosions the past year, they are inspecting and repairing all the gas lines as needed.  They informed us that they would be in the easement that is fenced into our yard.  We had to remove this rotting deck (which needed to be done anyway) but thankfully, the fence stayed in tact even with their big machinery.

May 6 - I think I mentioned that it was ball season.  Apparently, that also means rainy season.  Xander's first ball game was cancelled due to the wet stuff.

May 7 - Allowance day!  (Well, whenever we remember at the beginning of the month, anyway).  Xander gets allowance and has to save some of his money, give some to church and then he can spend the rest.

May 8 - Ah, finally!  We got to play ball!  Little League actually has nice diamonds so they cancel ball more often than t-ball but Xander did finally get to play.

May 9 - Once again, I forgot to take a picture.  As you can see, it must have just been a typical Wednesday!

May 10 - It's amazing how fast they grow up.  Xander decided that he was going to write up the memory verse for the week.  He copied this from the Bible all by himself.

May 11 - Two year photos are coming up!!  Time to take Jonathan for a hair cut.  This was the first time he'd ever gone to a salon.  My cousin had cut his hair at our house before this.  He loved it, though!  Especially that blow dryer.  Seriously, most kids hate the blow dryer but Jonathan kept wanting her to use it more.

May 12 - I had to figure out what he was going to wear for his photos.  I didn't want to use the exact same outfit as his cousin photos so I just found this adorable vest to go over top his pink shirt (which he loves!).  When I bought it, h asked about the hanger and when I told him it was to hang the vest up, he immediately took it to our room and our closet to hang it up!

May 13 - This was Mother's Day.  Here I am with my three boys.  Xander had a ball game and afterwards, we just had a picnic at the park and then I played with my gift, a remote control for my camera.

May 14 - It's always fun when the boys bring me "flowers" in from the yard.  Evan picked me this cute little yellow one on this day.

May 15 - Did I say ball season?  Yep, more t-ball.  Jason out in the field helping Evan learn to at least go for the ball :).

OK, so I got some of May done.  But, it's supper time and I'm still a bit tired so that's all I'm up to today!!

Until next time...

Time to Go...

On vacation, that is.  But first, I will post two photos for you.  One of the wedding cake I made and one of the cutest little ring bearer ever :) (and I'm not biased - but I am so proud of how he did).  Also, here is the link to our travel blog if you want to follow along!

First: the cake.  It turned out pretty well, though there were some flaws (major and glaring to me, but not likely to anyone else).

Then: the very serious ring bearer.  But still, there he is!

Until next time...

Chaos

Yep...that's kinda what life seems like at the moment (and for the last month).  Too much to do, not enough time and this blog is one of those things hanging over my head, making me feel like there's too much to do.  So, right here and now, I'm letting myself off the hook.  I'm not going to stop blogging but I will take a hiatus until the mid to end of July.  This week, we are busy getting ready for a wedding where Xander is a ring bearer and I'm making the wedding cake so I have a few days of baking ahead of me.  Then, we're headed on vacation, so I'm trying to get ready for that, too.  Plus, there's the every day clean the house, do laundry (maybe actually fold it sometime - yeah right!) and feed kids and all that fun stuff.  Also, school is now out.  It's good, I look forward to having the kids all home but the dynamic certainly changes.  Xander did really well in grade 1 and is excited(?) for grade 2 next year!  So, come vacation time, I'll post a link to our vacation blog and you can follow along is you want, but other than that, I won't be posting again until after we're back and settled in!  Then, I'll have tons to post :) and I won't feel like everybody's waiting for me to post now.  I know, it's been a month but June had one thing after the other in it, too.

Until next time...

Finishing Off April!

Well, June has started off as a crazy busy month.  There was company (lots of fun with my parents, sister and her kids) and ball (in fact, three games on Sunday).  There was a birthday party and ball.  :)  There was Jonathan getting a new bed (making me exhausted) and ball.  Now the craziness is over just to be replaced by more craziness this weekend.  I am off to Calgary for a women's conference on Friday and we have a field trip tomorrow to look forward to.  I kinda can't wait until next week when we don't have so much to do (just ball - oh yeah, did I mention ball).  Anyway, it's all fun but is tiring and does just mess up the schedules!

Anyway, here is the rest of April in pictures.

April 21 - Two photos again.  The first is the prep photo.  My stove is disconnected from the wall, the half wall is removed and all we have to do now is wait for the stove to arrive (and Sears to take away ours!).  Photo two is after delivery.  My new stove is finally here and doesn't take up as much space I as thought it would.  You can even kinda use the door still.

April 22 - The bus ride to church.  The newest bus has seat belts and that is all Jonathan cares about.  He wants "buckle!"  He can do them up and undo them all by himself and he thinks it's the greatest thing.  He even totally threw a fit the one Sunday when we got an old bus without buckles!

April 23 - The electrician was here, the anti-tip device installed and it's time to get the stove ready to use.  This is the initial run it with nothing in it as the manufacturer suggests.

April 24 - The very first thing I made with my new stove.  The ever popular, always delicious banana chocolate chip muffins.  They turned out fabulous, too.

April 25 - We had our Public School Moms' group in the morning and the kids just run rampant in the basement (or play, as it's sometimes called).  When I came down, this was the crazy chaos that I found!

April 26 - At the doctor's office (and not a good photo).  Jonathan hurt himself Wednesday night and he was still limping some Thursday morning so I figured I'd better take him to the doctor.  Since mine didn't have any convenient times, we just went to the walk-in clinic down the street.  The doctor there didn't think he'd torn or broken anything but it was swollen so she figured he probably sprained his knee a bit.  Not sure how.  He'd fallen the night before - maybe he was spinning like his brother...I was in the kitchen so who knows?

April 27 - Craft time!  Print, colour, cut and glue together Angry Birds!  Xander was having some fun playing the game in real life.

April 28 - Me with my old-new glasses.  I had been using old ones for a while as these ones needed to be tightened and fixed.  Now they looked wonderful!

April 29 - Family game time!  Well, all except Jonathan.  Kinder Bunnies is the favourite around here.

April 30 - At the bank with my boys.  Opening accounts for them, since BMO had a deposit $25 in a new kids account and we'll match it.  This was the last day for the promo...nothing like planning ahead!

There you go!  April is complete.  I likely won't even start May until I'm back from my weekend trip but you never know...so stay tuned :P.

Until next time...

More April!

Well, I must say that today is an exciting day!  First off, Jonathan slept in past 7 a.m. this morning (in fact, around 8ish - miracle of all miracles).  Second, my anniversary present just came!!  My beautiful new camera bag/purse.  It's bright and red and oh, so pretty.

Anyway, I have more April photos for you...

April 12 - Easter vacation means fun times for the kids.  This was sleepover day with cousin Lucas.  Of course, there was much Wii playing, too.

April 13 - My poor little boy.  He had such red eyes. Not sure what it was.  I'm pretty sure it wasn't pink eye and I think it may have just been due to his cold but it sure looked bad.

April 14 - An exciting day at Sears.  This was the day we purchased our brand new stove, sight unseen.  However, I am loving it!

April 15 - This is a horrible photo but it's the best I have of the kids playing in the gym at church.  This was one of those days where we were serving in all three services so the kids needed a place to hang out.

April 16 - Any kind of machines are always an excitement around our house.  The city had started street sweeping and the sweepers were emptying their dirt into a dump truck right in front of our house.

April 17 - Back to school in the snow.  We barely had any snow over the winter and I think it snowed as many times in April as it did the rest of the winter.

April 18 - The Incredibles!!  This is Jonathan's favourite movie and he is so cute about it.  It's where he learned about rockets, too.  Also, notice Evan in the laundry basket.  He loved sitting in it to watch shows until it tipped over and cut his head the other day.

April 19 - See?  More snowing.

April 20 - The very last thing I baked in my old oven.  And it got too dark...somehow it seems appropriate :)

Well, that's all I've got for now and it's just about lunch time so I will sign off and bring you more photos later.

Until next time...