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...

Let's Get Started!!

...on April, that is :).  I guess it's time to get April's photos up.  Maybe one of these days I'll actually get caught up.  Every time I edit and post, I think "That didn't take long.  I should do this more often."  Then I don't.  But, the kids are at the circus with Papa and Daddy right now so I have a bit of time.

So, on the home front, it's ball season.  It could be really crazy for us but it's been raining.  That means my poor boys don't get to play as much ball as they'd like.  Xander's league actually rescheduled some of the games so hopefully we can get a few more in.  He's really improving over last year and both boys have so much fun there.

On the Jonathan side, we finally got him his own "bed" (it's a mattress on the floor).  He wasn't as excited as I thought he'd be, since he was always wanting Evan's bed.  Well, he still wanted Evan's bed.  He also wouldn't stay in his own bed.  We tried just laying with him for a couple nights, hoping he'd catch on but he didn't so it took a whole night of me sitting there, putting him (or his foot or his hand) back on the bed every time he'd put it off.  It worked.  We won.  The only problem now is that when he wakes up at 6 a.m. he can get out of bed and wake me up (or cause a disaster elsewhere).  Progress, though and hopefully that will change some.

Anyway, we can get on to April's photos now.

April 1 - Not sure if you can see it but Xander has a strange mix of dry cereal that he decided to have for supper Sunday (eat whatever you want day).  If I remember right, it was Lucky Charms, Honey Nut Cheerios and Corn Pops.  Needless to say, he didn't actually eat it all :).

April 2 - It was a nice day so I took the two younger boys for a walk down to the lake.  It was chilly but they love to look at the water and have a run around.

April 3 - Somedays it's just worth it to go outside!  18 degrees at the beginning of April.  Really, who could complain?

April 4 - It was care group Wednesday and one of the ladies in our care group made Eater goody bags for all the kids (including the teenagers!).  These were extras because she didn't fill the little kids' bags as full so that they wouldn't overdose on candy.  It was really sweet of her and I was telling her how I think we really need to do more for Easter, to emphasize its importance and get our kids more engaged.

April 5 - Fun day!  We went for a fast food supper and swimming with some family and had a lovely time at the pool.  Jonathan really loved the little slide once I let him go to the kiddie pool.  I like to start in the bigger one because it's colder and if we start in the kiddie one, I'll never move!

April 6 - My very first attempt at making hot cross buns.  They turned out not too bad.  They were a bit dense...I really gotta figure out how to get my buns to rise more.  Since my parents were in Europe, I didn't have my Mom to make them for me so I had to do it myself!

April 7 - My project, my prerogative.  I have two photos for this day.  Since we were having some family come over the next day, we did our Easter egg hunt Saturday night with the kids.  Here they are with all their candy spoils.

Also a tradition (hopefully) that we started this year.  It's the Easter advent calendar.  I had 8 eggs with a Bible passage, a symbol, and a treat in them that we opened for the 8 days up to and including Easter Sunday.  This was a "white cloth" to symbolize the cloth used to wrap Jesus' body.

April 8 - Again, my project, my prerogative...two photos :).  This is the resurrection cookies that we attempted to make.  They turned out OK (meringues that had a story to go along with them and the next morning they were empty...just like the tomb).  They tasted really good, though.

A quick family photo on Easter Sunday.  The kids are all dressed up in their cute outfits so I had to make sure I got a photo.  It's inside because it snowed outside Easter weekend.

April 9 - I just love when the kids cooperate and get along.  Xander is sharing his book with Jonathan here and telling him all about it.  It was really very cute.

April 10 - Today was dentist day.  Both the boys and I had appointments so we made a morning of it.  We took the bus downtown, did a bit of shopping and even met Dad for lunch.  Here we are waiting for the bus to go downtown.

April 11 - This photo is pretty anti-climactic since I don't have one.  Oops.  This was the first day that I forgot to take a photo.  I guess it was just a regular Wednesday.

So, we're almost half way through April and that's all the photos I have done up at the moment.  Soon, I will be back...I promise :).

Until next time...

A Sacred Day

Before God and these witnesses, 

I make this promise - that I will 

choose to love you each day of our 

lives together.  God has given us this 

love and, beause of it, I will always 

be your best friend, standing beside 

you throughout the good times and the 

bad.  Today I marry you and give you 

 my heart and my love, which shall 

always be yours.

These are the words that Jason and I said to each other 10 years ago today.  It was a solemn vow, a promise to be faithful to each other and to the God who gave us to each other.  Here we are...10 years later.  A bit older, a few more kids, a few vacations, one more house than we had back then but still working on living out these words.  I just thought I'd take you on a bit of an journey through our last ten years.

2002 - Young, in love and just married!  (In fact, 10 years ago about an hour from now)

2003 - Our first anniversary spent in Calais, France

2004 - We purchased our very first home.

2005 - No longer two, we added Alexander.

2006 - Fun times as a family of 3.

2007 - Along comes the next one...we welcome Evan.

2008 - Our kids' first time on an airplane and other fun in Tijuana, Mexico.

2009 - Adventures with toddlers.  The jerseys are symbolic of Jason's finishing university.

2010 - Still expanding...here comes Jonathan.

2011 - Just enjoying life and each other.

2012 - Everyone's growing up so fast...Easter this year.

2013...and beyond - who knows?  But I sure am looking forward to it.

It has been a wonderful 10 years and here's to the next 10!!  (By the way, we're definitely the old married couple since we're spending our 10th anniversary throwing a 2nd birthday party for our youngest! :) ).

Until next time...

March Part III...

Well, yesterday was Mother's Day and it really was a beautiful day.  We had a lot to do at church in the morning but we did get to spend a good afternoon and evening together.  We all went to Xander's Little League game and then had a picnic in the park.  It was nice just to sit out in the beautiful weather.  My kids got me a remote control for my camera so we even took a few family photos!  Then, we played a few games at home and the day was good.

It does look like summer has arrived as the weather is just beautiful and forecasted to stay that way for a bit.  It's nice to have the sun out again!  It's going to be a busy week this week again but it's all good.  Jonathan turns 2 on Sunday but we're celebrating on Friday (same day as our 10th anniversary).  Not to mention ball, ball and more ball :).  Good thing I actually enjoy ball and we get to sit outside in nice weather, rather than getting up at 5 a.m. in the dead of winter for hockey! :)

Anyway, here is the rest of our March...

March 22 - The day was nice and the cement was dry so Xander just had to try out the 3D chalk he got for Christmas.  It really does work and he totally thought it was cool...though maybe his look isn't with these glasses on...

March 23 - This was conference day at school.  The other boys had gone to Auntie's so that Mom & Dad could both go to the conferences and, of course, Xander came along to school, too.  Xander's choice after that was to spend the entire day with just him and Mom.  We had fun together and played at the park some (even though it was cold - notice my winter jacket).

March 24 - Jonathan's getting into the swing of things in the kitchen.  He just had to help me make cookies.  He's actually not a bad helper, either.  Doesn't even make much of a mess.  He loves to sit on the counter, too.

March 25 - Today was a sad day.  We had to say good-bye to this little fellow.  He was part of our family for a time but it was time for him to join his family.  So, we had a farewell/birthday party for him.

March 26 - Playing Uno...this happens a lot in our house.  One of the kids must have taken this photo.  Evan, maybe?

March 27 - The unpredictable spring...snow!  It barely snowed all winter but then snowed several times during the spring.  Ah, life on the prairies.

March 28 - It was cold, yes, but not icy or drifts of snow so we can still use the stroller!  We headed out to the bank all bundled up, but getting some exercise in!

March 29 - The first time I had my windows open at all.  It wasn't really the warmest but still, it was nice to have some fresh air in the house.

March 30 - My sister and her family came into town for the weekend.  This is little Jari with Evan.  Sometimes Evan can be really sweet.

March 31 - Little Jari with those great big eyes!  Who can resist them?  I love this photo so I had to play with it a bit, too.

Well, we made it through to the end of March, now I just have to get on April's stuff!  But for now, I think I'll head outside with the kids.

Until next time...