Sebastian

A few weeks ago Matt and Tarilyn came over for Sunday dinner and had Sebastian in this cute little number.  I provided the hat and viola!  THE cutest little chubby-bubby in the world!  (Pinch marks on the tummy courtesy of Matt).  Love my nephew!

Soccer Time!

I love seeing these boys decked out in their jerseys and shorts and soccer socks. They are so pumped to come to soccer every Saturday (Thanks to Christy Harker for organizing it!!).  Here are a few pics of the boys in action.


Jackson tells me all the time how much he loves soccer and how it is his favourite sport.  He gets really into it especially when his team scrimmages together.  He is always in ready-position and slide-kicks the ball every 30 seconds.  Haha!  It's really cute.  I'm sure if he had the proper foot-wear he might have slide-tackled that ball with even more precision (being the competitive boy he is), but in classic get-out-the-door fashion, we could not find either of the boys cleats last week, so crocks it was!

Noah is in the younger age-grouping but he seems to be loving soccer more and more.  I kind of half expected him to come find me on the side lines more out of lack of attention, but Christy is an amazing coach to these kids and always has them occupied and having fun!  Noah is loving it!  He may love baseball and basketball a little more, but I think putting on the soccer gear really gets him excited about the sport.  In fact, the day we got their uniforms he wore it almost every day for a whole week until I told him he wasn't allowed anymore and he had to wear real clothes again.  I seriously had to hide his uniform, ...and then he found Jackson's and wore HIS.  Haha!  No stopping that kid when he wants something.

Here he is kicking the ball around in his own world while Christy is trying to give all of the kids instructions.  Haha!  I love young kids and soccer.  It's a wonder she can even get them organized at all!  At least he's applying soccer-skills and not picking a dandy-lion or chasing a butterfly.  Well done Christy!

I love this team-cheer picture. Too cute!

And how is Ellie keeping busy on the side-lines while her brothers are sweating?  Making the moves on Jarom Butler.  Haha!  Should I be scared?

Anywho, I'm only a LITTLE sad that I don't get to play soccer myself this year. This is one of the down-falls of having a Summer pregnancy! I will have to time the next one better. Sheesh! I hate feeling like an 80 year old woman and cannot wait to get back into shape. I raked the back yard yesterday for maybe a half hour and I totally paid the price!  It's annoying to say the least.  I was too sick at the beginning of my pregnancy to keep up on exercise and then by the time I started to feel well enough, my doc said NO WAY. Don't work out, you will kill yourself. And I kind of believe him, although I am not loving the cottage cheese forming on the back of my legs and buttox! Running and swimming.... how I miss you.....  At least I can live vicariously through my boys!  Summer is all about soccer fun!

Noah is FOUR!

Yesterday was Noah's birthday!  Sometimes it is hard to believe he is already four, but it helps that the past couple months Jackson has been reminding Noah that he is going to be four soon which, of course, has also been reminding ME.  Leave it to Jackson to constantly be reminding everyone of their birthdays! ("Dad's birthday is next!").  We told Noah that we were going to Chuck-E-Cheese's for his birthday so of course he was super pumped about it, ...but then we added that we have to wait for Daddy to come home from work first.  So, needless to say it was a long day filled with distractions!  The morning started out with me having a doc's appt and no babysitter, so I got to bring the kids along to meet the Doctor who delivered them!  (...well, technically he was only on call for Jackson....).  Anywho, thankfully the appt was quick and painless, ...and it also helps that I bribed the kids with going to Jackie Parker Park afterwards.  Thankfully the weather cooperated because it has been raining a lot this week!  That park is seriously the best!  Probably because it is 5 parks in one, so if the kids get bored with one section we move along to the next!  Anywho, ...the rest of the afternoon was filled with slurpees and ...watching TV.  I'm so fun.  It started to get rainy and cold though, so we were kind of stuck inside while Ellie napped.

Anywho, after a LONG afternoon we met up with Joe at the famous Chuck-E Cheese!  I tried to get Noah to take a picture with the actual figurine on stage, but he was too freaked out of it.  I don't blame him.  He blinks and everything.  Creepy.  So here's a family shot in front of a poster of him instead!

Honestly, when I think of Noah, I don't think of a big party with lots of kids.  I was considering planning one but he kind of just likes to do his own thing, so I figured this place would be the best for him.  ...Although the entire time I was wondering if he was really enjoying his birthday or not.  I felt a bit guilty for not doing a HUGE bash, but this is honestly Noah.  And yes.  He DID have a blast.  It was simple and fun!  So it was nice for me too.

Noah's fav game was the basket-ball one.  AND he was pretty good at it too!  Another true-Burnham on his way!  And then here he is below, bored as sin.  Ellie LOVED this ride and Noah thought he would join her.  I am pretty sure he jumped off halfway through it.  It just goes around in really slow circles, but somehow Ellie was in Heaven.  I was bored for them both!

Yes. We ate here. The last place I wanted to eat, but it was Noah's party so we stuck around and ate whatever Chuck-E served! Pizza and Chicken and fries. Sounds harmless enough? Well, it was gross. The end.
  
I think one of the funnest parts for the kids was feeding the ticket machine all the tickets the kids collected, ...which got them all of two wiggly straws and 5 small pieces of candy! Haha!

Since I was not allowed to bring in outside food (oh darn), we went to DQ for ice cream cake!  I seriously still feel like a bit of a bad Mom because I didn't spend hours preparing a cake or making crazy plans for his party, but the night before Jackson asked Noah what kind of cake he wanted (uh-oh) and while Noah was thinking about it I offered, "What about an ICE CREAM CAKE?!" in the most animated voice possible.  It worked!  The funny thing is, I think I asked Jackson about a month in advance what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday and made such a big deal about it, so of course Jax was making it a big deal for Noah too.  I was considering making him a Lego-cake, but the thought of going to a store and eating it there and not cleaning up afterwards just sounded too tempting.  Sorry Noah.  Next year when I am not pregnant and in the middle of moving I promise to put more effort into your party!  He didn't complain, so I'll take it!  Unfortunately he DID cry, right before we took this picture!  Right as we were about to sing him Happy Birthday he tripped and fell in classic-Noah fashion and landed right on his  face.  Sheesh.  I think that kid falls down 20 times a day.  Anywho, so he wasn't too pleased in this pic....

...but he got over it. With CAKE!

Daddy showing Ellie how it's done!

When I asked Noah what his favourite part of his Birthday was, he told me "all the pwesents!!!!"  He has been playing with his Legos all day, in fact he JUST barely said to me, "Mom, I love all my Harry Potter Legos."  Cute.  I did good.  ...I did good....

Here is Noah's excited birthday-face.

And this is where I get to do some updating about my sweet little man, and perhaps even get a little sentimental.

Noah, of all the kids you are the least predictable.  Sometime you are fearless and will jump off of anything, or climb anything without a second thought or you will jump into a pool (with water wings) and not even blink.  And then sometimes it takes all the courage you have to stand close to a spider or go to Primary happily without looking back.  You most certainly have a tender side to you.  Although you are brave with many things, you still love to be cuddled and kissed and sung to.  You still love to carry your blankie around (although I have tried many times in vain to hide it or leave it in your room so you don't depend on it, ...which, too late, you do), and you love to sleep with two stuffed puppies that Daddy got you boys a couple years ago when he came home from a trip.  When ever you get a scrape or fall down, you cry and make sure the whole world can hear you, and I let you just let it all out because to me, you are still my little guy and I don't mind babying you when you are hurt.  Unfortunately, like I said, you fall down about 20 times a day!  So, ...that's a lot of crying.  But it's sweet because you just want to be held until you get bored enough or distracted and leap off my lap to play again. Sometimes it takes you a while to be happy again, but usually you are pretty good at forgetting you just got hurt.  I used to have a lot of play practices in the evenings and before I would go, which was usually a half hour before your bed time, you would see me off at the door and make sure to give me a hug and kiss.  Sometimes you would have Dad call me before your bedtime because you were sad and you would ask me to give you a hug and kiss when I got home.  It made me feel pretty good.  Just so you know, I always did.  In fact, I do it every night before I go to bed myself.

You are still a very imaginative little boy.  Right now you are playing with your Lego guys at the table and have been for about an hour or so just bantering back and forth, "Aaaah!  You got me!  ...No, you didn't got me, Jack Spawwel (Jack Sparrow).  Woah!  He is flying!  No he is, and I am not.  And now I need to get the last bad guy.  It's this guy that is the bad guy.  Hawwy Potter.  Get up.  You were asleep on your pillow. I am tired though.  I am too.  Yawn. etc."  And then there are a lot of sound effects in-between.  You could do that sort of thing for hours.  It is so cute.  Makes me wonder where you come up with it all.  Seriously though, you are happy doing your own thing.  Sometimes you break out of your shell if we are at the park and you find new friends, but most of the time you just do your own thing.  I think most of the time you try a little harder when you see that Jackson is making new friends, because you guys are such close buddies and do everything together.  If Jax is playing with a friend, you generally like to be involved and not left out.  I wonder how that dynamic will change when Jax goes to Kindergarten.  Maybe you and Ellie will finally be friends?  We shall see.  You are getting better around her and more patient, ...but mostly, you are happier when she is out of your business.  Haha!  Although I WILL say that more and more I have seen a tender side to you when it comes to her and Charlie and other little ones.  When we were visiting your cousin, Wren, earlier this week for the first time, you were the one that showed the most interest in her of all the kids.  You kept wanting to hold her and kiss her and sing her songs, which surprised your Dad and I a little bit.  It is a welcomed surprise especially knowing we have another little one coming into our family!

I love to hear you talk.  You can't say your "r's" so they sound more like "awes."  It's pretty adorable AND your voice is naturally a little scratchy too, so I try to capture you talking on camera as much as possible.  Sometimes you get shy so I have to be pretty sneaky, but I love to hear you talk or sing.  It is seriously SO cute.  Just right now I looked over at you while you were playing with your Lego guys and you got shy and told me to look away.  I didn't even have a camera!  Haha!  You are the same with singing and humming.  You like to randomly hum the Indiana Jones theme song, Harry Potter theme song and Pirates of the Carribean theme song, and don't think that anyone can hear you.  So if I pay any attention to you while you are singing it, you get shy and stop.  Haha!  It's pretty adorable.

You are an active little guy!  If you are not playing with your Lego guys, you prefer to be jumping off the couches, or outside kicking a ball around or at the park or just DOING something.  That is honestly why I have less pictures of you than the other kids, ...you are always off doing your own thing!  While we were at Fairmont, your new favourite activity was going swimming!  You could swim forever if I let you!  Sometimes you were a little nervous to try new things, like dunk your head under or jump in, but as soon as you did something once, you could do it over and over and over again.  I'm really impressed with how quickly you catch on to things and how willing you can be to try new things and be "bwave."  I've discovered I can usually bribe/convince you if needs be to get you to do something ...and the thing I've learned to take away is watching your favourite show, "Stella and Sam."  You love that show.  We finally just started to PVR all the episodes because you like watching it so much, then that way we don't have to wait until 6pm every day to watch it.  Anywho, I tried it last week at church and asked you to be brave and go to class and be happy and sit still, and that was just too much for you.  But as soon as I talked about taking away Stella and Sam, you hopped up and went straight there!  So glad I figured that one out....  The funny thing is you love your teachers (Donna Evans and Kerry Guadette) and always have a smile on your face when I pick you up, so I am guessing you are just a clingy little guy and love me way too much to leave my side.  At least, that is what I will tell myself!

I can get you to laugh pretty easily.  All I have to do is look at you with wide eyes like I'm a scary monster and you start to giggle nervously and push my face away.  Giving you really fast eskimo-kisses also does the job.  I love to hear you laugh.

Thank you for being my sweet little guy!  I seriously love that you still love to cuddle me and sing with me.  I will hold on to that for as long as I can!  I love you Noah.  Happy Birthday!

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day, Joe and the kids made me a booklet with drawings and 3 reasons (per kid) why they loved me.  It was a great way to start off the day!  Joe also gave a talk in church that day that made me cry a lot and made me grateful for the things I do have.  I took the afternoon to drive to our old house so I could play my piano in silence for as long as I wanted.  No interruption.  I cried a lot.  I think being in our empty house really hit me AND I hate that I can't take my piano with us out East!  I then went on a walk by myself which was very relaxing and much needed and tried calling my Mom, but I guess it was bad timing, so I went to visit Oliver's grave and had another good cry.  I was going to clean it, but it was already in pretty good shape so I just wiped it down. My guess is that he gets lots of other visitors too.  ;)  My fav part of Mother's Day was going over to Hawerlack Park with the Burnhams to feed the birds. And boy were there a LOT of birds!  ...They are not a shy bunch over there.
I let Jax have the camera to take a few shots, and he captured a profile shot of me at 6 months.  There.  Now I don't have to take another until next month!  In my opinion 6 months is the best time for me during pregnancy.  I am on three diclectin and no longer throwing up.  I think the last time I threw up was the night we got home from Fairmont (a few weeks ago).  But it's no longer frequent, so, I'll take it.  I could probably wein another one pretty soon here.  I have energy and am not entirely uncomfortable, although moving/packing didn't really help me much there.  "Don't lift things Maren!"  ...well, that's kind of impossible when you're moving.  I DID, however, leave the heavy stuff for everyone else to carry.  Sadly, I was still very sore after doing very little.  I felt like my legs were going to rip out of my hips by the end of the day (more like after an hour or so of packing), I could barely walk by the end of each day, but now that we are more settled I have been able to rest a bit and am feeling much better.  Although I DO find myself waddling a little more than usual.  Haha!  I definitely have a tummy!  And I can't really lay on my back any more without feeling like I can't breathe.  Even slightly.  I was watching a show on the couch last night and tried leaning back ever so slightly and I wanted to die!  Haha!  Speaking of which, ever since the move I have been getting MANY-a-braxton hicks.  I get them all throughout the day, which is a little uncomfortable, but I'll take them over the real ones that I am sure to be feeling all throughout my final month of pregnancy!  The annoying thing is, with each contraction I feel like I need to go to the bathroom, which I do, ...but it is all the time!  Oh well.  I think the funnest/most incredible part about this stage is feeling how strong this baby is getting.  It can now reach very interesting places that are crazy-uncomfortable, but then I just move its leg/hand/bum back to where I like it.  It's pretty cool.  Even at one in the morning, it's still pretty neat, although I am sure it will get old soon when I start losing more and more sleep (which I already am starting to do!).  The boys have even felt the baby move too.  The moment Noah and Jax put their hands on my tummy the baby kicked their hands right off.  They thought that was pretty neat.  What was fun was yesterday Joe and I took the kids to visit their brand new cousin, Wren Eloise (Doug and Brooklyn's baby girl).  She was only a day old and so tiny and sweet!  Each child took turns holding her and kissing her and singing her songs.  It gave me a little dose of reality of what I can expect in a few months.  I had a small moment where I thought, "Wow, this is going to be my life pretty soon."  It's a little overwhelming, but mostly exciting!  I was a little nervous about getting pregnant again with number four since Ellie's pregnancy was so hard, but having that little moment yesterday with holding my new niece was a good reminder of what I get to look forward to.  Being a Mom is pretty great stuff.

A Happy Mother's Day to all you lovely women out there!

Paranoid

Why am I a stress case?  Lately I've been thinking about all the bad things that could happen to my kids one day and how the world is such a terrible place to raise them.  Anything could happen to them and I just want to prepare them for everything and I'm scared that I might not do a good enough job.  With Jackson going into Kindergarten this Fall I am especially worried.  All the sudden there is an entire afternoon where I send my child off to school on a bus that someone else is driving and trust that he is just going to make it to school and back and not talk to strangers at the playground during recess and that the lunch-staff are watching him closely enough to make sure he's not being bullied, etc.  I think it was good that married Joe because he balances me out.  I am the kind of girl who is scared to answer the door if I am not expecting someone (too many Oprah shows about men forcing themselves into your home in broad daylight.  Not to mention my Mom has a few stories of her own).  I was raised to not walk across the field in the dark because who knows who is lurking.  Anywho, I am that person.  If I don't know you are coming over, I will not answer the door.  I am even afraid to walk from my car to my house at midnight and I live in a safe neighbourhood.  Anywho, so I've been thinking a lot about things that I cannot control.  What if this or that happens to my kids, what will I do?  How can I teach them not to put themselves in a certain situation or if they are in a certain situation how to respond?  How would I respond if something actually DOES happen to them that I have no control over?  Joe is good for me because he reminds me that although bad things can happen, the world and people are generally good.  There are certainly sickos out there, but that is not the majority of the world.  It was a good reminder.  I have been focussing so much on the bad things about the world, people that I know that have had bad things happen to them, and focussing on the bad things that have happened to me, etc, that it has been consuming me.  I decided that I am going to try to have the outlook that most people are good people (and still use caution, but just not dwell on the negative).  I think I need to remind myself and perhaps have more faith that God loves me and my kids and if I continue to pray for guidance in that area that He will guide Joe and I as we raise our kids.  I don't think that means they will never go through anything hard, but at least with God I'll be able to know what to do.

I cannot control everything.

Sigh.

So I think instead I am going to list ten reasons why the world today IS, in fact, good:

1) I am the kind of Mom that would help a lost child, and I know there are others out there like me.

2) Not all strangers are bad people.  There are a lot of nice people who would be friendly to my kids without trying to convince them to get into their car and take them away from me.

3) I have good friends who have kids that are older than mine and have been there and done that and can give me great advice.

4) I have never had the UPS guy force himself into my house, or the plumber rape me while Joe is not home and I HAVE to answer the door.

5) The school bus system is better than I give them credit for.  I am sure Jackson will get to school and back just fine.

6) Jackson is a social kid that will make lots of friends at school.  If he does get bullied, I would hope he could tell me about it.  He tells me about everything else!

7) Although people might make mistakes, most of the time they really are wanting to be good and do the right thing.

8) Although I cannot control everyone's actions, I can control what I teach my children and what kind of an example I can set for them.

9) I have help.  I have family.  I have friends.  I have my husband.  I have God.

10) God gave everyone the light of Christ.  Everyone has a sense of right and wrong and most people choose right, or at least try to.... (unless they are crazy).  ;)

I'm not gonna lie, that was a lot harder to come up with than I thought.  But it was good for me to really think about the good in people and remind myself that although bad things may happen and there are things I can do about it, there are also things I cannot control and all I can do is try to have a positive outlook on life or I will go crazy with things I can do nothing about!

Joe was a good choice for me.  I'm glad I did something about that.

Forever Plaid

Over the last six weeks, I have been involved in the Musical production, "Forever Plaid" as the musical director (with Straight Edge Theatre).  Last week was production week and I got to see the boys perform all that we've worked so hard on!  I was so proud of them.  I was asked way back in December to do it, before finding out that I was pregnant and before I got involved with The Drowsy Chaperone.  SO!  When April came, days after our last Drowsy show, I wasn't sure how I was going to find the energy to do this, three times a week for six weeks!  Well, I can tell you it was well worth every ounce of energy spent!  Thankfully by that point, my morning sickness was getting to be more tolerable so my hours spent with these boys was more than enjoyable!  Joe and I were talking last night about utilizing our talents and spending our time using and developing our skills.  Sometimes I throw myself a pity-party and think that because I am a Mom now I do not have time to grow my skills.  Although in a sense that can be partially true, I can always develop myself in other ways.  Being apart of these musicals has allowed to realize my potential musically.  I may not be a touring musician anymore, but musically directing these shows has really kept me on my toes as far as theory and my actual directing skills go.  It's still music, just a different area.  And now I can see that I am capable in other areas of music.  It's an exciting feeling to test myself like that!  It's been fun learning alongside these boys and developing in my sight reading and teaching skills.  And in the end I got to sit in the audience and watch them perform all that we had worked so diligently on.  And let me tell you, Barbershop Quartet music is no picnic!  Tight harmonies!  Incredible dynamics.  It was SO fun to work on these songs, ...although I will say sometimes starting them was a touch daunting!  Anywho, all in all it was a fun experience and I learned a lot about myself.  It also helps that these boys were really gifted singers already and that I had an amazing pianist!  It makes me grateful for my Mom and Dad, who know SO much about music, for teaching me what I know thus far AND for having music be such a central part of our home.  It also makes me really proud when I think of my Dad directing all of the operas he has produced with his U of A students.  What a job!  Not only teaching his students the music, but also directing them on stage.  What a gift.  I hope I can become that some day.

I also got to be their photographer (Surprise!  Surprise!).  In this last shot from left to right: Alex DeVris 19, Stephen Allred 24, Kurtis Nawrot 20, Chris DeVris 18.  Thanks for the fun times boys!  Well done.

Sunday Walks

A couple Sundays ago we had Matt and Tarilyn and their crew over for dinner and it was SUCH a lovely evening, we decided to walk over to the Terwillegar Pond (one last time before we moved out) to feed the ducks. And throw rocks. Sometimes it was a bit of throwing bread AND rocks at the ducks. Woops.

"LOOK!"

Oh dear....

Fun times!

The Big Move

This week has been chaos, to say the least.  The day after we got home from Fairmont we listed our house for rent.  We figured it would be a good idea to downsize for the Summer so we can save up some cash for student-life coming up this Fall.  Thankfully, our prayers were more than answered and we were able to find renters in less than 24 hours!  Crazy!  But I did not really anticipate finding renters so quickly, so we had to do MUCH tidying for people to come view the house (I'm not gonna lie, I was a little embarrassed because I literally only had energy to unpack our bags and throw things in closets!).  Papers were signed in no time, and before I knew it, we were throwing things in boxes.  Let the de-junking and cleaning begin!  I'm not gonna lie.  I felt really good to throw things away.  I am not a hoarder.  I hate nick-nacks.  I hate having useless things around.  Yet, ...somehow my house had MUCH of that sort of junk.  Seven years worth of junk.  So, there were many a garbage-bag packed full!  The best part was that I didn't have Joe to tell me what not to throw/give away since he was at work during the day.  I made the mistake once of telling Joe I gave away some shaving cream that I KNEW he wouldn't get through over the Summer and he wasn't happy about it.  Haha!  So, ...I stopped telling him things.

Now we are semi-settled in our "new" basement suite in Duggan.  It's been a difficult transition from light to darkness.  At least the bedrooms have windows, but the living space does not.  The spoiled-me is so used to my 9 ft ceilings in the Terwillegar basement and large windows.  It is definitely a change.  The blessing is that since we are staying here over the Summer, we have a COOL basement to live in on those hot days, and when the kids and I are feeling squirrelly we have a gated backyard to play in any time we want (a GATE!  Something we didn't have at our last house)!  The other perk is because the place is smaller, there is less to clean!  Only ONE bathroom instead of three.  I'll take it.  I WILL say that it's been hard to hear the kids ask, "When are we going to go back to our regular house?  I miss our regular house."  I miss it too.  In fact yesterday as a Mother's Day gift to myself I went over to the house and played my beloved piano that I will not get to touch for two whole years.  It is the same piano I grew up playing, so it is a very special instrument to me!  I cried.  Actually, I've cried more than once about it.  I was actually doing pretty good while packing up the house a few days ago, but as soon as I had to start packing up my piano sheet-music, the tears would not stop.  Baaaaah!  So hard.  Joe DID promise me that we would get a keyboard out there, so that comforts me a little bit (although it's not the same as my beautiful piano).  I also cried a lot because of the constant help I was getting from Colette, Christie, Celeste and Sarah.  Such life-savers with all the cleaning and organizing and babysitting!  When I think of how I am going to do this again in three months with a newborn baby I want to cry even harder, but if it's gotta be done then it's gotta be done!  With all of this being said though, I am super grateful that Joe was able to get accepted in this MBA program, that we were able to find renters right away, that we are able to have a place to live for the Summer so we can save, that we have such wonderful family and friends who have helped us throughout this process and that although I am pregnant and really uncomfortable with all the work involved, I am grateful that I will get a baby at the end of this.  At least we are doing the "big" move now while I am only 6 months pregnant in the cool month of May as opposed to 9 months pregnant in the dead heat of August.  So, the second move won't be as exhausting.  Right?

Anywho, there is still much to do to prepare our house for renters and to feel more settled here, but we're getting there step by step.  Thank you to every one that has helped us!  Especially to my MIL, Colette, who became our personal slave for an entire week!  That woman has more energy than all of my kids combined.  That's saying a lot.

Fairmont

Last week Joe and I went to Fairmont with the entire Burnham clan. We squeezed in quite a few activities while we were there knowing that this would be our last time for a couple years that we'll have this opportunity to be together as an extended-family here. Joe and I took our engagement photos here, so I've been a part of this tradition for eight whole years! It's a sentimental place for me, so it will be sad to be missing it next year but we made sure to have a grand ol' time. Here are a slew of pics of what we did over the week.

The boys discovered dandilions for the first time again this Spring and picked me and Granny a lovely bouquet.   
We also spent a lot of time at the park with Grandpa.  Thank you Grandpa!  Or as Ellie says it, "Bwampa."

I wish I could tell you that Ellie was having fun on this thing with Noah, but she was screaming her lungs out. How dare he try to have fun with her? The nerve.

Ellie and Charlie played remarkably well together this week. Well, most of the time, ...when Ellie wasn't on her period.

And then there's golf. Fairmont wouldn't be Fairmont without a little friendly game of golf. I'm sure Joe wishes it was more than that.  He was a little saddened that we only got two games in that week because of poor weather (and let's face it, I was a little disappointed myself), but we still managed to have a fun time during the times we actually DID get to go.  (Note to self: More fun without all the kids). Yes.  I played with my tummy.  After a while I forgot it was there.  It was so fresh and beautiful out (and I think the extra weight may have even helped my swing).  But THEN my body got really mad at me the second I sat down and tried to get back up again.  Haha!  It was a bad two days after a mere 9 holes (with a cart).  Sad.
 
Jackson, like his Dad, takes golf VERY seriously.  Haha!  ...Someone watches the golf channel too much.

Saturday was one of our more beautiful days that we got to experience, so I brought out the bubbles during some down time.  Noah was in bubble-Heaven.  It was so cute.  After all the kids got bored or accidentally poured out all their bubbles, Noah was still going at it.  I love seeing this kid happy.  He was seriously in his own world and it was adorable.  I have a feeling he could have done this all day.

In order to experience Fairmont in all of its loveliness, many-a-walk has to happen of course! I think we only got in two real ones, but this was one of them and it was so refreshing and beautiful.  I promise Rob was there....  Maybe he had gone back to get the car at this point so people like me wouldn't have to endure an uphill battle on the way back.  Haha!
We ended up stopping at a river so the kids could enjoy throwing rocks in.   It was very soothing.  I love the outdoors.  It honestly made me think of all the times I went camping as a kid with my family.

Love these kids!

Swimming was a hit. I think we went almost everyday! Thanks to a hint from my friend Barb, we bought the kids some arm-floaties and they were in Heaven. Joe went the extra step and also got them nose plugs, so they look like true nerds. But the cutest nerds you've ever seen!

Haha!  I love it!  After a while Jackson got brave and took his floaties off so he could dunk himself not only in the shallow end of the pool but also in the deep end near the wall, which gave me a heart attack a few times.  I used to lifeguard, so I couldn't help but be a touch paranoid, especially because the kids who always ended up going under were the ones whose Moms weren't paranoid enough!  Anywho, it was fun watching him be so brave and progress so much in such a short week.  Noah who is fearless is some aspects of his life I wasn't sure about.  Every once in a while he gets nervous about things like this that he is unsure about, but I didn't have to worry here.  All it took was for him to realize that these floaties were magic and he could stay above water ...and there was no stopping him.  He would swim backwards, jump in the pool, put his face willingly under water, ...and all on his own because of these lovely orange floaties!

What a lovely family! Haha! Ellie was also fearless, which scared me because I could not keep my eye off her for one second (and that's hard to do when you are trying to watch three children)!  The thing is, she never seemed to run out of steam.  Her favourite thing to do was jump into the pool over and over and over again.  She'd "swim" to the ladder with her floaties (she also figured out that they keep her afloat without Mommy or Daddy's help, so who needs them?!) but thankfully she'd wait for one of us to "catch" her, which really meant just watching her jump in with our arms extended to her.  She would go under every time and that did not phase her one bit!  A true fish.  
And here we are trying to enjoy another one of our walks with Tay and Bethany, but it ended up raining halfway through so we didn't quite make it to the top of the hill to dip our feet into the waterfall, ...but we DID enjoy some more rock throwing!

And we even spotted a dear!  The kids thought that was pretty cool.  On the drive back home going through the mountains it seemed the only way to entertain the kids was to keep them looking around for "reindeer" until they fell asleep.  It was really cute.  Too bad it didn't work for Ellie.  She literally talked nonstop from 7-10pm when she finally dozed off "...and da reindeer in da mountain... and a butterfly in a mountain...  look Mom!  Mom!  A butterfly!  An a reindeer!"...oh my goodness that girl did not stop.  I would be exhausted from all that talking too!  Sheesh girl!

I'd say one of the highlights of the trip for Jackson was playing XBOX with his 2nd cousin Luke.  They were so cute to watch.  It was fun seeing them joke around together.  I guess I'm just used to him doing that with Noah and Hannah.  I suppose I should get used to it with Kindergarten around the corner.  New friends to impress!  Oh dear.  I DID, however, feel bad for Noah, the little brother with no controller.  At one point Jax and Luke were joking around and laughing back and forth and quietly Noah piped in to Luke, "Hi.  I'm Noah."  Poor kid just wanted some attention.  It was heart-breakingly hilarious.  I guess he'll have to get used to Jax having new friends that are not always him sooner or later.

Anywho, as a whole the trip was exhaustingly fun!  We played games almost every night (Settlers of Catan and Shoot the Moon), went out for wings on Wing-Night, and Huckleberries with the Great-Grands, the boys enjoyed doing a craft, squash was played (although sadly not by me....), and we managed to eat dinner almost every night altogether as a large family in one small villa!  It was chaos, but it brought us together and it was fun.  We also decorated t-shirts with bleach so we could snap this lovely family photo!  Thanks for the generous and fun times Burnhams!