Fresh Air

What do you do when you've got two sick kids home from school and it is a Winter wonderland outside?  Send 'em all outside!  I am sick of being cooped up with sickness (myself included), so I forced us all to go outside and get some fresh air.  And you know what?  It was great.  And so well needed by all of us!  It was the perfect winter day.  No wind, sunny, fresh snow (perfect for eating), perfectly shaped icicles (perfect for licking), hovering around zero.  Poor Jackson was the only healthy one that HAD to go to school.  But I sent him with a sled so I didn't feel TOO bad for him.  The weather has actually been super mild and I keep thinking, you know, if winters were like this every year, I wouldn't think the word "winter" was a such a swear word by February.  Here are some fun, HAPPY shots of the kids playing in the snow for the first time of the season.  Yay!

Eleanor

Ellie, you are truly the middle child---or WILL be smack dab in the middle very soon. And I feel your pain. Try being number eight of ten! Three of almost-five ain't dat bad! I have so many great experiences with you, ...and not a lot of pictures to show for it.  For that I apologize, but I promise we have a lot of fun and lovely times together.  Because I know how it feels to be that middle child, I do my best to make you feel loved and attended to!  Promise.

Here's one with you on your bike just coming home from school (this was before the snow a few weeks ago).  When you are not biking to and from school you LOVE being on that thing.  As soon as you have a destination and people to keep up with (ie: school and your brothers), it's the worst thing on the planet!


 I have loved having you home every other day.  Makes me feel spoiled that I get to have just a little bit more of you before you start school full time next year.  I didn't get that with Jackson and Noah, so this is a real treat.  At first I was worried that having you home every other day would be confusing or frustrating for you, but you seem equally as happy to stay home from school as you do to go to school.  You love to spend your time drawing.  If you are not playing video games (which I have to keep an eye on you with or you'd play them all day!), you are drawing.  And I LOVE your artwork.  LOVE.  You draw so often that our fridge is covered with drawings.  And I wouldn't have it any other way.  And now that you are bringing home library books from school, you are KILLING it with reading.  At first I went easy on you, teaching you three letter words or four max that I knew you could do phonetically.  And now?  Now you are reading crazy words like, "laugh" or "light" or "phone" or "everyone" with all their weird rules without skipping a beat.  I really enjoy our snugglish reading time together.  Zoe is a little jealous and thinks she can read too.  You are very patient with her in those times (as long as she sits on the OTHER side of me), and I am grateful for that.


We were asked by your Kindergarten teacher to take a picture with you in September so she could put together which parents belonged to which child.  I probably should have worn make-up, ...but then often times I don't so I am probably more recognizable this way anyway!  Haha!  You love your teacher, Mrs Barrow, and she has got to be the most perfectly grandmotherly teacher in the world.  She will not welcome OR leave you (or I) without a hug and makes everyone feel special and loved.  And you love her right back.   A couple weeks ago I got to come to your class and help you do a presentation about your name.  You made a poster and everything and did such a great job.  I am so proud of you!  I usually call you Ellie at home, but after the first few days at school, you requested to be called by your full name, Eleanor (named after your Great, Great, Great Grandma Eleanor Ord).  Knowing you, it's because you think it sounds more fancy than Ellie (you also asked the same thing of your primary teachers).  It took me a while to adjust to that because I only very occasionally call you Eleanor, but now I find myself calling you Eleanor more and more.  Zoe calls you Elle, and you hate it.  She only does it because I do on occasion for short, but for some reason when it's Zoe saying it, it is the worst!  And she knows it.  And still calls you Elle, but then she quickly will say, "But Elle doesn't like me to say Elle.  She goes crazy."  Haha!  At least she is recognizing it.  The next step is change.  Maybe.  Also, I just had your parent-teacher interview not too long ago and it looks like you have come a long ways.  Apparently, back in September you were the clingy one that had to hold Mrs Barrow's hand and had to sit right next to her, etc.  I'm not surprised.  You are an affectionate child and Mrs Barrow is also affectionate with her students, so it makes sense.  But she says you have been making friends and are more confident in Kindergarten and don't feel the need to have that kind of attention any more.  It is great to hear that you are becoming more and more comfortable with being at school and are making friends.  Yay!  You're growing up!  Single tear.....


 Sometimes you decide you are the funniest one in the house and pull stuff like this. This is what you call your Granny face.  Pretty good.


Here is a pic of the three of you just before heading out the door to school. This is what you call your "shy" smile.  It's the smile you pull when you are trying to be cute.  Haha!  Works for me.


Shy indeed. Well when you told me you did your "shy" smile for your school pictures, I imagined something completely different from what you brought home.  What you should have said was that you looked like an unhappy child ready for her criminal record shots.  Haha!  I have NEVER seen you pull this face.  When I pulled out these pictures from your backpack in front of you, it took everything in me not to laugh.  And I failed.  And so did your Dad.  I am a fan of awkward pictures, so we absolutely ordered these!


You were invited to a birthday party by a boy in your class earlier this Fall.  His Mom said the whole family was welcome for ice-time, ...but it was during the day when your Dad was working and I couldn't see any possible way I could do this with all four kids on my own.  WHILE being pregnant and still quite a bit sick.  Haha!  Besides, half of us at this point didn't even own any skates (we all do now!).  I managed to have Auntie Sarah watch the others while you and I went on a Mommy-daughter date.  At first you were ticked that everyone got to play at Sarah's and you didn't, but you quickly changed your tune once the party began.  This was your very first birthday party experience outside of family AND first time ice-skating!  The first few rounds together you cautiously held my hand, and then some nice person let you use their skating-helpy-thing, and THEN you were like, "naw Mom, I've got this."  And you did not want me to hold your hand for the rest of the time.  Any time I'd try to catch you or help you catch your balance, you would quickly swat my hand away.  Haha!  You surprise me sometimes.  Quite often you act very fragile, but I am learning  quickly that you are tough and like to be independent and the fragile bit is all a ruse.  It is a wonderful side of you to see.  Love that we had this one-on-one time together.  We rarely get it.


 I love these next two pictures.  I feel bad because you are sick with a nasty cold in them (that you shared with me and no one else!  Thank you dear child.  Part sarcasm, and part for-reals), but it is a very typical afternoon with the two of you.  "I want to help Mom make lunch."  "No I do!"  "I get to stir."  "I get to pour the noodles in!"  "I get to do the cheese"...and it goes on and on and on.  You both LOVE to be my helpers.  Sometimes it is great and I love it and we have magical times together making macaroni, or hot chocolate or cookies, etc, but most of the time you girls are constantly calling dibs on who gets to do what.  I wish you two had that enthusiasm for cleaning toilets.  Haha!  It never gets too crazy (no one has burned themselves yet!), so I don't usually mind the extra "help."

Ellie, bless your heart. You are so good at giving me hugs and telling me that you love me. I think you can sense when I might be having a rough day, and quite frankly sometimes I'm not very good at hiding it, but you are very attentive and ready to make me feel better.  Often you will say things like, "I know what will make you happy!  I will make you a card."  And yes, it works.  I love those thoughtful cards.  Often times it is a picture of you and I together, and it just makes me melt.  Thank you for being so sensitive.  You know how to turn my day around.  And thank you for being a good big sister to Zoe.  She is at an age where she can be really good at pushing buttons, but I have found that for the most part, you two play so well together!  I love it.  And it gives me hope that this new little one that will be joining our family soon will be able to feel the same love from you girls.

Jackson and Noah

Here's a continuation of me trying to do an update on my kids. Maybe my other kids don't have as many pictures of them as Zoe does and maybe she is getting her very own post and the boys are getting a joint-post, but I only do this so they will have something to fight about when they are older.

Let's talk about Service.  I mean, Jackson.  They're the same thing right?  Jackson leaps at the opportunity to help me out.  There are so many times where someone will make a spill and Jackson will hop up and say, "Hey Mom, I can help you with that."  And he does!  Or sometimes, he even cleans up a mess that isn't his before I even see it!  Like that cereal mess that Zoe made in that last post.  That wasn't her first or last one, and Jackson has helped many-a-time to clean up big messes like that before I even wake up for the day.  Who is this kid?  I've asked him why he does this, and he said, "I just want you to have a good start to your day."  The other day he noticed I was having trouble bending over (because of my growing tummy and aching hips), and he asked me if he could help me.  Basically, he is super observant.  And sensitive.  And sweet.  And I don't deserve him.  Here's a picture of him making us all pancakes in the morning.  He wanted to do it all by himself and even kept going after prayer when we all sat down to eat.  I asked him if he wanted me to take over so he could eat with everyone and he said no, it was okay.  Basically, he is Joe.  Going above and beyond to serve us yummy meals.  I'll take it.


Here we are at the beach in October.  It wasn't really swimming weather, but it certainly wasn't Fall weather either!   So we took advantage of it and had a picnic.  They have a fun park and a basketball net, and who doesn't love to play in the sand or dip their toes in the water?  Well, Jackson decided he wanted to bring his favourite book, "The Kids National Geographic Almanac 2016."  He loves that thing.  He brings it everywhere.  He'll memorize neat facts and quiz me on all these questions that I couldn't begin to answer.  He loves knowledge.  He feasts on it.  I thought it was so cute (and very unlike me) that he was choosing a book over playing.  And slightly nerdy.  So it gives me hope that he won't have a girlfriend until he is in his twenties.  And he will be able to support Joe and I in our old age because his brains will land him a super awesome job.

I know the boys aren't fishing in this picture, but Joe has taken them fishing here off this very dock a number of times and they have actually found success!  Who needs a beautiful river in the middle of nowhere when you have a man-made lake with stocked fish?


Here's Noah. HOLDING MY HAND! Please tell me this will never end. Noah is so affectionate I could burst.  Okay, so maybe none of his friends were around to witness him holding my hand, but my Mommy-head would like to think that he would still reach for my hand even if his little buddies were around.  Haha!  He even snuggles into me during a scary movie, which is maybe the whole purpose of watching scary movies with the boys.  Is this too scary Noah?  "No."  ...as he is clinging to my arm.  Yes.  I love it.


Noah is also not too proud to play with his little sisters.  Jackson has piano lessons every week and his teacher, Lynisse Osberg---bless her heart---lives right by a park.  Literally next door to one.  So while he is working hard inside, we are working hard at playing outside.  Right now Noah is playing Legos with Ellie and my heart is melting listening to them laugh and make-believe with each other.


One of my "mean-Mom" qualities is that I make my kids bike to school. Even in zero degree weather.  This used to cause me a lot of stress and paranoia letting the kids bike to school without me.  But when school started in September and I was throwing up each morning, I figured this might be the best solution.  I started by walking/biking with them.  Then following them in the car while they biked just to make sure they knew the way and to make sure there weren't any real dangers on their way there and back from school.  And now I just walk them out to the garage and wave goodbye until I see them turn the corner.  It's wonderful!  Joe couldn't believe it the first time I let that happen.  Haha!  I know.  I've come a LONG ways.  My heart gets a little lumpy when they bike away!  Maybe it's because I am seeing them grow up right before my eyes and I am not sure how I can handle it.  But Jackson is so responsible that I know I can trust him to make sure no one gets left behind and he even walks Ellie to her door every morning and picks her up at her door.  There was even one time when Noah's chain got loose and they had to walk the rest of the way.  Sometimes I wonder if that is placing too much responsibility on an eight year old.  But then I remember that he's not just any eight year old.  He's an EIGHTY year old.  Except he can still bike.  Haha!  Some kids are flighty, and Jackson is not one of those kids.  Often he is more on top of things than me.  So.  Yes.  I trust him.  And the people that I don't trust---I force myself to put on a shelf because I can't control everything and every one and my kids need to learn responsibility sooner or later.  If I over-think things, I don't think I would let them ever leave my sight!  But knowing they are all together and looking out for each other gives me comfort.  Unfortunately, winter is upon us and I had to make the hard decision to put the bikes away just last week.  Waaaaaaaah!  I was spoiled and now... I'm not.
 

Last month we went to Lacombe for Thanksgiving and got to spend the afternoon/evening at Kraay's Family Farm with Joe's fam.  It is expensive (thanks Grandma and Grandpa), but the kids have so much fun!  Jackson and Noah don't have any cousins (that live close) that are their ages so it melts my heart to see Joe take charge and have some Father-son time.  Just teachin' his kids how to shoot!  how sweet.

Some kind soul gave us free tickets to ride the train and here are my kids in true form.  I might talk about how sensitive or responsible Jackson is or how affectionate and sweet Noah is, but they are absolutely still kids.  They love to goof off and make me laugh.  They can be overly-silly when the time calls for it, and even when it doesn't.  I hope they will be kids for a long time, even when they grow up.

So, this year is Jackson and Noah's first year playing on an organized basketball team.  ISH.  They have drills and then scrimmage against each other, so the games aren't TOTALLY organized.  That will be next year, and I am not looking forward to being the taxi-Mom for THAT.  But I am loving how much they love playing basketball.  Here they are practicing before their very first practice.  I was going to urge them to save their energy, and then I remembered that they are boys and have an endless amount.  It may eventually get old, or maybe it won't, but I have loved watching them play.  Two weeks ago they got to play on the same team together and my heart could have burst.  They each scored a point and after each basket they would run up to each other and high-five each other.  I'm just not sure it gets much cuter than that.  Last week they played against each other and it was a different story full of loving fouls and stealing the ball away from each other.  Haha!  But they are good sports and it amazes me how good they have become in this short time.  Joe was even approached to have Jackson play on the older team, which would mean me driving him into Calgary and more games per week---and I'm just not ready for that kind of commitment, but it was neat knowing he was good enough to join the kids a year older.   Plus, Jackson is already involved in something almost every day each week.  I promised myself that I wouldn't over-do anyone's schedules, but I teach a Musical Theatre class for kids ages 7-12 each Monday after school (both Noah and Jackson are in it, partly because I am making them, but also because I know they would have a blast, which they are), and then there is Cubs on Tuesdays (which I forgot about when planning their schedules).  Jackson loves Cubs and Noah is not too far behind in joining him!  Wednesday is piano lessons for Jackson and then Thursday is basketball.  It's funny because I know not all of my kids are even involved in activities each week and it already feels busy.  I was tempted to put Ellie into a children's choir but it would have been just too much, and she is none the wiser.  She'll have her chance to be busy, and right now while she is a young li'l thing, she doesn't need to have her life scheduled away just yet.  Anywho.  I wish I could give my kids everything.  But sometimes allowing them to just be kids is enough.  What's kind of nice about having basketball on Thursday nights is that there is no school on Friday every other week so I get to play the fun Mom and get slurpees with the boys after practice and let them stay up a little.  Now that they are getting a little older, it's actually kind of fun.
The boys had their parent-teacher interviews at school not too long ago and I am happy to announce that both are doing great.  Noah was a little anxious at first but he's made some good friends and is more comfortable now.  He is a top-notch reader in his class and a good example.  How neat is that to hear, especially in a grade 2/3 split?  He gets a little distracted (not a surprise!) but overall a good leader and good student.  Jackson's teachers also had nothing but praise to give as well.  He is ahead in his reading as well and is a leader and good example.  It's funny because the boys are so different from each other, but both are getting such similar reports from their different teachers.  A joy as a parent to hear.

Although the first couple years of their lives were physically challenging for me, I will never regret having these boys seventeen months apart.  They may have their friends at church or school, but when they are together, they are best buds.  And I couldn't have asked for anything more.

Zoe

I have been looking at the slew of pictures I've been taking of my kids over the past couple months and have decided it's time to do a brief update on each one. Starting with Zoe. Because she has the most pics.  Oh man, this girl is a whole lot of personality wrapped into one little human.  For one, she often loves to dress up.  Her entire closet is a mash of dress up clothes.  Usually she sticks to her super-girl costume complete with a kitty tail and ears, but in this picture she decided to change it up and went with a classy blue hat, kitty tights and ballet slippers.  All ready to run errands!


Not only does she love to dress up, but she loves to dress down.  Here we are at the park---in OCTOBER I might add.  We went to the lake and hadn't been there for a while since it had gotten chillier, but we managed to have a few really nice days in October and apparently Zoe associates the beach with no clothes because before I knew it they were gone!  "Zoe!  Do NOT go swimming in the lake!"  If she could run around naked all the time, she would.


This was one of those laugh-or-cry days.  I chose to laugh.  Don't be deceived by my "good" choice.  I had been yelling most of the day and decided it was time to switch gears.  Either that, or I had gone insane at this point.  At least it wasn't milk.  Or pooh.  Or barf.  Or any number of terrible things that it could have been.  She felt "really bad" as you can tell.


They grow up so fast.  This was how my angel was spending her time during our family scripture reading.  How do you teach a child to be reverent when they are three?  You don't.  You laugh instead.  She is always making us crack up.  Ninety percent of the time while we are trying to "reverently" read scriptures she is jumping off couches or beds or people or something, so when she was suddenly quiet I knew she was up to something.


If I could compare Zoe to any one of my other kids at this age, it would absolutely be Noah.  Noah was fearless.  Always jumping off of high places or being way too daring.  How either of these children have not lost a limb, I don't know.  This is Zoe's number one choice of outdoor transportation.  Who needs a trike?  Or shoes for that matter?


When I asked Zoe to smile for me, this is the face I got. She just held it like this until I took the picture.  Lazy eye-lids and everything.  She already knows how to be funny and weird.  And to randomly add, I swear I've seen her cousin Taylor make this exact same face.  They've got the same lips.  Twinsies!


Sometimes Zoe takes my phone and decides to take a million pictures.  Here's one that actually turned out.  Already learning my photographer tricks.  If you take a million you're bound to get something!


Sometimes I like to be a top-notch Mom and take the girls on dates while the boys are at school.  For eight weeks, the girls were involved in the library program and afterwards I decided to be spontaneous and take them to McDonald's Play Place for lunch.  Whaaaaaa?  They were beyond thrilled as you can tell by their faces.  I tried it a second time thinking it would be a great idea again.  Well, Zoe wouldn't pooh in the toilets there because they automatically flush AND it happened to automatically flush while Zoe was still sitting down.  Now she is afraid of every public toilet (thanks McD's), and decided she would hold it.  I told her we were going home (because I didn't trust her to hold it) and she proceeded to run ahead of me and climb to the top of the play structure.  I sent Ellie to go up and get her, but Zoe was NOT coming down.  All I was thinking was, "It's hot in here!  And you had BETTER not be pooping your pants!"  After about a half hour of trying to bribe her to come down (and all the parents getting to watch such entertainment), I decided the only option I had was to go up and get her myself.  She was screaming and crying at the top of her lungs saying she was too scared to come down.  Balogne!  She was up and down that thing the entire time on our last visit!  So, imagine a five month pregnant adult climbing up this claustrophobic, stinky, hot tunnel thing---"squeezing" would be more accurate---while my three year old was crying at the top.  Oh man.  The second I got up there and she saw me, she stopped being crazy and decided she was ready to come down and absolutely did NOT need my help.  THAT GIRL!  You know those parents that you see yelling at their kids in public that you just despise?  Well, that was me on our way out to the car.


I heart this pic of Zoe with her Dad.  Isn't that enough reason to post it?

This is Zoe all the time at home.  Getting into the boys' room and wrecking their Lego sets when she's supposed to be napping all while not ever wearing pants and having a hungry bum while she's at it.  Half the time she doesn't even have undies on because she has decided to stop telling me when she goes to the bathroom.  Or often I will just find her waddling around with her pants to her knees.  She will go on like that doing whatever she's doing until I discover her or help her out.  That girl will NOT pull up her own pants, but she can sure take them off.


I am proud to say that Ellie and Zoe are officially friends, but that's not to say that they don't have their share of fights.  The other day I could hear them arguing and Zoe comes up stairs to say, "Mom!  Ellie is acting CRAZY!"  Little does she know, SHE is the crazy one.  She has discovered how to push buttons and she's quite gifted at it.


I am sad to say it, but I think as of this week Zoe is done with naps.  It's been fifty-fifty for the past couple weeks and now she basically just plays or escapes to the boys' room.  I often find her stuffies well-dressed after her "naps."  Heck.  As long as she plays in her room quietly, I still consider that a win!


The price I pay for sleeping in.  And yes, she filled the milk jug with sugar.


 Zoe, I don't know what I'm going to do with you when this baby comes.   The only reason your Dad and I have this picture with you is because we had to take one of us with Ellie for her teacher at the beginning of the school year and you would NOT be left out.  However, I often see you snuggling so well with your little stuffies and treating them so well that I wonder if this baby will be overly-hated because you are jealous or overly-loved because she is little.  Either way, I am going to have to keep an eye on you.  I'm not sure how one child can bring me so much joy and challenge me so much all at once.  You are clingy, yet sweet.  You are demanding, but hilarious.  You cannot be still, but your energy is contagious.  Or exhausting.  Or both!  Haha!  You are always making us laugh.  And I mean all of us in our family.  You are the family clown absolutely and we all love you to bits.  Except for when you wreck the boys' Legos.  Watch out!

Sunday was Good

So, Joe and I have either been sick or out of town every Sunday in October.  I was starting to get sick of it and was looking forward to a weekend at home.  Finally.  Then I come to find out two days before the weekend that Matt and T were blessing their beautiful brand new baby girl, Georgie.  Last minute.  We had just seen them the weekend before, so I figured we couldn't possibly be at every important event and perhaps we could finally get some things done in our own home before the snow hit (which it did yesterday).  Joe was adamant on going.  I was adamant on staying home and getting our house and garage in order before the cold really set in.  And I was hormonal and tired because we keep having to pack up our entire house every weekend and I kind of get sick of kids in the car after a while.  "No we do NOT have any more snacks!  Stop asking!  We're only twenty minutes in!  Little Einsteins again?  Blegh.  Sure.  Just stop crying!"  Haha!  Ha....  this has been almost every weekend this past month.  Well, I almost didn't go, but after a "discussion" with Joe which involved compromises on both sides, we decided to go (AND we finished organizing our garage.  And I still can't walk because my hips hurt so bad from this pregnancy!).  I am SO glad we went.  It was one of those things where I feel like everything inside me was just so NOT wanting to go, but I decided to change my attitude and made Joe do all the lifting and driving and packing (which helped change my attitude).  The sacrament meeting was really good.  But what moved me most was the musical number that Tarilyn sang with her sisters.  They sang, "I Need Thee Every Hour."  At first, I looked everywhere else but their faces.  I blinked a lot and hard.  And then finally I just let it all out and allowed myself to feel what they were singing and Joe giggled at me as a bawled.  I love good music.  Not just that.  I love meaningful music sung well.  I am not going to lie when I say, I often feel the Spirit more from a well sung gospel song than a well-prepared talk.  So.  Thank you Tarilyn and sisters for that.  It also made me wonder if my own little family will be like that.  We sang all the time as a family when I was younger.  Will my kids love singing and music as much as I do?  I hope so.

Well, after that lovely experience Joe informed me that Christie's hub, Mitchell, was giving a talk in the Lacombe ward as well and thought it would be nice to go.  These were my thoughts: "No.  We just did an entire sacrament meeting with our crazy kids and we're out of snacks.  We're here to support Matt and T and Ellie is looking forward to Primary with Charlie and no.  It's another 25-30 minute drive just to get there and then we will be turning right around to come back.  We'll miss it anyway.  Please don't make me get in the car for another 25-30 minutes.  I love Mithcell, but we can't possibly support every single person in the history of mankind."  And I could keep going.  BUT, since I told myself I was going to have a good attitude AND because I knew Joe would be the one driving anyway, I went with it.  We made it just in time for him to get on the stand.  I was amazed by his talk.  AMAZED.  And you know what was the best part?  His testimony.  If you know the Book of Mormon is true, then all else falls into place.  There has been a HUGE dispute this week (yet again) involving those darn Mormons.  Lately I have felt like everyone is out to get us.  Attack us in any way.  Some people feel justified and maybe they are.  But some people are just straight up rude and mean.  Either way, it's getting to a point where you REALLY need to know where you stand with the church if you're going to take all this.  You can't really get away with going through the motions.  You have to really believe what is taught.  Well, Mitchell said it plain and clear.   The Book of Mormon is true, and because it is, all else falls into place.  Sometimes we need to exercise a little faith and be patient (like with the berating of haters that will always hate the church and hurt me because of their hate), but because I know the Book of Mormon is true, I cannot deny that I know our prophet is of God.  There are reasons for everything, and although I may not understand everything at this very moment, it will never take away the fact that the Book of Mormon is true.  Christ is my Saviour.  God is real and answers prayers.  And I can have an eternal family.  Those are the things that matter.  He focussed his talk a lot on Nephi and the "side story" of when his bow broke.  His brothers also did not have functioning bows so when Nephi's broke, they murmured.  I probably would have too.  Heck, I murmured about going to more church!  But Nephi decided to just get to work and make a new one so his family could eat.  God could have provided meat for them or rained down manna or any number of miracles, but sometimes faith is about getting to work.  DOING.  Faith is active.  You can't sit on your bum and expect God to give you everything.  Faith is hard sometimes.  It doesn't really go into the effort and time it must have taken to make a new bow and find meat again.  I loved that Mitchell went into that.  I loved the reminder that having faith is not always an easy thing.  And I don't think it's going to get easier.  As hard as this past year has been, I am more firm in my faith than I have ever been.  Especially BECAUSE it has been hard to have faith.  But I have not given up, and God has rewarded my faithful efforts.  I say "efforts" because it has been no walk in the park.  I am doing my best.  And I know God recognizes that because I have seen the blessings that have come from CHOOSING faith.  And it feels good.

So, here's to listening to Joe and supporting the hee-haw out of his family, because I have felt very well fed this past Sunday.  Both physically and spiritually.  Thanks guys.

Halloween in Edmonton

Doug and Brooklyn were blessing their new baby boy, Thatcher, on Nov 1st. The very same weekend as Halloween. I really wanted to go since it's been a while since I've seen them and I wanted to meet their new wee babe. But I also didn't want to drive six hours in one day on Sunday. So. We made a weekend out of it! My bestie Barb Butler was able to nab us tickets to Galaxyland on Friday night, the night before Halloween. We've been talking about taking the kids there as maybe a Christmas gift, but this worked out WAY better... because it was free. Or. Someone paid for us. All I know is Barb said they were free so we jumped on that! And I'm so glad we did. We got a babysitter for Zoe because the doors didn't open until 7:30, so the older kids were pretty pumped that they were allowed to stay up extra late (we got home at 11pm! Yikes!). It totally brought me back to my childhood. As far as the kids know, this is just as amazing as Disneyland! Or at least, that's what Ellie thinks. I guess we're saving ourselves a lot of money if this is the "equivalent!" Jackson asked me that morning what I was going to dress up as. Well, I wasn't planning on it, but after he asked I thought to myself, "I need to be a fun Mom. And I am going to make Joe join me." So we dressed up as redneck zombies. Mostly, I just wanted to wear sweats all night. And lucky for me, I kept running into old boyfriends. They REALLY missed out on all that I have to offer.


 We asked the kids what their favourite rides were, and it was unanimous. The Swing of the Century. That was mine as a kid too! Ellie always surprises me. She acts all frail like she couldn't lift a feather if her life depended on it, but she's actually quite fearless. She went on the yellow roller coaster four times! She couldn't get enough. And she totally took charge on the bumper cars. She also went on this spinny-ride a couple times too---AND all by herself because Joe took the boys for half of the time and I took Ellie and there ain't NO way I was going on that spinny-ride. The reason Joe was gone half the time was because he and the boys spent it waiting in line to go on this crazy new roller coaster (that I was too pregnant to go on---and by "too pregnant" I mean "pregnant"--- so I had to opt out. Sad). Afterwards Joe told me that he asked Jackson what he thought of that roller coaster. He said he liked it but he probably wouldn't go on it again that night. Why not? "Because it scared the HELL outta me!" Hahahahaha! I have never heard Jackson swear in my life! And I sure as heck have never used that phrase.  Did our perfect child just swear?!  I couldn't help but laugh because it was such a shock to me. Joe let him know it was a bad word, etc, and Jackson had no idea (school friends!), but oh man. That was pretty funny. As long as he doesn't say it again.

 The next day was Halloween. I asked Joe to help out with the kids make-up this time because we were meeting over at Barb's house for dinner (we stayed at Grandma and Grandpa Burnham's) and then trick or treating after. Joe's "helping" turned into an hour long session of him applying Noah's make up perfectly. At least he was the best looking zombie out there!  Ellie had asked me to make her into a "scary" skeleton. Aaaaaaaand she hated it. So I magically transformed her into a pretty skeleton, complete with sparkles and lip stick. She asked for eyelashes too, but I told her skeletons don't have eyelashes. I am such a soul-crusher. Speaking of which, Jackson went as the Grimm Reaper. When he was describing to Joe and I what he wanted to be earlier that week, he had no idea what a Grimm Reaper was or what he did or that he was even called the Grimm Reaper.  I love sweet innocence. Which I guess we just took away because we educated him on the matter and he still wanted to go as just that. Zoe wanted to be a Superwoman-Kitty, which means, she wanted to wear her pink Superwoman costume with cat ears and a tail. That is exactly what she went as.... to her Library Halloween Party earlier that week. And then she lost the kitty ears and tail somewhere in the house, so that costume was out for trick-or-treating.  Besides, I have learned from past experiences that Halloween is only fun if the kids are WARM when they are  trick-or-treating. So, I made her go as a fluffy unicorn on Halloween night. She didn't complain. Well. She did, actually. At the end because she was too hot and thirsty and couldn't walk anymore! Haha! Thankfully I brought the stroller (I almost didn't!), so we went back to where the car was parked and she got star treatment for the second half of trick-or-treating.  She looked so cute.  And my other kids looked pretty terrifying.  I'm surprised Ellie didn't go as a Princess or something.  But a pretty skeleton is a close second to a Princess I guess.

 We had a really fun time. The kids were pooped (and so were Joe and I), but with enough candy in their system, they made it through the night. Barb, like the fun Mom she is, had a dance party for all the kids who showed up after trick-or-treating. They lasted a LONG time! But it was a clever idea because they were so chuck full of sugar, they needed to get it all out somehow! It was fun for the Moms too. Thanks Barb for a fun weekend and for letting me crash on all your family fun!