Canada Day

Since Canada Day was on a Sunday we took it kinda easy.  I decided to skip the usual pancake breakfast at the Legislature (they only serve pancakes, watermelon and juice anyways).  I instead made french toast with the Maple bread that I bought from Costco.  That was yummy!
We just played at home and then went to church I had to teach the RS lesson. 

Then we had a fabulous BBQ and continued to hang out at home until 9pm.  At which time we packed some things up and braved the fireworks at the legislature grounds.  We tossed the frisbee and enjoyed being outside on such a beautiful day.  Then we found the best spot so far to enjoy the fireworks as we had a front row seat (right behind the fence that they put up).  We enjoyed the fireworks at 11pm and struggled our way back to our vehicle and waited our turn to leave the downtown core. 

Here some of us are in front of the water feature at the Legislature. 

Here is the other half.  Aaron fell asleep in the van ride over.  Remember is was after 9pm and he had a full day already. 

 Here we are waiting for the fireworks to start.  Aaron is still asleep and I bought some glow necklaces for the kids to wear; next year I'll buy way more and pack some card games to play.  Evan was done watching the fireworks after about 10 minutes but they continued on for another 5 minutes.  We woke Aaron up so he could enjoy them; although I think they may have been a bit too loud for his liking. 

Happy Canada Day. 

Happy Birthday!

Evan turned 6 this year.  I can't believe that my little boy is already 6! yikes!We had a party right on his birthday with a few friends.  His theme was Lego. 

 Evan started his day with the latest addition to the corn pop family -- cinnamon corn pops.  They tasted pretty good. 

Here the boys are playing the open the present game.  We also played a balloon stomp game where the was a piece of paper inside the balloon that said "winner".  I think the boys had fun popping balloons.

 Here are the cakes that I made.  Lego in theme.  They looked fantastic with the candles on them and they tasted yummy!

Here is a gift that Megan made for Evan.  It is a homemade Wii game, I think this one is a Kirby game that Evan likes.  He got some games, lots of different kinds of Lego, beyblades, money, cards, Nerf gun.  He had a really great birthday and what made it so fun was that he got to celebrate with friends. 

Evan at 6 years old is my special boy, with as we say, platinum blond hair.  He is a great student and is an excellent reader already.  He loves to play Wii and computer.   He loves to participate in swimming and gymnastics and anything outside and anything that that keeps him moving.  He does great with his chores and responsibilities and is a great brother.  We are so blessed to have him in our family.  Happy Birthday!

End of School

The last part of June is always busy with the wind down of all our activities and the last fun days of school.  Evan had a field trip to the zoo that I was able to go on with Aaron.

Here is our little but had my-hands-full group.  The zoo was packed that day since a few other schools also had the great idea of visiting too.  I think I counted 9 other school buses there when we arrived.  This is one of the first hot days that we experienced.  The kids were tired after all the walking around and excitement. 

 Here is the famous Lucy the elephant.  She is old and all alone and lots of animal rights people want her to be moved to an elephant sanctuary.

After we stopped walking around and looking at some of the animals we had lunch and then played with the parachut.  Aaron was even able to join in.  He had a blast and so did Evan as you can see.

On Sunday Megan had her final piano recital for the year. 

 Here's our group outside Concordia University where the recital was held.  We got some rain earlier in the day but then it turned out quite nice. 

Here is Megan waiting in the correct seating position before the recital began.  She kept saying that she was extremely nervous and she just might have been.  But as usual she did a fantastic job.  The students had to say thier name and what they were playing.  The old ladies finally couldn't complain because they couldn't hear anyone.  Megan spoke slow and clear and loud. 

Here's my boys trying to sit still and behave. They choose to sit on the bleachers while I sat in a chair on the floor. 

Here is Megan playing the Bear Necessities. She took her music up just in case but I don't think that she used it.  This is her second year of piano.   Great Job! Megan. 

Next up was getting the teacher gifts ready for the last day of school along with birthday party invitations.  Busy, busy, busy. 

 Here is Evan's Lego Party invitation.

 Megan's popcorn invitation -- we'll be watching the movie Hugo.

These are some gifts for the teachers.  Cute clip boards and a thank you note. 

Sorry for the sideways picture but these are some gifts for the teacher helpers in Evan's class; some key/ID tags holders (the fabric was cute ladybug and flowers) along with some apple hand sanitizer. 

On the last day of school the kids/teachers helped to organize and put on a talent show.  Of course Megan participated and was pretty good.  She sang a song called Girls Can Too.  Sorry I can seem to upload the video. 

Some of the other talent included a puppet show, magician, dancing, singing and Kung Fu routine.  It was really entertaining.  Spencer took some time off work for an hour in the morning to watch Megan perform.  We hope it continues for next year as we are already helping to plan Megan's routine. 

The last day of school here are the kids teachers/helpers.
 

This is the famous Mrs. Casali.  She is a wonderful Kindergarten teacher.  She kept 28 kids organized and learning all year long.  She also saw that she could challenge Evan a little more and did so through out the school year in order to help him keep focused and out of trouble. 

This is Miss B a teacher assistant and below is Mrs. M another teacher Assistant.  I don't actually know what their last names are since Evan always referred to them in this way.  They were great ladies as well. 

 This is Mrs. Thompson, she was Evan's teacher for the last 3 or 4 months.  They divided the kinders into two classes for some extra teaching focus and to better help prepare the kids for grade 1.  She also taught Megan in grade 2.  She would teach Evan's class in the morning and then go and teacher her regular grade 2 class in the afternoons.  

 This is one of Megan's teachers Mrs. Rygus.  She is also the assistant principle.  She is a great lady who has been at the school for 20 years. 

This is Megan's other teacher, Mrs. Reklow, she is also the Music teacher for the school. 
After being a mother I think that being a teacher is the toughest job.  These are people who are  educating our children, spending 6 hours a day 5 days a week with them and who have such an important impact on our children that I believe they should be compensated accordingly.  I think that our sports heros that make millions for a few years of effort at playing a sport don't really deserve that and that society just may have their priorities mixed up. 

These teachers did a wonderful job this year and my children have loved this school year and learned many new things.  Thank you.  Good luck in the fall.  Everyone of them is leaving to pursue new opportunities, except for Evan's kindergarten teacher (i'm not sure about the teacher assistants). 

Father's Day

Father's Day came and went.  It was pretty good. 

We gave Spencer some coupons,a couple of new ties, Megan made him a beatiful card and a enjoyed delicious dinner after church. The ward gave him dad's rootbeer and a pepperoni stick.

Of course we had to have a little time outside before our church started so I packed up a little lunch some of our old bread to feed to the ducks and we headed out to enjoy the sunshine. 

Happy Father's Day Spencer.  We love you.  Thank you for being an awesome dad. 

Fancy Megan

For some strange reason to me of which I don't actually know.  Megan wanted her hair curled for school one day.  I suggested we use rags to roll her hair since those curls stay in so nice and you can sleep on the rags.  I remember my sister ragging my hair but couldn't quite get it right from her style so of course I googled it and came up with a different version. 

It only took me about 20 minutes to roll/wrap her hair.  The next day she was a little shocked about the poofyness of her hair but I convinced her to just let is soften through out the day (and I used the blow dryer).  And she did. 

She loved it in the end and had fun with it.  A good friend at school has naturally curly hair and they looked cute walking into the school together .  I think the grass is always greener on the other side.

Aaron was a little confused about having curly hair on Megan and didn't really like it at first.   Also.....these are Megan's new glasses...again. 

Spencer's Birthday

Spencer celebrated a big birthday this year by turning 35!  Time is flying, especially when you are just getting older. 

It was a busy weekend just before his birthday, so we rearranged our schedule a little bit and celebrated right on his Special day. 

The day started out "sweet" and "smart".  As I decided to get him a sugary cereal to enjoy for breakfast. 

I apparently didn't take a picture in the morning probably because our mornings are a bit hectic getting everyone off to school or work.  But he and the kids enjoyed "Alpha-Bits" cereal. 

We got the decorating done the night before. (A Happy Birthday banner, streamers, and self inflated balloons).  Fancy I know. 

I made a terrific dinner of Pad Thai Noodles.  It was delicious.  I was going to send an Edible Arrangement to his office but they are pretty pricey so I tried my hand at making one.  Let's just say that there is actually a lot of fruit that is needed to make the bouquet look full and beautiful.  Next year maybe I'll splurge.  The kids loved to eat fruit off a stick, as they called it. 

Then we let our food settle and when into the living room for the gift opening.  I tried to give the kids a few cheaper options for gifts that they could give to their dad but when they realized that they had to spend their own money, which they worked so hard for, they took my suggestions for gifts of service. 

Spencer got some great drawings, coupons, hugs and kisses and some new running shoes and shirt, an iPod nano and some sport headphones .  I think I give him exercise related gifts every year.  But that's ok because I know that he will use them.  I'm kinda surprised that the liked the nano so much.  It is so small and much easier to run with instead of his blackberry.  Spencer likes to listen to conference while he runs...only Spencer would do that; great messages but maybe not the best motivation for running.

We then sang Happy Birthday and enjoyed his Super Spencer Ice cream cake.  We are actually still working on finishing it.  Their big! A big thank you for everyone who remembered Spencer on his special day. 

Happy Birthday to our special dad and wonderful husband.  We love you!

  

May

So many things so here is just a few highlights...

Spencer took Megan to an Oil Kings game compliments of his work.  Megan was enjoying all the free food and watching the game in a "box".  She said that she could get used to this. 
I went to the dollar store to buy a few things for her in order for her to enjoy herself and to hopefully make it up on the jumbo tron TV screen.  We made this sign, she had noise makers, a silver tinsel-y wigg and some glow sticks.   The Oil Kings won 7-1 and this was one of the play off games.  She had a blast! 

So while Megan went on a Daddy/Daughter date; I took the boys on a Mommy/Son date and we went 5 pin bowling and out for DQ ice cream cones.  I bought the boys some funny hats to use while bowling and glow sticks for us.  Aaron loved the idea and his new frog hat.  Evan didn't really want to wear the hat in public but changed his mind.  The boys had fun bowling and Evan and I tied with 117! 

I had a wonderful Mother's Day this year.  The kids were excited to give me their gifts that they made in school.  Megan made a vase and flowers (that I bought), Evan made me a caterpillar that he made out of clay.  I must say that I have quite the collection of clay items, Spencer gave me a pass for hot yoga that I really enjoy.  

Here are the three reasons that I am a mother. 

 I made us a lovely breakfast of eggs benedict (really any special occasion in which I can make it will do....I think Fathers Day is coming up!). Since our church is at 1pm we all got dressed and I wanted to take a walk. So we went down to our favorite park to enjoy the weather and company and we of course had to feed the Canadian Geese and other ducks. 

For our date this month we went to the Royal Provincial Museum and then out for lunch at the Urban Diner.  I was hoping for a delicious sandwich that they serve but at 1pm they were still serving breakfast.  Oh well.  We walked around for a little while checking out some of the neat/quaint/trendy shops on 124 Street. 

This is a picture of the kindergarten class (Evan is the second from the left) they performed for the school and parents who came to the schools assembly.  They were learning about bugs/insects and sang a song about them.  They also made some cute bug eyes that they are wearing.  Evan is holding a blue paper, and I didn't know it, but he was selected to read the paper out loud to the whole school to introduce what the kindergartners were going to perform.  It took me a while to realize that it was Evan speaking.  They did a good job. 

Thanks to my sister for showing us a fun science experiment to try at home with only a bar of soap and a microwave.  I don't know exactly what this says about Ivory soap, but I'm glad I shower with liquid forms of soap. 

 Here is Aaron's bar of ivory soap.  Unwrap.

Place on top of paper towel or parchment paper.  Put in microwave for up to 2 minutes or until done expanding. 

Be careful removing from microwave as object is like a big soap cloud.  Very delicate.  We placed them in big bowls then then kids went at it squishing and crushing them.  We then added a bit of water to try to make soap blobs again.  If you try this experiment at home be prepared for a soapy smell and a flaky mess.  But at least your kids hands get clean. 

During the May long weekend we managed to get our little garden planted 9carrots, beets, spinach, green onions, leeks, peas, sweet peas and yellow beans) and some flowers in our planters and flower garden.  We also went to Fort Edmonton Park on the Monday.  That was the first time that I had been there; so I was really enjoying myself.  We were having a good time together until Spencer and the boys got lost from me and Megs.  What is the rule if you get lost?........

That's right, stay where you are (apparently spencer doesn't know this rule).  Megs and I looked up and down the 1820's street and looked for those boys.  We eventually made it to all the other streets, no longer looking in each building for a piece of history but for a red umbrella stroller.  No luck.  Finally I decided that they weren't going to leave us at the park, and we walked back to the entrance so maybe I could phone from a real phone (I didn't have my cellphone on me).   Miracle of miracles we found them.  Spencer and I were a little upset at what had happened and he asked why I didn't phone him....because I didn't have my cell phone....they he said that I should have just asked someone to borrow theirs.  yeah right.  We may have been separated but we weren't really lost and quite frankly I don't think that he would have done the same thing.  We did finish off our day with a few rides at the Fort and some old fashioned candy and a few prizes that the kids won. 

 Here we are on the train.  Going for a little ride.  The train drops you off at the farthest end of the park.  They also have a trolley that runs on the main street and has more stops along the different streets.

Here is Spencer and Evan on the Ferris Wheel.

  Only two per seat so Megan got to ride alone.  Aaron didn't want to ride this he saw the Carousel ride and went on that about a million times.  Which wouldn't be too bad, except because he is too short to ride by himself an adult has to actually ride on the same horse and the horses aren't meant for two riders, so my butt was sore.  Also not all the horses move up and down.  After we were pretty much ready to go home Aaron wanted to go on the Ferris Wheel.  So I went with him.  I don't particularly like that ride I hate being stopped at the top of the wheel. 

Our stake had a fun family activity and a few things to eat.  There were games, face painting, and jumpy houses.  We stayed and enjoyed all that was offered, had a good time and then drove home. 

Evan had a half monster face.

Megan was tired by this point but loved her swirls. She had a birthday party to go to right after this and she was ready to go. 

Aaron is a green monster guy.  Both the boys of course were sad that they had to have their faces washed off a the end of the day...so they could be ready for Sunday the next day.  We scrubbed and washed but still some paint remained on thier faces.  Evan had red around his one eye and aaron looked mad because of his black eye brows.

I can't believe that school will soon be out and the lazy days of summer will be here soon.  Hopefully the weather will be a bit nicer this year with fewer mosquito's.  I am currently planning 3 birthdays, a fathers day, canada day and what exactly to do all summer long.