Date Night with the kids

As one of our goals this year Spencer and I have been making a full out effort with spending time with at least Evan and Megan on a one on one basis this year.  We rotate months...so this month is Spencer's turn and he'll go on a date with Megan and then Evan for an hour.  We have it scheduled on the calendar so we don't forget and we have a list of ideas that we can choose from as well as a small budget for the activity ($10).  

We try to remember that it isn't exactly what we do together as long as the one on one time is there and it is spent together.  We have an uninterrupted to talk and share feelings, ask questions and get to know each other better. 

This last Tuesday we must admit that it kinda snuck up on us but Spencer and Megan made these beauties at home....

What you can't smell and taste from this picture is that they are mint chocolate chip cookies and they tasted divine!  Megan took a bunch to school the next day to share with her friends.  She said they all loved them and asked where she bought them from. 

In March Megan and I went out for some Sushi.  It was delish and we hung out and played some boggle.  I went with Evan to A&W for some root beer floats and he picked out some toys that were on sale at Wal-Mart.  As we enjoyed our floats we read from his school book together.  These are wonderful memories in the making. 

March Highlights

Oh March....the month of snow and what feels like more snow. 

I think the holiday that we enjoyed most was St. Patrick's Day and we're not even Irish!  I think that everyone should be Irish on that day cause it is fun to celebrate.  This year the holiday fell on Sunday and we had Stake Conference that week and I noticed a lot of other people still wearing their green.  My kids wore green on Friday to celebrate a little at school but I said no to having green hair since it wasn't on a school day.

We had one set of missionaries over for dinner that night and they helped us celebrate with our dinner.  I made Irish Stew that we put over top Colcannon potatoes, green Jello, a spinach strawberry salad and limeade to drink.  Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of that but I did remember to get a picture of our delicious dessert....

brownies with mint icing and chocolate on top with a scoop of ice cream.  It was sooooo sweet, maybe too sweet but we each enjoyed a piece anyways.  Notice the fun plates....!

This is the month that we also got our basement flooring replaced.  It looks like a million bucks!  I'll have to take pictures and show you later.  We got this done on Thursday the 21st;   the day of the worst snow storm of the month.  Of course I also signed Aaron up to go to a lady bug class at the Muttart and were lucky to have made it.  He had a great time. 

 He made these lady bug wings.  Did you know that some lady bugs have spots and some "stripes"  or a combination of both and some have none? Also you can't tell their age by the number of spots on their back?  I know!  that last fact blew my mind.   They also come in red, yellow or orange colors? 

 We went to the feature pyramid that is titled "Up Up and Away"  and it was filled with spring flowers.  It may have been a snow storm outside but inside it was spring! Here they went on a hunt to find a lady bug. 

 We always take time to smell the flowers. 

 In the tropical pyramid we had the chance to look at things the same way a bug does...with "bug eyes".  These were cool glasses to look through. 

 Enjoying the view of the flowers through bug eyes! In the desert pyramid we had the chance to reach into a bag and use just our sense of touch to understand the ways in which plants can protect themselves; example a cactus (plastic) was in one bag and we learned about its spikes and thick skin to hold in water in the desert.  We also felt a wax candle and lots of plants in the desert have this protection to help hold and retain water.  

 In the Temperate pyramid we got to smell some plants and release a lady bug.  First we had the chance to inspect the lady bug under the magnifying glass container to see all of its parts then we got to pick a plant and place the lady bug on it.  Lady bugs eat aphids so hopefully they can help the plants and feed themselves at the same time. 

We Aaron released his on this fern plant. 

Here he is walking with his antenna.  He also planted a Christmas Cactus plant that I've been faithfully watering.  (Some day it is going to be a big and flowery as Grandma Burt's!)

Also on this day I had to drive the kids to piano lessons.  Yuck! 

These following pictures are memories that I don't want to soon forget.  Evan playing the piano and Aaron patiently sitting beside him taking it all in waiting for his turn to "practice". 

I must say that I'm pretty impressed with both of my piano kids.  We have our routine down that they practice 5 minutes before school and 10 minutes after school.  Really it's more like 2 minutes before and 5 minutes or less after.  They think if they have played through the song once then their done.  I'm going to have to reinvest in a timer so they can have a better sense of time.  P.S if their morning chores aren't done before they leave for school...no privileges after school and they still get to do their chores and responsibilities.  We are putting first things first or trying to anyways. 

Spencer Convocates

 

Hooray.  Spencer passed his CA exam and all his requirements to become a CA (Chartered Accountant).  After all the hard work, sacrifice, time and effort it is all finished.  As a means of having some closure and after my encouragment Spencer decided to convocate.  It is a very time honored tradition for the CA profession as they have their own set way to do it.  All the new CA's get the opportunity to be introduced to the president of the CA association of Alberta, by another CA.  So Spencer had his one of his bosses introduce him.  They get to give a 2 minute introduction and go up on stage.  The highlight for us was that Spencer actually got his CA certificate that day as we walked across the stage. 

Of course it was a good idea at the time to bring our kids along to see Dad complete the whole school process and to see him graduate.  They saw him study, go to school, do homework, take tests all along the way so we thought it would be a good experience to see the end product.  It was a long day to say the least.  The ceremony started at 8am, Spencer had to be there early, we all drove together so we were up and out of the house earlier than a school day and this was on a Saturday and had to be dressed up!  I packed some snacks and things to do to help keep the kids quite.  That didn't last as long as I would have liked, but with a few bathroom breaks we lasted mostly the whole morning.  The ceremony lasted about 2.5 hours.  Yikes!  Hopefully the kids will remember something positive about it. 

 Here we are very early in the morning for a Saturday and all dressed up to boot!

 

 Here we are sitting in our seats waiting for it to start.  Everyone is still in good spirits. 

 

 Here are my boys toward the end of the 2 plus hours of being at the Winsper center.  It was best for everyone that we were outside in the lobby. 

Later that night there was a fancy dinner celebration for all the graduates and thier special guests.  As part of the ceremony all the CA graduates were Piped in.  Spencer's parents were able to be there to help us celebrate.  The theme was Hollywood and the Shaw Conference Center was decorated very nicely.  There was a delicious dinner and dancing later that evening.  Since it was a very early day we didn't stay too long after dinner and dessert were served.  But we did get a fun picture of the two of us dressed up in front of a theater with a movie theme.  I'll have to have Spencer scan it for me sometime. 

The rest of February

Here are some of the other highlights from the month of February:

 It was a beautiful warm winter day and after church to help keep the kids occupied we suggested that they could build a snowman in the backyard. They weren't too keen on the idea but Spencer was....and here is his snowman.  He has since been reduced to about half due to the warmer temperatures. 

For Valentine's Day I had signed up Aaron for a class at the valley zoo.  So here is his listening to information about animals and touching various objects and animals. 

 This is the wing of a female peacock. 

 Here he is petting a rooster that has beautiful reddish coloring and his red comb.

 

 

Here he is touching an armadillo. 

 He made this elephant craft and he also made a "stink bomb"  which is an enrichment toy for some of the animals.  It was made up of a piece of an old sheet filled up with sheep's wool (smelly) with other scented oils added to that (orange, peppermint) and tied up with twine.  We visited the lemurs and learned a little bit about them then we had time to wander around the zoo for ourselves. 

Who should we meet on our wanderings?......that's right Lucy the elephant was out for a stroll so we got an up close view and picture of her.  Aaron enjoyed being with other kids in a learning environment. 


 Evan lost his first tooth.  Hallelujah!  It was wiggly for quite sometime and starting to bother him.  He finally, after some advice from his older sister on what it is like to pull out your tooth, got brave enough to pull out his own tooth!  The tooth fairy did eventually find him and gave him a shiny "loonie" after stumbling upon one that she didn't need for grocery shopping. 

 On Family Day since we all had the day off we headed to the provincial museum which was very busy and crowded but still worth the effort.  Above is a picture of one of the rocks in the rock and mineral exhibit. 

 Here is Evan in the dinosaur exhibit.  We also enjoyed seeing all the other exhibits again and the new exhibit of Inuit dolls. 

 The kids had teachers convention at the end of the month so we went to the zoo.  It was a nice day to be outside.  Who should we happen to see again?.....that's right Lucy!  Boy she gets some good exercise and outside time. 

Here we are taking a short break and watching the tortoises and lemurs.  The Edmonton zoo is very different than the Calgary zoo.  It only takes us about 1 hour to see all there is to really see especially in the winter time.  We had a nice time together and it was a good way to spend some of the day. 

 On another day Aaron and I went to play at the John Janzen Nature center at the indoor play space.  They also happened to be feeding some of the reptiles while we were there.  So he felt a garter snake. 

He also touched a salamander and then watched as they tried to feed it a worm.  This boy is pretty brave to touch so many different animals and reptiles. 

 

Happy Valentines Day!

What a successful day we had yesterday as we celebrated valentines day.  I woke up a little later than I wanted to in the morning but already had in mind what we were having for breakfast.  French toast sticks with syrup, whipped cream and strawberries or Nutella; bacon and chocolate milk to drink.  Yummy. 

The kids got a little treat bag with a few goodies/surprises from mom and dad.  A chocolate marshmallow heart, conversation hearts, cinnamon hearts, colored bubbles, hugs and kisses, then Megan got some new love-y hand lotion and some lip scrub and the boys got some mini hockey sticks to play with carefully inside. 

For lunch they got left over pizza, strawberries, heart shaped praeventia cookies, chocolate pudding, a juice and carrots. 


The kids took some red licorice to share with their classmates and these were their valentines. 

 

 

After some convincing Spencer got me this for Valentines day and Mothers day.....

 

 

Sweet! I'm so excited now I can make real drinks with crushed ice in them.  Also soups and ice cream.  This little baby will be delivered to my house soon.  He also surprised me with a dozen roses.  The boys at work were bugging him that he got me a blender for valentines day.....a definite no no!  Thanks boys!

 

For dinner we had Tomato Basil Bisque Soup with Rye bread grilled cheese sandwiches and spinach salad.  Yummy again. 

 

What a happy day it was. 

Chinese New Year 2013

Of course we still do a little something for the Chinese New Year.  This year we visited the Muttart (Mutt -like a dog / Tart - with emphasis on tart).  They had a craft, music, a free jade plant to plant, and lovely displays.

 Here is the craft being made.  I thought it was suppose to be a hand catching "lucky" money.  But it is really suppose to be a tree and the gold dots the leaves.  The colors red and gold are lucky.

 Here are my 3 Buddhas. 

Yes, a snake to touch. All my kids did.  This year is the year of the snake, which is the year Spencer was born in so it will be a lucky year for him.  Hooray!

 Here I am with Aaron under an arched bench taking a break.

Here is Spencer with Evan and the dragon. 

In honor of Chinese New Year....I think that Chinese food would be a good choice.  Not the cheap junky kind that you regret later but real Chinese food from a chinese supermarket. 

Ice on Whyte

After a somewhat busy Saturday we decided to do something together as a family.  So we decided to go to the Ice on Whyte festival.  With 2 coupons to reduce cost the whole family got in for $10 that put us in a happy mood and then we found pretty good parking on the street by the festival so we were doing all right.  Unfortunately we parked at the wrong end and ended up walking all the way around to access the one entrance.  Oh well, it was a nice night out. 

It was fun to see the ice carvers in action.  They were using all sorts of tools like an iron.  There were some really neat sculptures and carvers from around the world who took part.  Then what the kids loved the most....ice slides.  There was one huge one with like 6 different slides that had lights under it so it glowed at night, which looked awesome.  They each took turn after turn trying out the different slides. 

 

They also had fire pits to warm up by and an inside tent that we stopped by so we could warm up.  This year they had a fantastic children's area with lots more shorter slides and short line ups so the kids played around for another 30-45 minutes there. 

It was past dinner by the time we were done so we stopped and ate at McDonalds.  I have to put my foot down.  I'm sick of eating there.  Let's face it --- the only reason that we do is because I know the kids will eat what is on the menu, they're everywhere, and its cheap (in every sense of the word).  But with bellies full and a chance to burn off some energy and being outside on a winter night -- by the time we got home the kids were either asleep or right ready for bed.  I love nights like that.