Father and Sons Camp ...plus one daughter

This was a most enjoyable weekend....Spencer, Evan and Megan left Friday night for the our stake's father and sons camp. (Yes, Megan was the only girl). They had a great time. The camp site was just outside of Westlock. So it was a little bit of a drive. (Spencer and I packed up Thursday night and I finished off on Friday). They arrived after having eaten dinner in the car on the road, set up the tent and got all sleeping gear out.

Then proceeded to go on a canoe ride. Spencer said they finished canoeing around 10pm. Then had some smores around the camp fire, then off to bed.

The next morning was more playing at the beach and in the water. They even got a little boat ride thanks to a member of our ward who brought his boat out! They all had a great time.

I also enjoyed myself....I hung out with Aaron and cleaned the house. It was so quiet and peaceful. The house stayed clean for longer than a day. Heavenly!

Let the Birthday Extravaganza Begin...

Three cheers for Spencer's Birthday (or should I say 33 cheers?). He starts off our birthday party trilogy. A quite family party was all that he wanted, and it turned out to be less than that. Aaron was our party pooper, as he came down with a fever and was not in any position to be active. So I stayed home with him, as Spencer finally go to test out his new helmet on a bike ride to the park with the other kids.

After that we had some down time at home and proceeded to open presents and have mixed berries with a custard sauce on top in lieu of a cake. (Requested by Spencer)

He received some nice gifts....

A lovely card that evan made and a nice purdue tie...

Megan earned this shirt from her school, for having completed 200 nights of home reading. Way to go Megan! The front has the school logo on it. Now they have matching shirts.

This is from me and ok the kids too. A running watch. Spencer spent the rest of the day charging and reading the manual and discovering all about it. He has used it a few times and loves it. I'll be borrowing it some time too....thanks!

Zoo

Calgary Zoo!....here we come! Megan's entire school, took a field trip to the zoo. Spencer was a gracious parent volunteer (over 200 kids). They left early on a Friday morning and explored the zoo for the day and then headed on home...arriving back around dinner time. Lots of traveling for kids for one day, but the chartered some nice buses....so they had a movie and a bathroom.

This was Spencer's group. The weather was a bit cloudy and cool, but thankfully there was no snow. The kids loved the re-done dinosaur exhibit. Megan also loved the pink flamingos. The kids had "clip boards" that they made to keep them focused and busy on the bus ride and through out their wanderings at the zoo.

Moving

Well we're not moving...but Aaron is sure getting around.

He has learned how to climb the stairs, one moment I see him the next moment he is gone...quietly scaling the stairs.

He is starting to cruise around too...he mostly likes to hold our hands still and walk that way. This summer will be a busy one, once he gets the hang of walking on his own!

Biking Boy

Evan finally said goodbye to his pink/purple trike that he has enjoyed riding the last couple of years. He has upgraded to a real boys bike...



This little trike has quite a history.

1) This used to be our cousins bike, but it was broke and they were moving....so Spencer snagged it, then we did an easy repair

2) Megan loved it, it was her first set of wheels

3) Evan is shorter and it fit him perfectly...and he fell in love with riding it, when Megan up graded to a two wheeler

4) Trike was stolen when Spencer and the kids were at the park. How rude. We had one heart broken boy. We searched around, but didn't find it. Then Megan spied it and go it back with Spencers help.

5) I won't be holding on to it for Aaron...that is just too far away....so the little trike's history ends here for us.

Now here is our boy biking and loving it with his new fabulous yellow two wheeler. Just a little practice is all that it takes for him to gain some confidence. Now we just have to work on getting Megan's confidence up....but that is another story!

Soccer Family

We are a soccer family this season. It started in May and wil end in June. It is keeping us busy 3 nights out of the week. But we have been enjoying our selves as we get outside on these nights and are trying to stay active. Aaron is just perfectly content to sit in his stroller and watch all the kids run around and to see the soccer ball. Both Evan and Megan love cheering...Evan cracks up the girls on Megans team by saying "Go, Bacon, Go", even when he knows perfectly well that Megan is saying "Go, Beacon, Go". Evan loves his time at the parks. Since most games are played a community or school fields.

Can you believe that Megan has on a few occasions asked me to stop cheering? I'm not a crazy sports mom, but I told her, that I was encouraging the girls....she has since not been too bothered by my encouragement of the players and their good efforts on the field.

Of course the highlight of every game is the half time break and the snack!

This was Evans first soccer experience....he was not liking the whole idea of running on the field as we sat and watched and cheered. Thank goodness there were other kids in the same boat. I think that there were equal number of under 4 players as there were parents out on the field. He is a mighty mite! The rainy weekends don't help...we've only had one game for him so far....it will take a bit more time for him to warm up to the idea of actually playing soccer. He loves to be apart of Megan's experiences weekly. Next time I'm sending Megan to run around with him so I can watch from the sidelines. p.s there is a soccer ball on his shirt, right by the bunnies feet, you just can't see it in this picture.

The back of her jersey. Yes, custom made jerseys for a little extra. Megan has been getting in there and kicking the ball more and saving goals. She also likes to play defense (which isn't really part of the rules in this league; each team has 4 members on the field and one is the goalie, so everyone just runs around defending and scoring). She still has her moments of not quite paying attention and doing a few kung fu moves along with some spins and other dance moves....oh well.

Megan as goalie...which this time round she likes. Maybe it's because of the soccer gloves, or maybe it is because they actually have a goal crease marked, so it is less scary to stop the ball.

Mothers Day

So I'm finally getting around to blogging about Mother's Day. With 2 kids in school and a creative husband the presents were endless. First of all, we like to celebrate Mother's and Father's Day on Saturday; since on Sunday there are meetings, church, the no shopping policy....etc. Besides, the kids can hardly wait to share their presents.

Spencer made a wonderful pancake breakfast, then Megan had soccer pictures in the morning and then we all braved Costco...so I could get some prescription sunglasses (still waiting to get those back). Then home for a quick lunch and some tidying up. Then Megan and I were off to the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra Kids series to listen to Mozart: Boy Genius. It was really good and fun to get out with Megan. We both enjoy the Symphony and she says that she wants to continue on for next year.

(Megan conducting a string quartet)

Upon arriving home we decided that it was "time". So Aaron started things off with a nice red balloon with a note attached that says how much he Loves me...and he enjoyed chasing the balloon around the living room. Next Spencer and the boys shared with me some sugar cookies that they freshly baked. They even made 3 that spelled out M-O-M. (Evan was snitching them all week!).
Evan shared his gift that he made a preschool. A lovely card with his hand print and a painted ladybug rock in a beautiful box. He was so happy to give it to me! His ladybug is one with inverted colors...a black bug with red dots!


Megan then gave me her present. A lovely spa basket with bath bombs, Epsom salts, nail file, fluffy puff, rose petal soaps, and bath gel. They all smelled lovely and they made everything at school. So far Megan and Evan are the only ones to have tried anything...they enjoyed using them a lot in their own baths.

Spencer then handed me a couple of gift certificates to go to a spa....I get to pick from a group of spas that accept this GC. So I'm trying not to lose that special little paper.

At church the next day, all moms were given a candle and cookies. My kids all tried the cookies, Megan broke hers in half and shared with me. Thanks Megan. Happy future Mother's Day to you too! Then I had a nice nap after church and a lovely dinner. It was a full busy weekend.