Surprise

My mom had been planning to visit my sister in November for quite some time. About 3 weeks before her trip she said "I'm going to Fort Collins and you are coming with me". It seemed easy enough to not tell my sister that I was joining in and thus began our big SURPRISE.
I must say it was NOT easy to keep this secret. Containing my excitement was the first obstacle and the second was just plain stupidity. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to call her and share my joy that I would see her soon. Or the time I almost called to ask to borrow clothes when I was there.
We did manage to keep it quiet and when she came to pick my mom up from the hotel and found me too, it was awesome!
I didn't take too many pictures, they would all have been of eating or shopping anyway, but here are a few.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Halloween Fun!

As we started cleaning our pumpkins this year, we longingly remember 2 years ago when we carved our pumpkins in the sun on the deck. We could have been in the sun on the deck this year but we would have been standing in a foot of snow and require our winter coats.
We still had a great time. I love that all 3 kids will now reach into the pumpkin and help pull out the guts. As you may recall, Ben would have none of that when he was younger. 



Part of the fun for the kids is picking out a design and having us carve it for them.
  

 

 

Ben's pumpkin, Batman.
Credit: Matt
 

Jonny's pumpkin, Panda
Credit: Kayleah (this was the easiest one)
 

Mya's pumpkin, Tinkerbell
Credit: Matt (definately the toughest one)
 

Wow, it works!

I haven't put anything on our blog in over 6 months! At first it was the busyness that comes with the end of a school year. Then when I went to post, it had changed and I couldn't figure it out. Spending hours trying to make blogger work wasn't high on my priority list and so here we are 6 months later. I finally decided to "phone a friend" and Wow, it works!

 

 

I obviously have missed so much but I will just start with something semi-recent and see where it leads.

 

 

For months our family has been praying for my mom's dear friend, Shawna, who was battling breast cancer. When Matt's work decided to form a team in support of a co-worker and do the Run for a Cure, Ben decided he'd like to join and run for Shawna. It was really great for Ben to "do" something for someone he'd been praying for. He is old enough to feel that helpless feeling we all get when someone you know is really beyond our help.

 

Of course they did awesome! I was impressed that Ben was able to run the whole 5km without a walk break. Helps when you have your runner dad running beside you as motivation. Jonny, Mya and I had just as much fun cheering for all the runners as they approached the finish line. They quickly caught on that anyone running in a light pink shirt was a breast cancer survivor and would cheer extra loud for them. It was a great day as a family and is definately a special memory.  

  

 

Ben's First Piano Recital

GF

After many years of ongoing gastro-intestinal problems, we have decided to take Jonny off gluten to see if it helps. His specialists and dietician are hopeful. It has only been 3 days and my emotions have been all over the place. From thinking this will be terrible to feeling encouraged by the selection of food at Superstore. From feeling bad for Jonny over all the things he asks for and can't have to excitement when he likes one of the new gluten-free foods.
The next step will be trying my hand at baking gf (gluten-free). So far we have just avoided anything with gluten but you can only have hashbrowns for breakfast for so many days. Tonight I made macaroni and cheese and the kids all loved it, I on the other hand thought it could have been a lot better. I substituted corn starch for the flour and you could taste it. In hindsight, it may have been better to just use gf flour. Luckily, Jonny loves the corn pasta and I can make regular for the rest of us.
We don't know if this is only temporary or if it will make him better but it is worth a try.  I have been amazed by how many people I know who eat gf and am blessed by all their advice and recipes.

New Bumper

Matt has been hard at work designing and making a new bumper for his truck. I was a bit sceptical at first but think it turned out great!

A few days away together!

I am hoping to make time to post more pics from our 4 days in Canmore but here are my favourites for now...

Our Christmas...

Wow!! Our Christmas was very busy but also very special. We spent time as a family (just us 5) but also with our extended family (both sides).
This first post is from our pre-Christmas activites, including Christmas Eve and it goes on from there...

At Nanna and Bubba's after the Christmas Eve service at our church. Every year I get to enjoy more of the service as the kids last longer before needing to be removed. This year I got to enjoy all the singing and the special music but heard the sermon from the nursery. Much better than last year when Mya peed on me 5 minutes in.

We enjoyed a special dinner with my parents, and the boys enjoyed sparkling juice in a special cup.

Mmmm, Ben and I's favourite, creme brulee and this time it was basil infused dark chocolate. It was amazing.

I was trying to get a pic of Mya in her Christmas pajamas but of course blankie is always in the way. Still you get the jist.

I LOVE this picture!!! It was totally a fluke, I took many after it trying to repeat or perfect it, none came close.

For the first time, Matt took the kids to cut down a tree. It was awesome, they had fun and the tree was so fresh it hasn't dropped needles all over the house. It is almost as tall as the ceiling. Ben did awesome reaching to put on our star.

It was hard to take a good picture of Ben in his Christmas concert. I think if you click them each you can see him better. He did awesome!! All the kids sang with so much heart and enthusiasm. We ordered a copy of the DVD of the whole concert and Ben can hardly wait to watch himself.

Christmas Morning

We always seem to let Titan go first. Maybe so he can take his snack and stay out of the kids snacks!

Mya definately enjoyed her stocking. She was smart to dump out the whole thing and pick out the candy.

I think I liked Jonny's hat better than he did, oh well.

Ben wrote a Christmas story at school to read to us on Christmas morning. It was very special.

Mmmmm, homemade buttermilk waffles with berries and whip cream. Ben and Jonny's request.

Three cuties!! We actually didn't start opening our presents until 10:30am, pretty impressive for three kids 6 and under!

I made the boys these housecoats. One benefit of homemade is you can choose fabric they'll love, and they did love it!

More gift opening. Gotta love Matt's face in the last one! A boys movie (Nacho Libre) from the girls.