Mother’s Day

 

 

Mother's Day looked a bit different this year since Matt had to work a 12 hour shift. The kids and I had lunch with Nanna and dinner with Grandma. Matt got home right at bedtime and gave me my Mother's Day gift, which included a tripod. I quick tried it out and got this shot with the kids. I love it! I will have to try to remember to use it more, so that I can be in the pictures more often.

 

Photography and Ballet

This week I took a great photography class meant for moms who want to take great pictures of their kids.  I learned A LOT and now I need to practice before it all leaves my  brain.

Mya is the only willing participant here. She would have danced and changed outfits all day if I had the time. She has been taking ballet since September and loves it.

 

 

 

Mya is 3!

Almost a month ago, Mya turned 3! Long before her party, she had requested to have her friends for a ballerina tea party. She never wavered from this idea. It turned out to be an awesome party, so laid back compared to some all the boys’ parties.

It’s hard to believe that our youngest is 3 but at the same time I am sooooo loving this stage of our family. It is a lot easier to have quality time together without, diaper changes, naps, nursing, whining (that still happens sometimes). Add to that, the kids increased abilities to do outdoor stuff (our favourite) and it’s pretty great!

I took tonnes of pictures of Mya (without her Elmo chair). I said I would take a couple with the chair to help encourage her to let me take the other ones. Of course, the one in the chair turned out the best.

 

 

With her brothers, whom she loves more than anything and now refers to as “her boys”.

The Party

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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