Bowling Blitz...

To add to our 'adventure' of yesterday... we then headed to a birthday party in the afternoon for our friend Jake. It was glow bowling so anyone wearing white (which we did on purpose) really GLOWED :) The party was completed with bowling ball cupcakes!

Ethan and Jackson checking the scores

Ethan

Jackson

Liam

Hmmmm.... bowling ball cupcakes anyone?

Carnival Chaos...

Yesterday, while our open house was going on, we trekked around the corner to a neighboring church for a kiddie carnival. They host it every Labour Day weekend and this is the third time we've been. It was a little crazy getting out the door, hoping that we were leaving the house 'just right'... the realtor was across the street waiting, an early-bird couple had arrived and I was still throwing shirts out to the boys, who were now running around on the side walk! Jeepers :) I wasn't late but they had arrived early, which was making me more frazzled!

It was a great day, weather-wise, for the carnival and the boys had lotsa fun, as always, not to mention that it was perfect timing for us to be out of the house! There was a little petting farm, horses to ride, a blow-up bouncer and slide, a dunk tank, water guns and some other games... we finished it all off with a hot dog and popcorn! By this time Ethan was sneezing and his eyes were watering, so I'm wondering if all the beloved pets and rodents he held at the petting farm were getting to him???? Wouldn't surprise me after the dog episode/allergy a couple months ago!

Eating popcorn in a tree!

Checking out the rodents... all sorts!

But you always....

I do appreciate a clean house, however, keeping it clean 24/7 while the house is FOR SALE is starting to take a toll on everyone! We can't just run out the door without making beds etc. This morning, Jackson asked me if it was time to go to the carnival yet (it wasn't even 8am) and I said, "no we have to clean the house up, since we're having an OPEN HOUSE today." Jackson: "OOOOOHHHHHH! You ALWAYS have to CLEAN the house before we GO anywhere!!!! Argh!"

First Day of School - Round Two!

Today, was Jackson's first day of kindergarten. He will be going for full days, every other day but they are breaking the class up a bit... yesterday and today, 1/4 of the class went at a time, morning and afternoon. Next Thursday and Friday, 1/2 the class will go for a full day and then finally, on Tuesday the 9th, they will ALL go together! I'm very thrilled that the kiddies of my friends, Mona and Keri are in the same class as Jackson - much better for the 'mom social life' :) So today, while Jackson was at school, I went to spend the morning at Mona's house, so that I wouldn't be driving back and forth three times (only two round trips) but then she invited us to stay for pizza and the day, so after being assured that I wasn't outstaying my welcome, I stayed and only made one round trip... all while having a great day with a friend! It will be less complicated when he goes for full days, since Miles will drive them to school and I'll pick them up! But by staying 'out there' for the day, I completely forgot that we were invited to a 'teddy bear picnic birthday party' play date! (it was a party for the teddy bear) at our little friend, Abby's! Ooops! Too much going on right now I guess! We had a house showing yesterday afternoon (people that had been through three weeks ago) but haven't heard anything on that, and then tomorrow we have an open house for a couple hours in the morning!

Thumbs up for kindergarten....

Back....(pack)

Kindergarten here I come...

Megan, Josiah, Mrs. H. and Jackson

(Jackson and Josiah went to preschool together too)

First Day of School

Here's my little man, heading off to GRADE TWO this morning! He was a little unsure about it all, being a new school etc but I think he had a pretty good day! He was a bit weepy last night, thinking about the change and missing his former school - poor kid! Yesterday, as we were driving home from a friends place he asked, "mom, how come summer went by soooo fast?" To which I replied, "because it was soooo fun!" He then asked how long summer was and I told him, "two months" and then he said, "but it only felt like 8 weeks!" HELLO??!!?? I thought that was cute! Not sure where he heard that number though!

Another cute story: Jackson came into the room yesterday and asked me what I was doing and I casually said, "oh - just picking at a pimple!" (well I was) and he told me that I should use 'PROACTIV SUWOOSHUN' (Solution). Needless to say I howled and asked if he had seen it on tv! "Yep!!!!!" Anyone needing Proactiv Solution can call 1-800-684-7002

Yearbook Fun

If you ever want to procrastinate on doing something, take a few minutes to check out this website called yearbook yourself! Just add a picture of yourself (free of bangs, glasses etc) and scroll through the years to see what you may have looked like! Enjoy my beauty....

1954

1960

1962

1972

1974

1980... ok now this one's lookin' a bit like my mom did when I was a kid!

1990... not too far off my 'real' grad picture in 1991

Party time :)

We celebrated three birthdays this weekend and enjoyed them all! Here are some pictures from the party that we hosted (Ethan)... we had three other families over and the kids had a waterfight and played on the waterslide. The other families have girls that are around the same age, so at one point, there was even a girls vs boys waterfight!

Can't believe that summer is drawing to a close... Ethan starts back to school on Wednesday and Jackson starts kindergarten on Friday. Growing up, we always went back to school on the Tuesday after Labour Day weekend, so it seems a bit silly to go for a couple days and then and a 'long weekend' (in MY opinion anyways!) I've purchased all their school supplies, labeled EVERYTHING ie: 40 pencils (also had to sharpen those - some ended up pretty short), 7 glue sticks, 16 markers, 48 crayons, 24 pencil crayons, 7 notebooks and the list goes on and on and on.... and other than some indoor shoes, I think we're set! It will be very interesting to get back into a routine, especially since we're going to be driving the boys out of town 10 minutes, to the new school, for a minimum of two months (didn't want to change once we moved).

Jackson

Miles - our household BBQ man

Blowing out the candle! Seven years old already!

Nothing too exciting with these cupcakes this year - sorry! He wanted a water party, so hence the blue icing and then since I had leftover pirate napkins and cups from last year, I decided to throw in a pirate twist as well (it's water related!) and that's where the gold coins come in! I then found gold cupcake wrappers to match.... they tasted good anyways :)

Miles humored the boys for a bit...

The waterslide was a popular item!

Cole cruising around... he picked flowers and we took a few out of his mouth...

Zane and Gabe soaking people from above!

Happy Birthday Ethan!!!

It seems incredibly hard to believe that yesterday marked my 7th anniversary of being a mommy! How does seven years just fly by like that? I mean, I know I've had three more kiddies since then but it's still a little tough to absorb! Seems like just yesterday... but I know my parents say the same thing and I'm now 35...

The birthday boy had a 'low key' day but then we went out for supper to MONTANA'S so that he could wear the famous horned hat that has been such a longed for novelty! His wish came true but we had to laugh afterwards as he claimed, "those were soooo heavy!" Hence the reason we didn't volunteer that it was Liam's birthday, when we went there, back in May! Little did we know that we could have had his supper for free though :) Upon returning home, the birthday boy opened presents from us... a Webkinz snake, a Wii game, clothes and a watch. My dad gave us a watch on our 7th birthday and I've always remembered that, so thought it was a good tradition to start! (I think it was my 7th... maybe 8th???) Miles also ventured out to Wal-Mart to get him a water-gun, only to return home with three! Apparently they were on summer clearance and "it's no fun to have a waterfight by yourself!" Nice daddy!

We plan on having a couple families over for a BBQ-waterfight party on Sunday afternoon. We know them each separately but then our boys all played hockey together last year, so thought it would be a good mix! A great excuse to have friends over! Unfortunately, due to the house being for sale and us being on the go so much this summer, we haven't hosted any BBQ's yet and I really miss it :) Here's to a sunshiney Sunday!!!! We actually have two other parties this weekend too: on Friday we are heading to Saskatoon overnight for Miles' older brother Mark's 40th and then we come back on Saturday for our little friend Kaden, who's turning 4! That one will also be a BBQ-waterfight :) Boys of all ages seem to like the same thing!

Ethan - we hope you have another great year as you enter grade two and continue to share your adventurous personality with us! Thanks for being a great big brother and for all the help and love and fun that you bring to our family! We love you :)

Welcome Baby Hayden

Cole and I were able to make a quick trip up to the hospital two nights ago, to meet little 'Hayden Kale' who was born at 12:03am on August 17th (he weighed 8 lbs, 11 oz). Hayden's parents are Chrystal and Brent... our bride and groom featured last year on 07-07-07. I was secretly hoping that Hayden would arrive on 08-08-08 but he had other plans... Chrystal is one of our employees, so we'll miss her while she's on maternity leave but we know that she'll have a great year 'off' enjoying motherhood! Cole looked sooo big compared to Hayden and I'm in denial that my baby is 10 months old already!

{on top of the world)

I thought I would 'borrow' these pictures of my cousin, Roald (in Norway) for all those not on facebook! There are so many more pictures but I thought I'd capture a few of the most daring ones! These are INSANE :) Gorgous photos, don't get me wrong (hence the reason I'm sharing them) but there's NO WAY I could just sit on the side of a drop-off cliff! Enjoy! These ones are from Kjerag but there is another equally adventurous and breath-taking sight called Prekestolen if anyone wants to look them up! From what I understand, I think these are both in the Stavanger area and apparently the cliff is 604 metres above the Lysefjord. A climb to the top would take about 2 to 3 hours.... anyone up for the challenge?!

The grand finale...

This past weekend, we joined three other families from our church and went camping at Kenosee Lake. We had so much fun... Miles got in a couple early morning golf games, we went to the waterslides, minigolf, had campfires, you name it! Probably our last camping trip this summer...

On the last day, we had to be out of the campground by 12 noon, so we then headed to the beach where there was TONS of parking and pulled up to the grass, where we BBQ'd hotdogs and had a community potluck! A great way to end a perfect weekend! We also took the boys mini-golfing and then to the beach for about 1/2 hour before heading home, with a stop in Broadview to see Miles' parents for supper.

Mini-golf

Tire swing... we had some pretty dizzy kiddies afterwards

The beach... a little more serene than when we were all sitting right there!

My group at the waterslides!!! Miles & Ethan were far more adventurous! I did go on two tube rides with Ethan though, so that was fun...

Ethan on the 'Bonsai'

A certain little someone who's looking pretty proud of his new-found mobility!!!

Floating around the canal... the kids could all stand up in it!

Cole and I in the 150 person hot tub!

Miles BBQ-ing hotdogs for everyone on the side of the trailer (at the beach)

My Liam... he played by this tree for the longest time