being a mom

Do you ever wonder if you are doing the right things? Such as teaching my kids how to clean there rooms, scrub the toilet (as a mom we all want to get rid of this job), load the dishwasher, do the laundry, etc. . .
Well tonight my kids went above and beyond. I know that if something happened they would be able to hold there own.  .  . I broke my thumb a week ago. My kids were told that they would have to help out ALOT!! Today was the day that I had to go to the specialist to see whether or not I would have to have a pin put in. The good news was that with the help of a splint and physio in 3 weeks I would be good to go in 6 weeks. Back to my kids. . . I had a staff meeting after work tonight and so Oakly and Aspen were in charge of Avery, Cierra, Desi and Bryce. I didn't get home until 4:30 pm, which was a little late for me. I came through the door to see Oakly and Aspen in the kitchen washing the stove and the counters. To my surprise they had made supper (Chicken Nuggets and Lipton noodles) it sounds trivial but it was still a meal. They fed all the kids, cleaned the kitchen (spotless) the dishes were loaded the Tupperware was washed dried and put away. (I had a mom moment) I got tears in my eyes and right away had to phone Tod. I told him how amazing our kids were and how proud I was. I do think that sometimes I am not doing the right things, but after coming home to see that. . . I have a smile that brings a tear to my eye!! Yes. . . I did tell them how grateful I was and proud that they did this for me. I love my kids and there actions showed me how much they love me.
I am doing my job as a parent!

Mexico

Well we ALL survived MEXICO!
I say this with great appreciation to the extra 4 people that tagged along with us. It was a scary thought to me too see how all 9 of us would weather together for 7 days with such different personalities and everything else in between.
It started off with a scary explosion at our hotel and all of us doing a scramble to see where we would be staying and in the end we were very satisfied with the out come being at the Grand Bahia Principe Coba. The girls and I had been to this resort before and new that it was a great family place to visit.
The days turned into hours and the hours turned into minutes and the the snow hit at the same time the time was turning into hours and minutes. We were leaving right after school on Wednesday to drive down to Calgary to catch our flight out Thursday morning. The plan was the kids and myself would follow G & G Pharis to Calgary and Tod would come down with JP after the Hockey game that night. As plans often change in our house this night was no exception. Tod arrived home early from work, cancelled going to the hockey game and arranged to drive down together with G & G Pharis. It was squishy in the mini van with 7 people and ALL our luggage, but so worth it. It took us over 4 hours to make a 2.5 hour drive. (I am so glad I didn't have to drive I would have been white knuckled and crying the whole way, I HATE WINTER DRIVING,  but am a true Canadian and can do it.)
We arrived in Calgary and got a hold of G & G Thomson to stay at a Hotel and there were no rooms at ANY! (winter had hit and it was ugly) G & G Thomson found a room, G & G Pharis stayed at family's and thank heavens for friends they let us bunk with them.(Chels & JP you rock)
Chels hadn't started to pack for the trip so we were up until 1, and really still not packed. We did get all the girls and our own nails painted. That was very important you cant go to the beach with white toes. (although the sand managed to strip all the polish off!)
Thursday morning arrived and we were off to the airport nice and early to meet G & G Thomson and swing by to pick up G & G Pharis. It just so happened that every commuter in Calgary decided to do what we did and stick to the secondary roads instead of the main road and hence the 40min ride turned into 2 hours. CRAZY!! We arrived at the airport safe and sound, met the rest of our party and boarded our plane to sunny Mexico. Good~Bye winter :0' We arrived in Mexico to some rain and gorgeous heat.
The next 7 days were spent with our family of 9 and all the extra friends that we met up with.
A day at X~caret for the whole family, Avery had a day with the Dolphins and Oakly & Aspen had a day at Xplor. Everything in between was spent at the pool and the Beach. We got some great tans, a few bumps and bruises, some bigger than others, but all in all we SURVIVED MEXICO, & EACH OTHER!!
Stay tuned for pictures. . .

Francie pants

The girls got their Francie Pants tonight. They help them dance and cheerlead so much better. Avery loves the pink cheetah's. Now that we know the right sizes we may just have to put another order in. ;0'

Thanksgiving

Last weekend was Thanksgiving. It was just okay until Monday.  On Sunday O had a Hockey game and we were in anticipation for it to end because we new that after the game was going to be our Turkey, stuffing and all the fixings. . . We drove out to G & G Pharis'(they were camping) and their awaiting our arrival were Ribs!! Not what we were expecting, yuck(for a Thanksgiving supper we were all waiting for). So much for my baking all day on Saturday, I had made Pumpkin pie, apple pie and sweet potatoes. It was definitely a bummer. On the bright side I got to haul the kids out to get a few snap shots of them all together (if we could only teach O how to smile).

Monday morning came, our tragic news of no Turkey had spread to our Friends and by 11am we were invited to the Morgan's for a true Thanksgiving Dinner. I whipped up 2 more pies: pumpkin and apple, and another dish of sweet potatoes. It was a great feast!! Thanks Morgans. We stayed into the late evening playing card games and watching a little football. Thanksgiving didn't come and go with out a Turkey!

                                         siblings

 the girls

youngest to oldest

Bryce 6~Desi 7~Avery 8~Ciera 9~Aspen 12~Okaly14

the boys

I am so Thankful for all my Family (even the ones that drive me nuts) and my wonderful friends!

Melissa's Road Race

These shoes were made for Running and that's just what they did!
Now I'm a bit nervous as too what they will do next?!

It was finally the weekend, Saturday September 25/2010. I have been preparing for this weekend for a while, but Aspen had prepared for not even a month and we Rocked at Melissa's Road Race.
The morning of the run I was very nervous the wind was howling and when you are in the mountains it just seems like it was so much more. . . I kept telling A what ever you do don't give up and cross the finish line with a smile. Well she didn't give up and she crossed with a smile. A's 1st 10km race was finished with a 1:05.40sec's. I am so PROUD of her and now I fear for the day she says to me "Mom let's do a Marathon." She'll kick my butt!!
This was my 1st 1/2 marathon and I loved it. (not the wind) I had set a goal and I know despite the wind I would have achieved it. Non the less I did finish and cross the finish line with a smile. I finished my 22km in 2:15.50, with a lot of salty sweat and dirt attached to the exposed parts of my body. I cried I have to say as I came in, I saw my girl cheering for me and just seeing her their and the smile on her face I new she had had a good run.

Me and my girl having supper after our runs!!

Pam and Hannah after the run. They both did the 10km as well.

Family

Family is such a great thing to have in our crazy life. When  we grow up and start having our own families we tend to loss contact of the extended family that we have. Well on Tuesday September 21/2010 the kids and I arrived home from school to find a vehicle parked in the driveway with a California licences plate on it. I was in shock to know that my mom had convinced my uncle Buster and aunt Dee Dee to drive an extra hour from Lacombe to come for a visit. It was a tearful reunion, I haven't seen my Uncle and Aunt for 12 years and missed them dearly. We had such a great visit and really could have stayed up MUCH later but in the short amount of time that we had we did get a lot of catching up done and finding people on FB(what a great way to connect with family sooo far away). I did get pictures of my Aunt with the girls and myself. They are keepers!!

The previous weekend my mothers siblings meet at her house to all go see their brother that has been battling cancer since June. So my dad sent me a picture of the group, and an extra picture of my uncle that looks like Kenny Rogers. When we would go visit my G & G Heningers farm and the aunt's and uncle's would be there. My uncle Fred would always get out his guitar and sing to us. Our Favorite was the Gambler. I think it was because the grandkids all new the words and we wouldn't really "sing" but try to out "sing" everybody else. Memories of great Thanksgiving's, Christmas's and Easter's!! I will never forget how close we were when we were all with G & G Heninger. How I miss them and the rest of my extended family. It so Fun to remember the Great Memories of Family!!

My moms family: 

Standing: Brother in law Fred, Brother David, Brother in law Buster, Brother Steven

Sitting: Sister Kathrine, Sister Dee Dee, Sister Ruby, (oldest of all 9 my mom)Margaret, Sister in law Marilyn

Missing: Sister Edith, Borther Bill, Brother Freddie

Uncle Fred (A.K.A. Kenny Rogers) the best that we know!!

Pink Hot Chocolate

It is official the Hot Chocolate has arrived! It was taken out of the back of the pantry too make its debut (yup in September) for the 1st mug of the Fall/Winter months. Does this not look like the best Sleeping Beauty, pretty pink drink. It was YUMMY!!

Extra activities

YAY!! we have abandoned an extra activity and I am so relieved. Oakly has joined the Sr. Volleyball Team and has 5 Tournaments scheduled starting next weekend going until the end of November. In the mix of Volleyball practices, he is going to throw in Hockey. Aspen has increased her extra activities. Last year she was in one Hip-Hop group. So this year she is going to stretch her self in a few different directions. She has made the grd 7 Volleyball Team which goes 2 nights a week and then a few tourneys. Her dancing has gone from 1 Hip~Hop class to 2 classes and we are throwing in a Musical Theater class as well. On top of that Aspen has been training to run her first 10km Road Race (next weekend in Banff). That brings us to Avery. Avery has played Hockey in the past and was signed up for this year, but also wanted to live out her dream (since she was 4) of being a Cheerleader. She had her first Cheerleader class on Wednesday. Well lets just say there is a very happy girl in our house. She has since decided to drop Hockey and stick to just Cheerleading. This is where the YAY comes in. Cheering is 1 night a week for 1 1/2 hrs.  Starting in January they will start going to competitions. This is the point when we will have to really start juggling our weekends. Oakly Hockey Tourneys, Aspen Dance Competitions and Avery Cheerleading Competitions. (thank heavens G & G Thomson are home and live close by) We might have to have the grandparents help out a bit. YAY!  YAY!  YAY!  for one less activity, and 1 very happy little girl.

marriage

from the redesign company. . .

somebody who makes you laugh out loud, knows how you like your coffee and you like. . . um . . . other things, covers you with a blanket when you fall asleep on the sofa, is really nice. but the best thing about marriage is knowing somebody believes in you more than you believe in yourself.

Thanks for believing in me babe!!
love ya

2 days and counting

It is 2 days and counting and we are all back to the grind of SCHOOL!!
I am mornings as of right now. Cross your fingers, that it will get bumped up to full time!!
Avery is entering into the 3rd grade and very excited.
Aspen is going to the Jr/Sr High School, I think she is a bit nervous but is looking forward to it.
Oakly is is off to a new beginning. He is going to Leduc, Christ the King School. He is very excited but I am very nervous. He has so many friends that also go to this school, I am sure he will be just fine.
Well wishing for a good year!!

Avery is 8 :0"

Oh my goodness my youngest, the baby of the house, has turned 8!!  She had a great party on Wednesday with her friends and 2 of her cousins that live close by. Then on Saturday (her actual Birthday) we had a family supper with presents and cake mmmmm!!!
The day of her Birthday Party was so much fun. . . We started out with a swimming party and it turned into a dress~up, photo~shoot party! The girls all packed clothes, shoes, boots, hats and really anything they could get into their bags suitcases and laundry baskets. They dressed~up in each others clothes and I started taking pictures. I was so amazed at how natural the girls were with the whole poseing and smiling stuff, (they are only 8) they turned out Beautiful!! It was such a FUN day.

O & A

Have you ever looked at your children and wondered. . . How did I get here? When I was little I always wanted a lot of children(6 exactly). I am guessing because I came from a family of 8 that helped me make my decision. In the end I had 3, which is half of my 6, but I married T who came from a family of 4. That's so much smaller than my 8, so to be in the middle with 5 is great.  As my kids get older I am surprised at how my love changes for them. When they are little you are all they need, that's all they know. You are their main care giver, give the best snuggles,  the good night kisser, the one who makes the little owes go away, you help them tie their shoes, brush their teeth, get the cutest outfit, and how to deal with the little criss' that arise in their little world.
As I look at my 2 oldest I am amazed at how much they have changed from the 5~6 year olds to the pre~teen and teenager they are. They really don't need me, but allow me to be a part of their changing world. Their friends are SO important, that sometimes I wonder if T and I even exist and then out of the blue they are treating you like a friend, with the respect that they still know you are the parent. Some where along the way I have missed the jump from child to young adult. My love for them has never left it just seems that it is adjusting to a different kind of love.
I have often caught myself looking at O and remembering when he would share his sippy cup with A and then how he went through the stage of loathing her and now he has come full circle to being nice again. Does he see her beauty(we have always told him watch out your friends will want to date your little sister) and want to help guide her in her decisions, to make my job a little easier, or is he trying to influence her to stay away from his friends. Whatever the plan is for him I am glad that he sees her as a peer, and not an enemy. As this school year approaches I have so many thoughts about them being in the same Jr/Sr High School, that I am hoping that together they can make the next 4 years very memorable.

I LOVE MY KIDS!! ~<3~<3~

staining

pics of the girls helping me stain the deck!! what a TASK!

Scrapin'~Stampin'

One afternoon Avery and I pulled out the stamps, paper, snail, glitter and made cards. Aspen and Amanda joined in the fun and we ended up outside until just after 9pm. The girls were a little leery of what to do, but after a while and playing around the creative juices started to flow. Nice cards girls!!

Girls photo shoot

 Well I took the girls + Amanda (Aspen's friend) out for a little fun with the camera. I wanted to try out some different settings, filters and lens'. I had no idea how much storage space the Mazda had in it until the girls started to bring out their clothes, shoes, boots, hair accessories, hats, scarfs, and then picking up Amanda with her laundry basket full of goodies. It was pretty amazing to see ALL the STUFF!!
 We started in a farmers field moved to an old farm yard with the most amazing barns, ( the killer bees that took over the one barn had the girls scared) but I just needed to get a few pictures of them and the barn (I will be going back to get more). Then off to the old train track, we then found train cars just sitting waiting for us to photograph, and then to a friend's mom's house for her Willow Tree. It was a rather LONG day, but WOW we had so much fun, mixing up outfits trying crazy things, and even sitting very still while the bees swarmed around us ( you truly could feel them, hear them and smell the honey, there were thousands of them). I am not sure how many outfits we went through, but I do know that clothes were flying all over.

 So heres a few of our shots!! I can't wait to go out again and try out a few more buttons on the camera. I need to perfect the blurriness and other things on some of my shots, but if your not having fun playing your never going to learn how to do it. . . 

 

working with the kids

Tod left this morning for a fun Golf trip with the guys. Left alone with the kids I wasn't sure what to do, but as I looked out the window it came to me. I was going to clean the windows and stain the deck. I would be done by supper, NOT!! I was done by 7pm and thank goodness for the girls. They were troopers, without their help I am thinking I would be out in the dark staining. Avery was sooo helpful, how do you not let a 7 year old help when she is so willing to be with me? It was very hard and I bit my tongue a few times, but if the house doesn't look like kids live here then really what's the point of having a home? It looks fabulous! Now what should I do tomorrow?

Out West Camping

We left last Sunday and returned this past Sunday from a great camping trip. We had quading, swimming , and lots of card games to keep us entertained. We had 2 extra kids with us that extended our 5 to 7. O & A brought a friend each to really keep them happy! It worked:)
We quaded 5 days out of the 8 and we visited Cow Lake on two of the days. The mud that we found quading was great, the mountains were amazing, we even travelled to the North Saskatchewan River. Found a great little creek that we took everybody back too. The water was warm and clean. We played lots of card games, had a crafty afternoon making sock pigs. Lewis got one for his cast, as a token member of the family.
Aspen's quad broke down the last ride we went on and she got towed home by Tod. With a few extra pounds of dust and mud attached.
This trip we opted to leave Otis at home but we brought Miley with us. She very funny! She was stalking the squirrels in our camp and was acting more like a cat than a dog. We would all watch her, and laugh at her stalking methods, remarkably she would hold still for long periods of time and yet to no prevail she still couldn't catch those sneaky little guys.

We will be going back to "OutWest Camping"