A Picture is Worth......Two Little Words?

This afternoon I found a little surprise on one of my couch pillows. A little drawing was placed there by two very capable hands. When asked about said drawing the artist replied, "I'm sorry." And when questioned further, it was brought out that the drawing was in fact a portrait of the artist's beloved father. Hmmmm, how do you get angry at that?

The Firsts

Where does the time go? As I sit here writing this I am thinking about all the times our kids have had a "first." Their first bath, their first giggle, their first steps, their first words, the first time they looked at me and said, "mommy," the first time they sat up by themselves, and now they all start a new chapter: first day of grade two, first day of preschool and first day as the only child at home.
I am so proud of each of my children and it never ceases to amaze me how quickly I can lose sight of the big picture. As the beginning of school approaches, I find myself getting apprehensive about all the changes that are going to take place. I dread having to get up early every morning so I can get each of the kids ready for school. I dread all the time that has to be put into making sure that lunches are packed, papers are filled out, permission slips are signed, and homework is finished. I dread the fact that every day that goes by means we have a few minutes less daylight and a few more of darkness. I find myself having to remind myself each morning that every time I get up, I am getting them ready to begin the building process of the rest of their lives. Each day that I get up, I am helping them work on gaining the tools necessary to live their lives in this society and also for God.
Each day I get up, I am helping them get one step closer to their next "first."

First day of preschool. Can you tell he was excited?!?

First day of grade 2.

Sports Fans

Tonight, I had the privilege of watching the Calgary/Edmonton football game with Carathy.

Our kids have always been interested in football from when they were very young. On many occasions I have caught the kids all lined up in front of the tv on game night watching and cheering along and we have even had a McDonald's picnic on the floor in the living room just so they don't miss any of the game. Caleb is always asking which color he is supposed to cheer for just so he doesn't cheer for the wrong team.

I guess I should back up a bit.....I am a HUGE Stamps fan and Steven is a Lions fan. I have trained our children to always, always, ALWAYS cheer for Calgary. No matter what. If Calgary isn't playing, it is ok to cheer for BC but it is never, NEVER ok to cheer for the Riders. We don't ever want to cheer for them because, well....we just don't.

Tonight's game was the third time in just a few short weeks that the two teams have played against each other and with Edmonton winning the first one and Calgary winning the second, this one was sort of the tie-breaker. It was a very close game with a lot happening in the last quarter that made the last minute or two nail biting and extremely hard to cheer quietly (the younger two were sleeping).

Throughout the whole time that Carathy was watching she kept asking me about specific plays, how they decide what plays make the points and which ones don't and things like that. I tried hard to explain the game the best I could and she was obviously getting into the swing of things when at one point she even came over to me and said, "I have to snuggle with you! I am too nervous to sit by myself!" We watched for a while longer and when the game went to commercial, without missing a beat she looked at me and said, "Man, I really wish they would play all of these things at the end so that we can just get on with the game!"

Ahhh, a fan after my own heart!

We ended the evening on the phone to my parents congratulating ourselves on picking the obvious best choice of teams to cheer for and reveling in the sweet feeling that comes with victory.

Camping With Dave and Tara

During the last weekend of August, we went camping with Dave and Tara and their daughter, Sadie. It was a lot of fun just being able to hang out and not have anything that we HAD to do. We went to Lightning Lake in Manning Park and I think it was a bit of a nostalgic trip for Dave and Steven because it was where they used to camp as a family while they were growing up. It was fun to hear them talk about what it was like when they were there as little boys and now they got to take their own children.

A look at half of our campsite. The tent on the left was where we stayed. It is a tent that was originally bought by Dave and a friend so the guys could have a nice big tent to stay in when they went hunting. Now, tent is part Dave's and part Steven's so hopefully we will get another chance to use it in the future. It has a stove that goes with it (we didn't use it on this trip) and also has another 10 foot vestibule that goes on the front. The smaller tent is actually ours but Dave and Tara stayed in it. Our family is a bit too large for that tent and we needed something different so we ended up trading.

The other half of our campsite. It worked out perfectly that we cooked on one table and then ate at the other so we had lot of room at the "eating" table for everyone.

The inside of our tent. Our bed is on the right. Yes, it is an air mattress off the ground. I know, I know....but it is really comfy. Arinn slept in the pack and play and then Carathy and Caleb each had their own cot. All of that only took up half the tent. It was HUGE!

One afternoon a deer wandered through our campsite.

A view of the lake

Carathy and Caleb looking at the water.....wanting to go in.....but just felt how cold it was. They ended up going in, though. And even found it to be quite refreshing!


Carathy, Sadie and Caleb getting ready for a boat ride.

The guys took the oldest three kids in the boat for a while one afternoon. It was a nice break for Tara and I - especially because Arinn was napping!

Arinn was napping in the backpack. Looks uncomfortable but she slept in there for almost 2 hours!

One of Arinn's favorite things to do was put rocks in the scoop and then dump them. For hours on end this is what she did.

One afternoon, Dave and Steven took Carathy and Caleb to the Pond Prowl program to explore the pond and look for little critters. The kids loved it and were sad that they would be missing the one the next day.

Lightning lake - you can see the rain coming. We got to the beach about 30 seconds before I took this picture. Needless to say that by the time we walked back to our campsite, we were a bit wet.

After we packed up our site, we headed over to the day use area because we just were not ready to come home yet. We had a picnic lunch there, swam for a bit, and then headed up to the Lookout.

This is still Lightning Lake - just the opposite side of where our campground was.

Sadie - happy to be eating chips.

Carathy was exploring the lake with her goggles.

From the Lookout. The lake right in the middle of the picture is Lighting Lake. That is where we camped.

My handsome boy and I.

Arinn and her favorite person.

Our whole family. Don't look too hard - it might just be our family Christmas picture!

Arinn having just seen a chipmunk.

The happy campers on the way home.