Trip to the city with Nana and Papa

We went to the Royal Sk museum in The City- as we call Regina, when we are from smallish town Sask- as I guess we are.  Love this museum.  It's amazing!  and Free! Some day I may even get to read some of what they say!  The kids pretty much rip through it at a fast pace, but really if you didn't, you'd be there all day!!

This was at the entrance and the pic made me laugh- looks like some cat creature is about to attack Emora.

So much to see and take in on Sask history, geology, animal, plants, ecology...

My favorite part was the huge section calling us to environmental responsibility.  It is done in an artistic way and Ivan was asking what it all meant- but instead of telling him what I thought it meant, I asked him what he thought it was saying.  He didn't come up with much, but it's fun to try to get him to see beyond the physical to the meanings behind things.

We watched a video about tanning hides the traditional way.

The scenes they set up are so fun.

It was great to read about plants I've seen all my life and never knew what they were or what purpose they had in the greater scheme of things.

There was some game for kids to play- but we didn't have time to do it.  I think this flag went with the game, but it's always part of us!  We are part Scottish, Norwegian, Jamaican, Canadian.  From Brian's side, she added English and American to her pot pourri of cultures.

Some ladies were telling us about this wolf and the other animal furs here.

We made a quick run by the legislative building and after all that went to another museum!  The kids did super awesome!  I was so sure that we were filling the day too full for them, but they did great!

Nana and Papa visit part 1

I've finally uploaded the pics from Nana and Papa's visit.  They came the day after Christmas and left a couple of days ago.  It was pretty cold their first few days there, but we went to the rink where it was warmer indoors and they got to see the trio skate and join the walkers for some rounds around the rink.

We also got to go sledding a couple of times.  Papa said that Nana had never been sledding before in her whole life!  Glad she got the chance.  She was quite the trooper.  Papa grew up in Ohio, so he'd been sledding before, but not for a while I bet!  Just look at all the things having grandkids lets you do!

This little stinker was being too chicken to go down.  Of course all the other times she would be in front and get a face full of snow, so she'd decided she wanted to sit on the side, get cold, then demand for me to take her home.  But once I got her warm in the van, everyone else was ready to go too and have some hot chocolate!

Anyone in there?  Can you see Papa?  He got a purple bruise on his eye lid and we thought it was snow or ice that hit him from sledding, but really, how did anything manage to hit him?

Whose's the driver?

Another fearsome duo!

I liked this pic with Ivan's arms around her.

All smiles!  It's always nice when the sun comes out and the sky turns blue.

a race!  I had to get another sled.  They had a sale and our big one is starting to thin.  It has been 2 years and Emora's main transportation to school as well as sledding!  Now we have enough for everyone to have their own, if Emora will brave it.

I like the little workout we get going up!

Look ma- no teeth!  ha ha, he was already like that before he went down.  I did look online to see if it's normal for his teeth to take so long.  He had to wait 'till grade 2 to finally lose a tooth and now his new ones aren't wanting to come in!  (His bottoms are adult, but the top ones fell out in July and nothing has broken through the gums, but one site said it can take a year for those top teeth to come in).

We've been using some new techniques with Ivan and it is really helping to have more peace between us.  He is having a much better attitude about school, so that's awesome.

It's been an adventure since Nana and Papa left.  There were terrible roads the morning Brian drove them to the airport, then the temps dropped, we got a huge dump of snow and our refrigerator stopped working!  The good news is that he drove carefully and they got to the airport without event, we have a warm house and working vehicles, we got exercise shoveling and pushing the van out of the alley when it got stuck and we have the biggest deep freeze just outside the door.  However, I'm looking forward to the fridge being fixed- hopefully soon and easily!!

S'more from Christmas!

Ivan has been saying he wants to use "adult" plates (ie. breakable plates), then I saw the idea on pinterest to "print" onto plates with a jiffy marker and the oven, so that made me think of Christmas gifts, where possible.

I realized that I didn't get pics of my kids and their plates.  They decorated a plate on their own and also got a plate with their name and name meaning.  Imogen means "in the image of".

I commissioned Brian to help me on the Wallaces' plate because I knew they'd love it.  I love how his cartoon of them came out!

A few hands helped Isaac hold his "adult" plate for the picture.  Isaac means "laughter" which they had chosen as a name before his birth, not knowing that she would literally laugh her way through labor (and not because of any laughing gas either!)

Brian also got the kids "uncle Brian gifts".  Which was so cool.  They each got a card he made and lego figure grab bag.  Brian makes our kids cards all the time for their birthdays, and Valentines'.

We weren't the only ones creating for Christmas gifts.  Ivan made a calendar for us at school and wrote in cursive on the back!  He is loving learning cursive and we are truly thankful for that because he hated printing and that was a constant battle.

Dominique bought a heart for Ivan at the garage sale.  The joy and love they showed each other was amazing!  I wish I could capture it and dispense it for all the times they fight each other.  I also hope they will be close as teens.   I wouldn't doubt it, although I'm not counting on it either.  They do have a special bond.

The girls got some hair clips they were quite excited about, so day 1 at home, they opened them up and put them all in!  Oh yes, so pretty, the more the merrier, is the way it works in their books.

Part of the reason the idea of the plates caught my eye is because Nana has a plate displayed in her house by the front door, that Brian had drawn when he was in kindergarten or maybe grade one.  So I knew she's love having a plate decorated by her grand kids too.They put a lot of care and attention in each of their drawings.  It was fun to watch.

Can we say SPOILED!

Not just them, I'm spoiled too.  I got several dance workout games as did the kids.  Here we were doing Just dance kids.  So fun!

I missed getting a pic of mom and dad with their plate- so they got this pic for me!  It's our family tree thus far with Ian and Ruth carved into the trunk.  There are three branches off the main trunk with their 3 kids' names and then branches off those with grand kids.  Brian's name is on the tire swing (which he calls a noose and it's not a noose!), John's is on the kite and Andrea's on the bird- cause she had to fly in to be a part of this mayhem!

Tomorrow is Nana and Papa's last day here.  They are planning to get the kids from school and take them to donuts.  The story on that is that 2 years ago, when they came, they'd pick Ivan up from school and take him for a donut.  Dominique not only remembered that, but mentioned that she was SO excited because now she is in school and Nana and Papa will be able to pick her up from school and take her.  So that's the long awaited for plan.  I guess I'm making them carrot sticks for supper to round out the calories (ha ha, just kidding!)

On another note, I got to do zumba 2 days in a row with some amazing people and I feel like a million dollars!  I don't know why I don't just make the time to exercise regularly, because my highs off them are really high and I even have tons of energy later.  I'm hoping I can keep it up- so thankful for the SCC making this happen so that I have 6 weeks of classes to look forward to!

old pictures from last year!

I've got a couple of weeks of photos on my camera to upload, but there are still these ones to post from our time in Stoon.

Jenn, my sis. was starting to get a cold, and there were sniffles all around, but we got some hair braiding in.  I got to braid Imogen and Andrea's hair too.  I'll tell you what- everyone always asked with astonishment how I can handle my hair and I tell you, braiding or making it stand up without hair spray are a piece of cake!  Getting straight hair to braid nicely is extremely hard though.

I can't remember what Ivan was doing in this picture- demanding attention maybe.  I'm so ready for the kids to go to school tomorrow.  We look forward to the breaks from school, but then the kids start to torment each other and thus torment us and yep- it's time to get them back into a routine!  Emora is having daily meltdowns.. oy, oy oy!

The cousins had fun tackling my brother- they said he was their supper, then Emora called out that Andrea was desert- she got it next!

We did our family Christmas on the eve. which is when Andrea traditionally did Christmas celebrations in Germany.  It also worked out for our schedule, since we had to get back home to welcome Brian's mom and her husband for the holidays.

Thanks family for acomodating our busy schedule!

Thankfully I remembered that this little guy is a fan of Sesame street!  Oh yeah, I found a winner!  So cute to see pure joy and delight over and over on his little face!  Sorry about that thing not having an "off" button- Jenn and John ;)  You still love me right?

Mom and dad had gone to Equador before the holidays, so they brought back gifts from Cuenca.

The best reaction goes to Andrea when she saw the cooling rack dad had made her.  Way to go dad!  You pegged it.

Brian said he wanted world peace and a bottle of Merlot... Not sure how the world peace is coming along, but he was happy about the Merlot.

Someone teach the girls a Spanish song- Feliz Navidad anyone?

Imogen was so proud to give her dad a gift she'd bought him at their school's "Santa's workshop".  I love that our schools teach and facilitate our kids to learn the joy of giving.  Look at that smile on her face!  I was so impressed at how all the kids were excited most about what they were giving to others.

I've got to get my camera hooked up to load and post our Christmas and New Years in Fort Qu'Appelle.  Nana is here in the snowy North- her first time here in winter since our wedding in Dec. 1998!  She's been here in the fall and spring.  Brian told her it's best here in the summer, but she has been getting new winter experiences checked off her list.  She saw in an ice shack, saw the kids skate and we took them to a potentially lethal sledding outing!   Nana got knocked off her feet, Papa got a slightly blackened eye and Dominique got a whopper of a bruise on her side when she hit a metal fence.  It's still swollen nasty.  Ivan wants all of you to know that he hurt his foot really bad- which I noticed did not stop him from climbing to the top of the hill with his friends or running back down!  Emora cried the whole time because that is just her mood these days.  But apart from all that- wow- so fun!  No really there was lots of joy screams and thrills. 

Hope your New Year is off to a great start.  I am not one to make resolutions, but my wii lying to me about my weight- although flattering and great for my self-esteem has not been good for my health.  I have missed swimming sorely and could tell my weight has changed, but when I got on an actual scale, I was a bit shocked.  So I'm committing myself to putting all those fun new wii games to good use.  We got several new dance games and workout games, and it's so much better to work out in a fun way.  So you're my accountability, John's my inspiration- I'm going to actually consciously try toward a healthier me.  Seriously, this is the first time I've tried this!  Kinda scary- but if I told y'all I gotta do it right?  I'm dreaming of swimming in my wet suit and maybe even of getting a kayak in the spring, but that's still a ways away and I will be a much happier person with regular exercise now.  Gotta make time.

Christmas/New Year whirlwind

Since school let out, it seems like we've been in a whirlwind- not an unpleasant one, but so much going on!  We got to packing and went to Saskatoon for nearly a week.  There were some with colds, so that part wasn't fun, but it's always so fun for the kids to get together and we got to have a night of games.  The kids worked on a quinzee with grandpa Ian and guess who was Santa this year?  The kids all got to sit on Grandpa Santa's lap for pics in the mall.  He's going to send me the files, so I can share them (ahum ahum- hint hint- dad).

Isaac- the youngest of the clan, has grown so much and it's fun getting to know him.  He and Dominique hit it off as she read him several stories.

These two were having a blast too- as you can see.

The only major mishap was when the tree fell over.  It made a dramatic crashing- glass shattering sound and mess.  Thankfully none of the kids were under or near it!

Future reader- keeping up with the big cousins.

Emora and Isaac were having fun too- playing with new toys and toys their parents played with as kids!

It's such a treat to all get to hang in one location comfortably. 

The Wallaces (my sister, her hubby and 2 kids) spent lots of time at mom and dad's with us.  My brother and his wife also spent the night Christmas eve.  With small kids, it's a bonus to spend the night, so that we don't have to race home.  We tucked them in and then got to have adult time visiting or playing games.

I love it that Isaac is letting us have hugs and kisses faster than he used to.  It used to take time for him to get used to us and then we'd be heading home just as he was getting comfortable, but now he'll let me grab him right away!

I got to see my cousin Lin and her daughter and son some too and the kids got to spend some time with Jac!  So cool to have play times together.  I must be in the "older" category now as we got to tell them how it was for us to grow up together.  Lin and I had lots of years and memories together and so it's nice for our kids to be closer now and get to see each other from time to time.  We both had to move about 24 hours drive closer to each other for this to become a reality!

We came back to Fort Qu'Appelle Christmas day so that we could unpack, do wash and get ready to welcome Nana and Papa who came from Texas for Christmas.  Today we got to take Nana sledding for her first time ever!  We also enjoyed celebrating the New Year with the Koops' and Muirheads.

Hoping this year will bring us much joy and peace, for us as a family and for our community.  May the year bring you many joys and fulfillment as you make your way through months, year and events that come your way- whether they be quiet moments or grand plans, may they be filled with fullness and well being.