Pre-thanksgiving get together. The weekend before the weekend of thanksgiving, Jenn and her family were able to come for a quick night stay at our house. The kids were so happy to see each other and I got to pull out my facepaints and do some hair, get in a little visit- so nice. It's great that the kids will get to grow up in each other's lives more than just once a year.

another artist date

A weekend or two ago, Dominique had a birthday party to go to at a friend's house on Pasqua lake. It was a good 20 or 30 min. away and she didn't want me to stay there during the party. I was given very specific instructions, many times all week long that I was to leave and come back to get her when it was done. I wasn't quite sure where to go since I didn't really want to drive all the way home just to return 2 hours later, so I took a novel with me and tried a beach I haven't been to yet. The day was hot and while I enjoyed my book, I also would have loved to swim a bit as some other people did. There was lots of action, a man taking a snooze in the grass, other men fishing from the shore, several boaters coming through and geese enjoying the water too. It was fun to have a different perspective. I usually go to Echo lake in town and that is the beach scene I painted for our hallway, so it is quite familiar. Throughout this summer with the flooding, we headed to Katepwa. And while all the hills look similar, I was quite pleased to note that I could recognize these hills as being different ones. The landscape is not quite the same, the feel there quite a bit different. For a city slicker, I'm thinking that my horizons are expanding. I remember in Africa how us "white folk" would get lost in the villages where there weren't street signs or logical layouts for neighborhoods. But in these hills, I'm a total newbie and learned very quickly in the winter on one of my walks, that getting lost is very easy and every hill does not neccessarily lead to my awaiting vehicle!! I'm not sure if awareness of one's surroundings is a lesson taught anymore, unless you are a hunter, which I very much am not, but I'm trying to be more aware, because the beauty is right there to fill me with joy and renewing, but I have to go slow enough, with eyes open, to see it. I visited one friend who lives on Mission Lake. She has the most amazing view from her dining room and kitchen that I have ever seen. Yet she told me that after a while you don't really see it! As I gazed over the blue waters framed in colorful yellow leaves from the trees, a pair of binoculars hanging ready to gaze geese or pelicans as the grace the sky- I couldn't believe that you could ever miss seeing that beauty and yet I know life- how often do I overlook the precious moments, the beauty in each day out of business or agendas or distractions. I am thankful to live somewhere that demands to be gazed at and hope that I never get too busy to stop, see, listen and appreciate the gorgeous landscapes before my eyes.

so proud!

The girls are now finally, on occasion, letting me do something fun with their hair. When they are willing to let me fiddle, they say they are going to the "mommy hairdresser". I also morphe into "mommy dentist" on occasion, but "mommy hairdresser" is way more fun! Dominique liked this hairdo so much, that she wanted me to take pictures of it and pose for them.

Meanwhile, Emora swaps from wanting to be the baby and wanting to be a big girl. Most everyday, she wants me to lay down with her for her nap, then pick her up and put her in a stroller for the walk up to the school to retrieve the big kids, but this day, she decided she wanted to push the stroller. And when she decides she wants to do something, watch out!

Twice a week, I get the kids at the high school where they are doing art and music with auntie and uncle. I laughed when I saw Mike with his lunch box, asking him if he could really fit his lunch in there. I told him that Ivan's lunch box was at least twice as big as his. So then we had to show him Ivan's lunch box. The other funny part is that Ivan had wanted to be all grown up, not getting a character box and opting for a more adult looking one and Mike is obviously still a kid at heart!


But for wanting to be all grown, Ivan is still just a kid, with bad dreams on occasion and sleeper pyjamas ;) My working solution for bad dreams is to tell whoever it is that he/she can sleep on the couch, so we found Ivan like this one morning.

I've been a terrible blogger!!

Sorry I haven't been very good at keeping up with this blog! Maybe I can make up for it tonight and get several posts up ;)


We had a nice, but short time in Saskatoon. We left after work Friday- about 6:30pm and to my surprise it was already dark out. The light has change here so suddenly. I usually go clean the bank at 6:30am and it has always been light out until Friday when I went out and it was dark. Then Friday afternoon, I'd packed books and coloring books for the kids and they couldn't see anything either!


The kids were very excited to go to the grandparents and who wouldn't be- we arrived about 9:30pm and they were given hot chocolate milk, pumpkin pie and rum/raisin ice cream as a pre-sleep snack!

We did some errands in the morning - in the big city of Saskatoon! (I'm from small town now remember). I think Brian nearly knows the city better than I do now- but he doesn't have the memories I do- the non-existent HiLo mart where my sister and I used to walk with empty pop bottles to exchange for candy, Grasswoods road is not just the road to the new walmart, but was part of our bus route and I'm always amazed to walk among the towering trees at mom and dad's that we planted as sticks in the sandy, barren soil.



The kids are making their own memories in Saskatoon. The pools where we swim, the library where we went in the summer for library shows, the acreage at grandpa and grandma's where they pick potatoes, play soccer with auntie, play with Imogen and Isaac and get read to by the grands.




We are stuffed already and heading to another thanksgiving bash tomorrow on the "real" day here at the Koops'. So much to be thankful for...

the changing scenery

I'm really enjoying seasons here again. I remember in Texas, that is one of the things I missed the most was having real seasons. I didn't mind the heat so much and I didn't mind not having freezing cold weather. I missed the snow some, but I'd forgotten how much of our life was marked by the changing of the seasons until we came back. The air and light changes, the trees change, the entire landscape is undergoing it's slow transformation before winter hits in full force. I've actually heard people here say that they look forward to winter or a kid say that winter was his favorite season. Now I won't go quite that far- but there is a bit of a festive air that the colder temps bring. I was very pleased that Brian was the first to say this, not me! I think it's quite a positive sign that he called our first night frost "festive" and not "miserable, horrid and sign of another arduous winter"- you know, something along those lines! The first time that I saw the train rolling along through the hills beyond the lake, I thought Thomas Kincaid had probably drawn inspiration from this little piece of the planet.

I noticed from this vantage point that you could see Fort Qu'Appelle nestled between Echo lake and Mission Lake. It's so very amazing to live here for someone like me who LOVES water!!! So many of us who live in town think it a bit funny how people are gagga over having a house ON the lake (one of the 4 lakes that is). The houses ON a lake cost crazy amounts of money, way, WAY more than the houses in town. And then when it flooded, we were all thinking how thankful we were to not be on the lake. Yeah, I don't have to be that close I kept thinking. Of course, then I visit a friend or two who live on the lake and I take it all back!!! Even with the threat of flooding or the big winds, or the constant fear of my kids drowning in the yard (that would be a biggie), it would be so crazy cool to have my coffee out on the lake and go for a swim or a little canoe/Kayak excursion from my yard! But I'll settle for in town and frequent visits. My artist dates pretty much consist of a trip to where I can see the water and look at the birds and immerse myself (physically or just mentally) in the blue.



This was again on the ridge over looking our town. I "borrowed" a bike and had a blast going on a little adventure all on my own.


You can see some of the reds and oranges speckling the hills.

The wind was blowing a bit and I thought the grasses so beautiful as they swayed in unison to the unseen force.

moving right along

We feel like we have gotten into some kind of routine around here, so that is nice. Of course a little variety always seems to come along, some not so nice- like Dominique dislocating her finger or our kitten getting attacked last week (both are recovering nicely). And some nice surprises like Jenn and John coming down for a night with Imogen and Isaac. It is always so amazing to see how much the kids have grown and are developing even in a month. When we were there last month, Isaac was taking his first steps and now he made it down the stairs, crawling backwards! Incredible. Then I also got to have such nice little conversations with Imogen, it's so fun as they grow up and you can see more and more of who they are emerging.

Ivan is getting to where he enjoys guitar more and more. He's slowly building up some callouses. Both he and Dominique love going to their art class after school with uncle Mike at the high school.




Emora likes having some days to ourselves and some days to share with Dominique. It is really a nice way to do the transition, although it can get hairy trying to figure out which day Dominique has school and all our other activities. I am really liking discovering more and more who Emora is all on her own without the big kids influencing her, although I am always surprised at how little time we do have (she takes huge, huge naps in the afternoon).


We are so thankful to get to be a part of our cousins lives here and especially with it being so hard to get to know people here in a small town, it was nice to have people we already connect with, who have to love us and know our story some already. We got to go witness Victoria giving her life to Jesus in baptism. Here she was after, radiant with her grandpa, my uncle Bill. And with her singing "this little light of mine".



The temperature has been changing here and the leaves are glorious. I don't know if it's the temperatures swinging or the harvest dust, but everyone seems to have the sniffles, so we are taking it easy today. Laundry, muffin baking and maybe painting some cards, resting. Dominique and Ivan were outside all day with the neighborhood kids biking and playing and came in with scratchy voices and dripping noses, but do you think they would slow down a bit just because I told them to? Dominique and her dislocated thumb were wrestling yesterday with Ivan and today she was trying to convince Emora to slide with her down the stairs on a blanket! That girl! Yesterday, a neighbor kid came to our door telling us that Dominique was bleeding, but she couldn't even stop playing to get it attended to. She has all sorts of scabs, bruises and a splint and keeps gobbling up adventures, life and learning with great gusto.

Treaty 4

I've always thought of Canada as being so young compared with the rest of the world. When I got to go to France and see old castles or even to Texas and drive through old towns, Canada seemed so young. I remember as a kid going to Saskatoon's 100 year anniversary.


Now that I live where Treaty 4 was signed between the crown and First Nation's people, I have a different perspective. There are people living here whose people have lived here many, many generations. The land seems older somehow and even non First Nations people who grew up here seem to come back and stay.



There is a lot of heartache and pain in this area as well as a lot of beauty and rediscovery.


This year is already so different for us than last year. People have seen us around and we are slowly starting to make connections- beyond our cousins.

I'm so thankful the cousins were here though as they have helped us meet people and as we already had an easy friendship with them. I'm not sure we would have survived the winter without them, but as we look to the future and our lives here, we know that there are other people that are or will become our "people", our fellow travelers on this journey of life.

Dominique dislocated her finger the other night and I got to have my first visit to the hospital here. In the ER, I recognized two women who have children our kid's age. The nurse practitioner who relocated Dominique's finger has a daughter in her class and was talking about play dates. It was nice that not everyone was a complete stranger. We are starting to have our own little history and connections here.

a little canoeing

Some time ago we got to take the family out for a little canoeing.

It was mostly fun. Brian and I are still not very good at steering, so that was the not fun part. But it was beautiful.












Now just a few weeks later, everything already looks so very different. Fall has arrived and the hills are covered in ribbons of color. Janet and I took our youngest ones who are not in school to the town beach today to play and gaze at the colors.

I think we're going to try to hike up a little hill Wednesday that I haven't been to yet and I'm sure it will be a great picture op!

When we were canoeing, we got to explore this house a bit. It's in very bad shape, but right on the lake and so intriguing! Makes you wonder who lived there and how their lives went.

We've been doing a lot of reflection lately. A year ago, we were just starting to settle here- getting the house renovated and Ivan off to school. Now here we are with two off, the house more or less done, we have work and some acquaintances/friends. We still have a ways to feel like we really belong here, but this winter will be a far cry from last year when we felt so unsettled still. So that is nice to look forward to as the weather changes. Also, we may get to go to Texas at Christmas and so we are thinking of that "long ago" place in our lives. It seems like ages ago with all the change we've been through.

a bit of countryside

My cousin lives on a road that has a section now closed due to flood damage. Part of the road has fallen away and apparently it would be way, way too costly to repair it, so it is closed to vehicles, but is now the totally perfect walking/biking road. I've driven up to their house (our first temporary residence here) and borrowed one of their bikes a couple of times for a little cruise/ artist date.



The sights are always a feast for the eyes.








I get up to a hill that overlooks the area.











This time, some dark clouds were building and I got back in my van, just as it started to rain, then into my house right before it started to hail.



That was a couple of weeks ago and the way the weather was going, you would have thought winter was around the corner, but now we are in shorts and tank tops again in a surprise heat wave- only now the leaves are vibrant yellows and reds, oranges, browns and greens. So fun. I am learning to love this time of year in all it's colors- also a reminder of the season when we officially started our lives here, with school, house and so forth.

Growing up so fast

My kids seem to be on an accelerated growing program. I guess all kids are and that is why everyone says that they grow up so fast! Emora has lots of cute expressions that I find even more humorous coming from a 2 year old. Sometimes she tells me that "naps are HORRIBLE!", she likes to ask for "milk, a little bit, a little bit hot" (she never says warm, it used to be "nice"- like she wanted the water "nice", not hot or cold, but for her milk warm it's "a little bit, a little bit"). And our newest favorite "Mommy, the kitty cat is drinking my blanket". Apparently our kitten was weaned too early, which may be why she is a bit fixated on nursing. She sounds like she is drinking and leaves disgusting wet spots on Emora's blankets. Apparently Star has decided that Emora is in deed grown up and that she is the new baby of the house. At least she was easier litter trained than the human babies of the house. Her other bad habit is to be up on the table and counters and to steal food. She's even jumped onto the table and snagged food from under our noses WHILE WE WERE ALL AT THE TABLE EATING! She's fast I tell you. But recently the kids left a water gun out and Brian asked how it was working on the cat, which I had not used yet. So today, she started squirt gun training to get her off the table and counters. I'm not sure if it's keeping her off yet, but it's quite fun for me ;)



Dominique thinks she's all grown up too and in some ways she is. She is reading everyday (level 1 books). She loves school and is very picky about her wardrobe (I did NOT teach her that!) I wouldn't be surprised in fact if she becomes picky about my wardrobe too once she is a true fashionista (ie. teenager). She likes to ride her bike and wants to ride further and further without me at her side. She also requested that I not stay at the birthday party with her this weekend. "Just drop me off" she said. Oh, yeah, you think it's so easy huh Dominique!



Meanwhile, Ivan wants me to hold his hand or take him home and not venture out beyond what is familiar. So I'm having to suck it up a bit with Dominique that she doesn't "need" me so much, but with the oldest, I'm having to push him away a bit.


I don't know how well it's working, and yet, he thinks he's all grown up too. He is such a little bragger, saying he is the best at everything and knows everything, but irony or ironies, he has very little real self confidence. When approached with anything new, from an activity to a place, to a new author for a chapter book (I'm not joking), he balks a bit. Of course that trait plays to his advantage too. He rarely had skinned knees, and Dominique does all the time. His room is very nice and tidy, he is mister organized and Dominique who loves adventure is a bit more chaotic. So we are trying to help Ivan be less prideful and more humble, less fearful and more assured and confident.



I'm not complaining, as parents that is our goal to raise compassionate capable children and they seem more or less on that path, but it really does happen so very fast!