RCMP museum

The same day we went to the Royal Sask museum, we went to the RCMP museum.  I hadn't been to it in ages.

It's all new from when I'd last been there.

The kids liked it a lot too.

They even got to dress up!

I think that part was their favorite.

I think my grandpa drove one of these Bombardier things to take kids to school if I have the story right.

Gotta pose like the mannequins.

On other news... Dominique had her first spelling test today and she was so excited!

She was especially excited about the bonus words.  All the words were 3 letter, one vowel words and then as a bonus:  animal, alphabet and around!  She studied and studied!  It was so cute!

Ivan's getting so much better at getting to his work and focussing- even though he'd much rather be playing lego!

Or doing some "real" work- like building something with his dad.

So far the year is starting well for us and we're thankful for that.  

We were without a fridge for half a week, but were mostly just inconvenienced with that.

The weather is being so crazy!  Minus 20 one day and melting the next!  Warm and windy one minute and snowing like crazy the next!

These 3 have their ups and downs too- as we all do, but I'm so thankful for them and enjoy them so much!  Little treasures they are!

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!