Hardcore boys beat hardcore girls in a Triathlon

Ang running 5km
Me biking.

Mel and Ken swimming.

Me and two of my awesome sister in laws.

Pete, Ken and Pete

Ken's family and I competed in a triathlon in Magrath, AB on Saturday and had a blast. We (girls) were all training for our individual events but Ang ended up breaking her arm a few weeks ago in soccer which resulted in us trading events. Ang was signed up to do the swim portion so she ran 5km with a broken arm, Mel swam 750m and I biked 26km. The boys beat us but not by much. We had so much fun and we were so happy to still all compete together despite Ang's injury. The boys have gained bragging rights this year but hopefully we can challenge them all to compete again next year.

Andrew Turns Five!

Andrew has finally reached the age of five which means he will start Kindergarten in September. I think ever since he turned four he has been wanting to be five to go to school. Five seems to be an age for kids to get excited about. It's when their world opens up from being at home and everywhere with mom, to being at school with classmates and a teacher. Thankfully for my sake he will only be in school two full days a week his first year. I don't think I could handle much more. You know everyone asks me if I'm excited to send him off to school and to have one less kid at home to entertain? Well I am excited and I'm not. For him I know he will love it, he loves learning, reading, writing, drawing and socializing but for me it's a huge step. He is only five but he is the oldest and he helps me the most. He entertains his brothers and keeps them occupied throughout the day. He is a great big brother always protecting, encouraging, sympathizing, loving his younger brothers. He doesn't run pass Isaac without acknowledging him with a hug or kiss or a few words, him and Sam are inseparable and with Luke...well he seems to bring on the least amount of tantrums/screeches from Luke which is a great thing. They work things out between the two of them.

Andrew is the most like Ken in nature. He is serious, athletic, quiet, shy, timid of things he is not comfortable with, has a natural ability to be liked by everyone and is very affectionate once he warms up to you. Often when people talk to him he zones out and won't make eye contact because of his shyness, but once he's comfortable he will sit in your lap and tell you and show you all kinds of things. He loves drawing pictures for people like our neighbors son who is five, his soccer coach, Sam's teacher and for Nana and Papa and Grandma and Grandpa.

He won't do anything until he is ready, whether it's writing his name, swimming, going for a ride on a dirt bike, skating etc. You cannot force Andrew. It takes a lot of encouraging and coaxing to get results but once he makes up his mind that he wants to he usually has a lot of fun.
Andrew is so enthusiastic about things. He reminds me of my mom that way. When he's excited
he can hardly keep himself from jumping up and down and he giggles and you can just tell he is super excited. This is awesome because he rubs off on those around him and makes them excited about things too. Sometimes I ask him what he would like to do for the day leaving it wide open and he will get a huge smile and say" I know Mom, we can play outside all day." It doesn't take a lot to impress him. We asked what he wanted for his birthday and at first he said a dirt bike, a real dirt bike. Well we got him a new much needed bike helmet and later he said "I'm sure glad I got a bike helmet instead of a dirt bike, it will help me bike faster."

He is very patient most of the time. On his birthday, which we celebrated in Edmonton, he waited the whole day while Ken worked before opening his presents, he only asked once about presents which is a rare thing for kids his age. Sam is already asking when his birthday is and it's not until November.

He is very creative and loves building Lego. He has numerous kits now thanks to his Daddy and he can make all of the trucks, loaders, airplanes etc all by himself by following the instruction manuals. He seriously does not need any help and finds the pieces and has things build long before me. He often will make stuff for Sam and Luke to play with too. I'm not into Lego, it takes too much time and patience, neither of which I have lots of so I leave the lego for the boys.

He also loves riding his bike and pretending it's a dirt bike. Sound effects, dirt bike gloves, wheelies, the whole works. He even builds jumps out of boards in the garage. This is all thanks to his big cousin Kevin who is his hero with guns, bikes etc.

For Andrew's birthday he got a new bike helmet, a watch and a new Lego set. We celebrated with cousins in Edmonton and then with cousins and aunties and uncles when we got back home.

We love you Andrew and we are so happy that the Lord has blessed all of us with you. You are such a ray of sunshine to those around you. Don't grow up too fast! We want to cherish each and every moment with you.

Girls(Moms) Just Wanna Have Fun!

Okay, so this is the story. Ken and I and the boys went to Edmonton last week for a whole week and stayed with Ken's Brother Dwayne, His wife Trixie and their 6 kids. Ken has been hired for the last three years to mark achievement tests in Edmonton so we have started an annual tradition of staying with family while Ken marks. The men work, the women feed the kids, tan, go for walks, talk lots and eat delicious meals. You might wonder how do we all fit in one house and stay sane? Well Trixie's four oldest girls slept in the trailer and gave up their rooms for our family and it worked out perfectly. The four oldest girls actually do a lot of the entertaining for the youngest kids so it turns out to be a break for Trixie and I. We even went child free to Ikea one afternoon shopping. Some years we squeeze a lot of activities into the week and this year we stayed closer to home which suited me fine. They live on an acreage and have lots to do. We contemplated going to a playground...they have a playground: soccer nets, swings, playhouse, trampoline, kiddie pool and a hot tub. what more would you want? We contemplated going to the zoo....they have gerbils, fish and a cat and every time we went for a walk the kids were jumping with excitement when they saw a deer. We actually took the kids to the spray park and they laid on their beach towels and ate snacks the whole time. We decide that they had more fun jumping on the tramp with the sprinkler spraying underneath and playing in the pool. We had such a relaxing time. I think we had a bonfire three or four times, sat in the hot tub one night and went to a 3D movie of toy story. Thanks Dwayne and Trixie and family for the wonderful time and great memories.

Play, Play, Play is all we did!

Sam and Jocelyn having a snack at the spray park.

Sam and Brennan sharing artistic skills.

Adorable is all I can say.Can you believe that Isaac and her only a few pounds apart and she is a year and a half.

Beach babes.

Making Memories in Edmonton!

Piano lessons for Andrew?
Blue eyed BABE!

Luke and Skyla going for a stroll.

Out for one of our many bike rides/walks. YOu should've seen all of the strollers, bikes and kids. Two moms and 10 kids out for a walk.

Big smiles from these two. Trust me they weren't always smiling....

Puddles, Tonkas, Trains, Wagons and World Cup Soccer

Going to Winnipeg.

Last week we had a quick trip to Winnipeg for a Highschool grad. Ken's first ever class that he taught asked him to be their guest speaker at their grad. What an honor. It was so neat going back to where our journey together began. We drove past our old apartments and spent the night with Frank and Shirley Baker who were the people that I lived with when I first moved to Winnipeg. We took Andrew and Isaac with us and left Sam and Luke at Grandma and Grandpa's for a few days. Ken's first students looked the same, just bigger. It was great catching up with them and seeing where they are headed in their future's. Ken did a great job on his speech and I was extremely proud of him! We split the drive up both ways by staying in Regina for a night at a hotel with a pool. Andrew was so happy to be included on our adventure and insisted on pulling the suitcase around the hotel. We also played I Spy with him which was a bit tricky in the prairies. Great times.