Anyone know of a Baby boot camp that we can take Isaac to? I don't know whose face I love more Luke's or Isaac's?

Luke having a picnic in the kitchen.

My thrift store finds the other day.

It's funny how the days you go somewhere to browse you end up scoring some great finds. Good thing I had a time limit and had to pick Sam up at preschool or I would've spent a fortune. Nothing is more satisfying to me than thrift store shopping and finding good deals. Can't believe I'm saying this but I don't even like shopping in the mall anymore.

Gratitude Wednesday.

I had a great friend Julie who was in my wedding party, that gave me a gratitude journal after I lost my mom. You are supposed to write in it the things you are grateful for. What a surprise, that journal was written in a few times and left to collect dust on a bookshelf somewhere. I keep thinking about it and about my friend Melinda's blog, and her mom's blog, and how they take time to make note of the beautiful things and the simple things around them. I have decided to make Wednesday my Gratitude day. I'm hoping when I'm feeling discouraged I can read my list or write these things down and my spirits can be lifted up again.

• nice crisp fresh air while I shovelled the driveway this morning.


• friendly neighbors. I actually spent more time waving this morning then shovelling.


• a Women's Bible Study group of 30+ women where we can learn about the Bible, share with each other and encourage each other.


• currently quiet time while three little boys play lego on the kitchen table.


• a reassuring phonecall from the school principal regarding Sam and his speech
  
• a loving husband who listens to me vent and then takes charge to make things better
• my bootcamp class with a bunch of great women who are very encouraging
• yummy cheese nachos for a nighttime snack
• lunch with sister in law Ang at my house

New hairdo with the blonde highlights. I'm still adjusting to it.
Playing games with the kids Sunday night

Andrew playing memory.

We'll Do It Ourselves!

Ken had to work Saturday afternoon and I decided to pack up the boys and go to the car wash in town to wash Black Beauty, who was so dirty we could hardly see out the windows anymore. I guess everyone else in town decided to do the same thing because there was a huge lineup that would've taken at least an hour to get through so we decided to take things into our own hands. We put on our rubber boots and got to work. Isaac sat inside and we sprayed water at his window once and a while just to keep him smiling and Luke entertained himself by playing in the puddles on the street. Sam, Andrew and I worked really hard and were just about finished when Daddy came home from work and got into the car wash lineup. We saved lots of money and time by doing this and had a great time together. It was a beautiful Springlike day, perfect for a car wash. Black Beauty is still sparkling! Check out my new girlie rain boots. I was so excited to by them and I picked the pinkest, prettiest pair I could find just so there is no mistaking whose boots are whose in this house.

Busy Boys!

Last week when it was minus 30 I gave in and dug out some of the outdoor toys for the basement, Luke's trike included.
We also built a "Bear cave"!

Andrew deep in concentration building Lego. This boy loves Lego and is so creative.

Poor Baby Isaac had the flu last week and looked like this for a few days. Too much effort to smile. Poor little guy.

Today Sam and I went on Andrew's field trip to the Police station. Ever since we got home they have been playing policemen.

It was too bad that we didn't get to see one of the K9 dogs or the jail cell. We did get to see the police bicycles and a police car and hear a siren. The highlight was watching a video of the squad team doing drills with one of the K9 dogs.

Checking off Mom's To Do list

This week we are starting to study Women of The Bible at our women's Bible Study Group. So I've been reading about Eve. I've only read the first chapter and I have learned so much already and thought about things I haven't thought about before. I'm just going to quote something from the book that got me thinking...

"Eve was lonely and had a difficult time during childbirth. Being the first woman on earth she had no mother, no sister, no friend who could share her feelings. There was no one to go to for advice, no other woman who could help her with the delivery. And what a strange experience, to become a mother when you have never been a child yourself. What do you do with a child?"

This just made me so grateful for all of my friends, my sister in laws, my mother in law, my step mother and for Nannie. I couldn't imagine life without all of these special women. And to be a mother who was never a child would be so hard. So much of who I am as a mother is because of how I was raised as a child and by the example those around me set by being such great mothers. I'm really excited to study and learn more.

I started scrap booking again last week after a year break. I'm so behind but very excited to get going again. I've done a lot of layouts but haven't done the journelling for all of them yet. Some of these things have been on my To Do lists for quite some time but since we've been kind of hibernating lately I've tackled a few of them.

Something else on the To Do list for a few months now was a date night with Ken. So we went out for a nice dinner at the Keg last weekend. It was so nice to just chat without interruptions and to remember favorite pastimes together and to plan out our summer which should be fun filled and busy! I think we clean up pretty nice, minus the grey hairs starting to pop through and the wrinkles(laugh lines) that are starting to appear more and more.

I also bought these letters a few months ago and finally painted them last week. All of the boys have their names painted and hanging on their bedroom walls.

It feels so great to get some of these things checked off my to do lists.
So that's what I've been busy with.

Family Day Fun!

In the morning we packed up Black Beauty and headed out to the farm to use those new sleds we got for Christmas.
I had to post this picture to show how big the sky is in the prairies and how open everything is. You can see for miles, it is so refreshing except for when the 100km/h winds hit. I wouldn't call that refreshing, I'd call that hardly being able to breathe as sand and snow and whatever else is light whips you in the face. Windy days we try to stay inside. Thankfully family day was fairly calm and we were able to enjoy our time together.

Grandpa had to come check things out and take the boys for some quad rides.

Guess who got stuck pulling the sleds up the hill?

Andrew.

Sam.

I love this picture of Ken and Luke amongst the prairie grass. We also went swimming at the pool which was packed but we all had a great day.