Tis' the season.....

Well, it is that time of year again - life gets overwhelmingly busy and consequently time speeds up and I end up not enjoying my Christmas holidays. This past week has been so crazy!! I hadn't had a chance to do any laundry since we came back from Grandma's funeral, so on Monday there were 10 loads to do. Those 10 loads didn't get folded until Wednesday, and not put away until today.... the socks are still on the floor, unmatched! By today there were another four loads to do - they are washed and dried, but not folded yet. I wonder how many days until that gets done. We had Christmas concerts on Tuesday and Wednesday night up at the school for our kids - they were great by the way! I was supposed to go to my Enrichment Christmas Dinner tonight, but after spending some time worshiping the ceramic throne last night - I opted out. I had a really bad night last night and was so grateful for Matt who slept on the couch with Sarah so I could sleep, or try to sleep anyway. I was surprised at how well I felt today and was able to clean my family room, kids rooms, and kitchen! I even sewed two more Christmas PJ's. That is three done - only four more to go. Why do I do this to myself? Matt and I have a party tomorrow night, a party on Saturday night, a family dinner here on Sunday night, and friends coming for FHE on Monday night! Holy Smokes!! I am so glad tomorrow is the last day of school. Two whole weeks of not having to fight to get kids out of bed - but Murphy's Law states that for the entire two weeks they will all pop out of bed like daisy's earlier than normal, and then be back to sleeping in when it is time for school. I guess I just needed to vent tonight. I really do love the Christmas season, but it sure is crazy sometimes!!

4th picture from 4th folder

Well, here is my fourth picture from my fourth folder - - Christmas 2004! It's amazing how many changes can occur in four short years. In this picture Brendan was 7 1/2, Grace was 2 1/2, and Anna was only 9 months old. We were back in our other place, with our orange walls and scrawny Chrismtas tree (which we gave to Cub and Rachel - sorry for calling it scrawny!). I can totally see Sarah when looking at Anna - they really do look a lot alike! I am so glad for this Christmas season and for all the previous ones that we have enjoyed. I am looking forward to many many more in the future as well!

Amazing Lady, Amazing Grandma

I was very sad to hear the news that last night my Grandma Webster passed away. I started thinking back about all the influence she has had on my life. She was such a wonderful example to me and I really do wish I could be more like her. I never heard her raise her voice and she always had something nice to say about everybody. Grandma had a way about her to get her point across without making me feel bad about any decision I had made. She loved to hear everything I had to say and was always willing to listen to any new piano piece or little bit of news I had.

It didn't matter what was going on - Grandma was always there. She was part of every important event in my life, and always had something to contribute to that. I love the blankets she made for me, and the blessing outfits that she made for my children. I am grateful for the tangible evidence she left me of her love for me.

I am so grateful that my children had the opportunity to know her. I know that she was excited to see her mother again - it has been about 37 years since her own mother passed away. All I have to do is think about my own mother and I get a very small glimpse at how much she missed her! I feel very blessed to have been born into such a wonderful family with such strong, amazing women to model my life after. I love you so much Grandma! I will miss you, but I am so grateful to know that we will be together again one day.

Onward, ever onward......

As many of you may know, Rebecca loves to sing. Actually all my girls love to sing, but Rebecca has been singing since before she could talk. She would carry the tune of just about any song, not really caring about the words. Well, this morning her song of the day was "Called to Serve". Her favorite part of the song is the chorus where it sings, "Onward, ever onward as we glory in his name" which she just repeated all morning. I was glad she was happy and actually took the words to heart after having such a crazy evening the night before. It all started last week when I took the kids into the eye doctor to have their eyes checked. Anna had been tested at her preschool and they suggested following up with her eye doctor as she had failed their little exam there. I expected that we might have to get glasses for her, because when she was checked out 18 months ago, the doctor said because of the shape of her eye, she probably would need glasses in the future. So no surprise at all when lo and behold, Anna did need glasses. I was a bit taken aback at her prescription which was worse than mine - and that is pretty bad! My next surprise was that Rebecca needed glasses too!! So, $400 later, we had two new pairs of glasses on order. Yesterday the office called and said their glasses were ready, so we bundled everybody up and went to get their new glasses. I tried to get them very excited about them because I wanted them to be excited to wear them. They were both very excited and couldn't wait for their dad to get home so they could show him. Both girls had a bit of trouble at first with the glasses as the prescription is so strong it will take a bit for them to let their eyes relax and let the glasses do the work. My next surprise was 2 hours after we got home..... Rebecca came upstairs with the leg of her glasses sticking straight out from her head! She said they hurt her ear, so she moved it..... BIG TIME!! She had totally broken the hinge and twisted it at a crazy angle. Who knew a 3 year old was that strong!! I had to go back to the office this morning and thankfully there is a warranty and they ordered another leg for her glasses in and hopefully it will be in tomorrow. I hope she will get used to them soon - I don't know how long that warranty will last!! Needless to say, I guess my new song is: "Onward, ever onward!"

Finally Floyd Free!!!!

Matt was asked by a friend of his (Floyd) to be the executor of his will about a year ago. Matt being the nice guy he is said yes and didn't think much more about it. Well, in January of this year, Floyd went and died, and we haven't been able to get him out of our house / garage / mailbox since then. Matt had to clean out this guy's apartment and everything in it got moved to our garage. We had to go through all his papers and see what needed to be kept or what could be thrown away. Most of it was garbage, but occasionally we would come across something important tucked in between some totally random papers. Anyway, our garage is still totally filled with his stuff (junk!) and our bedroom had a bunch of stuff in it too as we were going through boxes there too. Well, enough is enough and I told Matt I wanted our bedroom back to just us. It's pretty bad when you have someones cremated remains sitting on your dresser for 9 months - I was not at all sad to see that go! Matt had his remains buried in his church's memory garden on Sunday and since Matt had the day off on Monday, we rearranged our bedroom and got rid of everything that shouldn't be in our room. I am so so so happy to be in my Floyd Free Bedroom!!!
p.s. If someone asks you to be the executor of a will, unless it is a close relative that you have a good relationship with, RUN!!!

"O" is for......

I really do love my kids!! They keep me laughing (and sometimes crying) everyday. Today at the breakfast table the girls were saying what each letter of the alphabet is "for". For example: "A" is for Anna, "G" is for Grace, "K" is for Karen (we are babysitting her for the weekend), etc, etc. All of a sudden Anna comes up with "O" is for Oh forget it! I tried so hard not to laugh, but I had to leave the room when her next one was: and "O" is for Oh Geez! What a nut that kid is....... gotta love it!!

What was your favorite part of the day?

We have started something new at our dinner table over the last few months. To try and keep the natives happy and quiet, I have started asking the kids "What was your favorite part of the day?" It gets them thinking about something happy and positive to share with the rest of the family and then Matt gets to hear some of the things they have already told me about their day. It has become a favorite thing to do, and the kids remind me if we miss it - - they really do love sharing their thoughts and feelings about their day! Anyway - I have to share Brendan's favorite part of today. Once a month the kids get a hot lunch (we have to pay for it of course) and today it was from KFC (sometimes Pizza Hut or Hot Dogs, etc.). Brendan said his favorite part of the day was having lunch from KFC. Matt asked him what KFC was - and it was quite funny to see him stop and think about it, and think about it..........and think some more. He finally said, "It means King's Famous Chicken." LOL!!! That just became my new favorite part of MY day!! Wait, wait..... it gets even better. To top things off - Brendan could see how funny I thought it was and his very next statement was: "You are going to tell everybody about this aren't you?" Oh, how well does my son know me!! Of course I have to tell everybody - that is just what mom's do!!!

I have to share another funny thing that happened yesterday too. Rebecca came upstairs crying her eyes out and I asked her what was wrong. She told me that Anna had hurt her nose. She appeared to be fine, and after a cuddle she was fine and off playing again (not next to Anna this time though!). Before I could get the chance to go and find Anna and talk to her about this, Anna comes up the stairs and asks, "Did Rebecca tell on me?" I told her that Rebecca said she had hurt her nose, but Anna just looks at me and says, "No I didn't, I just punched her in the eye!" OK, it's really hard to not laugh at your kids sometimes, but especially when you don't want them to see you laughing because it really shouldn't be funny, but holy smokes, what else can you do sometimes!! I managed to keep control and sent Anna to the time out chair - in our house - if you hit, you sit! So Anna heads over there and says, "How come I have to be here, this isn't fair!" Maybe next time she won't punch her sister in the eye........... maybe........... : )

Alright, already!!

I know, I know.... I am a really bad blogger. Story of my life these days. I don't even know where to start to try and catch up!! These last few months have been really crazy and I don't know where I put my emergency brake, so we have been barrelling down the racetrack of life at breakneck speeds. We are well into the school year for my kids - their first report cards are coming out in two days. How the heck did that happen? It's hard to believe that it is past the middle of November and Christmas is right around the corner.

One really fun thing I did this month was take a little vacation with my husband!! Matt took a week off work and we were able to go to my mom and dad's for Roger's homecoming on the 9th and then spend a couple of days just hanging out with them. My mom and dad agreed to keep our kids overnight and I finagled a pass to a bed and breakfast from my sister Melissa and so I stole my husband away for a night. We were able to go out for dinner and then we went Christmas shopping for our kids. I am so excited that we got all our shopping done together, and in one trip! The best part is that we were able to keep it all down at mom and dad's house. Nobody is going to find Santa's presents this year!! The bed and breakfast we stayed at was awesome. The scenery was beautiful, the hosts were great, the food was amazing and the room was well used : ) : ) : ) !!! It really was nice to have some time to ourselves without any telephones, TVs or crying kids!!

My sister Mary Lou was able to get some awesome pictures of my kids while we were down in Mountain View too. I am very excited to get some ordered and up on my wall. Thanks again!!!

Well, hopefully this will satisfy my audience's craving for posts from me..... and hopefully it won't be so long in between again!!

Crazy Day

Yesterday was just such a crazy day, it deserves being preserved. I have to start on Monday because that is when I found out that Matt was working late on Tuesday. That actually solved a problem for me as I was not sure how I was going to be in two places at the same time. Anna leaves on the bus for pre-school at 9:10am. Meanwhile, Grace had a dentist appt at 9:00am which we had to leave by 8:35 to get there on time. So, with Matt being home, I was able to have him send Anna off to school, and keep Rebecca at home while Grace and Sarah and I went to the dentist. Brendan had a late start as he didn't get all his homework done the night before and was trying to finish his math without dripping syrup from his pancakes on the papers. He finally got out the door at 8:20 and I had 15 minutes to get myself, Sarah and Grace into the van and on our way.... oh, and Sarah was still in a dirty diaper and her pajamas! We find the dentist's office (we had never been there before) and made it on time for the appt. Since we had never been there, there was a mountain of paperwork to fill out, and you always have a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when the first question they ask is if you have dental insurance! 20 minutes later, we hear that Grace needs a filling on a tooth that didn't form properly and 2 extractions. Her baby teeth were really small, and her adult teeth are really big, so they are taking out the two baby teeth on either side of her adult teeth to make room for them to fit properly. Who knows what we will have to do when the next set of adult teeth come in. Of course we have to book another appt to have this work done - today's visit was only $55 - and thank goodness for dental insurance because we only paid $12. BUT.... I asked for an estimate for the extractions and fillings..........$400.00!!! Yikes!!! Hopefully the insurance company will want to cover most of that. Anyway, moving on. I get Grace back to school by 10am, go home, get Sarah down for a nap, do some cleaning, get lunch for Rebecca, Anna gets home from school at 12:45, get her some lunch, get Sarah some lunch..... I think I even got to eat something in there somewhere since I didn't get a chance to eat any breakfast. I load everybody back in the van and go and get Brendan from school at 1:40 so we can get to his doctor's appt by 2:15. We made it on time, the doctor was on time (Yeah!!) and only a few screaming fits from Rebecca while we are there. We get home just in time to pick up Grace from school at 3:30pm and go home to get the homework started. I made supper, fed the kids, cleaned up (they even helped...with a little prodding) and then to the church by 6:45 so I can meet with a young man I have never met who is turning 12 and graduating from primary. I sign his goal book and his certificate and hand that over to the bishop, leave Brendan there for scouts, arrange for him to get a ride home since Matt is working late and I don't want to pack up the girls again at 8:30pm. Take the girls home, get them ready for bed, and collapse.......... Don't worry, I am still alive. I get to do it all over again, and again, and again.......

Oh, what a beautiful morning!!

I had such wonderful morning today!! I went running this morning at 6:30 - - the weather was just a bit chilly, but the sky was clear, and the few little clouds that were tinged with a gorgeous color of pink were breathtaking!! I went for a 5km run and only had three 2-minute walks in between. I ran up over the overpass on 66th street and gave myself a little break and walked across the bridge, ran to Ellerslie road, walked back up 66th for a few minutes, back up the overpass, walked across the bridge and then ran home. 5km in 32 minutes!! I surprised even myself. It was such a beautiful morning, that I hardly noticed the running and just enjoyed being outside. My kids were all in a great mood this morning, and we had breakfast and scriptures without any major commotion. We got Sarah a new booster seat with a tray on it that just sits on a chair, so she was sitting up at breakfast with the other kids eating a pancake too!! I was surprised to see her picking up the pieces and putting them in her mouth - that is the first time she has been able to do that. Crazy how fast kids grow up!! Brendan and Grace got off to school and the little girls played together quite well while I cleaned up the kitchen, made all the beds, and started the laundry. I am quite grateful that I have had the motivation to change a few habits. I think it started when my sister Rachel came over one day while I was folding about 8 loads of laundry. She had heard a little quote and shared it with me: "A load a day keeps Mount Washmore away!" I think I really took that to heart and have really been trying to keep up with the laundry and housework a little every day instead of having mammoth cleaning and laundry days. So far, so good.....they say it takes 21 days to form a habit, so I am well on my way. It is easy to do something when the benefits show themselves so quickly. Here's to many more wonderful mornings!!

Where the heck is Gordondale?

I now know where Gordondale is, something I did not know last week. Matt's Grandpa moved in with his son (Matt's Uncle) Kim who lives in Gordondale. We asked Grandpa how to get to Kim's house and he said just turn at the mailboxes and we are on the top of the hill on the right hand side. Well, since the only thing is Gordondale is a Church and some mailboxes - it wasn't too hard to find!! Gordondale is about 30-45 minutes north of Grande Prairie, so about 6 hours north of Edmonton. It was a long drive, but we had a really good time.

We were just going to put up our tent in the yard, but Kim had his trailer right there in the yard and told us we could sleep in there. I don't know if I can ever go back to a tent!! Just having a bathroom available in the middle of the night is priceless!! We were lucky enough to visit right when they were butchering their chickens. Grandpa had lovingly raised these chicks, and then had to say goodbye when he chopped their heads off - Grace thought that was a little gross!!!

Brendan and Matt came home covered in chicken blood, but they had a great time - and we got a couple of chickens for our freezer for helping out. It still amazes me to watch Grandpa work - he is 90 and is still going strong!! We are excited to go back next year when Grandpa is planning a family reunion -- at least now we will know where Gordondale is!!

Grace's birthday party

It's hard to believe how fast time flies, but on August 24, Grace turned 6 years old!! I don't know how that is possible since she was just born last week it seems. Of course a lot of things have happened in the last 6 years, so I guess I have to accept reality and let her grow up......just a little bit!! Grace's birthday was on a Sunday this year, so we had a big family dinner and then the next day she had her party with some of her friends.

It was a fairly nice day, so they had fun playing outside in the playhouse (best buy this year!!) and in the sprinkler as well. I had them help make and ice the cupcakes - they had fun loading on as much icing as they could!!

Then they decorated princess crowns for a craft. It turned out to be a really fun party!!

Pictures

Catching up..........

Well, I have been properly chastised (thanks Mary Lou) and it seems like I need to update my blog. It is still a new thing to me, and I will catch on soon......hopefully : ) Anyway, summer has really seemed to speed up as we have been able to do more things. In July we camped in Wetaskiwin and went to the airshow. It was fun, and interesting at the same time. We had seven kids with us - yes - 7 - it was not a typo!! We had our own five kids and then two foster kids with us too. We had a tent for Tyler (he's 6 feet tall and thought he could use his own space), but the rest of us piled into our tent, and then our niece Makenna decided that she needed to be in there with our girls too. So we had nine people in our tent. I think the girls were a little excited as they didn't fall asleep until 10:30 and then we were serenaded by Becky until 11pm - that girl does not like to sleep, but at least she can sing on tune! We had a great time at the airshow even if it was stinking hot!! We were all glad they were giving out free water. It sure was fun to have this fun little family reunion - thought I think it should have lasted a little longer.

Well, that was July in a nutshell. In August, we went to Cherry Grove. This little town reminds me of the little town that I grew up in. If you didn't know it was there you would completely miss it!! Seriously - you drive down the highway and you can see the community hall and a building that used to be a store, but isn't anymore.........that's it. But when you get behind all the trees there is a lovely little town. Well, people and a church anyway - what more do you need. It is only about 10 min outside of Cold Lake, so they go there for everything they need. It was the 75th Anniversary for the town, and since Matt's family was one of the main settlers and there are still quite a few members of his family still living there - it was a bit of a Hatch reunion as well. Matt's grandpa moved up there when he was 15 with his mom and dad and 8 brothers and sisters (three more came up there too!!), so there are a few relatives!! We had a great time, even though it rained most of the day Saturday, but we found out our tent was waterproof anyway!! We camped in the rodeo grounds and Matt decided that we should put our tent back into the trees..........I must admit that I didn't think it was a great idea as we were being eaten alive while trying to put it up, but when the winds and the rain came and we had a great shelter, I actually swallowed my words and admitted that he chose a great spot to put the tent!! We had a great time visiting with Matt's Dad and step-mom and his sister. The kids had a great time and since all the meals were taken care of with our registration fee - all the more better for us!! They fed over 800 people for dinner on Saturday night and then the last count showed 530 at church the next day!! I did not envy the primary teachers, but it was a nice 2 hour break for us!!

We bought a membership at the Space and Science Centre this summer and we have gone three times already this summer. The kids love it and they are learning things at the same time (I can only hope). We are going camping again next week for a few days. It has been very hot this week, so hopefully we can keep that up at least until we are back!! I was able to travel down to southern Alberta to see one of my good friends from high school last weekend. It was a long drive, but my girls did well. I only had to take Rebecca and Sarah and Matt kept the rest of the kids for the weekend. Other than spending most of a day putting my house back in order and doing the huge piles of laundry - I would say that Matt did a great job. He even marinated and BBQ'd steaks - WOW!! Now if I could only get him to do that when I am home....... hahahahaha!!! Yup - still laughing!!

Well, my lengthy post is now done - I guess you all get all or nothing from us!! Maybe we will write again soon.............

Summer fun

Today playgroup was at Avonmore playground. It is a great park as there is a lot of things to play on and there is a wading pool too. We arrived at about 10:30 and stayed until about 2:30. The kids all had a great time. Brendan had a book with him and was reading quite a bit - it is sad to see that playgroup does not hold the same fascination as it used to for him, but at age 11 he is starting to grow up. He did have fun playing a bit though. The girls all had a great time - there was a big group of kids there from a daycare and the girls made some new friends. Other than Rebecca face-planting in the sand it was a fairly stress-free day. Thank goodness for playgroup days!! Sarah tried out the sand and the water on her toes and she seemed to enjoy that too. I took the kids over to Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone after we left ($8.50 for 5 kids cones - gag!!), and other than Becky being covered in ice cream (totally expected) they enjoyed those too! Brendan decided that Sarah needed some too - I asked him if he gave her some and he said "Only little bits". Oh well, there's no turning back now - she will be destined to love ice cream as much as all the others!!

A day in the life of the Hatch Family

I guess I will get things started by sharing a typical day in our home. I wake up early (6am) and feed the baby and then go out for my run. I have been running for 2 1/2 months now and this morning I ran 3.5km out of a total 5km distance. Since I couldn't run 4 blocks when I started, I think I am making some progress. Matt left for work at 8:30am - just as the rain started (great - an inside day!) Our kids are already "enjoying" each others company and so the day begins. Brendan (11yrs) almost forgets to come for breakfast because he is trying to solve a rubics cube, though he knows if he misses the prayer, he has to wait until everybody else is done, so he slips into his chair just as the amen is being said. Grace (almost 6yrs) has managed to get herself dressed, but brushing her hair is another matter - it looks like I used a mixer instead of a comb. Anna (4yrs) is still in her pajamas and will be until the last possible second she can. It takes about 5 requests and finally she is threatened that she will be left behind that she finally starts to decide what she wants to wear - oh and no brush for her! Rebecca (2 1/2yrs) is screaming (unfortunately this happens quite regularly) for something, though we have no idea what it is she wants as her language skills are not quite in understandable English. She wants her breakfast in front of her, nobody can eat it, but she will invariably drink her "milky sippy cuppy" and leave the food on her plate. Sarah (5 months) is my sweet little angel and is just sitting in her swing observing the chaos around her. Most likely she is taking notes on how best to frazzle her already totally frazzled mother!! Today we have the fun task of getting an oil change done for the van. One hour at Wal-Mart with five kids is enough to drive anybody over the edge, but I was quite proud of myself - I was in control!! OOOPS!! Wrong turn - right down the TOY aisle!! Gotta love having a screaming 2-year-old in the middle of Wal-Mart. Luckily for me, bribery works! All it took was gum - which she swallowed after about 30 seconds and wanted another piece. Being a good mom I said no, and then ran for the nearest exit! We all eventually got out of there and we are all still alive. I am now enjoying having the TV take over for a little while so I can regroup and keep going. When does dad get home????

Waiting for Dad to get home..........

I think 5pm -6pm should be banned from the day. I would gladly give up this hour and not be sad one bit. Kids are hungry, I am tired and going through the never-ending "what do we have for dinner" mode. Today Matt called at about 5:20 saying he was just leaving work. He gets off at 5pm, but as he is the director on call this week, everything falls on his shoulders to take care of. I can handle this - the traffic is starting to let up a bit by then and he should be home by 6pm which is when we plan to have dinner anyway. 5:50pm - ring, ring.........guess who?!?!? Yup, my wonderful husband has offered to help out with a pick-up so the other transfer guy can go ahead with his plans he has with his wife for date night (what the heck is that anyway?). So we eat our dinner without him, though I do get a compliment from Brendan saying that dinner was good without any prompting at all........maybe some things do stick in that brain of his. I wonder if the kids will notice if I just hide in my room all night..........