Grace's Birthday

Grace turned 7 years old on Monday, August 24. The Saturday before her birthday she had a party for a bunch of her friends. With guests and siblings there were 11 little girls running around our house for 3 hours that day!! Understandably, Brendan made himself quite scarce for the afternoon, but Matt had no choice but the help out. The girls had fun playing outside in the sprinkler, suntanning, playing with balloons, making necklaces and bracelets, face painting, putting on nail polish, eating cake and watching Grace open her presents. It was a wild and crazy afternoon, but I think Grace really had a lot of fun and she got some cool gifts too.

Corn on the cob

I finally found corn on the cob that I could actually enjoy because I wasn't choking on the price!! Safeway has corn on sale right now at 6 for $2, so I bought a dozen and that is part of what we had for supper tonight. I have never seen a dozen cobs of corn disappear so fast! My kids thought they were in heaven. Sarah had never had corn on the cob before, but she caught on quick! I only have pictures of Sarah - the rest of them ate too fast!!

"BIG RED"

We have been looking for a new vehicle the past little while, knowing that when this new baby is born, we were going to be out of seat belts for everybody in our family. Last week we finally found what we had been looking for. "Big Red" is the newest member of our family.... for a few weeks anyway until "Freddie" decides to make his appearance. It is definitely a bigger van than what I am used to driving, but the kids love it and there is lots of room to spread out and have a bit of space. I am sure we will have many memories with this new vehicle - let the adventures

continue!!

Room for 12!

Radio, Tape player, CD player, A/C, Tilt, Cruise, etc, etc, etc!!

Funny conversations.....

At the supper table last night we were discussing what was happening in our family this week. Swimming lessons are starting, youth activities, RS activities, birthday parties, etc, etc, etc. We brought up the appointment Brendan has on Friday to have an EEG done and we were explaining what kind of test it was to the little girls - - that it was a test to see what is happening inside your brain. Anna looked at Brendan and said, "Brendan, why don't you just ask your brain what is going on in there?" Brendan was quiet for a minute and then said, "I can't, my brain isn't alive!" I had to snicker a bit, and he tried to retract that and added, "I just mean that my brain has no thoughts." Well, I was done after that and had to give a great big laugh. Brendan kept trying to explain what he meant with each explanation getting a little crazier each time, so I finally told him that he should stop while he was ahead....... no pun intended!

Holiday Fun!!

Last week we spent a week down at Mom and Dad's and we had a lot of fun with our kids. We went to the Remington Carriage Centre, the new waterpark in Raymond, hiking in Waterton, barbeque's and breakfasts with family and lots of fun with cousins! I don't have pictures of everything - when Mary Lou is around I let her take over because she takes such awesome pictures, but I did get a few not so bad ones!

Becky and Daddy walking to Blackston Falls.

It was a nice hike - easy enough for even me!

Checking out the falls

Playing at the park - Sarah thinks she can do anything the other kids do!

Grace at the park in Waterton.

Anna had fun at the park too - it was a bit windy though!

We celebrated Grace's birthday early - she LOVED the unicorns Mom and Dad got for her!

Grandpa and Dad got Brendan in a bit of a tight spot

Sarah loves to snuggle - she just about has her daddy pushed out of bed!

What a busy day it was yesterday!! I decided it was field trip day, so I took the kids to the Royal Alberta Museum. We have been quite a few times before, but they really love it. Kids 6 and under are free, so we squeaked Grace in one last time and it was only $15 for Brendan and I to get in, so it is a fun and cheap summer field trip for us. We spent a couple of hours inside - I am sure the kids could have been in there for a couple of more, but I was getting tired and Sarah needed a nap, so we went outside and sat on the grass and had our lunch. It was a beautiful day and the museum has a beautiful view of the river too.

The lighting is not great, but the displays are awesome!!

Brendan and Sarah looking at something in jars - not sure what!! The kids loved all the displays!
Becky and Anna liked the pretty butterflies. Sarah was a bit tired afterwards!

We got home and had a message that friends of ours were going tubing at Wizard Lake and they invited us to come along. I had never been there, but it is definitely worth the 45min drive. As soon as Matt got home from work we headed out and got there about 6:45pm and didn't leave until 9:45pm! The water was warm, there was a sandy beach, a playground, and best of all our friends boat and tubes! I don't think Brendan got out of the water for more than a few minutes all evening! We were loading up the van and couldn't find him and he was back in the water again! It was a very fun evening, and best of all, our friends are going out again tonight! We are definitely enjoying our summer!!

Brendan had tons of fun in the water!
Becky wasn't too sure about the water, but she got used to it.

Sarah had fun throwing rocks in the lake.

Anna was trying to warm up - still having fun though!

The "Dad's" went out for a ride - they almost flipped going over the wake, but managed to stay on board!

Grace and Becky went for a ride on the boat.