Laughter is the best medicine!

Last weekend was a blast!! My sisters and my mom were able to get away for the weekend and travel to Kalispell. (We really missed our sister-in-law who wasn't able to make it!)

We left just after lunch time on Friday and were home late Saturday night. I drove "Big Red" and took out the far back seat to make room for all our purchases. The roads were horrendous, but nothing was stopping us! It was just what I needed and it was great to deepen the bonds of sisterhood and friendship with each other - and there was definitely A LOT of laughter all weekend long!!

We had to laugh at the "Do Not Disturb" sign at the hotel and it's French version of that saying, "No Moleste". I don't know how funny that actually is, but when you put 6 giddy women in one room, a lot of things are really funny!!

We went out for dinner at HuHot's just after we checked in, and it was awesome!! I had never been there before, and we were lucky we were in somewhat of a secluded corner, because we had a BLAST!! Just being without our children, not having to cook or clean-up was enough to make us all a little happy!!

We headed back to the hotel and went swimming for a bit, and then just chilled for a bit and had one of the best bonding talks we have had in a long time. We were able to share our feelings for each other and about our lives --- I feel so blessed to have such compassionate, strong and supportive women for my sisters and mother.

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel and then we hit the town. We all had a great time finding some great deals on clothing, food, shoes, kitchen items, and toys for our families. We enjoyed these awesome ice cream treats at Costco just before we were heading out.

I have to admit that this was one of my most favorite purchases from the trip. Who would have thought that a little box like this:

.....could turn into something as fun as this!!

My kids have had a blast with this jumbo fun ball, and I have to admit that I even tried it out myself!!

All in all, it was just what the doctor ordered because as always...... laughter is the BEST medicine EVER!!!

Three Years Old!

Well, she made it! Sarah is officially 3 years old today. I wasn't too sure if she was ever going to make it there with her being as crazy as she is. I think she was going for one last 2yr old fling yesterday and she was a menace!! Her crowning glory yesterday was dumping an entire bottle of sprinkles into my toaster and then turning it on. Yup -- burned sugar smells gross!! Yesterday she also scaled the basement walls to look out the windows, pushed the printer off the desk and pulled out the printer cartridges, dumped out the game of Life (do you know how many little plastic people there are in that game!!), drew on the walls, and probably had about 4 accidents too. The last couple of days she has been complaining that one of her boots hurt and wouldn't put it on. Of course the obvious alternate choice for a boot in -20 winter weather of course is a summer sandal -- we had a few "discussions" about that decision. Yesterday I decided to check this boot out and found a crusty dried out old muffin she had stuffed in there last week. Lovely. But really - she is a very amusing and usually very happy child and we really do love her to bits. She LOVES her little brother and "helps" him with anything at any chance she can get. Sarah is actually starting to be able to communicate better and I am so grateful I can almost understand what she is trying to tell me, because she always had LOTS to say! She gives the best hugs and has the cutest little mischievous grin ever. Her giggle is infectious and she adds joy and adventure to our family. Happy Birthday Sarah. Let's see what new and wonderful things you have in store for us this year!

The Many Faces of Gideon

Gideon's personality is starting to come out in some pretty funny ways and we have really been enjoying all the funny things he has been doing lately. I am so glad we have a working camera too -- I have really missed capturing all the crazy stuff my kids do. More to come soon!!

"Frostina"

For Christmas this year, my sister gave my kids the coolest snowman kit ever! There was a black top hat, corncob pipes (corks with dowels drilled in and painted black), buttons, coal (rocks from her front yard painted black), a scarf, mittens, and a lovely plastic carrot (it really was a yellow pepper, but it works!) for the nose. My girls were very excited to make our first snowman of the season yesterday and she was lovingly dubbed "Frostina".

The Big Cook

Today I spent the day at my sister's house making freezer meals. There were 6 of us there (plus one that couldn't make it because of bad roads), and we made 2x14 different meals for each of us to take home. I haven't ever done one of these before, but my sister had and she was very organized and it all went off really well. We had a small glitch with adding too much of one ingredient, but we made it work and it was all fine in the end. We bought everything in bulk and my sister was able to get a really good deal on all the meat at a specialized butcher shop. The piles of food were quite overwhelming, but with all those hands it went quite quickly. It really was quite the experience chopping 20lbs of onions -- I got that fun job! My awesome brother-in-law opened all the cans for us which was no small task. There was a dozen cans of tomato soup, kidney beans, and mushrooms each, more than a dozen cans of pineapple, multiple cans of ketchup, and other odds and ends. He also went for all the meat which was a big job too. We had about 85lbs of hamburger, 16 cases of chicken breasts, about 50lbs of pork chops and ribs, and some stewing meat too. Some of the ladies there had made these recipes before and they knew how tasty they were, so I am excited to try them too. It took us about 7 hours to complete all these meals - - almost 200 meals all together! A very productive day, that is for sure!! Guess what we are having for dinner tomorrow????

One of those days.....

Do you ever have one of "those" days when everything that could go wrong really really does? It's not that it was that bad of a day, but there were a whole bunch of little things that just added up to a really long, tiring day. My sister and her husband were out of town for the weekend and my brother was watching their kids for them. He had to leave at 8am this morning for a meeting, so I went over and brought their boys over here. All the kids had a blast this morning, playing, making crafts, and generally making a huge mess. I actually really didn't mind because they all play so well together and I am really happy for the close friendships they are creating with each other. They are all pretty good at helping to clean up too, so it really was no big deal. I was busy getting supper prepared so that we would be ready to eat as soon as we got home from church, since my sister and her family, plus another friend, would be joining us.
About 10:30am, Matt got a call for work and had to leave. I knew he was on call, but was really hoping that he would be at least be able to come to church, but no such luck. He left by 11am and didn't make it home until almost 8pm. In the meantime.......

*I peeled all the potatoes for supper and thought it was a good idea to use my garberator for the peels, but since I had about 10lbs of potatoes worth of peels, I plugged the sink
*I had all six kids at church by myself (thank goodness for family that helped out!)
*I had three visitors in my primary class and Gideon too. He had fallen asleep, but of course woke up just as I was starting to teach. I begged the nursery workers to take him the last hour and mercifully they did! (7 weeks to go!!)
*I realized just as I was about to head home from church that I had forgotten to turn on the oven and I frantically came up with an alternate menu idea
*Managed to get through dinner with 11 kids and 4 adults
*Put all the kids in bed
*Worked with Matt to try and unplug the sink and ended up with a flood on the kitchen floor
and.......
*I can't find the reusable juice containers I usually send in the kids' lunches, so I don't know what to send them for a drink tomorrow - - looks like they will be using the water fountain!

Here's to tomorrow - - hope it's a great one!!

Back on the running wagon!

Finally!!! It seems like it has been FOREVER since I have had the chance to go for a run. Well, I guess I have had the "chance" for it, but have neglected to snatch up those fleeting moments! I used many an excuse - valid as they were - to choose not to run. Moving, settling in, Christmas, bad weather, etc, etc, etc. Well, no more excuses! I dusted off the old treadmill tonight and ran a great 4km run, and it felt GREAT!! I really, really missed having my awesome running partner, and it was pretty boring staring at a blank wall, but I got it done! I really do prefer to run outside if I had the choice, but I have to admit to being somewhat of a wimp when it comes to the cold. So I am extremely grateful that we live where we live now as we are having a much milder winter than where we were. My amazing sil has completely blown me away by how dedicated she is, even in crazy, crazy weather!!! I signed up for a 6km run in March, and I even got my husband to sign up with me -- it should be lots of fun to train together. Feels so great to get the ball rolling again!!!