Christina and Shayne's 2008-09 School Year Pictures

Christina and Shayne are the only 2 out of the 5 that cooperated with the school photographer this year. (the other pictures that I took are on an earlier post) Christina is age 10 and in grade 6. Shayne is age 8 and in grade 3.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Catherine!

I'm having a hard time wrapping myself around the fact that our baby is now 2. Next year she'll be able to start nursery school. I thought I'd be much more ecstatic about all of this, but it's just all happening too fast. We had a quiet day for her birthday. In the afternoon she got to go to a Teddy Bear Picnic at Canyon Lister School, then after Shayne's hockey practice we went to ABC restraunt for supper and home for cupcakes and to open her present (she got the fisher price farm set) and cards. Thank you to all that sent cards, money, and gift cards. They are all greatly appreciated.

I FINISHED A QUILT!!

I started it about 7 months ago for a benefit auction and it didn't get done in time. SO....needed something to donate for the Creston and District Nursery School auction tomorrow. Saw this 'unfinished object' (in the quilting world they are referred to as UFOs) in my creative corner of the basement and decided to finish it. All I had left to do was finish sewing the binding to the back of the quilt. The patter is Yellow Brick Road. The fabric was from a kit that I had bought at a Wishek quilt show from the Comforts of Home Booth (that quilt shop is in Jamestown ND). The backing is cotton flannel. I quilted it myself on my machine. Now if only I can get some of my other UFOs finsished. :)

Hockey pictures 2008

The yearly hockey pictures. Meredith is in Jr. Novice this year. Shayne is in Sr. Novice. Both have improved in their hockey skills greatly since last year and still enjoy playing.

"School" Pictures

This year I ended up doing the 'school' pictures of 3 of our children. First off, Vincent. Vincent was supposed to have his school pictures done, with a very cute 'grad' sitting, too, but proceded to tell the photographer that his mom could do a better job than he could. So, no 'professional' picture of him. Our dearest Meredith's first set of school pictures were dreadful. The lack of smile (it was a smirk) and her hair was an absolute mess! So we were going to do retakes in the middle of November, but there was a mix up between me and the school so they weren't taken. Poor Catherine. Our schedule has been so hectic lately that I couldn't find time to make it down to Couer D'Alene to Sears to have her 2 year pictures taken. So I took it.
Here they are....the "Professional Mommy" taken pictures.
(Christina and Shayne's school pictures haven't come yet...will post those when I get them.)

Meredith's first piano recital

Last evening the 3 older kids played in a recital at Crestview Village (retirement community in town). This was Meredith's first recital as she just started lessons in September. Here is a picture of them before they went to the recital. Will add video at a later time.

Coming soon to a Christmas card near you!

I took this pictures last week for our annual Christmas card. It took MANY takes to even get theses pictures. No funny faces, no bunny ears, etc. That was work! Whew! This pictures were taken on the big rocks on the west face of our north driveway. The kids wanted the pictures taken there this year..and that is where we did it!

Creston's Annual Allen Price Icebreaker Jr./Sr. Novice Tournament

Every year Creston has it's Jr./Sr. Novice hockey tourney the first weekend of November. This year Meredith is playing Jr. Novice and Shayne is in Sr. Novice. Here are some of the still pictures I took. Shayne also got his fancy hockey jacket that weekend, too. I will add a video of them playing at a later date.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! This year Christina was a Wizard (note she even has a dragon in her pocket), Shayne was Captain Rex (from Star Wars), Meredith was a hot pink Pegasus Unicorn, Vincent was a monkey (how fitting), and Catherine was a cute, pink, Bunny! Our Jack-O-Latern this year was carved by Christina and it's a monkey!

Cat's first "Official" hair cut

By 'official' I mean, one that I didn't do. We were blessed this time with a child that had hair...from the beginning. This child almost needed a haircut out of the womb. By about 6 months I had to trim her bangs for the first time. Today she got to Henri's and get her first real, honest to gosh, hair cut. (this is the same place as the tea garden...see 'a visit from 2 old ladies' in with my mom and my grandma) Cat and I went this morning and the older girls go after school. So we will be all trimmed and ready for some Christmas pictures!

(OH! And you may be wondering about the boo boo on the bridge of her nose. Well...on Friday afternoon Vincent batted a block and it hit her there and we were off to the clinic as it was bleeding quite a bit and was deep...not very big but deep...ended up glue-ing it a little and she was fine.)

Encaustic Wax Art

Friday, October 24th, the kids had another Pro D Day....so, the older 3 kids went to ceramic class in the morning at Bunny's Ceramic Hutch, and in the afternoon I got to go learn how to play with wax! The class was taught by a local artist named Julh Campbell. Encaustic Wax is colored beeswax that you melt on an iron and played with on paper. That is the only way I can describe it! It was very fun and very right brain....I had a hard time with the abstract part of this but did catch on fast! If you want to see more awesome art by people all around the world check out http://www.encaustic.com/ , and just remember that its all done with wax....

Vincent's 4th Birthday

I am really hoping we are out of the 'theatrical threes' and onto the 'fabulous fours.' Vincent spent the whole day with his dad watching hockey games. Shayne had a game in Kimberley that day which turned out to be an adventure all of it's own. (may be another post on another day). Then they got home and we went to the Thundercat game. So where else would a good ole Canadian boy want to spend his birthday than at a good ole hockey game!! Also added another cute picture of Vincent and Mozart sleeping together. (that picture was just taken yesterday)

Mom's Day in the hospital

Meredith had her time in the hospital last summer. Now it was my turn. On Tuesday evening I could feel my umbilical hernia 'twinging' like it does on occasion. Well, as the night went on the pain got wose, so I self medicated at home, it helped for a while, but when it wore off I couldn't handle it anymore and took myself to the hospital in Creston. The doctors here have not had to deal with my hernia yet, and thus weren't sure if it WAS my hernia giving me problems again, maybe it was my gallbladder (could be possible, I guess). So I was given some medicine for the the pain and for nausea and was then put in the back of the ambulance and on my way to Cranbrook for either ultrasound or CT. Well, when I got there the surgeon met me right away and ordered a CT. So I got to drink some yummy stuff...and wait. Which was no problem as all wanted to do was sleep. So after a few hours I had to drink more CT stuff and then I was escorted to the CT room. My first. Did well, didn't have to put my head in so my claustrophobia didn't kick in. Plus with all the stuff that was in me already I don't think I would have cared. It took awhile for Dr. Aleem to get the results. When he did it showed that I had some free fluid in my pelvis so maybe it was a burst ovarian cyst (I didn't know I had any cysts there...but I guess I do!). So then I had to wait for the Gynecologist on call to come and see me (I tried to tell them that wasn't the case...that it was my hernia as I have had this before...but they wouldn't listen). So after he checked me he said that it wasn't a burst ovarian cyst...(haha...told ya) but that the free fluid in my pelvis was just maybe a small ovarian cyst that was leaking. SO...Dr. Aleem came and saw me again and we scheduled surgery for December before Christmas break. So that way Christina and Shayne are home and can help me around the house. As the day went on (and on, and on, and on) I felt much better and couldn't stand laying on the bed or sitting anymore. The nurses were really nice and let me walk around. Well, then after all was said and done I had to wait for the ambulance to take me back to Creston. Well, the ride home wasn't has smooth as the ride there. This time I wasn't drugged, plus, I had some pudding in my tummy. SO did get quite nauseous during the ride, but never did throw up. Once I was back in Creston I got to lay on the ER cot some more til I quit moving and my tummy decided to stay where it was at. Got my IV out and was on my way home.

What about the kids? Well, Shawn had to cancel his clinic yesterday and took care of the kids. All was well when I got home. The kids said they missed me and hoped I was feeling better. Vincent was upset at me because I got to ride in an ambulance and he didn't. OH! And that they didn't turn on the siren to let them know that we were passing by the house. (the highway runs at the bottom of our land)

Today am feeling much better. My tummy muscles are a little tender and sore, like if you did 500 set ups. Still tired and little nauseated, yet, but will survive. I did before. Twice. So will let all of you know when the surgery will be in December.

PS There are no pictures with this post as they would have been TOO scarey...even for Halloween standards.

A visit from 2 old ladies

Mom and Grandma paid us a visit from September 21 to September 30th. From Sept. 22nd to the 24th were on their own with 4 of the kids while Meredith and I went to Calgary for her first doctors appointment at the Alberta Children's Hospital. So after making them work (o.k run) after kids for almost a full 3 days we had some fun, too. Like beer drinking before noon and cavorting with big, hairy, Canadian men. HaHa!!

Mom wanted to go back to Millenium Park to take some pictures again this year. This is one that I got when we were there.
Last year when they came to visit we went to the new local winery, The Skimmerhorn. This year it was the brewery. We are the only place that this kind of beer is made (Kokanee beer, and there are others). The tour was real interesting. After the tour there were free samples so Mom had one, and Grandma, being the rebel that she is :) had a sip of beer...before noon! So after the beer drinking ;) we went outside and took pictures. The cutouts are the Sasquatch, the Ranger (who was killed off by the voting masses) and the beer dog. Check out the website: http://www.crestonbc.com/kokanee/

I've seen many people taking obscene pictures with the Sasquatch. So here are Mom and Grandma being groped by their big, hairy, Canadian man.

While Grandma and Great Grandma were here we decided to celebrate Vincent's birthday a little early.

Great Grandma cuddling with Cat and Vincent. Mom dressed her dog Baily in shirt...isn't it cute? Mozart and Baily got along quite well. They would wrestle and play every morning. Can you figure out who won this battle?

Pictures of our church from the inside and the outside. Can you believe how blue the sky was that morning?
Sunday afternoon we went to a Tea Garden in Canyon owned by two gentlemen that also have a bed and breakfast and a hair salon. We each ordered a different goody and took a bite of each. I had lemon sponge cake, Grandma had fresh peach flan, and Mom had scone and devon cream with fresh (huge) blackberries. The tea was exceptional, too. Grandma and I shared a pot of English Toffee and Mom had a pot of something else (long complicated name) that had a real smokey smell to it. It was a beautiful day in a beautiful garden.