MONTANA SUMMER 2008

Family Shot July 2008

We had a great month in Montana this year! I left at the end of our fun month not believing how fast the time went. I love to go there to get away from the bustle of city life! This year Mike took a record amount of time off at once and it was SOOO nice. Usually we pack back and forth, but this time we just went and enjoyed lots of family time! We spent time at the cabin with family and then went to Whitefish with more family! The best of both worlds!! We had so many fun moments and just enjoyed every moment! The girls played hard and LOVED being with all their cousins! They are in serious cousin withdrawal right now and are 'so bored' without them around! James was great and loved spending time outdoors. He didnt get much swimming time in tho...the water was so chilly this year...and he is used to his nice warm baths. Maybe next year he will indulge. He did lounge by the pool and lake and was perfectly content! It was a great month and a huge thank you to Kathy and Brian for having us at the cabin and to Mom and Dad for organizing Whitefish every year! It is truly our favorite time of the year!!!

James is 5 months!

James has been such a sweetie during vacation! He loves to be outside and LOVES to be with his dad! Mike may go into withdrawal when he goes back to work and doesnt get to spend as much time with James! He is already 5 months old and we can hardly believe how fast time goes! We are loving spending the summer with him and introducing him to the cabin and to Whitefish. He has met lots of new family and has even gone on his first boatride around the lake. He was giggling so hard when the boat was going fast. These babies who can be happy in those darn lifejackets are troopers...they are more like straight jackets because they cant move a muscle in them. James dipped his toes in Blaine Lake but wasnt thrilled. We have yet to dip his toes in Whitefish...the water is chillier this year due to a late season. Tomorrow we are heading up to Glacier National Park for a Sunday drive & hike. It is the 75th anniversary this year of the 'Going to the Sun Road'. Unfortunately, due to the late season it was not open on the 27th of June..the day of the celebration..but it opened on the 3rd of July. So it will be our first trip up this year! Cant wait!!! Hope James enjoys it!!!

Road Rash

Paige had her first mishap on her bike while we were at the cabin. The girls loved to jump on their bikes and go for a ride on the road. So one day I headed out with them....I was walking and they were riding. I had gotten up ahead and Paige came zooming up behind me. She was so thrilled and gave me the sweetest wave and smile. Then her bike caught a rock and she went face first onto the gravelly road. I felt so bad for her. I hoofed her back to the cabin..but we were quite a distance away. Luckily a good samaritan saw the mishap and jumped in her car to assist us back to the cabin. Once there she was checked out and no major damage...just swollen and road rash. She slept a lot that day and got puffier as the day went by. But she is all healed up now and back at it. The girls are playing hard everyday. Changing activities hourly and having a ball with all their cousins! We love Montana!!!

SCHOOL's OUT FOR SUMMER!!!

FINALLY!! Oh Ive been so excited for school to be out this year! I survived my marathon days of driving almost 3 hours a day to transport kids to and from school. We are saying good-bye to our school and will start at a new school in the fall...one that is way closer! I drove the route so much my van just automatically went there whenever I got in it. If I was not on my way to the school I really had to concentrate to go a different direction. It was really on auto-pilot. The girls did an excellent job in school this year...and hurray..they all get to move up to the next year! So next year we are in grade 5 (Emily), 3 (Stephanie), & 1(Paige)! Wow! We are looking forward to a relaxing summer and spending lots of time with family! We love lazy Montana summer days!!Yeah!!

Happy Summer everyone!!

HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY EMILY!!!!!

I cannot believe Emily is 10 today!! Wow...where did that time go??  

Here are 10 things we LOVE about Emily!!

1. Emily's middle name is Grace. We chose this middle name specifically for her because we waited soooooo long for her to join our family...and Grace means 'a gift from God'! We were so thrilled when she finally arrived and we felt so blessed to have her!

2. I love that Emily has such a great attitude. From the beginning her life has been a struggle having to deal with lots of doctors, interventions, MRI's, medications and the ever dreaded Growth Hormone shot every day.  But she is a trooper and rarely complains and she knows she is little miracle and was blessed early in her life!

3. I love that Emily loves to read! She is a little bookworm and ALWAYS has a book handy.  She reads in the car (lucky girl) and at night she has 5 or 6 books she is reading through. Im not sure how she keeps that many stories straight in her head..but she explains to me that the stories are all different..why would she mix them up?  Well...I think that is a talent..because Im a one book at a time gal.

4. Emily loves her dad! He is so sweet with his girls!  She always is asking if  Dad is working or if he will be home tonight..because then she knows that she will get time with him! She loves to read about the Human Body with him and she has a large book that I always catch them reading through different subjects. She is very inquisitive and reads the encylopedia as much as she reads her stories!

5. I love that Emily loves her younger siblings. She will always try to include them in whatever fun is happening.  She will read together with Paige, play barbies with Steff and snuggle James. She adores her baby brother..and rushes to his add whenever he calls! We have even caught them snuggling in bed together!!

6. Emily loves her extended family! Cabin days and Whitefish days are her favorite times of year because she gets to see Grandmas, Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles and COUSINS!!  She loves them all and talks about them all the time!  She knows details about each one and remembers what anyone has told her or taught her.  She cannot wait for JULY! She may already be packed!!

7. I love that Emily loves school! She is a great student and works hard in her subjects. I hope this will continue throughout her learning years!!  She loves to learn new things!

8. I love that Emily loves to cook and be in the kitchen! I will often find her reading cook books at night! I think she has cooking in her genes!  She gets so excited about new recipes and new desserts! She always always asks what is for dinner! 

9. I love Emily's sweet disposition.  She always has a cute smile on her face and is always happy!

10. I love that we have enjoyed Emily for 10 years! We consider ourselves so lucky that she is with us and doing so amazingly well. Her life could have been so different and we are thankful every day for the little miracle she is in our lives!

HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY EMILY!!

WE LOVE YOU!!

Special thank you to Christy for her yummy chocolate raspberry dessert recipe! Emily was so excited when she saw it...She loves raspberries!!

SOLD!!

The girls always fight over who gets to hold and tend James. Paige usually loses out to the 2 older girls. So on Sunday, Paige was helping me get James dressed and I asked her if she wanted to watch James while I popped in the shower! Her face beamed with excitement and I thought it was great timing because Emily and Steffi were busy elsewhere. So I popped in the shower. When I came out...James was gone!! I asked Paige where James went....she answered, "Oh I sold him for a candy necklace!" Apparently, Steff came by and realized that she wanted James so a quick temptation of a candy necklace and she bought James!! I couldnt stop laughing. So in the car to church I was asking Paige what she would do if a stranger came up to her and offered her a candy necklace for her brother...would she take it? NOOOOO was her answer. I then asked her if she would sell him for a hundred dollars....NOOOO. Phew I was thinking. So then I asked her if she would do it for a thousand dollars......YES!!! So we then had to discuss that James was NOT..under any circumstances... for sale!!

James is 4 months old!!!

James 4 Months Old Today!!

Wow...4 months today! I love this fun stage where everything is so exciting and new and you can see his reaction to everything. I had him in the tub the other day. Previously he has hated tub time..so I decided to bring him in my tub with me and he LOVED it! He moved his arm and made a splash. Then you can just hear the wheels turning as he is trying to get his arm to do the same thing to make that splash again. And in no time he was splashing and kicking hard! It was so sweet! We stayed in until the water was cold. It was a fun moment for me. He greets everyone with huge smiles and just loves attention! There is no lack of attention for him...if he makes a peep everyone goes running to get him! Such a fun boy!!

And she's OFF....

Last week, Paige's cousin Hallie learned to ride her bike with no training wheels. She was over to play the other day and saw that Paige's bike had training wheels. She told Paige how excited she was that her bike no longer had training wheels!! Paige quickly said...'Well, mine are coming off Monday!' I was sure to mention this little conversation to Mike who has been dying for Paige to get rid of the training wheels. But she went thru a little paranoia phase where she wouldnt even get on the bike! Well...it has been so rainy here and there has been very little bike time. But today when Mike got home..the rain had stopped for a few minutes...so off they went. In no time at all...Paige came running in for me to come and see her ride! Sure enough she was doing it. She still needs a little work on stopping tho. So thank you cousin Hallie for the extra motivation to ride!!

PS If you look carefully in the picture above...you can see the pineapple house!!

Piano Recital

The girls had their end of the year piano recital and both girls did a great job! Emily played Skip to My Lou and Lavender's Blue. Stephanie played Hickory Dickory Dock and Indian Dance. The Indian Dance song caused a bit of trouble between Steff and me. One day she was practicing and I was helping her and she was just soooo frustrated that she could not get her hands to do two totally different things. There was yelling and knashing of teeth to say the least. The next day something snapped and she had it..and she hasnt stopped playing it since. We all have been dancing around like indians! A big thank you to Christy for teaching them soooo patiently all year!! They have LOVED having her as a teacher!!!

Lovin' Baby James

We have hands down declared James our best baby EVER!! Wow....every day I am just amazed at how patient he is with us. We cart him around everywhere...in and out of that car seat! The girls haul him around and he just grins! We all fight to get him out of his crib in the morning because he greets us with huge smiles and giggles! I am so thrilled to be able to enjoy him every MOMENT! He is growing and changing every day..I just want to freeze frame him because he is changing way way way too fast! He has been figuring out his hands in the past week. He loves to suck on them and just the last few days we have been giving him little toys to play with. It is so neat to see him figure out how to use those hands. He also LOVES to kick! We call it 'doing the bicycle'. We are getting him ready so he can bike with dad. He just kicks and kicks so hard and then giggles. I tried to get a video..but Im having technical difficulties and then he stops as soon as I get the camera rigged up. I will keep trying.

IT's JUNE!!!!

JUNE

I LOVE June!! June has always been my favorite month of the year! It is full of excitement! In Calgary June is bursting with the new colors of spring! I love to open the windows and let the fresh breeze fill the house! It also brings afternoon storms when the sky turns dark blue against the new green of the trees. It is the month when spring ends and SUMMER begins! The nights are bright as the sun sets later and later (it is light till 11pm way up here in the north). It is full of excitement as the school year draws to an end and filled with end of the year activities! Yes..we are in school until June 25th! When Mike was in school it meant the end of one year of training onto the next so lots of changes in our lives occurred in June (Exams, Graduations and lots of moves)! It is the month we welcomed our first baby girl...Emily! It is the month we celebrate Fathers! We also have lots of family celebrations in June...including Amys birthday and Peter and Amys wedding anniversary and soon to be Kylies birthday...who is coming on Friday! And at the end of it all...I get to turn a year older! And then comes July...another one of my favorite months...July is usually spent in Montana with lots of family!!! LOVE IT!!

What is your favorite month of the year???

Computer Center

The girls computer center!

This is one of my favorite areas of the house. I have had a lot of fun organizing it for the girls.  I guess, secretly, I would have loved this area as a little girl. I stocked it full of pens, pencils, crayons, markers, tape, glue, paper, coloring books and craft supplies. Who doesnt love a fresh brand new pack of crayons??? The girls now have a fun place to go to do their homework, to craft and a place to put all their 'treasures'. I love it!! I wish my office looked the same way...but I am staring at wild indians ready to scalp me, propellers, skis and numerous other fun items of Mike's collection.  My other issue is James. When the house was in the planning stage...we had 3 girls. This new little blue in our family threw a curve ball into my pink 3 person computer center. Do you think he will notice?? LOL

The 'Great' Chair

This one is for Christine...who requested a post about 'the chair'...

Okay...really its not so great...but it has caused us a lot of hassle.  Mike's brother was ordering a load of furniture from Great Falls...due to a huge price difference across the border.  We had found an office chair at the same company and figured we would order it and hopefully have it picked up at the same time.  We ordered back in October. Well December came and their order was in...our chair, unfortunately, was not.  So they left to pick up their beautiful furniture and we waited.  Finally, the chair was in...but it was damaged so they had to reorder it.  We got a call just after James was born...the chair was in and not damaged...so we could pick it up. Well, bad timing to say the least.  But all was not lost...there was another order from Calgary and they were willing to bring it up.  Perfect. Well they got to Great Falls and couldnt squeeze the chair in ...so we were stuck once again.  Well, May arrived and still no chair.  I picked up the calendar and realized there was a day that would work. So with a little planning I arranged to pick it up and have a little girl time too.  So Christy, Marissa, James and I left for Great Falls.  It was a fun little getaway and we picked up the chair and a few other fun items..thanks to Target. All went so smoothly...until we reached Shelby.  Now apparently cross border shopping has picked up significantly due to the dollar at par.  So we heard rumors of 3 + hour waits to get back across. Christy's dad suggested that we take a smaller border crossing in Del Bonita.  So to Del Bonita we went. We were so thrilled...no cars on the road at all. Just us...with this grand idea of crossing at Del Bonita.  At first siting of the border crossing...we hooted and hollared as their was NO ONE...not ONE CAR at the border!  We patted ourselves on the back for saving ourselves a 3 hour wait.  That was until we saw the gate and the HUGE stop sign blocking our path.  Yes, the gate was closed! It had closed at 6pm and our clock said 645pm.  Dang.  Not only that...but in 10 days the summer hours began and the border would then be open from 9-9pm.  Dang again.  So we then headed to Carway rather than head back to Coutts border for a 3 hour wait.  This proved to be the right decision as there were no cars at this crossing either, it was OPEN and inside we found out the wait at Coutts had been 3+ hours all day!  So all  in all we 'think' we did save time and we got to see a lot of Montana.  A fun trip and a lesson learned....check border times!!

Go DAVID!!

So tonight we find out which David will win American Idol. I was actually leaning toward David Cook as he has the slight rocker sound that I like. However, based on last nights performances...I have since changed my vote to David Archeleta.  He showed up and performed 3 amazing songs and showed America that he wanted to win.  So there you have it...my vote!  Anyone with me??

Also,  I was very happy to see Kristi Yamaguchi win Dancing with the stars. Americas sweetheart did an amazing job each week and her technique was amazing.  She definately deserved the mirror ball for her performances!!

Summer is HERE!!!

For those of you who have lived in Calgary...you know that we basically go from winter to summer...kind of skipping spring all together. Well last weekend...we were shivering on the deck for James' blessing day with the high of being 8C. Brrrr. Yesterday, we hit 31C and the city instantly turned green. Im not kidding ..the leaves popped in one day. It is amazing what a little sunshine and warmth does for a city. Everyone is HAPPY! What is even better...we are heading into a long weekend with summer sun and warm 30C temperatures. It is invigorating!! So I hope everyone has a great weekend and enjoys the sun! I know I could use some serious color (my dad called me yellow...eeeek..that cant be a good thing!) Happy sunshine everyone!! :)

James Blessing Day!

We had such a wonderful day! Not only was it Mothers Day..but it was James' blessing day! It was so special to have it on this day! We are so grateful for so many family and friends that showed up to celebrate with us. James received a beautiful blessing and we are so thrilled to have him in our family! We celebrated with a lunch after the blessing and it was so fun to have so many with us on this special day! We were just thrilled...thank you!! James was just perfect the whole day. He is such a content and happy boy...and we LOVE LOVE his smiles! I hope everyone had a special Mothers Day and I was so lucky to have both my mom and Mike's mom with us!!

James in motion!!

Ok Im just testing to see if I can post a video. Our video camera is ANCIENT! However, I realized my little cannon does video! So James is not doing much in this video..its just to see if I can do it...lol.

Loving the LG's!!

When we first moved back to Calgary...we were renting a house. The house came with some great front loaders. I thought I was in heaven..they were so awesome. Then we moved into another rental...and I took a huge leap back to small washer and dryer again. Laundry was not as fun anymore. So when we moved into our house..I knew that I had tasted the front loader life and couldnt go back...so we ordered the LG's! I LOVE LOVE LOVE them. I do so much laundry these days..and it is such a breeze with these machines. So if anyone is contemplating taking the plunge..I would highly recommend the investment. They are my new best friends! Now if only they could invent a folding machine...I cant keep up to these machines!!

PS...can you tell Ive been doing laundry all day?? LOL

James Slept Thru the NIGHT!!!!!!! WOO HOOO!!

I am doing the dance of JOY today! James slept thru the night!!!! SWEET!! I put him down at 830pm and he peeped a little bit at 230am so I popped up but didnt think he needed to eat...so I rewrapped him and popped his soother in....and I didnt hear from him again till 630am!! I couldnt believe it!! What a little sweetie! He has just been so good for us!! I dont know if he will continue this sleep thru the night trend!! But Ill enjoy the moment anyway!! Mike says...he is so good we should have another one!! LOL! I said...oh he is good and so darn sweet...but NO!! (Besides..there is no chance we would get two perfect babies in a row ;) and Im sure that everyone that helped us SOOOOOOOOOO much to get James here..will wholeheartedly agree...NO!!!)

The Jelly Bean Girls

The Jelly Bean Dancers!

The girls had the Humphrey's girls over for a playdate. They were busy in the basement working on a 'dance'. All of a sudden they came upstairs and I watched their production. They only would do it...if I promised to put them on the blog. LOL! It was so cute..they have a lot of fun entertaining themselves! They are so lucky to have such sweet girls to play with! Christy is getting her blog started (YAHOO!!)...but she needs some motivation...so click on her link and encourage her to blog!!! Hee Hee!!

James...enjoying the show...lol...no lack of entertainment around here.

Deep thoughts....

Ive been thinking all morning about actions. Weird..I know. But this morning I was driving the girls to school, and nearly got hit. The lady in front of me..decided at the last second that she needed to be in a turning lane...where 3 cars were waiting to turn. So she came to a complete stop in our lane wanting to get into the turn lane. I slammed on my brakes and then noticed a 4-runner behind me nearly miss me and swerve into the other lane. It was so close..and because we were going 60 he would have given us a good hit! Now the lady that made the decision to stop probably would not have been hit...but the 4-runner and I would have been a mess not to mention the other cars around us. The lady probably would have just kept on driving not knowing the mess she had left behind her. My heart was beating hard for nearly an hour..and I was so frustrated with her for making such a stupid decision. I have 4 kids in the car and they could have been seriously hurt because of her stupid decision. I have calmed down now...but have been thinking about how our actions affect others whether positively or negatively. So we need to be aware of the decisions we are making..and make sure we are affecting others postively and not making a mess behind us wherever we go. So those are my deep thoughts for today! Im so glad that 4-runner had quick reflexes and swerved out of the way..my day would have been very different had he plowed into us. I feel we were being watched over this morning and Im squeezing my kids extra tight tonight!

PS..I was googling for a picture of a Honda Odyssey that had been in an accident...and couldnt find any. That made me feel a little better knowing we were driving a safe vehicle...but I dont care to see all those air bags pop out...ever.

Meeting Great Grandma Smith!!

Grandma Smith is in town and we finally got to visit with her! It has been so long!! The girls were dying to see her...we are so lucky to have her in our lives. So Nonna and Claire brought her by for a visit! She looks so great!! She said James is her 75th great grandchild!! Can you even imagine what a family she has??? We are so excited to celebrate her 90th birthday next month and look forward to the celebration!!

I am so NOT Martha Stewart or Rachel Ray....

I caught a few minutes of Rachel Ray the other day..she had Trisha Yearwood on as a guest. They were making a german chocolate cake that Trisha always makes for Garth Brooks on his birthday! It looked sooooo good..and I love German Chocolate Cake...so I thought Id give it a go. Mike's parents were bringing over his Grandma to see the baby..so I thought..perfect....Ill make this cake. Well I found a few minutes in the afternoon and looked up the recipe... darn it...I was missing 1/2 of the ingredients and had no time to dash to the store. So I had to majorly cheat and use a german chocolate cake mix...but I thought ...I could make the icing. So I did..and then assembled. And this was the result...a lopsided disaster!!

Who's the cutest Teddy???????

Paige and I were having fun with James and his teddy's today..lol.

He did not look too impressed....

Fun Pictures...

Smiling!!

James has been smiling for about 2 weeks now...it is just hard to catch on camera!! We LOVE his smiles and he has even started laughing. He also tries to talk to us..with little coos and bubbles. Sometimes Ill set him down and peek at him and he will just be kicking and smiling away! He had his 2 month shots and is growing so fast!! He is tipping the scales at 12 lbs and is 23.5 inches. He is sleeping great at night with the normal night consisting of one feeding!! That just thrills me!! What a sweetie!

A Whole New House!!!

Well....here it is...the house looks TOTALLY different! Yesterday they finished two walls...side and back. Today was spent on the front. They have been working long long hours and will finish the last side tomorrow! So we will look forward to some exterior painters hopefully soon to finish the garages and front door detail and then we will look like the rest of the street!

OUT WITH THE GREY...IN WITH THE?????

Well today is the day!! We are saying goodbye to the grey cement house!! We have been the ugliest house on the street for quite sometime...so we are nervous to see what color our house ends up. I say that..because we are the last house on the street our choices of stucco were limited. Architectural control dictates are such that it made it hard for us to get a normal color because they were all chosen!! So we are nervous to see what it ends up to be.....however...I feel safe to say we wont be the brightest....a house down the street was just stuccoed...and it resembles a pineapple...with light pineapple trim! So phew...we wont be the brightest!! Ill post a picture when its done....stay tuned!!

SLEEP GLORIOUS SLEEP!!!

Oh Im just so excited this morning!! James had a GREAT night and only woke up once to eat!! He has been quite regular eating every 3 hours on the dot until he turned 6 weeks. Then all of a sudden he was eating every 2 hours around the clock....after about a week of that..I was sooooo tired and couldnt keep that schedule. So I tried to figure out what the issue was ...and wondered if maybe I didnt have enough milk. So I started alternating feedings with a bottle...and WOW what a difference! He sleeps at night now!!! He has had 3 great nights..but last night was the BEST! I put him down at 9pm he woke at 4am and then again at 8am! Now that is a schedule I can live with!! I am seriously doing the dance of joy this morning. Amazing how a little sleep makes you feel like a million bucks!!

Peek a BOO!!

It just cracks me up everytime we are getting ready to head out the door. Ill get James in his seat all bundled up. Then I rush around getting everyone ready and come back and just see these little eyes peeping out...so cute! He is so patient while the rest of us try to get organized and out the door. Luckily he loves his car seat because he is in it ALL the time now that Im driving the girls 3 times a day! He was so good on our trip to Montana...not a peep! We are so lucky to have such a patient little guy!!

Spring Break in Montana!

We spent the week of Spring Break at the cabin! We were thrilled that Mike had the whole week off! The girls and Mike did a few ski days with fresh snow..and Mike did a few on his own! He totally scored on our last day there as there was a nice blizzard dropping loads of snow! The van couldnt even make it up the hill to the ski lodge...so he hitched a ride and enjoyed two feet of powder! We saw movies, played games and just relaxed together! It was so great to get away!! It felt like Christmas with all the new snow and the christmas tree was still up...lol. However, we are glad it is April and we are looking forward to summer! Ill post ski pics when I get them off the other camera!

First Church Day...Easter!!

James and I finally made it to church...and it was Easter Sunday! It was so nice to go back and nice to meet a new ward! Mike had been to our new ward a few times with the girls and had already met a few people. We are thrilled that there are lots of kids and lots of girls in activity days for Emily and Steff to meet! It is a large ward with surprisingly lots of spanish speaking...so we feel right at home as we had lots of spanish speaking in our Florida ward as well...too bad we dont speak spanish...LOL! It is amazing how you miss that spiritual uplift each week when you arent attending church. It was nice to be back and we look forward to getting to know the ward as we plan on settling here for awhile! We will surely miss Parkland ward tho!! We have always loved being in that ward on and off my whole life!

Phew!!!!!

Emily had to make an emergency trip to the childrens hospital yesterday (It is a brand new hospital and so nice). She woke up with pain in her stomach and I told her it was probably due to the pilates work out she did with her sisters and I the night before (LOL). Well she could barely walk and was in tears..so I kept her home from school. She slept all day and then started with fever and vomiting....so I asked her about her pain..and when she said it was in the right side only...I called Mike. He came home and examined her...and was suspicious also. So they headed off to the hospital to take a look. Emily was scared to death to go to the hospital..she has quite a fear of them (I dont blame her) so it was hard to send her off. Luckily it was not appendicitus...blood work was normal and ultrasound was normal. So after pumping her full of fluids and some observation...she was sent home :)! Yeah...we are so relieved...we dont need any more hospitals, surgery or drama around here. She is much happier today and spending the day with me!! She just got out her human body book to read up on appendicitus (we never told her what we were suspicious of...we just said we needed a picture of her tummy). She read the symptoms and said...wow...this sounds exactly like what I had. I said..I know..that is why Dad took you to the hospital! LOL...then she says you know yesterday was April Fools...I said...I know...were you trying to April Fools us?? She said NO!!! I would never choose that as an April Fools joke! So no april fools...but no appendicitus!! YAHOO!!!!