Bears in our Backyard!!

I headed out for a walk with the kids and as we hit the path into Fish Creek...this sign greeted us!!! This path runs behind our house!! Soooo needless to say I was a little nervous and told the girls to make all the noise they wanted! I was trying to come up with a game plan in case we happened upon a bear. The only plan I could come up with was to send the girls with James and I would fend off the bear!! Luckily, we did not see the guy! Phew! I dont know if I could take on a bear. We did come home and review what to do if you see a bear. We also reviewed what to do if you see a cougar because they have been known to play in our backyard as well. It is interesting that you do opposite things. For a bear, you should not look him in the eye, slowly back away, throw your pack down for him to explore. If he charges you are supposed to fall into the fetal position and play dead. For a cougar you are supposed to make yourself appear as large as possible, stare him down, appear dominant, rant and rave with your arms. So now that we know what to do...we are back playing in our backyard!!

Crazy CRAZY girls!!!

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