Friday 27 July 2012

Friday

The kids and I are having a quiet Friday morning at home. Staying home in the mornings is definately not the normal for us. 

While I previously said it was a quiet morning, but, actually it is quite busy around here. The cleaning people are here putting our basement furniture back together. Yeah.....it has been 2 months since we have been able to use our basement.

We are also waiting on the dishwasher repair man to come look at our dishwasher. I woke up yesterday morning to a big puddle of water on oyr kitchen floor. Not fun at all. I am guessing that it is going to be time for a new dishwasher ad ours is already seven yers old. On a side note, I can't believe that it has already been seven years since we built this housr. Time certainly does go by fast.

Anyway, back to this morning, I am busy doing some housework, laundry and starting to pack for our week long camping trip next week. I am getting so excited to have a whole week with Matt and his family with no distractions.

Which leads me to my next point; Matt is coming home this afternoon and I am beyond excited.

On another note, Alyssa has taken to watching the weather channel whenever she gets the chance. How weird is that?

Happy Friday.

Thursday 26 July 2012

A Princess Party

The kids were invited to Laila's fourth birthday party; a princess party.  They were both so excited to go and meet the princesses. 

When we pulled up, Snow White was walking by our car and Alyssa said, "mommy, mommy it's just like we are in disneyland."

First they got their hands painted.  Alyssa with flowers and Lucas with swords. 


Then they got to have their picture taken with Belle and Snow White.


Next was games with the parachute which Lucas LOVED.




Then a tea party with Snow White.


Another thing that Lucas LOVED was the bubble machine.


The pinata.


Lucas enjoyed eating his cake with his "girlfriend" on his first "date". 


And finally, my princess.


It was definately a fun-filled two hours.  Thanks so much to Melissa and Laila for inviting us to celebrate with them.  The kids had so much fun and I love seeing that much Joy on their faces. 





Wednesday 25 July 2012

New Bike

Alyssa rides her bike almost all day long in the summer.  Back and forth, up and down the street with her friends.  To say that she rode her bike into the ground would be an understatement.  We sure got our money out of her last bike.  Both tires were completely bald and the chain would only stay on for a few hours.

It was time to get Alyssa a new bike.  We went to Canadian Tire and got her properly fitted with a 16 inch bike but she didn't really like any that Canadian tire had.  So we went on to Toys R' Us and she found one she fell in love with. 

After I picked it up this morning, Lucas and I had to do some work on it.  She was determined that "a big girl bike had to have a kickstand" and of course hers didn't come with a kickstand.  So off to Canadian Tire we go again to get a kickstand.  I was pretty proud of myself for installing the kickstand, taking off the training wheels, lowering the handlebars and then raising the seat a little.  Lucas was right beside me the whole time helping with his "screwdriver".




While all of the bike working was happening, Alyssa was on a fieldtrip.  I have mentioned in the past about how much I love our greenshack workers at the park.  Today, Alyssa got to get on a school bus with them and go to a greenshack carnival where about 400 kids met to play games, have their face painted, go on bouncy castles etc.  She was so excited. 

Here she is lining up to get on the bus.


She had a blast and is now exhausted which is what summer is all about.  


Tuesday 24 July 2012

A Fun Day at Aunty Dawn's

Dawn and I became friends way back about 10 years ago when I was working at Bosco Homes.  She was the first friend I made when I moved to Edmonton and I am so thankful that I met her.  She is such a special person and I am so blessed to be friends with her.

Throughout the ten years we have gone through lots together.  From weddings to having our kids to just general life stuff.  Alyssa and her youngest are just six months apart.  So the age gap has been perfect for lots of playdates. 

The kids love going to Aunty Dawn's.  There is just so much to do.

From holding Ezekial their lizzard.... (I can't for the life of me remember right now what kind of reptile he really is).


To swimming....


To jumping on the trampoline....


To workin' hard in the yard....


To slip 'n' sliding....


The girls always get along great and Dawn and I are able to catch up so we always love going to their house for a playdate.  Fun, Fun, Fun.  





Monday 23 July 2012

A Fun Day at the Legislative Grounds

When Matt and I first moved to Edmonton, our backyard of the apartment was the legistlative grounds.  I loved living there for that reason.  The grounds are beautiful and so peaceful.  I spent many evenings walking through the beautiful landscaping of the partliment buildings. 

Fast forward to now, we love going there to play in the wading pools.  In the midst of our heat wave we found nice, coolness in those wading pools.  The kids had so much fun with their friends Payton and Brett. 



Sunday 22 July 2012

Refreshed.

I needed church today like a thirsty person needs water.  I was feeling so discouraged and tired and beaten down.

Matt had to leave again today for Texas; this time Fort Worth.  It is really wearing on all of us everytime he leaves.  It feels as though we live in time of when Matt is here and when Matt is gone.  I cannot wait for this travelling to be done.  He is now travelling more than 50% of his time and we are all feeling weary from it. 

So even though we didn't feel like going to church this morning we went and the Holy Spirit poured his living water over me and I feel refreshed.  I feel energy once again.  I feel like I have the strength to be the wife and mother that God has called me to be. 

Oh, thank you Lord for Your Mercy and Your Grace.

I am trying something new at church with Alyssa.  I am keeping her with me for the worship part of the service and then taking her to her class.  I feel like she needs to experience the whole experience of worshipping Jesus. She really enjoys it and asked today if it could become a regular thing.  After worship, I take her up to her class so she can be with her friends and learn about Jesus in Sunday School. 

Lucas is doing better too at going to his 2 year old class.  He was doing so well when he was in the nursery but when we moved him up to his 2 year old class at the beginning of summer he started crying like crazy when I left him with his teachers.  Today, he still cried but I could already hear that he settled as I was walking away from class.  So each time is getting better.  Once he is settled, his teachers say he does great.  He plays and has fun with the other kids. 

We had a busy weekend.  On Friday night, Matt and I had a date night.  Yeah for date nights.  And Yeah for our babysiter Emily who is awesome with the kids.  We went to Taste of Edmonton for the first time.  We have lived here 12 years and I have always wanted to go but finally we put in the effort and took the LRT downtown and it was well worth it.  We then went to Chapters; our favorite store and just took our time browsing the shelves.  It was really  nice and we had a great time.

Saturday I got my hair done.  As my appointment was just finishing Matt brought Lucas to me so he and Alyssa could continue on to the LRT station.  They were going early to Capital Ex and then after nap the plan was for Lucas and I to meet them there.  Unfortunately, plans changed and Matt had to call the Capital Ex trip short as it started pouring.  Alyssa and Matt had lots of fun though for the time that they were there.  The highlight for Alyssa was the log ride and the ferris wheel.  Anyway so we still have two wristbands left so we decided that Matt would come home on Friday night instead of Saturday and I would take Alyssa for the afternoon next Saturday to enjoy some more Capital Ex. 

Today, we just finished lunch after church, Alyssa is out playing and I am getting ready to put my little man down for a nap.  At 5:00 we will go to a Princess Party at our friend Laila's.  Alyssa is very excited to go. 

One week from today we leave for camping with Matt's family.  We are starting to get really excited, although I am not looking forward to the packing.  It will be so nice once we are there.  I can't wait.

Happy Sunday.

 

Friday 20 July 2012

What We've Been Up To

The next few posts will show you what we've been up to in the last two weeks.  It has been really really hot so we have been trying to keep cool in any way that we can; even if it is going to the dentist for the nice air conditioning.

Actually Alyssa was complaining for a about a week of a sore tooth so I took her to the dentist and the culprit was thankfully not a cavity but a piece of popcorn jammed far into her gum.  Ouch.  I guess when I was flossing her teeth I was accidently pushing it further and further into her gum.  I felt awful but thankfully all is better now. 


While we were there, Lucas had his first visit to the dentist as well.  He did so well and was actually excited for the dentist to look in his mouth.  No tears at all......success.  His teeth look great; we are still waiting on his two year molars to be making an appearance which should be anytime now. 




The hot weather has caused us to buy Alyssa a bigger pool and it is getting a lot of use from Alyssa and all the neighbor kids.  Lucas likes to climb the slide but doesn't really like the idea of going down the slide into the water....maybe by the end of summer.




One afternoon I enrolled Alyssa in a cooking class at Superstore.  She went with some neighborhood friends and for three hours cooked up a storm.  It was a big hit.



When Daddy came home from Houston this last time he brought the kids cowboy hats.  I'm not sure where Alyssa got the idea but she was determined that Matt find her a pink cowboy hat from Houston.  Poor Matt had to go to five stores to find the perfect hat for Alyssa.  What a great daddy. 


We have also been spending alot of time at the park.  Our park has a program called the GreenShack.  We have two young ladies who are running our green shack and they are awesome with the kids.  A couple times a week we spend 3 -4 hours at the park letting the kids be entertained by these girls.  It is awesome.  Lucas loves them and follow them around wherever they go.  They play games, do crafts, play card games, play more games on the park equipment.  It is the best program ever.  







Thursday 19 July 2012

Capital Ex Parade

Today at 9 am we left my friends to go to the Capital Ex Parade.  In our caravan to the LRT station were four cars holding five adults and 13 kids.  Yeah we might have been a little crazy but we had a lot of fun.

It was Lucas' second time on the LRT but the first time that he remembers and boy was he excited.  He kept raising his hand and pulling it down saying "Woo, Woo". 


We ended up getting a little seperated from our large group but thanks to the modern technology of texting we were able to meet up again.  And, thankfully we did because they had the perfect spot.  Shaded from the tall buildings...no one was across from us so all the parade people were looking at us and not the other side....and it was a nice close walk to the LRT (we must have taken seperate exits when we exited the LRT station as we were no were close to where they were). 

The kids waited patiently...





Here is a picture of all thirteen kids....


It was Lucas' first parade and I didn't quite know what to expect.  He LOVED it.  He was so excited everytime something new came down the street; which was about every 5 seconds. 


Alyssa was in control of the camera during the parade and I will spare you the 103 pictures she took and just show you some of my favorites.


The next one was definately Lucas' favorite...a BIG BIG tractor


And finally, the awesome company that puts food on our table.  Alyssa says that this was her favorite float...


I have never been to such a grand parade.  The parade started at 11am and we left before it was even over and it was already after 1pm. 









Sunday 15 July 2012

I'm a Proud Momma

The number one gift I want to give my children is a love for Jesus.  Knowing Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior has been life-changing and amazing and I want to give that to my children.  I want them to love the Lord with all their heart, mind and soul. 

So when I look back in my rear-view mirror and see Alyssa belting out, singing with all her might about Jesus; my heart sings.

Or when Lucas first two words that he put together are "Dee Jees" as he is praying in the car, I couldn't be prouder of him. 

I pray daily for their protection and that they would come to know Jesus at a young age.  I'm so thankful that Alyssa already knows Jesus and asked him into her heart at the young age of 2 years 9 months old.

On September 21, 2009, we were driving home from church.  We stopped in at the McDonald's Drive Thru to grab some lunch.  We were singing Jesus Loves Me while we waited in line.  Out of nowhere she says, "Mommy, I want Jesus."  I replied, "do you mean that you want to Jesus to live in your heart."  "Yeah, I want Jesus". 

This important moment was all happening while I was trying to pay and get my food from the cashier. 

We pulled over in the parking lot. I asked her again if she wanted Jesus to live in her heart.  She replied that she did.  So we prayed a very simple prayer, asking Jesus to forgive Alyssa of all of her sins and to come live in her heart today and always. 

We finished praying, I had tears in my eyes and my little girl had a smile from ear to ear. 

The first thing she did when she ran into the house was run to daddy and yell.  "I have Jesus in my heart."

Wow what a moment....one I will never forget. 

I know some people may be skeptical of her being saved at such a young age.  But, I have no doubt whatsoever that my little girl recieved the gift of salvation that day.  It is very very obvious that since then, and still to this day, that she loves Jesus with all her heart. 

And I couldn't be prouder.

Wednesday 11 July 2012

Messy Hands

I have a confession to make. On the way upstairs in our house you can see a little boys handprint on the wall, and I am not planning on wiping it off anytime soon.

When I see that little handprint it reminds me that this time in our lives are short. One day in the future I will be wishing that I had little hands around to make a mess.

One day there won't be sand on the floor just after I have washed it. One day the bathroom mirror will stay clean for more than an hour. One day there won't be piles of laundry in the basement. One day there won't be littles running around bringing so much joy to the house.

So I keep that greasy handprint on the wall as a reminder not to get frusturated with the mess that my kids bring.

I would much rathet have my kids remember me as a mom who was involved with them and who did fun things with them. Rather than them remembering me as being a mom who was constantly cleaning and didn't have time for them.

Tuesday 10 July 2012

Summer Fun with our Cousins

I'm hopping back, again, to when Shelby and her family were here.  We had so much fun just hanging around the house; enjoying the nice weather. 

We went for bikerides.....


We went to the park.....


Had picnics.....


Had waterfights.....


And ran through the sprinkler.....


There is something special about a cousin!!!