Enjoying the winter....

*****warning. Post is super heavy on the picture content******

We took last year off so this year the kids are back on the slopes. Excitement!!

Especially from our first time skier. She loved it. I spent that whole first day, after her one hour lesson (aka: my coffee break), running up and down the bunny hill. She's get to the top of the toe lift and fall down or get half way up and fall down. It was a good day of hill training for me. Ha. And warm! We all had our shirt sleeves on. Amazing!

Jan 16th all suited up and ready to start....

The next time we went (Jan 23rd) she barely even needed a hand! Which is kind of nice because it was considerably colder! She still wanted me out there with her though;) No sitting in the lodge with a book and a coffee for me!


...and these two remembered like they'd never taken a year break from the slopes....Maddy and Emilee took a lesson that first day...

and hopped right onto the chair the next Friday...


Isaac decided he's done with skiing forever. One day of boarding and "that was the best day ever! When can we go again?!" was all I heard.

Isaac and Wylan on day 1


Isaac and Wylan on Friday #2:

It was so amazingly warm that first Friday, Grandma and Auntie Randa could sit outside on the deck in the lodge, watch, tan and chat. VERY NICE!

Levi and Amelia after their second Friday of mount Baker. This is my fav photo because, check out the poor guy in the background!!!!

Amelia needs to be in every shot. Here she is with biggest cousin Josh after a long hard day of boarding for him....

We even brought friends. Dom and Danny came both days...

Dom's brother Clayton came the second Friday (and Grandma didn't boo hoo)
Here is is goofing with Emilee after their last run!


And here's what the madness looks like inside the lodge. We are able to bring our own food and use their hot water at the ski hill so it really cuts down on the cost. Can you imagine buying food for all these hungry hyenas?!?!? No? Me either! We'd only be able to go once rather than every Friday until the season is over. (yes. We know they have a very nice life!)

And my nephews enjoying their post-snowboard snack....


Here's what my sister-in-law got to do while I was hoofing it up and down the bunny hill

Gives me hope I tell you! :)

If you made it this far in my post, thanks! You must be related to us! We are truley blessed to be able to do this for our kids and to have such a wonderful affordable ski hill accross the boarder from us.

Fifth Birthdays and the fourth child...

Well, I guess you know that you have 4 kids when someone finally asks you when you're going to post those birthday pictures and you realize they're still in the camera. In my defence, it has been an especially busy week. In reality, it's just kind of what our life is like these days.

So here goes:


Amelia Lillian turned 5 on January 21. My baby is five. FIVE! Wow!

I had no idea how I was going to squeeze a birthday into an already crazy week so I put on my thinking cap and...had an afternoon party, just with family AND pulled the older boys out of school. She was delighted!

(here are Maddy, Amelia, Isaac and Emilee decorating for the party)


She had one request and it was to play this balloon game we'd played at a friend's birthday, so daddy dutifully blew up 100 balloons the night before (don't worry about his lungs, there was a compressor involved!) and the kids went for it. It was a hit!

Maddy and Emilee in front of the hallway of balloons:


Here's Emilee hunting for candy in all those balloons.



Opening presents....

Yes that is a Camp Rock Barbie but before I get any snide comments, she loved it! AND it was cheap. HA!



Gramma and Amelia checking the balloon prizes out...


And it's cake time....(Isaac decorated it)



Each year that goes by adds to my amazement at God's rich blessings in our lives. We have 4 kids who truly love each other. (No. sorry they still fight. We aren't perfect! Sheesh!) and 3 cousins who are more like siblings. It's pretty amazing to look over and see my 15 (almost 16) year old nephew who looks more like a young man than a kid every day, taking time to spend with his 10 year old cousin or to snuggle with his (now) five year old Cuz. It's pretty great actually! And to see the two 13 year olds really enjoying watching and filming their youngest sib/cousin getting her presents. I am struck by our riches that have nothing at all to do with money. Thank you Lord!

....and happy fifth birthday baby! I thank God everyday for the surprise blessing that you are. He knew that we needed you in our lives!

So much to write so little time...

I meant to write a Christmas post about how much I love it, the magic the presents the kids and laughter and food and fun and snow and music....

We had a wonderful busy Christmas full of love and laughter. We spent Christmas Eve with my hubby's fam and Christmas day with mine. It was perfect most because of this....
Here's how we spent our afternoon before going to Christmas Eve dinner:




We got snow. Mounds and mounds and mounds of snow. In a place where we don't get much snow and it really doesn't last for long. It was wonderful and magical!

December Renovations

What do most people do in the month of December? Loads of baking? Shopping for presents? Visiting with friends? Bundling the kids up to go out to play in the snow?

We've been so blessed to do all these things. It's been busy and amazing and the crowning treat? THE SNOW! We live on the west coast so there isn't much snow here usually, so when we get it....YAY! We are thrilled in a way that only people who know it will barely last a couple of weeks can be.

So for those of you following along, we have one dog, two kittens, four kids and snow. What more could we possibly do? Well this....

Yes, more renovations! I admit it does seem kind of crazy because, well it's Christmas and we have company coming and it's snowing but in our defence it looked like this when the guys started:

....not exactly the middle of a heat wave but you will notice the lack of snow.
It's really been an unexpected gift because my brother-in-law offered his guys who are currently between jobs and this was the week they were available. Can you imagine how long this would have taken Kev?!
The guys have been out there for a week in the freezing cold and the outside is pretty much finished. This addition is to replace a deck that used to come off the girls room and was beyond repair. I'm pretty excited because it means that both kid's rooms both up and down will increase in size, AND the new bathroom for the girls is even framed in. The biggest concern was getting the roof up and tied into the old roof while a wind/rain storm went on around us and then...the snow. Kev worked outside until his thumbs were purple because he kept hammering them in the dark and got it done, just in time!
Here's a shot of what the side of the house looked like before the addition (look behind the girl in the loader. It was the only shot I could find)

But most of all I'm thankful to be living here despite the ongoing house and yard renovations. How can I put into words how I feel about my kids growing up with their cousins? This was/is my dream for them. When my mom and dad get here on Monday the picture will be complete. We'll all be together for the holidays. God is so good! I'm reminded every day in small ways that His blessings are all around us!

Just trying this out...

I made a calendar for Christmas and the website said i could post a preview here. Let's see if this works.....

First week of Advent

I'm behind as usual and December seems to have sprung on me while I wasn't paying attention soooooo....we're already 3 days into it and haven't started our Advent study yet. Never fear! I'm a great believer in better late than never (seriously I'd never get anything done otherwise!).

I'm using this and it looks amazing. She is graciously allowing people to download it and print it for free - wow! I'll let you know how it goes.

Try to take time this holiday season to remember (this is for me too cuz I'm terrible about it!) that no one will care if you forgot to bring a gift or plate of goodies they just want to spend some time with you.

I hope as we get ready to celebrate our Lord's birth I can stay focused on what is important. We've already decided that this year is going to be a "less is more" Christmas. We've never gone overly crazy at Christmas but still it seems to creep in on me. I so love giving gifts that I tend to go overboard. We're trying to give to other people who actually have needs rather than adding to our excesses.

Wednesdays are long dance days so I'm trying to get things ready for the rest of the week. There's nothing like watching my three dancers go for it. The all love it so much!

wow. Kind of in shock!

I know someone left me a note and said they were nominating me for this but....wow!
I'm actually not worthy of even being in the Canadian Blog awards. I'm a terrible inconsistent whiney blogger BUT thank you so much!

Having said that, please vote for my friend Kris. She is a fantastic writer, blogger, friend, mom and so many other things. She's also know as Mighty Morphin' Mama and you'll find her here.

Have a look and vote. vote. vote.

Oh and we have someone new at our house! Well two someone news actually. This was the only thing on my kid's Christmas list....

meet Columbus and Zeni:


and yes, we are a tiny bit crazy. Thanks for asking:)