introducing the kids to our obsession....

We have Angela to thank for this. She's my friend, running pard. and a manager at Canadian Tire who hosted this event....
Here she is taking a photo of the big craziness.


Isaac has been asking to run a race. "Please mom. When can I run?" Well Ange caught wind of this and mentioned (read: strong-armed) her sister-in-law and myself to put the kids in this fun race to celebrate B.C.'s birthday. None of us were too hard to convince...

except Maddy but she decided in the end that she really wanted to try. The event was held at Fort Langley which is pretty cool all by itself!


The kids got to start the event by building a play house while they waited....



Then they warmed up with some of the Langley Chief's (Junior hockey players???? I'm pretty out of it when it comes to that so I really had no idea!) and Angela's daughter and friends....



Time to line up to start!

Ready....set.....



GO!!!!!!


And they're off! Isaac broke away from the pack immediately....

I think the kid behind him ended up beating him but he came second so he was pretty happy about himself!

Emilee ran/walked her 6 laps like a trouper! Go Em go!


Maddy did great too! She didn't quite make the whole 6 laps but she made it for 5 and we're very proud of her....





...and what of our tiniest racer you ask? Well she won my vote for the cutest racer (well unofficially in our family anyway) and did her two laps like a true runner:)

She needed her mom to run with her for the last lap because she was "scared". I was happy to!
Here she is at the finish line with dad...


All the kids got a medal because everyone in this event is a winner! I was so proud of all of them! YAY kids!


"What did you get? Really?! ME TOO! COOL!!!!"

...and there was food. I mean, who doesn't want a huge hot dog, cookie and juice box after a good run?!

I think that might be as big as her head!



It was a great day!

Here I am surrounded by my cute runners...


(My oldest son was home sick. Just in case you noticed that I'm missing one. He was thoroughly enjoying his precious alone time!)

better late than never....

Well I meant to come by and wish you all a very happy Valentine's Day or as it's better known at our house....gorge-yourself-on-candy-day.

We started the day late. We all slept in. That silly alarm just rang and rang. Didn't our alarm realize this was a fake, Hallmark holiday? I mean, have some respect!

We had a couple of sick kids today so it was good that there was not much planned for us. Troupers that they are, they managed to eat their candy even when they couldn't eat much real food. I know, they have real commitment to our special non-holiday.

I put my running kit on which is as much exercise as I actually got today, unless you count the lifting of hand, to m & m bag, to mouth. Have I mentioned my inability to say no to m & m's? (only rivaled by my addiction to those Mini Eggs!)

I made an amazing meal, red meat (special treat for the men in my life), amazing garlic mashed potatoes and chocolate cake.
We are not quite the eaters we used to be and couldn't even tackle the cake! I actually had to lay down for a bit after the steak. I'm hardcore, I know!

In all seriousness, I am truly blessed by all the love that surrounds me. It was a wonderful, restful, uneventful day. It was perfect! My hubby even brought me flowers.

Thanks sweetie:) I love you too!

trying to enjoy the ride....

It seems I'm always blogging about how I haven't posted in a while because it's gotten so crazy around here. I think it's just how it is at my house. We're busy and some days I cope better than others.

Kev went away for a couple of days on business and that always sends me into coping mode but the weird thing is that for some reason I seem to try to do more. We're out later and have more things planned. I'm not sure why or if it's just always busy on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and I only notice when he's gone.

Friday was especially busy because I took these good time boys....


(Levi, Isaac, friend John and cousin Wylan)

....to the IMAX. We saw a cool informative film on Egypt and an amazing one on space. It was all filmed by astronauts on the space station and I've never seen anything like it! We felt like we were there and it was all in 3-D which only added too the effect. Isaac and John loved it. They were especially excited to learn that you didn't have to be an amazing athlete to be and astronaut, you could be a doctor, scientist or engineer too.

I was a bit frustrated with son #1 because he sometimes gets attitude if he's not totally into whatever it is I have planned. Here he is trying to keep the cool while I was teasing him about not smiling!


It was a beautiful day in downtown Vancouver. The wind was blowing and the sun peaked out now and then. The IMAX is right down on the water at Canada Place. It's lovely to stand and look out over the water towards Stanley Park. Not surprisingly it was pretty much lost on the boys.

As we headed back out to Langley the good weather didn't stay with us but the boys wanted to hit a skate board park so off we went. They had fun but I think they're a bit better in their own minds than in real life so...they do get frustrated with it.

Anyway, the girl had their dance rehearsal for the big Diva show on Saturday so my sister-in-law and I had to race off to Abbotsford, leaving the dogs and boys at her house.

Maddy danced to "Rockin' Robin" and Emilee was in the "Cotton-eyed Joe" hoe down. They were so excited and cute in full costume and make up.


Here's Maddy and a few from her troupe. I don't know the other kid's parents that well so I had to black out their faces. They were all done up and excited, just like Madeline!


Saturday we weren't allowed to take pictures of the actual show so all I have is my memory of her dance but all the kids were wonderful!
Last year Maddy was awed by the stage and lights and mostly just stood there. This year they all remembered most of the steps and did so well. She was terribly nervous for days before hand. She cried and screamed and insisted that she didn't want to do it. "Everyone will stare at me and I'll be so embarrassed." she yelled at me on Thursday night before the big practice.

The make up and costume seemed to transform her and give her confidence. After the rehearsal on Friday she was excited rather than scared. All she asked for was her own BIG bunch of flowers. I guess last year Uncle Albert only got her a lone rose which was more than she would have gotten if I'd been in change. They have the flowers for sale at the show and I had no idea she would care let alone remember for a year.

Daddy got home early Saturday morning so he was able to join us at the actual performance. She was delighted when he gave her a big bunch of flowers after her first Diva show!

Amelia wants to know when June will be? Not being a competitive dancer she has to wait to the year end show and is already counting the days.

and here comes the sun!!!

whew! Maybe we made it? Maybe the rain will stop for a day? Maybe it won't snow, then rain, than freeze again? Maybe my bulbs will begin to come up?

I'm not whining, believe me! I love living here. It's everything I hoped. I just get a little dragged down by the gray, the gloom and the rain. Just some days. I don't even realize until I read this and realized, THE SUN WAS SHINING!!!

I'm still in a bit of shock living here in this gentler climate. We lived in Calgary (above Montana for you Americans) until a year and a half ago. It's a great place with terrible, unpredictable weather. We would go to bed with the sun shining and the grass staring brownly at us and wake up to a wind so cold and stiff that it could strip paint off the house. Or there'd be snow drifts up to the steps one day and plus 15 the next. I have to admit I do miss that prairie sun! Now I barely even have to take my sunglasses out of the case from about November to February. I think I've made a fair trade though.

I can hear the boys out jumping on the tramp and the girls are dancing to their new favorite CD behind me.

Maybe even the soccer games will be a go this weekend?!

A little pat on the back...

It's kind of embarrassing to post stuff specifically about me but...
I'm proud of myself and excited about my first race plus it's a great way to send my mom pictures. "Hi Mom!"

On Saturday after our company left I was sick as a dog. Why does this matter? Well it doesn't really except that I had entered myself and my two running pals in our first 10 km trail race. We were all set and here I was puking up a lung. UGGG!

I set the alarm super early so that I would know for sure if I could do it and all seemed well. Must have been a 24 hour bug. Maybe my body was on it's own cleanse? Who knows? I had hubby pray for me and I woke up all better - yay!

Lucky for us it's just a local trail race, so no chips etc because being the brain surgeons that we are, we

1. got there late
2. parked in the wrong parking lot
3. had to run 2 -3 km just to get to the race start
4. were not on the list of runners (okay so this one was NOT my fault)

But all this aside...

WE DID IT!!

Ange, the most competitive of our little bunch ran ahead of the group and finished 9 mins before us, that's why she's not in these end of race photos.

Randa and I got caught behind tons of hill walkers on the first 5 km and finished in 64 mins

.


Not bad for our first race I thought!




I had such a great time! The next one is the 24th so wish us luck and less snow:)

Snow, rain, oceans, ski hills and old friends....

Sorry I'm been a bit mia. Our friends arrived Wednesday afternoon with their eight great kids in tow and I've been otherwise occupied since then.



We had a wonderful time!

Thursday was supposed to be spent at the Vancouver Aquarium BUT the dad's ended up working too long and the aquarium is on winter hours so....

Off we went to the beach. It was raining and windy but oh so fun! The kids made discovery after discovery in the tide pools.




Check out all the great shells we found!!!! (remember these are prairie kids!)


The ran through the sand and puddles getting water into their snow boots and not really caring in the excitement of it all.




It was cold, and relaxing and beautiful...


Check out this angry sky as the rain began to come down...

It was amazing. We could see the weather coming on the horizon long before it got to us!




Bree is officially a beach dog. This was her first beach trip and she ran and ran, loving every minute of her adventure!




A trip to the beach is not complete with out a snack! The sea gulls almost mobbed us when they noticed the kids got more chips on the ground than in their mouths!



In looking back at all these photos I was suprised at how much the light changed. It went from light to dark back to light again, all in the course of two hours. We had sun, rain, hail and wind but no one minded, we were having too much fun exploring!

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The next day the older kids spent at Mount Baker skiing and I have no photographic evidence. Hopefully our friends took some snaps?!

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Then we had to say goodbye. It was a short visit but wonderful. There's nothing like old friends!

the girls....



some of the Boys.....




moms....


The whole gang one more time....I just realized we are missing one boy from this picture....CRAZY!

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Sniz gave me this...thanks girl!