Barker is 5 today!

I remember the day you were born, you used to cry alot

getting nostalgic on that thought, life for you has come just a little ways 

and I want to say, you are truly the best and I love you alot!

Happy 5th Birthday Son!

2016

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Expired Zoo

This school year is coming to a close, as is our yearly Zoo pass. I am going to miss all the one on one time with the little kids. I love Thursday's- no preschool or play group- just a day for the littles and I to play. 

Our zoo pass expires June 05- so Thursday we went with Lauren and her two littles in the morning. 

We were able to see the new gorilla baby- so darling and way smaller then I thought it would be. Remy LOVED the baby gorilla and was squealing in delight. 

Lauren and Ray had a appointment for noon so they left and Ollie stayed with us to play at the zoo a bit longer. 

Barker and Rupert didn't remember being in the Butterfly room- so we spent some time in there. The boys kept trying to catch a Butterfly- I would have been more worried if they were a bit more coordinated. Luckily they are 4 ( for a few more days) and 5. 

Since they have reopened the dinosaur area we have yet to visit the zoo without going through. Barker loves it- Remy does not. She whined and fussed as we passed each dinosaur, but once we got to the sand pit she played great for a few minutes ( until the boys got bored and we left) 

Thanks for coming with us Ollie! Barker and Ollie are the greatest friends, we love having you around! 

Snapshots

Remy is missing her Daddy.

ROTW

With Daddy gone this long weekend, we made sure to stay busy!

Saturday was Peytons baptism in Calgary at 10 am. We left the house at 9 am and didnt return until 3 pm. Congratulations to Peyton and thanks for the yummy lunch Sherilyn!

Sunday was... Sunday morning was rough. Remy cried for almost a hour before church and by the time we arrived at church her and I were ready for a nap. She has been waking up numerous times at night complaining about a stomach ache.

We made it through church, I fed the kids lunch and put Remy down for a much needed nap.

While I was making the cake for Mom Birthday Dinner, Remy the grump master was napping, so  Barker and Annaliesse got the Lego out and had a great time, for almost the rest afternoon- we even took it over to Grandmas so they could keep playing.  I made a gluten free cake so Dad could eat it too, and iced it with his favorite icing, sticky icing. I never worry about going over there with grumpy kids.. Grandma and Grandpa do everything they can to make them feel happy and loved.

Sunday afternoon at Grandmas is always relaxing. The kids have 3 04 4 more adults to entertain them, and I get to have adult conversation :) This week had even better odds. Mark and Lindsay came up for Moms Birthday Dinner, along with Miles and Laura and the Missionaries came over for dinner.

 Luckily Grandma has four helper to blow out her candles. Everyone was in such a good mood Grandma mentioned a sleepover. The kids were so excited to sleep at Grandmas- it seemed like a good idea...

 After Dinner the kids played around and asked Uncle Miles to read this book. The whole living room enjoyed listening to him read it and the kids laugh and laugh. Mommy left about 8:00 so Grandma could get the kids down and have some time... Barker ended coming home about 9, cause he missed me and none of the other kids were asleep either.. AND then Remy woke up in the middle of the night and was up at the first sign of dawn. Over at our house, Barker cried for a hour, sad he decided to leave Grandmas... then up at 7:00 am asking to go back to Grandpas. So he called Grandpa and he came and got him at 7:00 am.

Monday. Monday we met up with the Moxleys at a church gym to play the day away. Remy was so so so tired and grumpy- she spent her day coming in every 15 minutes crying or whining about something. The kids had a good time anyway- we just ALL had to listen to Remy every so often.

The weekend flew by and we are now counting down the days till Daddy comes home :)

NOT Farm Kids

There is a difference between Farm Kids and City Kids.

Its true.

Our kids are City Kids. No ifs, ands, or buts.

My cousin Jen, who we are quite close to, (Jen moved in with my family in our Grade 12 year, her and I have been very close since) lives on a farm in Southern Alberta. This year they decided to get more animals and become more self sufficient. With all  the new animals they have been getting- we made a trip down to see all the babies!

Barker forgot how long the ride down was a whined all the way asking "Are we there yet?"

We arrived just after 10, with Nicole and her kids right behind us :) We checked out the chick first. Kalia held one and so did Remy but the other two weren't quite brave enough. Although its a good thing Aunt Jen held on to Remy's chick... she had it in a choke hold.



Ducks next. Only a couple of kids at a time because of the small enclosure and the ducks were super nervous to have even 3 people in there.




Next on to the lambs... which Jack (Nicole's 3 year old) LOVED. They were to big for my kids, they walked right up to them! Can you imagine?! I could hardly get the girls to feel how soft they were and Remy thought it was just to much and either stood on the box or got held almost the whole time.

THEN the funniest part of the day. Jen let the goats out. Who are rather large and jumping a ton. She is letting the Goats out and says to me "Hold Remy and keep Barker close, they can and will jump. Your big girls should be ok" So I have Remy in my arms and Barker is right next to me. Nicole is still in with the Sheep, cause Jack cant get enough. Out come the goats and I am standing back watching and I get my phone out to take a pic.... and I catch it.

The Goats jump on the kids at the same time. Ashleigh being a Farm kid knows to just step back and get the goat down. Kalia and Annaliesse panic! Kalia ends up in the mud and Annaliesse ends up bawling, for like 10 minutes! Kalia gets mud all over, enough to need a new pair of pants and hoodie.. and she ends up freezing! Jen is calming Annaliesse down and I was talking to Kalia and calming Remy down who is panicking on the girls behalf. Kalia almost started crying but I talked her out of it by laughing at her mud and telling her I got a awesome picture of it.



Kalia ends up in the house after this, with Barker and Annaliesse close behind. Just Remy and I and Nicole and Jack saw the three pigs Bacon, Pork Chop and Ham (or something like that)

We had hoped on a whole day outside at the farm, maybe a walk around the Cardston Temple and a trip to Waterton, but it rained ALL DAY.  So we hung out at Jen's gave the kids a snack, tried her yummy goats milk and cheese and then headed into Lethbridge's new Wear 'Em Out for the next 4 hours.

The day passed away so fast. Visiting and playing with the kids. Such a nice chat :) Remy spent the day playing hard. HARD. I pushed back leaving cause I didnt want her to nap on the way home at like 5:00 pm.

So we ended our day at Pizza Hut with 10 kids and 4 adults. 3 Pizzas, chicken wings, and breadsticks.  Always a good day when we get to spend the day with cousins.

I even changed Remy into Jammies before we left... hoping she would sleep and I could transfer her when we got home. TWAS not to be. Instead she just whimpered all the way. for 2 hours. A constant whimper.

~Paint EVERYTHING~

A cute rainy day craft for the garden turned into a PAINT EVERYTHING craft.

The river rocks we collected got painted the other day. 

Painted for our garden. When they are dry, which is going to take a few days, I will write which vegetables I planted and such :)

The rocks weren't enough. More things needed to be painted, so Mommy hunted around and gathered up boxes for them to paint.

Another Scooter Post

More scooter pictures..

Why?

Cause I blog about our life.

Our life right now is the skate park and scooter videos.

We took Oly with us last week. They had a great time playing around, although its funny listening to them communicate.

Barker: "Oly do this, follow me!!"
Oly: "No. Dont tell me what to do"
Barker: "I am just helping"
Oly: "I don't need your help."

 Barker really wanted a sluppie after, but I was hesitant. So Lauren tells me to try them on Frozen Lemonade from Timmys. So I go though the drive thru, got one, gave them both a sip. It was a hit. Which was shocking, Barker is so so so picky. So back through the drive thru we go, for four more.

Barker and Oly are great great friends. Preschool and Playgroup 4 days a week and usually a playdate or two.

But with all the time outside and on the scooter, Barker has bruises and scrapes all over him.

Snapshots

Watermelon is our choice fruit around here. Perfect for Soccer and hot days.

We had another Fire with the Miguels down at Fish Creek park. Turns out your not suppose to feed the gofers.... hence no long blog post.

If you ever wonder where she gets her awkward posing and pictures from... from me.

Lots of watering mud around here.

We stopped at Grandma's office this week, they are really really really slow right now. So we spent 20 minutes playing on the type writer and using all her stamps. Your welcome Mom. Your Welcome.

Mornings

Little over a year ago we moved into this house. I went from having three adults to help with before school to one. Here is a morning example when there was three adults. 

That first two months of getting into a grove was not easy. NOT EASY. I counted down the days until summer and their were plenty of tears that first two months from all involved. Doing mornings with a Baby and a demanding toddler with a grade 1 and grade 2 student was NOT easy.
Plenty of times Kalia and Annaliesse ended up going to school without their hair done and eating breakfast on the way.

Fast forward a year, I pretty much have it figured out. Granted they are all a year older and Barker has really grown up this year. Remy too.

This morning I slept in... whoops. I woke up at 7:34 with Remy in my faceing saying "Poop. Mom. Poop"

She got the first bit of attention with a clean bum and getting dressed.

7:36

After she was dressed and clean and I was dressed we had to wake up the big sisters. 

7:45

See this kid. I have no idea when he woke up but he is happy as a clam. He is dressed, had breakfast and is unloading the dishwasher when I come in the kitchen to get Remy breakfast and start lunches. He is often the first one up and gets himself breakfast- I usually help him get his clothing out and need to encourage him to get dressed but not this morning :)

7:51

Grandma sometimes stops by in the morning before work and today she brought some veggies that need to be eaten. Plus Barker and Remy were super snuggly so she spent about 10 minutes holding them and giving hugs while I worked on getting out the door.

Kalia eats a huge bowl in the morning and Remy wants what everyone else has. I got lunches/preschool snack almost finished by

8:10

Now to do hair and get everyones shoes on. I asked Barker to get his shoes on and watch Remy so he could help her push up her yogurt tube when she needed it. 

8:17

We finally got out the door and in the van pulling out of the driveway at 8:27 a little later then usual but not late. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays Barker has Preschool so they get dropped off. If it had been a Tuesday or Thursday with the girls leaving at 8:05 for the bus we would have been hooped. 

With the kids a bit older and no baby to be nursed or held or hand fed before school is actually a nice morning. 

Unless.... did I just jinx myself!?!