☀️ Beginning of Summer ☀️

It's that time of year again. Infamous July 01 weekend in Raymond Alberta. AND this year with the 150 Canadian Anniversary it was lovely. 

Like usual we headed down the day before to swim at the beautiful Raymond Pool. Our first day of summer -because for some reason High River has school until June 29!! Such a royal pain!!

Anyways...This year so many family members were able to join!! Jen and her kids. Diane and James. Nicole and her boys. Lynette. Kim S and her boys. Todd and Laura and Adrian. Lisa and her girls. Mark and Lindsay and Arlie  Mom Moxley. Kim H and some of her kids. Sherilyn and Jay and their kids. And Justin and I with our kids! A right crowd we made! 

 

It was a beautiful hot NON windy day in Raymond at the pool. We kept the kids drenched in sunscreen but managed to burn ourselves. I could believe how much swimming and playing happened! Even tho we have a ton scheduled for this summer we might have to sneak in another trip down to Raymond just for the pool 😁😉

We swam from noon-five. 

After our day in the sun we headed over to Dianne's for a impromptu BBQ. Porkloin and baked potatoes. Mom and Dad got there with the trailer and only had a bit of trouble fitting it with the other 3 parked everywhere. Good thing for strong men who can physically life a trailer 4 inches to the left!! 

After the BBQ we put the kids to bed late but no one wanted to sleep. It took us forever to get the little 2 asleep and the older 2 were in tents with cousins! Such a late night!!!!

2016-2017 school year over.

Another year gone by so fast!

Barker finished Kindergarden.

Annaliesse finished Grade 3.

Kalia finished Grade 4.

Next year Spitzee is changing a bit. No more split classes. A change for Kalia who has done 2/3 split and 4/5 spilt. Barker won't even notice, and Annaliesse seems to be looking forward to it being different. We shall see.

We are so excited for summer to finally start! Remy the most, she has been talking about playing with the girls and Bobby!! 

I LOVE the side by side comparison. First and Last day of school!! Look how they have grown.

2017 Lacrosse City Champions

LONG TIME COMING.

The Lacrosse season is short, like 3 months.Its not all year or anything but having it go right until schools out has been kinda hard! Okotoks Novice Girls played hard this season, finishing up the season in 2nd place in the League. They went into playoffs Saturday morning and managed a win. They started the Best of 3 round for Gold on Sunday. Annaliesse didn't play, the girls ended up losing 5-3. Second Game Monday and they won 5-4. It was such a loud intense game- Annaliesse didn't play a lot these last 2 games, she is for sure a support player... :) 

Third round of Gold Metal playoffs was Wednesday night. The girls were amazing!

Okotoks won 5-4, it was such a fun game!!

Loud cheering from both sides- I had no idea parents of little girls could be so intense. 

First year of Lacrosse Annaliesse was on a fantastic team! Good job girls it was so fun to cheer you on this year.

Annaliesse, Lacrosse kept you busy and active these last 3 months. It was hard sometimes missing Activity Days and going to practice/games often 4 times a week was tiring. A sport with constant running and sometimes tears when you got hit hard. You learned to cry on the bench after a hard hit but get right back up and keep playing. You learned about team work and making new friends. Listening to coach and assisting your team.

shirts

I posted a little while a few things about each kid. One of Barkers was his obsession with certain pieces of clothing. He wears all of 1 shirts, 2 hoodies and 1 pair of shorts. Tuesday morning he woke me up, his little nose right on mine, and says "I put my shirt and shorts in the washing machine, can you start it for me?!?!"

He had stuffed the washing machine so full it would hardly close. I took a few things out and started it for him. He asked me every 5 minutes if it was done yet. It had 3 minutes left when we had to walk out the door. We stopped it anyways and he wore his shirt and shorts, WET, until they dried.

I stopped at the local Fly shop, where the Lacrosse team bought the shirts, and ordered 3 more. Its ridiculous that he only wants 1 shirt. This way its the same shirt, just a different color.

Game-Game-Party-Baptism-Party

Spring Saturdays are all about divide and concur.

Annaliesse had her first Lacrosse Playoff game Saturday morning and Kalia had her last Soccer game. Annaliesse's team won and Kalia's team didn't fair so well.

Justin, Barker and Grandpa went into Annaliesse's game. Grandma, Mommy and Remy went and watched Kalia's game! 

Both girls have had amazing coaches this year. I wish there was a way to express how great they are without sounding creepy...

After our morning of games Justin took the kids over to Kalia and Annaliesse's Primary summer party! They had a great time eating pizza and pop, playing in the water and chilling with friends. I headed into Okotoks for Bailey Bennett's baptism! It was beautiful.

After the baptism I headed back to High River to round everyone up for Annaliesse's Lacrosse Wind Down Party. They had it at the Okotoks Crystal Shores Lake- we had a lovely BBQ then a hour in the lake. It was chilly and rained for about 15 minutes but the kids had a blast.

By the time we got home Saturday night we were exhausted. It was showers and baths and early bedtime. For everyone.

Bike

Sometimes all you need is a Bike Ride. 

4/5 Zoo trip

Monday I chaperoned for the 4/5 field trip to the Zoo. 

Apparently there were so many volunteers it was a 2/1 ratio. 

Kalia has been in need of some Mommy attention lately and this was perfect.

I spent the day with Kalia and her friend Ada. We did the entire Zoo together, the girls ate a lot of junk and we laughed and held butterflies.

Honda ZB50

Sunday family dinner with the Moxley's.

We met at Mom Moxley's house for dinner last Sunday!  It took us forever to get all the way to Mom's, construction is everywhere and instead of the normal 45 minutes it took almost a hour and ah half! A chance to get together before Summer kicks in, to plan July 01 and to plan the Moxley reunion camp. Camping July 22-30th its gonna be GREAT!

We sat around outside enjoying the weather and then Justin decided to hunt around in the garage.

Apparently its been locked up and neglected for years, the one person utilizing it is Justin's only brother Jason. Justin found some fun thing but his fav find was the motorbike, a little Honda ZB50!

I guess Justin and his siblings used to ride the bike all around and had so much fun doing it. Justin managed to get it started (which was absolutely crazy) and gave the kids rides around the back yard. It puttered and stalled on and off the entire time, it needs a LOT of work. Justin seems to think he needs to fix it up for the kids... we shall see.

Here is a darling photo of Elizabeth and Jason (??) on the motorbike.

So cute! 

Snapshots

The other day Barker, Remy and I met Daddy for lunch!

A&W's is Barkers fav- and cause we love him we agreed.

I also managed to get my Lag Cabin Christmas Quilt done!!!

Its a Queen size for our master room for Christmas- it looks like Watermelon I have been told, but I promise in normal light it's Christmas colors!

Justin helped me with YW the other night-

he built the fire with the kids and tended it while we attempted to Geocaching

June Temple Night

Last week Justin and I managed to sneak in a temple trip. These last couple months have been so busy with sports and such, we haven't had time for anything else! Laura and Mom agreed to hold down the fort- picking Annaliesse up from Lacrosse practice, getting Kalia to and from practice AND dropping metals off for coaches. It was a tight squeeze getting everyone picked up and Mommy out the door and Daddy through terrible traffic! 

AND THEN as we got to the temple for the 7:30 session Justin didn't have his recommend!!! We were rather bummed but to brighten our evening we saw 3 amazing missionaries who had attended one last temple session before heading home the next day!! Elder Reed, Elder Murphy and Elder Elliot were amazing missionaries. It was great to say goodbye! What made it even better, the Calgary Mission President told us that they can look recommends up on line now! We were able to go in and have them look Justin up- and we made the 7:30 session. 👌🏻

It was a beautiful evening in the temple, we were so happy it all worked out in the end.

Tyke Lacrosse

Barker finished Lacrosse this week. He had a hard time these last few weeks after he got bumped up from Mini Tyke to Tyke. At first he was really excited and were Justin and I. Turns out he may have been ready skill wise but not in other ways.

He played well when the coach put him on the field but he was easily overwhelmed by other boys. We would arrive for a game or practice he would be so pumped up and ready to play then as soon as Mom/Grandma/Grandpa/Dad would leave him with the team he would get nervous and upset. Anyways... he wants to play again next year but we are definitely looking forward to the year of maturity he will bring.

Happy Fathers Day Justin

Happy Fathers Day Justin!

There are so many great things about Justin, here are some things he has been up to lately.

• he is working hard on our yard. Harder then I really think is needed but he enjoys it. Our lawn has never looked better, he build a shed recently and is now getting ready to do mulch in different places. He got me going on the garden getting it ready for planying, pulling weeds and now he waters it for me and keeps it looking nice.
• the new job is going well. He is working for a company called Sun Coast something or other. He is back to contracting and I forgot how much he enjoys working for himself. He becomes motivated at work, which brings us a happier and more productive Justin at home.
• he is loving having the kids in sports. He is a total sideline Dad coach. He wants everyone to play hard and improve personally. He has been working more, so he usually meets us at the arena or picks up a kid on his way home. But no matter what needs doing for the kids sporting activities he is happy to do it.
• being home every weekend and evening had been showing great effects. For Justin and the positive effect on the kids. So happy to have him around more.
• the beard. He is growing it our for Moroni's Quest in August. I have been begging him to trim it but he is insisting it needs to be as long as possible..... 

Snapshots

Justin helped Annaliesse build her 3 little pigs boat this week. She reminded us constantly about her project, of course we were busy every night except one! Luckily Justin was available to help!

Mac slurrpies have been a go to for us lately. Note the lack of shoes.... she has hardly worn shoes at all lately.

Justin fixed our light last night.  How nice to have light again in our room! He also dusted it!!

Sports Day

Another fantastic Sports Day at Spitzee this week!

For the last few years I have taken the young ones over to participate in Sports day and it never disappoints. The older kids are always happy to see younger siblings and the whole class wants them to be this or that team. Cheering them on as they run and chatting with new found and siblings friends. Barker COULD have gone to do Sports day with his teacher and the other Kindergarden class but he would rather do it with his sisters 😍

We hung out with Annaliesse's class first, then Kalia's class and did a few events with the other Kindergarden class. Most darling thing ever, at the Parachute station they were playing sharks, when someone pulls you under from underneath, so Lauren was getting pulled under and Remy jumped up to save her. Wrapped her arms around her neck and yelled (right in her ear) "me save you!!" It was so cute.

Barker had such a great time with Kalia's class. Austin, one of the kids who plays at our house regularly, is in her class. Barker really really likes Austin, and he is so good with him. Austin and Barker bonded like always. Cheering each other on and being boys.

June is flying by

June is flying by and all I want to do is itch my face off.

My allergies have been killing me for about a week and a half. The cotton is blowing everywhere and my meds can't seem to keep up. This morning I woke up with a pounding headache and a eye swollen shut. The kids were soooo late for school.

Anywhos.

Nothing new really going on. Lacrosse ends tomorrow for Barker and last game for Annaliesse until playoffs at the end of next week. Soccer is another week and a half.... Suppers are getting lamer and lamer. Last night on the way to Lacrosse I picked up Pizza. Pretty sure my parents are looking forward to Lacrosse being done as well.... MoM bailed me out again yesterday when Justin SAID he would be home to help but wasn't. Then to make Mom and Dad's night they fed Justin and I supper after the kids sports!



I have managed to sew a lot this week, mostly cause I am hiding from the blowing cotton and all the Mommy jobs I don't want to do anymore. Barker asked for his skateboard quilt again a few days ago, so I finally made it. I have had the fabric for years..... Today I picked up some backing fabric for it- a lime green that looks amazing :)

Playgroup is also over. Forever. We started 4 years ago, and we all agreed this year was going to be our last. Remy will be in preschool next year 3 mornings a week, and I don't want to give up 1/2 of my other mornings with her! The other 4 moms all have different reasons for being done, but all agreed to end on a high note! Play group has been such a blessing. It has helped my children with coping, making friends, learning, sharing and eating OR politely declining food prepared by others. For me it was giving me much needed breaks, naps, sewing time, errands, and more importantly some fantastic Mommy friends.

One Hour Bread & The Fancy Fox Quilt top

Monday morning after the weekend away, it was so so hard to get moving again. After the kids went off to school, I sat on the couch for what felt like 2 minutes, gazing into space just being. Hour and a half later I looked at the clock. Whoops!!

I finally got my self up and moving. We still have a few more weeks of crazy so I made 1 hour bread to go along with my quick dinners this week, Spaghetti and with the leftover sauce, Lasagna.
This time I put a cup of whole wheat flour and nobody noticed :) Until Justin read it on Facebook LOL.

I got the recipe from Anona who got it on line somewhere, but I cant find the link :( So here is the recipe, for those interested in a quick dinner add on

Simple One Hour Bread

5 1/4 cups white bread flour
2-4 TBSP sugar
1 1/2 TBSP self rising yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 TBSP Oil
2 cups warm water

Mix Dry ingredients. Add oil and water. Mix for 1 min the check the dough, should be very sticky, add more water if needed. Mix 5 minutes, spray kneading surface with cooking spray knead until smooth. Divide into 3 loaf shapes, Cover and let rise for 25 mins.  Use shape knife to make slashed on top. Bake 350 for 25 minutes until Golden Brown.

Getting up and moving gave me a boost of energy and I decided to get out Remy's quilt I tried to make 16 months ago.

February 2016 I started the Fancy Fox Quilt, here got all the blocks done in record time, I was so excited... went to put them together in rows and somehow they would not go in even. I was so annoyed, and possibly sick of sewing that I got frustrated and put it away.

The quilt show this month was rejuvenating, and making 2 quilts this last month brought my confidence levels up a notch. So I got it out, fixed it Monday afternoon, sewed for a few hours.... then finished the top it Tuesday morning. I will always be able to see the giant mistake... can you find it? LOL

Remy LOVES it... I can't wait, I am going to get it machine quilted, my second ever one to be machine done :)

I really really really need to start on Barkers quilt.