Snapshots

Kalia listening to Remy do her Home Reading while making a Friendship bracelet. Remy is doing well in her home reading, and being able to have others in the house that can listen and help while the parent keeps the wheels turning is SO HELPFUL.

I took Barker to Basketball the other day, as Justin was working late. Kalia babysat at home and Barker and I had a good few hours by ourselves. We made a quick stop and he made us both laugh by trying on almost every massive head available in Walmart.

Some mornings its really really hard to wake up and get ready for school. Barker is usually our biggest support in the mornings. He is the one to wake the big girls up, while I help Remy get dressed and do her hair. He is the one to get the backpacks and lunch kits into the kitchen while I once again remind the big girls to get up. He is usually done eating first and unloads the dishwasher while the big girls finish breakfast. He is the first one ready to head out the door to the bus stop and the first one to give me a hug and a kiss bye.

This day.... this day he laid on Remy's floor while I got her dressed. Then laid on his floor while I got the girls up and got the backpacks. He was super tired and wanted snuggles. He is adorable and I love him. But I am thankful this is not our norm...

These crafts look fun to do- the rainbow with YW or just my girls and the selfing as an idea for the girls rooms for knickknacks or nativities.... hint hint.

Snow storm in September

A snow storm blew in last night!

Can you believe it?

End of September and we are dealing with bad roads, icy patches and freezing weather. Im gonna be honest- I was really REALLY looking forward to Fall weather. But we got all this snow instead. I LOVE winter- its my second favourite season- I just love Fall more. With snow this early we had to get a Sunday Family Selfie to remember the snow in September 2019. Choosing to look on the bright side of snow- cause there are PLENTY.

⌾ I can turn the fireplace on without Justin being too mad. I mean he is still gonna be mad about it, cause he is not a fan of my favourite Living Room addition. In our next house we are gonna put one in the bedroom- and he's gonna have lots to say about it.

⌾ Dress boots- need I say more. 

⌾ Quilts- snow/winter is when the quilt situation in this household is easier for Justin to swallow. This way when there is one in every room, one hanging on the banister, one on the couch and a fort being built- he can look past it all because of the weather outside. 

⌾ Watching the snow brings calmness to my soul. Honestly it draws me closer to my Father in Heaven. When I am studying my scripture, in front of the fire, snow falling around- I am overwhelmed by the blessings He gives me.

⌾ Hot Chocolate! I love the stuff. I am pretty picky about it tho- no warm milk with chocolate syrup added for this girl. Granted my kids think that's the best way to go, but this momma has slightly different tastes.

⌾ Im gonna go ahead and put skiing on this list- but really its for our kids and Justin. Skiing is there thing, and I love that its there thing. I  love that I can watch and participate sometimes, but that its mainly there thing. They love it and they are amazing at it. 

❅❅This list can go on and on- but you get the idea. ❅❅

We did Ephesians for Come Follow Me this afternoon. Justin did it, as I was at the church for what seemed like forever. Grandma is the ward chorister and she has been working the choir hard for Thanksgiving. I also had some YW things going on. Thank heavens for Justin who pulls his weight on Sundays- and some of my weight! I couldn't do my calling without him- or do it nearly as well. He is amazing and if you haven't gleaned that from reading this blog, I am doing something wrong.

Anyways- he taught the kids about putting on the full Armour of God in Ephesians 6. They listened will and were super attentive. Do you like the bin of winter gear in the back ground? Justin dug it out after church for the kids to get their gear out for school Monday. Of course it was necessary- also messy. 

As we talked about what the kids can do to put on the whole armour of God Justin helped Remy dress in the Armour of God. He then whispered to her to hold still as the kids shot her with all the bullets in their guns- as nothing could hurt her with armour on. She did- she took it very seriously and stood steadfast as 3 guns- 36 bullets were flying for her. Watching her be steadfast- I pray that she and our other kids have been sufficiently taught, and continue to learn,  to stand for truth and righteousness. 

I forget often to take picture of us at Grandma and Grandpas- we feel so comfortable there, so loved and wanted that we can just be. I need to take pictures though, to remind the kids how much time and love this house and Grandparents have shown to us. This is where we go for peace and calm. This is where we go for laughing. This is where we go for food. This is where we go for Piano lessons. This is where we go for snuggles.

And This Sunday this is where we taught the kids to play Chinese Checkers while Grandpa made special rice to go with our Pulled Pork Tacos.

Snapshots

Remy is so proud of her monkey bar blisters. She especially loves it when she gets out of the pool and she has hangy bits of skin from the blisters she gets to pull off. She gross. Kids are gross.

Also her face still goes red and splotchy when she crys.

We managed to watch one more movie in the screen room before the snowstorm- it was great! It was cold but still fun!

Dead Fish Games

The Young Women had a planning meeting in June- they came up with lots and lots of good ideas. 

One of their main things they wanted, was to play night games. Our meeting was the end of June and so the earliest we could put this into effect was the end of September.

I assigned the older girls to each come up with a night game and we would play it. But laying in bed Tuesday night I was getting worried. The YW/YM sometimes are not super receptive to activities, and for the last 6 months this has been the case. I was praying for a way to help the success rate- we needed some sort of gimmick to help with the goal of success. 

Being in YW as a youth years ago. I don't remember a ton of the activities, but I remember a couple. One activity the YW brought dinner for 2, and the YM choose a dinner.  That YW and YM shared dinner in the gym with everyone- we all sat around on the floor and chatted with our random partner. My parents were making Onion soup that night for dinner- complete with old school brown ramekins, croutons and melted cheese on top. I love my parents onion soup and was super excited to take it, until I saw what other YW had brought, the majority of them brought subway- or at least I remember it that way.... As a Youth leader NOW I understand why they subway went first and the heavy box was chosen near the end...  This is not a sad memory but what made all the difference?? The boy who chose the box with the onion soup. He was kind, acted excited, enjoyed the soup and was so nice. He was a Priest I had spoken to maybe once (as his little sisters friend) and he made it fun. The leaders made it fun and they ate with us and laughed. I remember the activity as a success.

Laying in bed the night before our Night Games- an idea came to me.

Dead Fish Night Games.

Something we could add to it to make it more hilarious. 

So I jumped on Facebook and asked on our ward Page if anyone had any Dead Fish I could have. Funny enough Sister Jane Blum said she had lots (its now 11:30pm) and Rick could bring me some first thing in the morning. He showed up the next morning 8:30 am with 4 dead frozen fish- each about 10-12 inches long. 

When Justin got home I made him wrap the dead fish in plastic  cling wrap. He wrapped them well- but not to much so we could still see the eyes of the fish, feel the outline and see the colour. 

We played 

🐠Pass the Dead Fish. The youth lined up in teams laying in a horizontal line (7 to a team). Passed the fish to the player behind them with their feet- the other player taking it with their feet. It had to pass down the line and then back to the front to win. 

🐠Dead Fish in the neck. Pass the dead fish around the circle, no hands, just using your neck. 

🐠Sardines - YW idea (I put the dead fish back in the cooler to keep them as frozen as possible) This is hide and go seek with 2 youth hiding and when they were found everyone hid with them.

Then we had a break and roasted hotdogs and had chips and pop!

🐠Dead Fish on a log.All players are asked to find a partner. Upon finding a partner, the facilitator should find some way of distinguishing who is the "Dead Fish" and who is the "Log".The "logs" then form a circle and the "dead fish" form a larger circle around them. When the music starts, the circles walk opposite of one another so that partners are no longer together the whole time. The facilitator than stops the music and the "dead fish" and "logs" need to find their corresponding partner as fast as possible. The "log" should get down on one knee and the "dead fish" should sit on the "logs" raised knee.The last few pairs to find one another and assume the "dead fish on the log" position are eliminated from the game. The youth could also do a piggy back or jump in the arms of the dead log. We used Bishops truck to play the music from the radio. The youth seemed to like this game the very most. We played quite a few rounds.

🐠Dr Dead Fish. YW idea This was the last game and the kids were getting done- well the older kids were. This game we played like Dr Freeze tag but the Dr had to poke the frozen players with the dead fish.

This activity resulted in LOTS of laughs and screaming "EW".

We really had a fun time- its one activity I won't be forgetting for awhile- and maybe the girls to.

Garbage Bag and Cake

Yes some of these Garbage Bag pictures are blurry- but tis hard to take pics when your 6 and laughing- or 8 and laughing. I woke up Sunday morning in back pain- bad back pain. Like I could hardly move- I managed to do meetings in the morning and sit through Sacrament Meeting before heading home to take stronger pain pills and go to bed.

Justin and the kids found that Garbage Bags and a Vacuum were a good past time while I slept the afternoon away in pain. Annaliesse made a cake for Kalia's Birthday Supper at Grandmas house, I just helped her finish with sticky icing. Then we all headed over to Grandmas for Sunday dinner with Birthday cake while I sat in a chair with heat and being in and out of consciousness.

Gma Sink/Kalia's Bday

For 2018 Christmas we bought Grandma Moxley a new Faucet along with a promise to install a new sink and the new faucet. It's embarrassing that it took us this long to get it done, but man life gets in the way. Kalia didn't get home from Edmonton until this afternoon- so we spent the day with Grandma Moxley and driving around the city. 

Annaliesse had activity days at the Stake Centre which is in the SW- and the amount of traffic and construction in-between Grandmas house and the church is ridiculous. her activity was 4 hours long and I spent half that driving. 

Justin and Grandma with the 2 littles ended up having to go to the store 3 different times and that took time to. It was a long day in Calgary traffic and sitting on the floor in Grandmas Kitchen. 

Kalia finally got home and we were happy to see her- she was happy to see her Birthday Present- a long board. She tried it out in the mall parking lot where we all met up after driving everywhere.

We tried to go for dinner in the city but the wait at the 2 places was 60 minutes long- we figured we could get all the way to High River- invite the family and be seated and ordered in 60 minutes. We were and had a great dinner with Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Lindsay, Uncle Mark and the kids.
Kalia we sure love you- Happy Birthday Sweetheart.

PD Day #1 19/20

Our first PD for the 2019*2020 year!

The weather was a bit windy and not very warm, but we braved a river bottom walk anyways- turns out I was the only one who was cold... Which isn't shocking if you know us.

You guys, it was beautiful! The colours, the kids were in great moods. They played well with each other- threw rocks in the river, ran around playing and chatting about all the things they saw. Barker and Annaliesse tried to build a rock bridge across a small section of the river, and Remy enjoyed looking around for the perfect rock. She was so sad when the 3 perfect rocks she found fell out of her pocket on the walk back home.

Kalia went to Edmonton with Grandma and Grandpa yesterday! It's her 12th Birthday tomorrow and we do Birthday Party's every other year. This was year was her turn!! Unfortunately with the PD day all of the friends were gone this weekend, except like 2. She understood it was just timing, but she was pretty sad the party wasn't working out. Justin and I gave her lots of options: do the party a different weekend, do a family thing (trampoline park/zoo/movie) or Edmonton with Grandma and Grandpa who were going up for a convention. She choose Edmonton with Grandma and Grandpa which was surprising for Justin and I- but she loved it. She swam at the hotel pool, got her nails done, went shopping with Grandma, out for dinner and ice cream, and soaking up the alone time. 

Longarm Day!

I took 4 more quilts to Longarm today! Someday I hope to be better at this longarm skill- but it defiantly takes time and practice. Time to rent the machine, to learn a new design and leave the quilt on for the hours it takes to get that new design perfect. That time is not right now.... 

I got the 3 Christmas Quilts for the kids beds done, and the Valentine quilt- it took me hours! Lucky for me, Jen came with me and rented the longarm machine next to me- the day passes faster and is more enjoyable with someone to visit and laugh with. Thanks again Jen!

Tonight Barker attended his first cub meeting! Unfortunately he will only be attending cubs every other week, as Basketball is the same time as cubs, so we switch back and forth. He is excited- even though its only for 4 months before the new Youth Program kicks in. 

Hannah came over today after school until we had YW. We met early today as we drove to Claresholm to watch one of our other YW play in a Volleyball game! Hannah helped me trim the extra batting and backing from the quilts while we waited for YWs to start. Man it was nice to have all 4 quilts trimmed in minutes.