Snapshots

 

I love this Sunday picture of the kids with Justin making tacos in the background. This is a very typical minute at our house. 

Also this face... Barker got a bowtie in his stocking after asking for one for a couple years. Justin really didn't want him to wear one, as he prefers long fat ties and wants his son to feel the same. Barker has worn his Bowtie every Sunday since Christmas. He LOVES it.

Kalia went Ice fishing with a friend and her Dad. They caught only one fish, and accidentally dropped that one fish back into the HOLE!! HAHA Kalia said they laughed and laughed. She had such a fun day.

Barker and Mommy reading Harry Potter together 😍

Sneaking away to the Mountains

Back to our Mountian Retreat! Let me tell you, being able to spend the day outside, with friends is making ALL the difference lately.

The short hike to "our spot" is always eventful. With gear on sleds, falling off every couple feet. The kids struggling with helping carry, eager to get the fire started so they can head out to adventure. 

Barker insists on being a fire builder-Justin is so patient to let him help and build and generally be in the way. I sit there and take pictures- in case you are wondering.

The kids spent a ton of time sledding this time- but I got no pictures of that. The kids got to the hill before us and had been going up and down it constantly. By the time the adults and younger kids got there, it was mayhem. The sledding hill is a road that goes down to the river- it is FAST and trees are everywhere. 

The younger kids all go partnered with an adult. Remy and Justin were having a blast together going down 2 or 3 times before I got a turn with an empty sled. Just as I was getting ready to go down, I noticed Remy heading down on her own. I wish I had stopped her but it didn't register. 

She hit a tree on the way down. Right in the ribs, missing another tree with her head by inches. It was scary and she was hurt. It ended the sledding for her and her parents pretty quick. We were worried she may have cracked a rib as she was flying and in lots of pain. Justin took her and I back to an ER where we got her check out to make sure she was good. 

The rest of the day the other kids and Justin hung out and had a great time. Hot dogs, skating and snowshoeing is a dream in the mountains with beautiful weather!

Randomly Productive

 This week we made 6 Lasagnas for freezer meals- which took a lot longer then I thought... also a lot more cheese. Nice thing with Justin being home we was able to run to the store so I could keep going! 

We also put a shoe rack in the mast closet. There was no way I was taking a before pic- it was a mountain of shoes that got tossed around every other day looking for a mate. You would think after a couple months of this we would have come up with a solution. Nope- just lived with a mountain of shoes for almost 6 years- before fixing it. SIX YEARS. Good Grief. We also bought a set for the front hall closet that has made a WORLD of difference there. They are form IKEA and so while Justin built- I cleaned and sorted the master closet floor and then the front hall... guys being a adult sucks sometimes... 

Puppy Time

 The kids and Justin got to spend a hour with PUPPIES this week! Jane and Rick have 2 batches right now- with one batch starting to leave this week. The kids absolutely LOVE this time with them, and weeks of "can we have a puppy"follow. But this Mommy can handle the "can we have a puppy" questions if Daddy will handle the taking them to see the puppies 😂😂😂

snapshots

 Sunday Family Selfie!! It has been so long since we have done one of these! I forgot how much I love them. Believe it or not Kalia was super mad right before this pic and after. Remy and Annaliesse had their hair braided Saturday night so it was curly for Sunday- one of our fav tricks for fast, nice hair dos.

Justin is explaining (his new found passion) the Stock Market, stocks and all about becoming rich by investing at a young age. They sat there for like 20 minutes listening.... 

Justin had it with the sock situation in this house. 

The lady who does the Laundry refuses to mate socks- has done for years. So they go in a big basket and the kids are expected to get their own matches. As you can probably imagine the bins gets pretty bad... Justin made the big girls help him and they got busy. Their was lots of laughing, freaking out about socks, and Justin constantly giving me dirty looks.. #reallife

Home school again!

 Monday we were back to school- back to school online as per the Conservative Government has imposed a quarantine lock down from Dec 15 to January 8th. Kalia and Annaliesse weren't to hard- as they had started online school Dec 07th so they had everything in place for this. Back onto their laptops with headphones and eating constantly alllll day. 

Barker and Remy were with Mommy on the dinning room table for their school. Barker was able to borrow a Chromebook from school to do his work- and printouts. He also met with his class a couple times a day- he had a hard time wanting to work and got distracted very easily. Surprise surprise.

Remy had work in a scribbler on paper that we worked on and a class meet once a day. She got done way before everyone else- that's what happens when your in grade 2 and your sisters are in middle school! But it was Barker that was most annoyed he had to work longer than her. 

So in her spare time- and Barker did it when he couldn't handle anymore brain draining- PERLER BEADS. These things were out and ALLL over all week! They made a 100 things- so many things we had to get more beads. Not only did Remy play with beads- but she would FaceTime Emersyn and Brock while they played beads. They played on FaceTime for hours and hours. Making things for each other- and their siblings. 

                     

Sundays via Zoom

First Sunday of 2021 our ward started doing Sunday school/ YW/YM/Elders Quorum and RS via zoom.

It was a change from our quiet 1 hour of church first thing in the morning to having someone on a computer for a few hours. 

Barker and Remy went first for Primary for 30 minutes. It was fun to hear their Primary teachers talk about Joseph Smith, Singing time from 15 kids over the computer and them sitting side by side learning the gospel.

Kalia and Annaliesse had a harder time hooking up to zoom. It took us about 30 minutes to get Annaliesse hooked up and she was in tears with frustration. We told her not to be upset- it wasn't anyones fault- just trying to make it work. 

Justin and I tried to participate in the adult Sunday school lesson- but by this point our 2 littles were done with everyone being on a computer. Barker was whining and being a brat- he bugged his sisters till we had to step in, shot at us with his nerf gun, and generally got in the the most mischief he has in months. Justin and I had to turn our camera off at least 6 times- got texts from other in the lesson- asking if we just got shot with a nerf gun- plus we had to turn it off as we couldn't stop laughing... Guys- We are REALLY  hoping next week goes smoother.

Night Skating

Call us professionals. We have been skating so much this year that our kids are getting better by leaps and bounds! When we went for the first time this year beginning of December Barker and Remy were terrible! We didn't go at all in 2019 and only like 2-4 times in 2018. Remy was at a loss and Barker fell every 3 or 4 steps.

In the last month we have gone at least 2 or 3 times a week- and this evening we saw Mark, Lindsay and the girls!! We had our sled with us, hoping to pull Lena around the ice- she wanted NOTHING to do with it, and cried, on and off for the evening. Thats ok- there were 5 adults (Grandpa came to!) to hold her and give her lots of snuggles! 

Arlie and Remy played and played for the whole hour they were there. Its also amazing how long we can last now! We skate for at least an hour- usually 2 hours or more- if you have ever taken kids who don't have lessons or play hockey- that's a long time.

George Lane Park is such a beautiful facility to have in our town- the beautiful lights, the night skating, fire pits and cleared path to walk through in the winter. We will be skating up a storm this 2020-2021 Winter Season. 

Happy New Year!

 January 01 has changed a ton lately for our family. In years past (many years in my case) we have spent it with the Martins in Raymond. Renting the church, playing card games, basketball, doing a white elephant gift exchange, eating junk and visiting. For the second year in a row this has not happened. 

Justin and I were really wanting to do something fun and adventurous to mark heading into 2021- and lucky for us some friends had a great idea and piggy backed on with them. 

December 31 we let our kids stay up for the New Year countdown for the very first time! In fact the next day Remy said to "Why do I not remember that fun thing we did last night before?" In other words- I can't ever remember celebrating that holiday Mommy? Where has it been all my life? To which I answered "It has always happened, but usually the kids are all in bed and Mommy and Daddy celebrate without you- or we were to tired that year and we were also sleeping!" She gives me this dirty look and goes "It was so fun, I hope we do it again!" So note to self- Remy really liked all the chips and pop she got to drink, the games we played, Rootbeer taste testing, the downtime she had watching a movie but most importantly the Confetti Cannons fired at midnight then taking tons of pictures after trying to keep her eyes open with the flying confetti! December 31, 2020 was fun. Justin and I both worked hard to make it so for the kids- after missing lots of family time, cousin time and their normal Christmas Holiday celebrations.

So Jan 01- we are all tired. So what was the plan?? To get all the kids ready, packed and out the door for a day of mountain adventuring. Guys it was no small task getting everyone up and moving. Packing all the food, snow gear, snow shoes, sleds, skates, lawnchairs, fire wood, roasting sticks, benches, tables- the list went on and on! We finally got everyone out the door- but it took us another 45 minutes to leave High River! Stopping at Grandma and Grandpas to borrow some things, needing gas, forgetting things from our house- twice hahaha! Thats what happens when Mom and Dad are up until almost 2am, kids till 12:30 and everyone is tired! HAHA. 

We made it out to Sandy McNab at noon, and boy was it busy. Like packed. Justin was hopefully it was going to be a slow day out there- he was wrong. There were cross country skiers everywhere, skaters on the little pond/lake thing, sledding happening all over and families laid claim to fire pits everywhere! Lucky for us, our friends had been their so many times before they knew exactly where to go- and from the time we parked and hiked the 300 feet through knee deep we were far away from all the people and hidden in our little world of Winter wonderland!

The kids played ALL DAY. There was so much for them to do- that when they would come back to the fire to rest- they would first, drink hot chocolate, second, have a snack or roast a hotdog, third, change or steal any dry clothing that was left, then last change clothing or equipment for the next fun thing they were off doing! 

Justin was the good parent who watch them sled for a bit, skate for a bit, walked with them through knee deep snow for a bit and then come back to the fire with news or stories about the hilarity that ensued. I was the lazy, I am hanging out at the fire, feeding the kids, drying the gloves parent. Hey- someone had todo it and I was made for the job. 

We hung out in our own little world from noon to 5pm. Packing up in the twilight, trying to hike it back to the van before we lost all sight. Remy was with us at that point while the others were exploring- she was rather worried they were going to be lost forever- but they found their way back to the van as full darkness descended. 

January 01, 2021 you could have driven a train through the Moxley house at 10:30pm and no one would have moved. Sure sign of a most excellent day!