Primary

A New Year means new Primary classes!!
Kalia is now in Valiant 9
Annaliesse in Valiant 8
Barker in CTR 5 and
Remy in SUNBEAMS!!



No more kids in Nursery for us. Remy was so excited to be in Sunbeams. She talked all the way to church about being a Sunbeam. So when Sister Bennett wanted to take the Sunbeams into Nursery to say Goodbye, Remy was not having it. She put her hands up and goes "No me Nursery. Me Sunbeam!" She was NOT having it. She had left Nursery and wasn't going back! 😂😂

week 1 of Lacrosse Camp

This kid started Lacrosse Camp on Saturday.

He has been playing with his stick, helmet and pads for weeks.

Weeks.

4 of his boy cousins are doing the same camp- so there are cousins to play with and cheer everyone on. Aunts and Uncles to watch and be supportive.

So excited to go, asking constantly when he gets to go play!

Saturday was the day.

Justin and Barker go down to the change rooms to get his gear on while the girls and I head up to the bleachers to watch. He goes out and is warming up with all the other kids.There looked to be about 50 kids on the field.

Pretty soon the coach divides up the kids in age groups and Barkers group starts warming up by running after a coach. He's running, he's running... and now he is crying.

So Justin runs back down to the floor and I'm all wondering what happened.

1 min later a text from Daddy, come here.

So I go down. Barker is sobbing.... full out splotchy and snot filled.

To many kids and he is scared.

I hold him for a bit, get him calmed down.. explain that he is going to play Lacrosse and if he is scared I will stay close so he can look at me for reassurance.

He whines and cries he doesn't want to... but I convinced him to come out and watch.

We watch for a bit. Holding hands and giving hugs. He stops crying and I put his helmet back on.

On to the field he stands, with me behind the glass right behind him. 

Being encouraging. Soon he is interested in the game the kids are playing with their Lacrosse sticks, he is done crying. And I say "You can play that game! Your great with your stick. I will give you a candy if you go try!?" 😏

Off he goes. 

He played the rest of the hour with everyone. His cousin Beckett was playing on the field and it helped immensely that he could go stand by him and play by him.

My little Barker has a bit of anxiety when it comes to large groups of kids.

Hopefully he will enjoy Lacrosse, if not we are going to stick with individual sports for a while.

Scootering.

Skateboarding.

Skiing.

He came off the field with smiles all around.

Asking when he gets to go again.

Wish us luck people.

Wish us luck.

Out to Uncle Howard's

Side Note: See the awesome sign Justin made me for Christmas!?!

I love it... also I love the quilt top Grandma Martin gave me to finish :) 

Friday we were up and out of the house by 9:20- which was surprisingly difficult.

Justin and I wanted to attend a temple session for his employment again.

Thanks to Karla for watching our kids  so we could!! 

The girls were tickled pink- they both got some books and a jacket.
Thanks again Karla.

After the temple we took the kids to Cross Iron Mall for a few hours. Justin and I agreed to just open something small for Christmas and then each of us get a pair of shoes/boots. It works for us. I am rather excited for my darling new brown boots and shabooties. Justin got shoes when we were up in Edmonton at the mall.

Then on to Uncle Howard's for a Moxley cousin get together. His house isn't exactly easy to get to and its quite far from High River. But we had a great time visiting for the evening. We did potluck and stayed until 8:45 then the long drive home. Justin tried to nap... he started his new job last night at 12:30 am. He got home this morning at 9 am and is sleeping now. The kids finally fell asleep on the drive home at 9:45 pm... which for our kids is super late. No one moved this morning until 8 am.

Lets just say when school starts again on Monday.... we might struggle for a bit. 😓

Less is More

For those of you that know me.... you know that very rarely do we spend a day at home doing NOTHING. Usually we have a busy schedule with lots of fun things planned. Today is our last day home with No Obligations.... Originally we were going to take the kids SKIING this week, but we just don't need to. I had also planned a Science Centre outing and possibly Zoo lights... instead we played LEGO.

Christmas season this year was so fun- we were with some form of family everyday, however by the New Years Day we all needed a break.

Usually on the days we do nothing I tend to get antsy near the late afternoon. BUT today is our third day IN A ROW of staying home.

Oh how lovely it has been.

Justin and the kids played LEGO for almost 2 full days.  They have decided to build all of our LEGO sets and store them in sets for now on. As you can imagine this is taking quite a lot of time, finding all the pieces!! Justin stayed up one night till midnight cause no one was up to "help"! He has also played Lacrosse in the house with Barker as often as he wants.

I head finished a book a started another. Made buns and Cinnamon buns. Justin and I put Christmas away.

Kalia has not joined in the family LEGO building but been on the Ipad for days.... and I just don't care. There has been no snarky attitude from that corner.... its been nice.

The three youngest have LOVED the attention from Daddy doing LEGO.

After these 3 lovely days of just being home one on one, I think our Family 2017 Goals is going to be

LESS IS MORE

Ringing in 2017

Justin and I got invited to a Murder Mystery Party to ring in 2017!

We got to dress up in our Western Gear and act like robbers and gamblers for a evening.

Justin was Clay Clayton a washed up gambling man- all night he was suppose to get half someones winnings from cheating in a Poker Tournament. 

I was Black Barbara.. I robbed a bank earlier that week and was suppose to leave town. Instead I stuck around for the Poker Game making those who hired me MAD. I was also suppose to flirt with someone and I totally suck at that... SO instead I spent the night pick-pocketing people! 😂

With my sticky fingers I ended up richest in all the land!! Even though I didn't play Poker once!

It was a fun evening... thanks for the laughs guys.

Sunday we opted to stay home after church, instead of going over to Mom's and Dads for dinner like we always do. We just wanted to be home and not rush off again... We also changed from 9:00am church to 11:00 am church. It isn't my fav time, but its better then 1:00 LOL
Justin and the kids played LEGO and I blogged... it was so nice to stay home.

And on January 02 (because 01 was on a Sunday) we headed down to Raymond to celebrate the New Year with the Max Martin Family. Its been 25 years since they started celebrating this Holiday together. This year Aunt Lisa did a fun game for the kids to find and open their presents.. Remy got shopkins, Barker a remote control car and Annaliesse shopkins.



Kalia joined the While Elephant Adult exchange. I was kinda worried about her- sometimes the gifts really suck.. HAHAHA and I was worried she would be mad about getting a crap present when her siblings got funs ones. BUT she ended up with a HUGE PILLOW Justin and I took last year as a White Elephant- she was so excited to steal it- Mommy might have shouted "NOOOO" In a kidding/not kidding slow motion.

This year we took 3 not so great gifts... which we usually take at least good ones. Our family took The Shinny Hinny, a Mrs Clause Paint your own Gnome, and Table Conversations for Couples. We walked away with lip stuff, candle and face masks, the HUGE FA LA LA pillow and a Easter Egg Sencsey Pot.





This year Kalia also learned how to play POUNCE with the Adults. And if you know the MARTINS, we ♡ card games, and POUNCE in particular is one of the main games we play. She is growing to fast!!

😔😔😔😞

Welcome 2017!! Lets do this.

2016

What a amazing year. 2016 was really good to us. It seemed fitting to have an amazing year for our 10th year anniversary. Bring it on 2017. Lets see what challenges, hurdles and joy you bring.