Skating..

We took the kids skating for the first time tonight, and it was the first time in a loooong time for skating for mom and dad too! everyone did soo good! Keera took off amazing, I think her toe pics helped but she was loving it and fell lots but got up again no problem. She was off on her own just cruising around the rink, so proud of her.

Ella reall was excited to go, but we got her boy skates (just a fit issue) so she was trying to push off from her toes, and well that doesn't work! She managed to stay upright while holding the skate assist bar, but really was all over the place. She has such a great attitude though, she just kept at it. I think we will exchange her skates for figure skates, to giver her a helping hand. Jett also went, he was more hesitant, but wanted to go on the ice a few times, and tryed with the skate assiste, and was able to move a bit. I think he was really scared to fall, and now reading tonight, it's best to teach them how to fall, even do games like ring around the rosie (where they all fall down) so it's not a big deal. We kept it positive and every did great. We went home and washed the evening down with some good old hot chocolate!!

Why Hello There Stranger

...is probably what you are thinking..

Yes we are here, and alive.. just busy.. with what I don't know. And also I had a monkey on my back.. I do annual birthparents update, usually due end of March, but I was late, then we moved, then the postal strike, then I was lazy, then lazy a bit more. But FINALLY got them done and in the mail so I can blog guilt free (instead of thinking, I SHOULD be working on the update.) That is sort of like my sewing right now. My Mom's Christmas present in 2009 (yes 2009) was a quilt for her place in AZ. As of today, Aug 11th, 2011 it is still not done and I have such guilt about it! Uhg. I do better with small to med. projects. It really would take maybe 1/2 a day if I sat down and just did it. But that time frame translated in to 'with kids' = like a cajillion years. So needless to say I have a bunch of think i'd like to get sewing but I have guilt every time I go to sew something other than the quilt. I've made the odd thing, but they are just sit down get'er done projects (= less than 1hr).

Anyways.. so the summer has been good, really pretty busy and has gone really fast which is good as I was quite scarred the beginning of the summer, having 3 kids all day, everyday. But it's been good. Despite no yard, despite rain really almost everyday (REALLY!). We've been busy with swim lessons, company, going to visit family, camping etc. Now we are down to the last 3 weeks (3 weeks today actually!!) and I think yikes we haven't done a bunch of stuff I thought we would!

But truth betold, I am already anticipating all the stuff I can do when the kids go back to school (snicker snicker). Tues and Thurs afternoons, from 12:45m-2:45pm I will be KID FREE, 1st time in well.. ever! It will be crazy. You know what else is crazy? I'm already feeling like "ekk, am I really ready for Ella to be gone all day, everyday.. really that means her teachers/friends will be spending more time with her than her parents (well me!) It's kinda a scary thought! Yes she drives me crazy and gets in to tons of stuff and drives me crazy (did I say that already?) It's scary as a parent to 'let go' and not be there for them, to watch over and feel comfort in that you are right there, or will be back in a couple hours. There is so much that goes on at school and even I can remember back to those scary/sad times that you have at school and to think she'll have those and I won't be there. Well is kinda sad and scary for ME! aHHH the joys of parent hood.

So plans for the fall? Painting the girls bunk bed, "the quilt", maybe trying to get in some exercise routine (that is a whoooooole other post)

Well just wanted to stop by and let you all know what was up with us.. so now you know. Peace out.

Birthday Day

So today was the day... the day I turned (gulp) 38. Sounds soooo old to me (lets face it, it's getting up there!) So Ella did not have any school today due to kindergarten orientations for the next years (keera went yesterday) and I thought - uhg what am I going to do all day with the kids, and me, that is sorta fun.. Well I decided to just do lots of fun things with them to a) keep them busy, b) keep them happy c) get us out of the house d)keep them busy e)make the day go faster f) lessen the chance of fighting .. and well it worked!

So the day started at 5:15am (ha ha NOT planned) Ella and Keera were up this early, and I was NOT HAPPY! so we put Keera in Jay's closet and Ella back in her room and got a bit more sleep (and have decided to try Keera and Jett sharing a room). So first stop was Kidz Quarterz, in Sherwood park, basically a "Lets Play" place but 1/2 the price. Surprisingly we were the only ones there at 10am but then some more kids trickled in so they were able to have some fun times playing. We were there for about 1.5hrs and the off the door with a .05cent candy as bribery to leave.

We were going to go to Ikea for cheap hot dogs for lunch but then I thought, hey why don't we go surprise Daddy and have lunch with him! So we did and it was fun! We walked to Whyte ave and had lunch at subway where the kids got cute penguin bags with their meals. It was a little healthier than I had planned but I guess you gotta sacrifice sometimes. We got to tour Dad's office and meet some of his co-workers and boss. I ironically dressed Jett the same as Jay in a bright orange shirt (not that I dressed Jay, he did do that by himself this morning).

Then we were off again, off to a movie!! We went to south common and saw Rio, and kids bird movie. It was really cute! I was trying to be frugal Frannie and had planned on using gift certificates we got at Christmas for the kids and then it would just cost for me... but alas.. I went to the wrong theater.. and so there was no way in heck the kids would accept "opps can't go because it's going to cost an arm and a leg" so $60 unplanned dollars later... but the movie was really cute and the kids did amazing watching it (ie- no running all over the place, sat still the whole time) I'm sure it has NOTHING to do with the fact they each had a full size bag of candy to much on.

So by this time it's about 3pm... hmmm Dad's not home till 5..heck we still have 2 hours to kill... where should we go... IKEA!! (free child care!!) We tried going 2 weekends ago, but it was full and the kids were quite disappointed, but they were able to get in this time! They were quite excited, and I enjoyed window shopping at Ikea for an hour by myself.

By this time Mom was pooped out so we headed home. Jayme brought supper home.. yummie donairs.. I was looking forward to it all day!

After super our family tradition on someones b-day is to go to DQ, so off we went. I had my favorite; a Georgia Mud Fudge Blizzard and the kids had dipped cones (well Ella just wanted hers plain.. strange girl) and Jay had a peanut buster parfait.

And to end the evening.. I am off to have a massage!! Sorry no pics people, I know you are disappointed, but it's for your own health.

Happy Birthday to me!!!

End of May

So Keera ended the day looking pretty ruff today.. not sure why, nothing particularly crazy happened. But still, pretty ruff looking and ready for a bath!



I was in the kitchen getting supper organized and when I can't be outside to supervise the kids, I close the garage door and they can still ride their bikes ect, when I went to check on them, this is what I found.. Keera trying to make a break for it on Daddies quad. She quite likes the quad and managed to get his heavy helmet on all by her self!

Jett felt his bike needed a few repairs and took to it himself. So cute! He was quite impressed with himself. I started worry a bit when the hammer came out...

Where is Ella you ask? As usually she is the front runner for "getting in to things" she was inside upstairs quietly watching tv. Yes, it is true!

The Kids

Jayme snapped off a couple pics of the kids before we headed off to Church today. It was amazing to get a good picture of the three of them together!! The girls wanted and let me do their hair with the flat iron today. Keera wanted hers straight like Mommies (I had straightened mine today) and Ella wanted "curls" the best we could do with the new do is a cute flip, which she liked. she also like my jewelry. She choose to wear the pink tights, green dress and red necklace, much to my dismay (really I didn't care, she got dressed by herself, good enough for me!!)

Front of House

So when I posted the pics of our new house.. I didn't include one of the outside... but here it is!

Kite Night

So last night at Ella's school they had "kite night" where families could come and make kites. Jay went with the girls, Jett and I were waiting at the walk in clinic (he has a congested cough) so they made a kite and Ella was quite excited to fly it today. Surprisingly it worked really well. She ran up and down the street flying it! (love all the dirt we are surrounded with.. I'm praying for a dry summer, sorry!)