many updates, pictures, even a gross one or 2! - 06/04

I say this every month, I know it, but I really cannot believe that it's June. Just unbelievable how times flies!
I just put up nearly 80 (yes 80!!!) pictures and videos from the past few weeks. It's been a really busy time! Here's a few highlights...

We woke up with snow in May!

Ruthie got through her whole "evolution of tap" show. It was a lot of work, extra Saturday classes, rehearsals, and 2 shows over Mother's Day weekend, but she really had fun and was happy to do it - and that's the whole point for us.
She made a pretty little penguin!





Isaac turned 3 on May 19th!!! He's such a big boy now, so excited to be going to nursery school in the fall, he just can't wait! His cake was... well, it was a lot of chocolate and some 'star wars' guys - but he loved it all the same! I think he had a lot of fun being the birthday boy.





Ruthie lost her other bottom front tooth... but I don't think I've gotten a picture of that yet! I'll try to remember in the next couple days.

And then a couple pretty gross pictures. Really, honestly - gross. Isaac got bitten (stung??) on his left ear yesterday - it hit 27.5 degrees and we were outside nearly all day. I have no idea when or what happened, but his ear was red and a little swollen last night at bathtime. This morning it was a lot red and a lot more swollen, and it actually got worse through the day. These are from this afternoon.


And of course I can't move videos over here - actually I probably could somehow, but I don't know how! - so I'll summarize them.
There's now videos of Ruthie's tap show (penguins!), and the dance recital (all the kids' routines, tap and ballet both), and even a couple of Zech golfing - seriously, the kid can really hit the ball!

trailer pictures - 05/14

Just a short post to say that the trailer pictures are finally up on the other site. I haven't got my own computer to work with, so it's taken me a while, and I don't want to move them over here, but they're over there!
Zech's been sick, he's doing better now. Ruthie had a bunch of dance stuff for the tap show, it went well, though now she's not feeling that well. Not sure if she'll get to school today or not.
Josh has pictures of her in costume, not yet on the computer, and we have a video of her dance! We'll get those up and on here before too long... I hope!

finally! - 05/01

For starters, MAY all ready!? Craziness!
And, I finally got the pictures and videos uploaded. I kept forgetting to ask Josh for his card reader thing, then yesterday I got it, got everything on my computer... and then forgot to actually put everything on the internet! But they're over there now!
The videos of the boys' dance class aren't as good as I would have liked - not as good as Ruthie's videos - but I tried! Kids kept getting in front of me, or between the boys and the camera!

not working right - 4/21

My laptop's card reader, that is. I can't get it to read any card I put in it, so, though I have pictures from Easter morning and videos from dance class yesterday, I can't get anything onto the computer.
Argh.
As much as I don't want to lose my computer, I might just have to take it in to Future Shop and get this fixed, I just need to dig out the receipt and papers and whatnot for it. Of course, I suppose it's better to have it done now rather than wait until it's been over a year since we bought it. I say this assuming that there's a year warranty on it... I sure hope there is! I'll know when I dig everything out.

it's here! - 4/16

Josh finally got the trailer home last night. It was a very late night for the poor guy!

He got into Winnipeg, got the papers signed and money traded hands, then to the insurance broker to get that all done - paid taxes and insurance for the year - done! Or not quite.
The seller had a receiver and ball (for the hitch on the van)... but the receiver didn't fit in our hitch. And the guys (together) couldn't get the ball off their receiver (we actually had a receiver for our hitch in the back of the van). Off they went to Canadian Tire to get a new ball that would fit our receiver. Back to the seller's house, everything all fit. Yay!
But then the wiring harness wasn't long enough, and the extender Dodge gave us with the hitch was nowhere near long enough. And it was just after 9pm, so Canadian Tire was closed all ready. After fiddling with it for half an hour trying to make it fit, Josh finally called me to say things weren't working and he might have to leave the trailer there until the weekend. Which would be no big deal - it was ours, our plates on it, and we'd just all go in on Sunday and pick it up. But Josh really wanted to get it home last night, I could tell, so I suggested maybe Walmart might have something - Walmart being the only place I could think of that would be open after 9pm.

This was the last I heard from him last night, so the rest I heard this morning... when he woke after only a couple hours sleep to go to work!

He left the seller's house, using his GPS to find the "closest" Walmart... which the GPS told him was only 15km away... on the other side of Winnipeg! It took him an hour to get there and back. But he got the wiring stuff and made it plenty (way too) long - we'll shorten it later and make it look better!
Anyways, as he was driving back to the trailer, he couldn't make the first turn and had to go a block further and come back. On this little detour he saw... yup, WALMART... just a block or so away... ahem. I'm sure there were some lovely words said at this point.
By the time he got everything done and hooked up, after having to drive all over Winnipeg and back, he didn't leave there until after midnight.
He got home at 4am, and had to get the trailer off the van and in the yard (because I needed the van to get Ruth to school as it was raining). He borrowed a couple concrete blocks from the neighbours' yard to put by the wheels. It's not where we will sit it yet, and we'll need some blocks and whatnot to have it steady, but for now it's in our yard and home!

And, because it's rainy and gross, and because Josh is exhausted and will most likely come home from work and go to bed (!), getting the trailer set up and taking some pictures will have to wait for a bit. But we'll get them!
I must say, the trailer looks a lot smaller in our big yard than it did in the pictures online, sitting in the guy's short drive way and small yard! But I'm sure it'll work great for us. I'm very excited to get to use it this summer!

a trailer! - 4/15

Josh is in Winnipeg right now (actually, he's most likely started on his way home by now) to pay for and pick up our new (to us) tent trailer!!!!
Yay!! And thank you so so much, Mom and Dad! We can't wait to drive out to see you this summer - only a few months away now!
I'm so excited to see it, and I'll be sure to take some pictures when we get it set up to check it out. The kids are very excited to be able to sleep and camp out, especially Zech - he doesn't like tents much at all... a lot like someone else I know! Our only problem will be keeping them out of the trailer until it's actually warm enough to use it! I foresee some front yard camp-outs, I think.

And that's about all I know right now. Pictures will definitely be taken and shared, the kids will be so happy, and Josh and I can relax a bit now.

Nothing much else happening - school for the kids, everyone's healthy and doing fine.
Well, except for Zech and his pants - he's started the "wear through the knees of every pair of pants we have" stage (Ruthie did this same thing, too, last year). Now this is most definitely annoying, because pants aren't free. But it's mostly annoying and totally impractical because this kid has the strangest body shape ever. No, I take that back. He's built just like my dad - or Mr. Bean. (ha!) He needs a size 5 (now) for length... but his waist could probably fit in a 24 month size pair. Thus, no pants in town really fit him. There is one place in Winnipeg that I have bought all his jeans at for the past few years, but it's in Winnipeg, not next door! I also need to check out "Old Navy" and see if their pants will fit him.
Anyways, the kid needs jeans, jogging pants, and pajamas - basically everything involving bottoms halves he needs. He has 12 pairs of pants (I counted!) and has 5 pair that still have knees... I've also patched the knees of 2 more pairs the other night. And he's outgrowing his pajamas, but I can't find ones to fit him in town either.
Obviously, we need to get in to Winnipeg at some point in time... soon... well, that or it's gotta get warm enough for shorts around here!

Other than that, we're all doing okay.

pictures from BC - 4/11

We got the pictures from the trip to BC up yesterday, all ready to share!
A very few of my favorites...

Uncle Mat playing at the playground with the kids
All the kids watching a movie - Zech, Ruth, Malaki, Isaac, and Uncle Ben
Going for a walk with Grandpa, playing in puddles - Isaac, Ruth, Zech
There're plenty more on the other site, too!

our spring break - 4/9

Well, we had a whirlwind of a spring break! Josh's mom and brother wanted to fly us out to BC to surprise his dad for his 60th birthday. We, of course, said we'd love to and were just super excited!
We had planned to drive to the city on Wed (25th) after school, leaving once Josh got home. But the weather decided to surprise us - Tuesday and Wednesday were both cancelled for Josh. Ruth and Zech still had school/preschool Wed morning, we got Ruthie early, at lunchtime, and left shortly after. It took us the better part of the afternoon to get to Winnipeg, the roads weren't the best, but we made it and had time to play and swim at the hotel.
Thursday morning we got up and headed to the airport, flew out at 10:30am. We flew about 2hrs to Calgary, had a 50 minute stop, and another hour flight to Kamloops. Ben, Mat, and Kendle met us at the airport - it was so good to see them again!!! Ruth and Zech remembered Kendle (she's visited us here with Patti and Ken), but this was the very first time the boys have ever met their uncles!
We got all our stuff packed up and drove to 100 Mile, to Ben and Crystal's house - where, by the way, we met out nephew for the very first time - I didn't really feel like an "auntie" before meeting Malaki. People started coming slowly, other family we haven't seen in 5 years!
Patti and Ken arrived, and was he ever surprised! He cried!! Very happy tears, though.

We had a great visit, it was awesome to be around family again, and the kids loved having aunts and uncles around to just be with. It was all just a ton of fun. I know I could go on and on, but I won't - it was just really nice and it always makes me happy to see our kids enjoying time with our family.
The only bad part about the whole visit was having to come home.
Ruthie was really upset, still gets sad thinking about being with everyone. Zech misses everyone too, though you can tell he's happy to be home and back to preschool. Isaac doesn't seem like he misses them, he seems happy, but when he gets sad at all he tells us he "wants to go home to grandma's house". So, yes, he misses everyone, too.

Josh has bucket loads of pictures from the visit - great shots of the kids with the family - he's working on them all and I'll upload them asap. I can't wait to share them!

a few more pictures... - 03/14

Josh found a few pictures on his camera, from Feb! I added them onto the other site - feb 8/09.
They're photos of the boys, Zech reading an "I Spy" book to Isaac.searching for the objects, finding them together...
Isaac loves Ruth and Zech to read to him, he hangs on every word...
Our absolute favorite, nothing better than brothers laughing together...

more pictures and videos - 03/13

I'm uploading a whole bunch of new pictures and videos right now. I'm too tired to move some over here, but they're over there! I'll try to get them labeled and stuff before I go to bed. Oh, and there's another one from Jan 12 (more skating, Ruthie and her teacher) that I missed the first time around.
We've been really busy! The last week of February was something every day for the kids! Monday night they had their skating festival. Tuesday night we had skating lessons after school. Wednesday night the boys danced in the music festival (in Brandon) - Ruthie, Josh and I all went to watch the boys, I think they liked that we were all there for them. Thursday was skating lessons again. Friday night Ruthie danced at the music festival - Josh and I went to watch her together, the boys went to play at the Neufeld's. (there are videos of the skating routines and the dancing on the other site!)
And since then I've just been too busy, and tired, to get things up onto the computer. I also still need to do all the pictures from Jan and Feb still. I'll get there, sometime.