Ruth's Birthday - and some snow!

Ruth's 10th birthday was on Friday!
Since it wasn't a school night she was able to have 3 friends over actually on her birthday, for a sleepover! They came over late in the afternoon, we made our own subs for supper, had presents and cake, the girls made their own face masks (banana + honey), I painted everyone's nails (fancy "french tips" and stickers!), and we had a movie night (watched "Mirror, Mirror).
I think everyone had fun, and Ruthie was happy about it. It did make for a late night (Levi was in bed around 10pm, the boys went to bed after the movie at 11pm, and the girls, Josh said, stayed up until between 1 and 2am!), but it was worth it. And in the morning, we had homemade waffles with fruit and whipped cream - yummy!


Levi was very excited to give Sissy his present - he couldn't sit still!



Ruthie asked for a black forest cake for her birthday cake this year - the same as I'd made Josh the week before!

They were calling for a big snowstorm to hit us Friday afternoon, but nothing started here until after 9pm. Once it started, though, it made a mess - snow through the night Friday, some freezing rain Saturday afternoon, and more snow overnight last night.
We haven't been out of the yard since Friday, and weren't able to make it out for church this morning. Josh and the kids got outside to get the driveway shovelled after lunch today.

Levi helped shovel the front steps (taken through the screen door)


and he got a ride in the big scoop, too!



"Hi Mom!"

I love the snow - so pretty - but I sure am glad I'm not the one who has to shovel us out!

Halloween, Pumpkins, and Daddy's Birthday!

We carved our pumpkins a couple nights before Halloween - the kids all did their own, we tried using stencils this year, and they turned out great! Everyone loved them!
All the pumkins

Levi chose his own face - "grr"!


Isaac's - star wars "clone trooper"

Zech's - halo "master chief"

Ruth's - monster high


On Halloween the kids all wore their costumes to school for their class parties - everyone had a lot of fun, lots to tell when they got home! Isaac got invited to trick-or-treat with a few of his friends from school, and our friends came out to go along with the rest of us around town. Levi did great - he ran the whole time, even kept up with all the bigger kids! We weren't even sure he would dress up at all this year - he kept saying no to every costume we showed him - but in the end he was happy about it when all the other kids got dressed up too.
Levi - Pablo the penguin (backyardigans)

Isaac - star wars guy


Zech - ninja


Ruth - monster high character (I made the ears myself!)


And the day after Halloween is Daddy's birthday! (yes, it's a very busy time for us!)
I made a cake for him, Levi helped me decorate, the kids all made birthday cards themselves, and Grandma and Grandpa brought out chinese food for supper! A very good birthday!

Zech's Birthday Party

Zech had his birthday party on Saturday. He had some friends from school come over, and we set up some targets for some shooting practice in the yard - with Nerf dart guns! There was a target hanging at each end of the deck, some cans on the rail of the deck (these were a favorite), a target hanging on the swing-set (this one had a hole in the centre to aim for), and a long shot - the boys had to stand on the deck, shoot up through the porch at a target hanging by the door.
And, of course, we had cake and presents!

Happy Birthday Zech!

Yesterday was Zech's 8th birthday! As always on birthdays, he was allowed to pick supper (take out, stuff crust pizza!), and we had cupcakes and presents after supper. This birthday, though, we were able to have Grandma and Grandpa (Josh's parents) come out to celebrate with us!





Levi just may have stolen that last shot, eh?

And he's still got his birthday party with friends to come on the 27th!

Happy Anniversary & Happy Thanksgiving

It was our 11th wedding anniversary on Saturday, October 6th!

We haven't been able to really celebrate it yet, because we spent Saturday helping Josh's parents move in to their place in Brandon! Really, though - we couldn't think of a better way to spend our anniversary anyways!
We stayed late on Saturday, helping to unpack some boxes, then came home to sleep and went back to town on Sunday for church and more unpacking. Monday, Thanksgiving day, we let everyone sleep in a little bit and spent most of the day at home, going in to have a yummy dinner with Patti and Ken that night. It was delicious!

We're still trying to recover from our long and busy weekend, though. The kids have been sleeping in every morning this week - making for some rushes to get ready for school. But they make it every day.
Hoping for a little less busy-ness this weekend for us!

Outside, today...

this is what it looks like!


All ready!?! It's only the beginning of October!
Oh dear. We may be in for a long winter this year.

1st day of school!

Today was the first day back to school for the kids! They were very excited - Ruth had a new outfit, and the boys had new shirts to wear.
Ruth - first day of grade 5!

Zech - first day of grade 3!

Isaac - first day of grade 1!

Don't worry. Isaac was happier than he looked.
We walked to school with the kids (we don't everyday, but today was special!) and got pictures of everyone at their new desks.


And on the way home, Levi decided to stop and pose for a picture.

Big News!

We are so excited! We're home from another week of camping! (kidding, sort of. camping is nice. coming home is also nice. but that's not the news, lol.)
The news is that Grandma and Grandpa (aka. Josh's mom and dad) are MOVING HERE!!!!!! (that's one exclamation mark for each of us, to show our excitement, and it isn't even close to enough!)
Josh's mom got a job in Brandon, so they're comin' out! They left yesterday, but aren't in a huge rush, so they should be here sometime early next week. We're not totally sure of the plans for everything (they still have their house in BC to sell and will want to find a place in Brandon and have to move, etc) but for now, Grandma will be staying with us. And she's definitely more than welcome!
We hope they're ready for lots of visits and sleepovers and coming to this concert and that one! The kids were so cute when we told them. Which, for the record, wasn't until we knew for sure that things were happening, cuz that is not a conversation we wanted to have every day! They were really happy, they kept saying "maybe they'll be able to come to our christmas concert!", "maybe they'll want to come to our school musical!", "maybe they'll come for birthday parties!!". Yes, guys. Maybe they'll want to, maybe!
So, we're really happy and excited and everything else about that.

And we're also excited to be home after another week camping. William Lake, this time. We really love it there. The weather was great, it wasn't too busy, the kids had fun playing and swimming at the beach.
The only downside was the wasps - they have been the downside for us pretty much all summer. I don't know if I mentioned it (don't think I did), but the first time we camped out there this summer Ruthie found a nest. And by found, I mean put her hand right in it. In return, she got 8 or 9 stings, ran screaming from the woods, and got to go to a local clinic to get some antihistamine. Poor kid. We haven't had anything near that bad since (thank goodness) but Levi did get stung on his palm at the beginning of the week, and I got stung on the end of my finger yesterday. Ouch.
I'm pretty sure our camping is over for the year. We only got out 3 times, though for a week each time, that's not too bad. And we did get to Winnipeg once, which we wanted. With all the dentist and eye appointments scattered over the summer, we're glad we got out that much. Now we just need to tidy out the trailer (strip bedding and all), get things tucked and taped closed, then tuck the trailer over by the shed - done.

Other than all that, we've got one more week (next week) before school starts here (the 5th). School supplies are bought, still need to sort through everything and get bags packed. Isaac has one more dentist appointment (filling) on Wednesday and we're hoping to get over to our friends' farm for swimming and supper some day this week. And, of course, we're waiting on Grandma and Grandpa. Oh, and I have piles of laundry to catch up on! Should be a busy week, I guess. Then, back to our normal school week routine!