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!

rainbows

This day the other week didn't end as bad as it started out - in spite of the incident we stuck to our plan for the evening and took the kids to the community theatre nearby to watch the new disney/pixar movie, "Brave". We'd heard some not-so-great reviews on it, but we all really enjoyed it. I was worried that the boys wouldn't like it because of the main character being a girl, but they really liked it, too, Levi included - it was his first time "watching a show on the big tv" and he just loved it!
When we came out of the theatre we found it had rained while the movie was on and there were some beautiful rainbows in the skies. Enjoy!

camping! (lots of photos)

We had a really great time camping in Winnipeg Beach, at the provincial park. We got back Friday night and, it seems, just at the right time - the weather has turned cool and rainy, forecast to last all week, but we had sunny and hot days every day while away!
The campground was really nice - not woody and private like we are used to at the nearby park, but very nice with lots of grass for the kids to play on. (yet they prefer the rocks. always!)
the campsite

Zech & Levi playing cars
We had left here on Monday, arrived and set up there around supper time, but had time afterwards to walk around the town - everything is within easy walking distance. We decided to go to the zoo on Tuesday as it was the coolest day forecast for the week.
outside the butterfly house - Levi's favorite exhibit!

Isaac at the playground

Ruth

Zech on the rock bridge


Isaac on the rocks


Ruth under the bridge

Levi



all the kids in dinosaur eggs - I have photos of Ruth and Zech (ages 2 and 8 months) in these same eggs!
The rest of the week we spent most of every day at the beach. This is a lake, but you would swear it was the shore - minus the salty smell and taste.


Isaac jumping waves


Zech & Dad catching waves

Zech, Isaac & Dad

Levi had just thrown a rock and accidentally hit Ruth - he was saying "sorry" here

Ruth, Zech & Dad waiting for a good wave

Levi on the beach



Jumping!




swimming on the beach?!

the boys loved building castles just where the highest waves would hit

Ruthie


Levi "sunbathing"

a butterfly that visited us on the beach

Definitely a fun week had by all, and definitely somewhere that we'll plan to go back to again next year - we'd love to stay a full week or more there next time!