Visiting Family

Grandville Island for great bread and patisseries.

Snacks with the girls.

Another great shot of Colette :)

Adoring Gus!

Super cool Van.

Storytime with Lucas.

Games about the ancestors.

The ever attentive Auntie Maria.

Grandpa gets his picture taken :)

Spring 2011 in a flash

You may not recognize the boy in the following picture....

You are used to seeing him like this....(or not seeing him)

Joseph was able to get a lego set if he gave me sole custody of his hair length for a year! This means for the next year you will be able to see his handsome face .

Paddy, our dog, had her summer haircut as well. Greta seems to think she is getting a new dog whenever Paddy gets shaved.

Easter weekend we headed to Langley and had dinner with Great Grandma,

Easter dinner with my parents and a few siblings (sorry for the minuscule picture),

An Easter hike,

An Easter hunt,

Good times with our friends the Timms,

and another Easter hunt.... Thank you Timms!

Edwin and Joseph both performed their Concours D'art! They were awesome. Joe gave a report on the red fox, memorized and in French. ( my camera died just as he started )

Edwin sang "Si tu aimes le soliel" by himself and then did a number with his whole class where he and a friend danced around. It was AWESOME!

Ryan and I celebrated our 10th anniversary. We had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants thanks to Ryan's parents.

This weekend was a blurr. We had hoped to join our friends out at Scotch Creek but Ryan was violently ill and Joe wasn't feeling well either.

So, Edwin, Greta and I hiked Bluenose with our friends the Knauf's today. It was a great hike and had gorgeous views at the top.

Quotes

I want to keep better record of the funny things my kids say.

Edwin: "mom, you and dad make a cute couple!"

Greta: "this is big fun, mom!" (after coming down a slide)

Greta singing Wierd Al Yankovic's "Yoda"

Greta: kiwi pronounced "quew-y".

Edwin: " this is the best day ever!" or " this is the worst day of my life" can switch between the two within minutes.

Joseph: telling me he wants to become an inventor for peace and create a bomb to drop on anyone who won't stop fighting.

Joseph: "raise your hand if you like my cooking".

In other news

During spring break last month I took the boys to the BMX track for the first time. It has now becoming their favorite place to go biking. I have to admit I was a little nervous watching them race around the track but was pleased that we walked away with only minor injuries.

The boys had to work harder on their mountain bikes but there were several seasoned BMX riders there giving them tips.

The weekend of General Conference we were delighted to be 'egged'. This fun tradition went through the ward last year without it hitting us. The kids were thrilled to be egged this year. We had such a blast returning the favor to a couple of other families.

Joseph was selected to be in the "battle of the books" this year. He competed against three schools and came in 1st place.

The following week he went to districts and his team placed 4th. We think he would have come in first if his team mates from the first half of the competition hadn't had so many mistakes. :)

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend.

More Partying

Greta had her friend party today. She requested a "mermaid" theme. I wasn't super excited about doing the "Little Mermaid"... I'm just fussy that way.

So, I hunted the stores in town and amazon.com and found some things I liked and hoped Greta would like too. (thanks again Tracy for being my post office and to mom for bringing the stuff to vernon)

Ignore my dirty window, please :)

I tried to create a underwater feeling with seaweed and bubbles hanging from the ceiling.

There were fish, shells and other sea life everywhere.

I used nori (sushi seaweed) as place mats. :)

Gift opening mayhem.

More candles to blow out.

My attempt at cake decorating.

Take home "bag'.

How sad for Greta when she wakes up tomorrow and realizes the party's over.

Remarkable Weekend

We had our stake conference this weekend. My brother has been the stake president for 9 yrs and in the presidency for 3 yrs before that. He was released today. Elder Oaks and Elder Cook (of the seventy) came to our hometown for the reorganization. It was such a wonderful and uplifting event. Elder Oaks is hilarious... something that I had never noticed before in general conference. I even had the pleasure of shaking hands with him 3 times. He doesn't know it yet, but he's my new BFF :)

My parents were able to come up for the event and we spent a short time together before they headed back to the Temple.

I feel very blessed to be born of goodly parents and to have the example of goodly brothers and sisters (this includes my sisters in law). Elder Oaks asked my sister in law to bear her testimony in a moment of inspiration. She did a beautiful job encouraging us to recognize the sacrifices made by those that serve us (and their families). She asked us to make their sacrifices worth it by listening and doing what they ask.

It is remarkable to watch the Lord's hand as he directs His church through his servants. I look forward to sustaining our new Stake Presidency and to seeing my brother with his family more often.

Greta's Three

Our little girl is growing up so fast.

Monday night we celebrated Greta's 3rd birthday! She was in her glory opening presents and receiving all the attention.

Great Grandma K gave her a really cute high heel shoes and jewelery set.

After a meal of bacon, pancakes and hashbrowns (Greta's choice) we had mini cupcakes.

(notice her new mermaids, Greta's new obsession... also from Great G.)

Tuesday, we had our Burnham cousin's over for a bbq and MAGNUM bars. You can tell from Greta's hair how much fun she had.

"The Brother's" gave Greta fish for her birthday... just what she wanted last year. :)

Grandma and Grandpa K sent a package to Greta. She carries her little purse with her everywhere! She even slept with it last night.

And... she loves her new nails.

We love our special Greta! She makes our family complete!

Happy Birthday, Princess.