We’ve almost reached the one-year mark here in Regina. That’s an important milestone because after many moves, I’ve come to the conclusion that no matter how hard we try to rush it, it takes a full year to feel fully settled in a new place. And we finally do! We know our city pretty well, and have an assortment of wonderful new friends. We’re also about half-way through the unenviable job of painting our house, which all by itself makes life a little better—wait until you see the before and afters! Aside from all that, June officially marks the longest we’ve gone without a new baby or pregnancy. It’s strange (but really quite wonderful) to be out of that whole loop for the first time in a long while.
June got off to a rollicking start with Theo’s seventh birthday. He woke up to a pancake breakfast and lots of hugs before he darted off to school with a big fat bag of rice-krispie treats with sprinkles for his class. That evening he got some pretty cool science books and the “real” Buzz Lightyear for presents, and we finished the night off with a cookies-and-cream planet Mars cake and ice cream. The next weekend, he had a Space party at the park, which escaped being rained out by only the thinnest margin. Although we had to squeeze in good friend’s birthday party in the morning and two of his friends came down with chicken pox at the last minute, all in all he had a great time with his buddies, and came away with presents galore (he’s glad he finally talked me out of writing “gifts optional” on the invites).
Fathers’ Day followed, and to Aaron’s delight I actually made a lasagna for dinner—the first in quite a while (lasagna ingredients are more expensive here), with key lime pie for dessert. The kids (Addy especially) showered him with gifts and drawings and hugs and more, and I had the chance to appreciate once again what I fabulous man I am married to. Aaron and I have had our share of ups and downs during our marriage, but through it all he has been my best friend and the person I admire most in the world. He is always putting forth his best at whatever he undertakes, be it a concert or a calling or a chat with one of the kids. He demands excellence of himself (and okay, the rest of us too), and really puts his full effort into improving our life, his parenting skills, our marriage, his career—whatever. I love him more now than ever and feel so lucky to have such a partner!
The rest of the month didn’t feel especially like summer. For one thing, Theo only got out of school on June 25—far later than any school in the states—and for another, it rained a lot. We managed to squeeze in a couple of Toonie Tuesday movies (yay for no more YW calling), and we enjoyed some park play-dates and library visits as well.
I also got to accompany Theo’s class on a couple of end-of-year field trips to the Science Center and the Natural History Museum. Although it was a little hard to manage logistically (having Aaron home with the other kids), it was awesome to have Theo so excited to have me there. Seeing his teacher, M. Dube interact with the kids was fun too. He is hilarious and the kids adore him—we’re so glad he was Theo’s teacher this year.
At home, our kids have come up with some pretty cool games to play with each other, from “Ruff-ruff Doggie” (involves eating pretzels and goldfish from bowls without hands) and “Come here Squishy” (which I don’t quite get, but my kids tell me comes from Finding Nemo). Addy and Emerson have also gotten into “Mr. Nobody”—so much so that we had to invent “Sister Nobody” to prevent arguments about who he would sleep with.
Now that Theo is finally out of school, we are looking forward to finishing up our house-painting, then heading down to Utah for a visit with family and a super-cool, adults only trip to Denmark. THANK YOU to those watching the kids! We can’t wait to see you!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Here they are . . . our Easter pictures!
Yes, they're two months overdue and we have the wind in our hair, but let's face it: we live in Saskatchewan now. That stuff in the background is green, not white (or gray), and windswept is an "in" look these days isn't it?
Gorgeous Girls
Handsome Boys
. . . and are you getting a sense as to why we only take these pictures once or twice a year? By the time church is over, all the little ones want is their pillows!
Sera runs amok
Emerson with his best bud Emily
Joy School graduation! (are you laughing yet?)
The Grads: Ezra, Emerson, Emily, Addy, Edan
Yay Emerson!
Yay Addy!Humorous Happenings
~ There are a lot of people out there who claim they can pick a good melon, but how many of them base their decision on both the pitch and the tone resulting from a knock? According to Aaron, a good watermelon sounds like a “resonant baritone.”
~ Britt’s weekly absences for Young Women activities resulted in Aaron creating a tradition of his own with the kids—watching American Idol together. So we all had to laugh when Emerson, after one particularly distressing episode, spoke up with deep concern during breakfast: “Mom, I wish Sayesha could come in American Idol anymore.”
~ Addy always has someone to take care of. Now that Sera’s getting old enough to move around and take care of herself (more or less), Addy has moved on. Now she makes sure we set a place at the table for “Mr. Nobody” at every meal, and she dresses up her stuffed dog “Tenny” in all Sera’s shoes and socks.
Announcement:
Weclome to the World LucyMae Zina!
Here's our adorable new niece, via Britt's sister Chelsi
May Flowers . . . FINALLY!
So, if you wait long enough, spring will come—even to Canada. It takes a bit of mental adjustment to get used to the way seasons work around here, but we’re starting to get the hang of it. May has been a funny, sunny month, even if we didn’t accomplish as much as we had hoped we would.
First of all, as you can see, we finally had a beautiful Sunday. And so you may assume that the pictures you see above are our yearly Easter pictures—because we could hardly have subjected our kids (in their spring dresses especially) to the biting winds last month. You know, back in October when we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving a full month earlier than the American version, we thought it rather silly. Now that we have a taste of Canadian winters however, we think that perhaps Easter ought to be moved a month later as well.
The next week, I celebrated Mothers’ Day in high style. I was completely knocked out by the sheer volume of darling, adorable, handmade cards and gifts I got from my little brood. They spoiled me and made me laugh, but they also made me cringe with sadness just a little, at the realization that these kids are growing up so fast, and before long they’ll be past the pop-up card and paper flower phase. It’s a good reminder that we have to enjoy these years while we have them because they’re short and they go fast!
After showering me with love and presents, Aaron and the kids worked hard whipping up French toast and an amazing omelette for me. That Aaron sure knows what I like! At church the kids each got their own flower to give me. I win.
In other news this month, I was released as Young Women’s President, and Aaron and I were called as Sunbeam teachers! Although I was sad to leave the Young Women’s program (the weekly activity schedule was incompatible with Aaron’s rehearsal schedule this fall), I can’t help being delighted at the chance to teach primary—especially with Aaron! I had struggled with not having enough time to fill my YW calling with the in the way I wanted to, and this primary calling feels so right. We have 9 (yes NINE) kids in our class, and man are they going to love us when we get through with them! Plus, Emerson gets to join us in January—the good news never ceases!
As for the kids, Theo has continued his fascination with space over the last month, starting with Addy a “Museum Club” in our basement, which basically consists of all sorts of drawings of the planets and meteors and black holes. I love seeing my kids loving on each other.
Addy and Emerson “graduated” from Joy School, as you can see above, and what a graduation it was! Last year we went so low key, with three new babies in our group and me moving a month later. But this year we had the hats and a fabulous ice-cream cake and the dads and the whole thing. It was tons of fun.
Sera has sure embraced her own unique personality this month. I say “unique,” and then proceed to compare her to Sunny Baudelaire. Seriously, I’m not sure how he did it, but I’m pretty sure Lemony Snicket somehow travelled into the future and based Sunny on Sera. She’s lightened up on the biting (thank goodness, because we’re constantly having to pull inedible objects from her mouth), but the way she speaks still makes me think of Sunny. She’ll say “jeh bla dag wit” and absolutely expect us to be able to interpret her meaning as “excuse me, but I’m quite put out that you shut the bathroom door, as I had planned to go in there and splash around in my own private swimming pool—you know, that thing you refer to as ‘the toilet.’” It’s seriously funny stuff.
So that’s the gist of our news for May—good times, although our house is neither painted nor landscaped yet. But we’re totally planning to get it done tomorrow.
First of all, as you can see, we finally had a beautiful Sunday. And so you may assume that the pictures you see above are our yearly Easter pictures—because we could hardly have subjected our kids (in their spring dresses especially) to the biting winds last month. You know, back in October when we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving a full month earlier than the American version, we thought it rather silly. Now that we have a taste of Canadian winters however, we think that perhaps Easter ought to be moved a month later as well.
The next week, I celebrated Mothers’ Day in high style. I was completely knocked out by the sheer volume of darling, adorable, handmade cards and gifts I got from my little brood. They spoiled me and made me laugh, but they also made me cringe with sadness just a little, at the realization that these kids are growing up so fast, and before long they’ll be past the pop-up card and paper flower phase. It’s a good reminder that we have to enjoy these years while we have them because they’re short and they go fast!
After showering me with love and presents, Aaron and the kids worked hard whipping up French toast and an amazing omelette for me. That Aaron sure knows what I like! At church the kids each got their own flower to give me. I win.
In other news this month, I was released as Young Women’s President, and Aaron and I were called as Sunbeam teachers! Although I was sad to leave the Young Women’s program (the weekly activity schedule was incompatible with Aaron’s rehearsal schedule this fall), I can’t help being delighted at the chance to teach primary—especially with Aaron! I had struggled with not having enough time to fill my YW calling with the in the way I wanted to, and this primary calling feels so right. We have 9 (yes NINE) kids in our class, and man are they going to love us when we get through with them! Plus, Emerson gets to join us in January—the good news never ceases!
As for the kids, Theo has continued his fascination with space over the last month, starting with Addy a “Museum Club” in our basement, which basically consists of all sorts of drawings of the planets and meteors and black holes. I love seeing my kids loving on each other.
Addy and Emerson “graduated” from Joy School, as you can see above, and what a graduation it was! Last year we went so low key, with three new babies in our group and me moving a month later. But this year we had the hats and a fabulous ice-cream cake and the dads and the whole thing. It was tons of fun.
Sera has sure embraced her own unique personality this month. I say “unique,” and then proceed to compare her to Sunny Baudelaire. Seriously, I’m not sure how he did it, but I’m pretty sure Lemony Snicket somehow travelled into the future and based Sunny on Sera. She’s lightened up on the biting (thank goodness, because we’re constantly having to pull inedible objects from her mouth), but the way she speaks still makes me think of Sunny. She’ll say “jeh bla dag wit” and absolutely expect us to be able to interpret her meaning as “excuse me, but I’m quite put out that you shut the bathroom door, as I had planned to go in there and splash around in my own private swimming pool—you know, that thing you refer to as ‘the toilet.’” It’s seriously funny stuff.
So that’s the gist of our news for May—good times, although our house is neither painted nor landscaped yet. But we’re totally planning to get it done tomorrow.
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