July Pictures, oh yeah

We started July with a celebration of Canada Day! At the time I was a bit put out that we were missing the Fourth of July (so ready to be American again), but now that we're moved, I'm glad we got to enjoy one last hurrah in the land of the maple leaves.

These guys climbed and performed cartwheels for passers by. We followed with a dinner of chicken nuggets (our 4th of July tradition is fried chicken, but nuggets were all we actually had energy for) and watermelon and bean salad. Then some dancing and more cartwheels--these guys really perfected their craft.

Fireworks over the lake--I couldn't get a single shot with everyone looking, but they were fun.

(secretly I can't wait for the 4th next year--I hate to say it, but American fireworks are way better)

Do you know what Aaron managed to pull off in the middle of all of this?? He surprised me with a Bon Jovi concert. This was basically the best night ever. I had no idea it was coming, and then suddenly we're in the bleachers, eating some divine pastry called an "elephant ear," and rocking out to Bon Jovi. Want to hear something funny? It was the first live rock concert ever for both of us. Really. I think we did okay though--I mean, there was a lady behind us who asked us to sit down and everything. The only sad part is that given the "surprise" nature of the whole thing, I didn't bring my camera. This is the shot from the newspaper the next day. See us up there? Waaaay up there? Don't worry, we could still hear, and let me tell you, it really was a fantastic show--that guy can hit some pretty impressive notes even after this many years.

I had been meaning to do some photos of the younger kids like I did of the older kids back in May--when it finally happened, the backyard was lots easier than travelling somewhere.

Sera is just exploding with personalitythese days, and I love the challenge of trying to capture a few fragments of it here and there

And Emerson. The story goes that when my dad, "Papa," was a little boy, his dad used to say "that little Kevan is full of it--I don't know what 'it' is, but he sure is full of it." I think Emerson has exactly that personality.

He's such a charmer!

Despite being a full two years apart, these two look and act like they're twins.

I'm so glad they have each other!

Then we had a little "Bon Voyage" party for Theo and Addy--it was a great chance to be with their wonderful friends one last time

This group of friends that Theo has had--honestly, I couldn't ask for a better group of buddies for him. It breaks my heart as much as it does his that we're tearing him away from them. Moving at his age is so much harder.

It's no picnic to tear myself away from these girls either. Really, they've been the best friends over the last three years. We had a lovely evening out at the Roof Restaurant, talking until all hours of the night over fantastic food. Two of us are moving this summer, and it makes me realize that good friends are just irreplaceable.

Then we broke in Alisha's new playstructure with yet another going-away party (are you sensing a theme yet?)

Finally, the Sunday before we left, we took the kids down to the gorgeous temple that has been just 5 minutes away during the last three years. It was a good reminder that whatever else changes around us, our family is forever.

I love these eyelet lace dresses, but I love the girls wearing them even more.

We took about 100 shots that afternoon (with the rapid shoot feature of the camera), and Aaron was really quite patient through it all--I love this picture, because it so perfectly captures the way he just smiles and lets me have my way (occasionally). I love him.

Out of all of them, here are the ones that turned out decent.

Well, decentish. Oh, how I love these people!

Off we go, to new adventures!!

Dog Days

July was a mess. Nothing happened the way it was supposed to, none of our plans worked out the way we wanted them to, and yet, since there was nothing else to do, we had some fun!

Our plan was: sell house, move to Indiana, spend time shopping around neighborhoods and schools while staying at an extended stay hotel, find a house and buy it and move in, make friends with people in the neighborhood and at church, have the kids start school feeling all lovely and settled in their new city, have Aaron start his job all settled in and prepared, have me open a piano studio and get Joy School started, live happily ever after.

What happened was: 30 showing of the house (meaning lots and lots and lots of cleaning up), enjoying of perfect summer days in Regina (seriously, July here is to die for--perfect weather almost every day), inward freak-outs every single day that the house hadn't sold and wondering how in the world this would work out, finding out that school for the kids starts on AUGUST 16 --freaking out some more, praying for the house to sell, 25 MORE showings of the house trying to make sure every little thing was perfect from baking bread in the breadmaker overnight so the smell of fresh bread would permeate the air to leaving the fireplace flames going in the fireplace downstairs to create a cozy feel, getting an offer on the house then having it fall through, going to the park some more, sending the kids to PlayEscapes--the awesome free program the city does for kids over 5, where they get to go make crafts, play games, and splash around in the spray-pad, more praying and praying and praying for the house to sell, more showings, and FINALLY a week and a half before Aaron's start-date and the kids' school start date getting a good offer on the house (technically we're into August now). Then, for the closing act we had freaking out about where to move, how to move, what to take, what to get rid of, eating some chocolate, freaking out some more, and posting a million times to this blog instead of packing. It was lovely.

Honestly, though I hate to admit it, we learned a TON from this experience.

1) I learned a little patience, which is pretty much my Achilles' heel, and I really tried to enjoy the way things went down instead of going around saying "why me, why, why?" the whole time. For normal people this might not be an accomplishment, but for me it totally is.

2) I also let myself really enjoy how absolutely beautiful Regina is during the summer. There is a reason (okay fine, probably 1200 of them) that if you GIS "Regina SK" you come up with a whole bunch of gorgeous green photos, even though the province spends a good solid eight months covered in ice.

3) Even though it made me feel like a bad mom, I dropped my kids off at PlayEscapes almost every day and just let them play. I hadn't signed up for any sports or anything for them, since I thought we'd be moved by then. They ended up making new friends, and more importantly learning to make friends and move around in an environment where they didn't already know everyone. Of course they probably could have done the same thing in a sports camp or something, but there wouldn't have been nearly as many kids. Also, I loved what a diverse group of kids showed up every day--probably a good thing considering our impending move to White Bread, USA.

4) Aaron and I got a chance to trust each other's judgement a little more. We generally each like things done our own ways, which is sort of okay as long as we don't get in each other's way too much. But this selling/moving process required one big decision after another, and we really had to pull together to make them all. It was a reaaally slow process at first, but I think we improved? We got better and faster at it anyway, and I'm pretty sure we both improved at listening.

5) To sort of go along with #4, we had the chance to go to the temple a bunch. If you don't know (though probably all five people who read this blog do!), an LDS temple is a house of learning and inspiration in our faith, and it's the place where Aaron and I feel closest to the source of inspiration. There haven't been temples nearby in many of the places we've lived, but here in Regina, there has been one only 5 minutes away. There have been times when we haven't taken full advantage of this, but July wasn't one of those times. Being in the temple frequently really helped us gain perspective on our lives, and on how small a moment this little challenge was. It helped us make good decisions for our family, and feel closer to one another.

6) We learned the power of prayer. It took a lot of it, but we came away from this experience more convinced than ever that our prayers matter, and that they bring blessings we don't even expect sometimes. When our house finally sold, that was far from the only answer to our prayers. We found that a lot of the difficulties we encountered along the way were answers just as much as the home sale.

I'm so happy that we have these lessons and this strength to carry with us to our new home! It feels like more than just a geographical move, now--more like a life move. And I'm by giving ourselves this challenge, we have also given ourselves the opportunity to grow. Not just to grow upward, but to grow together--I envision the roots of different plants or trees just sort of twining together, and the branches too--making us closer, stronger, and more dependent on each other (in a good way). I guess it just goes to show you, maybe "happily every after" isn't always the best way to end a good story.

Happy Birthday Theo!

This last year has felt so easy breezy we've practically been flying, at least compared to years in the past. Theo is incredibly sensitive to his surroundings, he's energetic, he's perceptive, and he's not at all sure that a boundary exists until he's tested it at least a hundred times. Honestly, it can be a challenge to parent a child who is so much more than some other children are. But we believe that at age 8, children begin to become accountable for their choices, and in Theo's case, this accountablity has come with a generous dose of responsibility and maturity. At last! So far, his ninth year is a continuation of that--and really, Aaron and I couldn't be more thrilled to have this fantastic kid in our family. We're so proud of the good choices he makes, and his efforts to repent and do better when he makes mistakes. It has always been my hope that all the challenges of his childhood would pay off when he becomes this delightful, rule-abiding teenager. I mean, we're not there yet, but I have four more years to hope!

9 Things we LOVE about Theo

1. He's not afraid to try new things--even though he's sad (very) to be leaving some good friends here in Saskatchewan, he is totally up to the challenge of making some new ones, and I know that he'll do a great job figuring this new place out.

2. This kid is strong in every sense of the word. Strong body, strong mind, strong will. I know for sure that he won't ever get sucked into something by somebody else--as long as he wants to do what's right, there's nothing that will stop him.

3. Theo is such a great big brother to Sera. He really gets how her little mind works, and knows how to keep her laughing.

4. Lately Theo has gotten really into cooking, offering to make us eggs for breakfast, writing down recipes when he sees them on television or somewhere, and looking for chances to try his skills out. I'm looking forward to letting him take over dinner duty a few times a week!

5. Let's face it: Theo is a smart kid. I love that so much about him. We can have really deep and interesting conversations about things that would go way over the heads of most of his peers. He just gets stuff that it usually takes kids a lot longer to get.

6. Lucky lucky Theo totally has his dad's ears. He can hear everything, can sing back complicated songs and lyrics (he has his dad beat on the lyrics part--you should hear some of the crazy lyrics Aaron comes up with to fill in the parts he doesn't know), his French diction is quite fabulous, and he's getting really good (and hilarious) at imitating characters from movies--he does a killer Inspector Clouseau (Pink Panther).

7. The dimple in his right cheek which seems to get deeper every year.

8. Theo is totally our athlete. His constant need to be moving helps keep the rest of us from getting lazy.

9. For all his teasing, there's no doubt that Theo absolutely loves and adores his sister and brothers. I walk in on him reading to them, teaching them this or that, and coming up with the most fantastic games for them to play together. He really is a great leader and example in so many ways.

We love you, Theo! Happy Birthday!!

P.S. Is he not clearly destined to be a model?

Theo's Birthday Bash and the Last Day of School

Last year I tried to schedule myself for all the class field trips (which wasn't especially commendable since there were only about three all year for each kid). The reason I did this was not so much to spend more time with my kids (though I should), but because I wanted some pictures of them with their classes. Sadly, I ended up 5/5 on forgetting my camera. THIS year, I didn't sign up for a single field trip (I should have, I know). Instead, when both Theo's and Addy's classes were scheduled for field trips on the same day, I packed up Emerson and Sera in the van, grabbed my camera, and got some freaking pictures! We still had time for a play-date afterward. So.

Addy and her best friends, Lexi, Jennifer, and Denae at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum (hey girls, look out behind you!)

Theo's class took a bike trip all around Wascana Park (it's a big place), working their way to the legislative building for lunch. That's Theo in the red shirt near the top (that's his Blazers jersey--the one he would wear to school every single day if I didn't catch him, and let's be honest, on a good week I caught him only about 50% of the time).

Theo with some of his best friends, Winston, Ryan, and Isfar

Madame Leask has been a fantastic teacher for Theo this year, she's really encouraged him in areas that are his strengths, and been very patient in helping him work on organization and staying on task. This photo was taken near the end of the year when she asked all the parents to come in and one at a time make a presentation to their child about how special he or she is. It was so great to hear all the neat things about each child, and to get to share with Theo's class what a spectacular kid he really is. Addy helped me sing "You've Got a Friend in Me" at the end--and I don't even think Theo was (very) embarrassed!

Monsieur Dube has been a great teacher for Addy this year, just as he was for Theo two years ago--we're so grateful to have had his wonderful class as such a big part of their childhoods!

On to the Birthday Bash! This year Theo and his friend Liam shared a birthday party, which worked out great from every angle. With preparing for a move and trying to keep a house neat for showings, when Liam's mom, Shauna, and I found out that our boys, born three weeks apart, were both hoping for the same type of birthday party at the Sandra Schmirler swimming pool, it didn't take long for us to decide to team up. With a bit of persuading, Theo let me add a theme--Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief--and it turned into a really fun party.

Even better, Theo and Liam's other good friend, Justin, had a birthday party right afterward the same day! Theo said it was the best day of his life (and this was after Disneyland)

The kids made door hangers

Then wore themselves out in the pool

It was a challenge getting pictures of them, let me tell you, but they definitely had a good time

And their birthday cake was the coolest one I've ever seen. Shauna manages a Dairy Queen and hooked us up with this beauty. It's almost too pretty to be real. But it tasted amazing, let me tell you!

Somehow I forgot to have the boys hold the awesome swords they got (for Camp Half-Blood! It was so cute in my head!) in this photo. Also, I'm sad that these guys (not all of them yet!) are outgrowing the hugging phase.

One with the swords! Woo!