Happy Stuff

Well, we headed out to Kelowna for Christmas this year. It was so good to get away, and just relax. Art had been working like a dog just before Christmas, trying to finish up a job, and so he definitely needed a break. We spent the week sleeping, playing games, and eating. Can it really get any better than that?
One of the best moments this year was when my girls opened up their gifts on Christmas. My parents had got them each an American Girl. This is something that they have wanted for close to a year, and they have been saving up their money for. We told them that they needed to save $120 for one - some for tithe, some for shipping and customs, some for the doll. So, every cent that they made (which isn't much, considering they don't get a allowance or anything) sweeping out the shop for Art, or money their received for Birthdays, went into 'the fund'.
They weren't at all expecting the dolls for a present, after all, they didn't have enough money saved! Hannah was the first to open hers. It was the sweetest reaction a person could wish for (I think!). Once she saw what it was, she didn't even open the box, rather, she dropped the box and went running first to my mom, and then my dad, and gave them these ginormous squishy hugs that were everlasting. I cried as I watched it....I was so proud of her, and her thankfulness for the gift. I actually think that she cried as well, so was so excited.
Next was Abby, whose reaction was quite similar. Then came Meagen, my niece. During all of this, Molly sat patiently on the couch taking it all in. Finally, my dad called her name, and she was off that couch running to him before he could even finish his sentence. It was quite funny! She opened hers up as well, and was thrilled!

Here's a picture of the girls with their girls (except Ellie Mae, who didn't want to cooperate when we were taking the picture)

One of the traditions in our family is that every Christmas Eve, we get to open one present, and it's always pajamas. My sister and I coerced my Mom into buying us matching pj's, so we matched....

Just like my girls, who also had matching pajamas. They loved them, and were so cute!

Exciting Stuff

So, I need to catch up on all my recent news, but it'll be in stages, I think....

First things first. For Christmas, Art and I decided that we were going to get satellite TV and a PVR for each other's gifts (we have to justify it somehow!). So, after 8 1/2 yrs. of free TV, we finally bit the bullet and subscribed. I kept joking that I was going to watch TV all day long, while Art was working, and I almost did, one day. The fun thing is that now we know what shows people are talking about, and can tape up to 300 hrs. of TV (incidentally, when we got home from Kelowna we had 197 hrs. taped....all my shows). The not so fun thing is that we have to pay for it.... Oh well, such is life. We went from 4 stations to lots more than 4 (I really don't know how many, actually). And, since we got a new TV, we get HDTV - very cool. So, friends, it's official. We have now joined the 21st century!

Thankful

I am so thankful for my husband. He is amazing! He is dealing with some nasty stuff right now with the job he's working on - it's really not very fun, and he continues to deal with grace and humility and patience and integrity. So much so that guys from the job site keep coming up to him and commending him on his dealings - in a man sort of way. Kudos to you, my love!

Early Christmas Present

I`ve actually gotten a few early Christmas presents already, and they are all great for all different reasons. The one that I wanted to talk about, though, is the one from my oldest daughter, Hannah. This story actually starts a couple of weeks ago...

A few weeks ago, my favorite purse broke. It was pink and fun and I loved it. And I was sad. I kept saying that I needed to buy a new purse. Hannah took that all in, and decided that she wanted to sew me a purse for Christmas. So, she had asked for some fabric for something, and I gave her some scraps. One night, late at night, I peeked into Hannah`s room and saw that she was sewing, and totally gave her crap for not sleeping!

On Saturday, we celebrated Christmas with Art`s sister, and Hannah decided she couldn't`t wait to give me a present (that doesn`t sound like me at all!). She had it all wrapped with paper and LOTS of tape! I opened it up, and saw that she had sewn me a purse. She didn`t ask anyone for help, and had even put on a button and button hole (which is from her jacket.....we may need to replace that!) I don`t think I will put anything in it, because I think it may come out the sides, and the straps are fairly short, but I love her heart. She saw that I needed, okay wanted, something, and wanted to bless me with it. I love her for that. Here`s a picture of her creation:

Hats!

The girls received a Christmas package from Auntie Joc and the Goerzen clan (Art's brother and his family). My sister-in-law made these hats for the girls, which they absolutely adore! One of the reasons they like them so much is because they remind them of Little House on the Prairie, which is one of their more favorite things to watch. They also sent books and gingerbread....could their day have gotten any better? They have decided to not only wear them to bed, but also all around the house. I must admit, Abby does look a little 'confused' with the hat on and her Tinkerbell costume (see the previous entry!). Surprisingly, Ellie Mae even wears her's! Here are pictures...

Tinkerbell

Abby had her first ballet recital on the weekend. She loved it! She was Tinkerbell. Her ballet teacher told me, "She has just enough spaz to pull it off!". Here is the sole picture I have of her as Tinkerbell. She got to keep her costume, which she loved. I think she's worn it every day since then....

She also got to have makeup on for the first time. Originally, she didn't want any, because Hannah told her that it was itchy. However, once I put it on, there was no turning back! This was her, as she sat and stared at herself in the mirror for probably 10 minutes, repeatedly saying, "Wow! Do I ever look different!" I think she might be in love with herself!

And after...

Banquette eating area (thanks, Irene!) Art's aunt made the cushions, I made the pillows. There's storage underneath for linens, napkins, etc.Wall to the family room

We mixed it up a bit by changing the color for some of the cabinets

This is the only upper cabinet we have....Art put punched tin in the panels that we made - well, he made them, but I designed them!

My spices - labelled and alphabetized

Fridge/freezer, and double oven. The fridge and freezer will eventually have panels on them to match the cabinetry

My cooktop, and the legs pull out for spices. We have a downdraft hood fan for ventilation.

Here's how it looks with the legs closed

Family room with the barn door. We actually took this off a barn that they were ripping down close to our house. Art had to climb up 15 ft. and bang the hinges off to get it...what a man! The door actually closes, which is great for keeping things quieter for the girls when they are in bed.

The rest of the family room

Before....

People have been asking me to post some pictures of our house now that it's (almost) done. Even though we still need trimwork done, I'll post some more up to date pictures. Before I do that, however, let me remind you of the before...

The Eve

Tonight is 'the Eve'. It doesn't matter what it's 'the Eve' of, but I always find myself walking around my house, tiding little things us, changing things here and there....Funny how the idea of having 30 or 40 people over will do that to a person. Or maybe it's just me?

We are having our Christmas open house tomorrow night (feel free to stop in!), and I can't wait. But I know myself....and I probably will not sleep much tonight. I'll be thinking about what I need to do first thing in the morning....and then my list that needs to be done in the afternoon....and finally the last minute prep stuff. Thankfully, I got tons done today (tarts are baked, cookies are iced, dips are made) with the help of my ladies. It's funny to me how they get in on the excitement. The Girls have been counting down the days until our party. They just asked me tonight if they could do their school work as soon as they got up so that they can help me get ready (they are truly fantastic!). Of course, I said yes.

We have the word ADULLAM hung from our fireplace in our living room. Adullam being the Hebrew word for 'place of refuge' (as in the caves of Adullam, where David hid from Saul). That is our hope for our home. My hope for our night is that people find their Adullam. If not here, then somewhere....

Yummy!

We had friends here visiting from BC. We haven't seen them since Hannah was a baby, and she was pregnant with her first. Now, Hannah is almost 8, and we both have 4 kids. It was so fun to catch up with them, and have our kids play together! They had a great time, except for one small detail....sickness! Our girls were running fevers (only 2 of them, actually), and their son wasn't feeling well. Actually, he was puking. All over. And didn't hit the bucket.

It actually wasn't a big deal - I felt worse for the parents than their son. They decided to cut their trip a little bit short and head for home Sunday morning instead of afternoon, and we heard that they had more puking in the truck on the way home. Yummy!

It was one of those visits (for us) where we just loos at each other and laugh. What can you do? This is life, with kids. Puking, fevers, running, playing.... It actually made my heart happy (everything except the puking...that just made me laugh). I am hoping they don't wait another 7 years to come back and visit again!

Shopping

So, I have most of my Christmas shopping done. Do you believe it? It's not even December, and I'm done (almost)! We have the girls gift, Art's gift is bought as well, my parents and sister, done! That means that we only have a few stocking stuffers to get, which is the fun stuff anyway! Ever year, my sister-in-law takes The Girls for a Saturday, and we go for the day and get all of our shopping done (what we have left). This year is no exception. So that means, that when she takes The Girls, we will buy those few things and then get to flit the day away. I can't hardly wait!

In other news, we have our last round of company coming this weekend, and then I think that the never-ending bouts of company will have ended....at least until Christmas. Kinda sad, kinda glad for a bit of a break. I think that we've had different company every week for the last 3 months straight. It's been crazy - but good! The thing I wonder most though, when they come, is do they come because they are drawn to my beauty or my greatness?! :-) Hmmm....

Christmas is coming...

Today I finally took down my fall decorations. The hope was to get out all the Christmas stuff, but that didn't happen due to the mounds and mounds and mounds of laundry I had to get done. The hope is tomorrow, my Christmas decor might make it out from the dungeon basement. Or sometime in the next week, at least... I have to get started early, since we won't be home for Christmas. I have to be able to enjoy my handy work for at least a little while.

I've even started my shopping...the girls are (almost) done, and I have decided on purchases for the rest of the family. That's half the battle - knowing what to get, instead of aimlessly wandering the stores trying to figure it out!

We also did some Christmas baking this week - the girls made and decorated about 11 dozen sugar cookies with my Mom on Monday, who was here visiting. Good times, good times! 'Tis the season!

Oops....forgot the Baby!

I realized that I didn't post any of Ellie Mae....here she is, in all her road rash glory (you should've seen the color pictures - her face looks terrible!) She fell on the pavement just after we took pictures of all the girls together, and before she got her 'close ups'. Let me tell you, we had to pull out all the stops to get her to smile! :-)

True Beauty

Need I say more? Here are some shots of the ladies, during our trip to Fort Edmonton!

Pomegranates

This past week we had something which I think was very cool happen to us. We had a friend come over and bring us 7 pomegranates. "Nice," you may think, but cool? Well, let me continue. I'll tell the longer version of the story. So, my friend brought the pomegranates over, and my kids had never eaten them. So, we dug them out, and they dug in. All the girls went crazy over them! Even Ellie Mae with her couple of teeth was shoving them in her mouth as fast as she could get them.

A couple of days later we were in church, and Hannah was sitting beside me reading her Bible. I looked over at what she was reading and the word "pomegranate" caught my eye. I showed her, since we had just been enjoying the pomegranates (which, by the way, my husband had never tried before we had them from our friend), and this is the passage of scripture that I read:

"For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills. When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you." (Deut. 8:7-10)

So, friends, I am taking this as God's word for me for this season. Now, some of you may say that I may be crazy, and that it's just a coincidence that all this happened, but I see 'coincidences' as God working and speaking to me. So, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Happenings

So this past week, we had company (again) for a couple of days. It was great to have an old friend of Art's here for a short visit. He was here on business, so we got to visit a bit in the evenings. We also had a couple of very sick girls. Everyone except Molly had high fevers last week, which wouldn't come down for anything. Thankfully, whatever virus it was was short lived, and each girl only had it for about 2 1/2 days. Then, Molly got a rash from her neck to her waist.... Man, did we ever have a good week!

Then, came the weekend....we did a Big Cook this weekend. If you don't know what that is, you need to! There were 4 of us ladies, and we made 144 meals in one day. Yummy, good meals. We worked from 9:45 am and were done and all cleaned up by 4 pm, and we each got to take home 36 meals. We did it at our house, and I must say, kudos to Art. My kitchen was pretty fabulous for doing such a thing, and we had lots of room and lots of fun. And my freezer is very full. All in all, again, domestic bliss for me.

In other news (well, not really, but I've always wanted to say that!), it's Abby's birthday on Friday. Can you believe it? I was thinking about when she was born the other day, and she really was a miracle. Here's the story, for those of you who don't know it:
When I was pregnant with Abby, I was very small (surprise!), but I wasn't getting bigger as I progressed in my pregnancy. So, my doctor sent me for tests and more tests...I think I had a total of 13 ultrasounds in the last few weeks of my pregnancy (and 3 non-stress tests, and an amnio). It seemed I was always at the doctor for something... He then sent me to an OB/GYN who spoke with the head of the neo-natal unit at the Alex Hospital, and nobody knew what to do with us. Abby was acting like a 'normal' baby, but her growth wasn't normal. They said this condition was seen more in women who were heavy smokers, which clearly, I am not! So, after much conferring, they decided to send me for an amnio, and if her lungs were developed, they were to induce me immediately. This was at 5 pm. The doctor's told us to come back at 7 am the very next morning for the amnio, and they found out the results, which were that Abby's lungs were developed. Their thinking was that they didn't know what was going on inside of me, so they would take her out where they could at least control her environment.
All of my ultrasounds showed that Abby would be around 3 lbs. if we were lucky, but we prayed, and when she was born the next day, she weighed 4 lbs. 10 oz. What a miracle! My doctor had joked that the best time for her to be born would be between 9 am and 5 pm, when all the doctor's and specialists were at the hospital, and she was. The all couldn't believe how well Abby did, and after 1 1/2 days in an incubator, and another 9 days in the hospital, we went home! Abby wore doll clothes for the first month of her life, she was so little, and had not a single ounce of fat anywhere on her - not in her cheekbones, bum....anything. It was crazy to see!

And now, look at her...turning 6 on Friday!

Not mch

So, I have not much to write about these days...hence the lack of blogging. That and the truck loads of company that we've had lately (someone new almost every day!). I am going to give you a very boring play-by-play of my day. I awoke early this morning (8 am people!), to turn off my alarm and go back to sleep until 9 am. Art had gotten the girls up and started on their breakfast so I could have a few extra minutes of zzzzzz's. And now, as we are sitting here, Art has made a secret cupboard in my kitchen....it's stinking amazing!
I made banana bread, cleaned my house, washed the floors, cleaned bathrooms, changed sheets, made dinner, had company come, bathed/showered my Girls, had a short nap, educated my daughters.....hmmm....anything else? It was a completely industrious day, and I rock my world! Maybe tomorrow I'll nap?

Pure Domestic Bliss

This weekend was pure domestic bliss for me. We had a house full of people, a big turkey dinner to cook, and a KITCHEN to do it in. I loved every second of it. As soon as the toe kick is in, I promise to post some pictures....

For Thanksgiving, we had our family, Art's Mom and sister, a friend and some people from Ireland who are here for the conference at our church. It was great fun to meet some new people, and our girls loved listening to them talk. Then, for dessert, we had the prayer team from our church join us to visit with the Irish. It was good times at the Goerzen's (and good eats!)

Hope you all had a great holiday!

Negligent

No, the title of this post is not my parenting style....usually! Although I have been a little bit negligent in the past week with my Girls...and blogging...and cleaning....and cooking.... All because of the (infamous) kitchen! It finally arrived on Friday, and my brother and sister-in-law were here visiting (suckers!) I bet if they knew how much work we'd make them do, they wouldn't have come! So it came, and I've not really seen too much of my fantastic husband since they, because he's been working his butt of! He's been up 'til probably 2 am every day, slaving away, so that we can get this kitchen in and our home back in order. Slowly, it's coming. I am happy to report that as of about 9 pm tonight, we now have everything that one needs in a kitchen, working. Our ovens, fridge/freezer, sink, cook top, downdraft, microwave and dishwasher are are installed, with counter tops, and I can use them. It's a pretty exciting day here! I still don't have handles on the drawers, and there's no toe-kick, along with some other finishing touches, but it's usable. What a long road it's been. Just in time for Thanksgiving, since we will have a house-full on Monday for turkey. I am planning on making some pretty fantastic things in my new kitchen to 'christen' it.

Other than that, not too much going on here...(this whole thing has been a little bit consuming!). Oh wait - we saw a baby moose this morning on our neighbor's lawn. Very, very cool! It's been a while since we've seen moose here, and we were looking around for it's mama, but we couldn't see it. It sounds crazy, but for us, Moose have always symbolized the presence of God in our lives (really, really long story), so it was pretty cool that Art and I were talking out in the shop about what we've been hearing/learning from God lately, and he goes to the house for a minute and comes running back in the shop to come and see the moose. I was actually almost in tears...it was yet another reminder of God's faithfulness to me.

A snipet of Molly

Art: "Molly, what happened in your class today at church?"

Molly: "A little girl (who shall remain nameless) pulled my face!"

Art: "Ouch! That must've hurt!"

Molly: "Yes, but she didn't pull my face OFF!"

Sunday Afternoon

I am sitting here in my bliss. Sunday afternoon, the Girls are in bed and it's quiet. Well, kind of....My kitchen has (finally) arrived, and as I sit here on the sofa, my husband is working on installing it. I've only been without a kitchen for a year, gone a month and a half without an oven, and now it's almost been a week without a kitchen sink, cooktop, or dishwasher. My sister and brother-in-law are here helping, and, slowly but surely, it's getting installed. Good times, good times. A blissful Sunday afternoon!

The Toilet

The title of this post is where I would like to put one of my daughters. Not forever, just until she realizes that she CANNOT pitch a fit everytime she is playing with her sisters and doesn't get what she wants. I kid you not....she has spent the majority of her day in her room by herself.... I feel like I am constantly spanking her, or giving her 'hot spicy sauce' (aka Tobasco)....what else can a Mom do, but flush her down the toilet?!

On a happier note, my grandparents just celebrated their 65th anniversary last week. Crazy, eh? 65 years. My hats are off to them for their commitment to each other and their family over the years. What a legacy they continue to leave for their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. I pray that Art & I will live to celebrate our 65th year together (he's gonna be really old then!).

Gone Fishin'

My man is fishing this weekend. For the whoooole weekend. And, I am at home with the Girls. All 4 of them. And me. And we are going to have lots of fun!

This is a trip that Art does every year with 2 of his friends, and us wives get together with our children.....11 of them between us all. And it's a bit of a gong show. We have every age, from 10 through 1, with a couple of doubles in there.

Tonight, we were all at one of the families house, and I had put Ellie Mae to bed, but all the other 10 kids were downstairs watching a movie together, laughing. We walked down, and got a camera to take a picture. I didn't have the camera, so I don't have the picture, but it made my heart happy. Some of you may know that we in the Goerzen home love tradition....and this is one that I love. All the kids were on the floor or couch, the younger with the older, cuddling and watching the movie together. They will have these memories when they are older.... something that we did every year (this is now year 5!).

It's funny, because when the guys first started going, a weekend by myself with the kids (I only had 2 then!) seemed so overwhelming and even daunting, but now, it's no big deal, and I have double the kids. I guess, as they get older and a bit more independent, that helps. Also, I'm not up in the middle of the night nursing a baby!

Anyhow, Friday was a big hit with the Girls....now I have to figure out how to spend the rest of the weekend. I am thinking about making some raspberry jam, painting my entrance way, playing outside, reading a magazine, and perhaps watching a chick flick tomorrow night. We'll see how much of that gets done. :-)

Hopefully, the weather is good and the guys have a great time away. Frankly, they deserve it. They are all great Dad's....husbands.....work their butts off kinda guys.... Happy fishing, boys!

Here I sit

It's a glorious fall day outside, and here I sit. On my butt. I keep thinking that I need to get out and get all my fall cleanup done, but it's just too nice to do such things. You shouldn't be working outside in the fall, sweating. You should have jeans and a hoodie on, feeling the crisp wind which isn't biting, but it isn't warm. And you should have to have a kleenex to wipe your nose when it drips from the crisp wind...not be wearing capri pants and a tank top and sweating.

And so, this is what I tell myself to justify my procrastination....and apparently it's working, because here I sit. On my butt.

More fear

It's interesting to me how, in my life, fear rears it's ugly head. I wrote about this subject a while ago, but once again, it's staring me straight in the face. And it's stupid. I realize that I have some fear in my life, and how it comes out is kinda crazy.

We have been painting our house, and I really wanted to do something different. We've always had darker, warmer colors, and I really wanted to brighten things up, and chose two different, very light colors (muslim and white down....you can imagine what they look like!). I was very happy with my selection, and then we painted the walls. And they were light. Really light. I knew that this is what I wanted, but now that it was here, I wasn't sure. Everything in me wanted to go back to what was comfortable and familiar, to these dark colors. At first I didn't think much about it, but then, I started to obsess about it. Truly. And I realized that it was fear that was making me doubt. Fear of what people would think, if I would really like this color, fear of change and something different. Stupid, I know, that I would be obsessing about paint. But I was.

As I thought more about it, I realized once again that our house has kinda been symbolic of what's going on in our lives. God's been teaching us new things, and we're walking a different path these days. And it's not usually easy, and we can't go back to the old and comfortable, but it's good. Really good. Kinda like our paint. New, different, but good. So, there you have it. Isn't God crazy? Using my house to show me some of what is in my heart...Bizarre, yes. But cool.

I think I (will) love Wednesdays!

I think that I (will) love Wednesdays, and here is the reason:

Wednesday is AWANA. This year, Hannah, Abby & Molly will be going to AWANA. All three of them. That means that I will have only one child, every Wednesday night, until May. Can you believe it? I am awfully excited! Three down, one to go....

CPR

So the other day, we were at church and I look over to see Ellie Mae on the ground, with Molly pushing on Ellie Mae's stomach. This is the conversation that entails...

Me: "Molly, be careful! You have to be gentle with Ellie Mae!"
Molly: "Mom, I'm doing CPR..."
Me: "Pardon me?"
Molly: "I'm doing C P R...."
Me: "Did you just say CPR?"
Molly: "Yes. I am doing CPR on Ellie Mae!"

Here are the baffling parts of this story:

1. I don't know CPR
2. I've never talked to my girls about CPR
3. Where did they learn this?!
4. Molly is THREE!

Lots to say...

Once again, I've been a bit negligent in my blogging....sorry! Lots has been going on around here during the past week...here's a short rundown

1. Hannah started school. Yup, you read right...school! Do you believe it? She has started grade 3 in a program here which I am thinking (and hoping) will be fantastic.... She goes to school 2 days a week, and then is home the other 3 days, where we do math and language arts together. That's it - just 2 simple, easy subjects. She started on Tuesday, and besides having some butterflies, she did great. She has a couple of friends in the program, which helps. There's also lots of parental involvement, which is nice as well.
2. Abby started grade 1. I am keeping her a home full time for another year, and depending on how things go, she may go to school with Hannah next year. We went into the city yesterday to meet with our facilitator and pick up all her curriculum, so she was SO excited to start. She did school for about an hour and a half, and begged to do more. So, being the generous Mom that I am, I let her do more math during her 'alone time'. Yup, I'm great...
3. Our ceiling is FINALLY done! We worked like dogs this past weekend (happy labor day to us!) and Art got it all done, and I painted it all. We even decided to do the ceiling in the bathroom because we love it so much.
4. Fall is here. Really. It doesn't feel like summer anymore, unfortunately, so today I planted about 400 bulbs in my gardens. We'll see how it looks in the Spring....I can't wait!
5. My kitchen is coming. Soon. This actually happened a while ago, but I haven't had a chance to write about it, so I thought I'd mention it here. I can hardly wait! It's only been about 10 months that I've slowly been losing a cabinet here, and a cabinet there...now I have 5 cabinets. Literally. Everything is stored in boxes in the basement, so whenever I want to bake, I have to rummage through all the crap in the basement to find whatever it is I'm looking for. My kitchen should be here the first week in October.
6. With kitchens, you need faucets, which I finally found and ordered. I may have to sell one of my children on the black market to pay for it, but it's really nice....
7. Lights...or lack of them. With finishing the ceiling, it meant that we had to take down lights, which means that I have none, and had to go and find some new ones...they are super nice, but, of course, they will take 3 weeks to come in.... Since it now is fall (remember #4?), and the days are much shorter, we light lots of candles here! So, if you are driving down our driveway and see candles everywhere in the house, don't think you're interrupting anything....it's just that we have no lights!
8. Paint....I will soon have a painted house. Well, couple of rooms actually, but still. It's better than the drywall and putty I've been looking at for months
9. Ballet, which Abby is starting next week....I still have to find her shoes!
10. Awana....Hannah, Abby AND Molly are in it this year. Three down, one to go.... Yippee!!

That's it. The short version of what's been going on here in the last few days. I'll try to be better at this blogging...

A couple of family pictures

And lastly, here are the family portraits from the day...one of our friends, the Anderson's:

And us, the Goerzen's. Note Ellie Mae's happy face. She didn't really feel like have her picture taken! However, it was short lived, and she had a fun day too!

Our Family

Art & I....kissing in front of the church with a couple of little ladies watchin'

Little "Abner"
Hannah
Miss Molly
Ellie Mae

Some more Fort Edmonton...

The teepee
Here we are, being super spiritual Molly's first pony ride ever! Chill'axin
The fun midway, with a carousel

Fort Edmonton

We have friends here visiting from the coast, and we decided to take them to Fort Edmonton. I say that we took them to Fort Edmonton, but in reality, we had never been there ourselves...we've only lived here for 8 years. Anyhow, it was a good time had by all! What a great way to spend the day! We actually decided to get an annual pass so that we can visit again, whenever we feel the urge to go back in time, to 1885 (or 1902) for a picnic lunch. Perhaps next time we'll dress up and people will come and talk to us, thinking that we know something...

Here are some of the pix from the day:
On the train to get into the Fort
Art was going to take a picture, and he hit his head on the train, while taking a picture at the same time (such talent!). This was in real time, people....such talent he has!
The Saloon
Abby, petting the turkeys
Molly, hanging out on the deck