Something Old

This old armoir was brought home by my fantastic husband.  He found it at a garage sale for $20 and bought it immediately!  I must admit, I was a little unsure of it at first (it was in the beginning...when my tastes weren't quite as rustic as they are now...)

Art said that an old couple had it in their garage, and it is filled with incredibly frustrating shelves that don't go all the way to the back of the cabinet, so some things fall...but I still love it!  I would open it up and take a picture of the the treasures (read: junk) that are inside it, but then I would be embarrassed....it is fairly messy!  This is where we keep our candles, movies, endless numbers of chords and other junk... I don't know what I'd do without it!

I changed out the handle, which has helped it immensely!  Depending on the time of year, the top is one of my favorite places to have a little vignette of some sort.

We've had this for probably 8 years.  And I love it.  Really, I do.... now....

$1.99 Days

The other day, we went down to the Children's Place outlet on the south side of Edmonton, and I found jeans for my girls for $1.99!  I'm telling you, I was pretty excited!  I bought 8 pairs.... Seriously, for $1.99, I don't even care if they are just for playing outside....because they were cheap!!  I just love getting a good deal! 

Swimming Night

This fall, we've decided that Thursdays are our family swim day.  The older girls are taking swimming lessons, so we decided to make a night of it, take the little girls swimming, and then spend some more time in the pool once the older girls are done their lessons.  Tonight was the first night.  I must say, the older our girls get, the more fun we have with them.  Or may not more fun, but different fun. 

Halfway through our swimming time, the power flickered off at the pool.  Lucky for us, they said we had to stay out of the pool for at least 20 min. until the overhead lights "cooled down, and then warmed back up..."  Makes sense, doesn't it?!  Not so much.... So, we hightailed it outta there to get showered and go for a special dinner.  On our way out of the pool, we stopped at the front desk, and asked for a voucher to swim for free for the next time we came...which they gave us.  Thank you very much!

We decided to try something new for dinner, so we went to Taco Time.  I must say...not too bad....kinda.  Halfway through dinner, Abby started to complain that her tummy hurt.  She said she didn`t feel like she was going to puke....at first.  Then, about 5 min. later, she had "the look".....the look that says, "I'm gonna puke!" I rushed her to the bathroom, which of course, was occupied, and then rushed her out the front door to the parking lot, where she promptly up-chucked....right in front of the door.  Nice!  I moved her over to the end of the parking lot, where she hurled....again....twice.  Excellent!  Needless to say, we loaded everyone in the truck and sped home....vomit free (although it was close, a few times!).  A bit of Gravol, ginger ale and a warm magic bag has hopefully done the trick.  However, here's the question that's on my mind tonight:  Will anyone else be heaving tonight.....?

That Kind of a Day...

I woke up this morning at 7:30.  And then 7:39.  And then 7:48 (can you guess at what interval my snooze is set?!).  I got up with the girls, and got them ready for school.  The second they were out the door, I went back upstairs, and crawled back into bed.  I left my younger ones to fend for themselves....and they did.  When I got upstairs, Art was just getting up.  I enticed him (not in the way you may think....) to come back to bed....to sleep.  And we did.  Until 10:30 am.

After having a shower, getting caught up on my books, doing school with Molly and eating lunch, I went and laid on the couch to have a little nap....for an hour and a half.

Then I cleaned my house, had a meeting here, and ate dinner.  And went back to bed.....didn't sleep, but laid in bed.  All evening.  And now, it's 10:45 pm, and I am bushed!  So I am going to bed.  Again.  It's been that kind of a day....

My Ladies...part 2 ( or 200, but who's counting?!)

I couldn't resist....here's some more pictures of my ladies....oh how I love them!

Carrots, anyone?

Last week, before we headed out on our mini vacation, we had Art's sister and brother in law here for a little visit.  One of the things they like to do when they come out is to have a wiener roast, so we humored them and did that for dinner one night.  While we were waiting for the monster fire to die down so that we could roast wieners, we thought we'd pick a few carrots from the garden....

They may be mutant carrots, but they made a great carrot salad!

Valemount

Last Friday am, we headed out to Valemount, BC for a mini-vacation with some friends.  The plan was to spend the weekend quadding, so, thanks to a local quad dealer here who let us demo a Polaris Ranger Crew (greatest machine ever which seats 6....or 7.....or 8), we loaded up the quads and headed out.  We had to get up quite early, so thankfully, a few of our ladies had a nap on the 5 hr. drive to the mountains

I think at one point, we had all 4 girls sleeping...at 9:30 am.  Nothing short of a miracle!

We arrived in Valemount around lunch time, checked into our hotel, found a sitting area and ate some lunch before unloading the quads to head out on some logging roads to see the sites

The view of the valley was quite beautiful, and it was a great first day, especially for me driving the Ranger Crew, to get used to how it handled.

After we were done quadding and had eaten some dinner, we all went down to the hotel pool where the adults sat in the hot tub while the kids enjoyed swimming.  I think everyone was in bed, asleep, by 8:30 pm!

The next morning, since we had brought breakfasts as well, we headed back to the lounge for some eats.... A few of our fellow guests at the hotel thought that it was continental breakfast for everyone, so we had a good chuckle watching people....and telling them to stay away from our food!

After breakfast, we suited up in long johns and MANY layers to head up on the Sea to Sky Trail, which goes up Canoe Mtn. to 8500 ft.  The day was quite cool, and the higher we got, the cooler it got, until we reached this...

SNOW!  It was actually really low visibility...

and after we ate a quick lunch of hot soup (good thinking, Jen!), much weeping and gnashing of teeth from the girls b/c they were extremely cold, we headed back down the mountain.  We didn't actually make it to the very top, because our 4 wheel driving wasn't working, but Art and Hannah made it up to check it out.  On our way down, just past the snowline, we were rewarded for our endeavors with...

An amazing view of the valley, and a gorgeous, bright rainbow.  But let me tell you, we did hightail it down!  Ellie Mae was quite exhausted, and fell asleep on the way down, which she thought was pretty cool!

After ordering pizza for dinner, we warmed up in the hot tub again while the kids swam.

Sunday morning, after breakfast, we headed towards McBride for our last ride. Initially, it was going to be a shorter day of riding, but the scenery was so beautiful that we just couldn't stop!

We unloaded at a rest stop, and followed a recreational trail along Small River. 

We found a little bit of mud....

Or maybe a lot...

And even crossed the river a few times.  The picture may remind you of a similar event that happened in June, but fortunately, no one got stuck...in the river.... (not mentioning any names!)

Along the road, we met an old man who told us of some of the highlights of the area...

like waterfalls and cabins and other hidden surprises.

It really was fun to put this bad boy machine through the paces along this winding road, until we came to "Mile 19"

Where we couldn't quite get across.  However, our wonderful husbands who look out for us so well, decided to cross the river just downstream from here, and left us to fend for ourselves with ALL 7 of the children.  Thanks, guys!  From here, we turned around and headed back to where we had spoken with some campers who had brought their toy hauler and quad out here and graciously left a fire going for us so we could warm up some lunch

It was a little bit primitive, but we made do! 

After this, we headed back to the trucks, not before Abby broke down on her quad....the steering and brakes totally gave out, and she ran into the side of the mountain!  We are so thankful she was going slow, and it hadn't happened on the other side of the road, where there was a 10 ft. drop to the river... (don't worry, Auntie Frieda....we are all safe and sound!  She's alive!)  Truly, we thanked God for keeping her safe.  And now, she has a great story to tell EVERYONE!

We ended up back and the trucks, loaded up and on the road by 6 ish, which didn't get us home until midnight, but it was well worth the late night and tired kids!  We had a great mini-vacation away, and are looking forward to going next year!

However, what do you think the chances are that the dealership will let us demo another unit?  We may have to buy one.....

My Ladies

We took some updated pictures of the ladies the other day....here are some of the results....

The Playhouse....again

Some friends of ours came down from Fort St. John to visit a few weeks ago, and since he's a builder, Art decided to put him to work!  The guys spent 2 full days working on the playhouse....hooray!  Now, it has a roof and a loft!  You know the saying, "It takes a village to raise a child"?  I'm telling you, It takes a village to build a playhouse!

It's looking quite fantastic, I tell you!  Next, the aluminum roof is going to be put on.  Who will be our next helpers?!

While the guys were working hard, us ladies had our hands full with the 8 kids between our 2 families...and only 1 boy in that group!  (he may be thankful later on in life!).  Our friends brought their quad down with them, so we took some time, and took (all) the kids quadding around here a bit.  At the same time. 

Funny, I think I saw a decal on the quad that read, "Only 1 passenger at a time".....oops!  Well, they are little, so does 4 littles = 1 big?  Hmmm, something to ponder!

A New Toy

This weekend, while looking on (beloved) kijiji, I found this very excellent new toy for the girls. The ad had been posted literally 2 minutes before I got on the site, so we called right away, and since the people only live about 10 min. from here, asked if we could jump in the truck and come to take a look. Everyone emptied out their piggy banks, and this is what we came home with.

The girls are over the moon to have their very own kids quad, and have had lots of fun bombing around on it!  And, it's super versatile!  With 110cc, it's even good for full grown men to take it for a spin...

Our friend Mike, even though he was eating his knees, had a good laugh with it!

First Day of School!

I know that kids here in Alberta started back to school yesterday, but we started to....sort of.  Well, we started, and we might even do school tomorrow (but it's not too probable, since it's supposed to be great weather!), but then we have company arriving on Sunday, so we'll take next week off.  Anyhow, since the older two girls went to school today, Molly was quite anxious to start Kindergarten, so we did that.  Here are my little ladies, set and ready to learn:

Molly, who is starting Kindergarten.  She has a backpack too, but didn't really need it for school at home!

Abby, going into grade 3

Hannah, starting grade 5 (oh my, that kinda makes me feel old!)

Of course, we couldn't start the school year without a "Back to School Date" with some friends.  We have been doing these back to school dates since Hannah started Kindergarten, so it's been fun to add to the number of girls we take over the years...only 1 more girl to go!  Each of the girls got to pick out a new shirt/dress, and then we went out for dinner at Moxie's.  It's so fun to celebrate the start of the school year with these girls, and watch them grow up!

Thanks friends, for the great date!