Family reunion {mini} in Neerlandia

My 'little' sister got engaged a few weeks back and between my mom and sister Natasha, we hatched this wonderful idea to all go to the engagement party together.  I must admit it was a pretty nifty plan, which worked out wonderfully, despite all the kids/airports/rediculous-amount-of kilometers-involved.  Never mind that we did it all with out our hubbies. The hardest part for us all, I really do think.
The schedule was busy, it was as follows:
 ~ Thursday March 20th, 7 am I left with my three sons to Calgary Airport to pick up Mom and Natasha (Tanner).  The roads got worse and worse, so I ended up being late but all ended well, arriving at the airport at 10:30.
From there we went on to Red Deer {MacDonalds break}, breezed thru Edmonton and on to Neerlandia where we went to the Kruidhofs for coffee and supper! 

On the way to the airport... the roads were icy and vehicles were in the ditch (and I was taking pictures of them;) )

Loaded van!

Mom and her youngest sister, and me and my sisters (although Aunt Lydia is my adopted sister:)

~ Friday March 21st. Bridesmaid dress shopping was on the top of the list of things to do for the day - as well as engagement gifts for the bride-to-be.  West Edmonton Mall has it all and we were successful too, although with four ladies and two babies (Aunt L. graciously kept S&T for the day) who don't go to the city very often, we could have used another day {or two} to get thru all those stores.  We wanted to be back on time for the 25th wedding anniversary party of an Aunt and Uncle so it was a very full day.

Time for some fuel! Must be Canadian eh? We go straight for the poutine...

Before heading out we got some coffee...and no, not Timmies.

Rowan my dear child, loves the camera....this is his cheese face.  We can't stop him, and he can't stop himself.

Too funny!!!

Meanwhile back at the ranch...

  ~ Saturday March 22nd. I was staying at the Kruidhofs bed and breakfast with my boys while mom and Natasha {Tanner} stayed with Ruth-Ann so we met in the morning for coffee with my dear Beppe - the boys great grandmother. (Pake was busy wood working - no time for coffee!) Special to do.  It's not every child that gets to visit/meet his great grandparents!
Lunch was at Ruth-Ann's place, and we worked hard for that lunch cutting and preparing platters of fruit, veggies and meat and cheese for the party the next day.  :) 

Four generations (including Tanner on the left lower corner)

Ruth-Ann and Ben were willing 'babysitters'.

Having lots of fun together!

~ Sunday March 23rd, a day of rest and worship.  We attended church in the morning and the evening and enjoying visiting with family in-between.  It's always nice attending church with fellow believers, bringing glory to our heavenly Father.
 In the evening we got the meet all Ruth-Ann's future family and enjoyed a party in Roo and Bens' honour at the church.  I had Seth, Tristan and Rowan with me and they were well behaved although a big goofy, which means I did not have much time to take pictures.  The company was great and the food delicious. Rowan, my little sweet tooth could not agree more. He mooched jelly beans off everyone who looked him in the eye.  What a fun time they had.

For those of you who made it this far down this lengthly post... it's over:)
 I'm done for now, time to go to bed. But I will finish the week with Natasha and Mom on another post.

Seth is 6!

Finally, Seth is six.
Finally for him, already for us.
He was so extremely excited we heard about it for days, and the countdown had been on since February 12th, exactly one month before his big day. He had a little pocket calendar in which to knock off all the days. 
He's a very fun loving kid, full of extremes:) He takes responsibility seriously.  Decisions which should be small for a six year old become huge for this one. Like picking a birthday supper. He was quite worried that he would pick something that wouldn't actually be his complete and total favourite.  Andy made him a list and everytime he looked at it he could put an X or a check by what he thought would be best.  To top it off he thought maybe, possibly, he wasn't tall enough to be six yet....if he got more sleep would he grow faster?  So for a week Seth was nicely going bed on time or early, with-out a fuss so he could get some extra sleep and grow a bit taller... you would never want someone to mistake you for a 5 year old when you are really six, right?

The bottom entry is "Noodles" for those of you who can't decrypt it...
And the final result was hamburgers with fries, and pumpkin pie for dessert. 

What a good day it turned out to be.  Seth woke up to streamers in his bedroom door, and a treasure hunt to find the gifts. A little friend from church came over for the day after Son-Shine Bible class in the morning at church.
The weather was gorgeous, and with his new workbench the boys were busy all afternoon outside pounding nails and creating masterpieces.  Of course the puddles were an extra attraction, and which mom would say no after a long winter?

And our final fun before bedtime was putting a new mark on the growth chart! It'd been a whole year since the last one and it was exciting to see how much he'd grown.  He's now just a hair shy of four feet!!

 

Happy Birthday Seth. You bring alot of joy to our family. We thank God for all he has given us in you. We pray that you grow in love and grace and continue to show love for your maker!

XOX

Early March

Sorry, my family and friends, for the lack of posts.
We were all down with colds, stuffy noses and lack of energy.

This is what you would have seen in our house had you been a fly on the wall (only really for a couple of evenings)....
 We introduced the boys to the land of C.S. Lewis's Narnia - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
Sitting in front of the screen is something we rarely do so it was pretty cozy, and exciting. Rowan woke up in the morning and pushed with all his might to put the couch back in front of the computer. Then he nicely sat there with a big grin, waiting to start again.  It's incredible what little kids notice and feel.  Love family time:)

Hidden Valley

What do you do on a mid February day when the sun is shining, wind is still and the temperatures plus 9?
Hit the slopes, and breath in the fresh air!
The kids were so terribly excited that I woke up at 5:30 am, February 18th to the lights on. I ran to see what was going on and found a very sleepy looking Seth pulling his jeans on! He was so excited to go he woke up on his own and was getting ready to go.
I must admit that by 6am, I was being a bit of a party pooper, I had three wide awake kids who were jumping on me ready to go, and a husband who thought it was super exiting to check out a new ski hill, and then... me.
I'll admit, I am a bit allergic to mornings, and then with all the organization of packing for an outdoor day trip and such excited kids (who I was sure were going crash and cry once they were actually there....) I was feeling a bit like putting the brakes on the whole ordeal.
But was I ever wrong, and super thankful that I was too:)
The kids were astonishing.  Really.  Can I say it again?  They kids had, as they say "THE BEST TIME EVER!  As did I!
Children under 5 get a free lift ticket at Hidden Valley in Elk Water, so we only had to rent the skiis and boots (we own the helmets). We also put them in a one hour class, just for fun, and maybe, a bit of class. Pardon the pun. 
Andy went skiing with them and a little on his own. I don't have skiis and didn't want to rent then seeing as I had Rowan and didn't know how much the other boys would need me. So I was the Cheering Mother standing on the sidelines pulling the sled with the toddler who wanted to be anywhere but on the sled. Of course:)
Seth and Tristan impressed us with their perseverance.  It was Oh-SO-Cute so watch! Seth's boot were too big at first so he was slipping around in the boot, but once we got that figured out he didn't want to stop for anything.  Up and down, up and down, between the flags and thru the poles.  He really got the "BIG S" way of coming down the hill.
Tristan had it figured out right away (Pizza to stop, French Fries to go) and away he went up and down by himself.  Tristan liked speed and thru caution to the wind, trying to jump over the little bumps.
Andy and I are thinking that having the kids grow up a little might be alot of fun:)

Waiting for ski school to start.

Rowan is always helpful:)

Getting taught how the binding works and how to put the boots in and out properly.

Magic Carpet!

We spent alot of time playing at the base.

Ready for some lunch and a break.

Seth loved weaving thru the hoops.

See the powder? He was getting some speed.

Andy took this one from the top. You can see the prairie in the distance. This was a really neat location, the Cypress Hills rising out of apparently nowhere. ...and suddenly there were trees!

Thrifting

I love a good find.
A really good deal.
It's enough to brighten a week, for me anyways:) 

Taber has a Buy and Sell online group as well as a MCC thrift store and I browse both on occasion, looking for things that would benefit our family. 
And this time, I got some goodies:)
Some got put to use immediately while some were packed away in my closet waiting for another time.  The boys are loving the game RISK.  I know they are a bit young for it, but they don't notice or care. They are too busy re-enacting scenes from the Bible about the Canaanites and Amalekites engaged in battle, or the Anciet Egyptians fighting with the Isrealites.  Not all of it is correct, but hey, that's what an imagination is for!

Post Script

The chicken catching went well!  It's such a good thing when it exceeds your expectations!
The weather was cold though, -28 on the thermostat, not sure if it was colder with the wind chill. Makes ones feel a bit sorry for the birds of feather.
And the coyotes who now have lost their nightly evening snack, but still roam looking for it.
The barns are empty and clean, waiting to be disinfected and then filled with shavings and warmed for the next flock.
What a relief and sense of accomplishment, that despite the hurdles, everything went well in the end!  Thanks be to God for his many blessings!

We filled eight B-trains. That's alot of meat!

You can tell how cold it was - the trucker has only his eyes showing.

Andy spotted this coyote looking for his snack during the middle of the day! A bit scary.

Clean barns.