Haircuts

I've had a few people asking me to post pictures of my new do, so here they are.

Kathryn also wanted to get her hair cut, and of course because Kathryn was getting her hair cut, Tansley wanted hers done to. I've been told about this fabulous place in Lethbridge for kids to get their hair cut. A place called Beaners. It is geared towards kids, and honestly the best hair cutting experience we have ever had. First of all kids get to choose what the get to sit on. The chairs are all like those motorized toys that every kid wants to ride on at the mall. They have flat screen TV's all over playing a kids movie (we watched Horton Hears a Who). Not only that but they have toys and a ball bit for kids who are waiting to play with. And on top of that, the cost of a hair cut is amazing! It may just be the cheapest kids haircut that I have ever paid for. I had all three girls with me, but I wasn't pulling my hair out. They were all just happy to play while the other was getting their hair cut.

We went short for Kathryn. Her choice. She was tired of her hair being in her face at school while she did her work, so she asked if she could get a short hair cut. So we looked at pictures online and she picked the one that she liked best. Here was the result.

There used to be sparkles in her hair, but after a day of fun, they have all come out.

We stayed with the bob for Tansley, but went a little shorter in the back.

Again there were once sparkles in her hair, but they are long gone. I did however buy some sparkle gel because they both thought it was so absolutely beautiful that we just had to have some for ourselves.

25 Random things

1- I don't have a clue where to start, but hope that things will get interesting once I get going.
2-I love cheesecake in all varieties and flavors, and don't expect me to share, cuz I ain't gonna do it.
3-I love doing little kid crafty things. Sometimes I get craft supplies more for me than for my girls. We all love to cut and paste and stick and create, it's a bit of an addiction.
4-I love to create things. Not just the previously mentioned crafts. Food, clothing, blankets, soft toys, the list goes on and on.
5-I've always wanted to live in a small town or on a farm. Now that I am, I love it just as much as I always thought I would and don't know if I could ever go back to the city.
6-I love being able to know what is going on in the life of my cousins, aunts, uncles, and close friends via facebook and blogs. For years I have been out of contact with a lot of people that are important to me.
It has only been in the last year and a half that I have been connected to the internet and now have this joy. I have a lot to catch up on...that is my excuse for time well wasted :)
7-I didn't know that I knew so many people that I would consider my "friends" until facebook.
8-The only thing that I ever wanted to be was a mom. In grade school, when I would have to write about what career I wanted to have when I grew up, I had to make something up, usually it was a math teacher. If
I knew what I knew now, I would have still written about being a mom...it is certainly a lot of work.
9-I have always been fascinated with dead things. Not recently dead things, but really really dead things. Things that have been dead for hundreds of years.
10-I am fascinated by old abandoned houses. I have always wanted to stop and wonder through them to see what clues were left behind about those who used to live there. I like to imagine what the house would have looked like all full of life.
11-I think that my husband looks incredibly sexy when he is all dressed up in his goalie gear, and coming off the ice all sweaty....he smells bad, but dang...he is sexy!
12-I love shoes. Before I had kids, I worked in the mall for a lot of years. I always new when the good sales were on, and I always bought some fabulous shoes. Now that I have kids, I rarely buy shoes for myself, but I have three girls that I buy more than their fair share of shoes for.
13-My feet are a lot bigger now than they were before I had kids. So many of those fabulous shoe no longer fit, and I have had to give them away. My shoe collection is pretty boring these days. I live through my
girls.
14-I love to collect nativities. Every year I look for at least one new one that is unique and nothing like anything anyone has ever seen before.
15-I worked in Waterton as a dining room hostess/office record fixer/front desk clerk(at both the Bayshore in and Wateron Glacier suites) the summer(May 1-Sep 30) before I got married. I loved every minute of it. Not so much the work or the people(I could have done with out them), but I loved being in Waterton. Going for walks and hikes. Just sitting by the lake. The smell first thing in the morning. The feel of the air. I did like feeling important and that they needed me(I solved some pretty important problems regarding bad record keeping of tips)....but I hated that I let them take advantage of me...but I needed the money so I just let it slide.
16-I once had an all out yelling match with Emile, the Dining room Manager at the Bayshore...yeah...I didn't like that guy.The Chef was on my side, so that's all that mattered.
17-I used to hate talking in front of people. I hated giving class presentations. I hated having to read in front of the class. Now I love to teach, or give a talk in church. My last few years of university, I looked forward to giving a class presentation. Why the change? I'll tell you about it sometime.
18- I didn't ever try to stand out in High School. It's not like I tried to hide either. I just didn't do anything amazing. I was a completely forgettable person. My husband and I went to the same high school, we graduated the same year. He is now coaching basketball at out old high school. I was at one of his games the other day, and one of the teachers that had taught when we were there and introduced herself to me and told me that she was my husbands adviser in high school, and that she really thought the world of him. Me, she didn't even know that I was also WCHS alumnus.
19-I know the mayor of Lethbridge. I sent him an invitation to my wedding and he came. He was only campaigning to be the Mayor at the time. Aren't I special?!
20-I love camping. Camping in a tent camping. Cooking outside camping. Sleeping on a double thick air mattress camping. Sitting around a campfire camping. Getting dirty and loving it camping.
21-I can honestly say that my sister and my 6 brothers are listed among my best friends, and right at the top of the list. Their respective husband and wives are also on that list.
22-There aren't many things that you can do to really embarrass me. With Daniel as my husband, I have got used to a lot.
23-I am not easily offended. I couldn't really careless what you think or what you say about me. So if you are planning to offend me, don't bother, I probably wont notice.
24-I hate talking on the phone. If I have something to say to you, I am more likely to wait until I see you in person, or if it is important I'll send you a message or email. That's not to say that I haven't talked for long periods of time with my sister, mom or one of my sister-in-laws if a phone call has been made...but that's different.
25-I love to blog. I find that there is something therapeutic about sharing things with all the world to read. Sometimes as a confessional, sometimes as an avenue to vent (or brag). Sometimes just to share something really cool or funny. Writing these kind of note are part of that therapy.

Learning from a six year old.

Yesterday afternoon I made everyone have a nap or at least quiet time. We had been over at a friends house the night before to play games and just have a fun time. We didn't get home until after 10pm. Kymberly was exhausted by the time we got home from church, Tansley was wearing pretty thin as well. Kathryn insisted she wasn't tired. I said that it was fine if she didn't want to nap, but I wanted her to have a quite time, no TV, no Computer games. She could read a book or make a craft. She asked if she could prepare a lesson for Family Home Evening. She said that we hadn't had FHE for a few months so we needed to do it again. She was right. It has been awhile since we have done a formal sit down FHE. We always spend Monday's together, but since that is Daniel's day off, we often go out and do things. The lesson part of FHE gets neglected. Nothing like a six year old calling you out on something. I told her that it would be great if she prepared the lesson for FHE. Not only did she do the lesson, but she made all the assignments and wrote them on the white board.

So today FHE was all organized. Tansley was assigned to do the treat so I helped her make apple crisp. Kathryn took control of the entire thing. While I was making supper, she cleaned up the living room so that we could gather there for FHE. After supper she called us all together, welcomed us, and assigned me to say the prayer. She then asked us all what was going on this coming week. After the weeks agenda was discussed, she asked everyone to get ready for the lesson. The lesson was on children and Adam and Eve. She had found a picture in the most recent Friend of Jesus sitting with some children. She told us to look at it and talked about it for awhile and then set it on the piano so that we could look at it through out the lesson. She had made puppets that she used to tell the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. She then asked me to read a story out of the Friend. After that she had a treasure hunt set up as the activitie. She helped Tansley do that while I got dessert dished up. Then we all enjoyed some dessert. It was a spectacular FHE. I was super impressed with all of her preperation. This kid has got some teaching potential in her along with plenty of other wonderful traits. I'm feeling all teary eyed just thinking about it all. She is growing up, and she's keeping me in line. Through the month of December we had slacked off with reading scriptures in the morning as a family. It was Kathryn who insisted we start doing it again. Infact she got started us back in the habit by insisting that she read the scriptures herself. What is a mom to say to that? I can't very well tell her that we don't have time. The only thing that I could do was make sure we had time for her to read a verse. And from there we have got back in the habit. She is really a good kid, even if she teases her little sister alot. Big sister perogative I guess.

I just can't think of a good title

I love writing in my journal. I love reading my old journal entries. I've learned a lot from myself over the years. I was once an avid journal writer in my young adult years. Slowly over my married years I have become less avid in writing in my own journal. I have meticulously kept baby books and photo albums and even a "Christmas through the Years" scrap book. But my own personal journal has suffered. And then a little over a year ago I started blogging. I love it. I use it as a kind of journal. And it has inspired me to try to keep a better private journal, you know...all that stuff that I don't really want the whole world to read.
As the Enrichment Leader in our ward, I thought that a journaling class would be a good one to start the year off with. So, I have been doing all sorts of searching on the web to find different journaling ideas. I'm excited for this class. It is going to be great. When I get it all put together I'll post it for all to read. But my favorite idea was journal jars. I've seen these before, but I came across this site  that had specific journal prompts for Adults, youth, Children(6-12), and Children(2-8)(this site also has fun journal jar ideas for adults and kids). I decided that I was going to make journal jars with my girls. I have already started journals for Kathryn and Tansley that I have tried to write cute, funny things they have done and about special moments. So I decided that I would turn their journals over to them(kinda, they can ask me for them when they want to write in them, I'm still keeping them in a safe place). The girls are super excited to write in their journals. I told them that we would do it every Sunday, but if they wanted to write on any other day they could as well. Today was our first journal writing day. Tansley's prompt was to draw a picture of her favorite animal or pet. Kathryn's was to write about the best Christmas gift that she ever recieved and the best one she ever gave. It was such a fun time. I look forward to doing this every Sunday. I look forward to looking back on these journals and learning from my children.

My weakness

Starting January first, I determined to eat smarter. Not so much go on a diet. Just eat smarter, better, wiser. And I have been doing really good. I love how I feel when I eat this way, and I know that by just eating smarter I can start to loose weight. I also determined to start riding my bike 3 or 4 times a week. I haven't been so good at that, infact I have yet to get on it, but I have been battling a very stubborn sinus cold for the past two weeks, and I just can't work up the desire to try. But this is not why I am blogging....
I have one weakness...no make that two weaknesses that I can not resist, nor will I even try. The first, which I think is a given for anyone that knows me, is Cheesecake in any variety. And no, I won't just eat half, it's either all or nothing. And since nothing is not an options, all it is! The second is home made cookies. We made chocolate chip cookies today...I picked in the cookie dough...a lot. And then I tried to eat only one....OK, I didn't try very hard. And now since I already blew the eating better deal today, I am now eating nachos and cheese with salsa and a bit of sour cream.

****I have since finished eating said nacho's and cheese. They were delicious at the time, but now that it is quarter after eleven....I feel kinda sickish. I knew that I would. It always happens this way. Once my body gets used to this "smart" way of eating, it always makes me feel sick if I eat a lot of something that I shouldn't. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that my body is smarter than me...I just don't seem to learn...or don't care, like tonight. I just really wanted those nachos, knowing full well that I would feel sick later, but I did it anyway. Oh well, it's enough to keep me from eating something dumb again for the next few weeks....except cheesecake or homemade cookies(which aren't dumb).

Is it fair?

This afternoon about 3pm our cable goes out. Suddenly I have no TV and no internet. It just so happens that I was actually in the middle of doing something important, searching for stuff on the internet to fulfill my calling as RS Enrichment leader, and I was really on a role. And poof just like that...I had nothing, except children complaining that there was no TV to watch(that in and of itself was not such a bad thing). OK, I can deal with this, surely I'll be able to get back to work after supper. So I get my creative juices going and the kids and I find other things to do. Then I make supper. Supper is enjoyed by all, especially Kymberly. To show her appreciation for the meal(spaghetti), she wiped her hands clean in her hair....alright, everyone in the tub! While the kids are bathing, I check to see if the cable is back up. It is not. OK, no problem. The kids get out of the tub, get in their PJ's and then one by one they all have a complete meltdown. Bedtime comes an hour early tonight. Surely the computer will be back online now. NOPE. I can deal with this. While the kids scream themselves to sleep, I waste time playing solitaire games on the computer. The kids are asleep...at least not screaming, but I continue to waste time on the computer, playing around with pictures....still not connection. I really should have been cresting some jersey's, I have a closet full of them to get done, plus two brides maid dresses and a few other projects, but I tell myself I have time, after all I already completed four jersey's today. And then at about 8:45pm I notice out of the corner of my eye that all the lights are lit up, and I am once again connected. I check the TV, only to find out that the some of the channel numbers have changed...crap! How am I supposed to find my shows? Not only that, but I discover that we have about 10 less channels than we had before. With our small town cable company we enjoyed a whopping 40 channels, I think we are now down to 30, and one of those missing channels is our favorite, HGTV, what will we do with out Holmes on Homes? Another one I have noticed is Movie Central. I haven't yet had time to find out what else has changed, but I am a little bit annoyed, for a number of reasons.
#1 We were not given any notice that these changes were going to happen, a small courtesy don't you think?
#2 Like I mentioned before, some channel numbers have changed, now I have to figure out where everything is.
#3 We are getting less channels, but yet, we just received our cable bill for the year, and guess what? We are paying five dollars more a month!!! WHAT? does this make sense to anyone?
Daniel already suspects that one day we will be alerted to the fact that our little small town cable company is actually stealing the signal form someone bigger, and we will be out of our "cable club fee" plus our monthly payments. That would be kinda funny, in a not so funny way.

A Year of Firsts

The year 2008 was a year of firsts for us in our new house. We took possession on    January 4, but didn’t spend our first night in our house until the 7th. That night Tansley was sick, and vomited a few times...fun stuff. Daniel had given her a quick shower in the middle of the night, and noticed that water was kinda bubbling up in the drain, so he had stuffed a towel down in the drain. Tuesday, January 8th was Kathryn’s first day of kindergarten at her new school. That morning, after giving the kids a bath, we discovered the water had backed up in the basement. It was a good thing Daniel had stuffed the towel in the drain, it could have been a lot worse. Nothing like water all over your new laundry room(luckily not all over our carpeted family room and only a little in the girls room) to welcome you to your new house. We didn’t have the phone hooked up yet, so Daniel took care of getting someone to fix our little problem from work. It was a fun day. Luckily for us things only got better from that day on.

                              
From the day we knew the house was really going to be ours I was already looking forward to all of the first we would enjoy that year. Spring, Summer, Birthdays, Fall, Halloween and most of all Christmas. But I tried to not look to far forward, and enjoy each new experience in our very own  first house.

Winter didn't hit in our part of the world until well into January. But when it did it didn't go away. Though we got a lot of snow, Milk River seemed to be the stopping point for all of snow blowing around the prairies, it didn't ever get really cold(not at all like it has this winter). I learned pretty quickly that shoveling the long drive in the back and the sidewalks and the driveway to the garage was quite a work out. But it gave a girls an excuse to come out and play in the snow.

As winter melted into spring, we enjoyed going for walks around our new town. We walked to the library weekly, frequent trips to the grocery store (which then delivered my groceries to me for free!!), and walks to the post office to pick up the mail. During these walks the girls began thier rock collection, which would come in handy in the summer. We also enjoyed watching Milk River come to life, but not as much as we loved watching our yard come to life. Many people had told us that we would be in for a treat when our yard bloomed, because the lady that lived in the house previous to the lady we bought it from, was an avid gardener and had planted the yard full of perennials. They were right. We had fun.

In May we celebrated Tansley's 3rd birthday by inviting all of our family both the Court side and the Forsyth side out to our house for a wiener roast and of course to show off our fabulous new house. The weather cooperated nicely and we were able to enjoy our nice big yard. My dad and mom help me identify some of the plants that were coming up in our yard. It was a great day.

As summer began to creep up on us, we tried to get our very own vegetable garden spot ready. That was a lot of work. We were late getting our garden in because the weather was not cooperating. But we did it...and look forward to not having to do all of the prep work next year.

Summer was everything I had hoped it would be in our new place. Our yard was beautiful! We loved to be outside as much as possible. We played in the pool, we ran through sprinklers, we weeded the gardens, we played games, we laid in the sun, we built forts, the girls sold Koolaid and painted rocks(remember the rock collection), we enjoyed ourselves. The flowers that bloomed were amazing.

These are just a very small sample of the flowers we saw bloom in our yard. Kymberly turned 1 on July 31. We celebrated her birthday in Waterton with a tonne of Paxman family a few days early. On her real birthday we stayed at home and celebrated with just our little family. In August, we got to ride on the Church float for Bonanza Days!

The girls loved every minute of it.

The green of summer blended into the yellows and oranges of fall. And oh how beautiful the world was. We had bags and bags of leaves to rake. But it wasn't a task, or a terrible job. Kathryn would come home from school and ask if she could rake leaves. In fact for Kathryn's 6th birthday party in September, if I hadn't planned anything the kids would have been fine with just playing in the leaves for two hours. So we played abbreviated games and then I let them go to town in the leaves.

Our harvest was amazing, for the most part, especially considering that we got a late start. We are still eating fresh carrots from our garden and will be for the next few months.

And even though we had to pick our tomatoes while they were still green to save them from frost, they ripened nicely in the safety of our garage and I was able to make plenty of delicious salsa.

Halloween was super fun, the weather was actually nice this year, kids going around with our jackets on. We had decorated our house all up, pumpkin leaf bags and spider leaf bags all over the yard (we didn't have a shortage of leaves). Daniel took the girls out trick or treating and Kymberly and I stayed behind to hand out candy. I like Halloween in a small town. I look forward to doing it again, but we've learned a thing or two and next time we are going to have on of the best Halloween houses in town.

The dullness of fall, once all the leaves were gone and everything was just brown, seemed to go on for ever and ever. But then in the middle of December, winter hit, and hit hard. Temperatures plummeted to -39C (-45C with the windchill). The snow came, and came and came. This is the first time in years that we have enjoyed a white Christmas. Christmas was the season most of all that I looked forward to in our new house.

I looked forward to decorating our house. To putting up the Christmas tree. To playing in the snow. To hosting Christmas festivities at our house. Oh it was all so glorious. And we had the snow to go with it. The weather even cooperated and it was only about -16C(give or take a few degrees) for Christmas eve, Christmas day and Boxing day. We were able to play in the snow. Daniel created an ice rink in our back yard...he's pretty proud of it. I have to admit, I wasn't sure if it was going to work out. But take a look, I think it is pretty impressive.

So now it has been a whole year. Today marks one full year living in this house. To celebrate in away, the chinook came in and moisten the snow so that we could actually build something. So Tansley and I went outside while Kymberly was napping and we built two snowmen.

Something the kids have being dying to do since it has started snowing but the snow has been to dry. It was a good thing we went out and did it when we did (It was +7C), because now it is cold again, the wind has turned cold and it is trying to snow again.
It has been a great year! I look forward to this coming year and all the fun that will be had in this wonderful house. It already feels like we've lived here forever, in a good way. We have made some wonderful friends, we love our small little ward. We have been so blessed, and have seen the hand of the Lord at work in bringing us to this place.