game day and gadgets

tomorrow, all 6 of us will be heading off to the football stadium to watch the Edmonton Eskimos take on the Saskatchewan Roughriders and we are soooo excited!!
We love our football at this house and to have the chance to watch these 2 teams play live and in person is going to be a blast! Especially since Brian is the only Eskimo fan! Well, we all are actually EXCEPT when they play the Roughriders! So, again this year, the 5 of us will be wearing our Rider Pride and Brian will be in his Esks shirt. My Aunt and Cousin as well as another Uncle and Cousin will be joining us...we all went together last year and had a blast hootin and hollerin! Oh and our neighbors are coming too! Check back for the pics...the boys have picked out some crazy things to wear to the game!!

You know you are domesticated when you get excited over things that make your life as a Mom and housewife easier...girls... I have to tell you...I am in love with my new Swiffer sweeper vac. It's a rechargable vacuum with swiffer duster cloth. It has a reusable filter and it's safe for laminate, hardwood, ceramic tile, linoleum...basically any floor surface other than carpet. Seriously, no Mom should be without this! I couldn't believe how much it picked up from my floor...chunks of food from under the table, scraps of paper from my scrapbooking mess...it's awesome! Go out and get yourself one!!

here are some of the Disney layouts I have done.






and this one just because...it's a song that is very special to us and I wanted to make sure I documented it for the boys...not that I think any of them will forget.
It's the story of how the song, "I'm Already There" by Lonestar came to be known as "The Daddy Song" Most of you know that Brian is on the road a lot with his work...even more so since we started our own company last year. The lyrics to this song, pretty much describe our life to a T and after the first time the boys heard it (7 years ago) they gave it a new name...to this day, whenever they hear this song, they say, "hey, it's the Daddy song"...if you are not familiar with it, here is a link to the video on youtube I'm Already There



and with that, I'm outta here.

two tags...one post

So I've been tagged by Carole

The Nitty Gritty details:

It’s a random tag and here are the rules!
1. Link to the person who ‘tagged’ you!
2. Post the rules on your blog!
3. List 6 random facts about yourself!
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post!
5. Let each person know they have been tagged by commenting on their blog!
6. Let the tagger know the entry is posted on your blog!

here they are:
1. I don't wear pink!
2. I went to a Micheal Jackson concert in Vancouver when I was in grade 5!
3. I carried the torch at the '88 Olympics with a friend of the family
4. I am very passionate about what I believe in and am not afraid to stand up for it.
5. I will crank the music up really loud and sing along if I am alone in the van.
6. I love the smell of fresh cut grass.

now to tag 6 people...hmmm I tag: Stacy, Sherri, Mona, Deborah, Nicole and Teri-Lynn


Also, Joce, was so sweet and gave me this award


The rules of this award:
1. Only 5 people allowed.
2. 4 have to be dedicated followers of your blog
3. one has to be someone new or recently new to your blog and live in another part of the world.
4. you must link back to whoever gave you the award. Quite simple really it is a way of saying thank you to those who take time out for wonderful comments to boost your day.
It's hard to choose only 5!!

I would love to pass this award on to:
Heike, Mona, Sherri, Julie and Stacy


We've been pretty busy lately but those details will follow in the next post!

I'm outta here!

hit the road Zack...

Zack passed his learners test today...on the first try and I tossed him the keys and let him drive me home!!
The pic is of him parked in the driveway cause he refused me bringing the camera with us to the registry place!



Let's just say, I was a bit nervous. He did ok till it was time to pull in the driveway...I thought for sure he was taking out the front of my van with the basketball hoop...lol!!! It's not as easy at it looks and I think he knows that now but that's why we will practice lots...around town and in empty parking lots...lol!!!

bittersweet moments

Gavin learned how to ride a 2 wheeler today!!
He just decided he was ready so I took the training wheels off and we headed over to the basketball court (I taught the other boys how to ride on one too cause the concrete has a bit more give). The whole family decides to come and cheer him on.
So we get there, I hold the bike for him to get his foot on, tell him to start with the pedal that's on the top and off he goes.






Just like that. We were all shocked it was that easy for him.
I was a bit sad...this is just one more thing that I won't do that "one more time" like it's been up till now.
In no time at all he was trying to lay skid marks on the concrete...even stopping a few times to get off his bike and have a look...lol! Yeppers...he's all boy!!

A few other details to share but I'll wait till the next post...this one is all about Gavin and his accomplishment today!

some layouts to share

been awhile since I shared anything scrappy...these are a few recent pages. I am still going to upload the rest of the character pages from our trip so you can see them too!










I am hoping to do some more scrapping soon now that the patio is finally built! Brian will be gone for 10 days so I should have some time to be one with my stash and get a few layouts done or even other projects completed! If I don't get any done before he comes home for a week, I won't have time as we'll be tackling more house and yard jobs while he's home.
So the patio...I can't wait to show it to you..you have to wait till we get the dirt pile out of the way and I get some planters put around it and finish making it purty! We are in love with it...the pattern the bricks were laid in Brian designed and our friend (from now on I'll call him Superman...lol) had never seen before in his 11 years of working with paving stones. We'd just be finishing it I'm sure if we hadn't had the help we did! I seriously have a new found appreciation for what he does for a living...it's a talent there's no doubt about it! After we were done, we celebrated with a steak dinner on the patio...it's so nice to have a place now rather than the lawn! Next year...we'll do it all over again as we make a space for our hot tub! (just kidding...we're building a wood deck to go around that! We'll never do a project of this magnitude again!)
So, in some ways,we took a step or two back with the mess we made building the patio but it'll be totally worth it when it all comes together next year!

Not much else to share...we've been consumed by this backyard project we haven't done too much else since my last post.
The boys and I are thinking about heading to my Mom's for a few days while Brian is away and then meet back up with him on his next set of days off...not sure I want to travel for 8 hours...alone...with 4 kids and a dog! But we'll see.

So, I guess, that's it for now.
Over and out!

catching up

Alrighty, so the end of June was really busy with year end stuff and helping the older 2 prepare for exams...I am very pleased to report that all of the boys are moving on the next grade in the fall and with pretty darn good grades I might add!
We survived all the crazy scheduling that often required me to be in more than one place at almost the exact same time but I managed to catch everything the boys were doing...recorder recitals, mini games day, track and field and class parties!

So far, the first week of summer vacation has gone pretty well...the first few days I thought I'd end up the town drunk if the boys kept up their behavior...seems that we have all adjusted to being home together during the day!

We were lucky enough to have Brian come home a day early last week...that meant 6 whole days and nights of him being home! I can't tell ya what that does for all of us. The boys were sooo excited but...it just made it that much harder yesterday when he had to leave :( Gavin said to me this morning, "Wasn't it so fun having Dad home Mom"...I darn near cried! The good news is, there might be some changes for our family that will have Brian here. Please keep your fingers crossed for us!

We had an absolutely fantastic Canada Day...started out with the whole family getting decked out in red and white and walking uptown to watch the parade...





these are the only ones I can show that just have my family in them or floats that don't give away where I live (ya know for those creepers that might stalk my blog...lol)

Later in the afternoon, we hosted a bbq with 28 people attending...I can't tell you how much fun this was! We provided all the food and non alcoholic beverages and I had some games planned and a prize for every kid...they loved it! I wish I could show you pics but I don't have permission from the guests to post them on the net so I'll have to show you the yummy patriotic desserts I made...



I finally put the maple leaf cookie cutter I bought 3 years ago to good use...



we were able to sit by the fire in our backyard and watch the fireworks...managed to get s couple of snapshots that turned out...




Brian parents were here for a few days, it was nice to see them. They bought themselves a trailer so they stayed at a campground in town and we went to spend some time with them at their site yesterday...all that did was get us all back on the camping band wagon. I've been looking at trailers for hours on the net!

Our patio was not built during the time Brian was home..the bobcat has been delayed till late this week or early next! I want this job done soooo bad...can't wait to show you all when it's done! We did manage to get a few other yard things done but I won't share it till we're done! That way, you'll get the whole picture.

We've been spending quite a bit of time hanging out by the pool and just enjoying not having anything to rush off too...hope you are able to enjoy some down time too!

I should go...my to do list for the day was pretty long...now I can scratch 'update blog" off the list...lol!!

I'm outta here!

True Patriot Love

Happy Canada Day everyone!
We're hosting a bbq with about 30 people today!
The pool is up and ready, all the prizes are bought for the games we'll play, food is outta control and all my decorations are good to go!
We'll be attending the parade this morning and then getting ready to kick back and enjoy some fun and friendship!

I'll blog again soon with how the last part of June was and what we've been up to so far since the kids got out of school! And of course, I'll share some pics from today!!