"If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will -- to your surprise -- miss them profoundly."

--Thomas S. Monson, 2009







Sunday, August 26, 2012

Summer.....we love you!


This has been a really fun and busy summer for us.  On top of our trip, we have filled the days with a lot of great things that will be missed as summer comes to a close...



Putting the sprinkler under the trampoline is always a hit:




There were so many hailstorms!  We got this one on video.   It was especially neat with the beautiful rainbow in the background:



Izzy and Lily enjoyed the STARS basketball camp.  They were happy to get their own new basketball, waterbottle, and t shirt.  They are anxiously waiting for their certificates to come in the mail.  They love to check the mailbox everyday.



Something new to us this summer was bike riding!  Ben and I finally got some bikes and all of the girls learned how to ride 2 wheelers, even Chloe.  She worked so hard in the spring and has loved riding her bike everyday in the summer.  We got this little Wee Ride seat for Olivia, so it makes it easy to go on longer bike rides with everyone.  They love riding to playgrounds and Sobey's to get a treat the most.

This picture was taken one day at my parents house:



Olivia learned how to ride a big girl bike with the training wheels!  She loves the new doll bike seat and doll helmet we got for her birthday:




The girls always LOVE to go to Nana and Grandpa's house and see them and the dogs:


Grandpa Herget celebrated his 64th birthday this summer:



I celebrated my 31st!  I woke up to these beauties thanks to my wonderful husband:


We had family reunions too!  One with the Anderson clan here in our neck of the woods!  We camped in High River and went to the Big Rock and floating down the Highwood River. 

We also had a fun reunion with the Mossey family at Lake Newel again.  It was so much fun.  I unfortunately didn't get any pictures of that day. 




What would a summer be like without a lemonade stand?  They were charging 15 cents a glass, and a friendly construction worker said they were underpricing the lemonade and gave them $7 for 7 cups.  When he was walking over, Chloe yelled out, "Quick, take your seats!  We have a real, ALIVE, customer!"  It was pretty cute. 



As I was cleaning out all of the girls old school stuff, I came across this little gem.  It is sweet to read Lily's perspective of everything.  My favorite parts are when she writes, "We value every Monday we have Family Home Evening."  And also, "We celebrate Christmas, Easter, birthday, Halloween, Valentines, and loose-tooths."  haha!


Loose tooths indeed!  Lily has lost about 4 teeth this summer.  And oddly enough, Rory too!  Here they are together with their missing teeth.  They are quite the inseparable pair:


It was a summer of new babies too!  Sweet baby Meila was born in July:


It was fun to meet her:


Here is a cute video I got one day at Grandpa's house, where he is playing with all the grandkids:




These pictures make me laugh.  Olivia has this bad habit of always coming into our bed in the middle of the night.  Well a few times I would wake up to her sprawled all over Ben.  I took a few pictures.

Here they are one morning we were camping:




And one morning on our trip in the hotel:


And one morning in our bed.  OH-livia!


The girls have fun baking and cooking with me.  Lily says it is one of her favourite things to do:




One night it was so quiet, and I came to see all 4 of them quietly and nicely brushing their teeth before bed.  It was a cute sight so I snapped a picture:



Izzy was doing this another night and asked me to take a video.  It is pretty funny!




 Happy Summer!

We just found out a few days ago, we are moving back to Edmonton!  Little did we know this was going to be our last summer in Calgary.  We have really loved Calgary these last 3 years, and will miss it so much.  At the same time though, we look forward to what the future holds.  Edmonton, here we come!


Saturday, August 11, 2012

Olivia's 3rd Birthday!


Olivia is 3!  It was a little tricky for her to show 3 fingers...


After Disneyland she of course loves Minnie Mouse and requested a Minnie cake and a Minnie balloon.  Here she is the night before with her balloon waiting for her:


And the next morning!  She was really happy!


Here are the cupcakes I made the night before, after the kids went to bed. 


They turned out pretty good!  Normal sized Oreos and mini Oreos were used.  The girls all loved them.




Excited for presents!  All day the girls kept asking when it was time for the presents...


Playing on her trike while waiting to go to Calaway Park:



SO excited to go to Calaway...


We got there right as the gates opened.  I've never had such a good parking spot, haha.


She got to meet and hug the bunny right away:



They all loved the Haunted House.  We are all saying, "oooooo!"



We split up and Ben took the older girls on some big rides while we enjoyed the carousel...



The airplanes (Chloe of course got the green!)...




And the balloon ride!  I look quite snug in there, haha!  


This ride goes up and down and turns and you can spin it if you want.  Thankfully for me, Chloe did NOT want to spin it at all.

Olivia really loved this ride, she started giggling and was loving it the whole time.  I got a little video:


The little train...


Even Lily could still ride it!  Izzy was a smidgen too tall, but that made her able to ride the rides she preferred more like the roller coaster and the Ocean Motion.  


Olivia loved the little Ocean Motion too!



The Aeromax with Daddy....



The Cloud Ride...



They wanted to go again, this time with Dad...



The Little Roller Coaster was fun for them too.  Chloe is quite serious and was clinging onto the bar for dear life.  Olivia on the other hand was happy to put her hands in the air:




Lily loved the big Swings better, but was still happy to go on the little ones with Olivia.  Lily went on the big Swings 3 times!




Olivia talked about this ride a lot.  Apparently there was a horn you could honk AND a steering wheel.  






Rory and Brayden met up with us!



Don't worry she didn't pick these, they had already fallen on the ground!


The Bumper Boats were a nice way to cool off!


Brayden and Izzy squirting Janae and Chloe:




Chloe and Olivia refused to go on the Log Ride, so I took them to the Eggies instead:



Izzy and Brayden after the Roller Coaster:


Brayden about to go on the spinniest ride ever:



He was a little wobbly after:


I went on the Ocean Motion with them after, and sat across from them to take a picture.  Brayden was blocked so only Izzy is in the picture.  You gotta love the reactions on everyone's faces!


Watching the outdoor dance show:



They let all the kids join in:





Cotton candy for the ride home!


Zonked out within minutes:


We did the cake and presents at Nana and Grandpa's after.  Olivia was grumpy from falling asleep in the car.  She gave a little smile after!



A little smile!


Everyone!


Present time!  She loved the Minnie Mouse dolls from Nana+Grandpa and Sue, Kelly and Robbie!  Also she loves the little wagon we got for her, and has been playing with it non stop.





Happy Birthday dear Olivia!  We love you so much!