Friday, September 28, 2012

Baby Love

Babies grow up too fast.
It happens every time.
I like big kids too... but babies?
There's not much like being someone's Mommy.
Someone small and tiny who NEEDS me.
Someone who loves me no matter what.
Someone with soft cheeks who doesn't mind obsessive amounts of kisses..




Now she kisses me back.
Little dolly.
So thankful for all the years I have been given to soak up the baby stage with each of my sweet kids.
Excited for each new stage but my oh my do I love a little baby.


That's my thought for the night after a super long week.
Homeschool, dance, food prep, hockey, clean up, repeat.
Crazytown!

Trying to slow down and cherish the little people:)


Monday, September 24, 2012

Maybe Not So Cultured...Yet


This weekend we drove JD to the airport in Bellingham, WA.

{JD is Mike's buddy from Ohio.  He came to visit for three weeks.}


While we were close, we took the opportunity to stay at our favourite hotel in Vancouver.
The River Rock!



Enjoying the sunset after a swim.
{okay honestly tho, they were freezing and totally not into it, I forced this picture!}




The next morning we took to the streets of Vancouver, headed for the Art Museum.
I was so excited to see the Matisse exhibit.




My family is a bit unconventional.


Ya they don't really play by the rules.



Love visiting the "big city"!





Apparently it was a bit loud for Bria!


We say "came-bee"
This street is "cam-bee".



So right off the bat, the kids notice a gigantic copy of Blue Nude.
Ya. 
I guess I didn't really think this one through.

Pretty much they were traumatized by their first sight at the museum.



Then there were the three C's.
{Caleb-Caity-Cambria}
"Quiet", "calm" and "don't touch" are not words in their vocabularies.

And we were at the art museum.
Mike spent most of the visit out front with the small fries.



But I loved the exhibit.
I was an art history minor in College and I still really enjoy it.
I can't quite put together a fancy enough sentence to express my thoughts here.
Simply?
I miss being able to look at, ponder, study and appreciate art.
I guess I thought taking the kids to see some of my favourite artist's work would inspire all of us.


The big girls did stand and ponder this one for a while.


Mikayla really liked this one.


Right about here is when a guy in a suit jacket with an earpiece came up and told me to stop taking pictures.

Awesome.
It wasn't the loud 3 year old or the boy-who-has-to-touch-everything that got us busted at the museum.
It was miss art history minor herself.
Culture fail.
For the most part anyways.
I felt a glimmer of interest from a few of the girls and I am hopeful that we still have a future in art appreciation:)


Friday, September 21, 2012

Insta-Friday Homeschool Edition

The first three weeks of school are coming to a close.
I am taking a deep breath.

It was all about...


Wednesday tea and treats 


cute and very distracting little girls


breakfast, lunch, dinner, repeat



Waldo finding


Mommy decompressing


Family bio contest winning
{at the homeschool picnic}


Cute nephew visits


moody three year old moments



favourite dress wearing


fun times with JD
{our visitor for 3 weeks from Ohio}



desperate attempts to cling to a schedule
crazy frantic teacher-mommy
{followed by realizations that I'm a little bit high-strung and need to tone it down a bit}


Baby finding opportunities to get into things while I am teaching


Baby being cute


kid photoshoot


laundry pile-ups


ballet dancing babies


creative play dough playing at snack time
{yuck}


Friends over for an afternoon


spending gobs of time and cash at the dance store


moving to the next level in dance.
{making the time and effort and cash all worth it}





Thursday, September 20, 2012

Thursday Hike: Paul's Tomb

It's so beautiful in Kelowna.
This 20th day of September was especially gorgeous.
And warm.

Just captured a few moments from our Thursaday morning "field trip"...




So fun that Mike has the flexibility to do these things with us during the week!



JD (our houseguest for 3 weeks) is very fun.


The crew.



Mikayla stayed home to get caught up on work.





Buddies!


We kinda like pink.


Cambria has been a bit stand-off-ish toward JD.
She is starting to warm up:)



These two are always joking around:)



FRIENDS!
You should come visit us.  
We live in a remarkable place!
We would love to share it with you!!