Mikayla's Baking Party

Our oldest girl turns 9 tomorrow. Today we celebrated her with a fun baking party. If you click the picture below it will take you to the album!!



Mikayla chose this theme over a year ago. She was very involved in a lot of the decisions which was fun and also a good challenge for me who happens to be a little bit on the controlling side...okay, a lot on the controlling side! The girls were able to do a lot on their own and it was really fun to see all their own creativity come out! That makes me so happy!! Mikayla is growing up so fast. I love my beautiful, responsible, intelligent, intense big girl!! Stay tuned for pics of her "real day" tomorrow. Tonight I am DONE and off to bed!!!

Bum Burping

Caleb is well on his way to being potty trained- Yipee!! Every new stage that our boy comes to is familiar as we have done it all 3 times before him but it is also drastically different. It is so fun to see the world through the eyes of a little boy this time!! Potty training differences have been funny; we can't say "panties" anymore, the pee goes EVERYWHERE, he feels the need to take everything off when ever he is in the bathroom, and did I mention the pee goes EVERYWHERE?

As Caleb is becoming more aware of his body and all the cool things he can do with it, he likes to inform us. The other day he farted and I asked if he needed to go potty. He shook his head and simply replied "No, me just burpin' out me bum"

Dad turns 60!

In two weeks Mike's Dad turns 60. Terri and Matt are going to Dominican Republic for two weeks so we celebrated early. We went to an awesome restaurant and had a really nice dinner. It was all family and we still took up half of the place! It was a great night!

The kids made a book for Grandpa and they read their messages out loud.

Cheers!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!! Can we help you eat that now?

Basketball in Kamloops

After the birthday party, the family packed up and drove to Kamloops to watch Brian play basketball. Mike and Caleb and Mike's dad have been driving to Vancouver almost every weekend of the season to support Brian. This is his last year playing and the guys do not want to miss out! The 2 hour drive to Kamloops as opposed to the 4 hour drive to Vancouver made it possible for EVERYONE to come!

The FAM at the game :) Everyone is here...that's harder to do these days! We should just make this the Christmas card!!

The "other team's" mascot was quite friendly! Caleb was terrified of him.

Maddie is our videographer! She loves to videotape.

Terri captured this adorable picture that is SO Maddie!

The team

Brian shooting. He was the leading scorer, we were so proud!

Brian's team, the Trinity Western Spartans (where I went to college, too :) won the game.

Oh- exciting news- the other team even had cheerleaders!! I would say they rivaled a mediocre high school squad in the US but I was glad to see them there and in their defense, they were swimming up stream trying to excite an un-excitable crowd, er, country. I love Canada but the majority are lacking any passion for sporting events. At least the events I have attended... Perhaps they save their enthusiasm for hockey?

Party Time

Saturday was my cute nephew's 4th birthday. Tammy threw him an adorable beach themed birthday. The kids fished for prizes, played pin the surfer on the wave, dug for treasures in sand and ate the cutest lunch ever.

Living in the same town as all of Mike's siblings and watching our kids grow up with their special cousins and enjoying times like these makes me so thankful that we live here!

Tammy made a "scuba guy" cake...Ethan's special request!

Maddie and Caleb watching Ethan open their gift.

An octopus on a bed of shells for lunch!!

Growing Up So Fast!!

I forgot to mention a big event in Banman Land...Maddie lost her second tooth! Kinda sad how the milestones that are such a huge deal with the first child get lost amongst the busyness with the second, third, fourth... At any rate, Maddie is thrilled with the "big hole" in her mouth and the shiny looney in her wallet (American translation: tooney= $2 coin).

I am once again struck with how quickly our children are growing up! Maddie has no evidence of "baby" left behind, she is all big girl. Part of me wants time to stand still so I can always have little tiny cute people around that need me but another larger, more realistic part of me can't wait to see all the stages to come!

Missing Boy

The other night Mike went in to turn the kids' night lights off and this was the scene...

Missing boy...where is Caleb? We tucked him in at bedtime in his bed but he's gone!?

Found Boy! looks like he just needed a little extra comfort! He tucked himself in with his biggest sister! She does not seem to mind at all :)

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Family Wedding

We just got home today from an awesome week in Minnesota. Why Minnesota?? Because that is where my brother Eric's new wife Sarah is from and this past weekend they were married in this beautiful setting in downtown Minneapolis' Como Park Conservatory.

Click on this picture to see the entire album on Facebook :)

This trip was our first opportunity to meet Sarah because she is also in the US Air Force over in Germany. It was great to get to know her and see them interact as a couple. I am so glad they decided to get married in the States so that we could be a part of their day and also meet her and her family!!

One of the highlights for me was that my little guy was the ring bearer! He was so cute in his little vest. Here he is looking a little nervous as he gets his boutonniere pinned on.

Here he is in action...and Mike too, as the best man!

We did a lot of other fun things while in Minnesota. Our hotel was really close to the Mall of America which was a dream come true for me, a worst nightmare for Mike (and Caleb). The boys were troopers though and we managed to meet in the middle with some shopping and some "other" fun; trick or treating, roller coasters, mini golf, aquarium, movies, swimming...

Click on the picture to see the whole album!

Mailee's Joyful Celebration

click on picture to see the album of party photos!!

Birthdays are such a great time to reflect on a person and what they mean to you! Today was Mailee's 7th birthday. We had a big All American Cheerleader party for her. She was completely in her element cheering away with a smile from ear to ear. It got me thinking how appropriate that party theme was for her and also how well her middle name (Joy) describes her. Mailee is the cheerleader in our crew. She is happy and cheerful and encouraging. She is always excited for others and she bounds through life feeling glad!

When Mailee was opening her gifts, it struck me that she has a thankful heart as she was genuinely thrilled with each gift and took the time to stop and thank each friend before she moved on to the next gift. She spent minutes just reading the cards, she savors every moment in life!

I am so proud of the sweet and precious girl that Mailee has grown into. Three years ago at Mailee's 4th birthday, she barely spoke two words the entire day! She was so painfully shy. She has grown into a social girl and has chosen some really sweet friends. I love my little Mailee Mai so much. She is such a gift of JOY!

Here's a video of Mailee and her friends performing a cheer!

A Few Randoms

I stole this photos off of my sister's Facebook album to share with all of you :) I guess that kind of makes me like Robin Hood, stealing something just to share it....although that would have to mean that you, the readers, are lacking photographs to look at...ha ha, there goes that analogy!

How sweet!

Wow, big family!

This is the day after Mailee's eye got "bonked" on the trampilone...it's not too bad at this point...

Pumpkin Patch

For the last two weekends we have enjoyed the fun at a farm about 45 minutes out of town. It was so great last weekend, we came back for more! The weather was so beautiful today.

Check out that sky!!

Here are some highlights...

An update on Mailee's eye: here she is today, happy as ever. Her eye keeps changing colors! She has gotten a lot of attention! Next weekend is her birthday. I have a feeling she will not be 100% free of the black eye by then...

Mikayla and me enjoying a very cool place!

Caleb...digging. Some things never change :) I really like this picture!

Auntie Terri suggested that they make silly faces..how cute! Terri took lots of photos with her awesome camera, can't wait to see them!!!

First Shiner!

Mikayla and Mailee collided on the trampoline on Thanksgiving...I'd say Mailee took the brunt of it, what do you think?

Oops! Sorry little sister!

My little Mai Mai has the best attitude! Even with her big black eye she is Smiley Mailee!

She now holds the tiltles of "kid with the worst chicken pox" in our family AND "first kid to get a shiner". She's on a roll!!

Check out all those amazing colors!!

I got Mailee a new water bottle for her birthday but I felt so bad for her, i gave it to her early:) Tonight we "bedazzled" it!!