Adventures with Roy

Gianna's 3rd Birthday

2011-10-29T18:41:00.000-06:00

Gianna wanted a teddy bear picnic for her birthday, with chocolate cupcakes and brown icing. This was the compromise we came up with :)
The kids made bear ears and I attempted to paint their faces like bears, and then they got to have a picnic with strawberries and jello, as that's what Gianna informed me bears eat at a picnic. It was nice to have a bit quieter party than we've had for Linaya's birthday, although we missed a few friends and cousins.

At 3, Gianna is a very energetic and determined girl. She is loving swimming lessons and can float on her back, as long as she can still feel the bottom with her fingertips. She loves to draw, paint, colour, cut, and whatever other crafty stuff Linaya can do. We haven't worked on letters really, but occasionally she surprises me by drawing a letter "A" or something to show me. I've been enjoying getting some more one-on-one time with Gianna while Linaya is in kindergarten, and she's been along to help with some house decisions, even picking out the rock to go on the house. While she loves to pick on her sister when she gets tired, generally she's a very happy girl and a lot of fun. Some of her favorite things are the "moosum" (otherwise known as the Western Development Museum), Dora, Sheepy, going to Sheila's house, and picking up Linaya from school.

Our house

2011-10-16T20:13:00.005-06:00

Near the beginning of the summer, we started to think about building a new house. We like acreage life, we kind of already owned a lot, and Roy has always wanted to build. We started browsing house plans and researching the process. Fast forward nearly 5 months, and tomorrow, if the good Lord's willing and the creek don't rise, excavation will begin. The plan is to get the excavation and footings done tomorrow. Yesterday we went out to stake out where we want the house, and today my parents had the idea of a sod-turning. So, Mom and Dad, Robert and Melissa and kiddos, and our family went and hung out at the new place for a while. The kids had a great time digging in the dirt, and we took pictures. Here are the official ones.

From oct11

Stay tuned for progress reports!

As an aside, Roy went duck hunting yesterday, and the girls got to help him cook "duck bites" for supper, after watching him clean it earlier. (Duck bites are basically bacon-wrapped duck. Very tasty. Can you go wrong with anything wrapped in bacon?)

From oct11

Beaver Creek

2011-10-16T20:03:00.004-06:00

Last Sunday we went for a walk at Beaver Creek Conservation Area. It is an area of more or less unbroken prairie, with an interpretive center and hiking trails. In the fall they give you a little packet of sunflower seeds to feed the chickadees. Here are a couple of my favorite photos from the outing.

From oct11

Harvest

2011-09-01T17:21:00.000-06:00

We were glad to get in on a weekend of combining last week. Robert and Melissa have been helping Dad and Mom with harvest this year. It's been quite a good canola crop. Roy learned to combine for a while, and the rest of us got some rides in. While waiting for the combine, Robert found quite the treasure :) The kids were all enthralled with the deer skull, except for Abby who was much more enthralled with the dirt :)

From our deck

2011-09-01T17:12:00.000-06:00

I couldn't believe how incredible the rainbow was one evening, I must have about 25 pictures of it! It just kept getting better and better! At one point there was a complete arch with 2 complete rainbow layers, with a 2nd complete arch above it a ways. Parts of it would get brighter or start to fade, it was spectacular!
The girls have had quite the introduction to wildlife living out here that we don't get in the city. There is a glass railing around the deck and this bird must have flown into it and injured its wing. There have been 4 other casualties this month besides this one :( It is nice to be able to show the girls a bird up close though, pointing out how intricately they are made. They've also got to see gophers up close, and a weasel.

Summer on the acreage

2011-09-01T16:52:00.001-06:00

While I'm posting, I'll get caught up with pictures a little. We've really been enjoying the acreage, with the flowers and the space to play and explore.

These last 2 photos are in the Butterfly house at the Forestry Farm.

Kindergarten!

2011-09-01T16:45:00.001-06:00

Linaya has been waiting for this day for months! She was thrilled to finally get to go to kindergarten.

Gianna was quite sad to leave her though, saying "But Mama, I LIKE Linaya!"
There were only 4 kids for the first day, and tomorrow all 19 will be there. Next Wednesday will be her first day on the bus. The report from Linaya is she has a new friend, made a picture, and played lots. She learned the Bonjour song and the Au revoir song, and they got to search for clothes for the bear on the bulletin board. She was so excited to tell us all about it!

A beautiful weekend

2011-05-08T17:52:00.002-06:00

We were able to go to Regina for a wedding this weekend, and while we were there we got some great pictures of the girls.

From may11

A highlight of the weekend for me was meeting up with my old roomie, Crystal, for a run and lunch.

From may11

Before we went to Regina, we got to attend a first birthday party for our friend Onupama, and I went over the day ahead to show Sabnam how to decorate a cake. I was quite happy with it.

From may11

Decorating

2011-04-01T08:43:00.002-06:00

I've been looking for a while for a duvet cover or bedspread for Gianna's room, and for bedskirts. On Tuesday I found some pillow shams on clearance that were just the kind of pattern I was looking for, however they don't carry the rest of the set anymore. So, I turned them into a duvet cover yesterday!

From mar11

I also bought an extremely cheap but ugly bedskirt that I'm going to modify to match, but that will have to wait till another day I think. I also have enough of both fabrics to make curtains, I think. The bedskirt will be white with the purple eyelet fabric as a ruffle around the lower half.

From mar11

The girls also found wall stickers on clearance quite a while back, and we finally put them up yesterday. I tried to find a balance between helping them make it look nice and letting them just do it, that was really hard for me! :P

From mar11

Our house

2011-04-01T08:40:00.003-06:00

It was such a nice day yesterday that we got out for a little puddle jumping walk. Hopefully these pictures will help anyone find our place who hasn't been here yet.
This is the view of our house down the driveway.

From mar11

This is the number sign Dad just put up at the end of the driveway.

From mar11

When you see this sign, turn right into our driveway just BEFORE the sign:

From mar11

And here are the cute kids that live at this house.

From mar11

Moved in

2011-03-25T21:13:00.002-06:00

We've been in the new house for 1 week now. I'm quite pleased that we're pretty much unpacked and starting to be able to find things. Now we're able to start enjoying being here, instead of just unpacking all the time. Here are a couple of pictures from the past week.
This is the view from our kitchen table, a beautiful sunrise while we ate breakfast.

From mar11

The girls had a picnic in the sunroom for lunch today.

From mar11

Linaya drew this at daycare the other day, I especially like the leprechaun :)

From mar11

We made cookies today, here are my helpers in our new kitchen

From mar11

More pictures of the house itself will come as we get things arranged how we like them better.

Day 30-a dream for the future

2011-03-17T06:27:00.001-06:00

Live Well

Day 29-hope, dreams, and plans for the next 365 days

2011-03-16T12:25:00.000-06:00

I know this is supposed to be deep and insightful but, with so much going on right now (we are supposed to move on the 19th), it is hard to think of anything but the move.

I hope we don't hate the acreage and dream and plan to have somewhere to live next year (as we are only house sitting for about a year).

Day 28-what's in my handbag/purse

2011-03-15T07:19:00.007-06:00

I don't have a handbag or purse. I could let this just be a short post, but I do have my backpack that I take to work. A lot of the stuff in there is biking related.

In the back pack is
Bike tools
Tire tubes (I used to get a lot of flats)
Rain coat and pants
Riding coat
Cold weather gear
Bike lights
Lunch
Clothes (in the summer)
Baby wipes (I don't know why)
A textbook (I wrote the final yesterday)
two sets of clamp pincers

Day 27-my worst habit

2011-03-14T07:18:00.007-06:00

Procrastination. I'll tell you the rest later.
Patience - I hate waiting and I hate being late.

Day 26-your week, in great detail

2011-03-13T07:13:00.010-06:00

During the weekdays, see the last post.
Saturdays we usually go for breakfast around 8:00 with the (breakfast) family
After breakfast we grocery shop and then we might go shopping for other stuff.
Saturdays are pretty different, in "running" season we go for our long runs, in winter we might go to the museum, or just hang out at home and relax.
Sunday - Church, Lunch, Nap, small group (formerly life group, now fish group)

You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear...

2011-03-12T15:18:00.004-06:00

But you can make some pretty cool Easter eggs out of a silk tie!

(Directions are found here )

I looked at Value Village for cheap ties, but they were all $3.99. So, we used some of Roy's! One was falling apart, and the other 2 were just ugly. The lady on the blog says the ugliest ties can make the coolest eggs, so we went for it!

We started with this:

And got this:

Day 25-your day, in great detail

2011-03-12T07:10:00.007-06:00

I am not a person who goes in to great detail. I like to keep things consise.

Wake up
Shower (shave in the shower)
Eat
Go to work
Work
Eat
depending on the day and time of year, exercise watch tv, run, bike
Sleep

Day 24-where I live

2011-03-11T07:07:00.009-06:00

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, for the next couple days. Then it will be just outside Saskatoon.

Day 23-a YouTube video

2011-03-10T06:54:00.017-06:00

I really like Literal Total Eclipse of the Heart. I know you can embed videos, but the link I have provided is the "Non-US" version, the "real" version is blocked in Canada, and he had to make a "cat" version. If you are in the US, he has a link to the real one.

I did not want to just link to a youtube video, because I thought of a great Ted talk that you should see. Well it isn't a Ted talk, but they linked to interesting youtube videos. So check out Bobby McFerrin , and when you are done that, Ted has some amazing things to see.

Day 22-a website

2011-03-09T06:50:00.001-06:00

Reddit.com is very interesting. My favourite section (called a subreddit) is IAMA where you can ask people with (usually) interesting lives questions (IAMA stands for I am a Ask Me Anything). Warning, they are sometimes nsfw (not safe for work).

Day 21-a recipe

2011-03-08T06:42:00.009-06:00

I love porridge for breakfast, and like steel cut oats, but they take so long to cook. So I present No Mess Crock Pot Steel Cut Oats

I don't want to plagiarize, so I am not going put the recipe here, you will have to follow the link. The summary is steel cut oats and water in a bowl, in a water bath, in a crock pot.

Day 20-a hobby of yours

2011-03-07T06:38:00.006-06:00

I have many hobbies, you should see all the sports equipment in my house (you should see the "dust" on a lot of it).

My main hobby is biking. I love to bike, and have a bike for almost every occasion (road, mountain, commuting). I have been riding a bike to work since I started there, and I relish the ride to and from work. On the weekends I like to take out my road bike and do some long fast rides. Once in a while I take out my mountain bike and ride some amazing trails by the river.

Day 19-a talent of yours

2011-03-06T06:34:00.003-06:00

I don't want to brag, but I am pretty average. That is my talent, I can be average. I can play most sports, but am not great, but not bad. I can do most hobbies, but am not an expert. With most things I can get by and look like I know what I am doing. Sometimes that is not a good thing, because they think you know more than you do

Day 18-my wedding/future wedding/past wedding

2011-03-05T07:16:00.027-06:00

Our wedding was interesting, and makes me laugh at how simple it was. "Oh sure Roy", you say, "it was simple, you are the guy and I am sure Monica was pulling out her hair". Let me put your mind at ease by saying, I am the bald one here.

We got married in a month. Monica had a dream (a literal dream, not like Martin Luther King Jr.), that we got married over the university February break. When she told me about her dream, I thought, why not, and proceeded to taunt her the rest of the night until she said yes (to which I replied, "ok, I am going to throw up now").

The guest list was not too hard as Diane had her guest list from their wedding a couple of months before ours. I put our family list and Monica's family list into excel, did a mail merge, printed invitations at work (we had a very nice printer), and used the postage machine from work (and paid back my company) to mail the invites. We had about 400 people show up. I think it was mostly because they couldn't believe Monica was marrying me.

The wedding was great. Not long ago I was telling someone the thing I remember from the ceremony. Near the beginning of the ceremony Jason told us, you aren't going to remember much of this. He was right.

After the ceremony we walked out into the foyer, that is when Monica started crying (and laughing that she was crying then), and I realized I had never actually proposed to her. I taunted her with "February, February", and when I gave her the ring, I asked "are you sure you want to do this".

I could tell you more, but let me sum up. Getting married in a month is great, less time to worry.

Day 17-an art piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc.)

2011-03-04T07:07:00.012-06:00

I am not really an "art" guy. In school I got out of art classes as soon as I could. Don't get me wrong I like art, but do not have strong opinions on it. I like landscapes, and love photography, but just right now I got one painting in my head that I think is cool. The Scream

To quote Simpsons again:

You know, I'm no art critic, but I know what I hate.
    And... I don't hate this."

Day 16-a song that makes you cry (or nearly)

2011-03-03T06:55:00.015-06:00

I don't cry, although I have noticed that I am a bit softer since the girls have joined our lives.

I am not usually affected by the lyrics of songs, I am sure there are some that affect me. The most amazing performance I have ever been to was the first barbershop concert I ever attended. The featured performers were The Gas House Gang . They sang a version of Mary did you Know that was so amazing that when they were done the auditorium was silent for a moment before erupting into applause. I can't find a copy of the song online, or I would link to it.

Day 15-your dream house

2011-03-02T06:43:00.021-06:00

This is totally impractical, but old "English" castles have always intrigued me. I do not think I would like to live in one, but I would like to stay in one.

This is an interesting topic as we will be moving to a new house very soon, and it may change our outlook on things.

Back when Monica and I were just "us", we would talk about what we wanted in a house. We now live in a house that has everything we wanted and more. With the invention of children, our want list has changed.

We are going to take this move to the acreage for a test drive and see where it takes us.

Will report back.

Day 14-a non-fictional book

2011-03-01T07:12:00.010-06:00

The non fiction book I would recommend is Born to Run. It is about A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes, and The Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen (that is from the book cover). If you enjoy running I highly recommend this book, if you do not enjoy running, read this book and maybe you change your mind.

Day 13-a fictional book

2011-02-28T07:03:00.007-06:00

A fictional book that stands out to me is The Three Musketeers . I remember reading it on our family trip to Alaska, and I couldn't put it down. It is an old enough book that you can read it online for free.

Another book I really enjoy is Fox in Socks. A couple of years ago Joyce bought everyone a copy for Christmas and we took turns reading one page per person. Diane and I once read it with a lady who was just learning English.

Day 12-something you are OCD about

2011-02-27T06:55:00.010-06:00

When we go to bed I have to lock the doors, alarm the house and close the parlour doors (I like the way the room looks when the doors are closed). When I get to our room I make sure the closet doors are closed. Monica laughs at me.

A recent photo II

2011-02-26T09:48:00.000-06:00

This morning I went for a run outside. It was -23 before the windchill.

Day 11-a photo of you recently

2011-02-26T06:53:00.001-06:00

I wanted to do the George Castanza pose, but I was told "this is a family blog".

Here is a picture of me and Monica that our pulmonia driver in Mazatlan took of us. Behind us is the lighthouse (the world's highest), we had just finished hiking up to the top.

Day 10-a photo taken over 10 years ago of you

2011-02-25T06:45:00.002-06:00

This was from our wedding, just over 10 years ago.

A Picture

2011-02-24T18:52:00.001-06:00

Roy's been doing the 30 day challenge with his sisters, and one of the days is a picture you took, another one is a picture that makes you happy. This is a picture I took about 20 minutes ago, as the sun was setting, and it makes me happy. I liked the way the sun shone through the frost.

Day 9-a photo you took

2011-02-24T06:34:00.006-06:00

There are three pictures that I took that would brag about. One is from our trip to Guatemala. There was a girl wearing Guatemalan (bright) clothes, she was looking out a window that was surrounded by flowers. The lighting was amazing. I do not like putting images of people I do not know on the internet, so you will just have to believe me.

I took this picture at Robert and Melissa's wedding. The light streaming in through the windows impresses me.

On our wedding day, we were getting our pictures taken at the university. I saw a great opportunity and grabbed on of the photographers cameras and took a great picture of Monica. It was taken on film, and the original is packed, or I would scan it.

20 of my favourite things continued

2011-02-23T17:31:00.004-06:00

I have been told that I only did 13 favourite things, and that I lose. I didn't want to take away (or in this case add to) the song, but I will bow to public pressure. I have a hard time coming up with things, so Monica and the girls are helping me.

14.Monica
15.Linaya
16.Gianna
17.Food
a)Mexican
b)Vietnamese
c)sushi
d)bbq
e)etc..
18.Fruit
19.Salad
20.the colour orange

Day 8-a photo that makes you angry/sad

2011-02-23T06:37:00.002-06:00

I am not going to post it.

In Mom's office at home, she has a picture of Grandma and Grandpa Taylor at our wedding. Grandma is holding Xavier. She had cancer tests the week after our wedding.

Day 7-a photo that makes you happy

2011-02-22T07:03:00.004-06:00

Monica looks so happy. Sorry about the image quality, I had to take them off facebook.

Day 6- 20 of my favourite things

2011-02-21T07:00:00.045-06:00

I have a hard time choosing favourite things. I like a lot of things and I have trouble condensing it to a list. So I have decided to provide you with an analysis of the most famous list of favourite things.

1. Raindrops on roses -Roses are great, love taking photographs especially with raindrops on the petals

2. Whiskers on kittens - Kittens are nice, but not a cat person, I prefer dogs

3. Bright copper kettles - Like shiny objects.

4. Warm woolen mittens - Saskatchewan is cold, everyone likes warm mittens.

5. Brown paper packages tied up with strings - I remember getting birthday presents in brown paper in the mail, that was great

6. Cream coloured ponies- Not really a "horse" person.

7. Crisp apple strudels - Yum, but don't eat too many.

8. Door bells and sleigh bells - One of my favourite times in the past couple of months was going to the Western Development Museum, singing Christmas songs and taking sleigh rides. Both of these included sleigh bells.

9. Schnitzel with noodles - Never had it with noodles.

10 Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings - Hunting season, the girls will watch for geese, and tell me to shoot them. I can't shoot them if the moon is on their wings (because it is night time and you can't hunt then), but seeing a flock of geese though the moonlight would be amazing.

11. Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes - I have cute kids.

12.Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes- This is what I call "movie snow", I love it.

13. Silver white winters that melt into Springs- Are we talking springs of water, or springs the season. I am going with the season. Spring is great, but I am also a fan of Summer, Autumn, and Winter.

Day 5-your favourite quote

2011-02-20T09:04:00.010-06:00

My favourite quote is not deep and meaningful. It is from the Simpsons
"They may say she died from a burst ventricle, but I know she died of a broken heart"

To sum up, if anyone asks you, please make me seem more deep and mumble something about world peace.

Day 4-your favourite book

2011-02-19T07:35:00.003-06:00

(If you are reading this on facebook, these posts are by Roy and in no way reflect the opinions of Monica. I can't get the feed to work with my facebook login (I have tried all the feed addresses))

I can't say I have a favourite book. I really enjoy reading non fiction, mostly educational books, but these aren't really books you read over and over.

To take the easy way out, I would have to say any book by Patrick McManus. He mostly writes outdoor stories that are laugh out loud funny. I say mostly, because I also have a detective novel written by him that is very interesting.

The books by Jim Kjelgaard have been in my mind lately. I remember reading them around grade 7. They still stand out in my mind today. They are young adult books, and when I was reading them I always thought the characters were about my age. I guess the reason the books stood out to me (besides I really liked dogs), is because the main character would start a fire, put on a pot of coffee and drink it. A thirteen year old should not drink a whole pot of coffee, I am now thirty five, and I should not drink a pot of coffee (ask the people I work with).

Day 3-your favourite television program

2011-02-18T07:53:00.021-06:00

Like my other lists of favourite things, I cannot just choose one show.
My favourite show that is no longer on the air is Scrubs . Hilarious.

There are two sitcoms that are currently airing that I enjoy. The Big Bang Theory, and How I Met Your Mother.

I am not a big fan of reality television, but we are watching Village on a Diet, it is such an interesting show. Not sure if this is reality or news, but Rick Mercer Report is great.

Day 2-your favourite movie

2011-02-17T07:03:00.001-06:00

Well now we are supposed to post everyday.

I don't have one favourite movie, but I could narrow it down to two .
Princess Bride
Shawshank Redemption

I also have a list of movies I watch anytime I see an opportunity to watch them. Here is a short list:
Smokey and the Bandit
Airplane
Blast From the Past
Groundhog Day

No list of your favourite movies is complete without sending a shout out to my wonderful wife of ten years (it is our tenth anniversary today), who has had to watch Groundhog Day more than she likes. Love you babes.

Day 1-your favourite song

2011-02-16T09:09:00.002-06:00

My sisters have forced me to come to the dark side and compete. We are doing some 30 day blog thingy (not 30 days in a row, we are taking weekends off) , I am not sure of the rules, but I am competitive enough to give it a try. I rarely post to the blog, and when I do it is usually pictures. So now I have to give you insight.

Favourite song:

I have a very eclectic taste in music. You should listen to any mix I have put together, it will have everything from AC/DC, Classical, Barbershop and Country (and more). It makes it difficult to choose a favourite song. So I am just going to choose a song we have been listening to a lot. "Girl Singing Pretty", that is what Linaya and Gianna call it. It is actually called "We Rise Again" (I tried to find an official link, but there wasn't one), sung by the Rankin Family. It is a beautiful song and my girls love to sing along and try to hit the last note.

Did I beat my sisters to the first post?

Roy

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas ♪♫♪

2010-12-16T15:06:00.002-06:00

It's hard to believe that we're only 9 days from Christmas! This is the first year that I haven't been in a panic at this point to get ready, as I did a lot of my shopping online in November, I have baking in the freezer already, and I even had the tree up earlier than usual. The girls are quite excited about Christmas this year. Linaya can actually remember past Christmases now, and Gianna's excited to get a "happy birthday present". As well, we're excited for Robin's wedding on Christmas eve. Lots to look forward to! Gianna's been asking for a week and a half to wear her pretty dress to go see Santa, so I took the girls to the mall today to let Uncle Robert take their pictures. Gianna wasn't so sure at first, only even going near Santa because of the promise of a candy cane, but she warmed up to him for some really cute pictures!

From Santa photos

Robert was also kind to take some pictures before Santa arrived.

From Santa photos

While the girls were all dressed up I took a couple of shots of them in front of our tree, as well.

From Dec10

It's quite strange to think that next year Christmas won't be at this house. For those who haven't heard, Dad and Mom have bought an acreage just out of Saskatoon, and until they retire and move in, Roy and the girls and I will live in their new place so it doesn't sit empty. It will be a real sacrifice :) It's a beautiful place, and we're really looking forward to it! We will move some time in April, and hope to rent out our house while we're there. We're all looking forward to having Dad and Mom nearby in the not so distant future!

I didn't send out Christmas cards, and as for a Christmas letter I figure most of the people who care have probably seen what we've been up to this year via the blog or facebook. I do want to wish each of you who care enough to read about our lives a very merry Christmas season and a blessed 2012.

More pictures of Gianna's birthday

2010-11-05T14:21:00.002-06:00

Halloween

2010-11-02T13:30:00.002-06:00

I don't have any pictures actually taken on Halloween, but we went to the pumpkin maze two days before and the kids all dressed up.

From oct10

Linaya wore her owl costume to the maze, but then decided that she was going to be Tinkerbell for trick or treating. I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of her Tinkerbell dress over her Rider shirt and green pants!
While we were at the pumpkin maze, she found this little pumpkin and decided she needed it. She carried it all around with her, and begged to buy it. When I asked her what we'd do with a little pumpkin like that she answered immediately, "Love it!" What could I say, we bought it!

From oct10

Gianna is 2!

2010-11-02T13:25:00.002-06:00

And for a good month she told me she wanted a purple care bear cake. So here it is:

From oct10

I don't have a picture of her with it, as those are on my mom's camera. We had Gianna's birthday cake at the farm, with Uncle Stephen and Cara, and it ended up being the celebration of harvest being done as well.
Since she was so into the purple care bear thing, I decided to find her a real one. She is pretty excited about it, I think!

From oct10

She also is enjoying her new stroller.

From oct10

Gianna hasn't grown a lot yet, still being 20.5 lbs, but she's growing up a lot! She speaks quite well for a 2 year old, and needs to do whatever Linaya is doing so I'm sure she's doing a lot that Linaya didn't do yet at that age. She's such a sweet heart!

a beautiful day for a picnic!

2010-10-08T14:51:00.002-06:00

From oct10

There's a new playground at Gabriel Dumont park, down the hill from us, so we went for a picnic to play there.

From oct10

Linaya's 4th birthday cake

2010-10-03T19:25:00.002-06:00

We had Linaya's birthday party today, and I think the kids all had a lot of fun. I'm not too sure, I was too busy running crowd control! The highlight for me, though, was seeing how her cake turned out. I always have a picture in my head as I'm working on a cake, but never quite know how it will go. I was quite happy with this one, and I think Linaya was, too.
Here is the cake in progress, with just the characters.

From Linaya's 4th birthday

And here it is, assembled, at the party.

From Linaya's 4th birthday

And of course Linaya got very spoiled, with so many nice presents. Thanks everyone!

From Linaya's 4th birthday

nice leaf day

2010-09-28T18:10:00.001-06:00

From sept10

With the wind today, a whole lot of leaves fell in a hurry! It was beautiful, but won't last long so I thought I better get pictures while I could, even though G was napping.

Fall photo shoot

2010-09-26T20:39:00.002-06:00

Today was a perfect fall day, and we got to have a picnic with some cousins, friends and grandparents.

From sept10

Summer photo shoot

2010-09-26T20:37:00.002-06:00

From sept10

Flower girls

2010-08-26T10:55:00.003-06:00

We made a trip to the farm a couple of weeks ago and the girls loved Grandma's flowers.

From Aug10

Our holiday

2010-08-26T10:45:00.002-06:00

In July we took a week off after Canada Day and took a family holiday. It started in Moose Jaw for Roy and I to run the 10km Moose Jawg with Melissa, Robert, Jenn, Tim, and some of the Moose Jaw relatives as well. It was a lot of fun, and our first organized race to participate in. We all did well, beating our goals (or coming very, very close Jenn!) We then headed to the farm for a few days. From there we went to Minot for some shopping and a visit to the zoo, then to Devils Lake to a beach, and to Grand Forks for more shopping. The girls' favorite part of the trip was getting to swim twice a day at the hotel pools. Our trip ended with a weekend at Carmen to celebrate with Alicia and Miles at their pig roast! While in Carmen we also got to see a parade and go to the beach with cousins. It was a nice holiday. Here are a few random pictures from the trip:

From Aug10

biking

2010-08-26T10:30:00.002-06:00

The girls have been enjoying riding bikes this summer. Linaya got a new pedal bike with training wheels, and G gets to ride the run bike. I don't have any pictures of Gianna riding hers, as it involves Roy or myself bending over to hold her handle bars and pushing her while she sticks her feet out. Linaya is getting really good, though, with the goal of being able to ride her bike while I run. The first few times we'd go out, whenever Linaya would stop, Gianna would go wiggle a training wheel and say "I fix it, I fix it!" It was pretty cute. Then when she'd get behind, usually because she was picking dandelions, we could get her to speed up by saying "Linaya needs you to fix her bike!"

From Aug10

Soccer

2010-08-26T10:19:00.002-06:00

Linaya played under-6 soccer this year. It was an experience! Most of the kids on our team had never played before, were 3 or 4 years old, and had little to no attention span. Roy and Helen were the coaches, and I don't think Roy will do that again any time soon! It was pretty cute to watch, but not a lot of actual soccer was played. Linaya liked it best when she could hold her dad's hand, but during one game the opposing team's coach held her hand to run around! Linaya told us afterward, "That big guy helped me" (It was a lady!)

From Aug10

Tim Horton's sponsored the teams, and they knew what they were doing! Printed inside the bottom of the kids' shirts it said "I just played. I'm thirsty" so if the kids went to Tim's after the game they got a free hot chocolate or milk. Of course the parents would buy coffee, and the kids needed Timbits, etc. Linaya loved that part of soccer!

Crafty Linaya

2010-08-26T09:58:00.002-06:00

The organization people tell you that instead of keeping every piece of artwork your child ever does, you should take pictures. Here are a couple of Linaya's projects that I want to be able to show her some day. She really enjoys painting, stickers, gluing, drawing, and has been working on her cutting. She quite often tells me what kind of craft we should do, and how we'll do it. This cat was her idea, all I did was cut out the shapes she wanted and she did the rest.

From Aug10

This is a picture of our family that she drew for "I love you day". Daddy is the one on the right, "because he has no hair!"

From Aug10

I'd heard somewhere that a nice way to use children's artwork is as wrapping paper. This rainbow was painted to wrap a present for her daycare buddy, Addison.

From Aug10

And of course whatever Linaya's doing, Gianna needs in! She does well with stickers and markers, if you don't count drawing on her hands!

From Aug10

summer?!

2010-06-20T15:18:00.002-06:00

This has been such a strange spring, but finally we've had a couple of days warm enough to be outside. Linaya's out in the splash pool right now even. Today is Father's Day, but Roy is gone on a fishing trip, so the girls and I went on our own picnic and did a bit of a photo shoot. Here are some of the cutest ones, there are more on the web album.

From june10

Oh, and I took Gianna for her 18 months shots last week (at 19months), and she's 30 inches long and 19.5lbs. She's in the 10th % for height, but off the bottom of the chart for weight (no surprise there!) She hasn't slept well since she got her shots though, waking about every 45 minutes all night. I'm hoping that ends very soon!

weekend at the farm

2010-06-09T17:56:00.002-06:00

We did an impromptu road trip last weekend, and went to Moose Jaw to the Western Development Museum and then to the farm. We got some super cute pics of the girls!

From june10

Kiddo update

2010-05-08T16:07:00.001-06:00

It's been forever since I've blogged, so I decided I should do a general post about what the girls are doing these days to keep our family record updated.

First, Linaya. She is growing up so much now, and it amazes me what she knows and remembers. She came home from daycare one day and sang a whole song to me that I'd never heard before, complete with actions. She is learning to recognize and write her letters by working her way through a preschool book with me, and can write her name already. She loves anything crafty, painting or drawing or especially stickers. She enjoys putting on her apron to help me bake. As far as sporty things, she started cross-country skiing this winter, she likes to run with us while we warm up or cool down, she can ride a pedal bike with training wheels now although she prefers her run bike still, and she's enjoying soccer. She loves Disney movies, her favorites being Dumbo, the Lion King, and Tinkerbell. Linaya impresses me with how thoughtful she is, as she asks about why someone is sad, or how things work. Linaya loves class at church, and loves playing with her friends at Village Time on Tuesdays. We have some rough days as she's still not quite ready to give up her naps but having too much fun to take a nap, but she's generally a very sweet girl who makes us smile often.

Gianna loves to do whatever Linaya does, whether it's painting or playing soccer! She is very energetic and gung-ho about doing things, and not as timid about new things as Linaya usually is. She knows so many words now that she generally has no trouble making known what she wants! Her favorite phrase is "My some!" whenever anyone has food. She eats like crazy for being so little still. Gianna is very independent, though, and won't eat something if I try to feed it to her. She's always excited to see her friends, and makes new friends all the time as she waves and says "hi" to strangers constantly. Gianna loves water and will have a bath anytime the word is mentioned! She took a long time to learn to walk, finally walking for real at about 15 months, but there's no slowing her down now. Getting her to sit still at all is a challenge! She is finally sleeping pretty well, as long as she has Sheep and a "sooger". She is such a sweetheart!

soccer

2010-05-08T15:28:00.002-06:00

Linaya had her first soccer practice/game last week. Her team is called the Dundonald Ducks. The team consists of 5 kids we know and 4 we don't, and promises to be a lot of fun. We were impressed that the kids mostly listened, ran the right direction, and didn't use their hands. Roy and Helen are the coaches. Here are some pics.

From May10

stained glass mirror

2010-02-17T22:24:00.002-06:00

With the bathroom renovation, I couldn't find a mirror the right size that I liked, so Roy suggested I make one. After a visit to the stained glass store to discuss options and look at the glass, I was inspired. After many hours designing, cutting, foiling, and soldering, we finally were able to hang it tonight. This is what I ended up with:

From stained glass mirror

You can click on a picture to see it larger, and there are a few more on the web album.

I made each piece separately, and siliconed them to the mirror.

I still may decide to add some bubbles around the edges... not sure yet...

What is it about Cheerios?

2010-01-29T16:20:00.001-06:00

I sat down to check my email and heard a sound. I looked up to see this:

She had pulled the box out of the cupboard and tried to fill her own bowl. I have similar pictures from 2 years ago, although I can't find them right now, of Linaya doing the same thing! The Cheerios people sure know what they're doing to get kids so hooked on these things!

Another cute moment: Gianna found a new hiding place, in the recycling bin!

Bathroom renos

2010-01-29T16:12:00.001-06:00

Ever since we moved into this house we have wanted/needed to renovate the main bathroom, but couldn't decide exactly what we wanted so we just put it off. Well, we finally had to be decisive to take advantage of the home reno grant. It was a long process (and I'll never shop at Emco again!) but it is finally done. Well, almost...We just need to put up the decorative things now, like shelves and pictures and the mirror.

I looked around a lot to find a mirror I liked, and couldn't find the right size, so Roy said "Why don't you just make one?" So, I cut down the mirror that had been there, and I'm doing stained glass corners to frame it. This is the very rough cut out version of the bottom corners.

I just realized I didn't take a picture of the best part: the tub! We got a jetted tub with additional backjets, and I love it! Linaya also likes the jets, especially the part about how just a drip of bubble bath creates a mountain of bubbles when you turn on the jets! There will be pictures of this at some point, I'm sure!

Gianna update

2010-01-22T11:51:00.000-06:00

Since Gianna turned 1 right in the middle of the H1N1 scare, she didn't get her one year check up or shots till 15 months. She's doing very well, and measured 28 3/4 inches long, and 17 pounds. That's the 40th percentile for height and 5th for weight. I think she's quite close in size to what Linaya was at that age. The doctor was impressed with her language abilities, as she knows Mom, Dad, Abby, Grandma, Grandpa, milk, up, please, sheep, Patience, Josiah, and probably a few more I'm forgetting. She's still not walking, although she's forgotten and taken up to 5 steps at a time once in a while. She's just being extremely stubborn about not wanting to walk! Gianna enjoys doing whatever Linaya is doing, and had fun playing playdough. She was starting to enjoy colouring but I haven't let her do much of that as she chewed quite a bit off of a crayon and would just suck the marker tips if we let her. She has been sleeping fairly well, except for after her shots, and now is trying to go down to one nap a day.

(I realize most of you probably aren't interested in all of this, but the blog is a record for us more than anything so I'm writing down things we may want to remember some day.)

Gymnastics

2010-01-22T11:40:00.000-06:00

We signed Linaya up for gymnastics through the city leisure services after Christmas. Well, so far they play a lot of tag and her favorite part is playing on the mats before class actually starts. So, we took the kids to Flip! last week, where they actually have trampolines and balance beams and things. The kids had a lot of fun. Abby's favorite was getting bounced by the big kids! (Gianna got to stay home because she'd had 4 shots the day before and was a grouch!)

Field trip

2010-01-22T11:36:00.001-06:00

While we were out at the farm, we got to go on a field trip to Wendell's to see his animals. Linaya's favorite was Max, the dog, but we also got to see sheep and a llama, and she got to pet a pigeon! It was quite the experience for her, and we look forward to going back during lambing time! Thanks Wendell!

New Year's

2010-01-22T11:29:00.001-06:00

We went to my parents' for a few days at New Year's. Grandma gave the girls a tent and inflatable chairs. Linaya was excited, can you tell?

We also enjoyed playing outside.

Christmas

2010-01-22T11:16:00.002-06:00

In an attempt to catch up on the blogging, I'm now up to Christmas! We spent 2 nights out at Al and Nancy's, and the kids enjoyed time with their cousins.
Before Christmas, Roy found this on line, and said I should make some. So I made one for Josiah, Gianna, Gloria and Patience. Then I forgot to take take pictures before I wrapped them, so I only got these ones as they opened them.

December

2010-01-19T10:34:00.001-06:00

There wasn't much time between getting back from our trip and Christmas, but we had some fun. Linaya enjoyed playing in the snow.
She also enjoyed making her gingerbread house.
We went to the Western Development museum one day, and Linaya was thrilled to take her own pictures! The last one is one of hers. Pretty good I think!

Trip pics, part 3

2010-01-19T10:26:00.001-06:00

And a few more.
This is what we got to come home to! We missed our girls.

More trip pictures

2010-01-19T10:24:00.001-06:00

Apparently I can only post 4 pics per post, so here are some more.

Barcelo maya caribe

2010-01-19T10:22:00.001-06:00

It's been a while since I've blogged, so I'll try to catch up a little here. In December Roy and I got to go to the Mayan Riviera in Mexico while Mom and Dad and Melissa looked after the girls for us. It was a lot of fun, nice and warm, and relaxing. We loved the resort we were at, and we spent one day at an ecopark called Xel-Ha. If you like to snorkel, we highly recommend Xel-Ha!!! Here are some pics.

Grandpa

2009-12-03T11:15:00.002-06:00

From Grandpa

Yesterday evening, Grandpa Elford Bell passed away unexpectedly at the age of 89. (The picture above was taken a couple years ago, when Linaya and Josiah were babies.) Roy and I have had a vacation booked for 3 months, so although it's a difficult decision, we will still leave on Saturday, sending the girls to Mom for the week. Since we won't be at the funeral, I wanted to share some memories of Grandpa here.

When I think of Grandpa, I think of quiet strength. Kindness. A hardworking man, who was never too busy to give a granddaughter a hug. Grandpa has been an excellent example of what it means to live your Christian faith, day after day. We grew up on the same farm as Grandpa, and so we saw him quite often, and yet I can only remember one or two times that he was angry (one of those was when he backed a piece of machinery into the new quonset and bent up the new door!) Grandpa had a gentle, kind spirit, and showed us what perseverance and dedication look like in how he cared for Grandma day after day when she was sick. Once he was unable to continue to care for her at home, he went into town as often as he was able to sit with her. He showed us that in this world where many marriages don't last, it is possible to love, honour and cherish till death do us part, even in hard times.

Grandpa always made time for the grandkids. He liked to tease us and have fun. I remember having many meals with Grandpa and Grandma, and can still picture the smile on his face after the prayer as he wouldn't release the hand of whichever grandkid was sitting next to him. He would stop by the yard to throw a ball with us or see what we were playing before he went on with his work. One memory is of Grandpa driving out of his way to come see the butterflies we were catching by Uncle Walter's yard. And after his hip replacement, he disobeyed doctor's orders to come out to watch us sing in travelling chorus. Just 2 weeks ago, Grandpa and Ruby came to Saskatoon despite some health concerns to a concert Melissa and Robert organized, and Melissa and I were pleased to have them in our homes for meals and to see the great-grandkids.

Grandpa had a very strong work ethic. He showed us that if something is worth doing, it's worth doing right. Whatever he did, he did well. He took excellent care of his equipment and was a careful farmer. I spent a summer working for Dad on the farm, and took down a lot of barbed wire fence. I'll tell you, the fences Grandpa put up were a lot harder to take down than those of the neighbours! Although Grandpa was a very hard worker, he showed what was truly important to him by not working Sundays, instead taking the time for church and family. This is something he instilled in his sons who farmed with him as well.

I have learned many things from Grandpa. He has influenced my life in many ways, and I have no doubt that his influence extends to many, many more, in his family, church, and neighbours. Now, after 89 years of serving God, Grandpa gets to go home to his reward. He is able to look back and say the words of Paul, " I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing." 1 Timothy 4:7-8

We love you Grandpa, and will miss you.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2009-11-20T16:57:00.002-06:00

Well, inside anyways! It's been very nice outside, so we went for a walk yesterday and Linaya got to ride her bike. She's getting very good at it, and I think we'll be looking for a pedal bike for her early next summer. We walked to the park, where the girls had fun playing in the leaves.

From nov09

Today we decorated the house for Christmas. Linaya was quite into it, and kept saying "This is going to be my best Christmas EVER!"

From nov09

G was enjoying it, too, and I was very glad I bought these plastic ornaments last year!

From nov09

We bought a Fisher Price nativity set this week, and Linaya is enjoying learning about the Christmas story. She is happy to tell you that the angel says "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy." And what is the good news? "A baby! Jesus!" She's pretty cute :)

After our decorating, Linaya wanted to do crafts. I love the look of determination on her face!

From nov09

And the look of satisfaction with a job well done.

From nov09

Lego man Indiana Jones

2009-11-14T18:42:00.001-06:00

I had the opportunity to do a different style of cake from what I'm used to yesterday, for our nephew Kaleb's 8th birthday. Jay came out to work on it with me. First, here's the actual picture of the lego man:

From nov09

and the picture of the Nintendo game

From nov09

And here's our creation before we put the "skin" on:

From nov09

And the finished product:

From nov09

I'm still waiting to hear if the birthday boy was impressed, as his party is today.

fall

2009-11-14T18:37:00.000-06:00

This year has been quite mixed up for weather. Sept was summer, Oct was winter, and Nov is fall so far. It's been nice to be able to get out again and enjoy the weather a little. First, here's Linaya trick or treating.

From nov09

I wanted to get some fall pictures, but Gianna wasn't feeling well and Linaya doesn't like to sit still for the camera, so this is about all I got.

From nov09

Gianna did get feeling better now, and was quite smiley while eating her muffin yesterday.

From nov09

Gianna's first birthday!

2009-10-30T09:18:00.002-06:00

Her favorite thing is her stuffed sheep, so it was easy to decide on a cake idea!

From oct09

She got right into opening her presents!

From oct09

with a little help, of course!

From oct09

We didn't have a party for her really, we just took her cake to serve after church.

From oct09

That way she got to celebrate with lots of friends!

From oct09

catching up

2009-10-30T08:53:00.002-06:00

I just realized as I was loading pictures of Gianna's birthday that I haven't posted any since Linaya's birthday! So here's what we've been up to in between:
The pumpkin maze! It's become an annual tradition for us to meet up with our friends at the pumpkin maze. It's always good for a photo op, but my camera battery died about 10 minutes in. Here are the couple I got.

From oct09

And one from Melissa's camera of the whole crew:

From oct09

Linaya has been practicing her new skates, although we've only had the wheels on so far.

From oct09

We went to a Halloween party at Michelle's for village time on Tuesday, and I made pumpkin cupcakes.

From oct09

Linaya "decorated" her own:

From oct09

She actually did a really good job of putting a face on it, but by the time I got the camera you couldn't tell! I guess it was yummy!
Gianna hasn't been feeling well, and so Grandma Mary got to come stay with the girls on Monday. By Tuesday I thought she was better, but Gianna slept through the whole party! She only stayed awake long enough to eat lunch.

From oct09

Here are the elephants of the party!

From oct09

Linaya was busy at the magnadoodle the other day and then announced "I drew my whole family!" Here's what she drew:

From oct09

Pretty good, I think! I remember Stephen drawing lots of people that looked like this, so she's on a good track!

Linaya's 3rd birthday-the party

2009-10-04T16:19:00.002-06:00

We had Linaya's birthday party at the preschool room of Lakewood civic center. It was a fairly good location, as it had a slide, a playhouse, riding toys, and other toys, and we didn't have to clean our house before and after a party! The kids all seemed to have fun, but when I asked Linaya if she had fun with her friends she answered, "No, there was too much friends, Mom. And I didn't like the place, the slide was too fast. And I didn't like your cake, there was too much icing on it." I think she was just too tired by that point to think it was fun!
Here are some pics:

From oct09

And one more cute one, of Linaya playing Wii fit with us:

From oct09

Linaya's 3rd birthday cake

2009-10-01T12:43:00.003-06:00

As you may remember, when I asked Linaya about what she wanted on her birthday cake she said brown, a circle, and with writing that said "Linaya it's your birthday, come and eat your cake!" Well, I didn't follow the brown part, unless you count what's under the icing! I just finished it this morning, so I decided not to wait till Saturday for her party to post pictures.

From sept09

I got my inspiration from the Tinker Bell music box in the last picture. Kristie gave it to Linaya, and she really likes it. I tried to sneak it out of Linaya's room while she was napping to copy the flowers and colours, and the first thing she said to me when she got up was "Why did you take my TinkerBell downstairs?"

The flowers and leaves are all made from Starburst candies. They were surprisingly easy to work with! I may never make fondant flowers again! The rest of the icing is cream cheese, and the cake is carrot cake.

Gianna's 11 months old...

2009-10-01T12:38:00.002-06:00

and wouldn't hold still for teddy bear pictures!

From sept09

This was the best I could get, of Gianna with Sheep. She LOVES her sheep!!!
Linaya wanted to hold Gianna for this one.

From sept09

And of course Linaya needs pictures too. She loves Rascal.

From sept09

Gianna got her first haircut today. I don't have an "After" photo yet, but here's a cute "before" from last night. She only has one tooth, but she can sure eat!

From sept09

summer in September

2009-09-22T15:56:00.002-06:00

We've had a beautiful September, and been able to spend a lot of time outside.

From sept09

Gianna doesn't walk on her own yet, but she's getting good at pushing her car around.

From sept09

Linaya loves being in the backyard!
Gianna was in the baby crawl a couple weeks ago, which is a crawling race. She was raring to go at the beginning, but once the announcer was done talking she was more interested in the other babies and their toys. She did crawl about half way. Afterward, we found her a Halloween costume though. Doesn't she make a cute flower?

From sept09

This past weekend our family did the MS Bike Tour at Waskesiu again. This was Roy's 8th year, my fourth, Linaya's third, and Gianna's first! It was a beautiful weekend, and warm enough to even swim in the lake! The only pictures we have of the weekend are from the beach.

From sept09

This one's for my mom, who gave us the corn and the corn picks!

From sept09

September

2009-09-01T17:02:00.003-06:00

I can't believe that the summer is over, and yet it felt more like summer today than it did all summer! We had a beautiful weekend, and then yesterday was the first day of day care for the girls. It seemed to go well. When Linaya woke up, Roy told her she got to go to Roz's house and she didn't want to, but once we told her some of the things she'd get to do, she wanted to go "right now!" When I picked them up they seemed like they were both enjoying it. I asked Linaya if she made new friends, and she said "Mmm hmmm. I have 1, 2, 3, 4 new friends!" Another funny story: Roz teaches baby sign language as a side job, so I asked Linaya, "Did you learn any sign language today?" She said,"No, but I know how to say apple!" I looked in the rearview mirror to watch and asked "How do you say apple?" And she answered, "Like this-- ap-ple"

Here are some backyard pictures from the last couple days, and some of Linaya learning to ride her run bike. She's really catching on to it, and has much better balance than her mom!

From sept09

Gianna's 10 months old

2009-08-28T17:24:00.002-06:00

So I had fun taking pictures! It was a beautiful day outside for a photo shoot!

From 10 month shoot

Gianna has now learned to go down stairs instead of just up, she walks when pushing a toy, and she eats mostly table food. She generally eats more than Linaya, so I expect her to start growing soon! Her most important accomplishment of the month is that she sleeps now! We almost always get at least 5 hours in a row, and occasionally up to 9! Thanks Melissa for your part in that! Melissa sent Roy and I away for the weekend while she kept the kids, and broke G of her waking habit.

Linaya has had a fun summer learning to coast on her run bike a little bit, getting much more brave in water, and playing with her friends.

Oh Monday we start a new chapter in our lives: daycare. We found a lady that I think will be great, but only time will tell. So far we've had it way too easy finding great childcare, and I hope this is a continuation of that trend.

Daisies...

2009-08-03T09:08:00.002-06:00

We have an abundance of daisies in the yard, so I was imagining pictures of the girls with daisy crowns on their heads. They didn't work out quite how I had pictured, but they're still cute.

From August09

Taylor family reunion

2009-07-28T17:32:00.002-06:00

Our other summer activity was the Taylor family reunion at Kenosee Lake. It was a very nice weekend, with all but one of the Taylor family in attendance. Here are some random pictures from the weekend:

From july09

Missing: Joann and Levi (anyone else get one with Levi not cut off?)

9 months

2009-07-28T16:12:00.003-06:00

Gianna is 9 months old today, and weighed in yesterday at 14lbs 10oz. Yes she's little, but who wouldn't be skinny if they moved as much as she does? What a busy little girl!

From july09

She is very good at crawling now, pulls up on everything, can climb stairs, eats anything we'll let her, and needs to do whatever Linaya happens to be doing at the moment! She still doesn't sleep all that well, so she got to go have a few sleep overs with Auntie Melissa last week to try let me get over my cold. She has started sleeping a little better since, and we're hoping this trend continues. It's very hard to believe she's 9 months old already, but it's already hard to imagine our family without her!

Village time

2009-07-28T15:54:00.002-06:00

We go to "Village time" on Tuesdays to meet up with friends. One day we went to the new Children's museum at Market mall:

From july09

Today we went to the new spray park at River Landing.

From july09

And of course if the big kids are there, Gianna needs to be on a rock too!

From july09

She made it! I'd been telling Mom that G is part mountain goat!

From july09

Visits to the farm

2009-07-28T15:45:00.003-06:00

I haven't posted for quite a while, so I'll break the pictures up into parts. First of all, we got to go to the farm twice in July. We were there for Canada Day to see Auntie Karen and family, and then we went back for Roy to help with the VBS in Gravelbourg. Here are some pictures from the first trip:

From july09

There was quite an impressive storm one night, here is the cloud after it passed.

From july09

I realized that I don't have any pictures of the rest of the relatives, but Mom and Melissa do.

my masterpiece!

2009-07-08T18:23:00.000-06:00

For a month or two now I've been planning out this cake in my head and practicing various techniques to prepare for it. This week felt like final exams as I finally got the cake out of my head and into edible form. I'm quite pleased with my results.

From july09

It was a very nice wedding.

There were some cute kids there, too!

From july09

8 months old

2009-06-28T18:37:00.002-06:00

and we got some beautiful pictures!

From june09

June

2009-06-22T10:58:00.002-06:00

I just transferred the pictures from my little camera to the computer, so there are lots of things to catch up on.
Here's Gianna in the bike trailer:

From june09

Village time kids:

From june09

Grandma Mary with Abby and Gianna:

From june09

We got to take the kids to the circus one night. They had so much fun, and their favorite thing was watching the elephants.

From june09

I met up with Melissa and Helen and kids at the Children's festival one day. That was a lot of fun too.

From june09

Linaya got a new wagon and a new umbrella.

From june09

At our Western garage sale we got a little stool that we thought might be a good plant stand, but Linaya claimed it. Then I got an idea to decorate it. Linaya is a good painter!

From june09

(She did have a little help!)

From june09

It rained a lot yesterday, so Linaya got to go puddle jumping.

From june09

And since most of this post has been about Linaya, here's a random cute Gianna picture.

From june09

Now for the big camera:
Gianna has been pulling up to standing for nearly a month now. This picture was June 2.

From june09

More random cute pictures:

From june09

Some of us were asked to make cakes to serve after church on Father's Day. Here is what I did:

From june09

And here are the rest:

From june09

Ok. I think I'm all caught up for now!

7 months

2009-05-28T21:24:00.002-06:00

Gianna is 7 months old today, and as of Tuesday is 25 inches long and 13lbs 13oz (yes, that's the same weight as 2 weeks ago!) We got some new hair barrettes in the mail the other day, which both girls are wearing in these pictures.

From may09

This next picture seemed to me an ideal summer day for a kid: blowing bubbles while eating a popsicle!

From may09

Linaya at 2 1/2

2009-05-09T21:13:00.003-06:00

I've been wanting to do a post about Linaya, so I'll remember all the things she can do already.
I already wrote about her singing the abc's, but she can also count to 12 consistantly and sometimes as high as 16 in English, and to 8 in Spanish. We've started working on French now. She recognizes many of the letters as well. When we pass a McDonald's she points out "M for Mommy!" She has known her colours for ages, and knows many shapes as well now. She loves crafts, especially stickers. She likes to put them in rows. She enjoys painting and colouring, and while she doesn't colour "in" the lines, she does colour individual parts of the pictures instead of just scribbling over the whole page. She has done extremely well at potty training, way exceeding my expectations for the whole thing!!! She is able to put on her own underwear, pants, and socks, although shirts are still tricky.
At the park, she loves the slides. She's quite brave about them, and would rather we not catch her most of the time. She's very good at climbing the ladders, too. She can finally jump with both feet, and likes to spin and "dance", especially with her tutu. I think this is from watching Little Einsteins. She also sings into her microphone after watching Little Einsteins. She knows most of their theme song. She also knows the words to quite a few other songs including "Twinkle, twinkle", "building up the temple", "row, row, row your boat", ring around the rosy, monkeys jumping on the bed, and makes up songs for anything she sees!

I'm sure there are a lot more things I could write about, but I can't think of them tonight!

From may09

6 months, late

2009-05-09T20:56:00.002-06:00

Here are Gianna's 6 month pictures, a couple weeks after the fact.

From may09

We've been enjoying being outside, even though it hasn't always been very warm.

From may09

I made Linaya a tutu last week, with left over material from Gianna's curtains and toule from Melissa's wedding.

From may09

Of course the most fun part was playing with the toule!

From may09

Gianna is SOOO close to crawling (she does commando crawl, but she's about to take off!)

From may09

And lastly, we were outside blowing bubbles tonight and this was just too cool. See our house?

From may09

curtains and cuteness

2009-04-28T16:33:00.002-06:00

Gianna is 6 months old today, but I haven't taken her teddy bear pictures yet to put them up here. I sewed some curtains for her on the weekend that you get to see, though.

From april09

They match nicely with the butterfly and dragonfly stickers on her walls.

Linaya has been enjoying that Gianna is more interactive now. They enjoy each other a lot already.

From april09

Gianna also enjoys food a lot! She has been eating rice cereal, applesauce, sweet potato, peaches, and arrowroots so far, and today got to try fries because there was just no keeping her away from them!

From april09

April so far

2009-04-15T16:17:00.002-06:00

It's been a couple weeks since we've blogged, so we have some catching up to do.

From apr09

With some nicer weather, we've been able to get outside a little more.

From apr09

We got to go to the farm for Easter. It was a very nice weekend, and nice for Mom and Dad to get to know Gianna better.

From apr09

As well, we finally got a family picture!

From apr09

Gianna is doing the commando crawl now, and Linaya is for all intensive purposes potty-trained! It's been a busy month!