Home at Last

You might have noticed the lack of posts on my site, the reason being that I have been in Summerland for the last two weeks. It was a fun trip seeing people who we missed and spending time getting reaquainted with the town I love. I will post in detail about my trip once I upload my pictures to include, but I am wiped and will just list a few highlights for tonight.
1. Seeing Baba see the kids for the first time in 6 months. (would have been so much better if she was surprized like I had planned, but sweet nonetheless)
2. Seeing how much Jaia and Lorelei have grown... they are such big little people.
3. Learning to knit from my mom. And quilt. Creating some really cool things together.
4. Eating Long Johns from the bakery.
5. Tumble time with Kaili and Jaia.
6. Movies with Shalane. 27 Dresses is a fabulous movie. GO SEE IT!
7. Watching my brother Greg chase Kynan and playing hide and go seek.
8. Talking to the brides to be face to face about their big days.
9. Spending time with Al looking at lots and dreaming of possibilities.
10. Watching my dad bolt down the halway because he thought Ava was seriously hurt. She had stumbled a bit when she was crawling and let out a big wail, but I don't think I ever seen my dad move so fast. His grandchildren are his joy.

So yah, I am back and currently trying to get adjusted to the time change... 11:30pm and Ava and I are bug eyed watching TV. Kynan is out cold, but I am sure will be up at 5am. Tomorrow, you will find a blog filled with beautiful pictures of what else but my kids.

Goodnight.

The Decision

Some of you may have been dying for this post and some of you may be surprised by our speedy decision making. In actuality, we have decided to not decide....yet. We are going to put our idea on the back burner for 3 months. If we still feel like we would like to move then we will start looking at the process to that, but during the next 3 months we are going to make a valiant effort to make this our home.

Reasons for deciding this:
1} Moving is a HUGE expense- financially and emotionally- and should not be taken lightly.
2} Have we truly given Regina a fair shot? Maybe, but maybe not.
3} Real Estate is always better in the spring...
4} We believe that this is what God wants us to do.... take our time and be thoughtful in our decision making process.

So thank you for praying for us and please continue to pray that over the next 3 months God will continue to work on our hearts and really show us what path to pursue. It's true how life can change in a moment and in the last week, we went from staying in Regina to moving back to staying.... at least for awhile.

I'm Freezing Mommy!

This afternoon I thought it would be a good idea to go for a walk, and it was so pretty outside. The sun was shining, the snow was glistening, so I bundled up the kids and drove to Wascana Park to go for a walk through a winter wonderland.

Right after this picture (above) was taken, Kynan looked at me and said 'I'm freezing Mommy'. So in total we walked about 100 yards and then decided to turn around and go back to the van.

And here (below) are some random pictures.

A 'boys' lunch. Typical in our house.

Ava 'fingerin' it.

The other day we blew bubbles and the kids LOVED it.

Ava sitting up and playing with all her new toys on Baba's 'peek-a-boo' blanket.
Great shots of her chompers.

This morning we all woke up with bed head. You'll especially love Ava's bed head. Ha.

Christmas with the Clan

Christmas is such a wonderful time of year. Filled with magic and excitement, thankfulness and giving, and yummy food and wonder. It was exactly that in the Clan's household.

"Look at me! I'm a big girl!"

Kynan getting hopped up on shortbread.

Everyone getting their hands in the decorating process on Christmas Eve.

Dana indulging.

Ava attempting to crawl. Almost! Note: She is wearing Dana's old sleeper.

Kynan and I cuddling, watching 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'

The wonder of Christmas morning. Santa has been here!

"Look at my loot, mom!"

"I get it! You rip and then eat the paper, right?"


And only my husband would do this.... build an ice rink in our back yard. He spent all week after Christmas putting his baby together. Late nights went into flattening the snow, building the walls, and flooding the yard. It was the only time this winter we hoped for -30 temperatures to help freeze it faster. But the expression on Dana's face when he was finished, was priceless. Such pride. Kynan, of course, is getting much use of it too with his new bob skates.

A great teacher and an excellent student.

Signs of Christmas

Dana's Christmas Lights that he worked so hard on.

We both realised these were the first Christmas lights that Dana put up all by himself.

Oh Christmas Tree!

Starlight, Starbright

Dana's 1st Christmas Decoration. Note the year.

Kynan's 1st Christmas ornament (haven't found the 'perfect' one for Ava yet)

An ugly 'Dana childhood' ornament that makes it onto our tree every year.

It just isn't Christmas without it.

Kynan's favorite ornament on our tree. He is always taking it off and hiding it somewhere.

Don't ask me why we have a 'boot' ornament. Only Carleen knows.

The advent calendar. An elf leaves a note or a gift every night until Christmas eve. Kynan loves it and every morning says Santa has been here.

You are Welcome!

It just isn't Christmas without the unused decorative wax candles.

Nativity

Now some photos for good measure.... my new mural.

Ava's front tooth

A hunk of banana. Clearly not a favorite.

But loves those peas.

'Hand off my peas'

The STUPID Van...

So you want to hear about my day..... maybe you don't. All I have to say is that Dana owes me big time. What is normally his responsibility, I took under my wings today as my personal project. We have been trying to get our van passed the out of province inspection you need to get insurance. We had it inspected about a month ago and got the list of things to fix. It was pretty long and expensive so Dana did half the work himself. Today was the day I was going to bring it in, get the rest of the 'stuff' fixed, and then get it to pass inspection. Yay!!! Yup... no! When I got there I was told that we would have to pay for another inspection ($120) because 30 days has elapsed since the the previous one. We weren't told this of course. Fine, it has to be done. So I take 2 kids under three to the closest mall and attempt to kill 3.5 hours. We did some shopping, ate some lunch.... that only killed 2 hours. So we did some more shopping. I am pretty much done Ava's stocking, Abby's Birthday/ Christmas gift, and some of Dana. I even got some stuff for Lorelei. Yay me. Then we headed back to Canadian Tire to pick up the van and finally get some Saskatchewan insurance. That easy... again no. I got there and they told me that it needs more work, alot more work. So far we have sunk about $800 into the van, and the mechanic is telling me it needs another $800 worth of work... within the next 30 days... just before Christmas. By this time just as I am getting this news, Ava is screaming and Kynan is sprawled out on the shop floor saying he want to go home. I wanted to cry. I paid for the inspection, asked for my van, scooped up the kids, and left. On the way home, I called Dana- cried and vented. Put the kids down for a nap and now I am looking at our options.

I know that this has been pretty much a venting post, but I know we will get through this. We have always landed on our feet and something tells me we will this time too. I hate stress, so instead of dwelling on something I cannot help, I am wrapping the gifts I got. I love wrapping gifts. HAPPY TUESDAY.

Happy Halloween

There was this house 3 doors down from us that had an amazing display. There were hidden people throughout the yard scaring the kids and then inside they created like a haunted house. It was in the paper here, and Kynan spent like 20 minutes checking it out. This picture sucks, but I didn't have my tripod.


Kynan's loot. Dana had a prep talk with Kynan in the morning telling him to be sure to have a nap because they are running all night. They went all around our neighbourhood and I am sure Dana would have gone to more houses, but the dragon got tired.

Dana created this pumpkin for Kynan. Can you tell what it is?.........Scooby Doo.

I started going to the MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group through my church and yesterday they had a Halloween extravanganza. It was lots of fun. This is Kynan's new buddy, Isaiah.

The kids of the group with a few moms intermitten to keep the peace.

The gang before heading out. Ava was a mermaid. Kynan was a dragon/ dinosaur. And yay! No snow.

The Clan after carving pumpkins.


Kynan's was Scooby Doo's, Ava's the small white one. Dana is the 'Nightmare Before CHristmas' one, and mine is the big and plump one. Kynan kept trying to eat my pumpkins carrot nose. I finally had to get him some carrots and dip.

This is one of many photos. Kynan was in the mood to pose for pictures.

Ava's teething, can you tell?

Ava so proud of her pumpkin.

Pumpkin goop.

Kynan cleaning his pumpkin. I love Dana's face!