Aloha Friday #15

It's Aloha Friday! I've been rather sporadic lately, but I'm always back for more! As a reminder, Aloha Friday is a blogging tradition that originally started with Kailani over on An Island Life. I ask you a simple question, and you answer! It's a great way to interact with family and friends and to meet new bloggy friends along the way! To participate, just head over to Kailani's blog and follow the instructions. But...you do not have to link up to answer the question!

This week's question:

What is your favourite flower and/or shrub in your garden?

We have moved a lot (8 times in 9 years of marriage), so things are constantly changing in my yard and garden! There are two things that I always like to have blooming in whatever space I may have - pansies and lilacs! I'm excited to have both this year and I'm loving it! I didn't think I had a lilac in my new yard, but discovered it a few weeks ago, kind of tucked behind our big spruce tree! Here a few pics. It's cloudy today, so they're not the greatest, but the flowers are still beautiful.

It's Melting!!!

We can see grass in our yard!! On Sunday, I excitedly pointed out to the rest of the family that I could see a small section of grass on the edge of the lawn. It's already melted away this much in 2 1/2 days!!

Some other signs of Spring:

• The sun is shining lots and actually feels warm!
• Joshua took the kids bikes down from the hooks in the garage ceiling on Friday!
• There are puddles of dirty water everywhere. (But getting smaller all the time!)
• I am washing extra loads of wet, muddy clothes. (Hmmm, wonder how that happened...)
• We're going for walks again!
• I went out without a jacket this afternoon!
• The birdies are singing more!
• Swimming lessons are starting tomorrow.

Now I'm waiting for the grass to green up and the trees to start budding! It won't be long!

The First Weekend of Spring

The first day of Spring, dawned bright and sunny! Still lots of snow everywhere and still cold, but at least it was sunny! We have a unique tradition that my mom started when I was a teenager and my sisters where very small. She struggled with the focus that everyone puts on Easter baskets and chocolate bunnies and Easter egg hunts when Easter is really supposed to be about Jesus and His resurrection. She loved all the Easter basket/chocolate sort of stuff, so she came up with the idea to indulge in all of that on the first day of Spring! With the exception of last year, I have adopted the same tradition with my children. I almost lost my resolve to celebrate Spring Day this year, with all the nasty cold and snow we've been having, but at 11:15 p.m. on Thursday, I decided to go ahead and put together the kids Spring baskets. (I had already bought all the candy and toys.) I loaded the baskets, filled the plastic eggs, and quickly decorated the house with my spring-y decorations!

I can't say that Spring Day was completely full of smiles and giggles and fun times. My lovely daughter actually woke up with a terrible attitude, which did not mix well with the fact that I slept horribly the night before and had a really sore neck. I felt sorry for Sky when he woke up! After a spanking a long talk with both kids, we finally were able to come downstairs and enjoy our Spring Day celebration. Here are the kids with their baskets. The smiles are a little forced!
There's one more chocolate bunny in there somewhere!Sky wasted no time in enjoying his chocolate!

Sara putting together the mini puzzle she got in her Kinder Surprise egg. (They do not allow these to be sold in the States, so look up the website to see what I'm talking about! They're wonderful!)I found these little "bunny blasters" at Wal-Mart. They look like baby nose syringe bulbs. You stick a foam "dart" on the nose part and squeeze the bulb part. I was surprised how well it worked! Those little darts can really fly!

After having fun eating candy and shooting darts, it was time to get busy packing. We headed out just after noon for our final ski trip to Jasper. Daddy wanted to take the kids to the mountains one last time before the end of the season. It's a 4 hour trip, so we were happy to eat supper and relax in our hotel room that evening! That night it snowed about 10 cm at the ski hill, so Joshua was super excited to ski on some fresh powder. Grandpa came along on the trip as well, so the kids enjoyed skiing with him too. We came home Saturday night, just in time to tuck the kids into bed right away. I must say, I'm glad to be done with skiing for the year.

How was YOUR first weekend of Spring?

It Feels Like Spring Today!

In one week, the calendar says that we will be having the first official day of Spring. We just survived the coldest week of the season yet. On Tuesday morning, the official recorded temperature in Edmonton, was -42.7 degrees Celsius! My thermometer doesn't even go that low! Yikes! Today was a different story. It is well above freezing and the snow is melting like crazy! I stood outside this afternoon and could hear the sound of running water all around me! It was a beautiful sound! There is a lot of snow on the ground right now. Over a foot, and even deeper where the drifts are. It will be awhile before it all melts away, but hopefully today is the beginning of a very good thing called Spring! So, even though it doesn't really look like Spring yet, I'm going to pretend! Hence the new blog look! What do you think?! I love it!

Every Tuesday, Sky has his music/piano class from 1-2 p.m. Since you can't have other siblings present during the lesson, I have to find someone to watch Sara during that time. Grandma (Joshua's mom) is usually the one who comes to fill that need for me. When she comes, she brings lunch, we eat together, and then Sky and I leave for his class. It's become a fun little tradition every week! (If Grandma can't come for some reason, I take Sara to Patricia's house and she has tons of fun there! Patricia is a homeschooled teenager and we've become good friends with the whole family.) This Tuesday Grandma came to be with Sara. After lunch was devoured, the kids got a hold of the camera and started taking pictures of everyone! Joshua was home for lunch too, so he got in on the action! Here are some of the shots they got.

Ha! Bet you didn't expect that last picture! (And Joshua didn't expect me to post this last picture, either!) Oh, what Daddy's will do to make their children laugh!

I will be back with more consistency after this weekend. Sara and Sky have 2 final ski races - one tomorrow morning and one on Sunday morning. And then, ski racing is finally and officially over for the season! You can't even imagine my relief!

Picture Update!

I'm back! And very much alive! Life has happened for our family at an incredible rate this month! In the last two and a half weeks, I have experienced Mother's Day, tons of planting and yard work, a visit from my family, and a plane trip to Michigan for a girls' reunion and visit with more family! Wow! All of these things were a huge blessing in my life! Here are a few pictures to give you a small peek into all the wonderful happenings. I would never have the time to adequately share in words everything that has taken place. I think these pictures will help. I'll put the explanations below each one.

I had a wonderful, happy Mother's Day with my two precious children! It ended with a delicious meal at a local Greek restaurant! Opa!

We are so excited to finally have a tree in our front yard! It's so nice to look out the window and see green leaves! Thanks to my sweetheart for all the hard work! Joshua also planted two more trees in the backyard and numerous perennials. I had fun putting in a rainbow of colourful annuals in different containers throughout the yard. It was picture perfect by the time my family arrived!

This is my dad enjoying a carousel ride with Sara and Sky at Heritage Park. Those happy smiles say it all!

And here are Sara and Sky with their 4 aunties! In order from left to right, Hannah (7), Sky (4), Heather (15), Sara (7), Holly (10), and Heidi (13). This was on the train ride at Heritage Park. I finally got to treat my family to my favourite place in Calgary! It was a long, but fun day of exploration!

My family, being from Texas, had never been to an IKEA before! Half of the things in my house are from IKEA, so I HAD to take them there! It was another fun day, in spite of wind and rain! They especially enjoyed the Swedish meatballs and $1 frozen yogurt cones!

Last Friday, I flew (by myself!), to Michigan for a very special reunion. For those of you who are just getting to know me, I travelled with Life Action Ministries (based in Niles, MI), from 1995-2000. This was a girlfriend's reunion for those of us who travelled together in this ministry. A very special bond of the heart was formed between those of us who shared so much together. It was absolutely wonderful to hug on all these "girls" again, and catch up on each other, and see pictures of husbands and kids, and laugh and cry over memories we will always share. This picture and the next are the girlfriends who were in my bridal party 8 1/2 years ago! It was really neat that we were all able to make it to the reunion! From left to right, you see Jan, Jennifer, Meghan, Karen and Pegs. (That's my former nickname!) Oh, and I also got to hug and spend time with another blogging buddy, Judith. But...I never got a picture with her. :-(

It was so good to laugh together again!

After the reunion, I was able to spend a day a half with my brother, Scott, his beautiful wife, Andrea, and my two cute nephews, Luke (2) and Caleb (7 months)! They are with Life Action Ministries and Scott heads up the computer department at the headquarters in Niles, MI. Last year, they majorly renovated an old, fixer-upper home in Niles. They did an amazing job and the house is beautiful! The guest room was just like a bed and breakfast - Andrea thought of everything! I felt very pampered and loved!

I found the boys like this after breakfast on Monday morning. Luke got ahold of the blood pressure monitor and was taking Caleb's blood pressure! It was so cute! But, then Daddy found out and we had to put the machine away! :-)

These are my two buddies, all snug and ready for bed! It was very special to spend this time with them and get to know them better. And I was able to take 2 BIG suitcases full of Sky's outgrown clothes for them to use. It was like Christmas for Scott and Andrea!

I want to say a HUGE thank you to Joshua for watching the kids for me while I was away. He was pretty much Super Dad and I couldn't have asked him to do a better job! He took the kids to piano/music lessons, washed all the sheets and towels that my family left behind, gave baths when needed, kept the house clean, fed them decent food, and even took them swimming! All with no prompting! My parents and sisters helped watch Sara and Sky on Friday, while Joshua was at work and I was flying to Michigan. My family left on Saturday morning, and Joshua and the kids were on their own for the weekend. Then Joshua's parents drove down on Sunday evening so they could do the childcare while Joshua worked on Monday and Tuesday. It takes a village.... Thanks to everyone who helped out!

My heart is full. I am so thankful for these special moments that God gave to me this month. "Thank you Lord, for my beautiful family near and far, for my girlfriends and all their love and support, for springtime and new life! You have given me so much and I just want to praise You!"

Fresh Colour and New Life!

Well, I can stop being bitter now....the weather has been absolutely beautiful for the last two days! The sky is totally clear and blue, the sun is shining, and the snow has almost completely melted. It was actually really great moisture for the newly awakening trees and shrubs. The grass is really starting to green up too! Our bean plants are growing like crazy as you can see. They are still hiding inside for the time being.... Maybe next week we can plant them outside?? Today, after Joshua came home from work (he works one Saturday a month), we made a trip to the greenhouse/tree nursery that's close by. It was so fun to see all the trees blossoming and budding! Joshua gave me some money for Mother's Day to spend there, so I bought a wooden antique bucket to plant something in and a few baskets of flowers. Aren't they pretty? We'll be bringing these things into the front porch every night for a week or two yet, but I'm so excited to have some colour on the front porch to greet my visitors! We're also planting a few new trees in the backyard to replace those spruce trees Joshua chopped down a few weeks ago. We liked too many different kinds at the nursery, so now we have to decide which ones to buy! Tomorrow afternoon we'll be going back with our truck to pick them up. As I'm writing this, Joshua and the kids are out digging the holes for planting! They're having so much fun, I think we'll have a bit of a late bedtime.Today is my parents anniversary and I wanted to say "Happy Anniversary" to them! It's been 34 years! They are in Niles, MI right now visiting my brother, Scott and his wife Andrea, and my two sweet nephews, Luke and Caleb. This will be their first time to meet little Caleb, who is 7 months old! After their visit with them, they and my sisters, will be driving all the way over here to Airdrie, AB! They're arriving on the 19th. This will be the first time we have seen them for 2 1/2 years, so we are super excited! I washed my guest bed sheets last night, so the preparations have begun. This week will be busy with extra cleaning and schoolwork so we can be ready to take the next week off and enjoy our company! Here is a recent picture of my family, for those of you who know them. Heather is now 15, Heidi will be 13 next month, Holly is 10 and Hannah is 7 (8 in July).
If I don't have a chance to post tomorrow, "Happy Mother's Day" to all of you mommies out there! I'll look forward to reading all your blogs to see what kinds of fun and sweet things happened for each of you!

Cherry Tree Blossoms and Gardens

It must have happened overnight. I looked out my bedroom window, down at the backyard, and the cherry tree was covered in blossoms! It's so beautiful that I had to share! We've also been gradually putting in the vegetable garden this past week. The kids have had so much fun helping with that! So far, we've planted potatoes, onions, tomatoes, yellow and orange peppers, and pumpkins. We have carrot seeds too, so they'll be next. Below is Sky proudly holding "his" potatoes. Joshua bought red potatoes and white potatoes. Sara got to help plant the red ones while Sky was taking his nap. Then, Sky got to help plant the white potatoes later in the evening! So, now we have Sara's row of potatoes and Sky's row! They also picked out "his" and "her" carrot seeds! Today, we also planted some new perennials to replace the ones that froze when it rained/snowed two weeks ago. We also filled our big wooden buckets (half whiskey barrels) with annuals. It looks so festive and colorful! Now we pray there will be no more frosty nights. I will be more vigilant about checking the weather and covering everything this time around.
When I was out planting and watering today, I actually worked up a bit of a sweat! That's an exciting day in Calgary! It's been so nice to have the windows open too, and feel warm air coming in the house. And I love it that the kids can play outside without needing to be bundled all the time! The T.V. has been watched very little this past week and no one seems to miss it! Yay! It was starting to be a major addiction for Sky, in particular. I will admit that Mommy is just as addicted - not because I watch, but because it gets the kids out of my hair! I know, it's bad. Anyway - rabbit trail - we are just so happy that Summer is near. We are loving the sunshine!
P.S. This post took two days to write, so that's why it's dated the 12th, but you didn't actually see it that day! I can't figure out how to change the date!