Mustaches & Musicals . . .

This week Emma had another first . . . her first audition for a musical!!! Yep - her school is putting on "Seussical the Musical" and they had vocal auditions yesterday, which Emma said that she's pretty sure she did a great job!

Auditions were open for Grades 4 - 8 so we talked about how the solos probably would go to the older kids, but she was so honest and said that she thinks being a "who in who-ville" (the choir) would be lots of fun and it was just her first year so she'll have other years to have parts. We listened to her song and she did a great job - yep - we're proud parents!!! We'll let you know what the outcome is when we find out.

And we're half-way through Movember . . . the month that Brade is growing his mustache to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer. It's funny watching Navia go to kiss Daddy right now because she has to aim for the "no fur" parts of his face - and sometimes that takes a little concentration! If you are still wanting to donate you can click here to find Brade's "MoSpace" page. Thanks so much for your help in this! Right now there are so many men walking around with "interesting" looks - it's really cool seeing them all join together in the fight against cancer.

pssst - Dad, are you jealous of his "sideburns"? I remember Mom always asking the hairdresser to shorten yours as you were wanting them to grow as they did in the "old days" - hehehe!

Photo Heavy - The last couple of weeks

The last few weeks have been pretty busy around here with school activities, a long weekend, Braden going to Saskatchewan, finishing off my MYC teaching year, piano recitals and just hanging out.  This means that I guess I've been neglecting my blog so I thought I'd catch you up on what we've been up to the last little bit by showing you some pictures (notice how Kaleb's hair changes at the end!)

The kids' school had a day where every classroom chose a country and did a presentation for everyone in a kinda of open house style - opening the entire school up for the morning.  Kaleb's class did Kenya and Emma's class did China.

Kaleb during the dance sung in Swahili.

Navia was invited to stay for snack (which the teacher provided for her) and she loved it!

Emma standing behind the Great Wall of China and wearing the lucky color red.

Emma is in the dragon - at the very back - she had fun doing this.

Braden went to Regina to hang out with his family for an extended long weekend.  Mom (his mom) just had surgery the day before he arrived and Braden has a cold so when we went to visit Mom at the hospital he needed to wear a mask - how cute!!!  The only problem was that he didn't take the camera so there aren't any pictures to show you of this visit - next time!!!

He's actually talking to us on the phone when Jesse took this picture on his phone - gotta love the IPhone!

On the long weekend I (because Brade was gone) had 2 kids overnight - Emma's friend and her younger brother (which Kaleb gets along really well with).  Actually we had a brother and sister over on Friday night, two sisters over on Saturday night, and Emma went on an overnighter on Sunday night. . . it was a sleepover weekend!!!  

It was raining, but it didn't stop the kids from going outside and playing!

I pulled the old farm"garbage bag rain jacket" trick and the kids loved it!

The kids painting their very own planets.

The next day they got all dressed up and this is Emma as Daddy showing me her caterpillar.

Kaleb as the piano player (shirt and tie) showing me his witch stew.

Navia in her princess skirt (yep, 100% see-through!) gardening in the dirt.  Okay, maybe more playing than anything!

Emma's Spring Choir Concert (far right hand side)

I had my MYC recital at our house this year.  I split it into two separate recitals, rearranged the house, made cupcakes and somehow everyone fit and had a blast.  There were about 45 at the first recital and 25 at the second.  I had to show you my now living arrangement for it - it would definitely work again when you say "there are goodies and drinks to take OUTSIDE to eat".  The kids loved playing on the play structure and the parents hung out talking non-music to each other.  It was a good day!

What you saw when you entered the house.

My new front living room and dining room.

The view of the family room from upstairs.

The view from the kitchen.

My new favorite thing to make - 100 cupcakes decorated with a 1M tip, buttercream icing and confetti sprinkles - so easy and soooooo yummy!

My food for the second recital.

Navia sitting on the island during the recital.

Kaleb's Sunbeams 1 class doing their rhythm ensemble - Prelude in A by Chopin.  Kaleb is the second boy from the left. (note his hair!!!)

Most of my Tuesday kids (missing 3).

Most of my Wednesday kids (missing 2)

So, that's our lives the past couple weeks in pictures . . . hopefully I can keep up from now on and not fill up a post with so many pics - however lovely my kids are to look at - hehehe!

The First of Many . . .

Well, I can' t believe that I've joined the world of "bloggers" - but I'm pretty sure that I won't be nearly as consistent as many of my friends in the blogging world. This is more of a "I-miss-my-family-and-friends-and-want-them-to-be-a-part-of-
what-our-family-is-up-to-wherever-we-are". Now that's a mouthful!!!

In January we moved to Ottawa (again) and we are really loving our life out here. Our family is able to spend a lot of time together - all five of us - which is really fun. Braden is home most nights before supper and the kids all run to the door and hang out all night with him. Each has their "special" things that they do with dad on a regular night - like Kaleb LOVES Mario Kart, so you'll find Daddy and Kaleb on the couch together playing the Wii and you'll overhear Kaleb taunting "I'm winning, I'm winning, I'm going to bump you off the road..." and then an older voice "awww - you won again!". Yep, Daddy kinda sucks at Mario Kart - hee hee! Then you'll hear a ball bouncing on the driveway as Emma is outside playing basketball. She loves sports and Daddy has been coaching her on the proper way of playing b-ball. The traveling rule, well, it's not sticking, but hey - she's just 7! Then there's Navia . . . she just climbs all over Daddy and singings with him and asks him to "follow me" all over the house - exploring each and every treasure that she can find!.


Yep, we love our life here! Our house is much bigger than past houses which means more space to clean for me, but also more space for the kids and their friends to hang out in. Out backyard is also much bigger, which means that I have turned into a "dirt-player" - I could never call myself a gardener - NEVER!!! But . . . I do enjoy playing in the dirt and so far have moved a Japanese Maple from one side of the yard to the other, moved a raised flowerbed, planted 1 lilac, 2 cedars and 1 apple tree and re-sodded the area where the raise flowerbed was. And I'm actually enjoying it! Weird!!! This picture is of the original flowerbed with the hole already dug for a tree. I thought that I'd be using a lot of the flowers from that original bed, but instead have only kept the white bleeding heart and gave everything else away. I'm not much on orange flowers and it was full of orange.


I have a lot of plans that I'm just trying to fine-tune before I start digging up more sod. I'm figuring at least 4 more cedars, 1 cherry tree, concord grapes, a small veggie garden (okay, so maybe just tomatoes this year) and some more trees that I haven't decided upon yet. Our yard was pretty bare when we moved here and we have 2 side neighbors and our back fence is shared with 2 other families as well, so I'm kinda wanting to design something that would enable us to have a bit more privacy when we're in the backyard. It's also pretty nice having a good friend that is a garden-a-holic and she has some good tips and ideas as I'm on my gardening journey.

Navia stretching after helping me move the Japanese Maple from the far side of the yard to here. It was a task and a half, but we did it!!!

Well - I can't believe that I'm still typing - WOW! So, this is my first post and I'll try and have some more pics up of the yard as it is developing . . . I'm soooo wanting to just hang out and enjoy all the fruits of my labour (especially the apples!!!)

The raised flowerbed is no more!!! Now it is a corner to relax and watch the kids play on their fort. Soon the apple tree with grow and make an area that finally has shade during the day!

You can't really see it, but the back left-hand side has a swing/acrobatic swing attached - one for Navia and the other for Emma and Kaleb


oh . . . p.s.

One of the things that Emma thought was really cool about her new school was the opportunity to join the choir. As she says "singing is my gift" - and she is loving every minute of it! This is a little clip (okay, so it was badly recorded on my phone while I was trying to keep Navia still) of her final concert. They performed 4 songs at the school assembly. Emma is on the right-hand side of the teacher, second row, behind the girl in the bright pink t-shirt and kid in the blue.