A Week of Cousins!!!

My sister, Coralie and her family, Larry, Aaliyah, Robyn and Riley came to visit us for the week and it was great! The kids had fun playing together (only a few little disagreements here and there) and it was so nice to have a sister around to just hang out with!

You can't come to Ottawa and not go to the Parliament Buildings, and so that is just what we did! But, with Canada Day celebrations going to happen the next day the Hill was pretty busy. When we arrived the Bare Naked Ladies were doing a sound check and we heard them sing "If I Had a Million Dollars" and then we sat on the grass and had a picnic lunch before checking out the Hill.

Navia and Robyn at the Eternal Flame in the middle of Parliament Hill

The kids hugging at the Library

Larry spent a lot of time behind the video camera while on the Hill and I just HAD to take a picture of it - hehehe! Sorry Larry!!!

With six kids in tow you can't really do all the tours, but we did go up the Peace Tower and see the Memorial Room - which they kids did really well with.

Robyn and Kaleb checking out the view from on top of the Peace Tower

They seem to like the view from up high!

The Spratt Family in front of the Parliament Buildings

Everyone at the Whispering Wall on the Hill

The day was a good one and the kids did really well with the walking and the waiting and just hanging out on the Hill with us.

The next day was Canada Day and it was a busy one - we started off walking to the neighborhood celebration - free bouncy castles, bouncy slide, for toddlers to big kids, free cotton candy, free magicians, free balloons, free reptile show and it was really fun for the kids.

Kaleb touching the crocodile

Aaliyah and Coralie with the turtle

Robyn having a blast on the bouncy slide

Navia running off the slide to do it all over again!

After the BBQ lunch we went home for Riley to have a sleep and after he woke up we went to Kanata to the fair and fireworks (the Hill just would have been to busy for the kids). The kids had fun on the carousel - even Riley!

Our friends and their kids met us at the Hill to watch the concert and the fireworks - which the kids just kept on oohing and aahhing.

The one thing that Larry really wanted to do was to visit the National War Museum - and although we didn't spend as much time in it with kids as we would have without kids, it was great to finally see it all.

Someone is happy to be here!

Daddy and the kids

Coralie and the kids at the craft table in the museum

Emma brought her camera and took pictures of EVERYTHING and so I just needed to take a picture of her taking her pictures - hehehe!

Emma in costume

Don't mess with this soldier boy!

Okay, so I'm pretty sure that soldiers shouldn't be this cute!

Riley is the cutest little cannon ball around!

Checking out the sub missile

The main floor is full of all the military vehicles, from motorbikes, to ambulances to food vehicles, tanks and even a plane!!!

After the Museum we went to Byward Market to eat Beavertails (yum yum), check out the market and the locks by the Parliament Buildings.

Church was cancelled on Sunday due to maintenance at the school so we decided to have a great relaxing day and we started 5 minutes away at Nicolls Island Locks . . . fishing! It was the first time that the Spratt kids had done this and they seemed to have fun - Aaliyah even caught her very first fish!!! (although I don't have it on camera I just happened to be videoing at that time and caught it all on film!!! the fish decided to make an appearance to be shown and then jumped right off the hook - but she still caught it!!!)

Kaleb sitting enjoying the day while fishing

The kids sitting on the floating dock waiting for their hooks "wormed"

Robyn taking her turn fishing on the dock

Yep - I'm thinking that they'll have to go out fishing again in Saskatchewan!!!

On the hot day we needed to do an inside, air conditioned, craft and so I had purchased pillowcases and had fabric markers so that each child could make their own personalized pillowcase.

Even Riley got into it!

Emma decided to make her a Bible themed one

Kaleb was busy with every type of drawing that he could think of

Kaleb and Navia took their cousins on their first geocaching adventure - a GPS treasure hunt. There are caches all over the world and we found a great one filled with kid sized treasure just 5 minutes from our place - actually just by the place we were fishing!

Kaleb leading the way with Aaliyah right behind

We found it stuck in the trees with camo duct tape - how cool is that!

Choosing the treasure they want to take home before we put new ones to replace them.

The kids with their finds

The last couple of days that everyone was here was hot . . . and not dry hot, but wet hot! That means that we were looking at +40 and +44 days - way toooooooo hot!!! Thank goodness for air conditioning because we spent the last couple of days at the house - doing bubbles, running through the sprinkler, jumping on a trampoline with the sprinkler underneath, slip'n'sliding, and doing the slip'n'slide under the actual slide making it a WATERSLIDE!

Oh, and I bet you didn't know that they named a street a couple blocks away from our place after Larry and Coralie . . . hmmm . . .

Oh ya . . . they truly did!!!

We took them to the airport and because they had a stroller they got to skip the line and go straight through to security! Yay! There is a little place on the second floor that you could see into the secured area and I just had to take a shot of them - unknown to them, but there they are, checking out their gate number and then they took off, back to Saskatchewan!

So this past week we went to the park, splash park, fishing, geocaching, bubble blowing, running through the sprinkler, trampolining, watersliding, picnicing, watching the locks, going on the carousel, watching fireworks, bouncy castles, eating cotton candy, going to the War Museum, Parliament Hill, Byward Market, eating Beavertails, slush run, chalk writing, scootering, playing and just hanging out!!! We loved having family here for the week and today the house is very quiet and kinda lonely . . . you guys are welcomed back anytime you want - we'll always have space for you!!! Love you lots and lots!!!

Weekends

Our kids love the trampoline!!! They have discovered going and jumping when it's wet and the one day that it didn't rain this week they put turned on the sprinkler underneath and and soaked themselves - having a blast!

Emma, Victoria and Katrina

Meanwhile, Daddy and Mike were inside playing scrabble on Mike's new Ipad . . . oh brother!!! They didn't want to play it the traditional way, board and all, but instead just "had" to use their Iphones and Ipad - ug! What is this world coming to!!!

Kaleb was invited to Riley's birthday party on Saturday they had a blast at the gymnastics club, jumping and climbing and jumping some more!

Then on Sunday you knew that summer had officially arrived when we heard the sounds in the air . . . the ICE CREAM TRUCK was coming around and the kids ran for their allowance money to get to the truck before it turned the corner - and they just made it! The ice cream truck will always be a summer memory - we had one back in Airdrie and it's neat to see one out here now.

Father's Day is coming up and I've been doing a bit of searching and came across this amazing song by Cindy Morgan called 'King of the World' and discovered that she has written a book based on the song entitled, 'Dance Me Daddy'. On YouTube there was a reading of it and it just made me cry as I see the younger girl in her princess dress as Navia and then the older one as Emma and then the going away girl . . . well . . . I can't go there yet, but it has me in tears. I love the relationship that Braden has with his daughters and remember his dancing Emma around and around. The first thing that he did when we brought her home from the hospital was sing the song that he wrote just for her as he danced her in his arms around the living room. I will always remember that! The other night Navia ran up to her daddy and said "Dance me Daddy!" and wanted to go just on his toes and then be spun around. I had to grab the camera because too many times we miss this pictures to look back on and I don't want to miss this.

"DANCE ME DADDY" - by Cindy Morgan (excerpt from her book)

"Spinning around on the tops of his feet.

she smiles like an angel and looks up so sweet.

She wears a princess gown and a cardboard crown

and her piggy tails dance and swirl.

He's her hero, brave and strong, and she's her daddy's girl.

He tells her jokes, makes her laugh

They play "I Spy", "Let's Pretend" and "Catch Me if You Can"

And when the moon is out and the sun is asleep

After dinner, dessert and bedtime stories

She climbs up on the top on his feet and says,

“Dance me Daddy. Dance me around

Don't let my feet ever touch down.

There’s nothing better than being your girl.

And if I am your princess then, you are the King of the World.”

I dare you to listen to the reading of this book and not grab a tissue!!! Just click below!

To order the book click here.

MVP Gloucester Girls

Emma had been doing really well in baseball - really well! She's hitting home runs, throwing pretty good throws and pitching like she's done this all before. Many parents comment on her natural skill and can't wait to see what she'll be like in a few years - yep - we're proud parents!!!

Emma up to bat

Emma pitched "3 up, 3 down" which means there were three batters up and she struck each one out!!! Yep - we've discovered another natural ability!

And at the end of the game Emma was awarded a medal as the Most Valuable Player (VP) of the game!!!

Congrats Emma - we're so proud of you!!!

Our New Front Yard

When we moved into our house the front looked like this . . .

Why in the world they put a big rock in the middle of the lawn is something I will never understand. It made mowing harder and just sat there - ug! I knew I wanted to change it, but had no idea where to even start. My friend, Cynthia, has the most amazing yard and is has started a landscaping business called Lush Landscaping. She came over and designed a new front yard for us, and knowing that we were on a budget instead of just choosing any plants, she helped us "recycle" the ones that we liked, divided up a few of hers that she knew I enjoyed and the even the one that I hated, she changed the placement and now I love it. She's brilliant!!!

So, as soon as the ground thawed (which was extremely early this year seeing that the kids were in the sprinkler at the beginning of April) we started on it. I marked out the new flowerbeds in flour (because I could just rub it away if I made a mistake and redo it with great ease - and it wasn't the annoying spray paint that I see so many times - ug!). I was upstairs lesson planning when I realized that Braden had taken it upon himself to start cutting out the flowerbed and that was the most amazing surprise I could have had! He cut it all out, ripped up the extra sod, dug up the plants that we were transplanting, built up the flowerbed, replanting the larger plants - which I was extremely specific in "just a few more inches to the right, nope - back a little . . ." - yep - he loved me! He even moved the rock - digging a hole for it because it was just too big - with a shovel, a couple 2x4's and a neighbor!!!

After the beds were transplanted with the princess spirea and weigela we had to wait just a bit until my MYC recitals were finished before I could take time to plant the rest of the bed. Long weekend came and I planted and planted and ta-da . . . I loved the way that it turned out!!!

It wasn't complete yet though - we still didn't have seating to sit and watch the kids play in the driveway and street (yep - they play in the street!) Braden had come across chairs at a store a few weeks previously and decided that he wanted to take me to see them because they weren't the traditional ones that everyone else has - so we went to the east end store (not there), center store (not there) and then finally to the west end store - they had them!!! I loved them right away - and instead of traditional "cushions" that are on the chairs, I found gorgeous outdoor pillows!

The front yard was looking great, but there was just one little thing that I really wanted . . . I came across the most amazing porch trellis on a blog that I frequent, Restyled Home. I really wanted Braden to build it out of real 1x1's, not the fake, ready-made trellis - and he did it!!! I wanted it in cedar and he couldn't find the right side boards so he bought larger boards and ripped them into 1x1's. Isn't my husband amazing!!! So this past weekend Braden built a trellis and I was able to get one coat of a solid stain on it before it rained. Now we just need to put another coat of stain on it and then we want to plant fruit-bearing kiwi vines to go up it - the ones with the heart-shaped pink/white tipped leaves.

So now, in our third summer here, we have a front yard that I'm proud of - and I love that neighbors are coming over commenting on it, even ones that we haven't met yet - which is kinda neat. Now to just sit like the old married couple that we are and sip our tea on the front porch, watching the cars go by!

Parties, Rome, Baseball, Tennis and Piano

Navia was invited to her friend Brooke's birthday party and she was soooo excited! Brooke is a little princess, just like Navia, so for a gift I ran out and bought a tank top with sparkles on the straps and then a women's pink t-shirt (I didn't have time to run to the fabric store). From that I took the women's t-shirt and cut off the bottom part, using the bottom seam as the bottom seam for the skirt, added an elastic for the waistband and then cut up an old pink shirt to make the ruffle on the bottom. I used the extra t-shirt material to applique a 'B' on the front. Then we topped it off with pink sparkly nail-polish and pink sunglasses with "diamonds". It was fun doing a quick project like this that was easy to do and the cost was great.

Brooke's party was held at the upstairs of the grocery store where the kids made their own pizza, fruit salad and decorated cupcakes. They had a blast!

Navia in her chef's hat

Navia and Brooke cutting up the fruit for the salad

Braden had a new experience this past month too - a trip to Rome and back that took 4 days!!! He left on Tuesday and was back on Friday! He's been working on a McDonald's job for Europe McDonald's and they had a conference in Rome in which he showed them what they'd done and pitched another job as well. He came home exhausted, but it sounds like he had fun! His hotel was only a 20 minute walk from the Coliseum so he had fun site-seeing on foot. He came home with hats for the kids and they LOVED them . . . well . . .

Navia loved hers after a little bit, her first reaction was disbelief, not wanting to touch it, cuddling into me and crying because daddy didn't by her any princess things (on the phone she had asked him to bring back a princess dress, diamond earrings, diamond necklace and glass slippers). Poor Braden didn't know what to do! She warmed up though and soon wouldn't let anyone else touch it.

Baseball season has begun in our neck of the woods. Emma is on the Gloucester Youth Girl's Mite team and at the first practice the coach couldn't believe that she hadn't been on a team before or had never pitched in her life. I guess she's kinda a natural and after hitting a home run and getting 3 girls home with it her coach called her "home-run girl"! Yep - she loves it and has been coming home dirty as anything because she believes in sliding too!

Just after Emma hit the ball

Emma running the bases - black outfit, red batters helmet

Emma all ready in the outfield

Emma pitching

Emma's not the only one in baseball though - Kaleb is too! He's on the ROMSA 5-Pitch Co-Ed team and although he's only had 1 game so far he's loving it too! His league is non-competitive and more for learning the sport so they don't keep score and the pitcher is actually the other team's coach while a boy stands at the mound to catch anything that might be hit that way. I guess Kaleb was really getting into the pitching with "STRIIIIIIIIIIIKE ONE", "STRIIIIIIIIIIIKE TWO", "STRIIIIIIIIIIIKE THREE - YOOU'RE OOOOOUUUUUUT" - sounds like he was so much into it that the coach had to ask him to not be so enthusiastic about it! LOL!

"Striiiiiike Two!"

Kaleb ready at first base

Kaleb getting the ball before the runner - "You're Ouuuuut!"

Kaleb at bat

Now baseball isn't the only sport that we're doing right now - we enrolled the kids in TENNIS!!! The only thing - when we got there on Saturday we realized that we enrolled them in 'family' tennis, which meant that one of us had to join as well - so I ran back to the house and picked up Brade's shoes and shorts for him so that he could play along. The three of them had a lot of fun learning how to serve, backhand, and other tennis things that I just don't have a clue about.

Notice the ball flying after Emma backhanded it

Kaleb's got this one too!

And Daddy, well, he hit it right out of my shot!

And what were Navia and I doing during this time??? Sitting in the van watching {sigh}. Yep, Navia had a cough and wet hair (as we had just come back from swimming lessons) and had to stay in the van instead of go to the playground that was right beside the tennis court. Next time though!

Posing with HER tennis racket

The last half of the game was spent putting what they learned into action - with a real game - the instructor and Emma vs. Daddy and Kaleb - no keeping score though! They did really great and can't wait until next weekend to learn more. I'm thinking that this just might be the new 'family' sport that we can do - the courts are just a couple blocks away and the kids are enjoying it . . . so maybe?!?!

This afternoon was my MYC Spring Recital . . . which means that after today I only have my Monday classes to teach for 2 more weeks and then I'm off for the summer!!! Although Kaleb and Emma are quite excited that they are officially done right now!!! I taught 48 students this year so had to break my recital into 2 recitals and had them at the Riverside United Church. The kids all did great and I only had 5 who couldn't make it!

Emma playing 'Shortenin' Bread" - notice the hand crossing over - yep - she's good!!!

My 2:00 recital crew . . . ages 4 - 9 (Emma's in this one)

Kaleb playing 'Joyful Times', a fiddling tune which he rocked!!!

My 3:30 recital crew (Kaleb's in this one - back row)

So, that's what we've been up to lately. Now that teaching is done (or almost done) I can concentrate more on the gardening, making sure the kids get to all their baseball games and just hanging out with my family and friends. I've already booked a trip to the nursery with a friend to shop for my new front garden!!! Can't wait!!!

Oh, and can you believe that we have the kids in swimming, baseball AND tennis all at the same time?!?!?! I don't think that will be happening again, but it does make it so that we're never bored!!!

hmmm . . .

this post is a bit different that others, so you'll just have to bear with me, but sometimes i have thots in my head that are just wanting to come out and this is one of those times. every family is different and everyone parents differently, but tonight this is what's running through my head and my heart . . .

there is a struggle that so many parents face - work and family. you need to work in order to provide for your family, but then there are those times that because of work you miss what is important to someone in your family. how does that make sense?

right now braden is in italy for work and today was the day of making sure that i went to all the kids' things - but i missed one. I've spent over 9 years making sure that i was always at my children's activities and special events and this past year i haven't been able to make it to anything that was in the evening due to my work. i met emma's teacher for the first time today - and it's may! what's with that?!?!? today i made it to emma's student led conference at 10am, then to kaleb's at 1pm, but then at 5:30 i needed to go to work and the kids went to awana. i thought that i did good.

Kaleb's project on the Canada Goose

Emma's project on bridges - its a retractable one!

when the kids came home and went to bed i was putting away navia's bag when out dropped a paper. it was an invitation to the cubbies awards ceremonies - may 6 - tonite! i guess last week i just put her bag away without looking inside and then we just grabbed it today for awana. i sent her without even knowing that tonight was her awards night. i guess there a program with presentations and awards and navia even came home with a little cubbie award badge for me to sew onto her cubbie vest. each family even brought refreshments to share with everyone afterwards. i can just picture navia as the only little girl there without parents there. she didn't get to sit or eat with her parents or show them what she's been doing all year. i know she's only 4 and won't really remember this, but i will. when the note fell out i came upstairs and asked emma if there were a lot of families there tonight and she told me that there were tons of parents in navia's class and if i could please come next week because it's her's and kaleb's awards ceremony. hmmm. i think emma doesn't want to be like navia was tonight.

i know that this isn't the first time that work has interfered with family, but it is the first time it has with navia - she's the only one that i've always been there for - and now i guess the time has come that she's going to realize that i can't be there for her all the time either. it just sucks! i know that this is going to happen more, especially because i'm going to be teaching more next year, but it doesn't make it any easier.

out of this i've also realized that i couldn't be a single parent or have a husband that is away a lot. brade is only gone for 4 days - really not long at all - and emma and kaleb have both missed their first baseball games and navia had no one to watch her get her very first awana badge. and that's just in 4 days . . . how in the world would it be like if i didn't have the supportive husband and father that is around all the time and will come home just to take a sick kid to the doctors if i'm working and can't. God really blessed us with him and although i'm sure that i take him for granted often, i really need to watch it, because we're pretty lucky - he is our gift - and an amazing one!

so, maybe i make sure to look in my kids' bags so that i don't miss important things, maybe i spend more time with them doing what they want and not what i want, maybe i spend time just talking with them as individuals, maybe i spend more time praying with them and for them, and maybe i accept the fact that work is something that needs to be done, but there is a lot of time in the day that i can take out for my children - and sometimes i'll miss something that is important to them, but they know that i love them - fully and completely . . . . . (and they'll take lots of pictures for me so they can show me what happened!)

This video below is Kaleb showing telling us the story of The Three Little Pigs in French. It looks like he's reading something, but he really isn't - he did amazing and I had no idea that my little boy could talk this well in another language - especially one that I don't understand!