February + March

My goal today is to finish up winter pictures and start into Spring, since we're just over a month away from the official start of summer! Kiera has been coloring some adult coloring pages and posters and I enjoy seeing what she comes up with!

She started gymnastics in the fall and it's been neat to see what she's all learning!

Haley likes Anna and Elsa hair tutorials and then she wants me to try them, so here was my attempt at an Anna bun.

I got a reflexology treatment from a dear friend of my Mom's and she had cracked skin, so she wore gloves. Haley thought Lois was cleaning my feet, so she went and put gloves on, too, and "helped" Lois. SO cute!

The month of February, Kiera and I went door-to-door many evenings and Saturdays selling chocolate. I went out with Blake twice, too, when Kiera was busy. Jared sold some at his work as well and my parents bought a bunch, so between all of that, Kiera reached her goal and sold 7 cases of chocolate! Her prize was a $90 snow racer!! :) My Mom started picking up puzzles at the MCC to do before they sell them to see whether or not there are any pieces, so Jared and I started doing 1000-piece puzzles since it would take too much time for my Mom to do them all by herself. The kids sometimes help, too and it's an activity we really enjoy doing together! This was our first 1000-piece one that we did. One for his wedding slide show I was trying to take a nice picture of all 3 kids and this is what I got! On March 27, Easter Sunday, Kiera got baptized, which was an incredible special day and we rejoice that she wants to follow Jesus! Haley wanted to eat ice but it was too cold for her to hold, so she came up with this: I figured I would take advantage of this cold, rainy day to catch up a bit on blogging since it's not a great day for sitting out on the deck! I just got some new piano sheet music and I hear it calling for me to come play, so I hope to post more Spring pictures another day! :)

Winter Adventures

I've gotten behind on blogging again, so here's my attempt to catch up! In January, we attempted to make Baymax. I later discovered that black food coloring runs all over the place when the weather gets warmer, so Baymax ended up looking like some scary space alien a few days later. I enjoy watching my kids play games together, when they're getting along and one isn't crying about losing. Spot It and Trouble are games that Haley can play and she enjoys them. I like Haley's form as she gets ready to pop the Trouble bubble. Enjoying some Daddy/daughter time...not sure what Kiera was doing with her shirt...

Haley decided she wanted hair like Vanellope von Schweetz from Wreck-It Ralph (which I don't think she has even watched), so I put a bunch of accessories in her hair instead of candy like the cartoon character.

In February, Kiera went to a birthday party where they hired the same face painter that we had at our house last summer and she got to take home a stuffed kitty. Can you guess the theme?!

February long week-end we decided to get away to Grand Forks for one night after finding a $70/night deal. We stayed at the Expressway Suites, which is a really nice hotel that's only 2 years old and it's across from the CanadInns. We ended up going across the street to the CanadInns waterpark for the afternoon. Unfortunately, our van got a flat tire right as we were arriving, so Jared had to spend time going to get that fixed while I was with the kids at the waterpark. He was able to join us for the last couple of hours and we were thankful that there was a tire shop open on a Sunday on Valentine's Day! There was also a BOGO deal at Qdoba's where we went for lunch plus kids eat free on Sundays at the Green Mill, so our lunch and supper on Sunday were quite discounted!

The rooms are quite spacious and the couch had a hide-a-bed.

The kids woke up bright and early on Monday morning, so we headed down to the continental breakfast around 7:30. They have the best free hotel breakfast I've ever had! Waffles with the options of syrup, whipped cream, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, English muffins, sausage, scrambled eggs, bacon, yogurt, fruit, cereal, pastries, oatmeal...I might be missing a few things but it was fantastic! After breakfast, the kids wanted to go straight to the pool, so we were the first ones in there at 8:30 a.m. There were color changing lights in both the pool and the hot tub, so the kids enjoyed that. The pool isn't huge but the hot tub is quite spacious. We went to Rhombus Guys for lunch on Monday before heading home. They have quite possibly the best pizza we've ever had! We've been there several times and have never been disappointed! I also like that the whole table is covered with paper, so the kids can draw to their hearts content while waiting for the pizza. The kids were exhausted and 2 of them conked out on the way home.

My Mom kindly had us over for supper before we went home and we managed to do this whole 500-piece puzzle while we were there, which began our journey of doing puzzles regularly!

Spring might actually be on its way soon (maybe) but I will try to blog again soon (maybe)! ;)

End of December - Middle of January

Time to finish up 2015 photos and start on 2016! I remember my Grandma had one of these marble things and me and my cousins spent hours playing with it. Now my kids play with it at their Nana's house! These 2 girls colored and sung spontaneous made-up songs and it was SO cute to watch them! It was at this point that I realized Haley believes in Jesus as her Savior as she was singing about it!! Story time with Nana Apparently Art makes a good pillow Art, Jenene and Sophia left in the morning on December 30, so I woke up early and made a waffle breakfast. Blake and Haley had a tea party on New Year's Eve Haley's got her own style

I woke up to this sky on January 19 and couldn't help but give praise to God!

2015 was a wonderful year, full of good health (for the most part), an incredible trip to Florida and we got to celebrate Christmas with Art, Jenene and Sophia, which made it extra special! There was a lot to look back and smile about and I look forward to all that God has planned for the rest of 2016!

Post Boxing Day

On the 27th, we hung out at home during the day and then had my Dad and Tannis over to celebrate Christmas. In the afternoon, the kids bundled up to go play outside.

They enjoyed a snack of cheese strings (it was my first time buying them).

For our Christmas supper with my Dad and Tannis, I made slow cooker lasagna, homemade garlic cheese breadsticks and I made my first ever real (not Paleo) peanut butter cheesecake! I was SO relieved that it turned out! Waiting to open gifts

Kiera got an Anna dress

Haley got an Anna doll (do you sense a theme)?

Of course, Blake got more Lego.

Sophia loves doing crafts and she likes the Avengers...her interests are broad.

Kiera really wanted a battery-operated toothbrush, which she is still enjoying.

My Dad + Tannis with all the kids

The 3 princesses My Dad was doing Sophia's coloring activity book Once again, it was another fun day!