Happy Birthday Erin!

Erin turned 2 in August and had a super cute Ladybug party! My camera died (again, but different camera this time) so I didn't get nearly what I had planned on getting - here's some of what I got though:

Gabi's got a little dress on with ladybugs on it - all festiveGabi and I went over to Alexa and Erin's a week before her party, so Gabi and Erin knew exactly what to do at the table for the little tea party!Creative Alexa had a ladybug sandbox filled with red/black shredded paper and hidden goody bag goodies inside! Such a great idea! The Girls had fun searching for bracelets, candy, hairclips...Alexa's cake was adorable! wish I could show you. Fun party! Thanks for the invitation!

Gabi's Room

2 weeks ago, Jason did up Gabi's room a little! It was a green colour which was fine and works with a Tinkerbell theme I was planning for - so we kept one wall (around the window) that green and then painted the remaining 3 walls purple (it really is a light purple, though it may come across as pink). Jason put up wainscoting (the white on the bottom half), with a chair rail and small crown moulding around the top. Looks great!
I got up the girly net and Tinkerbell wall stickies... it's adorable. Here's a peek:a little Tinkerbell tea play setand new closet door in background:

Happy Birthday Carla!

On Sunday August 17th we celebrated Carla's birthday - Gabi's sneaking in for a taste of the ice cream cakePiggyback rides for the lightest of the three kids - Gabi on Uncle Matt's back:Sammy on Uncle Paul's shoulders:then a traditional game of Ring 'round the Rosy (not pictured) and probably a new tradition of London Bridge is Falling Down:>

random

Other things we've done this month include:

On Friday, August 14th we had a potluck/picnic at Kurt and Dana's for the purpose of meeting Robin and her boys! We haven't seen Robin since she moved back East in 2005. It was a great evening visiting and seeing Brandon all grown up and meeting Zachary for the first time! Here's Elijah, Brandon, Alise, Samuel and Zachary:It was nice to see you Robin! I wish we had more time to have more of a visit with you while you were here!

Michael's Make/Take which all 5 kids decorated a tin pencil box:

A playdate at a good friend of mine...it was a hot morning and they have a lovely pool - so the boys loved swimming in it with her daughter:


And then on August 20th, Alexa and I met in B'ham for a free movie "Space Chimps" and quick "picnic" lunch in the foodcourt and then shop at Deals for groceries... oh and a quick stop for an ice cream cone from Edaleen - we could have used much more time, but both of us needed to be back to pick up our Students from school. It was fun none-the-less:

Airshow

Before the month of August leaves us, I better try and catch up with my blogging of our adventures! We've kept pretty busy this summer!
On Saturday, August 9th we went to an airshow locally. I've never actually been - so it was about time! And yes, it is a toss up paying pretty big bucks to go and see the sky BUT there was so much to see and do on the ground too that we really could have used more time there!

We loved the Armed Forces section:And going in the HUGE planeswe ran into Uncle Paul and Auntie Carla by chance too and watching the sky of course!The Snowbirds:

Local Fair

On August 2nd we went to our local fair for the day - the entire day (8:30am-9:30pm)!
Starting with a pancake breakfast:then visiting and collecting all the cards of each of the horse & riders that participate in the RCMP Musical Ride.Cool butt, huh?!we watched the show put to music - it was fantastic!
Face painting of course:we watched a wrestling match which was pretty fun for the kids to see it in real life! LOL. Here's WWF's The Honky Tonk Manand the milk demonstration put on by yours truly, Gabi and Sam!
*** my camera then died and unfortunately I didn't put my freshly charged back up batteries into my camera case, so that's all I got! Wah. Oh well.

We spent the rest of the day looking at the animals and exhibits, Lumberjack Show..etc. and BBQ'd some hotdogs for dinner while marking our territory at the stands for the Rodeo.

While watching the Rodeo, I whispered to Sam to go and collect a couple pop bottles that were lying beneath the bleachers beside us (thought it could be a good "job" lesson)... sure enough this escalated and he wanted to browse the entire bleacher-bottoms as his "job" for more bottles and cans - people even started to drop down theirs to this adorable little boy collecting plastic... I used Lily's camera to get these photos of him with some of his 'hard' work:Jason took him to the recyle depot that week to see his bottles/cans turn into money - it was perfect. Then they went to Superstore and bought some candies in the bulk section! He was so proud!

Falls

Jason has been venturing out to his absolute favourite spot, which might be partly due to the windy road up to these falls, which he loves! He has taken the boys there probably 4 times this summer - just fun memories for them!
On Thursday, July 30th - all 5 of us went during the day while Kelly and Lily were at school. We had a wonderful time on this super hot day in the falls. There are some nice pools of water that are deep enough for adults and shallow for the kids where we hung out.
Right off the bat Jason, Elijah and Sammy all started moving big rocks around, throwing rocks in...etc. Then a Lady commented to me that it's so funny how different boys play from girls - take a look:
the boys - BIG, HUGE bouldersMy girl - little pebbles was good for her!
Jason jumps off the cliffs into a deep pool (although it's deep but his feet still touch slightly)-With the heat wave continuing, we decided to go again on Saturday for the day (Aug 1)... here we are:SUZAN - this picture is for you!I think Gabi's foot was "stuck" a little at this point:and here's the falls where we walked up to on a trail/stairs -One family that came around the dinner hour that we talked with could not believe we had been there all day (Noon til 6:00pm) - we are good with full day outings!