Girls Weekend!

We’d set up a girls weekend for us to go to Kalispell but the weather turned junky.  We still wanted to have time together and get Christmas shopping done, so we changed location to Lethbridge.  I booked a hotel and, Friday afternoon, mom and I headed out.  The roads weren’t great, but not as bad as they would have been to Kalispell.

We picked Shauna and Mindy up, did a few errands and then hit the mall!  I normally really dislike going shopping, but going shopping with my sisters (and mom) is a blast!  Shauna always makes me laugh.  I love that she can make me laugh!

After shopping so much that the bags were cutting off my circulation in my fingers, we finally loaded everything in the van and headed to the hotel.  We got checked in and then went to get dinner.  We’d thought about going to Firestone, but we couldn’t even find a parking space!  Mom had gift certificates to Rick’s Grill, so we decided to go there instead.  The menu had been changed earlier in the week and none of us were really impressed.  It was very expensive and not that much food for what we paid.  It was really cold in the restaurant too!  Thank goodness for good company!

We did a bunch more shopping after dinner and then headed back to the hotel.  We had fun playing games, gabbing and snacking.  I just wish my other sisters could have been there too!

We shopped so much that it didn’t take long for the van to be very full!  It got more interesting every time we stopped.  We finally headed home about 3:00.  It has been such a fun day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When mom and I got home, mom distracted the kids while I unloaded everything into the ‘cave’ and then mom headed home. 

The day continued to be fun as Lennard and I arranged a babysitter and went to the movie together!

Ward Christmas Party

We had a fun evening at our Ward Christmas Party.  There was a delicious turkey dinner and a fun program.  Part way through the program they surprised the Ward Council (which I’m a part of) and had us come up and sing ‘Jingle Bells’.  Not exactly what I’d planned on!  The kids loved getting to see Santa Claus afterwards. 

Happy ‘Do-It-Yourself’ Birthday!

Lennard ended up getting the raw end of the deal today.  I’d had big plans on how to celebrate his birthday which even included getting away by ourselves.  But after a week filled of sickness and me still not feeling better, the day ended up being filled with me sleeping on the couch while Lennard got all the bedding washed, rooms vacuumed, and kids entertained.  He even ended up taking the kids and going to Lethbridge in the afternoon and let me sleep all afternoon too!  He brought dinner home from Costco, put it in the oven and set the table.  Aren’t I such an amazing wife?!  (Grrr!)  It made me so sad that we couldn’t have really celebrated.

Thankfully I’d bought his birthday present a month and a half ago, so I at least had something to give him… even if it wasn’t wrapped!  His birthday cake ended up being a Costco cookie (that he’d bought himself) with a candle in it!  At least we sang… right?!

I’m so blessed to be married to such an understanding guy.  Hopefully once I get over this rotten cold/flu we’ll be able to go out make up for such a crummy birthday.  Love you, Lennard!

Craft Day

I was feeling ambitious and invited my friends Dina and Shannon over with their kids to have a craft day today.  The kids played downstairs for a while and then I pulled out some gingerbread playdough for them to play with.  It smelled so good! 

While they were playing, Shannon, Dina and I took masking tape and made snowflake/snowman shapes on some small canvas’.  When we were all done and cleaned up all the playdough, the kids got to pick a picture and paint it!  Of course it was done way too quickly, but they had fun just running around and playing while the pictures dried.  The moms didn’t mind as it gave us a chance to just sit and visit!  It was definitely a fun way to spend the morning.

 

Remembrance Day

We took the kids to the Remembrance Day ceremony that was held at the High School this year.  We haven’t taken them in the past because I didn’t want to wreck anyone else’s experience with two rowdy kids, but we thought that maybe this year they would be able to sit still long enough.  They didn’t do too badly.  It was a little frustrating, but I figure if we don’t take them when they are young they won’t want to go when they are older! 

We both feel it is important for them to take a moment and remember those who have fought for our freedom, especially when they have a great-grandfather who died in WWII and a great-great grandfather who fought in both World Wars.

Lennard placed a wreath in honor of his grandpa, Arthur Willard Nichols and then the kids were able to place their poppies on the wreath afterwards.

ER Visit

I got a text this morning from Lennard at about 9:15 saying that he was at the hospital and that he’d got flashed with fire and was having his eyes checked out.  I asked him if he wanted me to come down and he said yes, so I quickly got the kids ready, dropped them off at my friend Dina’s house and then headed to the ER.

When I got there he was sitting on the bed with his eyes closed.  All his eyelashes and eyebrows and even sideburns were singed and he said his eyes were quite painful.  Within minutes of my arrival, the doctor came in, asked a few questions and proceeded to put some drops that would freeze his eye.  Lennard just about came off the bed!  He hates anything touching his eye and to have drops put in was bad enough.  Thankfully there was no damage to the cornea and the doctor said that he should heal fairly quickly. (The best part of the whole visit was that he was in and out within an hour!)

Since it is a WCB case, he has to be reassessed on Wednesday before he’s clear to go back to work.  He did pretty good this afternoon, but when we got home from dinner at my parent’s, his eyes were really hurting again.  Thankfully we have prescription drops that should help him not be in so much pain. 

I keep thinking about how much worse it could have been and I’m so thankful that he’s relatively okay.  Hopefully the Town will wake up and buy a new water heater!

Funny thing that happened while I was getting his prescriptions… I stopped at Extra Foods but after a short wait they told me that they didn’t have the drops in stock.  They called around and found that Value Drug Mart had them, so I took the prescription and headed down to the other pharmacy.  I got there and was seen immediately.  The guy entered everything and told me it would be about ten minutes.  Within five minutes he had it ready for me and as he handed me the bag, looked at me and said, “You look really familiar.”  I told him my maiden name and where I grew up (which is the drill in Cardston) and then he said, “You look like a sister missionary that I served with on my mission.”  I then asked him where he’d served and he said Switzerland Geneva!  My mission!  I still didn’t recognize him (so bad!), but then he said that he’d served with Elder Ward in Geneva for a few months and then it clicked… he was in my district in Geneva!  Hahaha!  Too funny!  It’s been so long since then!  We chatted for a bit and then I headed home.  Once I got the kids and got home I pulled out my mission scrapbook and there he was… Elder Bennett - right beside me in a picture of our district.  So there you go.  You never know who you’re going to meet!

What a Difference a Day Makes!

One day… from sunshine and plus 18 to snow!  Lots of snow!  It’s hard to believe the kids were out trick-or-treating with no coats on Friday and today we’re pulling out boots, gloves and winter coats!  The top picture is when it just started snowing and had covered the grass. (Saturday evening)  Now there’s a foot of snow over everything!

After we got home from church today, the kids were extremely excited to go play in the snow.  We made them eat dinner first.  They had a blast.  Emma was so proud of her ‘Olaf’ (snowman from the movie ‘Frozen’).  The funniest part of the whole afternoon was when we finally convinced them to come inside and Emma came in eating ‘Olaf’s nose’!  What can I say… she loves carrots! 

A Week of Halloween Fun

Life has been full of costumes, parties and candy this week.  Monday, Emma was scooping out pumpkin guts at preschool (thanks for doing that so I didn’t have to!), learning Halloween songs/poems, and making a picture of 5 little pumpkins sitting on a fence. 

Tuesday was Stay and Play where there were more pumpkin and ghost pictures made.  Wednesday was the library reading program that the kids got to dress up in their costumes for.  They made a pumpkin sun catcher to go in their windows and had treats. 

 

That night was our Primary Halloween party that the youth put on for all the primary kids and their families.  It was very well attended and only 2 families out of our entire Primary weren’t there. The kids had fun playing different games at all the booths, although Emma wouldn’t let us be very far from her without a freak out session. 

 

Thursday was Emma’s Halloween day at preschool.  They combined the Wednesday/Thursday morning classes and went up to the Chinook to sing for the seniors and then they got to go trick-or-treating to them.  When I dropped her off in the morning, Ben came in with me.  Of course he had his costume on because Emma was wearing her costume and he didn’t want to get left out.  Mrs. Toth said hi to him and commented on his costume and I said that this was the first day that I think Ben felt a little left out not being in preschool.  She then told me to just bring him and let him go trick-or-treating with the kids.  She assured me that there was lots of candy and that it wouldn’t be a problem!  At 10:00 we met the kids at the Chinook and I ended up getting to be a parent helper for the activity.  It was lots of fun seeing the kids all dressed up and doing their songs.  Ben wouldn’t stay with me.  He only wanted to be with Shannon, so she took him with her group and I had four little girls in my group. (Hence – no pictures of Ben!)  I didn’t have Emma in my group, but it was nice to see her go without me and not have any issues!

 

Friday, Lennard flew to Edmonton to check out a new digger truck the Town might be buying.  I had someone coming to pick up a bookshelf at the hangar at 9:30, but after that we headed over to Shannon’s and just played and visited the rest of the morning.  Shannon pulled out a bunch of pipe cleaners and pom-poms and we made ‘spiders’ with them.  Emma loved doing crafts with her… I wasn’t allowed to help much.  It was such a nice relaxing morning. 

 

Lennard got home about 2:30, so we went out the airport to see him land. Mom and Dad’s hangar is full of planes that they are building for other people, so we put their plane in our hangar!  (First plane to be stored there… it looks good!)  Then, by the time we got home, got dinner, etc, it was time to get the kids in to costumes again and head out trick-or-treating!  Lennard took them out for almost two hours while I stayed home to pass out candy.  We ended up with about 50 kids.  The evening was so perfect for being outside.  There was no wind, no snow, and about 18°C!  Emma didn’t even wear a coat!  It was awesome!  The kids ended up with so much candy that they were ‘swimming’ in it… literally!

 

Today has been rough.  They haven’t had that much candy, but I think the combination of all the highs this week has them crashing today.  They have been very whiny and demanding.  It’s made for an interesting day.  We got a bunch of stuff done this morning – we took all the recyclables to the bottle depot, got all the donations out to the Bargain Barn, finished sealing the base of the walls in the hangar, etc.  We then headed in to Lethbridge and got some blinds for the family room (since the others got broken when the rock went through the window).  I got a bunch more flour and some odds and ends at Costco and some more pants for Emma at Wal-Mart.  It was a bit crazy in the stores with the kids, but they crashed on the way home!  It was such a nice quiet drive home!