We Love our Deck!

We absolutely love being on our deck.  We've been outside more often lately than we have since we moved in (almost).  It's so nice to be able to go out first thing in the morning and enjoy the warm sun as we eat breakfast.  Even better is hanging out in the afternoon/evening and sitting in the shade.  I got a few minutes to read my book on the swing this afternoon and Ben decided to snuggle in.  I love the time we're getting to spend together.

 This evening we had dinner on the deck and the kids decided that they wanted to be our servers.  Emma made us menus and brought our plates to us when they were made up.

 All through the dinner they kept checking in with us and asking how the meal was.  It was so cute.

Such a fun evening, out on the deck and just enjoying life together!

Fun with Friends

We had such a fun night with friends tonight to 'break in' our deck.  We had Henline's, Toone's and Hill's over for a potluck barbeque.  The kids had a blast racing around and playing in the backyard and the adults enjoyed hanging out on the deck and visiting.  I feel so blessed to have such good friends.

Some of the kids!  We're missing four kids from this picture.

Heritage Park

We'd bought tickets to Heritage Park last year when there was a good sale on tickets, but then we hadn't been able to go for some reason.  Thankfully, the tickets were good for a year, so we found a weekend and made sure we went!  I haven't been to Heritage Park since I was in Grade 12 and Lennard and the kids have never been, so it was lots of fun exploring and seeing new (old) things!

Our first stop was at a building filled with old cars and gas pumps.  The kids found the family area and probably could have stayed there all day.  We roughly taught them how to play checkers.  

 They played with the push cars.

 And even dressed up!  Ride 'em cowgirl!

 When we finally convinced the kids that there was lots more to see, we headed out and let them lead the way.  They loved seeing the train go through!

 They loved playing on the playground.  Even Lennard and I tried out the teeter-totter!

 Emma thought the school house was pretty neat, although she didn't want to go to school there.

 Ben was okay as long as I stood beside him.  I love seeing him write his name.

 We tried out the bakery... YUM!  Emma got a chocolate chip cookie.

 Ben got a M&M cookie. Lennard got a white chocolate Macadamia nut cookie and I got a cheese bun.

 We found the rides and tried out the big ferris wheel and then the kids went on the small one.  We went on the swings and played on the playground.

 Then we went on the train ride around the park!

 The kids were excited to get a train stamp from the 'conductor'.

When we got done our train ride, we had just enough time to grab a couple of hot dogs for a small lunch and get to the paddle boat for a ride.

We fit in a few more rides before the skies opened and poured on us.  We stopped at the candy store quickly and then we were on our way home.  It was such a fun day together.  We will definitely have to come back and check out more of the buildings that we didn't have time to look at.

Swim Club is Done

The last day of Swim Club was today and the kids were so excited to be done!  They love swimming, but the last four weeks have been hard work.  It's been cold and 'boring' swimming laps every day for 45 minutes.  Amazingly, Ben managed to jump in all by himself today!  I think my heart jumped when I saw him jump without crying and freaking out.  Hallelujah!

 Emma has made such huge progress in four weeks.  She jumped in and swam to her teacher.  Then, with assistance off and on, made it the entire length of the pool.  Hooray!

 Even though they haven't loved being in Swim Club, the progress they have made has been worth every penny.  Little do they know that they will be going in Swim Club next year... and the year after that, etc.

Piano Recital

The kids had their piano recital tonight at the Lee Crest Senior's Center.  They were pretty excited and a little nervous to play in front of people, but they did a good job.

 Emma with her teacher, Kaci.

 I think Kaci may just have a crush on Ben... too cute!

Ben played first.  Kaci was going to help him since he always lost his place when he played his song at her house, but he was pretty determined to do it by himself... and he did!  We are so proud of his progress this year.

Emma had her piece memorized and has played it perfectly numerous times.  Unfortunately, she got a little flustered with people watching her and forgot one part of the song.  She managed to finish it, but she was pretty frustrated that she didn't do 'as good as the other kids'.  I took a video at home afterwards so that she could show her grandma and grandpas how good she can do. 

Deck Railings

We love our deck!  We've spent so little time outside in our yard, that it feels like we're practically living outside now!  I layed on the swing with the kids this morning and just soaked up the sunshine.  It was awesome!  It was almost 8:00 before the kids started complaining that they were hungry... so I decided I'd better get in to mom mode and get something done.  I had just gotten through my shower when I looked out and the guy was in our backyard to do our railings!  I'm glad I came inside when I did!  Good thing I didn't greet him in my pajamas!

 Ben was thoroughly intrigued with the process and 'helped' put up the railings.

 The first two sections went up pretty quickly.

 This was done by about 10:30 when we left to go to Stay and Play.

 The railings were all done shortly after Lennard got home from work!  He even blew off the deck to make sure all the metal shavings were off.

It feels so much nicer now... and it helps to not be worried about the kids falling off the deck!

Family Time on the Deck

We had our first barbeque on our deck tonight!  We don't have any railings yet, but that is going to happen tomorrow!  After the 'adventure' of getting our bbq to work again, it was so good to have a good steak for dinner.  

 After dinner, we started work on the privacy wall.  We'd already got the posts up a few nights ago, so we just had to put the boards up.  The neighbor kids don't like it very much... they can't see what we're doing! lol.

 I had to put this picture in... what a silly goose.  This is how I found her when I went to tuck her in.  Can't imagine life without this funny girl.

Happy Father's Day

The kids were so excited to give Lennard their gifts that they'd made him at school that he was still in bed!  (I won't share those pictures... haha!)

 These were gifts from Emma:

 After church, I gave Lennard and the kids super hero shirts... cause Lennard is a Super Dad/Husband in our eyes!

I am so blessed to have such a hard working, patient guy to be my partner in life.  Love you, Lennard.

Last Day of Soccer

The last day of soccer seemed to come really soon this year!  We've been really lucky that we've had good weather this year and the Head Coach Jack was great.

 Lennard has had 'fun' coaching Emma and Ben's team.

 The goodbye talk.

 Their team:  Coby, Lennard, Ben, Emma, Izzy and Hunter.  (Missing: Tayden)

 Ben 

 Emma