Our Summer - in a nut shell

Because I'll never blog until I feel somewhat caught up, I have decided to do one sentence about each "event" this summer.  This is going to be hard, but I feel it's necessary to get myself officially blogging again.  Here goes:

June points:

*Jarett Graduated

*We went to Elbow Falls

*Kienna graduated from Kindergarten

*Brooklyn and friends babysat the kids and did makeovers

July points:

*Banff trip with Moody cousins (we did a lot of "last opportunity" trips with them before they moved out to Maryland)

*Calaway for Kienna's birthday

*Zoo trip(s) - one with Melissa Ramsay and her two little girls

*Sundance Lake - many, many times - the kids just loved it!!

*Echo Lake - a whole week with the Mullens and Moodys at my favorite place in the world.

*Travis' spy birthday party (with just a couple days left to go)

*Friday night movie nights for the kids while Mom and Dad have "date night" downstairs

August points:

*Good-bye to the Moody's (the beginning of a long trip to Maryland for them - hopefully to return in two short years)

*Rediscover Fish Creek Park in the West side of the city (twice) once with a weiner roast

*Flathead Lake - a whole week with the Cahoons at the beautiful lake (with convenient nearby shopping)

*Kimberly coming home after a summer in Florida and having Nacho/Napoleon night!

*Saryn's Birthday with all Calgary relatives ~30 people (including surprise visit from Great Grandparents Nana and Grandpa Dan)

*Dressing up and playing with MANY gifts that spoiled the kids rotten.

*Doing my very first engagement photo session (Trevor and Janelle)

 Well, that about sums it up!  We sure have been busy.  These are mostly just the "photo-ized" memories.  But now I feel like it's all recorded and I can move on - hooray!  Thanks for taking this little flash back with me over the last few months.  It sure has been a great journey!

My Sweet Kienna!

It seems as though the summer flies by and blogs get neglected more than normal.  I get to blogging about birthday parties of my other kids, but Kienna and Saryn seem to get neglected a little on their birthday.  Just the fact that I'm writing this blog almost two months after the fact should be proof enough that I've let things slide.  So I hope that Kienna forgives me as I attempt to make it up through this blog.  (Just to prove how bad I am, Saryn's birthday was yesterday too, and I'm writing about Kienna's which happened July 6th....yikes!)

Kienna,

You have been a little monkey from the start.  I went in to get induced and you had flipped and refused to turn back.  You had been doing flips in my stomach for the entire last month of pregnancy and finally settled on being born through a C-Section.  I remember longing to hold you - I remember paging the nurse and saying, "Um, can I have my baby now" after they had taken me to the recovery room.  You were my tiniest baby at only 19" long and 7lbs 7oz.

As you've grown, I've noticed your great love for everyone around you.  You are such a sensitive little soul.  If you see anyone in need of a friend, you're the first one there.  I especially love this about you because you are very shy.  It's not easy for you to reach out, but because of your great love, I see you putting your arm around new friends and making them feel cared for.  I've heard you standing up for people left out many times and it makes me so proud.

You have a special place in my heart, and I understand you quite well because you are so much like me.  This fact also works against you, however, because I lose my temper faster than I should.  I hope that you know how much your mother loves you.  I love it when you want me to snuggle with you (which is almost every night).  I love how much you give hugs and kisses (even when it's during a music lesson).  I love that you kiss my stomach so that the baby knows that you love him/her too.  I love how you go out of your way to make special pictures and letters for people.  I love it when you play with Saryn and Jaymeson - even when it takes some serious patience.  I love seeing you get excited when your Dad comes home from work.  I love your enthusiasm, your silliness and your crazy fun personality.  I love your testimony.  I love it when you try really hard to learn something (although once you decide to learn something, it really never takes long)... and am so proud of you when you achieve your goal.

I couldn't be more proud of you, sweetheart, and I hope you have a fabulous year (or 10 months now) ahead of you before you turn six.  I'll sure miss you this year as you start Grade One all day long.

Love, Mom

Enjoy some pictures of our fun day at Calaway Park from your 6th birthday!  (Last year we went to Calaway and got rained out, the year before we went to a park and got hailed on.... this year was chilly and had some rain, but just enough to keep you cool.  Next year we might even have SUN!)

After Calaway, we all headed back to Gran's house for a fun party!

Alive and Well...

Despite common belief, I can go to many activities and forget my camera.  I can also go for a couple weeks with an insane schedule and not have time to really blog about anything.  Almost a month ago, my friend, Liz, took some pictures of my kids and I love them!  You may have noticed the new banner on the top of my blog.  Those are courtesy of Liz.  It was a really fun photoshoot and I was able to be annoying and take a million pictures at the same time (when the kids are dressed up with hair done, I really just can't resist).  Thanks Liz!  Anyway, I thought I'd share some of these pictures to prove that we are, indeed, alive and well... My favorites (besides the ones up top) are: