Making New Friends (and Soccer)

Morgun plays on the school soccer team and recently had a tournament. Don't you love how he wears his socks?!?

Gotta love how these young kids stay together and bunch up when they play, no matter how often the coach yells "play your position!"    I think that is the entire mid field right there!  lol!

 Gasping for air.  Once again his asthma is interfering with his activities.  :(

Meanwhile Raina was busy making a new friend.

Hmm, you look cute!

Can I hug you?

Nice jacket!



Let me touch your face...



...and your lips...



...and your cheek...



...let's see that ear...

Yes!  You pass the inspection!  Now I'll introduce you to my daddy!

 See!  He's a nice guy!

Raina's new friend apparently loves men...especially men with facial hair!  :)

Garden Harvest

We have been working at cleaning out our garden and it became a family project.  We managed to remove all produce except for my carrots...I am waiting for one more frost.

Malia and Raina helped with the onions...

...while the boys washed potatoes.  They were not the least bit impressed and it shows!  :)

Martin dug out ALL of my potatoes!  I was thrilled!  That has never happened before, as I usually harvest all the garden produce by myself, but my back is once again bugging me. :(
He also removed all the corn stalks with the tractor which made it a lot easier!  Do you remember me complaining about my old Massey tractor last year?  It has been replaced with this "new to us" Kobota...and she's a dandy!!  She even has a loader...so handy!  ( Oh, I'm rhyming!! Ha! Ha!)  But best of all...no more kicking the tires and yelling at it to get it started!  LOL!  Gotta love that!

The girls played in the sandbox with Raina deciding to remove her shoes...uggg!

And I got to drive the quad and pick up and haul all the produce to be washed and stored.  I think I got the best job!

First Haircut...(in Canada)

I trimmed Raina's hair for the first time and love the result!  Now her bangs don't look like a horse's mane.  lol!

Alex took a few pictures...wish you could see her expression...it was priceless!

Not liking the hair in her face!

The look she gave Alex because he was bugging her.

There she is!!!

Indian Summer

We have been enjoying an incredible Indian Summer (most likely not a politically correct term, but it accurately describes our fall!), and reopened our pool this weekend!  We hit 30 degrees yesterday and Saturday...unbelievable for late September!  We had friends over all weekend.  Oh the fun!!!

 Trying to get a decent picture with the kids...almost impossible!

Mission Accomplished!!!...well sort of!

We enjoyed the warm pool while watching the cattail fuzz and geese fly above...can you see them??

And to top it all off...this gorgeous view!  We have been enjoying every day of this golden landscape, which normally does not last long in Saskatchewan...too windy!

While we swam, the guys simply HAD to explore Martin's "new" lift truck.

The kids swam well past sunset and had to use goggles to see under water.

Needless to say, I feel very blessed!  Can't wait to have the pool completely filled...and warm!!  Although, I must admit this water level has been perfect for Malia and she is gaining confidence each time she is in the pool.

Boys Will Be Boys

WARNING:  FOR TOUGH STOMACHS ONLY!!!

The pictures don't look disgusting or gross, but trust me, they are!  I discovered the boys intently examining "something" in their microscope...only to discover it was a SCAB!  YUCK!    Morgun had a massive scab from wiping out on his bike and a little one from a small cut by his eye...an impression of one of his friends' teeth, so they thought it would be very cool to see what each scab looked like!  Yuck!!Yuck!!! Yuck!!!



All I can say is...hats off to my future scientists!

On Turning 40!!!



On September 15th, 1971 at precisely 8:03pm the world welcomed a sweet baby girl, weighing in at 9 lbs 7 oz.  She was named Marie, after her mother...or so they say. ( I think my parents simply ran out of names and resorted to the most obvious name!  :) 

I was the ninth child born to my 30 year old mother who must have groaned at the thought of having another baby.  Even her friends felt sorry for her and surprised her with a baby shower...unheard of in those days, especially for the ninth child! 

This is the earliest picture I have of myself ,at the age of 7 months.  Aren't I just the cutest?!?  My how time does change things!  lol!

  I grew up loving to play outdoors... in the sand box or dressing up our kittens, and occasionally playing with dolls. I gravitated towards real babies and always managed to hold any baby even at the young age of 7 and 8.  This is my grade 2 picture which is attached to my report card, placed there by my teacher.

 As the years passed I became an avid reader and read almost any book I could get my hands on...even those my mom did not approve of!  ;)  I giggled and talked my way through Sunday School and received many a scolding from my teachers.  I loved playing soccer and baseball, and was even known to slide into home base, and play tackle football...wearing a skirt non the less!!!  Oh what a sight!!!

As I entered the teen years I became an expert at sneaking out wearing pants under my skirt and then changing as I drove!  I have changed entire outfits behind the wheel!  Scary!!  I entered high school as a misfit and hated it, but went through the motions simply because I had a goal...to graduate!  I had few friends and spent many lonely hours by myself...nose stuck in a book.  I graduated from high school and somehow managed to look like the perfect lady!  Ha! Ha

As the years passed I learned to adjust to new churches, new friends, new jobs and new beliefs.  Every obstacle has made me stronger and more determined than ever to praise and worship our awesome God and focus on that alone. 
Now as I turn 40 a part of me feels like I should be wise..I should know more...but I don't!  I am who I am, and for the most part I love who I am and where I am at in my life...although I could do without those silly quirks,wrinkles, grey hair, and those extra dimples back you know where!!! lol!

Some say life begins at 40, while others say 40 isn't old...if you're a tree!  I am not bothered by the number and wonder when aging will begin to bother me.  I have decided to love my wrinkles, grey hair and the sags...because quite frankly...this IS as good as it gets!!



 You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
-Les Brown

Our New Pool

Several years ago Alex and Morgun saved for and bought an 18ft round pool from Costco.  We spent many hours in it and loved it!   Except....the fact that we had to put it up and take it back down every year (something I usually ended up doing by myself because it is Martin's busy season), and it did not have a heater.  This year we splurged and bought an 18x33ft, above ground, hard wall pool.  After researching pools and the set up we decided this was something we could do ourselves.  Apparently it only takes 3 men 6 hours to set up this pool, which translates into 18 hours.  Not bad...or so we thought!  Long story short...it took us more than 5 full days which translates into more than 40 hours!  The instruction manual was HORRIBLE!  So we decided to watch the online video, which missed some steps (as did the manual) and some instructions were different altogether!  ARGG!  After one particularly frustrating day I looked at Martin and commented that this pool must have come from....a very bad place!  lol!  It did not help that the guy hired to level the ground messed up...we ended up with a 3 inch slope!  Nor was it easy removing rocks and a boulder!  We literally had to use a pick axe!

  The metal wall was FAR too heavy for Martin and I!   Thanks to Wayne for lending a hand...we couldn't have done it without you!

Eventually we did get the pool setup and half filled with water.  The kids LOVED it!

And eventually we got the heater hooked up and added more water...and we ALL LOVED, LOVED it!

The boys even enjoyed a late night skinny dip! 

Now that the pool is set up I must admit all the hard work was worth it!  We shut the pool down this weekend and I can hardly wait till next summer!