claire does diapers

Claire changed a poopie diaper of Caroline's today! She has officially done two now. Once she changed Catie's and now Caroline's and she was so happy to do it. That a girl Claire!

Thank you Claire!

see how she runs

My Mom has a fun picture from the baptism on her blog. I thought I would post a photo of me running in church trying to catch my Catie Girl!

My sister Amy took this shot! I think it is funny. Look at Cliff with his smiling face! Good thing I am back into my running! I have to keep up with all of my kids!

"Romantic Anniversary Planning 101"

I took this idea from Amber as she posted the idea on Andrea's comment section. If you have been keeping up with Andrea, you will know that Andrea got to go for an awesome, romantic anniversary with her hubby of 4 years.

Well, I have been married for over 8 years. In May 2007, it will be 9 years married and 11 years together. We have really not done anything (well except have baby after baby) for any of the years that we have had together. Nothing is standing out in my mind. I think that is rather sad.

What are some great ideas for a romantic anniversary? Have you had a really great anniversary in the past? What can we do to have our hubby give us a spectacular anniversary? What do you do if you have little to no money to spend? What could be a great way to celebrate your anniversary? If money was not a problem, what would you do? Should a wife plan a celebration/party etc. for her hubby? What do you think?

I know around the time Caroline turns one, I will be running my first half marathon! And I will have good looking legs again as I have my vein surgery coming up in the next 6 months.

I want to have a nice, romantic anniversary with my hubby. Hmmm. What to do?

One flap to the wind

This has never happened to me before...I walked to school with one flap of my nursing bra down! All the way to school and back. Ooops. Thankfully I was wearing a dark shirt over top! What a loser I am lol.

Just thought I would share a funny with you all!

The After Party Feast

We had a small feast for the Baptismal family and friends at our place. It was a lovely time for all of us. We had a make your own sandwich/teas/coffee/desserts and grapes.
Lots of Carbs lol.

Thanks everybody for making it a wonderful day for Sweet Caroline Mae!

The God Parents

Thank you to Uncle Gilbert and Cousin Julia for becoming God Parents for Caroline.

At Church

Caroline's Special Day!

These were photos taken at home before we left for her baptism. Caroline is wearing a favourite dress that Aunty April bought for Claire when she was a baby. Almost all of our girls have worn it. I just love it.


Yesterday we had Caroline's Baptism. It was a beatiful day. Here are some photos to remember her special day.

Finished Caroline's Letters

The finished product! If you scroll down my posts in September, there is a post entitled c is for c a r o l i n e which gives you the steps in how we created these letters. I will say, I am glad we had Caroline, because had we had cooper we wouldn't have his name up. We could use letters from the other kids to come up with hers. I wonder what other names we could come up with? It is like a word game!

11:16 pm

Finally a chance to sit down today, and catch up on all of my fave blogs and catch up on my own blog.

Our day started early. We had all 5 kids out the door by 8:30 am. We headed to the local party store to collect our rentals for the baptism. I am happy with what we have so far. Then, I got my hair done with a new hair stylist. I am not so sure I am absolutely happy with the colour or the cut. It was styled in a rather dated style. I will straighten it out tomorrow and see how it looks. It better look good, as tomorrow is the baptism of our youngest, and last child. A very important day for Caroline. So, my hair took a couple of hours if you can believe that. I got home, fed Caroline. Went back to the salon to get a pedicure and she used "Cathy Pink" aka OPI Dancing in the Aisles. I love that pink, so she named it after me. That was a nice treat for my legs and toes. I have nice looking feet once again. After I did that, I headed to the mall. I haven't been to the mall in months. I don't even like going there. But, I had to find an outfit that would fit, and be suitable for tomorrow. I found a nice pair of brown dress pants, brown v neck sweater and cute shoes.

The nicest part of the mall was meeting up with my Mom. We actually tried on clothing together in the same fitting room. We both tried on these ruffled blouses in white. And you know what, we both looked like pirates lol. So, off went the blouses lol. I wished I had my camera. It would have made a fun photo. So, after using a gift card...and a great sale my 2 pieces AND shoes came to $69.00. That was OK. Not bad. After we shopped, we made our way to the food court and I had veggie sandwich and a decaf coffee with my Mom. We got to chat and laugh which was the highlight of my day. Then, I headed back home.

Dinner was on the table for the kids, and most of the clean up was done by dear hubby Cliff. That was nice. So, then kids went to bed. We left Caroline with my in-laws. She gave them the BIGGEST smile I have ever seen. We headed off to Wal*Mart to get a new mop (Vileda Twist Mop) as ours broke today. (GGGGRRRHHH just what we needed lol) got some flowers for tomorrow and filled up on gas. (90 cents per litre!) Good deal. Then, I was feeling very hungry. So, we drove through the local Timmies and had a small ice cap made with milk and a 12 grain bagel with light cream cheese. That was nice to have. Then home again.

When we got it. I cleaned the bathrooms, Cliff hung a picture from Cynthia in the bathroom. The new shower curtain is up. Ummm. What else. Cliff mopped. I got clothing etc, ready in the diaper bag for tomorrow. Made my list, and checked it twice to be sure we do not forget our cameras etc. Done. Then, Started the set up of the table for tomorrow. It is going to be really nice. The last thing I am doing is bleaching out the sink, and then I wiped down the hood fan, and some dirty cupboard doors too. Then I checked my email. Yipee. We are almost ready.

I think the weather is going to beautiful too. Well, gotta get some beauty sleep. I am going to try to go for a run early tomorrow!

My Dad is the Best Dad in the World!

I am such a lucky girl.

My Dad for the past two days has come over and painted our main bathroom! I am so pleased with how it has turned out.

I just wanted to say thank you Dad. You are the Best Dad in the World.

You have given us a great gift, and thank you for freeing up Cliff of that task. Seriously. A wonderful, heartfelt gift.

You are awesome, and the bathroom looks amazing. Just a few more finishing touches and everything is complete.

Yipee!

Murrayville Mom's Mom

Murrayville Mom's Mom: "Who Does This Remind Me Of? "

My Mom posted this on her blog yesterday...cute huh.

choke the chicken!

Well, I had a nice crockpot chicken dinner in the pot at 7:15 am. And what happens next, the power goes out. Not once, but twice. The first time at 7:50 for 2 mins or so. The next time, was at about 8:05 am. (for 2+ hours) When the power went out the second time I put the crockpot in the fridge, and then the laundry, well it could wait...but it was in the spin cycle. I finished spinning out when the power came back on.

We went to school, and school was cancelled due to the power outage. That NEVER happened to me in ANY of my schooling years. But, wouldn't that be great?! And, it happened on a nice sunny day! You should have heard how happy those school kids were when the announcement was made! They were SO happy! So, after the announcement I was working on Plan B.

OK, plan B. Plan B, what is Plan B? Go to my parents place, they have power and everything there is hunkey dorey. So, off we go! Thankfully my parents were home, and I did a little tap dance at the door and said Hello, can we ALL come in on...sorry no notice. Well, actually when I knocked on their door, my Dad was listening to my message. Anyways we really had a nice impromptu and unexpected visit. The kids had a great time. I know my parents did too. Sorry I had to bust up your breakfast plans. Thank you for the love and care for those few hours. It was a blast! When your power is out, you can come on over! OK!

I called the school from my parents place. School was back in session. Power came back on after recess sometime, I got Cameron back at lunch time, signed him in at the office drove back home and off I went to unload 2 sleeping kids...the youngest ones. The olders we had a lunch of sorts. A backwards kind of lunch, as the kids had toast at my parents!

It was a lovely day. My chicken I am choked at, we through it in the garbage. What a waste of a decent chicken...I felt awful throwing it out, but I didn't want to risk getting anybody sick with any sort of salmonella or whatever you get these days?! So along with Plan B I had to create another meal from nothing lol. Which I did! And, it was really good and the kids ate all of it, so yay! Everything worked out.

All 5 kids went down to bed at 7 pm today. Now, did you read that right?! ALL FIVE KIDS!! Our Caroline went to bed EARLY!!!! I kind of expected them to be tired. Our day started at 5:50 am when the kids got up and so did I.

It has been nice to read some old magazine's from my Sis April (who is 36 weeks now!!!)

So, off to catch the tail end of House. It looks like a good episode.

Lunch Date

Yes, a lunch date with my husband.

I actually dabbed on my Coco before we left, and I NEVER do that. It was so nice. We went out to Milestone's first for a quick salad, then we headed to a local Starbucks for latte's and then we checked out a new housing development in our area and then walked through an antique store (one of my passions!!!) that I have driven past for the past couple of years. It was a lot of fun, and we got down to a lot of talking about our life, our family and our future as a couple and as a family. It was very good.

I told Cliff that I want to do something to commorate and represent our family of 7 as it will not be growing. Cliff had a several wonderful ideas for me. One, was a professional photo of my self with our 5 kids, and another one that I totally love is to put all of our handprints onto a piece of paper and frame them. I think that is brilliant. Perfect in fact. I fell in love with him all over with that suggestion. He also told me that I matter. And that I deserve the time time work on my self. We chatted about the pros and cons to adding to our family, and basically the only pros would be that we would equal out the number of kids we have. But I love the number 7 (It is my lucky number) and that we think that watching the kids grow would be wonderful. We talked about dates for the big V that Cliff will be doing eventually.

Today, I had an appointment with a vascular surgeon about my varicose veins. I will need to have sugery, but I will stay awake for it with local anesthetic and sedation of some sort. I am fine with that. I am not a candidate for the laser option as my veins need work in two places...so no go with that. After the surgery (6 month wait list), after I stop breastfeeding for 2 months I will go for regular vein injections to finish up the leg. That is going to help my leg so much. I am nervous, but really excited to move on really! I will be able to wear a skirt again and not worry about what others see and how I feel when they see my leg. That will be amazing.

It was a great day. I want to say thanks to my Mom and Dad who came over to watch the kids for us so we could get out on our own. It had been far too long for Cliff and I. The last time we went out was when we took 2 nights and went to a hotel when I was pregnant with Caroline. That was fun too. This was really nice, and fun.

Sunday Eve

Well, well, well. It is Sunday evening, and where did the weekend go huh? Really, where did it go? That was the shortest weekend, and really a most frustrating weekend I think. Today I think all 5, yes 5 kids were all moody and crying all at the same time. And, most of them were really tears lol. Cameron kind of laid it on thick, but he was just tired. Why were they all crying? Because we asked them all to put on their shoes and hoodies and go into the backyard to play for a 1/2 hour when I got all of the clean up done, and our bed made because I washed the sheets. I swear it sounded like we were doing some sort of torture treatment to the kids because truly I felt all embarrassed because I wondered what the neighbours were thinking. Truly, it was extremely hectic. Truly, go in the backyard and play...wow. I wish I could lol. Makes me wonder why we have an outdoor space? Why? for the kids of course! There was a bit of drizzle, but all was OK when Caroline went down for a nap, and the other kids and Cliff went into the backyard and did chalk stuff and played together. Then the mood of the house changed. It actually was pleasant again.

The good news is that Caroline has gone down to bed now at 9 pm two days in a row. I do not want to jinx this, but hey! That was really nice. The next best thing to that is going to bed in freshly washed sheets! That is going to be lovely, and hopefully I will not fall asleep on the couch tonight. I want to go to bed in our bed. I want to get all cozy and get some...sleep. Ya, that's it. Sleep. (get your minds out of the gutter people lol) SLEEP...time for bed soon.

The kids were bathed, teeth brushed, clipped nails, hair combed, lunches and snacks made, clothes picked and mailbags are sitting out and ready for the day tomorrow. The 4 of them went to bed at 7 tonight. They sure needed it.

Cliff has the day off tomorrow, as I am going to meet with the vascular surgeon tomorrow, and there is no point in Cliff commuting almost 2 hours back and forth to go in for part of a day. That is totally not worth it. Cliff will be taking on my role tomorrow...I am sure he will do just fine ;D
I coached him on the rundown tomorrow, so that he can get everybody to the right doors etc. The kids will help him too, and I am sure the other Mom's will help him out too.

Cliff and I will get to actually go for lunch together as my Mom will pick up Carly and make lunch for the kids so we can get some 1 on 1 action. That would be much needed 1 on 1 action! (get your minds out of the gutter people lol) I mean communication and conversation sans kids! Very important when you have a family of any size.

Well, off to bed soon.

Good night.

easy day...no way

Our easy day, didn't turn out quite as easy as we expected. It started up with uncooperating kids, mix that with a lot of errands and that quite frankly equals disaster.

First appointment which was supposed to be at 9 ended up being almost 9:30. I had to call and tell Cliff's second appointment he was running late. Got him there a few minutes late. He got home, we made up some snack bags, got the bickering kids into the van. We got our fruits and veggies from the local market, Cameron saw a friend there from school and chatted for a bit. Cliff gets back in the van. We decide to treat ourselves to a 12 grain bagel with light cream cheese. I got a small ice cap made with milk. Cliff got a coffee with 1/1. We head to Wal*Mart. I go in, for 5 items...and wait in over a 20 minute line up. While I was inside, Cliff saw my cousins...who had just been through the busy line up. Headed to the bread store for the $1 dollar bin for grainy breads! And, the debit card does not work. I go in and try it, it does not work (*and discover in the process that Cliff didn't get his debit card back at the Tim Hortons) We put the bread on hold. Whip home by almost 2...give kids leftover pizza, carrots and sugar snap peas and a glass of milk. Literally I give Caroline a 2 minute feed, and we pack up some snacks for on route to go to see Pastor Terry about 45 mins away. We were 10 minutes late. I pride myself on being on time. I was so mad that we were 10 mins late. I apologized to him!

We sort out the details, and during our 40 minute visit this is what happens: Carly poops her pants, and I have to leave to rinse out undies, and the back of her dress, Catie steps in poop and I stick her feet in a sink to wash them off. Caroline starts crying because she is obviously very hungry...I hear her upstairs with Cliff. The kids run wild through the sanctuary (not very good) We get the kids back into the big hall and get them to clean up their mess which they did very well (thank goodness)

We get out of there, I change Caroline in the back of the vehicle, then I fed her in the car. We are talking 4 pm now. We get home and give the kids dinner etc. It was after 5 pm. Thankfully 4/5 went to bed at 7, and hopefully Caroline will go down before 1 am like she did last night. That was rough. She was asleep until her big sister Catie decided to bonk her head on hers 3x's in a row. Got to love a 2 year old.

Not quite the day we were expecting, I thought it would be a bit nicer, but nope. I guess it wasn't that bad. But I just wanted it to be restful for us all. Well, maybe tomorrow eh?!

Probably not. I have to attend to Caroline now. Try to feed and put her down. Hasn't been working lately. Why! Who knows.

Saturday FINALLY

I slept in this morning! So did Cliff. So did some of the kids! Some were up at their usual 6ish. But hey! It was great.

I am so glad it is the weekend. I had a crazy week. It was extremely busy with all of the activities of having many kids! It was very hectic and tiring. But, hey...it is the weekend. I am so thankful.

We all have started on healthy regime of eating. I talked with somebody I respect in regards to eating/health/diet last week. She has put me, and therefore the whole family on a plan of healthy nutrition and it seriously has been the best thing for me! I am off sugar completely and I feel great. Thankfully that fever etc. that developed early this week left as quickly as it came on. So, together as a family we are committing to this healthy lifestyle. I have way more energy than I did last week! And, I am losing weight again. (A bonus!) My kids all ate whole wheat pasta and LOVED it! lol. Things a Mom delights in. I am so pleased with all that the kids eat, and now they are eating even better stuff.

My plan is to lose 64 pounds, and I plan on doing this by next May 2008. I will also run a 1/2 marathon in May. I am busy. I am running 3x's per week with our local running club. I am also taking a weekly hip hop class once a week. So, cardio 4x's per week. It feel great to move again. It has been too long.

Today we are running errands (lots 0f errands on our list today), and meeting Pastor Terry about Caroline's baptism next week. Lots more stuff to do, but the day is going to be lovely. We have picked Uncle Gil and Cousin Julia as God Parents for Caroline.

Cliff already had an appointment this morning, and another one at 10 and then of course to see Pastor Terry.

Tomorrow is running and then who knows. It is more of quiet weekend. Goodness do we ever need that this weekend. I need to rest up for my busy week!

Anyways. That is about it. Not much more to report.

Caroline's Drs. Appt.

I had my doctors appt, and then Caroline had her 4 month check up, and her 3 immunizations. She cried so hard. But, they needed to get done. She survived.

Caroline is in the 90th percentile for height and weight. She is not suffering that is for sure. Dr. D said I could start her on solids whenever I felt like it, but he said she has more than doubled her birthweight and would be fine without it. He said, "Just use common sense." And that is what we do.

He also gave me a huge compliment about our family. He always tells me what a great family I have. And he also told me that our great kids are not a result of luck, but the result of great parenting. He said my 5 kids are way quieter and well behaved than some families with one or two kids. So, I said. "thank you." That was really nice to hear, especially because I was really feeling awful from my fever etc.

That is Caroline' update. I also let him know about her duplex kidney and the VCUG test on October 2nd. He also said this was a better diagnosis that the MCDK. As she has two functioning kidneys! Better than a child with MCDK because there is only one kidney functioning and there could be the risk of kidney failure of course, and only one kidney works when somebody has MCKD.

Whew. Next shots are booked for in November.

Caroline with her Great Grandma's

These shots were taken at my Sister's baby shower. I wanted to have a photo or two of the 3 of them together.

My Grannie is 85 (left), and my Oma is 84 (right)

I think they look fabulous for their ages, and I hope that I will be that chipper and beautiful in my 80's! I also wish Caroline a long and healthy life too!

April Showers

Well, I wanted to post a few photos from my sister April's baby shower on the weekend. My cousin's Andrea and Riki (and Aunty Lilli) had a shower for her! It was totally a lot of fun, and it was a total surprise for April! She received so many nice items for her baby which is due October 16th! Not too much longer until I become an Aunty Cathy. Doesn't that sound fabulous?! How many more weeks April? Just under 5 weeks right? I wish you all of the best during this time, and during the big event, and of course after! You are going to do fabulous. We are so excited to meet BB!

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away

Well, yesterday was a really busy, tiring day. I ended up with a fever of 38.8 of all things. I woke up feeling kind of headachey, achey bones etc. Sore/bloated area in my gallbladder region (I have no gallbladder tho) and I just felt really off. I also had a super busy day.

I had 3 kids going to school yesterday. Claire had her first day of Kindergarten, Cameron Grade 2 and Carly at preschool. It was very tiring to me, especially because I was not feeling well. Thank goodness for the crockpot, I made sweet and sour chicken in the crockpot! The family loved it, and had seconds! I didn't eat, as I was feeling really bad. And, I took Caroline for her 4 month shots. And, I had my internal "pappy shmappy" as I love to call it. My doctor took my temperature there, and gave me a glass of water too. I was at the doctors from 4 - 5:30. I came home feeling really crumby and sat on the couch most of the night. I finally got into bed by 10 (a rarity for me!) And then I woke up feeling pretty good. Today is an easy day...only 1 kid to go to school today. I plan on resting. I am am hoping I will be feeling good enough to go to hip hop.

We'll see how the day plays up.

10 minutes

Well, today we had my Sister April over (the one who is pregnant with her first on October 16th!!) Well, we gave the kids dinner first. We were going to order sushi after the kids went to bed. Well, after the dinner was finished for the kids. Carly fell asleep on the couch. Cliff was washing the dishes, and he dropped a big glass pyrex dish. Claire is naked and yelling out from the bathroom to ask if she can have her bath. We yell back...not a good time. Glass on the floor, in the sink, in the dishwasher, on the floor etc. He cut his hand, and as the glass dish breaks, Catie throws up on the couch beside sleeping Carly. I get Catie, Cliff cleans up the glass. Aunty April held Caroline. I whip out the vacuum and clean up the rest of the glass. I got Catie into the bath. Dry her up, and get her ready for bed. We get everything cleaned up. Caroline has a leaky diaper, and Aunty April has drool all over her nice top (Caroline is teething) I run the bathwater in the sink for April, and I give her a baby bath lesson lol. And then I fed Caroline. It was a crazy few minutes. And totally out of the blue. Thankfully all kids are sleeping, and April and Nick are home safe.

Square Meal

A square meal we served to Uncle Nick tonight. Literally when he put his left overs onto the plate it was square. And I said to him..."We are serving you a square meal!" and we all laughed. This was his dinner, but it smushed down a bit. But, maybe you had to be there...but thanks for all of the laughs! We had a great visit.

Catie enjoying gift opening

Thank you Nannie and Pappa for my presents! I had a lot of fun opening them up this year!

Tire Biters

Went to a big car show in town. The kids had fun, and so did we. We hope to go back longer next year. We even got a great (free) parking spot which was a bonus :)

The birthday buds

Cliff was really happy to have Catie's bday one day after his! The year she was born, we were really hoping that they could have the same day, but that didn't work out. I think these are cute shots. They are sharing the lemon pie.

Happy 2nd Birthday Catie

Darn it, it is midnight, and I wanted to post a happy birthday on your real day. But this will have to do!

We cannot believe that our little peanut Catie is already 2 years old. Time has flown by, but we have really enjoyed every minute of you. Your day started off today with sliced lemon pie and 2 green candles! We sang you Happy Birthday, and when I got you out of the crib this morning I sang to you. You also tried to sing Happy Birthday, and you say "two" very well.

Happy Birthday Cliff

Just a shout out to my wonderful hubbie. Happy birthday Fella! I hope you had a good one.

We tried to make it as exciting as possible.

I know it was not as exciting as last year...hidden pregnancy lol. And after midnight when we let it all hang out...well past midnight! lol.

This year new running shorts, a store bought lemon pie and a coffee from Starbucks that burnt your tongue.

Love you!

Wednesday

Well, it is Wednesday afternoon. I am very exhausted already, and I still have 2 days until the weekend which will be very busy too.

My week started on Tuesday. In Laws back to work (yay), Cameron went to school for a couple of hours. I got the girls ready to go to ballet. Got them there on time. They decided they didn't like ballet, and sat down the whole time. So, I took them out of ballet. I then went back to the studio that evening to take a hip hop class. Boy, was that a workout. I was worked to the bone. It was just the thing I needed besides my running.

This morning at 2 am. I awoke off the couch and dragged myself back to bed. I was too tired to get into bed last night. Cliff just left me there. I wished he would have carried me into bed...not going to happen lol. It is hard to get used to getting up a bit earlier, and walking to and fro school 6x's per day.

This morning, the routine went well. I got up at 6:30. Showered, got ready. Kids got dressed (clothes were picked out the night before) and went to the bathroom etc. We had breakfast, beds got made by them. I then got us all out of the house on time, and to school on time. Came home did some clean up, did some laundry. My Dad came over so that I could take Claire to her "meet the teacher" at school. She and her teacher got along, and I am happy for her. Claire starts Kindergarten on Monday morning.

I think Caroline must be teething, as she has been quite stuffed up, hands in mouth and very fussy. That is tiring in itself.

Today, I will make a crappy KD dinner for the kids, as we need to make it quick as Cliff and I head out to run tonight.

Tonight after the run, make lunches and then really pick out school clothes, and fold the laundry (3 baskets full) dumped out on our bed) I can hopefully get into bed early.

Just getting back to the routine of school has been good for all of us. I am glad that things are getting back to normal. Claire is pooped out, and is sleeping on the couch. Danger---Danger---Danger. She hopefully will sleep tonight.

Gotta go make the crap dinner right now. I hope the hunks of tomato on the side will make it a balanced meal lol.

Things I find in the laundry

Today alone I found a Coffee Crisp wrapper go through the washer and dryer (Cliff I caught you!)

A pack of matches that were all soggy and wet? Where did those come from & why? very scary indeed

A miniature Iffel Tower from my personal collection! (Carly our resident Clepto!)

What next?

c is for c a r o l i n e

We finally got Caroline's name finished for the wall of our kid's names in the playroom.

We made them ourselves. It has taken some time and effort, but we figure we have spent $5.00 in paint only. The rest of the materials we had kicking around the house. I am REALLY pleased for us, and for her.

Why did I make them? Well because by the time we had Caroline, the place the other names/letters came from had stopped production on the letters. So, we were SOL.

DYK that Caroline's name can be spelled from all of the other kid's names?! If we would have had a boy he would have been named Cooper Ralph and we wouldn't have been able to make his name and would have to purchase new letters for EVERYBODY! That would have cost $$ big $$. The letters were $10 dollars per letter, and really there are a lot of letters to buy then! Just Caroline's name would have been $80.00

I used homemade playdough to make a mold, then I pressed the exisiting letters into the playdough. Pulled out the letter, then repeated that for every letter. I sprayed each mold with PAM. Then I mixed up plaster of paris and poured into each playdough mold. left them for 24 hours. Then I broke all of the playdough away. Left the letters for another 24 hours. Cliff got out the Dremel sander and smoothed the letters out. Then, we bought the craft paint and then MIL painted and distressed the letters to make them look as close to the originals as possible. I am very pleased, and I feel good that the letters are up.

Goodbye Summer 2006 Video

Summer 2006

Summer of 2006 was fun, and we look forward to the coming seasons...

Sunday BBQ

Yesterday in the afternoon we went to Pat and Nikki's place in the Fort. It was a blast for us and for the kids. They are our running friends. They both found love at the local Running Room. They actually got married February 24th last year on Claire's birthday. Nikki makes me laugh because everytime I see her at running she asks me how my "100 kids" are! I tell her, I only have 5! lol. She says I should have 100 kids.

They have this great backyard and and awesome sprawling rancher on 1/2 acre. They have a great playset out in the back 40, and a big dirt pile that the kids had a blast on. They were making "dirt couches!" so much fun. They had a climbing structure and a tire swing. And, oh yeah. A full sized volleyball court! The dirt pile was from the area of where the court is.

Everybody brought a side dish, and they supplied the burgers etc. The kids had fun with the other kids and they were all dirty and dusty! They also had this awesome grape arbour with wine grapes that grew over like a bit tent...it would have been perfect for a chaise lounge our two, and some quiet music...it was the perfect little get away. So fun for the kids.

We stayed until dusk. Caroline was loved up by Nikki's Mom and the other running friends. She wasn't put down for the whole night, and of course Catie kept everybody entertained! She had so much fun in the yard. I certainly think this was one of the best days of summer!

It was fun to watch the reactions of the 7 C's walking into the party. We got lots of looks and questions etc. But, I had a great time laughing about it all. There was this one guy Chris, who was asking lots of questions about our family. lol. He asked questions like, so all of your kids are C names, why? Are you having any more kids? To that question I answered no. They said we should keep going! lol.

He asked me to spout off the names of our family just like a server would read back a menu...as fast as I could. Cliff, Cathy, Cameron, Claire, Carly, Catie and Caroline. Then, he asked if I ever mix up the names when calling for somebody, and I said yes. I stutter with CCCUUU CCCUUU CCUUUU. lol. He also then noted that we all have "Hard C" names. He was a lot of fun. We also were asked if we go out for dinner a lot. To which I replied "not very often!"

They were also surprized that they were all 7 years and younger. One of the Mom's there also said she feels bad complaining about 1 child lol. I said, I remember what it was like to have one child and I felt that was very challenging! I couldn't get anything accomplished. And after two I felt that was VERY challenging too, but after the 3rd it was OK!

I also sat and chatted with another guy. They had a cute little guy Jackson. He was 18 months. This guy was the youngest of 5 kids. He said he LOVED watching our family of 7 and remembering back to all of the good times he had with his siblings. He said that he wished they would have started their family earlier as they were too old to have another child. If they would have known how awesome having a child was, they would have started earlier and had 4 kids. So, at that moment I felt VERY PROUD of my family and all that we have accomplished.

Our kids were helpful, caring, thoughtful and well behaved yesterday. It was a wonderful day.

Thanks to Pat and Nikki and family for the lovely bbq.

thankx for the memories