What's going on???

Ok, so I haven't been a very faithful blogger as of late.  I still owe you all some more photos from our BC trip that we took in August!  I'll get those up before Christmas, I promise!

Life has been pretty crazy these last few months.  I can hardly believe that it's already November.  I started my new job in the middle of Sept and life hasn't slowed down since.  I have been involved in our church teaching the preschool kids on Sunday mornings, helping with the Plan to Protect program as well we started this new Family Night on Thurs evenings and I am helping to coordinate it and run it!  It's been a lot of fun, but that added to my new job and two little ones, plus the hubby, life has been busy!  Phil's been doing great at work and he has been selected to go do some special training in a few weeks to be part of the Emergency Response Team at work!  It's a pretty exciting opportunity for him and he's pretty excited.  It will be two weeks of physical and intense training, but I know he'll do great.  He's a little bummed that he has to miss two weeks of hunting season as so far this year he hasn't had too much luck bringing anything home, but then most people in town haven't has a lot of luck either.

The kids are doing awesome!  Makayla started preschool at the end of October and has been loving it!  She comes home so happy and excited about what she is learning and the songs that they sing.  She's got two buddies from church who are also in her preschool class.  She will start gymnastics next week and I'm pretty sure she's going to love it.  Our town pool has been under construction for the last few months, so once they are up and running, we'll get the kids into some more swimming lessons.  They did two weeks over the summer and did awesome!

There's so much going on that some days we just can't keep up with the blog.  You can always find us on Facebook and my new addiction is Pinterest!  Hope all you bloggy readers out there are doing well and having a great start to the fall!!!  Cheers!

Promises

I know I promised that the next post would be about our family vay-cay out to BC, but life just sorta picked up speed before we even got back and it really hasn't stopped since.

While on vacation I got the noble idea to apply for a few part time jobs here in town.  Didn't really think too much of it but knew that if I found something it would really help to pay the bills.  So I applied.  When we got home there was a message on our machine telling us that our tenants (we own a townhouse in Edmonton) were moving out at the end of Sept.  Makayla had preschool registration while we were gone and I had a friend fill in everything for us.  Just a few things on the go.  We were home for a few days, put the word out about our place (still no interest as of today) and then on the Tuesday that school started I got a call from the principal of the middle school where I had applied for a TA job calling asking for me to come in for an interview as soon as possible.  I went in the next morning and then got a call on Thursday with a job offer.  So then I started to scramble for childcare (as it's only needed a few days a month with Phil's shift work schedule).  Anyway, long story short, we found childcare, the kids are doing awesome and I've been at work for three days now.  And boy do the weekends fly by!

My job is as a TA for one of the grade 5 classes at the middle school here in town.  I work only in the mornings and so far so good.  Life has been a little crazy, but in the end all things work out!  It's been nice to get out of the house and enjoy some time with adults and other kids.  These next 9 months are going to fly by!

I'm also super involved with a few things at the church, so it's seems that when the kids are napping or sleeping, I'm packing up things for the sitters, prepping things for church, meal planning and just trying to stay on top of things!  It's been a pretty busy month of Sept and it's only the 18th!  I promise I will get a trip recap and some photos.  You can see them on Facebook if you're my friend!!!

Some photos of our time here

See the deer?  This was on our drive to Grande Prairie

Oh, yeah... we got snow the second week we were here!

A view from my back deck - there is no snow on it now!

Another view!

This is on the way to Grande Prairie.

More on the drive to Grande Prairie.

Playing outside in a nice fall day.

We got some sweet hats made from my good friend 

at buttonbox design!

Makayla and Taylor playing hide-n-seek!

We went to check out Grande Cache Lake the other evening.

Of course Makayla found the playground!

Learning how to throw rocks into the Lake.

A view of the Lake.

Throwing more rocks with Dad!

The little peanut

I thought I would entertain you with a few photos of the new little peanut. The technician said the baby looks great and we will find out for sure at the doctors appointment next week. It was so exciting to see the new life that is growing and I can hardly believe that we are almost half way through! Time is flying and I'm sure it will continue to go by fast with all that there is to do!

Our trip to BC

Makayla and I had the opportunity to go to BC in the middle of October (which was a few weeks ago - sorry for my tardiness, there has been so much going on). We got to go and visit my parents for a week at their new location. Just a year ago they moved from the Lower Mainland up to northern BC - Terrace. Wow, it is super beautiful there. I was a little nervous to fly with her, since her last flight was in February when we went to Toronto. The last time we flew I was also able to nurse her when we took off and landed so that she wouldn't have any problems with her ears. This time I had to get creative. We had two flights (Edmonton to Vancouver and then Vancouver to Terrace). Each flight was approximatly and hour and a half. I figured that she'd be ok on the flight and I brought a lot of activities and snacks. I was also praying that the flights wouldn't be full and we'd have some space. We lucked out on all our flights there and back and had a lot of space. She did super great on all flights, even though it meant that she didn't nap for those two days. YIKES!

We had a really good time with my parents and we were just able to rest and relax. Makayla slept well and had a great time with her grandparents. I wondered how she would do since we hadn't seen my parents for a couple of months. But she took to them real well and had a lot of fun taking Grandma's kitchen apart - I really should have taken photos, but totally forgot.

Here are a few shots from our time there.

We took a trip to the Lava Fields about an hour and a half away. It was pretty amazing.







We also took a trip to Prince Rupert one day which is also about an hour and a half. The trees were turing beautiful fall colours and there were waterfalls everywhere. I attempted to take some pictures while we were driving. Here are a few shots for that trip.








We had a wonderful time and next time we look forward to bringing Phil along with us!

Thanks Mom and Dad for a great week!

So Thankful

I guess this weekend everyone is writing about how thankful they are for all that they have. And it's true here too! We are SO incredibly blessed to have family that loves and cares for us. We are blessed to have a 16 month old who is so into exploring, walking and talking that we are exhausted by the end of the day and in bed at 9 (either blessed or getting old!). We are blessed to have a house where we can turn the heat on and be protected from all this wind and snow that we have had oer the past week. We are blessed to have a church family who loves and cares for us probably just as much as our own families. We are blessed to have food in our fridge and in our cupboards. We are blessed to have a God that loves us and watches out for us and provides for all of our needs! How blessed we are!

Now to go and enjoy some of that wonderful food (turkey and fixin's) that God has so graciously provided for us!

Blessings to you all this Thanksgiving season!

A few more photos from the end of summer/Sept

We were so lucky to have nice weather all through September. Here's a few pictures of the end of summer/September!

Fall Colours

The other day, I had the day off and Phil asked me if I would like to go with him on one of his trips - out to Bonnyville. As we were driving through Alberta countryside, I couldn't help but notice the fall colours (and this was two weeks ago). The leaves on the trees were turning a deep gold and some were even bright fire red. It was absolutely beautiful. There are also many little lakes along the way and they all seemed so peaceful and serene. I was just in awe of the way that God created things and their ability to turn colours and make someone feel so restful and full of peace. It was a beautiful trip to Bonnyville.

Also along the way there as we were driving by a foresty area we saw a beautiful coyote. The animal was big and was gray and white and looked so fluffy and cuddly... although I know that coyotes are probably not that cuddly! I love spotting "wild" animals on car trips, so this totally made my day!

The weather continues to change and fall is definitely here. Here in Edmonton it is only a matter of time before winter arrives... YIKES!