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Another week gone...this one seemed to breeze right by.  Mike has this Saturday and Sunday afternoon free (a rare occurrence!)  We took advantage of our free time and cleaned out the kids toys, packing about half of them up to give away.  Then we enjoyed a lunch at McDonalds (another rare occurrence) followed by ice cream in the afternoon.  Then Saturday evening we had our friends, the Roberts', over for an impromptu BBQ.  Delicious deer smokies, cuddles with the baby, and a lovely visit. The girls loved playing together, and as always had a hard time saying good-bye.  Sunday morning we enjoyed spending time with our church family, a bit of fun in the sprinkler in the afternoon (Rebecca insisted, even though it was far too cold in my opinion!), a nice little rain shower while we rested inside, then pancakes for supper and a fire to make S'mores before bed.  Overall, one of the best weekends we have had in a long time!

Here's our week at a glance...

22 April 2012 - We spent the afternoon with our friends at the Aerospace Museum.  Rebecca climbed in this balloon and started tapping dials saying, "How high should we go matey?  Okay, it's 20 degrees to Greece."

23 April 2012 - A beautiful evening to enjoy ice cream outside.  This was the last picture where the hammock was still usable.  About 5 minutes later, Mike and Anastasia climbed in, rocked a few seconds and plunged to the ground as the old rope snapped.

24 April 2012 - The girls and I planted our peas today.  Of course, the girls had to wear their best dresses to do gardening, and work gloves to protect their hands from the mud.  :-)

25 April 2012 - A picture from one of the days we were at Aunty Angie's house.  

26 April 2012 - One of the days that Mike took the kids to the park.  Jesse and his buddy Tyler sharing Mike's jacket.

27 April 2012 - Nothing like a little Lego building before Jesse has to catch his school bus.

28 April 2012 - Aunty Ang came and took us out for some ice cream.  What a nice treat!

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Quite the range of weather we experienced this week...several days of cold and snow, and then a beautiful weekend with lots of sunshine.  Here are some pictures from the week.

15 April 2012 - The girls dancing with dolls out at Rod's house while we baked pies as part of a service project.  (Actually a picture from April 14th.  And today was one of the days it snowed.)

16 April 2012 - Woohoo!  The snow melted and apparently it was warm enough outside for Rebecca to wear shorts and a sleeveless shirt.  

17 April 2012 - Who knew guitar cases made such good beds?  (And more snow today...)

18 April 2012 - Poor Ana got a case of croup early this morning, and spent pretty much the whole day sleeping.  (Rain and a bit of snow...)

19 April 2012 - More sidewalk painting...this time I made more colors to paint with.  Lots of fun!  The neighborhood kids even showed up and helped use up all the paint.  (And finally it started warming up!)

20 April 2012 - Jesse and his creation made from recyclables.  He actually made this on the Monday he stayed home sick from school.  The ship (which actually floats) had cannons on both sides, a staircase to the upper deck where the captain has his wheel to steer the ship, and of course a gangplank.  

21 April 2012 - I didn't actually get a picture today (not sure how that happened...)  Mike's cousin & family were down for a visit.  We even all went to the playground.  And they have a very cute baby.  So, I'm not sure why I didn't take any pictures the whole day!  Anyway, this is from Sunday April 22...enjoying a donut at Tim Horton's after an afternoon at the Aerospace Museum.  

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Past the 100th picture already...wow!

 8 April 2012 - Grandma Bonnie reads the girls one last story before they have to leave.

Anastasia with her two Grandpas during the egg hunt at the farm.

9 April 2012 - Perfect day for Rebecca to test our her new "Goldilicious" bike (which is her early birthday present).  Of course the baby had to come along too...and she filled her basket up with goodies to take too.

10 April 2012 - Ana modelling her new headband I made from t-shirt scraps.

11 April 2012 - Girls day out....after Moms and Tots, the girls (plus Eva and Grandma Brenda) went for lunch at McDonald's.  

12 April 2012 - Ummm...where did spring go?  Nasty weather today, so I decided to pick Jesse up from the bus stop.

13 April 2012 - Jesse and Rebecca do some school work before the bus arrives.  Jesse asked me to give him a quiz on his "Defi" (like a spelling test) since they would be quizzed at school today.  He got every single one right...even the long sentence.  (He also got 100% on the one at school.)  Rebecca is just working on printing her letters and spelling her name in preparation for Kindergarten in the fall.

14 April 2012 - Jesse and I working on apple pies as part of our church service project this month.

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Late pictures again, though not as late as last week!

1 April 2012 - Perfect day for a picnic at the park!  Mind you, if you asked the girls, any day would be a perfect day for a picnic.

2 April 2012 - According to Jesse, he was chasing a gopher down the hill and had to stop at the bottom...and blew out his tire.  And, subsequently, had to walk his bike home!

3 April 2012 - Gym Day at Cardel Place...no bouncy castle on Tuesdays, but they did have some other fun stuff set up.  Rebecca ran right up to this bar and started hanging and flipping herself around.  The other kids just stared, and one little girl (with awe in her voice) asked, "How do you do that?"  Rebecca tried to teach her, but alas, the other girl just couldn't do it.

4 April 2012 - The girls found our boat in the camping stuff today...insisted that I blow it up, then they ran to change into their swimsuits and spent the day playing in the boat.

5 April 2012 - And they were still playing in the boat the next day.  Jesse and Rebecca snuggled together to read the Lego magazine under the shelter of the umbrella.

6 April 2012 - Exciting day...Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Al are coming out for the weekend all the way from Saskatchewan.  Jesse helped me tidy up the house.

7 April 2012 - The kids wasted no time in testing out the new play structure at Aunty Angie's!

Bonus Picture (I already had added before I realized it should be in the next post,

 but I didn't feel like taking it out.)  

8 April 2012 - I absolutely love going to the Zorn's for the Easter Egg Hunt...and the kids do too.  They were slightly afraid of the Easter Bunny (which I can't fault them for...I remember being afraid of a large bunny at a family reunion when I was young too.)  But, they were willing to overcome their fear to get some chocolate.  :-)  Lots of fun hunting for eggs, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, and even gathering some eggs from the chickens.  (Rebecca is the one in the black jacket beside the bunny; Jesse on the far right.  Ana must be with a Grandpa).

We had a great weekend.  It always goes so fast when my parents are out visiting.  Too many things to do, not enough time.  They got here Friday (in time for supper).  The kids watched their progress on Google Latitude the whole day.  My dad's profile picture is their cream 1970 MG so when they showed up in my moms 2007 burgundy Equinox, Ana was quite confused since they had been watching this cream colored car on the map all day.  Anyway, after supper (and late into the evening) they finally headed over to Angie's for the night.  Saturday I was scheduled to donate blood (but my iron was a few points to low) and we headed to Angie's after I was done.  The kids all stayed with the guys at the house while the ladies went to the mall.  Reed, Mike, Al, and Dan worked hard all day and by supper there was a fully assembled play structure for the kids!  They were so excited.  After supper (and getting late again) we packed up the kids and headed home.  Our church met as usual in our home Sunday morning...two of our families were absent, so it was nice to have my parents in attendance.  In the afternoon, we headed out to the Zorn's for the Egg Hunt.  And it was bedtime when we got back home.  The kids got one last story in with Grandma Bonnie.  We hugged them, wished them safe travels and said good bye.  They spent the night at Angie's and headed home in the morning.  

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Another busy week...another batch of late pictures.  Sorry!

25 March 2012 - Sunday school craft time.  Eli was over this morning too!

26 March 2012 - Spring Break...but we still do a bit of "school work."  Jesse was working on math, Rebecca practicing her printing.

27 March 2012 - Spoiled kids (and mom) got treated to a Spring Break Toonie Matinee courtesy of Grandma Brenda.  Lots of fun!

 28 March 2012 - Fun at the park...Jesse and his one legged pants.  The legs zipper off...which he did once at school...in the middle of winter...and I got a note from the teacher!

29 March 2012 - Gotta keep the kids entertained during Spring Break!  Today we headed to Cross Iron Mills for a bit of shopping.  The girls got to try on some flower girl dresses and shoes, Grandma Brenda bought them their "Easter swimming suits"  and some Easter outfits. (The swim suits are really just normal swim suits, but the girls call them their Easter swimming suits since they came in the bag with the other Easter clothes.)

30 March 2012 - Off to Aunty Angie's this morning for a farwell party for one of her dayhome kids.  Pancakes and bacon for lunch, and then off to the park for an hour of fun.  Great day!

31 March 2012 - Finally, some fun for mom and dad...Mike and I dropped the kids off for a sleepover at Grandma Brenda and Grandpa John's, and we headed out for supper with Ang and Reed.  We played several rounds of NTN over the course of the evening (a trivia game at which I am horrible!)  But I did manage to secure one first place round, and second place in the last round of the night.  Lots of fun.