blast off!

the answer is:


both!
  
{read yesterdays' post if you missed the question}


one: we celebrated Grandpa Olsen's 70th birthday at Chuck E. Cheese on Saturday. 


the kids loved that he had his party here. not that it was his pick. Grandma had a bit to do with that decision. not that he complained. 


Uncle John decided that it was a bit like a nightclub for kids. hmmm... except Grandpa had to produce ID to buy a beer and was only allowed to purchase two glasses. which he offered to his sons. 


only Kiara didn't completely take the ticket winning seriously. it did, however, matter when it came to retrieving the tickets from the machine. adding the tickets to the "ticket calculator". or choosing a prize. which i could really say a whole essay on that part of the visit. {i think even the kids dread that part. the prize is never worth the work.} 


needless to say, we arrived with excited kids and left with happy and exhausted kids. 



two: we took the kids to a nearby Japanese restaurant after church on Sunday. the kids loved it. 


when we walked in they saw the water wall at the front. they decided we should have one in our house. 


then they were really curious when we had to take off our shoes and go into a little room. they were super excited when they saw the table and the chairs on the floor. had Kristian and i known it would be enjoyed so well, we would have taken them long ago!


they both love sushi. we ordered a special dish of sashimi for the kids, thinking it was the type that was fully cooked. oops! although it was a good experience for Kristian and i to extend our palate further! 


Kiara is proving to be more adventurous with food as she is getting older. Aidan is more cautious, but tends to try new foods with some minor bribing. i do expect they will want to go back soon. 



another successful weekend. as much fun as it is at ChuckE.Cheese....it is not a place i like for the food.

Aidan was invited to a birthday part at Kidz Quarterz in Sherwood Park a few months ago. we didn't go the token route, so can't comment on that. however it has an amazing indoor playground. as well as pizza that is much healthier and tastier. 



i was teaching a scrapbook class on Saturday morning and ended up not leaving until mid afternoon. fun times with the class and then got chatting. typical me. i didn't realize i missed out on such a beautiful day!



the snow is mostly melted in our backyard. even rather dry compared to Saturday. this poor Stomp Rocket is a few years old now. apparently it needed to be adjusted slightly. usually you attach the rocket to the yellow stand that is visible in the background. i love the expressions on their faces!



cute kids we have. they look so innocent and fun in this photo.

yes, still having fun with CS4. actions. and our iMac.

it wasn't until yesterday that Aidan made a comment about his opinion over having AppleTV. we had all gotten accustomed to the kids turning on the television at various times and watching TreeHouse or YTV for 15 to 30 minutes during the day. for them it was mostly just a break. it has been an adjustment for all of us to learn new ways to take a break during the day. with AppleTV, you can connect to iTunes, YouTube or a million satellite radio stations. it is also beyond their computer skills for the moment. we are not rushing into teaching them how to use it either!


here is the big news of the day!
Monday is our gymnastics day. the kids are quite natural at this sport. it is almost disgusting how flexible and strong they both are. Aidan did a "pull-over" on his own today. his coach was really impressed {and so was Kiara's!} apparently it is very rare for a child Aidan's age to be coordinated and strong enough to do that maneuver individually. Aidan was thrilled. so was i. and shocked too. this boy is surprising me every day. so we called Daddy at work, then stopped by Tim Horton's for a 6-pack of donuts. on the way to the club, he counted to 100. on the way home, he spelled words he figured out on his own. 

overall, i'd say we had an awesome start to the Spring Break. let's hope we can finish as strong as we started!

and that's a wrap!

where to begin?!

it never fails that if i have a list of to do's that is longer than myself, then some shape or form of drama will soon begin. definitely not for my entertainment.

Aidan had a field trip where he learned that morning i would not be going with him or driving him. tough break. it involved him not eating his breakfast. protest? as it turned out he maintained his grumpy attitude for his teacher and his parent leader. he was that kid. lovely. no one was more relieved than i, to learn that it was at least short-lived! small miracle?



i do admit that i am relieved of two more things: one this is not a regular occurrence with the lil' stinker and second...although this is odd....that he is not trying to hide and pretend all was well, when it wasn't.

ironically he was looking forward to this field trip. i knew that it was one his teacher also really liked. she divulged to the kids that she was a dinosaur expert a few weeks ago.  THAT grabbed the kids attention!




i understood the reason behind Aidan's temperament. however we did have a discussion on the poor choices he made. we also decided it would be nice to make a special thank you poster for his teacher. we chose not to make a big deal of it and do the entire apology. instead it was a lesson in how his choices and attitude can make an impression on another person. for better or worse. oh the balance! ugh.

he used some of my older scrapbook supplies and created this. a shape punch to create "footprints" on the edge. a glittered sun. a pattern made with the "stones" and even a green ribbon "like the colour of leaves and grass" for it to hang. completely his own design. i found the "Super Fun" die cut from the last month's Urban kit. it sounded like something Aidan would say, and he loved it.

apparently the poster was much appreciated. he had a better attitude. he also was thrilled that his teacher and his classmates liked it. he added that it made him feel like a real artist. awww.




i don't think i have talked to any parent this week who did not have odd problems with their kids. there was a full moon. hmmm.

these photos describe their personalities and choices very well.



yes, they thought they were hilarious. ha. haha. ha. i did not quite get the joke.



again. don't get it.

i think i will blame the snow.

the repeated question from Aidan was, "i thought we didn't have snow in the spring?" yes, my dear boy. in some parts of the globe spring truly means no snow. not here.

here's it to hoping our spring break will be filled with sunshine and warmer temperatures. they need to go outside. every. day.



she was posing.

she had spent the previous 75 hours driving me crazy. she really did owe me. really.

i have been on the fence over purchasing CS4 or PSE8. i have a few weeks left in my trial version. i FINALLY uploaded the Prairie Woman's actions. i had a lot to learn about PSE7. however i understood how to make lots of changes the long way. i completely expected to spend an hour to upload the actions into CS4. i was thrilled to be proved so very wrong. it took 30 seconds. and then it took me 2 minutes to realize the job was done. what?! off to coffee and tea to get more next.

i think i can give up doing editing the long way with PSE and move into the fast lane. what will i do with my extra time? i agree. that slot will be filled immediately.

here is a question to ponder. did we take the kids to a new japanese restaurant or Chuck E. Cheese this weekend?

where would you take tired and spring-crazy children?

for real

we had a beautiful weekend. it was sunny. fairly warm.

the snow finally diminished enough to allow the dead grass to poke through. the kids have had their fair share of splashing through puddles. it took their boots nearly 3 days to dry after their last romp!


then we awoke to THIS on Monday morning.






you can see that a bunny enjoyed making tracks all over the yard. when our darlings saw the footprints, they decided it was "the Easter Bunny". it was definitely a busy bunny.



on Sunday afternoon we decided to get the bikes out and test out the paths. it is our first spring in the community and so nice for all of us to walk out the door and have the path right there. i still am in disbelief that just a year ago many nice spring weekends were spent going from show home to driving the streets looking for "good" areas. we all agree that the bike ride was the best way to spend an afternoon!



Kiara is willing to try anything new. love her adventurous spirit! i am crossing my fingers that we have left the uglyness of the 3's behind and can embrace the entertaining aspects of the 3's. there were so many days when we really wondered if that sweet girl would ever return to us.



Aidan was drenched.

what normal boy could resist the deep puddles?! the raincoat came in  quite handy. i also have photos of him with the puddle water dripping from his face.

he too had some pretty terrible days when he was 3. like any healthy kid, he still has his own challenges!! he and his buddy from school have been excited for weeks now because of a field trip to study dinosaurs at the museum. yesterday they even decided to wear dinosaur t-shirts so that they would match. cute! then my dear child discovered this morning that i would not be going on the field trip with him. given his already tough morning, the fact pushed him over the edge. apparently he had visions of he and his buddy, together with their mommy's having a grand ol' ball of a time. it is a wonder they didn't decide our wardrobe as well. so, yes. still some days that are challenging.


well, Kiara and i have enjoyed a relaxing remainder of our morning. we both have the sniffles and have quite the chorus of sniffs and coughs going on. lovely.

i am nearly done prepping for my class on Thursday. the busy patterns of the papers was a challenge to me and stumped me on how to combine them in a pleasing way. as a result i ended up using all but a few scraps of paper. the back of the layout is interesting as it is taped together to be held into place! it stumped me even further when i thought about how i was ever going to teach it and make sure that the cuts were described properly. enter my thoughtful boss....with the suggestion that i pre-cut as much as i can. it was more work, but i think it will make the class run much more smoothly! now just to hope and keep my fingers crossed that i made the right cuts!!

i have the montly dt layout on my desk ready to be glued into place. i can't wait to see how it looks when it is done. beautiful, beautiful papers and embellishments.

then i can start the fun of creating the next monthly layout class. it has been tough to do my other work. i know i say this every month...but this one is going to be so awesome! fun and messy. i am soooo lucky!


now to just stop the snow and bring on consistent warm sunshine and air!

a weekend of events

the highlight of the weekend was the long awaited AWANA car race.


starting in January the kids were each given a package that contained a block of wood and a set of wheels. they set out to design their own race car.

both of our kids wanted to do their own design. Kristian helped with the cutting and carving of the wood. tricky with the limited wood working tools he has. i helped with the painting and finishing touches.


Aidan's design was a blue truck with red flames. i also found some red, black and clear gems that worked well for his lights.

Kiara's was pink and pink. definitely her own! she is totally into layering paint and stickers.




as you can see, not all kids did all the work on their own. in some cases it was completely a parent project! but pretty cool designs over all.

the youngest kids went first. they had about 4 races in all and the time sped by.



they would get called to sit in the "on deck" area and be given their car.




when it was their turn, they placed their car in the appropriate track.



ran down to the other end of the track and waited for their car to finish. Aidan's car was in the "red" lane.



the race officials would then pass the cars on to the kids. it was quite cool because they had the race connected to a computer that kept track of their speeds and placement. Aidan came in second in this heat.

later the results were tabulated and awards handed out.

they had a category for every possible design. each racer was given a certificate and their car returned on a wooden base. Aidan came in 3rd for best Indy car. Kiara came in 3rd for best special effects.

Kiara waited and waited. we could tell she was getting impatient as she watched everyone else take the podium.



she showed her true colours when it was her turn! and brought a lot of laughter as well.

she was the only racer to get her prize and raise it in the air like this. love that belly button and toes pose! we can only guess that it was a combination of the olympics and reward days at gymnastics that made her do this. she is one of a kind!

it was a great event. well planned. enjoyable. busy! as it turns out this is the first year our church has started an AWANA club. seriously, it is so well done that you would never know this.

more on this later, but we finished our day by finding a new computer. still learning how to use it! fun times.

puddle jumping

mission accomplished.

they splashed in puddles like nobody's business.

Kiara slipped on some ice at the bottom of one pool. after 45 minutes of puddle jumping, that was not a bad record! despite the record, she was not impressed. at. all.

Aidan continued to splash until he had successfully gathered enough water in his boots to house a fish. he was quite thrilled.

neither of them were joyous once we were at home and i had to pry the dripping clothes off of their bodies. suddenly the frigid water they were drenched with hit their senses. i really enjoyed their cries as their skin warmed up again. no. not exactly.

the snow will continue to melt and the puddles will continue to grow. i am sure they will be back in the puddles tomorrow. i hope they remember the fun they had, and think the temporary cold was worth it. for now we are all in agreement that we are excited for spring to arrive. only Aidan has voiced that although he is excited for the warmer weather, he is still a bit sad that winter is over.

another week

i am in shock that tomorrow is Friday.





the kids have gymnastics on Monday afternoons. it makes for a very tiring day for me. even the kids feel tired.

one of the moms turned to me a few weeks ago and says, "have you been in this class all year?" there are only 8 kids in the parent and tot class. yes, we have been in the same class since September. i, on the other hand, do remember talking to her. i also recall the impression that she did not want to socialize with me. but she continues, "man! i feel like i have just walked out of a fog." okay. that needs explanation. she does. "it is like i have finally reached a stage with my kids that i am noticing stuff for the first time ever." ahhhh. that makes sense. i know the fog she speaks of.

it turns into a conversation about how tiring some days can be with young kids. we agreed that we wouldn't trade it for anything, but it was tough.

i told her on Monday that i think gymnastics would be less tiring if i signed the kids up for another day of the week. what is it with Mondays?! i also told her that it only took me 2 years to learn it, but i will not sign the kids up for gymnastics for May and June....even though in April it seems like a completely splendid idea! {May is not bad, it is June that is crazy. nice weather and soccer.} oh, i did not stop there. i also said, perhaps i would give one of the closer gymnastics clubs a try in September. I am driving 30 minutes each week, one way, just to tire myself out further. have you ever gotten two children dressed and into a car without having to rush and listen to at least one meltdown? in an enclosed space?

soooo....guess what happens? Aidan was invited to be part of the 'super-tot" class. which is basically a session that is slightler longer and more challenging. ugh! just when i made up my mind....


Tuesday was awesome. for everybody. Kiara and i got to stay home all day. then Aidan's friend and his mom came over. the boys played. Kiara watched a girl movie twice. we put together scrapbooks for their kindergarten class. nothing fancy. just your ordinary kids scrapbook of their special school work. {Aidan and i agreed that we can't wait until we can keep it at home!}i should also mention that Aidans' "best buddy" has a mom who is....{drum roll please}....a teacher....and a scrapbooker. we are kindred spirits! have i mentioned that they moved into this neighborhood last summer too? did i also mention that we live only 2 blocks from each other? as Aidan says, "AWWEESOME!"

Wednesday was also great. it was the first Wednesday in 2 weeks that we did not have to visit a doctor or deal with yucky colds. AWANA night. i got to be in my element and visit with new people. we had some prep for the weekend to do, and got done early so we had some chat time. fun stuff!

Thursday. today. long story, but when i get my oil changed, the dealership offers me a free latte. i was so excited for that errand today! wouldn't you know it, but it got busy just as i drove in. then somehow my paper work for the 1 hour job got lost. after 90 minutes i went to check on things. a full two hours later, Kiara and i had our fill of coffee and television. thankfully we were finally able to go. after any type of service we always get a call from the head office asking about our experience. i knew i would eventually have to tell someone about the morning. in the past they have always gotten an A+ from me...even without a latte! today i decided to complain. i was nice about it. i just wanted them to know that i would much prefer to be told to make an appointment and come another day than to have to wait for twice as long as i expected...even when they compensate me with more caffeine than i need. i also made sure that they new this was not a typical experience for me at the shop, and i have always been impressed by their speed in the past. i was shocked to near lack of speech when they chose to give me the oil change for free. so i guess the wait was worth it. in the end. good thing i complained?

since we still hadn't finished the class scrapbooks, we got together again today. our boys did not complain about another playdate. Kiara did not complain about another movie. us moms, did not complain about more time to chat.

i ended my day with a trip to my hairdresser. i have had the same hairdresser for nearly 15 years. she is awesome. i have a freshly coloured and cut hair. i can't wait to wake up tomorrow and just be ready to go!

and tomorrow is Friday. Aidan gets to hang out with his best buddy. those boys could live together and still not see enough of one another. although they did get frustrated with each other once today. i think it was their first "fight". it was over wii Star Wars Lego. i don't even bother playing that game...i'd be frustrated most of the time. i have watched Aidan and Kris play, and that is enough frustration for my daily intake.

we are all excited for Saturday. the kids AWANA club is having their "Grand Prix". it is our first. i am sure there will be photos to share! Grandpa Olsen loves racing. sadly they also leave for a cruise the same day. Aidan would have loved to have had Grandpa watch his home made car. pictures will definitely be in order. the kids don't know it yet, but every kid will leave with an award. each car had a small hole drilled into the bottom so that it can sit on top of the stand as an award. cool! i know they will both be thrilled with that.


i hope your week was as enjoyable as mine. now that the sun has brought some warmer weather back, i'm sure the weeks will fly by even more quickly.

looking back

this morning i have "new" on my mind. as i browse through my mountain of photos from this past year, i realize that many of them fall into the "new category". we've had new bikes, new experiences, new friends, new home....never mind the lists of "firsts".




as tiny as the house was, it was huge in terms of the amount of memories amassed here. photos of the kids as babies and with their first friends. as much as i miss the familiar old walls and the cuteness, i have not once missed the crowded spaces and tripping over something.

we were just chatting with friends over the tiny kitchen. i never had enough cupboard space to store the few cookie sheets, muffin pans and such that we had. baking days meant that the table had to double as a counter. the baking supplies were usually stored on a shelf in the basement (which also meant they had to be cleaned before i used them....we never had mice issues, but i'm sure there were multitudes of bug families that probably danced on them). sometimes we would have company in the middle of baking frenzies, so i would temporarily store the baking pans in the oven. apparently it was only me who knew this trick. Kristian discovered this temporary storage place when he made supper one evening. without checking the oven he preheated it. in this instance the oven also stored a gingerbread house kit from costco waiting to be assembled. 2 new rules were added to our list that night. one, never put "flamables" in the oven as storage. second, always look in the oven before you turn it on!

here we are in our new home. more than ample storage space for my baking supplies. (oh, how nice to have everything on the same level! and no more cobwebs forming on my muffin tins.) i never need to store any baking pans inside my oven anymore. however, i still find myself checking the interior before i turn it on.



oh did this photo remind me of the final days of winter just one year ago. in fact it was taken on March 9, 2009. exactly one year ago.

we spent months looking at open houses and showhomes. a  new community nearly every weekend. lots of time looking and praying about what decision to make. meetings with a realtor and our banker. by March we had narrowed the options down to rebuilding a new home on the present lot or selling and moving to a new pre-built home. the banker made that final decision for us.

then came the homework. the new way of house hunting. mls listings with photos on the computer. printing out houses we liked. this took a lot of time! after a few weeks i started to make spreadsheets of our criteria. the photo above was a common vision of me for at least two months. the first few weeks were fun, however my "fun meter" slowly dropped after that time!

my friend, Roslyn is at a similar point with her family. listening to her stories of their journey brought back my own memories. more than anything it also reminded me of the fun of the unknown. we each had our list of what we hoped for in our home, yet we didn't know what the complete package would look like.

i am excited to hear her tell me of the day that they found their new home.

i remember walking through the door and within 5 minutes knowing this was it.

was it only a year ago that we had no idea where our new home would be?



every once in awhile, usually on a quiet weekend, Kristian or myself will blurt:

"let's go look at a showhome!" to which the kids suddenly get very quiet. then we all smile and think how awesome that we don't have to do that.

is it coming?

spring is around the corner. i know this partly due to how the air "feels". we all got to wear spring jackets this week. yay! i also know it is coming because of the date on the calendar. ha!

i caught the weather in the news a few days ago and they compared the weather in March this year with the weather last year. in my memory, i do recall that the weather was not great and the snow was very slow in melting. especially the last week when the kids were on spring break and i was hoping for warm weather to hang out in parks and playgrounds. we had a few days of -20C!! i really hope we do not repeat that pattern this year. it is hard enough to take -10C after a long winter.



we went out this week to check on our pond. it is melting.

snow pants and snow boots are no match for melting snow and puddles!

hooray for this!!

a little something

this is the blog that my friends and family read to hear updates on our little family and to see recent photos of all of us. or mostly our babies!

so this lovely group of people are not always aware of what is happening in my creative or hobby side of my life. which is fine! scrapbooking is not for everyone (sadly!).

so many scrapbooking magazines were not able to weather out the recession. this one is home-made here in Canada. i figured it was a good place to start sending some of my pages to get published.

i had 2 published in their winter issue. then i had 1 published in this spring issue.



this is for our Danish relatives! you know who you are!! remember the oldest buildings we have here in Edmonton? this photo was taken at the park that has some re-creations (and some real ones too) of those "old" buildings.

i sooo did not want to cut up that background paper. i also struggled with what part to cover up with my photo.

it is hard to believe that the photo is nearly 2 years old. those munchkins really are growing too fast. so hard to not get a good photo of them at the park too. i wish it were open year-round.

and that is all. sunny days are in the forecast. so are quieter days. maybe this will mean my camera comes out of hiding more often? i hope so!!