We reached $500, and as promised...

We shaved Jordan's head, and my older brother Eric shaved his as well. I do think that he is hotter with hair, but I am overcome with gratitude for everyone who donated to the Canadian Cancer Society, and helped us reach our goal, and for my husband who is such a strength and support to me. He is truly a wise person!
My younger brother still has a head of hair, and if we can reach the goal of $1000, $475 left to go, then he too will join the ranks of the other men in my family and become bald in support of my Dad and Cancer research.

A Reason to Celebrate!

My baby brother got his mission call today, so we had a reason to celebrate! A few days ago I called my Dad to see what he thought about making tonight a real party, and it didn't take much convincing. Stephen is going to serve in the Ogden Utah Mission and reports on August 24th. I think the long wait to report for your mission must be kind of like a long wait for your wedding, There is soo much going on in life, but Stephen is a great kid, and we are all grateful that he will be around for a little while longer, and soo proud of him for the decisions that he is making in his life.

We decided that we would eat food from wherever he is going to be serving, so if he was going to China we would order chinese, Mexico we would make some taco's, and since he is going to the states we decided to eat some delicious American burgers! (Seriously 5 guys is soo busy)
After we enjoyed dinner we came back to my parents house to break open the pinata that I made, it was covered in flags from all around the world, but since I was in such a rush to get it done, it was still a little moist, and it made for a rather difficult pinata to break, but everyone had some fun.
My parents supplied some ice cream cake that said "Return With Honor Elder Darker" that we all happily ate.

I am so grateful for family, and so glad that we could have some fun tonight, my boys were looking forward to it all day. Just so you all know, we have the coolest family in the world!

St. Patty's Day

Another fun day in our house. It all started the day before when my little boys spent over an hour masterfully creating our leprechaun trap. They were certain to add all things green, build a few heart shamrocks, and sparkles, oh the glitter! We set the trap out before bed, but the sneaky little leprechaun managed to steal the bait, and get away, the boys were happy though to find that he left behind a few golden treats, they must have fallen out of his pot of gold.
For breakfast my little people were thrilled to have some sugar infused Lucky Charms, in fact the excitement was almost too much to bear. I was able to volunteer in Skyler's classroom this year and that sneaky little leprechaun played a trick on his kindergarten class and hid all of their shoes! It was fun to hear the joy in so many little voices as they sought out their shoes, and excitedly told of what tricks the leprechaun played on them.

We played some Lucky bingo to pass some time in the afternoon, and ended our evening with a traditional Irish dinner (lamb shank stew and soda biscuits) some green punch, and of course some pistachio bread - a yummy green treat for our special day.

We all wore our silly green hats at dinner time, and tried to get a picture of our family, but Ethan kind of stood right in front of miss Ryley, but believe me, she was CUTE!

Bubye Hair

My dad used to have thick dark curly hair, then he got sick. When he was sick last time he lost it, and when it grew back it was coarser and straight. Well this time it is gone again. For the last 3 days it has been falling out, and this morning the shower started to fill with water, which was fixed by removing 2 handfuls of hair from the drain. My Dad decided that he was ready to lose it, and save on the next plumbing bill.

While I am certain that my Dad looks hot like this, I would love to see my husband bald, and he will do it if we are able to raise $500 for Cancer research, so if any of you would also like to see Jordan bald, let me know what you are able to donate, and we can work towards the goal!

Spring!!!

ok, so I am certain that we are not done with the snow in Calgary, but I am DONE with winter! For some reason this winter has seemed particularly long, and harsh, maybe that is because last summer sucked! (all of the rain, or hail that killed my plants) or maybe it is because we have been unseasonable cold this winter so that we didn't spend as much time enjoying the snow - whatever the reason, I am glad that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. On Saturday we bought some yummy veggies to plant in the garden, and I am soo super excited about planting asparagus! It is a perennial, and if I care for it properly will hopefully thrive in my little garden. Yesterday I decided that we would BBQ for dinner, and it was such a welcome change. All of the kids had fun in the warm weather, and insisted on playing outside while dinner was being cooked, and took up my favorite seat on the stairs and took in my beautiful family on this warm(er than average) March day and made sure that I had pictures to help recall these wonderful memories for years to come.

Mardi Gras

What a Day! My dad was in the hospital again, for kidney stones this time (which has actually been on and off for about 3 weeks) and my mom called first thing this morning to see if I could go and sit at the hospital to keep my dad company and keep my mom informed of any changes. I was still deciding if I thought that Skyler was well enough to go to school, and started making arrangements for my kids. After getting Skyler to school Ethan started playing with the playdough which was all dried up and crusty, so I decided to make some fresh playdough for them. This was received well, and I thought it would be a perfect time to grab a shower... unfortunately I got out to the sound of breaking glass and to find Ryley standing in the middle of the table, covered with playdough!

I cleaned up and then went off to dadsit at the hospital, and was even able to bring him home this afternoon. I made it home in time for some celebrations. You see last year I realized that there was a celebration that I had been missing - Mardi Gras! I will be happy to lent away a few pounds, but I was in for the fun. We spent some time decorating our masks, enjoyed some yummy Jambalaya, marched around to make our own parade, and then enjoyed a kings cake for dessert (traditional celebration cake). I must say they know what they are doing, so we will have to repeat this in the future.

Family Sick Day

Ryley got sick on Friday, and has decided to share with the whole family. Today was a family sick day. Jordan worked from home, Skyler stayed home from school, and all of us had runny noses, sore throats and a cough. How best to end a sick day? Ethan chose to snuggle down in mom and dad's bed and watch cartoons, but the rest of us? We had a dance party in the boys bedroom.