Cherry Point Beach

An after school treat is going to the beach with Dad. It is not quite warm enough, but fresh air and fun with the dog is what the "doctor" orders after a long day of counseling for Dad. The beaches are so different here (not the white sands of Gulf Shores), but they are absolutely beautiful with the mountains in the backdrop (especially when they are snow capped mountains).

9th Birthday

I can't believe another year has flown by and my little girl is growing up. Despite the fact that I said that we are not having "friend" parties every year - what did we do - have a friend party! Well, we had difficulty coming with an idea to top last year's spa party (this is why I said not every year!!!!), but due to the fact that Easter was just a week away we decided to have an Easter theme party. The girls had an egg hunt, decorated Easter eggs, played egg games, ate a cake that looked like an Easter basket, etc. What a day and of course Mack's birthday lasted three days this year! Thank you for all of the cards and gifts - making her day special even though we are miles and miles away.

A Silver Medal for Mackensey

Mackensey competed in a district wide science challenge. Her team first competed against other kids in her school. Mackensey's group got second place, so they were able to compete against ten other schools. They were given only a certain amount of materials and a certain amount of time to build a structure that was over a certain height and a tennis ball could sit on top. The structure represented the Olympic torch. Their structure was then tested. A fan was blown on three different levels, and the structure had to remain standing with the ball in place. Mackensey's team won a SILVER! She came home wearing a silver medal and was so proud. I could only stay for the building part, so I did not get to see her win her medal. She was so proud.
So was Shane; I think he was worried that Mackensey was going to sing and dance her whole life. He was so glad to see that she liked other "things." She is very creative so this challenge was just right for her. Teachers and parents were not allowed to help or even give ideas.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

I cannot believe another year has flown by. The kids are growing at an alarming rate and it seems like yesterday that they were babies. Conor is 5'4" and has a size 12 man's shoe - unbelievable! Mackensey is getting so tall as well and wants to be a teenager!

We had a very nice "family" Christmas. The kids were very blessed by aunts, uncles, grandmas, grandpas, and great grandmas. We thank you all for making the kids Christmas so great. Some highlights of Christmas were nerf guns, legos, ps3 games, and a drum kit for Conor. Some highlights for Mackensey were a mic stand, guitar lessons, American girl clothes, a camera and a new bedspread. After opening presents, we went to a gym where we helped serve dinner to the homeless and poverty stricken First Nation people. When they came in they were given grocery food cards and a bag where there were toiletries, kids toys, clothes, food, etc. So many of them said, "Do we choose one thing?" It was so great to say - "Take whatever you need or actually just what you want!" So much fun !

For New Year's Eve we went with some friends to Mt. Washington which is about a two hour drive from where we live. Of course, once you get to the turn off - it is straight up the mountain! The kids have never been skiing before so we really wanted them to have that opportunity. Conor took snowboarding lessons and Mackensey took ski lessons. They were in ski school for 2 1/2 hours. When we picked up the kids, Conor's instructor said that Conor gets an 10 for effort -which we knew meant that he stayed on his rear end most of the lesson. He was in really good spirits and ready after lunch to get back out there and try some more. Shane and I were very surprised because Mackensey caught on almost immediately fell only three times during the day and was ready to ski some more. She told me that she wants to come here every weekend. I told her that her daddy needs to get a second job (ha ha). She had no fear and was tired of waiting on her brother at the end of the slopes by the end of the day. We told Conor that we were proud of him for sticking with it because snowboarding is so much harder than skiing. From what I gather it is the latest thing - his friend who was with us also was snowboarding. What a fun day!

Busy December

Wow, December has flown by and I cannot believe that Christmas is just a few days away . Conor had his first drum recital and Mackensey and Conor both had their school Christmas musical. Church and small group Christmas and cookie exchanges kept us busy. We actually did not get our tree up December 1st like we do every year. We went to a new tree farm this year and found our biggest tree yet. At this tree farm you have to cut your own tree down but they also had a few that were already cut. Of course Shane wanted to check them out first. Conor was not happy because he wanted to freeze and walk through the endless rows and probably miles of trees. Shane and Mackensey stayed with the second tree that we picked up while I allowed Conor his need for the full tree searching experience.

This Christmas will be very different since we are "alone" in Canada, but it will be one that we make new traditions as a family. Our plan is to go to Butchart Gardens and enjoy the spectacular light display, iceskate on the outside pond and let the kids enjoy the carousel. We are also going to go tubing at Mt. Washington, and Christmas Day afternoon we are going to go feed the homeless a Christmas dinner.

Fall Activities - Catching Up on the Blog

Well, I have definitely been neglectful in keeping you all posted about what is happening here in Canada, as well as checking up on all the other blogs. Hopefully this week, I will catch up on the blogs. It seems that since school has started that the weeks have flown by and now it is almost December. So, here is a brief overview and lots of pictures.

Halloween: Our church does a Trunk or Treat. Last year we created our trunk to be the Bat Cave. This year we called it Pumpkin Explosion. Mackensey was an Egyptian Princess and Conor was Hillary Clinton Gone Bad. This was his title - not mine. When we came home from the store with a Hillary Clinton mask, Shane just about died, and then we saw the screaming knife - he really did die. I told him the mask was only $1.66 - and he said that he could understand why. Conor was so excited, so how could I say no. Of course nobody in his class got it, and they all wanted to know who Hillary Clinton was - too funny.

Thanksgiving: We had two Thanksgivings this year. One was our Canadian Thanksgiving in October and the other - our American Thanksgiving. Our young couples Bible study meets on Wed. nights and they were saying that we need to have a social night, so Shane opens the calendar and says, "Let's have an American Thanksgiving!" I just about fell out of my chair. One, that is a lot of people. Two, I have only cooked two turkeys in my life and one was good and one was not so good. So, of course I smiled and said, "Sure - that would be fun!" Well, it was a lot of fun. My friend Michelle volunteered to cook the turkey if I bought it and I said that would be terrific. We had thirty people in our house not including babies and small children. After the chaos of organizing and getting tables and chairs from the church, I sat back and soaked in all of the blessings that God has given my family this past year. Although we miss our families, we truly feel home here in Canada and the people surrounding us at dinner as part of our extended family.

First Day of School

I am sad to say that I have not been taking many pictures (after my summer camera happy self). Time seems to fly by these days and I cannot believe that it is already October.

What is happening with us? Well, school started for us September 8th. Conor is in grade 6 and Mackensey is in grade 3. This is Conor's last year before Middle School. At church they call them the Sixers. Both have great teachers but they do not keep the same students in each class (public school). Mackensey was quite upset about that because most of her friends are in the other two third grade classes. Her best friend did end up in her class so that has helped.

What else is happening? Mackensey is in musical theatre and is practicing to be in the play "Annie." She is very excited about this. She is one of the orphans and this will be a full blown out production with tickets sold to a real theatre. I think I hear "It is a hard knock life..." at least a hundred times a day. For a while she was singing "It is a hard enough life..." Conor became quickly frustrated with this line until she got it right. She is so "fun!" Conor is playing the drums, but we had to take a month off due to his broken finger. Normally this would not be a big deal but it has broke on the growth plate and the doctor says this can be serious because his finger could grow crooked if it does not heal properly. I feel really bad for him because he had to miss soccer. Thankfully, he plays football in the spring so he did not have to miss that.

What else is happening? We are back in full swing with MOPS, young couples Bible study, young single adults Bible study, Saturday services, Sunday services, ministering in downtown Duncan to the homeless, Christmas craft fair, Christmas Jump Start - the list goes on.

Especially for my family - I will do better at posting some pictures to the blog. I love everyone and miss them lots. Thanksgiving in October and making a turkey for the four of us (and one guest) just didn't seem right or normal. Holidays will be a bit harder this year but that is ok. Oh well, I know this is where we are suppose to be and wouldn't trade it for anything.