Our Little Life

We've been up to lots of shenanigans lately. Also, don't say I didn't warn you about the number of pictures. I totally did. In the title.

We went to the opening parade for Capital Ex and it was great fun!

Maddie and I on the train on the way to the parade.


Maddie and Christopher took turns having to go to the bathroom. Luckily we were right across the street from City Centre Mall. Next time I think we'll find a spot in the shade since the kids wilted pretty fast in the intense heat.


Claire had a blast at the parade. She giggled herself silly every time there was a band, a car horn, a siren, a street cleaner or music of any kind. It was so fun to watch her. She got a special panda bear doll from the Shriner's group. They stopped the whole parade to hand it to her. It was quite sweet. (This picture is taken after we switched to the shady side of the street about 3/4 the way through)


This guy waved right at me as I was taking his picture. :)


After the parade we headed over to City Hall to enjoy the wading pool. Unfortunately, everyone else had the same idea, but it was fun. Here's Claire and Lisa soaking up the sun.


Maddie had a great time and made lots of friends.




We got to attend two bridal showers for Steph. The first was a mad-hatter tea party at Mel and Nat's place, so of course we wore our nicest hats.

Madeline was in tea heaven.


I love this picture of Claire.


I think we were the only ones who wore hats, but it was fun. :)


The second shower was out in Wetaskiwin at mom and dad's place. It was a lot of fun, but I didn't take any pictures.

I had a bit of an adventure. While moving a box, a heavy die-cutter thingie that was on the top took a tumble and landed on my hand. This was the result. I am very surprised that it didn't crush my hand. All I have is a cut on my finger, so I was lucky, but my rings were not.



For the second year we attended Monday Morning Magic. It's a special program at Capital Ex where they open up the family rides for kids with disabilities and their families for a few hours. There are athletes, tv crews, clowns, mascots all wandering around, riding with the kids and it's just a great atmosphere. Luckily I had Rob to help me this year. :)

Oilers at Capital Ex. Zack Stortini Ladislav Smid and Tom Gilbert.


Us and "Bearemy"


A real, live Eskimo, Kai Ellis.


Maddie's been talking for weeks about rollercoasters, so it was the first ride we went on.


They had the best clowns there. They were so sweet and fun. Not creepy at all, which is rare as far as clowns go.


The twisty boat ride.


Enjoying the carousel.


Madeline's dream - driving an ambulance. She already wants to drive the car and I keep telling her that she has to be 16. She promptly tells me that she *is* 16 already.


Claire liked the feel of the fire hoses.


Dutifully planting a potato in the kids area. We learned how to be good farmers.


Claire was an expert fisher.


This is where Rob really came from.


The Butterfly Hatching Station - it was so cool to watch them!


Awaiting the fabulous Super Dogs while enjoying our bag lunches.


It's a great program and we have had lots of fun both years. Lots of volunteers make it happen and I'm very grateful to them.

Ryan and I went to Macbeth at Shakespeare in the park. 'Twas very dramatic. I would heartily recommend it. It's a very fun night out. But I think next time we'll go to the comedy to shake things up a bit. Woo.

Here's the stage.


And here we are.



Ryan and I also took in Taste of Edmonton for the first time. It was great. We had beef tenderloin wrapped in bacon, crab and cream cheese fried wontons, cheese empanadas, spring rolls, coconut ice cream and leprechaun pie. Yummers.

The girls and Lisa and I attended a couple of library presentations at the Whitemud Crossing branch. One was all about snakes and the other was shadow puppets which was perfect for Claire and her vision. I love that library.


Here are some recent Maddie-isms.


We had Oreos yesterday and she hands me the two completely cleaned off cookies after licking off the centre and says: "I don't like the crusts."

Mom: "Maddie, where did those hiccups come from?"
Maddie: "Mexico."

She's obsessed with going to Mexico. For the past two days she's been packing her luggage which includes all the magnets from the fridge, her flash cards and lipstick. She keeps telling me that we're leaving in 15 minutes and that she's going to drive.

I can tell she's growing up because she's getting more and more frustrated with Dora. Dora will ask, "Where is bear's house?" or some equally inane question and Maddie will answer, in an exasperated voice, "It's right over there!"

The girls make me laugh every day. :)

I am cursed. No matter what deductive reasoning I use to determine which check-out line to join, I always choose the wrong one. You know what I mean. The little old lady who's paying for her groceries with dimes and nickels, the debit machine that breaks, the cashier who rudely informs you that she's cutting the line off right in front of you, there's someone rude behind me or crying kids in front of me, someone drops their credit card down the minuscule gap between the counter tops and they have to take the entire thing apart, etc. ad nauseam. Even when I think I'm being clever and switch lines to avoid delays, I inevitably see the people who were behind me in the original line, leaving before me with smug looks on their faces. So, I've just chosen to accept my fate and realize that it's beyond my control. I probably unknowingly upset some gypsy woman in my travels and this is the revenge she has chosen to wreak upon me.

(By the way, for any spelling purists out there, I had no idea that minuscule was spelled that way. I was sure it was miniscule. But I was mistaken. You learn new things everyday.)

ANYWAY.

Here's what we've been up to lately.

We've kept our little Cinderella busy.


If she completes her chores, she can surf the interwebs.


So, Emily calls me up and asks, "Want to go to a Bon Jovi concert?" I thought she was joking at first, but when assured she was not, I said, "YES!" It was a great girls night out and for a very reasonable ticket price.

I didn't realize until afterward that he had torn a calf muscle at a show last week. He still put on an enthusiastic show with lots of classics that I remember from junior high and high school!

In retrospect, we should have taken these photos after the sun went down a smidge, but thanks for being a good sport Ashley! Here we are, baking in the sun, waiting for the show to start.


Bon Jovi's face times 5. Well, technically 6 if you count his actual face. :)


Me and Em


Who knew they could still pack the house? Sold out, 40 000. One of the best parts? The people in the crowd around us. Three teenage boys in front of us singing and dancing along, a white-shirted chick who bounced and sang to every. single. song., a rather large woman behind us who was swaying in a very dangerous and possibly drug-induced manner and the gentleman just below us playing a very enthusiastic air-guitar. Good times. We tried to stealthily obtain photographic evidence of these shenanigans, but no dice.





We spent a lovely day at the Street Performer's Festival with Lisa, and luckily had great weather during our time there, despite the rain that occurred before and after.

Our first LRT ride from the new Heritage station! Woo!


Madeline and I enjoying the Pirate Show at the kids area.



Madeline, our little flower. We were going to take Claire's photo in here as well, but the kids parade was starting and then she promptly fell asleep after that. I just wanted to explain my lack of parental attention symmetry.


The aforementioned kids parade on the way to the clown show!


The girls doing a little fishing in the shade.


The oddly intriguing new art gallery. Has anyone been inside yet? I want to go now.


Besides these adventures, we spent a lot of time outdoors, when it wasn't raining. Everyday I am grateful for our backyard. I guess that's what comes from living in an apartment with kids for over 4 years.

We spent a lovely day at Kathy and Christopher's house with Erika and her boys. We mothers had anticipated a relaxing day of catching up and enjoying adult company while the children played harmoniously downstairs or outside, but we were sadly mistaken. The only moment of peace we had was during the last hour before we all had to leave, when the kids finally got used to each other and established the pecking order. We have decreed that our next playdate will be "sans" kids.

I got to attend Rob's final concert with the Wetaskiwin Jazz Camp. It's an amazing camp with great mentors and all the kids did well. It was a wonderful evening of music that made me miss my high school saxophone days. Rob won an award and a scholarship for next year's camp for being awesome. Which is true. He is.

We're so lucky to be able to do all the things that we do and to have such great people in our lives.

We've been busy as usual. But I promise this post will be about 1/3 the size of my last one. Pinky swear.

Ryan just spent 5 days camping with his Young Men. They went on a canoe trip up in the mountains near Rocky Mountain House. Besides being eaten alive by mosquitos at their base camp, they had a great time and basically became experts at two things: riding the rapids canoe-style and playing Bang! I think they formed a close bond because the day after camp they all went out to see The Last Airbender together.

He also saved a few lives by donating blood lately. That's one thing that I have never been brave enough to do, I'm sorry to admit. Luckily I also have a valid excuse so I don't have to feel too guilty about it.

We had a fun time at Tyler's 1st birthday. We also got to celebrate Travis' birthday at his surprise party. After Canada's birthday and Steph's birthday, and then Lauren's birthday this weekend, I think we could use a break until the next one. MEL!

Claire at Lauren's Luau party.


While I took Claire to the party, Madeline enjoyed a sleep over at Grandma and Grandpa Patterson's house. They had tea parties, made play dough, watched movies and had a great time, despite the rainy weather.

Ryan had fun with the Patrick family out at the racing track. You can check out more pictures of that here.



Claire got cast for new AFO braces for her feet. She's been growing like a weed, so she's had to get a new pair almost every year. Do you want to know how much two, velcro-strapped, plastic ankle foot orthotics cost? $1600. Crazy. This year's pair will be cast with a jean material pattern so she can be cool for school. :)

We've spent a good amount of time outdoors in the beautiful weather lately. It's been fun to have Lisa join us a couple days a week and we're looking forward to more fun the rest of the summer.

Taking a run through the spray park rainbow.


The day Ryan got back from camp we enjoyed a family swim at the Don Wheaton YMCA downtown. It's a really great pool! It was a perfect way to cool off.

Ryan and I have been looking forward to this concert for awhile. Ok Go. They're known for their creative music videos and we love them.

OK GO WOO


Our side view of the stage.


Copious confetti coated everything. Is it bad that all I could think about was, "I'm glad I don't have to clean this up after"?


On their encore number, amidst the fog, the backs of their jackets spelled out Ok Go. Totally nerdy and awesome.


Here's a link to their latest music video (watch for the goose!):

End Love


And the classic that started the craze (almost 52 million views...whoa):

Here it Goes Again

I hope when we're "old" that we'll still want to rock out at concerts like this. Wait, do we classify as being old now? Perhaps. Weird.

It's true. Any colour-differentiated snack food. I dump them all out. Line them up according to colour. Say there's 10 red and 5 green and 3 blue. I will eat the red and green ones until they match up equally with the blue, then I will alternate. Does this mean I need psychological help? Nah. It just means I'm not very fun at parties. Heyo.

One fun thing I did lately: Val gave me some iTunes money for my birthday and I spent a good long while simply listening to random songs and buying whichever one I loved. It was strangely liberating and I recommend everyone do it.

There are going to be a lot of pictures in this post. I should be more judicious with my photo selection but I can't help it. All the things I'm going to talk about have many good/fun pictures associated with them. So sit back and enjoy scrolling.

The weather's been lovely lately. Here's Madeline and her elaborate tea party. It's one of our favourite summer pastimes, but they always seem to devolve into water fights.



We had a fun trip to Calgary to welcome Zach home from his mission and say goodbye to Adam before he goes on his.

Claire and I having breakfast.


Adam, the man of the hour, the life of the party. We'll miss you! Of course I didn't get a picture of Zach, but we'll be seeing lots of him when he comes back up here for school.


Uncle Doug's new hobby! It was a big hit.


The minute she put on Emma's bracelets, out came the hip swagger.


YUM


Mel and Nat, and part of Dad's head as he attempts a photo bomb.


Oh Ryan.


What's with the men in this family being so facially creative in their photos?


And strangely enough, Brandon looks totally normal in this one. But I've heard he has been known to pull faces in the past so he'll fit in just fine.


Chilling on the floor.



We spent our last official GRIT day at Galaxyland on the rides. Luckily Lisa is helping us during the summer so we don't have to say goodbye...yet.

Claire and Lisa on the merry-go-round



Madeline made sure she picked a horse with jewels.


Claire *loved* the roller coaster. They almost didn't let her on, but thankfully Lisa is a good advocate!



CANADA DAY! My favourite holiday.

Ready for the parade!


Playing the piano at Auntie Steph and Uncle Greg's house before heading out. Their piano is so much better because the keys light up!


The girls and I at the parade.


Madeline wasn't excited at all.


Neither was Claire.


A fun shot from the silly summer parade.


After the parade, we had a picnic for Canada Day and for Steph's birthday!

Traditional Canada Day family picture


The park picnic turned into a backyard picnic, due to the copious amounts of food provided by mom!


Jumping with Auntie Mel


The "over the shoulder" pose.


Enjoying the beautiful day.


Rob's a natural.


Claire has such a lovely, genuine smile. I love it.


Mug shot


Happy Birthday Steffers!

Madeline was in there like a dirty shirt. She can always be counted on to "help" with candles.


Ryan trying out Steph's bday present. Look at Rob's face. Classic.



Then came fireworks at the park.

If you're going to pose like this, I'm going to post it.


Where's Waldo?


Ry and Rob being cool.


Claire was tickling Grandpa. On the face.


My cute little Claire and Grandma waiting for the fireworks to start.


Licorice tongue!


Patiently waiting for it to get dark enough.


KABOOM! The fireworks were awesome!



This is a picture from Father's Day, but I just wanted to illustrate her blue eyes. Where did those come from?