fashion shoot

Yesterday I spent the most wonderful day at the temple.  It felt like such a privilege to get to serve there.    I had originally been asked by my bishop to be a tour guide so I had been stressing about the responsibility of that, knowing that I can't "talk good" at the best of times and almost always say the wrong thing.  As the time came closer I was switched to food prep: sitting in the kitchen at the chapel across the way from the temple, putting cookies into little baggies for the guests to enjoy.  Even though this job was less stress I felt like I had somehow let the Lord down - I started asking myself if I had done something wrong, was I perhaps not worthy to serve in the temple, etc.  It was a very positive, humbling experience for me and I was able to re-commit myself to living the gospel as best as I can knowing that I never want to feel that way when I eventually stand before my Saviour!  My job was switched yet again to be an usher.  There are many ushers serving each day and they assign you a post randomly.  About half are in the chapel some are outside and some get to serve in the temple.  Most in the temple stand along various corridors smiling and pointing which way the tours are to go.  I was super lucky.  Not only was I actually in the temple but I was on the busiest day of the open house and I got placed at the best place for me (who can't handle sitting still and doing nothing) where I was responsible for helping people on and off the elevator, finding their tour groups, directing tour hosts who were bottlenecked because of the heavy volume, etc. - I was actually really busy!  And I was also at a place where the tours were always forced to stop and wait and most of the tour guides were used to giving the tour in an hour or so but because it was so backed up tours were taking 2 hours and some of the guides were running out of things to say!  Many of the guests started talking to me and asking me questions and I was even able to bear my testimony to a few people and I was able to talk to many.  I don't think many other ushers had the opportunity to do that!  At the end of the shift the temple was closing for the day and I was able to join with the last group going through which was made up of other volunteers - it was so nice to go through the tour again without any rush.  But the best surprise of all was when I came home to a messy house!  Seriously, I love a messy house when my husband has been watching the kids because that means they have been playing.  I would much rather have a messy house than a clean one (because that means they have been watching movies all day...)  Corey set up a photo shoot for the kids.  Dug up the box of costumes from the basement and set up an actual photo place thing in our living room that looked all professional and I guess the kids had a blast dressing up and posing.  Here is a brief sampling of their fun.  (apparently Libby's photos all have a story to go along with them - I wasn't able to post all of hers up here but she is so creative - I love how if you look at her pics all in a row you can see what the story is!)

david's 4

Happy Birthday David!  We are so happy to have you in our family!  You had a fun birthday and you are a fun little guy!  You are very independent - sometimes I can't find you because you often go off to play by yourself and don't always respond when I call your name!  You love to play ball, hockey, frisbee, anu sport really.  You also LOVE your bad guys and super heros.  Your favorite show is avengers cartoons and you especially love iron man and tell everyone you are going to marry bumble bee girl when you grow up.  (wasp)  You are kind and considerate and you really love your family - especially mom and your sisters!  You are a hard worker and good at goal setting - already!  You set a goal for yourself to get better at talking as you struggled with speaking for quite a while.  You practiced hard everyday and you are now fluent and easy to understand.  We are so proud of you!  For your party we had a super hero theme - mom set up a treasure hunt kind of thing where you and your friends were told that bad guys had come and we needed some heros to help rescue people.  You had to go to train to become heros and you earned your capes and masks that mom made.  And swords!


Then you had to rescue stuffed kittens from our tree - climb a ladder and everything!  You had to rescue batman from the freezer - a freeze ray had turned him into a giant ice cube.  THere were heros in a pool, pirates upstairs, and iron man sleeping on a bed and games to play.  You had a great time and I think your friends did, too!

good days

We all really enjoyed conference this year. (We all being the kids and i as Corey was working all weekend). I wasn't expecting to be able to get much out of it until I read it later as that has been my story the past 7 years :) But this year was awesome - I didn't try to force them into too much - we watched the 10:00 sessions on sat and sun. and my kids were surprisingly into it - and not just because of the candy incentives - they all 3 snuggled up on my lap in front of the computer and yes there was the occasional wiggle and whisper but they were just so good! They recognized pres. monson, uchtdorf, and eyring and enjoyed the talks. When Cadie was listening to pres monson she said "I think I'm falling in love with that guy!" When David saw a picture of a sick newborn all hooked up to tubes he said "wow, a space baby!"

Liberty's 7

Happy birthday Libby-lou! I can't believe how grown-up you are getting - and I love it! Today at bedtime Cadie got an (itsy-bitsy) paper cut while I was reading books and thought she could tough it out but tender-hearted you ran and got her a band-aid and kissed her until she felt better! You are capable and responsible - often getting your brother and sister breakfast or snacks and often bathing them and helping David get changed. I love your work ethic and it's paying off - especially you working so hard on your piano and singing - you are pretty amazing! Your writing has improved immensely this year and you are still a phenomenal reader. I've really enjoyed reading page by page with you lately as I know you are past the level where you need me to read with you but I just love spending time with you! You are honest and very good at being in charge of things. You are very creative and it only takes you seconds to organize everyone and have them playing some new make believe game. You are actually really funny - like for real. I thought it was hilarious when you stood perfectly still at Ikea the other day and when I asked you what you were doing you exclaimed with a giggle - I'm the statue of Liberty! I know we sometimes need to have chats about your behaviour but I also know that you always try to choose the right. You are very good at sharing and always take care to save some of whatever you have been given in goodie bags or at school for your brother and sister - and often Dad and I, too!

Your birthday party this year was a mexican fiesta - chosen after the wonderful time we had in mexico! You invited tons of friends and got tons of presents. Next year I think we will tone it down a bit as some of the birthday guests didn't like the craziness level and the noise was a bit much. Everyone seemed to like the pinata and fancy drinks though!

Here are some of the cute and funny things you have said this year:

me: "Libby, why did you knock? This is your house - you can just walk right in!"

Libby: "I didn't want you to think I was a robber." ~6

Libby: "Mom, at school today I learned that Russians wear coconuts in their hair instead of bows."

me: "really?

Libby: "no. I actually just made that up."~6

Cadie: " " (perfectly silent)

Libby: "SHHHHH, Cadie, we're trying to watch the car channel!" (looking out the front window at the road) ~6

Libby: "Mom, when I grow up to be a mom I think you'll turn into a GRANDMA...WOW!" ~6

Libby: "Mom, sometimes I just think you're an animal talking and I get confused..." ~6

Libby: "MOM! Guess what? When I dropped my toast I thought it would land on it's front and get me all sticky but MOM, guess what?! It did a whole flip, a FLIP, mom, and landed on it's BUTT and I didn't even get dirty!" ~6

Libby: "Some people love things more than anything." ~6

Libby" Hey MOM, you and daddy must be best friends - you work well together." ~6

Libby: "MOM, you're so stinky, when you cry, pee comes out of your eyes!" ~6

Libby: (while learning the grumpy old troll on the piano) "Hey! This song reminds me of something! (I was totally thinking the grumpy old troll from Dora the Explorer) Grumpy Old MOM!" ~6

Libby: "Hey Cadie, do you know what fish is made from? (meaning fish and chips) Chicken." ~6

Libby: "Mom, I don't mean to be rude but you do look a little fat. Kind of half-way between a cow and half-way between a horse. Sorry." ~6

Libby: (during a dinner she disliked) "oooooooooh"

me: "what?"

Libby: "I'm a ghost. You didn't take good enough care of me and so I died." ~6

BUBBLE-BEARD (aka Cadie Wilson)

Happy Birthday sweet 5 yr old! You still look 3, you are kind and sweet and obedient! You are full of excitement over most things (although a little attitude is developing...) except vegetables - or well food in general - no wonder you're so small! You love playing make believe games and play really well with your younger brother, older sister and well pretty much anyone. When walking to the park earlier this year, David dropped his lollipop into the dirt and without missing a beat you immediately popped yours out of your mouth and said "it's OK David, you can have mine... wow, it feels so good when I do nice things!" You're still completely obsessed with babies. You can read better than most grade 1 kids and you play the piano and sing like a rock star. You dislike crafts and still can barely write your own name and I'm hoping you can master how to properly hold a pencil before kindergarten! You quit gymnastics and ballet classes this year because the only part you liked about either was the social aspect. You love primary and your little preschool class - you have the sweetest little class of 7 girls from church who you adore. Every time you wash your hands you take the time to give yourself a beard of soap bubbles which you proudly show me before wiping it off to go play. (not joking, this happens at least 4 or 5 times a day) You are a goof and a giggle monster but you are one of the kindest most considerate people I know - often giving friends or siblings the toy or treat that you want most for yourself to them. I love you Cadie!

Your birthday party this year was of course a baby party. You LOVED it and have already asked for another baby party next year... You invited all of your preschool friends and they were each asked to bring a baby. A REAL baby. (I'm nuts, I know...) We played pin the soother on the baby and baby freeze dance - which was seriously like a mosh pit full of babies and every time the music stopped everyone cried! You were in heaven. There ended up being 21 people there including some of the parents and yet you were still asking me why couldn't we have invited baby Channing? And baby Kiara? And baby Lucas? You seriously remember every baby you have ever met by name and love them all. You once told me you were going to have a million-thousand-hundred babies. And I believed you.

Here are some of the cute and funny things you have said this year:

Cadie: "Sometimes it's nice to have short legs because then people carry you." ~4

Cadie: "That baby over there is a girl baby. I can tell because it has eyelashes." ~4

Cadie: "Awww! Look, Mommy! That baby over there is cuter than a DUCK!" ~4

Cadie: "HEY MOMMY! THere's some guys out here workin' on our house!" (we had our roof done after the hail storm)

me: "Oh really?" (they came and went without warning for a few weeks)

Cadie: "Yup, and I just told them we'd make them some chocolate cookies." ~4

Uncle Trevor: (after seeing Cadie for the first time in months) "Cadie! How did your hair get so long?"

Cadie: "It's cuz I dip it in water every time I have a bath." ~4

Cadie: "HEY MOMMY! Do you see any hair in my nose?"

me: "uh, nope"

Cadie: "That's cuz I haven't growed up yet!" ~4

me: (In a high-pitched mimicking tone trying to get her to say thank you after bringing her a delicious snack to the table) "oh thank you mommy, you're the best mommy in the whole world"

Cadie: "Oh no, I'm so sorry mommy, I still love you but you're really not the best mommy in the whole world - Mya's mommy is. She lets her kids play in their garage." ~4

Cadie: "C'mere David, I want to teach you a song. Now sit down. Repeat after me: Mommy is a lit-tle bit hor-rible because she makes the worst-est juice" ~4

Cadie: "HEY MOMMY! Look, MOM! There's a REAL astronaut - LOOK for REAL mom, a REAL astronaut who's probably going to the moon RIGHT NOW!! (shouted as a motorcyclist was walking away from his hidden from view bike with his helmet still on) ~4

me: "Cadie, you really shouldn't be jumping on the trampoline right now - did you remember that it's the sabbath day?"

Cadie: "It's OK mom, I already checked with Heavenly Father. This is exactly what God wants me to do!" ~4

Cadie: "Uhhhh, what's on this weird stick? CORN?" (buds) ~4

Cadie: "HEY MOMMY! Right now I'm having a baby."

me: "Oh? I hope it doesn't hurt."

Cadie: "HAHAHAHA, no, momma, you crack me up - it's not a monster baby at all, it's a GIRL baby." ~4

Cadie: "Can I please have some more milk?"

me: "finish what you have in your glass already first"

Cadie: "NOOO!! I'll punch you in the face!" ~4 (see what I mean about attitude?)

Cadie: "MOMMY!!!! My poo-bum hurts REALLY bad when I push my fingers up my poo-bum like this - OWWWWW" ~4 (sorry if this is offensive to anyone! I really debated whether or not to include this but I haven't been so good at keeping a journal lately and i don't want to lose this incase I need to blackmail her as a teenager!)

Cadie: "When I grow up to be a mom and have kids then I will be the boss of them!" ~4

Cadie: "Hey mommy, where's your chocolate pudding?"

me: "I didn't get any"

Cadie: "OH NO!! Here, mommy, you can have mine." ~4

Cadie: (while playing make-believe with David - who always wants to play bad guys. Cadie tries to humour him even though she really wants to play babies.) "Come on sweetheart, I'm your bad-guy mom. I'm so bad I do lots of bad things... like take ropes off of things...and put them on other things..." ~4

me "eesh, I think someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning..."

Cadie: "NO I DIDN'T! I DIDN'T EVEN SLEEP UNDER MY BED AT ALL EVER!" ~4

Dad: "So at conference we will hear-

Cadie: "THE PROPHET, PRESIDENT MONSON!"

Dad: "And he will teach us about -

Cadie: "BONES!" ~4

Cadie: "Oh Jay, (one of her uncles who she has a crush on) I'm so glad we got to spend this time together. Too bad I didn't get to spend that much time with you though." ~4

MEXICO 2012!

It was even fun sharing a hotel room with the kids - they look so cute sleeping!
Cadie and Libby were brave and went on the bungee trampoline! - Corey says when Cadie went on all the adult spectators gasped and said look at that little 2 year old is even going on it! She'll be 5 in a month!

We had the most amazing holiday in the world! The resort was the most beautiful place imaginable and it was ALL INCLUSIVE - every single drink, meal, activity etc was included! We soon realized that the kids had way more fun at the explorer's kids's club than out for dinner with us adults so the kids would hang out and enjoy movies on the beach (seriously - huge screen set up ON the beach) or "camping" (roasting marsh mellows on the beach) or various other activities (they had a sea turtle re-habilitation center at the resort so the kids got to name a baby sea turtle and release it into the ocean- Cadie named her's Goldie but David accidentally stepped on her after Cadie put her down and there were tons of tears as Goldie didn't make it to the ocean - Frankie named her's Lil' Flip and he was first to make it to the ocean, Libby's was Rosie and David's was taken away because he dropped it...) while we had these amazing gourmet dinners at one of the 5 restaurants at the hotel. (longest run-on sentence - sorry) When it's so delicious and so free it is so easy to order 2 or 3 appetizers, an entree and 2 or 3 desserts... Dinner took hours! The Mexican restaurant was Corey and my fave but everyone else seemed to prefer the Italian... in mexico... and it was even downstairs! In a basement!! Compared to on the beach!!

The pools were gorgeous and thats all the kids wanted to do was swim all day long! Corey and I also went kayaking, swam out to a water trampoline and climbing wall in the ocean, boogie boarding and playing in the rather large waves. Poor Frankie got bit by a jelly fish and my dad biffed it while boogie boarding - totally got slammed by a huge wave, I felt so bad for him! The girls would claim their favourite part of the trip was swimming up to the pool bar and ordering virgin pina coladas and drinking them in the pool. The breakfast buffet was also spectacular and the coconut ice cream was to die for! (libby says and strawberry - and chocolate) There was also free room service and a free cafe at the hotel - the cafe had crave-esque cupcakes and candied apples along with your the hot chocolate or frappachino!

We also took the kids to the zoo - wow - a mexican zoo is so different from a canadian zoo! We payed for our tickets and they gave us a big bag of food! For feeding the animals! We got to feed bread and carrots to the hippos and zebras and giraffes and ostriches and wolves and deer - and the animals were so close you could (and we did) touch them.

We saw keepers cleaning the alligator cage and saw the gators snapping at them- the zoo keeper was hitting the alligator away with a broom! Cadie and David laughed for hours at some monkeys that were chasing each other and throwing the peanuts we had fed them all over their cage and back out at us - I had to duck! My dad was pretending to steal food back from the flamingos and they chased him and nipped his shoulder! He was also grunting at the lynx and ocelot and beautiful black panther and white bengal tigers - getting them all riled up. He was worse than the kids! The highlight though was at the end of the zoo you could pay an extra 10$ to go INTO the cages with the animals and actually PLAY with the baby tiger cubs and monkeys. Our lucky lucky girls had such a neat experience playing with those animals they will never forget it!

The view from our hotel room - Cu caught crabs and sea urchins farther down the beach and tied fishing line around the crab's middles and let the kids walk the crabs around like they were walking a dog. Pet crabs in mexico. He almost convinced Corey to eat a sea urchin, too...

We loved playing early morning tennis with my family - tennis was great except corey and i would play my parents separately while the other took the kids to breakfast - when Corey played against them he could beat my dad no problem but couldn't come close to beating my mom. When I played them I could beat my mom easily but my dad kept wasting me! We can't figure out what was going on - I really want to play Corey and see how we fare against each other!

The sea turtle release :)

catch up

Whew, it's been too long since I posted on here - I really want to have a record of our lives for my kids to enjoy when they are older. So since the summer... Libby got into Red Deer Lake School for grade 1 and is loving it so far. OK, maybe thats a stretch to say she is loving school because she would still much rather stay home, but she is thriving at school - doing really well and coming home excited about what she is learning. I got to go on her class field trip to the leighton centre and was happy to meet all the wonderful kids in her class. Libby has been sick a lot this year. This was her third throw-up-all-over-the-place flu since the end of summer. She mentioned that she wasn't feeling well in the morning but then was running around normal all day. We were sitting in her bed reading books that night when all of a sudden she just started puking an insane amount of chocolate turtle ice cream all over me, the book, the bed, herself! We were all totally covered! The look on her face was priceless - total surprise! She had no idea she was going to throw up at that instant!

David is still improving his speech - he is talking quite a bit now and saying the cutest things - he often says things like "I firsty" (I'm thirsty) or "I nuggle you" (Can I snuggle with you?) He is starting to like Corey more and more - they went out just the 2 of them the other day and David usually tells me before bed each night that he loves me and that I'm nice but that Daddy is mean. Or that he stinks. But that night that Corey took him out he told me at bedtime that Daddy was nice, too! David had his own incident a few weeks ago. I had been teaching his joy school class so was in a rush to pick Cadie up from her preschool at Carlie's house. It was POURING rain and David didn't have any shoes on so I told him to stay in the van while I quickly ran in to get Cadie. He has stayed in the van when I drop her off/pick her up from Carlie's before - but he has always been in his big car seat that he can't unbuckle on his own. However, we were also picking up Vienna so I had put him in a booster seat so Vienna could sit in the car seat. I ran in and ran back out only to find out he had un-buckled himself and was sitting in the driver's seat, spinning his hands in a circle and saying vroom vroom quite happily. This freaks me out a bit but not as much as when I tried to open the door and realized he had locked it from the inside. And my keys were inside. I got soaking wet trying to coach him to open the doors and he just had no clue. He smiled and laughed at my antics and went right back to "vrooming" the car. I eventually called Corey to come to the rescue with the spare set of keys. I was frazzled by this point so hastily got the kids in their car seats and sat down in the drivers seat - only to find out he had wet his pants while vrooming. I walked into the house looking like I had wet my pants!

Cadie is doing wonderful, as usual. She has grown lately but she is still tiny and obsessed with babies. She recently told me she isn't going to have a birthday party this year where she invites all her friends - she is just going to invite her friend's babies. Like baby vienna and baby zoe and baby angelica, etc. She often prays for me to go to the temple and for her to get a new baby sister. We lost her the other day - I told the kids it was time to take Libby to her singing class and then got distracted by a dirty diaper and when I came back down I had to call the kids again to come get their shoes and coats on and I kept calling Cadie and she just wasn't coming! She has been really into hiding random places in the house and just staying there (for long amounts of time) until someone finds her. Often by accident. So I was getting annoyed, telling her this wasn't the time to be hiding and that she had to come out this instant! After 10-15 mins of calling and looking for her I was stumped! This wasn't like her to not listen to me! I finally decided to get Libby and David in the van and then go back in for her. We went out into the garage and there was Cadie, patiently waiting with her seatbelt on, to take Libby to singing class. I should have known. Sometimes it surprises me that I have a child who is so obedient! Since it has to happen in 3's Cadie also got me wet a few days ago. We were playing doggie pile and Cadie was on my head (I seriously could barely breathe) with Corey tickling her. I heard her laughing and felt a little drool on my face when all of a sudden she just runs out of the room! We all just look at each other and ask her if she's OK? She comes back all embarrassed - "daddy tickled me so much I accidentally peed a little." Oh. So that wasn't drool? Part of the joys of mommy-hood. Libby puked on me, I sat in David's pee and Cadie peed on my face. Good times!

Tigger has been staying with us again - poor dog - he had to endure "dress-up" and "beauty parlour" all on the same day!