What's up

What I'm reading: Nothing at the moment! I just finished Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. It was an easy, good read! I need to get another book because I found that I looked at facebook, etc. way less when I was reading a book!

What I'm reminiscing about: Moving here! We moved June 6th of last year so it's coming up quickly on a year. This week I went to a park play date with some girls from the church group I got involved with. It got me thinking about last year right around this time. I remember I went to the same park with my mom and the kids very shortly after we moved. I saw this group of ladies and all of their kids and I so badly wanted to be a part of it, because that is exactly what I would have been doing in Dubuque. Now one year later, I was at the same park with them! It took me a little (okay maybe a lot) longer than I was anticipating it would, but I am feeling like I belong here. When I go to soccer games, the grocery store, the mall, etc. I usually run into someone I know and that brings me a lot of comfort.

What I'm looking forward to: Brian, Amanda and the kiddos are coming on Wednesday! We have been counting down for 30 days so you can imagine the anticipation around here! This weekend I'm going to get a lot done to prepare for their arrival.



What I'm loving: That my sister is only one time zone away from me! Honestly it's such a pain when I want to talk to her and it's the middle of the night for her. It's not easy for me to be here while she's in Decorah that's for sure....but I'm also so happy that she's there...that the rest of my family/Tony's family are getting to enjoy having them home! She's getting to eat what she wants, drive on the right side of the road, go out for a date or two, go to play dates, and generally just live a normal life! Here's a side by side view of little Quinn the last time she was here and now. She is certainly an adorable little girl. Secretly, I'm hoping that she likes me right away because I look like her mom:)



What we've been up to: It has been a busy month. Chris started a golf league on Monday nights. Max has soccer on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Mya has gymnastics on Wednesdays and Fridays! Max, Mya and Ivy have had several field trips and other activities during the week at school as well. The weekends have been busy with a gymnastics competition, hosting Chris's work people for a bbq, getting ready for company, etc! We're hoping to get outside this weekend and enjoy the trails!

What I'm dreading: This last month of school. We get out June 26th:( The fact that the weather is so nice and it stays light until past 10pm, it's getting really hard to get our kids to bed at a decent time. Ivy's last day was yesterday so at least she's out for the summer!

What I'm working on: This should say what I need to start working on...I'm going to take some pictures of the kids' art work and then make a photo book of it. I need to throw out so much of it, but I'm having a hard time. I'm also working on getting rid of things we don't need. I look around at so much of our stuff and can't believe we moved it here!

What I'm excited about: The summer! We have lots of visitors coming and we're planning a big trip home towards the end of July/beginning of August. I'm so excited about not making lunches in the morning and not feeling like I am in my car all.day.long.

What I'm watching: All of our shows are done for the season. Even though Chris has seen parts of Breaking Bad, we are starting from the beginning because I haven't seen it. I introduced the kids to Full House so they're binge watching that and it has been fun to watch with them! I have seen every episode at least 3 times!

What I'm listening to: The kids and I are loving two songs right now...Cheerleader and Dance with me. The radio gets turned up pretty loudly when they come on!

What I'm annoyed by: Once again....I'm annoyed by our roads! I should be happy they're not covered in snow and ice, but now I'm annoyed because they're covered in sand and they won't clean them up! They use sand instead of salt on the roads all winter. So now the roads are covered in sand and rocks and it makes it really hard for the kids to ride their bikes. Plus it has been so windy lately so the dirt in the air is outrageous. They're supposedly supposed to clean the streets this week, but I'll believe it when I see it.

What I'm hoping for: I'm hoping for safe travels and good weather when our guests come!

And lastly...found this ecard and thought I needed to share it. This is totally Chris...if we're at a restaurant and they offer diet pepsi instead of diet coke, he chooses water!

Miss Mya

Tonight was a big night for this little girl...she lost her first tooth!! May not seem like a huge deal, but she has been waiting ever so patiently for quite awhile to lose one. I know it's not the case, but to her it seemed like she was the last 6 year old on the planet that hadn't lost a tooth! So happy for her that she joined the club:)



Mya has been really coming into her own lately. The first week of May she volunteered to be in the talent show at school. She did a gymnastics routine and totally nailed it. I was shocked that she wanted to do it in front of her school...I even tried talking her out of it because I thought she would be too nervous. (I can't believe I tried talking her out of it!) Then last Wednesday she was chosen to speak at the volunteer assembly at her school. She got up on a microphone in front of 500 students/parents and did great. She spoke loud, didn't jumble her words and was overall super confident. Looking back...I think I was holding her back because I just assumed she would not want anything to do with that type of thing. It was more up Max's alley than hers or so I thought. I'm so glad she pushed through and did it anyway!

And as always..she's my number 1 helper when it comes to Ivy. Those two play so much and so well. (most of the time) Ivy is not the easiest person in the world to deal with, but Mya does as well of a job as anyone could.


At the end of every gymnastics practice, they get excused based on who can hold a handstand the longest. For a long time Mya was last, but she has gotten much better lately! Tomorrow is her 2nd competition so I'll be sure to update the blog with how she did.

She's a big help watering the flowers for now...let's just hope it lasts the rest of the summer!

Weekend in Minnesota

A couple weeks ago we took a quick trip to Minnesota to see Chris's family. Grandpa Bill turned 91 on May 4th so we wanted to be there for him and to see everyone else! The kids and I flew in Thursday night and had the bumpiest flight ever! I probably said 150 hail marys before the turbulance stopped. We didn't get service from the flight attendants for over an hour because it was so rough. Anyway...we arrived safely and again I found a nice man who helped me out with 3 suitcases, a backpack, 2 car seats and 3 kids! Chris was in Missouri for work that week so he flew in earlier that day and met us at the airport.

We had a wonderful time! The weather didn't hurt either;) Right when I got in the car to leave the airport I noticed all the green grass, flowers and leaves on the trees! We hadn't had that in Edmonton yet (and it's still not all the way there!) I texted my mom that we landed and that I couldn't believe the trees/flowers. She texted back "welcome to the South". Who would have thought I would eventually think of Minneapolis as South! We spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday down in Bloomington at Bill's house. When we were there he was right in the middle of 6 chemo treatments. It has made him very tired, but thankfully that is all. He's not nauceous or in any pain. The kids were wonderful and we really enjoyed having some family time.



On Sunday the 3rd, we celebrated Bill's birthday with the entire family. When it was time to sing I just love that Bill sang and pointed at himself:) When you're 91, you can do anything you want.

May snow?

Yep..you read that right. We got snow yesterday. Not a dusting, but a dump. We woke up and saw that it was snowing and blowing pretty bad, but I was sure it would be done by noon. So I sent the kids to school in boots, hats, gloves and fleece coats. By 11:00 I was making my way to school to drop off more heavy duty winter apparel! It didn't stop until after I picked the kids up from school at 3pm. I think we got 6+ inches of wet, wet snow. Thankfully, it didn't stick to the roads! I had to document this...it was the latest in the spring I've ever seen snow I think. I hope I never see snow in May again!


I facetimed my mom when she was home on her lunch hour and when she answered, she was outside watering flowers!! I had to screen shot so we could see the difference in our day!


Today there was still some snow on the ground, but it was melting fast. It was in the upper 40's and sunny this morning so Ivy and I headed out to make a snowman and play a little bit. When we got home from preschool/school pick up,the only thing left in our yard was our snowman so Chloe thought she needed a drink I guess!

Banff!

My parents were here two weekends ago and we had the best time. They flew in Thursday afternoon, so Ivy and I picked them up at the airport and then we went and got M & M when they were done with school! The kids were elated to see them...it had been almost 5 months since we had seen them. I remember a time when Max was little and we lived 1.5 hours away from my parents and my mom had a hard time making it three weeks without seeing him! It stinks that we live so far away, but we're thankful for any time we can get.



On Saturday we took off early in the morning with our Tim Horton's coffee and our Cobb's bread goodies for the mountains. All 7 of us squished in the Acadia and it made for a semi-long ride, but we all managed okay and it was worth it to all be in one car together. We pulled into Banff right at lunch time and had a great lunch and then headed for some sight seeing! The first place we went was Bow Falls. We checked out the falls and hiked around a little bit to see the views!




After the falls, we headed to the Banff Gondola on Sunshine mountain. After seeing that the prices were $40/adult, my mom and I decided to hang back and drink some coffee at the highest Starbucks in Canada:) My dad and Chris took the kids up and saw some amazing views.




Next we headed to Lake Louise. It was about a 30 minute drive to Lake Louise, but it was well worth it. The lake was still frozen (and will be until June) but it was still breathtaking. We walked around a bit and then went inside the Fairmont Hotel. It is a historic hotel that overlooks the lake. I would love to stay there sometime!


Chris had to take a pic of the John Deere gator at Lake Louise


We spent the night in a really nice condo. Ate dinner, had some wine and played 500. Perfect end to the day!

Sunday we woke up and headed to Mount Norquay. Since my mom and I didn't take the gondola ride, Chris thought we needed to get her to the top of a mountain! We found some wildlife up there...some deer, mountain goats and a prairie dog! The views were awesome once again. Afterwards, we headed downtown Banff for brunch. We did some shopping, got ice cream and hit the road! It was a long drive home, but at least it wasn't snowing like it was on our way there! My mom and dad had to leave Monday:( My dad took the kids to school Monday morning. A friend of mine said her heart was breaking when Mya ran out into the hall after my dad for her 3rd hug to say bye:) The next time we see them will only be 3 months instead of 5 so that's what we're looking forward to!

You can see the goats in the background of this picture below


Until next time...

April one-photo-a-day

Day 91: Is this an April Fools joke? After having a day in the high 70's the day before, we woke up to a snow storm! Thankfully it didn't last too long.
Day 92: I think she looks pretty good in scrubs! Dr. Mya Hoden has a nice ring to it:)
Day 93: Most of you know that Chloe prefers to sleep in Max's room which causes some problems with Mya, but Otto (who we dog sat for a week) loved to sleep up on Mya's bed so that made her so happy!
Day 94: Brr...only in Canada do you go to an Easter egg hunt in your snowpants.


Day 95: Easter Sunday photo of the day!
Day 96: We took the windiest bike ride of my life with the neighbors to the park. Usually we stop at the Macs store for slurpies, but this day we rode our bikes to Starbucks and had hot chocolate! Max finished his in record time so he decided to help Ivy out with hers:)
Day 97: Max's Two by Two pup George:) He hadn't seen it yet, but this was a pic from a text I got from my friend Katie in Dubuque who hooked us up. I was so excited to give it to him!
Day 98: Sometimes you have to pick your battles. On this day we had to run to Best Buy and Ivy found Mya's gymsuit in the backseat of the car and insisted on wearing it.


Day 99: My poor friend Jaramee sat on the runway waiting to fly out to Edmonton for over 3 hours! Thankfully her kids fell asleep right as the plane took off and slept the entire way here. When they woke up and were on the runway in Edmtonton, her daughter Maeli looked out the window and said, "We haven't even left yet!!" Pretty much the same view in Chicago and in Edmonton I guess:)
Day 100: Fun day 100! The kids woke up bright and early and were so excited to be skipping school and hanging with their Dubuque buddies.
Day 101: Chris took 5 kids to the park on bikes so Jaramee and I could have some QT shopping at the big mall.
Day 102: We spent Sunday afternoon at the World's largest waterpark. The kids had a great time. Jaramee and I were just happy we didn't lose anyone so we definitely considered it a successful trip:)


Day 103: Bummer...got rear ended on this day. Car is getting fixed next Wednesday!
Day 104: I could hear the giggles from the trampoline even with the windows closed:)
Day 105: At the mom's group I go to on Wednesdays, Ivy goes to a little preschool type thing. They have a letter of the day each week and this week when I picked her up I said, Oh your letter is Z! She told me it wasn't z, it was zed. She also inserts "zed" in her abc's now too!
Day 106: Max is taking his responsibilities seriously with George!


Day 107: Some monopoly time with Uncle Jeff
Day 108: Full cart, full heart at Costco.
Day 109: Chris had a fun weekend skiing with Jeff in Jasper.
Day 110: The kids had a 3 week in-line skating program at school. They asked for volunteers each day and after doing it one day, I totally understood why! It took forever to get these kids all geared up!


Day 111: Beautiful morning to hang outside in pj's!
Day 112: Happy Earth Day birthday to my awesome husband!
Day 113: My parents are here! The kids were pretty pumped to see them. Ivy got to go to the airport with me and she let out the best scream ever when she saw them. Then my dad went with me to pick M&M up from school and when they saw my dad get out of the car they came running!
Day 114: When my parents are here, we always play lots of euchre or 500. I didn't have the cards on this night. So when I got this hand dealt to me, I took a pic and texted my sis and asked jokingly if I should bid. She wrote back and said Only if you're dad's partner!



Day 115: We took my parents to Banff for the weekend and had a great time! (more on that in another post coming soon!)
Day 116: Having a little "cows" ice cream in Banff before we left!
Day 117: Monday morning I took Chris to the airport at 6am for his flight. When I took my parents to the airport at 12:30, Chris was still there! They got to spend a little time together. Chris had a very, very long day trying to get to Springfield, Missouri.
Day 118: Happy Birthday to my sis! Living this far apart has been rough...I can't wait until we are within 1-2 time zones of each other. I'm pretty much over it!



Day 119: Max and Mya had a field trip to the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. The teachers said they should look nice. They both got dressed on their own and I thought they did a pretty good job!
Day 120: Putting these kids to work as we walk from the parking lot to the terminal. Headed to Minnesota for a few days to see Chris's family! (more on that also to come:)