Telus Spark

   A little while ago Calgary got a new Science Centre. We finally checked it out this summer. I am so sad it took us so long to go. It is amazing!!!! Its called Telus spark and it is easily Jaxon and Owen's (and Tim's) favorite place to visit now. We are lucky and have season passes so we get to go alot! It is a little expensive, but no more so then other tourist attractions in town. WHY DOES IT COST SO MUCH TO DO FUN THINGS?!?! Admission is $20 for grown ups and like $12-15 (or something like that) for kids... kids under 3 are free. But really its awesome
   They have one gallery called the Creative Kids gallery. its a giant play room. There is a climbing struction, a climbing wall. a theatre, a water station, a toddler zone and tons of little tables with magnets, and bulding blocks, and letter cubes, etc the list goes on and on!!!
  The other galleries are a little more grown up. meaning they have more infomation and learning, but they always have hands on stuff to go with it. So my kids love those galleries too. In the energy one there is a treadmill you walk on to generate electricity and a set up where you bounce balls down drums. Its all just so awesome!!

These blue foam blocks are in the foyer. My Kids love building towers.

Jaxon was building a fortress of solitude.

What a couple of nuts!

Making patterns

Playing in the water!

 I would highly recommend going!!!

  
 

Bubbles with Mama

When I had Rohn (7weeks ago now!) my mom was awesome and come into town to help me out. My boys adore their Mama and they definately ran her through the ringer. Im pretty sure she slept great at night after playing with them all day. One thing they loved to do was blow bubbles in the backyard.

Owen is really noisy when he blows bubbles... he cant just blow.. he sorta hums and gets louder inorder to make bigger bubbles. It cracks me up!

Jaxon is a pro bubble blower.

We are sad that mama and papa are back in Texas... Jaxon tells me everday how much he loves mama (and papa) and hopes they come back soon!

Splash Park

I adore summer time (in case you havent noticed) I love the HOT weather. Although in my eyes Calgary doesnt get hot... I love the out out 30 degrees + weather. I love playing in water too... or at least watching my kids play in water.

We are lucky, where we are located on the far south side of Calgary means that we are only 10 mins from Okotoks, which is always far less crowded then places in Calgary. So we have taken to going out to the Okotoks splash park almost weekly. Its a nice small area where I can keep an eye on my kids with out running all over the place. Plus its never very busy.

Jaxon always runs right in... but Owen is still very tentative of the whole thing! He will run around the edge for about 20 mins before getting his feet wet. Even then he doesnt jump through any of the sprinklers. Maybe next time!

They have a giant bucket that fills up with water evey few minutes and then dumps out onto the kids in the splash zone. This is Jaxons favorite part!

Owen just runs away

Oh and side note... Here is a shot of our garden growing away. Jaxon takes alot of pride in our little garden.

Calaway Park

Since Tim has gone back to work, after having 3 weeks off, I am now on my own with all three kids... needless to say we have not had many outings. We are all starting to get cabin fever and are missing all the fun times we had when daddy was home. One of my boys most favorite places to go is Calaway Park. The big news this year... Owen is now tall enough to ride the Log ride. He loves it! My kids love all the rides really. Tim does too... and I am quite content to watch, take pictures and push Rohn in the stroller. Its always a fun time... the only thing we need to work on his Owen's Patience when it comes to standing in line!

Just after the Big Splash!

All Wet and loving it!

Jaxon!

Owen Driving a truck!

On the Little roller Coaster

One Time Auntie Amanda, Autum and Colton came too!

My favorite part of going to Calaway park is....

A quiet car ride home! (Owen)

Jaxon

Even Rohn

Rohn's Blessing

   One of the 'joys' of having my parents live so far away (in Houston TX) that we are often rushing to have my babies blessed after they are born so that my dad can be there. Such was the case again with Rohn. We had him blessed on July 1st (yay Canada Day) when he was not quite 3 weeks old! That meant he was swimming in his blessing outfit, but at least most everyone could be there.
   Thanks to all who came into town to be there. It really meant a lot to me. I think the highlight for me was that my cousin Ryerson had recently been ordained an Elder and was able to join in the circle for the blessing. Ryerson (and his brothers Mason and Aiden) have always held a special chunk of my heart and all growing up I considered them My boys. so it was pretty awesome to see Ryerson there helping out with blessing my newest little man!

A New Onesie for the Little Man

Poor Rohn... as our third baby boy he doesnt get new things. There really is no point... we have so much boy stuff already that I have become the hand me down queen and Rohn gets the clothes that Owen wore, which just happen to be the clothes that Jaxon wore before that! Sorry monkey man thats just how its going to be. But... I was able to receive a NEW onesie for Rohn from Disney Baby. It awesome!!
  First, I was beyond impressed by the quick response in getting the sample sent to me. Costumer Service is always a top priority to me so kudos to Disney baby for hiring such an awesome PR company to distribute these onesies! In fact I requested a larger size because I was expecting it to take a long time to get to me... so Rohn still has some growing to do before it fits him properly!
  Second, the quality of these onesies is awesome! The very first thing I noticed when I took it out of the packaging was how soft the material is. You know how sometimes when you buy new clothes it has that stiffness about it, that only goes away after 'breaking it in' This onesie comes already that soft, but with out the worn look. Its just snuggly!
   But I think my favorite thing about this onesie is the double row of snaps! Ive never seen that one other onesies! This is going to really help extend the life of this onesie because as Rohn gets longer he can continue to wear it! YAY!
   I havent had a chance to wash the onesie repeatedly, so I havent been able to test the claim that it washes and maintains its durablity, how ever with the high quality material and stitching this onesie has I dont see how it cant wash up great time and time again!
   Thanks so much to Disney Baby for sharing this awesome product with me.  (and thanks to Brooke over at www.hiretoinspire.blogspot.com for refering me to them!)
   Oh and despite that fact that its still a tab big.. I had to try it on my little man!

End Of School

Ok..I realize that school has been over for a few weeks now... but I am just now getting to blog about it.
   This was Jaxon's last year of Preschool at Leap N Learn (we love you guys bytheway!). They did a little graduation celebration for the 4 yr olds. It was so cute to see them all in their cap and gowns. They had each child come up and shake hands with the teachers as they told what their favorite thing about preschool was and what they want to be when they grow up. Jaxon said he loved building with the colored straws and he wants to be a race car driver.

Jaxon with some of his class

Shaking Miss Kari's Hand

With his Diploma!

I am so proud of my little man... but I have mixed emotions about kindergarten. I am excited for him because he is so smart and loves school, but I will be sad to be without him every morning!

As a going away/end of school treat we throw together these cute things for his class

My Pre-Baby Project

I like to make the other kids something special for when the new baby arrives so that they done feel like all the attention is on the new little one. So when I was getting close to my due date I was trying to figure out what to do for Jaxon and Owen for Rohn's arrival. Thanks to the Wonder that is Pinterest I came up with Big Brother Kits.

I made Jaxon a shirt that says Big, Owen a shirt that says medium and Rohn a onesie that says Small. Then I printed off some Dot to Dots and Mazes and a match game and included a new car and of course some snacks (a juice box and gummie bears) my boys loved coming to the hospital and getting the surprises! Plus it helped to keep them occupied while I was waiting to be discharged.

Here is a shot of my three boys in their shirts. It cracks me up!

Welcome Rohn

Yes I know its been a while again since I updated it... I blame it on having a baby! Rohn has finally arrived. We are all very excited to have him join our family. Owen (his almost 3) was not sure of his new baby brother at first... he wouldnt touch him or even go near him for the first few days but now he loves him and hugs him and kisses him all the time. Jaxon (he is 5) tells me all the time how much he loves Rohn.

Rohn decided to cooperate just a bit and come 1 week early. Here is the story for anyone who is interested! On June 11 I went in for my regular Dr check up and I was already 2 cm. They did what doctors do in order to help start labour (Ill be vague for any males, or people who havent gone through it) and the doctor was very hopefully that in a couple days Id have a baby. Well I went back to the doctor's on June 18 (yup no baby) and the Dr checked me again... still 2 cm. She tried again to get Labour started, but also told me she wasnt very hopefully because I hadnt progressed anything in a week, so not to expect to have the baby early. I went home feeling very annoyed. I woke up June 19th with some minor cramping, but didnt give it a second thought. Then at 2pm I got really tired, so I put a movie on for the kids and tried to nap on the couch, but I woke up every 10 minutes with some insane cramps, so I got up and decided to walk them off. Once I started walking around the "cramps" came every 3 minutes. So I started calling them contractions. But I have always had this fear of getting to the hospital and then saying "you arent ready so go home" so I decided to wait and see. After about 90 minutes of being at home in Labour I called my good friend Ashley and she took my kids and drove me to the hospital. I almost forgot to call Tim, but luckily I remembered as I was heading out the door and he jumped on a bus to get to the Hospital.

Once I arrived at the hospital they checked me and I was 6 cm! Then I got scared. All the wishing for Rohn to come early finally didnt seem like a good idea when they were walking me into a delivery room! My Doctor was on duty that afternoon and she came to say Hello (Tim made it there shortly after me by the way!) And she checked me again... after one contraction I went from a 6 to an 8. so she decided to just break my water and 'hand me a baby'

 Im a screamer... so I was screaming for some drugs... but everyone (but me) knew it was pointless. So they gave me something just to shut me up, but once they broke my water it took Rohn 7 minutes to appear. Two contractions and pushes later and he was in my arms. All 7 lbs 1 oz, 20 inches of cute baby boy.

I am thrilled to have Rohn home, but I am also thrilled to be DONE! Three boys is all that we need!

Not again...

So far too much time has passed again since I have updated this blog! ARGH! I cant even promise that I will get better at it, as I am just 19 days ways from my due date! I am praying I dont have to wait 19 days to meet this new little man who is coming into my life. (the Drs say they will do everything they can to encourage Rohn out!) FINGERS CROSSED!
  Needless to say we have been busy with baby prep... for those of you who are my facebook friends you have already seen these pictures... but oh well!
   A tradition I started when I was pregnant with Owen was coloring onesies from the other kids to give to the new baby. So we did it again with Rohn. The boys had a blast using the fabric markers and decorating clothes for baby Rohn.

Jaxon working away

Owen working away

All Done!

All Done

The Boys are both really excited for the new baby. Jaxon is always complaining that Rohn will never decide to come out. Most days I feel like that too! But Im sure it will happen soon enough... I am not looking forward to Labour... BAH the thought makes me sick!

 There is tons I should still be doing to get ready for Rohns arrival, but I am starting to feel lazy in regards to baby stuff... so I think I may bake.... Italian Monkey bread anyone???

Oops

Wow! Its been a really long time since I added an update to this blog! YIKES! Can I blame it on being in my last trimester???
    Well what has been going on??? I have been trying to get some projects out of the way before Rohn shows up. Here is one I did.

 It's Apostle Match. I have been looking for some quiet activities for Sundays and Sacrament meeting. This one was so simple and took like no time to whip up. The only problem is that Jaxon has a hard time telling all those grandpa's apart. LOL! what a guy!

 Owen is still obessed with Bears. Snowflake goes everywhere with him... the other day I found him lining up all the bears on the stairs with him!

 We finally had some warm days and Jaxon and Dad planted the garden. (Today we have snow coming but thats calgary!) Jaxon liked racking and putting the seeds in the holes. They planted watermelon, pumpkin, carrots, lettuce and onions. No we just have to wait and see what we get!

LikaMaid Turns Owen into the Hulk

Owen loves candy. No really....this kid has one serious sweet tooth! Anyways... the other day I gave him some likamaid...yep that should have been my first red flag. But I didnt think anything of it. I left the two boys at the table to enjoy their snack. Jaxon was soon finished as he normally just eats the candy stick... Owen was there FOREVER!!! (honestly I was enjoying the break) then he comes over and says "All done..Owen Green!" I look up and am greeted by this....
 

 

If this had been Jaxon he would have flipped out! Jaxon HATES being dirty... but not my sweet Owen. He ADORES anything messy. (Im having a hard time adjusting to the polar opposites that my boys are) Owen was on cloud nine that he was covered in green. It took a few days to get it all off his hands... lesson learned... although I cant say it wont happen again... really all that happened was he was messy and happy and we cleaned it up...

Menu!!

  We have had a horrrid weekend... We were all excited to have Jaxon's 5th birthday party on Saturday. We had 70 guests supposed to be coming. We were going swimming and then back to the church for pizza, cake and presents. Well with 20 minutes to the party start Jaxon started puking.... AWESOME... so we had to take him home (thanks to Leah and Jason for helping out so much!) We let the other guests still enjoy the party... I wasnt about to let all that planning go to waste! Anyways... it was a nasty stomach bug that hit Jaxon and it literally took until today (fingers crossed) to have him feel better and stop puking. So needless to say I didnt get plan my menu until today...
  What we are eating this week... THANK YOU PINTEREST!!!! I have a massive recipes to try board and I am sick of pinning all these awesome looking recipes and never trying them... so this week we are trying all new pinterest recipes!!! YAY!!!
Wed - Pasta w/ chicken and mushrooms
Thur - Caramel shrimp sammies
Fri - Spicy Rigatoni
Sat - Thai chicken Pies
Sun - Mongolian Beef

What will he think of next?!?!?

Just when I think I have Owen all figured out he does something from WAY out in left field and totally shocks me! This past saturday Owen wanted to stamp. Which is an activity we have done several times in our house. So I wasnt too worried about him. I got him all set up and was in and out of the kitchen as I was cleaning the house. Then I noticed something strange.....

Yep, Owen was using his face as a stamp. He apparently got bored of the stamps I had left out for him... and moved onto his fingers... again a craft we do alot in this house... then when his fingers where done he moved onto his face...He stamped his nose, cheek and lips and then proceeded to squish his face against the paper trying to stamp himself on the paper... The best part you might ask??? Non washable ink and church the next day... yep awesome. So after lots of scrubbing and a tub it was gone... thank goodness for small miracles!

Cajun Mac and Cheese

MMMMMM... I love food! I am spoiled and get the Food Network Magazine at my house. I love it!! Every month I get tons of new recipes! Its Awesome! Here is one I tried last week and LOVED!!! Its from the March 2012 issue (pg 90)

Cajun Mac and Cheese

12 Ounces Wagon wheel Pasta (I used bowtie)

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

6 ounces Andouille sausage, diced (I used some sausage I found in my freezer)

2 bunches scallion, thinly sliced

1 Bell Pepper,, chopped ( I used red for some color)

1 Tbsp Cajun spice blend

2 Tbsp Flour

2 cups whole milk (I used 2%)

8 ounces Chedder cheese cubed (I grated mine)

1) Cook pasta for one minutes shorter then normal. Drain, reserving 1 cup of cooking liquid

2)while pasta cooks; heat oil in pan and add sausage, stirring until sausage starts to brown. Stir in scallions and pepper and cook until slightly soft. Add Spice blend and flour and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes, Gradually whisk in the milkd and continue whisking until thickened and smooth... about 5 minutes.

3) Add this sauce to the pasta. Add cheese and reserved pasta water and stir until cheese is melted and pasta is coated.

YUMMMY!!!!



Vday Crafts

I love being crafty so I always am excited for a new holiday season so I can be crafty! This year I have been busy working on on lots of fun Valentine's day stuff. Thanks to Pinterest for all the inspiration! LOL! I love my little centerpiece (above) that I have on my island!

I made each of the boys little valentine's day jars and filled them with goodies... Like Chocolate hearts, gummie lips, love hearts, Heart Suckers and felt conversation hearts. Jaxon picked out the Valentine to go on the top of his it says "You Rock" he says thats what people tell him once they see him dance.

For our friends who dont live near us we made cards to mail to them. They say Love you to Pieces. The boys had lots of fun glueing on the torn paper.

And Here are the conversation hearts I made for the boys. I think they are so cute!!!
I also did up the valentines to hand out at school. We live near a wonderful store (no really its my absolute favorite place) called BULK BARN!!! I adore it. I always spend way too much when I go there. Anyways... there they had gummie car candies... so I got a whole bunch  and filled little treat bags for them. Then we attached a tag that said "I 'Wheelie' like you" I thought it was perfect for Jaxon since he adores cars!
 So now I am all set for Valentines day... all I need to do is finish up Tims gift!