The Patience of a 6 Year Old

I love it when you learn from your kids.  All of my girls are pretty good at helping each other and looking out for one another, but one of my little sweethearts goes far beyond expectations, and she's only 6.

Keira is always willing to help, especially if it's Aylish who needs her.  She is the first to help Aylish when she can't do something, if she's sad or needs someone to play with.  However, night before last she did something that I don't think many 6 year olds would EVER do.

All of the girls have their own bedrooms now and for some reason most mornings Aylish makes her way down to Keira's bedroom and climbs into bed with her.  Sometimes this is REALLY early, Keira never complains.

Back to the story......so at some point night before last Aylish makes her way down to Keira's bedroom and gets into bed with her.  Little did Keira know minutes later Aylish would throw up all over her pillow and bed.  Now what would you do if this was you and you were 6?  Here's what Keira did.  She climbed out of bed, got Aylish out of her puky jammies, washed her face and hands, put her in fresh jammies, stripped the bedding off her bed and placed it in the laundry room and then took Aylish back up to her bedroom and they went back to sleep.  Richard and I never even knew any of this was going on.  When I asked Keira in the morning why she didn't come and get me she said it was because she knew that I sleeping and she was already awake, she didn't want to make me tired too.

Keira is so patient and thoughtful, a true Christlike example to me.  I love you Keira xxx

Love Hate Relationship

Aylish and her cousin Kalia have a funny relationship.  They love to play together but sometimes things don't go to plan and their little tempers flair.  Kalia is 6 months older but Aylish is bigger in size so you'd think it was an equal match.  In this case though, it doesn't really work like that.  Kalia always (no that makes my kid sound wimpy) usually comes out on top - I have NO IDEA where she gets that from, huh Heather!?!?!?!

Anyway, yesterday we spent the day at Park Lake.  These two girls were playing great together down on the beach then all of a sudden I notice Aylish throw down her shovel, yell at Kalia and come stomping up the beach.  And this is why: 

 Obviously they had a disagreement of some sorts!

Happy 11 years!

Sometimes I still find it hard to believe that I'm old enough to be married and have 4.5 kids......not to mention the fact that I'm old enough to have been married for 11 years!  Yep, it's true for all you out there - I'm old!  It's ok though, I don't mind being this old cause I've had lots of fun along the way.

I have been so blessed in my life.  I married the most wonderful man and have 4 (almost 5) beautiful daughters to show for my age...not bad!

This past weekend Richard and I celebrated 11 years......with our kids......kinda fun - right?  We drove down to Kalispell MT on Friday and spent the night in the Grand Hotel right down town.  Friday was a great day with the kids, we had lots of fun crossing Logan's Pass and enjoying our time together.  Saturday wasn't the greatest - I love my kids most days, but this day didn't score to highly on the list!  Still I guess it will be an anniversary we won't soon forget, just maybe for the wrong reasons!


Roll on 2021....that's the next time our anniversary falls on a Saturday....p.s. no kids invited!

Spray Park Fun With Cousins!

This week has been super fun for all of us.  My cousin Scott, his wife Taralyn and their 4 kids have come up to play from Utah!  It's been great to get to know them better.  My girls have loved playing with them and are already sad that they will be leaving on Sunday :(

Yesterday we all went to the spray park in Lethbridge.  Here are some pics of our day there, everyone had a great time (even if they didn't show it all the time, right Heather?).  We shared a bucket of KFC for lunch and all enjoyed the day despite the soggy, muddy ground from where the city had overwatered - yeah nice, nothing better than wrapping up in a muddy towel!

We will ALL be sad to see Scott and Taralyn leave, but will look forward to visiting with them again soon.  Travel safe guys! xxx

Being Spontaneous

Yesterday we had planned to go to Waterton with some friends but sadly due to sickness (with one of their kids) we decided not to go.  With 4 disappointed girls on my hands I had to think quickly.  Since I already had a picnic lunch packed I thought it would be a fun surprise to load the girls up and take off to Claresholm to surprise Richard with a picnic lunch.  It's an hour and 10 minutes to Richard's work so surprising him with lunch isn't something that happens often.

The girls were very impressed with my lying skills to Richard (not sure that's such a great thing to impress them with), he believed we were on our way to Waterton when I called him on my cell phone.  I had made up a story about him needing to meet someone at the 7Eleven in Claresholm to pick something up and bring it back to Raymond to get him to come out of the hospital.  For those of you who don't know, Richard is a psychologist at the Addictions and Mental Health Hospital in Claresholm so I really didn't want to have to take all the girls inside to meet him, it's not a great place for kids!  It worked!  He promptly came out at the arranged time and there we were in the van ready to whisk him off for a wonderful picnic!  

My Aunt Lynette had told us that there was a spray park in Claresholm (who knew?) so we headed there.  We ate our picnic and then spent the afternoon enjoying the 30 degree weather.  

One to watch.....

K, so I have this 5 year old that I'm a bit scared of.  I mean really, does she need to grow up and become a teenager?  She might look pretty sweet on the outside but let me tell you......SHE'S A SNEAKY LITTLE ONE!

Rylee is the BIGGEST tease already and today I discovered something else about her.  Here's how the conversation between Keira (6), Rylee (5) & mom went (they're in the bath having this conversation):

Keira - "When we're at the pool we always play this game to see who can hold their breath under the water the longest.  Rylee's really good at it"

Mom - "Really?"

Rylee -"I know Keira, you just need to keep practising that's all"

Keira - "Rylee can even beat all of my friends and some of them are 7 years old"

Rylee - "Maybe you should tell your friends to practise more"

Keira - "Yeah you're right, next time I see them at the pool I will tell them" 

Rylee - "Wanna try to beat me now?"

Keira - "Ok, but I might just beat you this time"

Mom - "I'll be the judge, ready, 1, 2, 3..."

Keira's head goes right under the water and she starts the race.  Rylee on the other hand sits there giggling that Keira thinks her head's under the water too.  As soon as Rylee sees Keira's about to come up, guess what.........yup - what a cheat!  I wonder how long before Keira figures this one out!!!!!

For now, I'm just going to try real hard to attempt to stay one or maybe 10 steps ahead of her.....wish me luck!

Am I a Not so Thrifty Mom?

So the other day I decided to go through some of my girls stuff and came across a butt load of jeans all sizes 4 & 5 (5 good pairs and 3 holy pairs in total).  Rylee is 5 & Keira is 6 but they both wear size 6 pants, however just in the length (Rylee can still fit 12-18 month pants as shorts).  My first instinct was to put all the good pairs away in a box for Aylish who is currently 2 1/2, they were all in excellent shape with little wear and tear to them.   However, today I walked passed them, picked them all up and in a moment of....I dunno what to call it, cut all eight pairs off into shorts.  Is that being un-thrifty?  Should I have saved the 5 good ones and only cut off the 3 with holes in the knees?  Should I even care or be second guessing my decision.....what do you think?  Surely shorts are better than pants anyway - - - right?  Besides, shorts take up less space in boxes.....I was only thinking practically, moving day is not far off.