cold weather

Allison and Emma playing in the snow

The little kids enjoy the blanket fort while the big kids are at school

The weather has really turned into winter cold as of the past month or so. So of course we are inside on the really cold days, and outside sledding on the not so cold days. Michael seems to have decided that sledding is his favourite thing to do. My favourite thing is when Mike gets going down a hill you can hear him most of the way down, "yahoooooo!" He was pretty timid with this last year but thankfully has discovered the joy of zipping down a snowy/icy hill with cold wind on your face and some snow blowing in your eyes and mouth and reaching the bottom in 3 seconds, only to have to turn back and take three minutes to climb the hill. Ahh the life of a kid.

Emma is toothless! Emma had to try on Kate's snowsuit...a little snug

In november Emma lost her first tooth, then her second a week later. William was happy for her even though he is two years older and hasn't lost a tooth yet! Ah well I'll enjoy his gr. 12 grad pictures with no front teeth. Laurel also had her ninth birthday. We played our version of olympics at the church. The kids came dressed in their (assigned) country colours and competed against the worlds best. It was fun for all. Now is the Christmas rush which we would love to avoid but with six kids and other family we can't avoid it entirely. We all look forward to spending time with family in Red Deer and playing with all the cousins, aunts and uncles.

The athlete's compete in donut hole eating.

family pictures

We had our family pictures done in the beginning of October. I love the fall so this is my favorite time to have pictures done; that and they turn out way better than school photos so I don't ever order school pics. This second one of the kids makes me laugh because this was at the end of the hour and a half session so they were pretty much done...and it shows!

It has been a busy month. Nathan went to Creston with our friend Adam to pick up about 10 000 lbs of apples one day, then we juiced about 80 gallons of juice, and canned 40 gallons the next day. Then we had the Stephan retreat over Thanksgiving weekend which was so fun. We have had a few bouts of strep in the house, so the calendar is full of initials and countdowns of antibiotic doses. But most exciting was Emma learning to ride a two wheeler! Nathan and I were cleaning out the garage and I took out a bike that had one training wheel on it (the other had fallen off). Emma said take off the training wheel I am going to ride a two wheeler! Although she wouldn't try it with training wheels because she was too scared. So I took off the wheel and she got on, and within minutes she was riding by herself. Now that is all she wants to do!

Big family fun

We had our annual Stephan family retreat this past Thanksgiving weekend and man was it great! This year we went to Mountainview instead of the usual Canmore, and although there wasn't a pool for all to use, we went to Waterton to hike and the kids all loved the big house we could all fit in, and the playground outside. Laurel's favorite was when we rented the surreys in Waterton and the big kids took to the streets (which weren't too busy as busy season is over). Before we left we booked a week there next august with all the family.

Uncle Jarad dipping Alli. The packed surrey.

family pictures

This past Saturday we all went to a park here in town and had a photographer friend take some family pictures. At the end of the session I thought, man there is nothing like family pictures with little kids to make you not like your family! As we were taking some of the last ones of the kids I was literally doing the threatening mother look at my boys saying through gritted teeth, "smile boys!". I almost wish I could see that from afar because I would be laughing at the crazed mother who is doing nothing to inspire her kids to smile. I can't wait to see the finished product. Lisa (our photographer) sent me a couple unedited teasers until then.

dancing fools

Last weekend I found someone selling a game for the wii called dance dance revolution 2. I thought it would be a pretty fun game for the girls especially and so Laurel and I went and picked it up. You play the game by watching the screen and while the music plays you step on certain squares on the dance matt attached to the wii, and have to shake the controllers in your hands at certain times too. The kids played a little on saturday and laurel has played a little here and there throughout the week. Tonight I played with the girls before bed, then later when all the kids were in bed I went downstairs to lock up and thought 'what the heck'. It's a really fun game and Nathan is away so I let loose looking like a crazy person who isn't in control of my limbs. The last song I did on expert level, and man is it hard, so I thought I could pass the level if I just ran in circles really fast on the matt, and wave my hands really crazy above my head because I couldn't keep up with all the arrows coming up the screen. And what do you know I passed the song! Haha! I was laughing (and sweating) by the end of that one. Sometimes its fun to be a little nuts.

runners

Every year some of us do the Sheep River Road Race here in Okotoks. It is a chaotic and fun morning, where usually mom gets a break from running after the kids to run for no good reason at all! This year Laurel and Will ran the 2k kids race and did great. William actually came in 8th place, he was pretty excited about that. Then mom ran the 10k and finished with an okay time of 52 minutes.

The next weekend we also did the family fun run our church put on. Laurel did amazingly well finishing the 5k run in 33 minutes! She did better than most adults. Way to go Laurel!

first day of school

It has finally come! School is back in. I have to say I was really looking forward to this September as the kids are all so young and this summer seemed like day after day of barely organized chaos. Having one of the young women in our ward was a great help in a couple of ways. First, I had an extra set of hands to help the twins go to the bathroom, get lunch, and not get into so much mischief. Secondly it made for a better summer, as I felt like if I had the help I needed to go do things with the kids more often, so it was a field trip summer.

Emma started kindergarden, Will grade one, and Laurel grade four. The twins (particularly Alli) had a hard time with Emma leaving for the day, but they soon got over it and were happy to play with everyone's things while they were away at school. I will say it is easier to enjoy the twins when there are fewer of us around for me to watch.