Special Guest and Kidz Art Dayz

I am soooo excited about this month!!!! We have a special guest that is coming to our house during the week while my sister Tami is working! My niece Phoenix is up here to visit with her Mom HERE for the first time EVER! I just adore this girl and missed not seeing her these past couple of years because we were unable to travel down there to see her. We chat every so often on line and play Pet Society on facebook together but it just is not that same as seeing her in person. So I am really excited!! I probably don't feel as lucky as Tami does right now but sure darn close.

So for her first day visiting with us I took her out to breakfast with Jordan and Ben to celebrate her belated birthday, as she was still at home a few days ago for that. We had fun and the kids all got these cool cups that can hold 2 types of drinks at the same time.

Then that afternoon, after much drama because the boys do NOT handle the heat very well, we headed off to the BMO Kidz Art Dayz at the Two Rivers Gallery that they hold every year. What great timing! We spent the afternoon in crazy kid art heaven! We did not even make it to all the activities because they had soo many this year. The kids had a blast! We partnered the older kids with the younger kids so that I wasn't losing my mind trying to handle it all and then made the rule that they could change stations when they were done as long as they told me which one they were going to next and I could see the station from where I was, that way I could go between kids and take some pictures and still see the others. It made the day so much more fun!

he first stop for most of them was the candle painting for the birthday celebration. Everyone who came painted a small spot so we all have a helped with the celebration.

Next stop was the crazy hats. Claudia LOVED coloring hers.

From there we stopped by the Clayworks station where the inner sculpture was brought out in each kid.

Of course no art day is complete with out doing some painting on the easels. Some were careful and others had fun with splatter art :)

The boys had a blast pounding some nails to create a new design idea for the next bridge or building.

Science fun is always a blast and making butterflies from felts markers and water was great! Phoenix had fun making faces at the camera while doing her science.

Afterwards we all headed over and added something of us to their mosaic wall. Matt made a pacman to match the 2 he had painted on his face. Sam made a pacman too that he made look like he was going to eat the happy face that was already on the wall.

At the end of a long day we managed to get all the kids together for a shot, including a sleeping Cloe and A half asleep Josh.

Since we were unable to enjoy all the booths they had up on the first day a few of us went back for the second day they were set up. We started day 2 with a train ride courtesy of the railway and Forestry Museum. We will be heading there this weekend for Friends of Thomas Days to celebrate Tommy's birthday look for that post next week.

 

Phoenix Tried out the wood etching she made a wonderful picture of a Happy World.

The kids then tried their hands at making masks They sure turned out wonderful and creative.

Next they blew some bubbles and "Popped" their way into some cool looking pictures.

Of course anything in your kitchen can be used as prospective art creations. The kids favorite stop of the day was using salad spinners as a way to create some fantastic works of art for our walls using food coloring.

The last stop for the day was the beading station where we could make necklaces or even better some crowns or bracelets.

Of course we couldn't leave until they checked out what they looked like after a second day of fun in the Fun House Mirror in the playroom.

Thanks to all the wonderful people who volunteered their time to make these past 2 days ones of great fun and the first 2 days of Phoenix's visit full of great activities. I truly look forward to what these next few week will provide with all the fun and activities we have planned. Tomorrow we go swimming!

Matthew Talk Today

Today Matthew has to give a talk in primary about Following Jesus Christ's example. As we were informed this last night we did a quick search on LDS.org through the friend magazines and found this sharing timelesson from May 1999. We modified it for Matt to read to the primary today and so here is his talk that I think we should all remember in our hearts everyday.

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A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you (John chapter13:verse34).


Have you played follow-the-leader? Have you sung “Do As I’m Doing”? Have you played the basketball game in which the second player has to make a basket in the same way and from the same place on the court that the first player did?

If you’ve done any of these things, you know how to be a good follower and you are learning something. You are learning by following the example of the leader.

When Jesus Christ lived on the earth, He set a perfect example for us to follow in treating other people. He said, “For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you” (John chapter13:verse15). He showed us at least three things that each of us can do: He was kind. He loved everyone. He served others.

I can be kind. Jesus taught that we can share what we have with others. We can visit people who are sick. We can make someone who is new feel welcome. Jesus did these things, and we can, too. He said that when we do these things for others, we are doing it for Him.

I can love everyone. When Jesus knew that He was about to be crucified, He gave His disciples a most important commandment—to love one another the same way He loved them. He told them that people would know that they were His disciples if they followed this commandment. People will know that we are followers of Jesus Christ when they see that we are trying to love everyone.

I can serve others. Jesus spent His whole life serving others. He even gave His life for others—for us. He taught that the greatest among us would be those who serve others as He did. That is hard for some people to understand. They think that if everyone serves them, it means that they are very important. Jesus Christ taught a better way—to serve others by helping them.

“Follow me,” Jesus said (see John 8:12). Let us follow Him forever!

BBQ's and Picnic's

So just going to do a little catch-up. I had mentioned a few posts back that We had a Canada day BBQ which we do every year. I tried the first year we moved here to PG to attend the Cities celebrations. The thing is that when you have a lot of kids that are very active and curious they don't stay in one place very well so I was a nervous wreck by the time half an hour was up so we decided from that day on that we would make our own fun. So now we present our 3rd Annual Canada Day BBQ. ( to be honest I was going to say 4th but Mike reminded me that it was only 3... must be because of all the other fun things we do with our friends and family :) )

So we had a few new comers to the BBQ this year that we decided to move it out to Wilkins Park instead of having it at home. I am still undecided if that was actually easier or not... certainly not cheaper.. But oh sooo much fun! We missed some of the usual people who come but they had unforeseen things happen this year. So this post is mostly for them so they can feel like they were there. It is also for those who we can not see every year to and for those who came. New friends and old friends we celebrate you on this day too!

So as with any good BBQ we start with the food! MMmmmmm Yummy did we sure have some great dishes this year!! You see we always hold it as a type of potluck since none of us are really rolling in any kind of dough. It always works out great that we have a wonderful amount of variety. I think this years was the BEST!! Nathan and Megan spent the day and made some amazing burgers for the grill that were so yummy and juicy!

Here is our Grill master this year Nathan standing next to my well used and loved BBQ we dragged out to the park. And that pillar of yummy smell you see coming from the grill is the teaser to his amazing burgers.

There were hotdogs as well for those kids that like something a little smaller to eat.

 

We had fruit and Salads galore! And my favorite every year is the watermelon... it still amazes me how I could not like it as a kid?? Thank-you Sam for making me crave it everyday I was pregnant with you :)

We had a ton of salads, including but not limited to potato, coleslaw, and my requested one from Candi GREEK! I have been told about her greek salad for years now but only ever had her broccoli salad which is so yummy too but this year I wanted to finally get to try her greek.. which is just as good as I have been told!

So with that and many more foods people filled their plates we feasted! And many people had to come back for seconds and thirds just to get to try everything.

It was soo good everyone ate all they could and more. And we loved how full our tummy's got!

Next came dessert! Oh we had cookies and pies and best of all SMORES! Oh how I missed making these yummy treats with the kids as we haven't been able to go camping like we would like to in the past few years. Everyone Loved roasting the gooey marshmallows and having some old fashioned fun!

Some of the younger ones didn't even bother with the graham crackers and chocolate as the roasted marshmallows were just to tempting and boy did they get some good sticky fun out of that!

Even some of the adults got into the sticky fun, LOL!

Tommy even tried to have his own personal marshmallow stuffing contest.. He was able to get 7 big ones stuffed in that mouth of his!!

But the best part of the whole day was getting to spend time with our friends and family. All of them bring such joy to our lives!

And even though sometimes someone would get hurt there was always someone else there to give them a special hug to make it all better.

And all these special people that came made the games, water and conversation that much more fun!

One "Big Kid" even found a place for climbing :)

Even our new little furry friend that joined us had fun and the kids all took turns walking and running with her

And then we took that perfect day and made it 2 by going to a picnic in Fort George Park the next day with the ward for our potluck. Where we enjoyed the company of more friends friends. It was a GREAT way to celebrate the birthday of our country and even more the freedom we have to do all these amazing things everyday!