Time in Canada..

While there we were able to see several people and family we hadn't seen in years. Al and Pat threw an open house get together on Sunday and several friends and family made it by for a chat. That evening Al's brother and family dropped Great Grandpa Les off at the house who had made the trip from Saschatuwan. It was so good to spend time with him again and for him to meet the kids - he endured a long day at West Edmonton Mall with all three great-grandkids, Al, Jay, Lee and I. Below is a picture of Cameron and Great Grandpa Les playing doctor - poor Les is getting a shot!

Katelyn and Grandpa Al playing airplane - the day after we arrived. Grandpa Al had her convinced it was necessary to plug her nose and cover her ears at certain parts of the flight

Annie and I at the open house! It was absolutely wonderful to see her and Kyle again! WE MISS YOU BOTH!!

Cousin Blake..

Being the first trip to Canada for the kids, meant the first meeting of Cousin Blake. We have done several webcams where the kids have seen each other, but it just isn't the same. Blake is about 6 weeks younger than Cameron so it was really neat to see their similarities and differences in their personalitites. Auntie Erin and Uncle Jay had both met Katelyn before, but this was their first time to meet Cam as well. They were both soo good to Katelyn and Cam, Katelyn kept them both quite busy with her never ending source of ideas and games to play!

Erin and Katelyn take a quick pic after doing their hair!

Jay at the kids table playing cars with K and Blake.

Blake is really a reader - he likes his books!

First trip to Canada

This Christmas the Barrett family packed up and headed north to Canada to spend a week with the Barrett family in Canada. This was the first time we have been able to make the trip alkl together with the kids' health and Lee's work. We left sunny Garden City with a temp of 45 degrees and we were greeted by snow and temps of 21 below in Canada with a windchill of -31 one day. It snowed the first two days we were there and Lee's guessing there was about 18 inches of snow on the ground - the kids loved looking at it through the windows. Unfortunately Katelyn has been battling a cold and Cameron had two ear infections(we found out right before we left) so the kids didn't get to go outside and play in the snow at all. Below are a couple of pictures of the snow we found the first morning there. Notice the snow on top of the roof just outisde the window in the first picture.

WOW - I'm a slacker!!!

I know it has been awhile since I have updated, but man a whole year - wow I feel horrible! I have gone back and posted some of the things we have done the past year and hope to do a better job of posting.

If you would like to see any of the pics, just click on them and they will enlarge. There are several new posts down below.

Here is a recent pic of our family!

Volleyball Season

This year was the first year as a head coach for volleyball. It was a fun season, but I missed the kids soo much! Thankfully Lee, Grandma and Papa brought them to several games so I could see them in the stands cheering for mommy's girls! Katelyn really likes some of the girls and even Cameron will say "Volleyball!"

Halloween

This year Katelyn was old enough to really pick what she wanted to be for Halloween, so when she said "witch" you could imagine my reaction. I tried and tried to talk her out of it, but she was set on being a witch. Thankfully Grandma found her a really cute witch costume and she loved it. To make the costume complete she added a broom and Hello Kitty (every witch has a black cat) bucket. We also let Katelyn help pick out Cameron's costume and she chose a fireman's outfit. He picked out his Elmo bucket to match! The firman costume was another good choice and a hit at the houses we visited. We made our trip to Holcomb, did our neighborhood and then went over to Grandma and Papa's. This year was the first year Katelyn was truly able to enjoy Halloween as the past two years she was either in hiding preparing for her surgery or last year she had a cold during Halloween. So it was neat to see her get so excited over something and enjoy it! Below is a video clip of pics from that FUN night!!

Another First

Thanks to some wonderful people that mommy has met out at Holcomb the Ackerman and Barrett families were able to go pick their own pumpkins from a real pumpkin patch for the first time this year! We all had a blast - even had a cool rain shower in the middle of gathering our pumpkins and loading them into Papa's truck, but there was a neat rainbow afterwards. The shower didn't last long so of course Katelyn insisted we "get more pumpkins" after it was over - I think Grandma was in on that one too! We both went home with more than enough pumpkins, but what an experience! Thank you to the Roth family for making the evening possible!!!

A New Adventure

This summer we attended the fair as we have in the past, and the kids loved seeing the animals. However this year, Katelyn discovered how much fun a Carnival could be. The first night we just did a walk through, the second night we went down and she rode the Carousel with her dad, the next day she begged us to go back and there was no stopping her!! She did ride after ride after ride. We were there for over three hours and not once did she have to wait in line. Katelyn rode the Carousel (that was old hat now), the Strawberries, a Train ride, Rocking Boat, Motorcycles, an Airplane ride, the Ferris Wheel (with daddy) and a Dragon Roller Coaster SEVERAL times - all by herself!! She has been begging us to take her again ever since! What a fun evening! Here are a few pictures from the fair and I will add a video of pictures from the Carnival soon!

Meeting at the Gazeebo...

For the past three years, I think, every summer our family has gathered at a gazeebo down by the zoo to take pictures together. Every year we have done something different, this year everyone was to wear either a blue or green shirt. Although it is tough as our family has grown to get a "good" picture with everyone looking at the camera and smiling I think this year was still a success at capturing our growing family!

All Because Two People Fell In Love:

Mother's Day 2010!!

After church and a nice lunch out, where every mom received a potted Daisy. When we got home we decided to take some pictures on the front yard of our two angels.

Gotta love Mother's Day!

Family Tradition

Every year my mom and I get together and plant Geraniums in the spring, just like we used to do with my Grandma Frakes(my mom's mom). So now the past two years Katelyn has gotten to join the crowd - it is so nice to have three generations working on our beautiful flowers again! I really think Katelyn just likes to get DIRTY!! :)

Katelyn's 3rd Birthday

Katelyn had a "big girl" birthday party this year at a playground by the zoo. She invited several of her friends and we had cake, ice cream, a pinata (Katelyn's favorite) and lots of fun! Thanks to all that came and made the day for much fun for Katelyn!