Weekend Away

This past weekend we attended our good friends, Jade and Jason's wedding.  It was so wonderful out in Cypress Hills... and it was kid-free so Troy and I thoroughly enjoyed our little mini-holiday! I was privileged to be co-MC for the event and everything went very smoothly... such a beautiful wedding and such a deserving, wonderful pair! It was a bit of a Shaunavon High School reunion as lots of old friends were in attendance... here's the best shot I got of the Shaunee girls!

My parents had the kids for the weekend and I imagine they are now enjoying relaxing in the peace and quiet of their own home.  They kept the kids very busy with trips to the parks and local fair.  Here's a few shots my mom took of the kids at Griffin's preschool spring concert...

I feel so lucky to have my parent's help.  Not too many people could handle my little herd... and my mom always makes it look easy.  She took them all to Griff's concert by herself and even took photos and videos for me since I missed out!

Bathroom Before and After!

I'm a little choked - here I thought I had a picture of our bathroom pre-reno... and I don't! Grrrr! I've got a couple shots post-demo... and a shot of our other half bath which pretty much looks exactly like this bathroom did but on a smaller scale.  I LOVE how everything turned out. And I LOVE how handy my previously un-handy husband has become!

Half bath... man I want this one to magically transform!

Demo... before the tub and drywall were ripped out... check out the dark, poopy paint.

 New tub, drywall, backer board, plumbing

And voila! New bathroom!

I love how all the tile turned out... but man it was tedious! Nothing happened in 30 minutes like it does on HGTV that's for sure.  Our renovation motto was, "if there's a how-to video on You Tube, we can do it ourselves!".  I'm happy with the end result... maybe wasn't so happy during the transformation process.

And if looking at a bathroom isn't your thing... here's a quick pic of Sunny riding her bike... with her fancy shmancy riding goggles.

Mother's Day 2013

For Mother's Day the kids sat still for a picture ;)

Super-heros

Pretty Miss Gibby helping mommy clean out the pond... gotta love spring!

Denim Girls

My dad picked these jackets up for the girls cause he thought they'd look cute on them... And I agree! Thanks papa... They'll be fittin us in no time :)

Bath Tub!!!

It's not completely finished so I can't quite share before and after pics... but it's done enough to use the tub! The kids were sooooo excited to see a tub full of water. The girls got to try it out first...

Three Two-Wheeling Two Year Olds

We made a couple very exciting purchases this spring. Firstly, three balance bikes for the little guys. They love these things and will ride around in our court for a long time without whining or fighting. A huge blessing! Now our court is blanketed in snow. Grrrrr... back to the whining and fighting.

They picked up on the concept really quick and can really zoom around already.

Off they go!

They've already figured out to head towards the grass when they're going to fast down the driveway

Tiniest biker girls I ever did see...

My little blue-eyed sweetheart...

This is our other exciting purchase.  It's a three-man wagon! And it fits through doorways! And it turns on a dime! And it fits in my van! And people don't look at you like you're on parade! As you can tell, I'm in love with this thing. The stroller was getting too big and bulky now that the kids are two so this is the perfect mode of transportation for us now.  Sadly, it's not getting much use with all the snow here at the moment, but watch out summer, the Aadland family just got more mobile! p.s it's also got six cupholders, a giant collapsible storage bin on the back, and a big shade canopy!

Easter Stuff

A bit behind here... I'm gonna blame that on my bathroom reno that is STILL ongoing. Grrrrrr.... who knew drywalling, painting, plumbing, tiling, and installing fixtures would take more than a weekend?! Guess I should've! I showered with all the kids the other night in our tiny little corner shower - and at one point found myself standing in the middle of the shower, hands over my ears, while all four of them formed a running circle around me screaming and giggling at the top of their lungs.  That is VERY VERY loud inside a little fibreglass shower I'll have you know.  I couldn't do anything but stand there and laugh.  And wish I had a tiny bit more space (and privacy) to shave my legs.  We are beginning the tiling process now... after which we will install the tub taps and then we can finally bath the kids again.  I will definitely be sharing some pics of that!

In the meantime, here's a pic of the kids at Easter. The Easter Bunny sent the kids on a little treasure hunt this year. Each kid found clue cards (which were actually printed photos of certain places in our house) with a couple gummy bears at each stop.  The cards were colour coded for each kid so that everyone got one at every location (and to lower the risk of fighting).  At the end they found sand pails with a few small toys in them. I've never been a fan of toys for Easter, but this year we decided a couple inexpensive toys were better than baskets of candy... since four kids and a whole lot of candy don't seem to mix too well.  I was a little worried Griff would be disappointed, but the little sweetheart went on and on about how kind the Easter Bunny was to give them all those gummy bears AND toys. Lesson learned - less junk, more fun!