Back to Normal?

After our week of March break we got back at our schooling.

Until cousins from Nova Scotia showed up to spend some super fun time with us!!

Nighttime snuggles with Scamper the very long suffering cat.

We did more schoolwork and cat snuggling..

  Until more Skaling family from Nova Scotia showed up and spend more fun times with us!!

  They brought Bear's best friend Daisy with them and did the 2 puppies ever have fun! I wasn't so excited about all the drool slopping everywhere. Thankfully they were quite content to take their roughhousing outside so we weren't tripping over 2 newfs all the time!After Ryan's brother and his family left we got to keep Dad Skaling here for a few more days!! We went out to breakfast one morning in celebration of his birthday he had had when we were in Jamaica.

Then it was Ryan's big day. The night before we had planned to have a family night as we couldn't the day of his birthday because of prayer meeting.

The girls and I bought him a family movie that we were all excited to see!Emily and Scamper were enjoying the movie!!

Then his big day arrived. We had a special meal for him and gave him his gifts before he ate...I was so excited(as was he!)to have found Jamaican Ginger Beer (Similar to Ginger Ale) at our grocery store. He had fallen in love with it on our trip and to be able to buy it here was thrilling!!

Eva sweetly gave him a Rice Krispie treat she had been given a month ago and had stored in her dresser (she doesn't like them!)

  He thanked her with a huge hug..which was needed,after her sister's pointed out the history behind her gift that made her feel a little hurt.

Elle's homemade card.

                                 And a cherry pie requested by him in lieu of  a cake.

 Happy Birthday !!We absolutely loved having Dad here. He played several games with the girls much to their delight!! Sadly he needed to get back home too soon as far as we were concerned!!

Well in spite of my doubts, the thaw has begun. As soon as Elin noticed the puddle(or small pond) forming in our driveway, she hurried to the garage, grabbed the water guns and began filling them as fast as she could.

          I informed her that it would be awhile until it was water gun weather!! She contented herself with sitting in the puddle until  her chilling behind forced her back into the house!! Crazy girl. That's my Elin.

 Well the day after Ryan's birthday was our yearly Awana Grand Prix. Emily and Elle both had built race cars and were ready for the big event. It was Elle's first race and she was "freaking out"!! Emily was calmly hoping for success. Elle got chosen to represent the Apostle Paul in the Bible story for which she was thrilled.

 As soon as she got out of the basket she ran back to me with a huge grin on her face and said"Mommy did you get my picture??"

Then the races began. Elle's is in the blue lane.

She did pretty well for speed but didn't make it to the finals.

  In spite of Em's face her car did make the finals.

Although Elle didn't place for speed she actually won first for design!! Her sparkly racing stripes were winners!!

  Super Excited 8 year old!

  Emily won 2nd place for speed. We were so proud of both of them.

                    Happy little things!!
 So that was our first week back to school! All that to show that nothing is ever boring around our place!!

Life back in the Icebox

So as soon as my feet hit the floor the next morning I was raring to go and get my spring on!! I'd had too much sun and heat to settle back in to snow and cold!!  First I got my obliging hubby to tap our 2 maple trees and get all ready for maple syrup. Sadly the first thing he had to do to get that accomplished was to shovel through all that snow a path to even reach our trees!!

    I was excitedly snapping pictures from the safety of the house.. I cringed every time I had to set foot out in the cold...I know pretty wimpy eh?

 Nearly finished......

                                 and the most amazing sight of all and my first visible sign of spring!!! Sap!!!

                  That day my sap haul boiled down to  1/2 cup of maple syrup but just the sheer joy of knowing that winter was at an end was worth it!!

 Because Ryan and I arrived home smack daub at the end of Elle's birthday, we didn't have much of a party. Her wish was a museum tour with a swim at the Aquatic Center later that week. Well didn't was have a time!!! We first went out to eat...Elle's choice was Wendy's.

                  Happy birthday girl, Daddy and crazy little sister!!

                   Then we swam. So much fun. I didn't get pictures of that actual event, for obvious reasons..#1 being water and cameras don't mix well, and the#2 fact that I was much to busy keeping excited little ones bobbing around in the water safe and catching happy girls and they came slipping  down the huge water slide .It wasn't all work for this ole girl though...did I mention there was a simply lovely hot tub there???  So here we are on the other side of our swim, heading across the pied-way to the Museum.

    The most amazing thing was that we arrived just as the only whale tour of the day was starting(we had no idea) and it just so happens that our Elle is a passionate lover of all things aquatic at the moment...especially whales.

  Eva with a whale tooth

             Meeting a leather back turtle ..poor fella ..ask the girls how he died sometime..truly tragic.One thing they learned was about the horrors that littering wreaks on wildlife.

 Another exhibit that the girls found fascinating was the birds native to Canada.

  The girls liked the green water display for St. Patrick's day in the center of the mall.

    Back at home a surprise second cake..an ice cream cake, and a movie night. Elle felt well celebrated!!

  Then we got walloped by yet another snow storm. Ryan had "fun" digging out and Bear had fun keeping watch on the 5 +feet of snow  formally known as our front yard!

            No more sap ran for a few more days after that ( it was thoroughly frozen) and I noticed that my Christmas Cactus and Poinsettia are  starting to blossom again..still I'm undaunted. I have that scant 1/2 cup of maple syrup in my fridge and the memories of warm breezes and sun on my face to keep me going until the snow melts and my Tulips pop through in my flower beds. On second thought the syrup may not last that long,  but hopefully my memory will! Oh and I may have purchased myself a bouquet of flowers on clearance to set in the middle of my dining room table to keep my winter weary spirits up!

Home!!

 Our last morning in Jamaica...Colby and Elaina sitting out on the stone wall getting ready to board the bus for the final time.

             Ryan counting the bags, setting them all up ,making sure everyone had them ready.

 The last of our team shirts drying on the line.

   We had a special send-off by 4 of the students singing their Bible school theme song to us right before we said our goodbyes.

 Home again, home again!!! We had 4 excited little girls still up at 10:00 that night waiting for us to get home!! I had little gifts for each of them and they had to close their eyes while I found them in the suitcase.

     No Peeking!!

 And this one is for.....

   A special birthday surprise for a sweet newly turned 8 year old...

                 Very excited birthday girl!!

  Then cake that she had waited for all day to share with us!!

  Ashley and Bear got some snuggles in. He adores Ashley.

                                      A very tired Ashley, and happy Bear
 It had been such a long day for us all. We were so glad to be in our own beds again. Surrounded by the ones we love the best and had missed the most.