Pumpkin Patch.

Amazing weather yesterday went well with a visit to the local pumpkin patch with some of the fam jam. Love Fall... and the colour it brings. Fields of orange around here. 

And one very excited Little Miss, sitting by the pumpkin house. 

Mr Blue Eyes had lots of sparkle, despite being a little stuffy from a bad cold. 

Three wanna-be drivers. Spooky thought. 

Miss A, doing some weight-lifting with the larger pumpkins!

Happily hauling away our loot... pumpkin carving, coming up next!

We Have A Winner!

Violating my bragging rights with a public documentation, but here's to a proud moment. The Grade 7 Girls Volleyball team placed first in their tournament last weekend. A group of happy campers. And a very happy coach, too!

September.

We've been back in school for almost a month now, so life has been a little chaotic lately. For me, it's a love-hate relationship with this overwhelming transition... one day I'm lounging on the patio furniture enjoying nature and my coffee... the next I am packing lunches, prepping supper and planning my day all in the space of the hour I have before we head out the door. Twice, now, without my coffee. Aargh. Enjoying absolutely nothing about that.

September also happens to be spider season here. And one morning they reminded me I wasn't the only one being busy these days. 

Look at all these webs in the backdrop of an early morning sunrise! Too many to count, but made me pause for a closer look, and quickly snap a couple of pics. 

Back To School.

I honestly haven't even LOOKED at my blog since the last post. Since then, we've made two day trips to Arlington for a christian conference, spent a whole day doing wash from camp and then plunged right back into the routine that is real life and learning. 

Of course, I am not possibly organized enough to be all camera-ready for pictures of our first day back to school. But yesterday, the third day of our second week, the girls consented to pose for a quick photo before dashing on our way. Not bad, eh?!

The summer weather is sticking around and the local Calgary News has been reminding us to be grateful for it. Our fellow Canadians there are battling power outages and snowfall. On September 10, if you can believe it. Cray. Zee. 

Our evenings are spent outside on the deck, savouring ice cream cones, and these two cuties...

My Summer. The End.

Well, it's Friday night. Our foursome family is intact again, the girls having spent the last five days at Camp Charis. I missed them... but now, listening to their constant banter and staring at their piles of laundry I'm wondering what is was exactly that I missed. Oh well. Back to conflict resolution and doing wash... living the dream, living the dream. 

Wednesday, Stew took the day off work and we drove to the camp facility in East Chilliwack to visit the group. Got in on the rock climbing, watching, strictly, and then Stew played water polo with them for an hour before we headed home again. 

Love these two.. and they sure love each other!

Ma'am tried her hand at the rock climbing. Here she is, getting belted up. 

And off she goes...

...swinging herself back down again.

And living to tell about it. Dramatically.

And so it ends. Eleven weeks of fun and freedom. Back to reality, come Tuesday. 

My Summer. Week Ten.

It's still hot here.

Hot enough for these crazies to spent one night sleeping outside on the trampoline. Although they were scared half to death at the sight of a family of raccoons who decided to visit around one o'clock in the morning. They were up with the Sun around 0430, which is when I happened to snap this photo. I was awake, obviously, for the raccoons and the Sun, but I didn't look this good. Nor was I this happy.

And still hot enough... to spend an entire afternoon splashing around in a friend's pool.

And still hot enough... to enjoy clear, blue skies at the playground!

Aaaah, summer. How I do love thee!

My Summer. Week Nine.

Not much excitement this week. Just a couple of funnies.

What a dog. What a life. And I always seem to be the one she chooses to curl up next to on the couch. She's certainly a pro when it comes to making herself comfortable. 

This says it all about my house and summer vacation. Although I hardly think I'll wait till they're in college before I clean it! Made me laugh, just the same!

Looking through some old photos, and I uncovered this. 

Big brother and me, some years back! Rocking the hair bows and knitted vests. Oh yeah. Then I found these school pictures of the girls, probably taken when they were the same age as I was in this oldie. I get that we're all sharing the freckles, but who do you think resembles who?!

My Summer. Week Eight.

This week was busy with Vacation Bible School, followed by a weekend visit from our favorite Kelowna family. Love this amazing couple and their darling kiddies.

Little Miss Melt-Me-Blue-Eyes, enjoying the bubbles!

This picture of all the kids is from an earlier visit... since I neglected to do a group shot this trip!

My Summer. Week Seven.

Enjoyed entertaining some British company, in the form of hubby's cousin and family. We appear to be very discriminate here, separating the sexes for photo opportunities!

My Summer. Week Six.

Summer in our family seems to be a time for birthdays! This week we gifted this adorable, little peanut, who is just turned TWO years old! She's full of fun and busyness, and keeps us laughing out loud.

The celebration was a back-yard water party with a Dora theme, complete with Benny's Bubbles, Swiper's Slide and Tiko's Tacos. The last of which I, ahem, thoroughly enjoyed. This little girl's mama adds a lot of appreciated talent to our family with her creativity and cooking skills! Love you, Jessie!

The cake was designed and decorated by two very adoring Aunties. Yours Truly played a large production part, and then demonstrated amazing ability in concealing all the flaws!

Happy Birthday, big girl! We all love you to pieces, in case you can't tell!

My Summer. Week Five.

Celebrated this lovely little lady turning twelve!

This girl's got a big heart. Loves others. Loves to help. Her motto... if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. My mom, who challenged me with that same phrase as a child, would be proud of her.

Was honoured to attend the wedding of a little boy I watched grow up. Here he is with his crazy siblings, the rest of the family, and his pretty, new wife. 

And the Fabulous Four were very excited to hang out again!

My Summer. Week Four.

Visits from the grand-kiddies. LOVE.

Visit to WA to celebrate the latest adoption for this amazing family. LOVE.

Visit to the water park with the babysitting kids. LOVE. 

Visit to the hospital. LOVE... not so much. 

No worries. It's all good. A minor injury that only required four days of crutches and three days of hobbling. Now she's back to her daily routine of somersaults and cartwheels on the trampoline.