Fun in the snow

We are all enjoying our winter wonderland. Dylan accomplished a 5 foot snow man with dads help. Shayleigh is having the time of her life, and yes she is wearing a coat - its keeping the snow from caking into her feathers on her front legs and chest. Dylan and I took her and Cody for a walk Sunday morning, they had so much fun, but they both spent 10 minutes in the tub melting the snow off their long hair. Cody is totally disgusted with the depth of the snow because it is belly deep for him, he is always on the look out for a patch of packed snow.

Last night we went to Mom and Dads for dinner, my brother picked us up in his 4x4 - he was in his element slipping and sliding all the way up the hill. Once we arrived, he was showing Dylan his sled, and decided the two of them would tobogon down the hill in front of Mom and Dads. As they were walking up Dylan said - " Have you ever tobogoned down here? Uncle Matt said "not on this sled" Dylan returned "If you have never done this before, why are we going to the top of the hill?" Matts answer was "Because that is the way Uncle Matt does it" They didn't get very far though, and bumped into a snow bank - but I found out later that in the Snow of '96 Matt took an inflatable boat to the top of the same hill and rode it down! Thats my brother for you!

After Dinner Mom and I took the boys for a walk and made a sledding hill beside the house - the boys rode cardboard and garbage bags they have a great time laughing all the way down!!

Christmas is two days away and looks like we will have a white christmas - so exciting! Right now I am decorating the kids room with some decorations to wake up too. Oh man I have so much to do!

Walking in a winter wonderland!!!

WOW snow and below zero temperatures for Victoria - no way! Yep we are having a great time - but now I have to get some boots these runners are NOT cutting it anymore!

Whistler sans kids - who knew!!!

Yes Ed and I enjoyed a wonderful weekend at Whistler without the kids. Thank you to the great people that I work for, they invited us to Whistler to join in the Christmas festivities for the entire staff of HES Home Energy Solutions. And every one had a blast. The only unfortunate thing was it rained so we didn't make it up to the top for the view. But we found lots to do, even headed out to Nairn Falls and Pemberton for lunch.
And the kids you ask, had a fabulous time with grandma and grandpa Mounce. Though by the end of the weekend mom and dad were due for a quiet evening alone. They had school, soccer, swimming and soccer photo retakes to taxi the boys too. And Tayler just went along for the ride as usual. What a get getaway!

My crazy animals

Here are some opictures of our three funny animals trying to get in on some of the fun the kids are having

Honey on top of our fort in the living

Shayleigh couldn't find anywhere to sit so the back of the lazy boy was as good a place as any, and she was still with Cody.

Thomas and Friends

Tayler and I went to Thomas and Friends at Save on Foods Arena today, with our friends, Erin and Dylan Pugh. We had a wonderful time and the kids loved it. It was a musical play about Thomas the Tank engine and his friends. Tayler kept pointing out Thomas, Percy and Diesel and dancing to the music. It was so much fun!

Getting ready for Halloween

We went to Mitchells farm a week before halloween and got some really great pumpkins. We carved them with Dylan and Sawyer (my daycare kids) the day before halloween. Sawyer wasn't much for sticking around for pictures. But Russell carved him a great pumpkin (with our kids knives of course)

And here are some pictures from Halloween. We all had a great time. I took the kids to the mall for a couple hours to trick or treat through the stores and see loads of other kids in costume. Then off we went to our friends, Erin and Allans, for a great spag dinner and out through the neighbourhood trick or treating. This was the first year we stayed in our neighbourhood, previous years we spent with Matt and Leanne and family - sad not to see them on the day but we all had a great Halloween stories to share.

Things we have been up to.

We have had some excitement here is the last few weeks. Our poor little Tayler fractured her tiny little arm at the end of Sept when she fell off her bike. But as you can see from the pistures it never slowed her sown. In fact the day we went to have it taken off (after 2 weeks) she was very sad. I think she was enjoying all the attention she received.

We went for yet another getaway to the cabin (the boys had a pro-d day) so we took advantage of it and spent 5 days away.

We have been keeping in close contact with Mom and Dad as tehy have made tehir way from Ottawa through the Altantic provinces, down some of the eastern sea bord states and into Pennsylvia for the biggest car show in North America(bet you knew there had to be a reason) and back to Ottawa. They have had a great trip that many pwople are envious of and I can't wait to see all the pictures and hear more stories.

In October we officially became soccer parents (just need a soccer taxi sticker for the back of my car) The boys love it - Russell is in Timbits and plays on Sundays and Dylan is in the under 8 and has games saturday and practice tuesday.

This past weekend we went to the cabin for one last 5 day weekend to winterize and have Thanksgiving with Eds parents who joined us. It was really great I even made everyone sit at a long table Marg and I set up down the middle of our 10 foot wide cabin. There is a couple of pictures one of dinner sitting on the woodstove and the other of all of us crammed around the table. It was wonderful. The Picture above Dylan playing soccer, is Tayler watching the train as it ran along beside us on our drive home - she loves trains - to the point she yells out in the car where they are and wants her window open to get a clearer look.

Now we are gearing up for Halloween (almost literally) I think we have decided Dylan wants to be a cowboy, Tayler will either be Hiedi (the little girl of the Alps) or Red Riding hood, and Russell has had an interesting delimma he wants to be a kangaroo, a cow and a bat - so if he can decide we will have a cowgaroobat I will post pictures!

Take care Love Kelly Ed and the DRT Gang!

My artists at the fair and school news.

My three artists received awards from the Luxton Fair this past weekend for their wonderful drawings. Dylan received 2nd place and Russ and Tayler received First. They were so excited to find out they not only received ribbons but money too. It was really fun to go back - I haven't been in years and Ed has never been. As a kids Matt and I used to enter stuff in and win ribbons - so much fun. Ed and the boys were very interested in the old tractors and machinery and I love walking around the exhibits and looking at all the pieces of history. At one barn the kids were able to mill oats by hand they thought that was really cool.

The photos are of Tayler helping make cookies - she received 4 "princess dresses" from our neighbour and she really likes this one with all the flowers and ruffles. She has been seen out in the shop "helping daddy" in all her frills and finery.

Well we have jumped right back into school and the boys have transitioned great (remember Dylans school Glenlake Elementary, closed in June) new everything, but they are doing really well. Dylan is in a 2-3 split with a his best friend Travis and I have met the teacher on a few occasions, as she is a close friend of one of my friends, that aside, she is really nice. Russell is okay in kindergarten I think it will take a few more weeks to be really comfortable with everyone. He really loves his teacher, Ms. Bell and I do too. She was Dylans teacher at Glenalake and I was so happy when she got a job at the school where all the kids were going. All in all its going great. Another wonderful thing about this school is a very close friend of mine is the librian, its a real comfort knowing she is there with the kids, Dylan and Russell also found great comfort in this as well.

All in all everything is going well

see you soon Kelly and the DRT Gang

Adventures around town

We've had a few adventures this week. Yesterday afternoon we went to the Sooke Potholes for the first time visit Dylans best friend and his family, who were camping. The boys had a great time bobbing in the river and skipping rocks. We had hotdogs over the fire and the kids played and played till we had to head for home. It is absolutely gorgeous up there well worth the visit. That was the first time we have seen the popular Deer Lodge - what an amazing place that would have been - perched right above the river with a waterfall in view - just amazing.

Last weekend we all went downtown on the bus for symphony splash. It was a beautiful night, completely clear and LOADS of people everywhere. We spent the evening with my Aunt and Uncle and all my cousins and GG too. It was so wonderful we had a great time. Unfortunately we had to catch a bus home so we left around 9pm and made it home around 10:30 - the kids were bagged, and on the way home asked that we stay home the next day. They had a blast goofing around with my cousins and watching all the boats from the top deck. What a fun afternoon.

A close friend of mine (and my whole family) just had a new baby girl Jamiesynn, so we celebrated with a baby shower in my moms back garden - it was a great afternoon Tayler and Jessie were having a tea party with their new friend Veasia- so adorable.

Today it has rained most of the day, but the kids still insisted on building a railroad in the pouring rain in the backyard - total outdoor kids.

I still can't believe the summer is half over - we are starting the bed time routines and trying very hard to keep up with the math and reading - but the days fly by so fast I find we are having trouble keeping up.

Anyway take care Love Kelly and the gang

Much needed vacation

Yep back to the property we go for some peace and quiet. This time we did some inprovements to the kitchen - boy does this make kitchen creations easier. We now don't have to make the emergency runs to 100 Mile for water - we can double filter the water up there. And now we can read at night with an electric light thanks to our solar panel and battery. We also painted the cabin, now its all one colour, much better than the three it used to be. And we did some clearing of slash from when it was logged over 20 years ago. Believe it or not we consider this relaxing times.

The boys are now arguing over who gets to drive the 4wheeler around the property with mom or dad on the back. And Shayleigh has figured out that riding on the back, beats the heck out of running after it. Ed can't even start it up without Tayler running to him - "I come, Daddy"

On the last day she showed us she knows how to start it - Ed was hooking up the trailer and she was sitting on the seat - next thing we knew she had turned the key, slid the red button to "run" and pressed start. Now we have to watch her with eagle eyes.

The weather was beautiful, lots of overcast days, but I think that kept the heat down. We had a pretty big - for us any way - thunderstorm with pelting rain, hail stones and wind - that was pretty exciting. Tayler wanted no part of it though and spent all of it curled up in a ball on Daddys shoulder.

On the way up we missed our favorite stop in Clinton - The Clinton Emporium with LOTS of old stuff. So we decided to go down on Tuesday to check it out and the Chasm too. We didn't buy much but it always interesting to see what he has in the store. We finally stopped at Chasm, which we both thought was a town - turns out it is a huge canyon, an absolute must on the way to 100 Mile House.

As usual its always hard to pack up and come home. We sure apreciate our modern conviences though. The kids were excited to see Honey cat again and play with friends too.

Ed and I look forward to the next trip - hopefully in August.