Where have we been?

I cannot believe how LONG it's been since I posted something, ANYTHING!!!

So here goes everything.

In the last month...

Chester tried really hard to break his ankle but only succeeded in almost breaking it.

Better luck next time babe! This was before it got all swollen, seriously.

What better place to recover than at home in Raymond?!?!

It was like having his ankle on ice 24 hours a day!!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, who goes out in that kind of weather?

The men go out in that kind of weather! They did some hunting...

 IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!! How nice, Steph is giving that poor hurt deer a sled ride!

 They went to a football game...

 Good grief, what a buch of crazies.  I love them ALL!!

Chester had the best trip ever, he was spoiled rotton and got to hug and kiss his momma and tell her how much we miss her.  He was so sad to leave that he told me he had to hug his mom extra long to hide the tears filling up his eyes when it was time to go.  We love Mona and Gord so much.  The boys were super sad they did not get to go to Raymond with their dad!

A few days later it was time to celebrate thanksgiving.  Mads was thankful for his food, his bed, his body and Heavenly Father and Jesus.  Rulon was thankful for his family, his sister little Birdie (he mentioned her specifically), and for pilgrims... and food.

Lets see... Then it snowed a bunch! The boys were bouncing off the walls to go out and drive their vehicles in the snow like the "ice road truckers" we watch on TV.

 Mads was packing snow in to the back of his mini coup and then eating it... like packing a lunch, right?

 Chester got an early christmas present... and Mads tried them out.

Ta Da!!

 I have done a few things with the boys to raise my "cool mom points."  The boys have been on a pirates kick lately so we made telescopes in one afternoon (papertowel rolls, tissue paper, mod podge), and treasure boxes just today... I think I was the "best mom ever" for like 5 whole minutes!!!

 When we make things two things are sure to happen: Rulon will get a bit frustrated that his project is not as perfect as he wanted it to be (uh huh, I  know it's my fault, genetically speaking) and Mads will get more paint, glue, water, dough... on himself than on the project.  Either way, they have fun and I love watching them be themselves!!! 

At the end of each day I wish I could have half the energy of my little Madser... he is determined NOT to stay in his bed.  I suppose sneaking out of his room for the 10(hundredth)th time and finally falling asleep in the living room fort is not the worst thing in the world.

I am so in love with my family, how blessed I am.

My Mina Birdie

Mina is a finny little girl.

She loves to poke her tongue out.

She does not care to roll over, even though she can.

She loves bath time so she can suck all the water out of her wash cloth.

She loves to grab her daddys beard and not let go.

And she does crunches all day long, really,

it's how she "sits up" a little to see things around her.

These photos were taken by Betina, a former college roommate.

She also did newborn photos of Colby recently for Melissa.

She is so talented, she took these on her dining room floor with her children and mine underfoot.

She also made the little hat Mina is wearing. Amazing! Check out Betina's website
http://www.witsendphotography.com

Julie turns 35!!!

I had a really nice birthday!

After a long night of not much sleep my best husband ever let me stay in bed while he got the boys ready for school and dropped them off... then he did the pick-ups too and took a loooong time getting home... with my favorite ice cream!!! Baskin Robbins Gold Medal Ribbon. YUMMMO! And it's aaaaaallllll for meeeeeee! Chester even made me a homemade chocolate birthday cake with Mona's delish recipe! The boys were excited to write something clever on it: "Good Buns at 35! We love you Rulon, Mads, Bird and Dad" At least it's not Big Buns :)

I reeeeally hope my wish comes true...

Everyone enjoyed the cake

Not sure about the expression here-

The day after my birthday Brett drove down to watch the kiddos so that Chester and I could go out on a date. It was REALLY WONDERFUL to go out with my boyfriend, eat tasty food, and then go to the mall and walk around talking and holding hands.

Thank you all my lovely family that called and wished me a happy day, I love you all!

Bedtime = @*#%!

7:30 brush teeth
7:40 reading time
8:00 bathroom & sip of water
8:04 song, prayer, boys in bed
8:10 Rulon, "Mommmm, I have to pee."
Me, "Too bad, had your chance, goodnight."
8:12 Mads, "Mommm? I have to pee."
Me, "No, Go to sleep."
8:13 Rulon, "I have to poo."
Me, "Get going."
(Rulon marches to bathroom singing a made up song about halloween candy)
8:15 Mads, "I have to poo."
Me, "No, you're just saying that because Rulon did."
8:16 Rulon marches back to bed asking me if he can have peanut butter. what?
8:16 1/2 Mads, "MOMMMM, the poo is trying to come out but I'm tellin it to stop."
Me, "Run to the toilet Mads!"
8:17 Mads, "Whew, we made it mom, that was too close."

Why do children know that poo is the one "get out of bed card" they can successfully play EVERY TIME??

Happy Halloween!

For halloween Mina was a little known villainess... sure, she looks harmless here, but just wait...

'Til she hits you with her laser eye beams!!! Spladow!!! Mads was Buzz Lightyear - withOUT the rock in his head (remember that from last year?? I DO!)

Despite the fact that Mads was Buzz Lightyear two years in a row... his flying skills still seem to be lacking. Evidence as follows:

Rulon was a rough ridin' cowboy, very tough, would YOU dare to cross him??? I'd say not! (Don't let this get around, but he kissed me before he went to school AND before trick-or-treating.) Here's a super short clip of him in his school costume parade, don't blink or you'll miss it.

Thank goodness for the best Canadian park ranger ever!! He suited up and escorted Buzz and Buffalo Bill around the neighborhood in the rain to gather a record amount of sugar. Julie and little miss laser beams stayed home and shot down ghosts and goblins that dared venture near our house. Upon their return the sugar rush began... good grief, who knew mom would let the boys eat as much candy as they wanted to all at one time?!?! Rulon and Mads just kept asking if they could eat one more candy. They seriously seemed shocked each time I said YES, get it unwrapped, what's the hold up??
Just for kicks here is a priceless piece of halloween history compliments of Mads! He is SOOO entertaining!

Mina's first "real food"

I use the reference "real food" loosely because in this house "real food" either means meat or Mona's recipes... but for Mina we had to start off a bit more simple then all that! Now, I realize she is my baby and I think everything she does should be chronicled in video form... but if you dont feel like watching her cute little eating sequence that's okay too. Nobody's strong-arming you into checking my blog. So, with that said, these are attempts one and two of giving Mina oatmeal cereal, and she digs it just fine.

Mina snuggles for mom n dad Fairbourn

Mina was so cozy in my dad's arms that she nestled right to sleep. I'm not sure there is anything in the world more wonderful than a snuggly little baby!
Her eyes look cloudy because every auto eye correcting program has difficulty correcting her "red eye" problem. It's actually amusing some of the "corrections" I've seen. I spent a lot of time in photoshop making a correction on my own!

Mom got a chance to snuggle Mina too! Can you believe not even my angel baby asleep in their arms could make then stay longer?!?!? Such will power... Crazy I tell you! :)

To Roll or Not to Roll.

Ok, Mina rolls over from belly to back now, she has taken her sweet time with this and thinks she's pretty funny when she does it now.  So... do you think she was willing to perform for the camera or do you think she got stage fright?  Put your vote in the comments section THEN watch the clip to see if you were right.  Or cheat and just watch the clip and act like you guessed right. :) 

Mmmmm Ribs!

I put htis on facebook, but it is worth posting on the blog too!! This is how Mads fell asleep last night, tooooo funny~ He laughed so hard when I showed him the pic of himself.

It is not very often that ribs are a good enough price to buy for dinner... we were all excited to get our faces a little messy and fill our bellies with delish pork ribs. Mads especially enjoyed the getting messy part, well.. the belly filling part too, man can he polish off a few ribs!
Rulon is not scared of the saucy rib-fest either, good thing there are no pictures of Julie & Chester. We try to hold on to our dignity.

Rulon's School Photo

Now that's a handsome kindergartner!!

Fire Department Open House!

(the spacing on this post is crazy, so it's staying crazy and I'm not fixing it or I'll go crazy.)

Thanks to a friend we became aware of a completely awesome and totally free family "field trip" opportunity. We spent a little of our evening at our local fire station. They offered demonstrations and hands on learning activities for everyone.

Rulon's favorite was the "smokey escape", a demo on how to feel for heat behind a door and how to crawl through a smokey area to safety.

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The kids got to go inside an ambulance and see the kinds of things that are used to help save lives on the way to the hospital

Rulon was eager to try CPR since he wants to be a paramedic when he grows up, "but not the kind that rides in
an ambulance, the kind that DRIVES the ambulance".

The coolest thing for Mads was getting to spray the fire hose, look at his super excited little face, priceless!

There was also an extrication demo where they actually showed how they cut the doors and roofs off of wrecked cars in order to get people out of the vehicle!

I picked up my friend Taunya's kids so they could see the cool stuff with us. They were just hanging out at home while Taunya was a parent teacher conf., so it was great for them and for me... they helped me keep track of Mads :)

It was fun to take pictures on the bumpers of the big emergency vehicles, the kids loved it.

I loved that my boys looked small again wearing the big Fire Fighter's coats. Mads wanted to leave his on, I probably should have let him, it would have slowed him down a bit!

There was a big fire fighting demonstration! It was amazingly HOT even from our safe distance!! The boys backed up super quickly and were astonished at the heat! They followed up this fire hose demo with the big huge water cannon from atop the fire truck ladder. Soooo cooool!

Mina was a good sport strapped to me in the baby bjorn, she only cried once, when Mads shrieked with excitement at manning the fire hose!