Do They Really have to grow up?

Those of you who know me, know that I have on occasion mentioned that I cannot wait for all of my kids to be in school. To have the days to myself, to make my soaps, keep my house clean and do all of the things I never seem to have enough time to do. Oh the freedom and flexibility and what a treat it will be! But having all 3 in school will also mean my babies will no longer be babies. Each passing year, I see this more and more. My babies are one more year further in my memory and out of nowhere, it seems I am given these little independent creatures. As a parent, this is a very scary thing. I want them to stay little, but I also want to watch them grow. I wish it could be both ways. Five years ago today at 5:49 pm on a scorching summer afternoon, Annika Ruby made her appearance into the world, changing mine forever.

Annika only a few hours old July 17, 2003

My little poser

We spent a few hours this afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese's in Edmonton with her family and a few friends. All of the kids had a blast! Such great entertainment and no clean up afterwards for me! The best of both worlds! This year Annika wanted a barbie cake and she was so excited to see it when it was finished!

The Kids had a Blast Camping!

We spent this last weekend camping at the Devon Lion's Campground. http://www.devonlionspark.com/. We love everything about this campground; it's close to home, the atmosphere, being by the North Saskatchewan River, is amazing, it's clean, and there is plenty of space for the kids to run around. We were joined by 2 other families totalling 6 adults, 7 kids and 1 dog. We had beautiful weather, the kids were outside all day long and got really dirty and had an absolute blast! I can't wait for our next trip!