Climbing trees in Squarebanks

Pretty darn proud of herself ;)
Way up in the tree!!
Trying to follow the big brother.

End of Pre-school for Slater

Showing Jade how things are done!


Hanging with Mrs. Gray on the playground. The pre-school playground was shared by four classes (2 pre-school and 2 kindergarten).


His classroom at North Pole Elementary.


These three people have worked so hard this year with our sweet boy. They were all great communicators with stories to tell about Slater each day. We appreciated all the love that they showed, even on his bad days.

Yardwork - Goodbye trees, hello view

We cleared a large area (which use to be the dog yard) next to our house last week. The goal was to be able to see the kids play-area better, make room for three small raised beds, and get rid of the aspen. I was busy keeping the kids out of the way and forgot to get a "before" photo. But these three show the yard after Wade chain-sawed the trees, we cleared and hauled the trees and brush away, and then ran the brush cutter over the entire side yard. This week we are working on pulling stumps, removing the fence posts, and raking up the remaining debris.


Downed trees (about 70 small aspen and loads of arctic rose bushes)


Working hard with the brush cutter.


Cleared section.

New digs!

The turtle sandbox from Step2 was great for Slater, but a little small to contain to shovel-wielding toddlers, so we decided to go for the boat. This is a design that our friends the Powells used in their yard. I love the huge box, boat shape and large sail that acts as a sun-shade for enjoying the sandbox all day. We spent about 6 hours working on it- the turf we had to cut out took most of that time. Once we started to work on the box it went fast and the kids loved playing with it during every part of the building process.

Helping Uncle Dan and Dad with the sandbox-ship.

Each kid picked a tool to work with: Jade loved the triangle and pencil, while Slater worked with the tape measure.

All this building makes for hungry kids :)

The ship has been launched!

Slater helping with the sand.

The finished product with two happy campers! It needs a little more sand, but all the yards are closed for Memorial Day.

Favorite post bath activity

Reading in the big chair!

New vacation home!

Alright, it is only new to us and it isn't really a home. But we plan on making it our home-away-from-home this summer. It has room to sleep six comfortably and more if you wanted to be "cozy". There are a few little things that need work, but we are thrilled to add this "home" to our collection.

"Kid's Fish" Day at Cramer's field

Our little archer. He wasn't big enough to try the target shooting, but the kind man at the archery booth had a son the same age and very patiently walked him through shooting 4 arrows. He was thrilled to shoot and even more excited to go out and pull the arrows out of the targets for the next group. What a great event for allowing kids to connect with the outdoors.


Slater was skunked this year, but still loved just holding a pole and watching a couple of other kids catch fish, "Bravo, bravo!!"

Jade's lucky wasn't any better than Slater's, but she did enjoy her "Unc Carter" time. Lately she has been asking where people are and then informing you where she thinks they are. So today she said "Unc Carter watching a movie, mommy, with Aunt Sylia."