Our yard ....

The ongoing saga with our yard might be nearly finished ... you see, last year we planted grass around mid August. It started to sprout a bit, along with a lot of weeds. We figured that by this Spring, the grass would grow in even more and choke out the weeds ... well, that didn't exactly happen. We had to do a round of Weed N Feed, and then more seeding, and a lot of watering ... finally after a lot of waiting it seems that our grass has finally overtaken the weeds! We still have some spots that we are working on, but the grass is sprouting in these areas now as well.





You can also see in the above pictures the start of our fence. We've had the fence post holes dug, and the posts are in place. However, Peter planned to cement the posts in place this weekend - and it rained and rained ... and rained! So, the holes are now filled with water; we just have to wait another day or two for them to dry up before he can pour the cement in. We are hoping this will happen before we leave for Florida on Thursday evening.

Corey came by with his Bobcat to dig the holes for us ... we just rented the attachment to go on the Bobcat.



And as usual, some pictures of Ainsley that were taken recently. Here she is reading a book:



As I mentioned we're heading to Florida on Thursday for a 2 week visit. We are looking forward to this alot - a nice vacation and some time spent with Rick & Sharon - we'll keep you posted!

Team PM & Ainsley

Too cute to pass up

Our friend Ryan just sent me these pictures that he took while we were out at his place last week. Ainsley had just finished sitting in a dirt pile playing with and eating dirt!


And here she is with her Dad ... who was watching me intently as I took off down the driveway on Ryan's mini bike. That was super fun by the way ... pictures of that next time!


She is always so cute when she gets excited about a Baby Einstein video coming on .. she starts clapping when she hears the Disney theme music at the beginning of the DVD! Here she is watching Baby Neptune and having her afternoon snack.



Team PM & Ainsley

June update

As you've likely noticed I have made the blog public again. I enjoyed knowing that not just anyone could view pictures of my family and read personal information, however, it was proving difficult for some of my loyal readers to work through the sign in process. So, as a compromise, I will try not to divulge anything too personal in the interest of privacy - but I will keep the pictures coming.

It is June and it is HOT in Cold Lake. Summer is here and it is days like this that make me long for the crisp air of autumn. Not that I'm in a hurry ... I do like to enjoy some things about summer ... but 30+ degree temperatures is not one of them!!

The last few weeks have been busy. We've been steadily working on our yard, mostly the grass. It is coming in very nicely now, along with lots of weeds ... which is kind of the problem. But, thanks to the sprinkler system that Peter installed last summer we are able to ensure that the grass gets lots of water - and it needs it out here in our dry Alberta climate. We also planted some trees last week - an ash tree in our front yard, some lilacs at the side and back of the house as well as a maple tree. I'll try and get some pictures posted soon.

Ainsley & I have been spending lots of time outdoors, going for walks and playdates at the park. She is walking now, but only about 10-12 steps at a time .. and her preferred mode of transportation is still to crawl - she knows she reach her destination much faster if she crawls : ) Here are a few pics of her taken in the last couple of weeks ... eating some yummy spaghetti and watermelon:




Here she is playing with her Bumbo chair, which is now more a toy than a place to sit since she can just climb out of it if she wants to.



On Saturday night we went to the Cold Lake Stampede to watch the Chuckwagon Races ... it was pretty cool! You know your in the West when ...





Then on Sunday our church had the official Grand Opening of our new building. We had a special dedication service which included a message from the mayor of Cold Lake himself, Craig Copeland. We also had a short message from Ken Solbrekken who is the District Superintendent for the Alberta and NWT branches of the PAOC. Following the service we had an outdoor lunch (on a very hot day!) ... here are a few pics of that, including Ainsley with Bobo the Clown : )





And to leave you with a little entertainment ... Ainsley's latest mess,


Yes, she pulled every single Kleenex out the box - we couldn't get them all back in!

Team PM & Ainsley