Easter Preparation!!

We invited Andrea and the twins over today to help us with our egg decorating. The kids had a blast but we were all a bit multicolored by the time we were finished!

I'm always frustrated with commercial egg coloring kits...they never seem to be vibrant enough for me. I was on Pinterest a few days ago and saw a post explaining how to color your eggs with Koolaid! The colors looked great and I got so excited! But, superstore only carries 2 flavors of Koolaid and I didn't have time to shop around....we were already late getting home. So, back to Pinterest for me that night.

I found a post about using paste cake decorating dye to make your colors with and the results looked awesome! I put quite a bit of paste in each cup because we were working with 2 two year olds...I didn't want to be sitting around for 15 minutes at a time waiting for colors to darken. Then I added a couple tablespoons of vinegar and the rest hot water.

Our colors came out awesome! The pink and purple had a tough time dissolving but that resulted in some Tie-dye effects. The colors were quite potent and we didn't have to wait long at all to get some vibrant coverage!

Everyone had about 7 eggs to color because Maren was gone with friends. The twins were so cute! They loved using their hands and then they'd wipe their hands on their tummies...good thing Andrea opted to take their clothes off before we started.

All in all, everything turned out awesome!! I think I'll use the same method next year too, but maybe I'll try some different color combinations for some interesting colors. Thanks for coming to play guys!!

Swim Club Mini Meet Fun!!

The girls have been doing winter club swimming at the university in Lethbridge for the last few months. It's been lots of fun watching their swimming improve. We are able to carpool with some other families as well so that helps.

Maren and Jenna decided to start together and Evy and Dawn-Marie are having fun too! I'm so glad they found something that they enjoy so much and the great exercise is a bonus!!

This swim meet was a fun meet with just the kids from their club. They divided all the kids up into random teams regardless of age and did some really fun relays. They were hilarious to watch.

The first one was just a regular front crawl relay. They did one where you had to use a flutter board and pass it to the next kid. Then they did one where 2 kids swim each leg and they had to push a ball to the other end without touching it. In the last one they used the huge floating mats and one kid had to lay or sit up on top and 2 other kids push them to the other end.

I tried to get some pictures and video but we were pretty far away. Everyone had lots of fun! It was a great last day before the Easter break.

Poor Micah was pretty sad because he wanted to be in the pool too! He is going to start as a beginner after Easter holidays so he will be ready for summer club this year. He is so excited!!

I'm glad my kids love to swim! I wish I was better at it...it's on my bucket list to improve...maybe this is the year!!

Here and Now

We've been traveling down memory lane for a long time now.  I thought it'd be nice to blog about the present for a change.  Things are crazy around our house lately.  We have been renovating the house.  We got our permits approved and got started with the demolition in July of last year.  What exactly are we doing, you ask?  Well....renovating!!

It has taken it us a lot longer than we had hoped to finish, and it doesn't help that our plans have been tweaked and changed all along the way either.  Regardless of the craziness we have had a wonderful few months.  We had our Webster reunion again in July.  This time we went to a B&B in Mountain View.  Thanks to the Jim Steeds for all their hard work!  It was the perfect place for the reunion.  We had this big cabin and another smaller one.  We played games, hiked, went shooting, went golfing, had a talent night, had a baby shower for the twins, went for ice cream, had lots of bonfires, went canoeing, ate LOTS of food, and all the adults did a session at the temple.  It was sooo much fun!!

Here's the whole clan!  See how happy we all are?

The rest of the summer was fun also.  Maren and Blake did well with swim club again this year.  Blake brought home quite a few ribbons.  They are improving every year.

The kids started school in September and Micah was especially excited to start Preschool.  Evy is doing well in Mr D's class in Grade 2.  Blake is in Grade 5 this year, and Maren has made the leap to JR HIGH!  I still can't believe it.  She is a good student and does well in her classes...except for social...but we're working on it.  She is enjoying jr high, especially things like Home Ec and Shop and all the new things she's learning in Gym.  It was an adjustment to have so many different teachers, lockers etc.  but she has adjusted well and is all about having fun with her friends!

In October we drove out to Vancouver for Cindy's wedding .  It was beautiful!  She was a lovely bride and the wedding and reception were wonderful.  She is doing well and loving married life.  We are always happy for excuses to be with family and this time was no different.  Here's a shot of the happy couple.

In November the Twins were born!  Yaaaay!  Dan and Andrea waited a long time for these 2 cute little blessings.  I think I my be addicted to them.