First Day of School!!

Ok I am WAY behind!!! We got back from our Florida trip and there were so many pics that I was too overwhelmed to put any on. So I've just decided to skip it for now, and move on to 1st day of school. Both Emma and Ty had great first days of school. Ty has Ms. Limperopolus, we call her Ms. L,:) and Emma has Ms. Ringdahl. Jeff and I have jumped in full force this semester. Jeff is coaching girls volleyball for grades 4-6, and basketball for boys grades 5 and 6. I am volunteering in Emma and Ty's class with reading and helping with math.

We are loving Lord Roberts Elementary and all the friendships we have there.

Grade 1 pancake:)
Grade 4 pancake!

Emma and Ty on their first day!

Ty in his grade 1 classroom

Emma in her grade 4 classroom.

Canada Day 2011

Canada Day 2011, dawned cloudy and cool!! Which wasn't a huge surprise because this is what happened last year. It did, however, get sunny for part of the day, which was a treat. We started the day with a picnic, where about 60 of our friends came and had hotdogs, and lots of yummy treats that everyone brought. We played kick ball and a fun "new to us" game called link. Everyone stayed until around 5, when we left to go get good spots for the parade. We all watched the parade together, and Scott brought homemade ice cream, which was a hit!! After the parade we all kind of went our separate ways, and then some of us met up to see the fireworks!! It was a fun and FULL day!!

The kickball game.
Some of the ladies sitting and chatting.

Eating the yummy hotdogs and goodies.

Some of the kids ready for the parade.

Our whole gang at the parade!

Some cheerleaders from SFU and UBC in the parade.

Some Royal Canadian Mounties.

Sports Day 2011!!

Sports Day 2011, was GREAT!! We started off with each day doing tug'o'war, then we had grade level 50 yard dash. Then after recess, they were divided up into their teams and played games ALL day long. I know I've probably said this before, but I LOVE how the older kids at our school take care of our younger ones. All the kids were divided up into teams and on each team were kids from every grade. The older kids (grades 6-7) were the team leaders and helped the younger ones at each station. The kids had so much FUN!!

Ty doing the tug'o'war, he was the anchor :)
Emma pulling hard on the rope in the tug'o'war!!!

Emma and her ribbon from the race!! She got 3rd place!!

Emma running hard!

Ty ready for his race.

Ty with his ribbon, he got 1st!!

Ty with the egg in the spoon.

Emma in the sack race!!

Ty with one of his best friends, Jake!

Emma with one of her best friends, Angelica!

Our principal, Ms. Coopersmith, and Steve, our counselor.

Fort Langely field trip with Emma's Class

Emma's teacher this year, LOVED field trips!! We went on many, but this one was different because it was away from downtown. We were able to go to Fort Langley which is a historical site for where people used to trade and barter. The kids were able to mine for gold, roll barrels, and build a house. Then we went to a nearby park and had lunch. It was a lot of fun, AND educational!!

The house where they would sign contracts.

Emma's "gold"

Mining for "gold"

Building a house

Rolling barrel contest

My group of kids

Ended the day with a game of red rover. Glad that game is still around!!

the Crossings Easter Service 2011

This was our first year as a church to do an Easter service. Our team was great with set up and take down and even though we're not to the point of doing weekly services, it was good to see everyone in action!!

The toddler room where I was.
The 3's and 4's

Grade School kids

The muffins and coffee and our nice security woman :)

Our Greeters :)

Doing sound check.

Easter Egg Decorating and Egg Hunt

Well one thing I have found out about church planting is that when you're in charge of an event, you seem to get less pictures than if you're not in charge:). So that prefaces my lack of pics for our Easter Egg Decorating and Hunt. We invited friends over to decorate eggs and do an egg hunt Easter weekend. We set up tables in our courtyard and the kids had fun decorating the eggs. Then we sent the kids to the other courtyard and hid TONS of eggs. The kids had a great time finding them and then we all had a yummy picnic lunch of hotdogs! It was a very fun and beautiful afternoon.

Some of our kiddos decorating eggs.

Emma making a masterpiece!

Ty making his masterpiece!

Ty hunting eggs (actually counting the eggs):)

Emma going to all extremes to find the eggs :)

Emma's Fashion Runway Birthday Party!!

Emma designed absolutely every aspect of her birthday party this year. She designed the invitations, then drew out a picture as well as made a list of what we needed for her cake. Then she described what colors she wanted everything in and how she wanted everything set up. She wanted to do a fashion show/runway party. The invitation told the girls to bring clothes that they would want to walk the runway in. There were about 20 girls in our apartment all primping and getting their make-up etc. on. Then we took them to our party room that the building has and we had decorated it to look like a runway. We had fun music going and I think the girls could have swapped clothes and walked the runway for hours. After about 1 1/2 hours of runway walking we had to put an end to it so we could do cake, ice cream, and presents. We had videoed the girls on the runway and they LOVED watching themselves as the ate. It was such a fun birthday party and I was so proud of Emma for creating everything. I think everyone involved had an incredible time.

Emma's runway cake

The whole group!!

Natalia and Ashra

Emma and Natalia

Emma and her friends on the runway!

Emma blowing out her 9 candles!!!

Emma opening gifts.

All the girls watching themselves while they ate cake.