MS Bike Tour

It is that time again... time to make a difference for others. I am fortunate enough to be healthy and have the ability to make a difference for others. This year I am riding for MS to bring awareness.
I need sponsors for the ride, so I am sending you my link.
Please consider sponsoring me and helping fight MS!

http://msofs.mssociety.ca/2011bike/Sponsor.aspx?PID=1246267&L=2

For me it is not about being the fastest, it is about giving back. The tour is about riding to bring awareness. I am not going to lie, it is so hard for me to do this, I am not the normal bike touring kind of gal but 2 days of heavy working out and 2 months of a sore butt is nothing compared to what those I know must suffer through.

If you are interested there are MS bike tours, walks and so forth every where..... consider joining one to help fight this disease.

Thanks for your support!

SICK, broken legs and work!

The kids have been sick with bad colds and the flu. I thought it would be easier with older kids, 15 and 13, than it is with younger kids but I am worn out. They are coughing all night, up with hot sweats and then cold. They whine and are so sucky. I love my kids and they are needing extra love BUT this is insane. On top of all that, Charlie broke her leg Friday night and had to go to the emergency vet and then have surgery Monday. We had to pick her up Tuesday and now keep her on bed rest for 2 weeks. How do you keep a 5 month old puppy calm???

Oh and then I also started working mornings at Child minding, I love it but it is taking a bit of adjusting.

Jake is also going to take Chemistry at a high school, that is exciting and lots to plan for!

But life is good!

Skating

Well Daina and Chelsea asked us to come skating with them and we accepted. So Jake, Tatyanah, Amanda and I went to picked up Casy and met Stacy, Chels and Daina at the rink. Stacy is a trained figure skater, Taty plays ringette and Jake and Casy can skate and are kids. The adults were suppose to have not skated in years. I was the only one who has not skated in 100 years. Everyone was amazing except me! It was so fun but so scary!

Ever so careful......

Amanda leading me along!

Amanda pushing me along...

laughter and friendship...

I wish this picture was clearer... Chels and Daina are two amazing friends!

Stacy giving me lessons and I am so balanced with my grover mitts

We had a ton of fun and we all want to go again~

Christmas

What a Christmas or should I say Christmas'?

We had Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Sheppard! That was so fun. We all love them. They are the best gparents, they are so much fun and we always enjoy their company.

Then the kids has christmas with their dad and Grandma and grandpa Farmer, they are amazing Grandparents, I love them!

Then we had Christmas ever with all the kids, Tim had to work Christmas day! That was so fun. One of the funniest moments was when Tim opened his HUGE can of tuna from Amanda. Tim always eats tuna from a can because Amanda told him one day it will help him after a work out. We had a great time eating, visiting, cooking, laughing, and sharing gifts. I love having the kids all together.

The kids: Jakob, Tim, Kassia holding Charlie and Tatyanah!

After Christmas eve we headed out to Grandpa and Grandma Layden's house in Whitecourt for some family fun! This is a blast because everyone finds a place to sleep and we eat, play games, visit, laugh and have a blast. This year we did a chinese gift exchange and we all got amazing gifts. Jaime and Renata got there own gifts

and poor Al got woman's perfume! But it was so much fun all in all. I got a cool telescope that a few of us went out to look at stars, it was as exciting finding the stars as spending time with everyone out there looking for them.

And then there was games. Crainium, in which everyone always wants to be Amanda's partner! Renata and Jake were partners. Some how that was super crazy. Jake could not get simple things like counting sheep as Renata was holding up fingers and counting and Jake would say "counting numbers" and then she would do sheep jumping and he would say "sheep jumping", but he could not put it together. Here he got ROBOT! Oh what fun...

And then came Lori and Al!

They were so funny!!!! I laughed so hard! They had to use each other as puppets and guess things! I can not even remember what they were doing here but they were the best, they really did not answer much right but they by far had the most fun and we were so entertained!

Lazy dogs....there is 2 in this basket in their Christmas jammies!

Family + games= good times!

Our house on Christmas!

Christmas was beautiful! Family, friends and love!

Introducing Mason Kenneth!

Mason was born December 21, 2010 and weighed 7 lbs 5 oz. And he is the most beautiful boy ever. His parents are some of our bestest friends and we were lucky to labor with Marci. She was FAST...she started having contractions and I thought she would progress slowly as she just began. Within an hour she went from calm simple contractions, spastically every 5 mins or so, lasting 30 to 40 seconds to 4 mins and lasting a good minute. She got to the hospital and he was born in juts over an hour of getting there.

Beautiful Mama and baby....looking great!

Mason Kenneth "Kathy"

Me and my boy!

Painting 101

Amanda and I were talking about things we like to do and Amanda is amazing at almost everything...she can not master diablo....

We decided to get some paper and acrylic paints ad have some fun. Well I do not have the art imagination she or most people do but I remember one time finding a great way to paint spring blossoms on Crafty Crow's blog, so I thought I would try a winter picture. We had recently went tobogganing so I thought I would make a painting of us tobogganing. Well my snowy hill was fun, even adde colors using greens and browns to make the snow look like snow. My people looked horrid so I decided to finish with trees. I was so proud of my painting, then I saw Amanda's....

And While I know mine was a fun experience I was amazed at Amanda's....

Well that stirred something in her and she wanted to try oil paints....and we set off to Micheal's and she got the old 70's guy kit....she went to town and ....

She is flippin amazing...today she is an art class on oil paintings. She is having a good time. I met her for lunch and there is 5 ladies in the class, all 20+ years older than her but she is learning and enjoying herself. Jake and I painted the other day and he made a landscape and I tried some abstract art, I will post those some day!

Magical Moments

I can not explain all the emotions I feel! the one thing I really wanted to do was go to an orphange while we were in Mexico. We asked people how to go to them and they said just show up. So after we went to Puerto Vallarta we went to get candy and headed to the orphanage. The house mother welcomed us and we gave candy to the little kids and went in to see the toddlers. They were getting ready for bed and we got them all hyper, then we settled down and said good night and they went into bed. Then we went into the baby room and this one little guy loved Tatyanah, he cried when she tried to leave him. We all loved him so much.

The little girls, happy sweet little girls that loved having their picture taken and wanted to see the pictures after. They were also very naughty too!
This little girl kept leaning over and rubbing her forehead on mine and being so sweet. But when I reach over to pick her up, she would not come to me. I was holding a little boy on my lap and plaing but I was curious to what she wanted.
Then she leaped into my arms for tons of hugs, she was holding my face and laughing so much. I loved her heart, we kept hugging heart to heart. Amanda, Jake and Taty watched for a while and then jumped in and started to play.

This little guy LOVED Amanda, he was so smart. He was telling Amanda all kinds of things and they had quite a conversation going on. They talked about the window and how to shut it. He was such a happy boy.

This little guy was a climber, he climbed everything, including into our arms and held on so tight, he gave big huge hugs and it was precious.

These little girls loved their picture being taken and they loved seeing their silly faces.
This is Amanda with her little brilliant man, Jake was a little quiet in this room but the kids loved him, he was just shy and felt bad.
he was such a love, we all just wanted to love them forever!

I suck her out of bed, she was already in bed and looking around so we played with her, she was so sweet. And when we put her down she was fine, she jus went on looking around.
This is Taty's little love, he loved her, he wanted her to stay with him. He was rocking back and forth in his crib and when he saw her he would not let her go. he was so smart and so tiny.

The bigger kids are always ready for love but they are also orphans and they know it is a moment of love not a lifetime. Some are cautious while most just dive in. Poor Taty was to give the kids their 2nd candy but she asked if they had one or 2? The kids said they 'wanted' 2. She thought they had 2 so she was not giving them another, she was so confused and so were they. In the end, everyone got candy and Taty was fine.
This little girl was full of giggles, we played for a long time, laughing and tickling and giggling. I love when she decided it was time for me to be tickled.

And then we played! We danced and sang, played ring around the rosie, clapping games, hand games, rides and singing. Amanda, Jake, Tatyanah and I played with the kids for a long time, Amanda had the camera for a bit but then we all just had fun together.


At one point a little girl went over to Jake and whispered in Jake's ear and sat beside him and just held his arm. It was so precious but I did not get a picture although it is etched in my heart forever.

Another time a little girl said something to me in Spanish and one little girl spoke pretty good english and when I asked her what she said she said, " jesus loves me" and all the kids broke out in song. It was one of the most beautiful raw real moments of my life. These precious children know that they are loved in spite of their world. They were loving, trusting and happy. They learned early what life can be like but they are loved by the ladies who love them and raise them, by strangers and by a god they believe in.

I think what made this special for me is the similarities for me. When I was a child I too was raised in a home, I was thrilled to share as much love as I could with these precious kids for the time I had with them. I walked in an saw the little girls beds all lined up and it was just as my first home was, lined up little beds. And the kids just wanted to be loved and be kids. This was an orphanage filled with love, structure and happiness. I will go back! We all left with our hearts over flowing with the love they gave us.