A week of Birthdays

This week in October is always a busy one for us.  We have both Braiden and Blaines birthdays.  We started off the birthdays last Friday.  We headed up to Calgary and went to the temple open house.  It is beautiful!  And I have to put a shout-out to my amazingly talented sis-in-law Candise who worked on the temple for months.  She worked on the decorative painting on the ceilings.  The gold paint of the wheat and roses and other things.  I'm not describing it very well at all, but all I can say is that she did an amazing job!  Oh to have that talent!

After the temple we met up with Blaines mom and sister at the zoo.  We haven't been able to get there this summer so we were so excited to finally check out the penguins!  They are very cool - we all loved them.

Here is Braiden checking out some of the penguins.

We always have to check out the dinosaurs.  If you notice the lovely sign that tells you not to climb on the dinosaurs.  What a bunch of law-breakers we are eh?  :)

Checking out the gorillas.  Always a favourite

Caleb and Emily watching the big gorilla.  Caleb just loved the zoo.  He loves animals, so every animal brought on a lot of excitement. 

We went into the building that housed all the butterflies.  At first I was a little hesitant, but in actuality it was very cool.  Here is a picture of a HUGE moth that was in there.  The picture doesn't do it justice.  It was massive!!

We stayed in Calgary that night and then the next morning was Braidens birthday!!  First thing of course we had to do was open presents.  Always the best part of a birthday right?

A very happy birthday boy!

Later that day we met up with family again and went bowling - Braidens choice.  It was a lot of fun.

After bowling we got to meet up with some more family at Boston Pizza.  When I asked Braiden how his birthday was he answered "Best Birthday Ever!!!"   haha

I think this picture is hilarious!  He looks like a devil child.  We took this the night of Braidens birthday so I figure it's ok to put in.  Besides, I just love it...can't help it....

Today is Blaines Birthday!!!   We absolutely love this guy - he is the best!

He got off work this morning and came home to a very excited little boy (ok, and wife) all ready to give him his presents - Caleb was still sleeping.  It also made it exciting because we hadn't seen him for a few days; but that is an entirely different story

So here he is opening cards.  Braiden waiting sorta patiently for him to open everything.

We have "the" present for Blaine but it is one of those presents that he has to be there to help choose.  So we had to get him a couple presents that he could unrap on his Birthday.   Or you just couldn't call it a b-day.

Opening up his couple of presents.  He really liked his presents (which always makes us happy too)  He was so pumped about the level.  Kinda funny - oh the things that make people happy!  His actually went missing a few years ago, so he has been wanting a new one ever since.  

We are so lucky and blessed to have these guys in our family.  They are amazing people and we love them so much!!!

Happy Birthday Blaine and Braiden!!!

planning ahead

Something that I have to do everyday that I'm not a huge fan of doing is making supper.  It is one of those things that I just really don't enjoy doing; and what I actually dislike even more is the whole "what am I going to make for supper tonight?" which always happens around 4:00.  Awhile ago my oh-so-awesome Aunt Ros had posted about how she had made some freezer meals for the week and how easy it was to do.  I have done this before, but the last time I did it was right before I was about to have Caleb, and I did about 7 or so.... I think....  So anyways, I decided that I was going to plan out a day and get a whole months worth in the freezer.  

So I sat down at the computer and found a bunch of recipes, went shopping then got to work.  My original plan was to make 30 meals.  After searching my brain and the internet for meals I ended up with 26, and I figured that was just going to have to do because I really was sick of searching.  

It was awesome.  I made sure that Blaine was home so that I didn't have to worry about the kids, and I have to put in a bit of praise in for my amazing hubby.  He made sure that I barely even saw the kids, and that I was able to just concentrate on getting my stuff done.  I couldn't have done any of it without him, that's for sure.     

Here is a pic of most of the meals I made.  I only had 6 left to do!

I love that all I have to do now is go into the freezer the night before and pick what we are going to have for supper the next day.  

I already have it planned to do another freezer meal day next month and this time it's gonna be with my mom.  Best idea ever!!

** As a side note - while I was doing the cooking I remembered that my sis-in-law did this once a while ago.  I probably should have talked to her before doing this... next time I'll be calling you Candise!