Such A Joy!

Amalia is officially our little joy-bringer! You can't help but smile when she is around and laugh when she laughs. She is such a ray of sunshine in our home and to everyone who sees her.

She is just learning to understand when something is funny....today for instance....

Twinkle went into heat and thus needed a Little Swimmer diaper on her. Well, as soon as Mali saw her she grabs her tummy and statrs laughing saying " 'unny! 'unny!" And she just couldn't stop. It was quite priceless!

Other times she just laughs and giggles for the sheer pleasure it seems, running circles in the house giggling to herself. Or laying on her back tickling herself.

Around here, there aren't too many miserable days! Smiles are contagious!

It's Official!

I am a horrible blogger! But, of course, I am sure that comes of no surprise to any who actually check in here! But to redeem myself at least a bit....I have thought about blogging alot! I come up with all kinds of cool things to write on here but just never get around to it. Life is that busy....yes, I know I could spend less time elsewhere...like HP and PAI.

So there, there is an entry in the new year on our blog! Yeah! Maybe I'll do better...but please don't hold your breath!

A little taste of autumn!

So far, my most favorite picture of this autumn!

The petunia tree blooms!

I just had to post an update as to how my tree looks at the end of the summer. This week I am taking it apart as the aphids have eaten most of my blooms now. I think it did pretty good this year!

Starting to catch up on life again

Well, VBS is done, vacationing is over and the laundry from all of that is almost done! Whew! I can't believe how fast the summer has flown by. And it has been jam packed too.... we had Amalia's first birthday (I'll post more about that later), we had a wonderful VBS week that went actually pretty smoothly and not too many "bumps in the road" that week, then we all went to K-town for a week and Mali and I stayed for an extra week, after coming home for a day Mali and I then went to Lethbridge with Mom, Dad, and Danny to visit Nathan, Brenda Kaitlyn, and Erin for the long weekend and came home on Monday. And now I am back to the basement...again. Since our flooding I haven't had a chance to put things back together since Rod tiled downstairs. I have to say, I am looking forward to getting into my crafts and scrapbooking again soon. Oh! Mali is up from her nap so I will update more later!

VBS Adventures - Day 1

Well day 1 is done and finished! Yeah! It seemed to go really well and without too many glitches. The kids seemed to really enjoy the stations too. I have Windsurfing as my station and my name is Gale Winds...and our bible story is in Luke, about Jesus calming the storm. Our theme verses for the week come from Psalm 139. I had the 5-6 year olds today and are they ever full of energy!!! It is really neat how each one is so different...in personality and such. I think God must find much delight in creating each one of these precious souls...His creativity is amazing! And to think that He knows each and every detail of these rambunctious kids, and loves them so very much already. My prayer for this week is that God's love and message will shine through each and every lesson, song and story...and that these hearts we have been entrusted with this week, will be touched in a very special and lasting way.

Still a country girl at heart

So tonight I had to drive out of the city to drop some VBS stuff off for someone and they happen to live out in the country. Driving out there I had the AC on but after I had gotten out of the vehicle I smelled fresh mown hay....mmmmmm! On the way back into the city, I then took the long way around with both windows down smelling the fresh air... full of smells of fresh cut hay, canola flowers, along with that bit of a swampy smell from ponds. It was wonderful....the blackbirds were singing all along the side of the road making a wonderful symphony of noise! It really made me miss living on the farm back in Kelowna tonight. It is really too bad that you can't bottle that fresh country smell. I would have jars and jars of the stuff in my house and sniff it to my heart's delight whenever I missed the farm. Living in the big city has a lot of good points and normally when I am in the middle of the city, I don't feel like I miss the country at all. Now don't get me wrong, I am happy in Calgary, but tonight for awhile, I really missed BC and the farm. If I had the opportunity to choose to live anywhere I wanted, I would pick the open country (yes, bugs and all) anyday....hands down.

Another Hafichuk!

On Saturday, June 23, at 8:53am....Skyler Allen Leo Rufiange was born to proud parents, Ben and Janell. He was 7lbs 11oz and looks like a little cutie pie! Congratulations Ben and Janell!

My Petunia Tree

The annual petunia tree....I am really hoping that this year it will look as spectacular as my mother-in-law's trees did last year. They were so full and beautiful. It would be nice if it works like it should for one year....but I guess it would have helped if I had been more consistent in my watering and fertilizing! This year though to help me, Rod has set me up a drip watering system and so far so good. With all the rain we have had lately, all we need is a little sunshine and hopefully this pretty tree will be full of blooms! If it fills out like it should, I will post a picture later this summer, but if not....I am not sure if I want to show off my failed attempt!

Best buddies!

I truly think that Twinkle and Amalia are going to be the best of friends. Especially since there is now food involved! Amalia is catching on that if she drops her Cheerios over the edge of the highchair, Twinkle will come and eat them. In a way this is nice, as I don't need to pick up, sweep or vacuum after Mali is done eating!

Amalia is also very much into "sharing" her toys with Twinkle. Very often I will catch her holding out a toy for Twinkle....and Twinkle in turn "drops" her rawhide chews right in front of Amalia.....yuck! I do honestly try to keep all doggie objects out of Mali's radar, but somehow they have passed through a couple of times. Well, I guess it is building up her immunities!