Snakes.. YUCK!!!

J and L were doing a chore recently and J saw what he thought was their plastic dollar store snake on the ground beside the house.. till it MOVED!!! Apparently he took it rather badly. Papa said he was one step away from losing it. I guess he takes after his mother.. but that is another story for umm.... never!!  Snakes and I, harmless or not, do NOT mix. I don't even like the plastic kind. ANYWAY Papa caught it and calmed J down and then brought it into MY house to show the girls. 

Taking a good look.

 Neither of the girls seemed to mind it too much but I have a feeling that was because Papa was hanging on to it. They all pet it and Papa gave them a 'snake talk' which I didn't really listen too. We have no poisonous snakes here, thank goodness,  but I think it's the biggest gardener snake I've ever seen. Not that I'm ever looking for them, I'm sure there are bigger ones around.  They released it into the woods by the front of our property and thankfully we've not seen it since. 

Another Life Changing Moment!

Papa and I have been in Canada for 8 years now after moving from Wa. state. Papa had to live in Canada for over 5 years before he could apply for and become a citizen. He applied.. did all the pictures and paperwork and waited. Then they sent him a book to study for his Canadian Citizenship Test which he read over a few times and both of us, and some of the kids, learned some things about this country that we didn't know before. After waiting a bit more he got a letter letting him know the time and place of the test. He read the book over again, just in case, and went to take the test. It was 20 easy questions. 

The ceremony was at Huble Homestead in The 'City' and on Canada's 144 birthday.  This picture was taken in one of the few non raining moments of the morning!! There were 28 people taking the pledge from 13 different countries. I wish it hadn't been so crazy or I might have been able to remember more of them.. Poland and Hungary were two and of course the USA. 

 Here is a picture of Papa... pretty much the only one I got. It started to rain right after this and POURED rain for most of the ceremony. After they said the pledge in the pouring rain they did send us all inside an old barn to finish up! By then we were all soaked. Several people mentioned that it was a unforgettable ceremony. There were several families that were taking the pledge together at the same time! 

And a very nice lady took this rather terrible picture of us all after the ceremony! Our 2nd family picture in under a month!! I wanted to get a picture of Papa and the dressed in red Mountie who started and finished the ceremony.. but he refused so we took this one in front of the flags instead. Oh and PAPA refused.. the Mountie was there for that reason :) 

Happy Canada Day!! 

Oh and we've decided to visit Huble Homestead again really soon.. hopefully on a non raining day. Pretty neat place from the little we saw of it. http://www.hublehomestead.ca/  Check it out :) 

Baby J walking Movie :)

Baby J is really walking around these days :) I took this video the other day so I could share it with you out of towners.  Today he perfected stepping off and on to the carpet which had so far eluded his skill. He is very proud of himself and walks around with a huge grin on his face. If he's close to something he tries to RUN to it. Won't be long and he'll be running laps up and down the driveway to wear off some energy with the rest of the crew!

A Lovely Day And A New Family Picture :)

 A friend of ours recently got married. It was a LOVELY western wedding :) We totally enjoyed celebrating with them at their beautiful place. They used flowers in season from the area around them and later on one of the bridesmaids gave Little R and E her bunch!! They stayed in a vase in the kitchen for over a week. Both E and R LOVED the wedding and played "wedding' for over a week afterwards.. Taking turns being Rita, the bride!! Later on at the dance they got to dance with Rita and they LOVED it. Defining moment in their young lives I think. The boys stayed off the dance floor most emphatically though J did watch from the side lines.

The wedding Party :) The 1st Married Kiss :) 

Clayton carried Rita up the aisle after the wedding. It was a beautiful touching wedding. Unfortunately I did not get many pictures as our computer crashed the week before and I had no place to put the pictures that were already on the camera, which of course was full!! 

But Mrs. B took this picture of the 7 of us between the wedding and reception. We were quite dressed up, for us and it was about time for a family picture. This is the 1st picture of the 7 of us we've gotten so far!! Thanks B!!