Dawson's Baseball

Dawson had a great season playing ball with all his friends. His team was made up of kids from his school so they all knew each other and got along great. The team had quite a few kids who moved up from t-ball so we were a little surprised how well they all did. By the end, the kids had learned the basics of the game and were hitting and catching better then the start. Laurie and Jenn did a great job coaching the team along with parents help.Dawson loved hitting the ball and seeing how far he could make it go!
Of course Chloe and Sara played on the team as well!
A team picture after the tournament. They did awesome and won all three of their games that day!!

Swimming lessons

Swimming lessons went really well this summer for the kids. Kaitlin was excited to go as she loves to swim. She doesn't mind swimming laps and trying her best. She is getting stronger in the water and her dives are getting better too! She passed 2 levels and will be in level 8 next summer!

Dawson and Kortney were a little nervous and so was I not knowing how it would go. Dawson loves the water as well, I just wasn't sure if he'd try all that he needed to do. Well I was very glad when Dawson jumped in and couldn't get enough of classes. He faced his fear of jumping in the deep end and not once did he give anything a second thought. He did all he needed to do to pass 2 levels! Next year he will be going into level 4!

I didn't need to be nervous about Kortney either. There were no tears shed and by the third day she was dunking her head by herself and loving it. She had a little trouble getting her feet off the floor of the pool by herself. Instead she'd put her head in, wave her hands and kicked her feet on the bottom of the pool.Only with Ang's help could she get into a swimming position. But that's ok. She made a lot of progress in two weeks and had fun too!

My heartbroken little girl

For anyone who comes to the house one thing is for sure. You will see Kortney carrying her kitten around (everywhere). First thing in the morning ,all through the day and whenever we came home for somewhere, she was always going to the shed to find her kitten. It was amazing, five kittens and hers was the only one that was happy to be dragged around like a rag doll. It never seemed to mind at all. Whether it was being wrapped up in her blanket, dancing with Kortney, sitting in the stroller, this cat didn't care. It would just keep purring. Never did it run away from her when it had the chance. ANY other cat wouldn't be this stupid to put up with Kortney's constant handling. I often had to remind her the kitten wasn't a toy and to be gentle. But, this little kitten would fall asleep on it's back while Kortney would rub it's tummy and loved every minute of it. The two of them were adorable together.

After being away from the house or when we went outside these five little kittens would come running to the kids. Yesterday, Kaitlin, a friend, Kortney and Alex decided to walk back to the pond and were having trouble because the kittens were following them. Kaitlin said she had to bring them back several times. Today after being gone for the day, we came home and only two kittens came to greet us. Right away we knew something was wrong. Once Dan came back with the tractor, he said that he found Kortney's kitten dead on the lane way back to the pond and the other two were hiding in the wood pile back at the pond. The kids and I went back right away and found the two missing kittens. Of course they were all happy, but Kortney. Her little heart is broken. She just doesn't understand why her kitten died, and all of us are very surprised these kittens went on such a big walk. All I can think of is they were looking for the kids today.

I feel so bad for Kortney though. She still has four other playful kittens to hold and pet, but they all won't sit still for very long. She is going to be lost for a few days not having her little friend. I'm just thankful we found the other two missing ones and hope they all stay safe. It's been a tough year for losing some of the farm animals, three other cats,a guinea pig, one turkey, the "dad sheep" and a few "mom" sheep. At Grandpa Hoggart's mittens the cat has died, at Grandma B's her dog Max died and Mike, Cheri, Alex and Mackenzie's dog Rocky has died.. I'm really getting tired of telling the kids, that yet another animal has died.......A really hard life lesson that unfortunately growing up on the farm happens a little too often.

The Wedding

First of all I have to tell everyone I am not re posting a ton of pictures on here. You will have to see all of them on face book!

I will write though how incredibly awesome the weekend of the wedding was and how much fun we had getting to know Marc and Heather's friends and family. First there was the bachelorete party in Toronto, manicures with the girls, a rehearsal BBQ back at the pond, a trip to the salon for our hair Sat morning, the wedding, then the Sunday brunch the next day. Everything was wonderful, and beautiful. It was hard to say goodbye to the people we met and spent so much time with. Especially for the kids. They had so much fun chatting, playing and dancing with all their new friends and of course Marc and Heather! We have some great memories and pictures of the weekend to look back on and share.

Travis loved the little bits of StarWars that was worked into the day, and he had fun dancing and talking Star Wars with the guys. He will always look up to Marc and think he is the coolest!

Kaitlin loved getting her nails and hair done and being part of the girly things. She also loved dancing and her steak dinner that night!!

Dawson had sooo much fun telling Star Wars quotes to get Marc and Heather to kiss and also had a blast dancing!

Kortney loved it all. She made a new friend Emily, loved showing off her dress and hair, and loved all the dancing that night!

All of the kids thought staying over night at BenMiller was very cool too. From the cool buildings, to our huge room (with two tvs) to the pool and hot tub. We drove past BenMiller today and they were asking if we would ever be going there again.

Hopefully you can check out the photos in my facebook page and see a small bit of how wonderful our weekend was.

Congratulations to Marc and Heather!!!! The day was fairy tale perfect just like them.....We can't wait to hear all about their honeymoon in Hawaii when they get home!

July 1

Here we are again - July 1 fireworks in Wingham! Every year we are always amazed on the amount of fireworks put off in this little town! It's always worth the wait for the show that's put on.
Here we are with our good friends Laurie, Rich and boys, Kim, Robert and girls and Kerry, Bevan and their boys. Everyone had fun playing and wandering around waiting for it to get dark. (Well except Travis who is very impatient!)

A group shot, although it's a dark picture.
Kortney and her best friend Shayna.
Some of the kids goofing around while waiting!

And the show begins!
Kaitlin and Sydney.

Robert with two little girls thinking he makes a great chair!
Travis with a smile finally on his face!





Dawson and Colin after the show was done!

The next day

The next day Savannah and Dylan spent the day with us. The boys spent all morning out doing chores and playing in the bush and back at the pond. I brought the girls back too in the afternoon so I could start cleaning up the shed for the season. All of the kids spent a bunch of time making their own "boats" to race. Travis and Dylan teamed up and made theirs out of a piece of board, some twigs, LOTS of duct tape and some fishing line. The girls made theirs out of some recycling they found, twigs and again LOTS of duct tape! Dawson wanted to make his own, so he tried his best to make his twigs, covered in tape and a little flag to float upright! They all worked away until the pouring rain came which forced us to stop.

Here's Travis and Dylan trying to figure out the best place to start their boat.
Dawson getting his boat started.
Travis and Dylan with their boat in the water with some fishing line attached to it so they didn't lose it in the middle of the pond!
These two kept on working away.
It's too dark to see, but here's Kaitlin and Savannah with their boat part done. Oh and Kortney too!

Again, it's hard to see, but here's Dawson with his boat. If you look close you can see the twig and piece of duct tape to make the flag.
Trying to get their boats to float and or move across the water!


Just another day of adventure at the pond!!

June 20 Kaitlin's 10th Birthday!

Kaitlin was so excited for her birthday party this year. All she wanted was to have her best friends over and be able to ride the horses around.
The weekend ended up extremely busy with kids coming and going. Kaitlin had three friends here Friday night till the end of the party, Dawson had his own birthday party to go to, Travis was gone Friday till Sat night, then Sat night we had two more friends come to spend the night! It was a little crazy, but we managed and all the kids got along great.
Here are a few pictures of the horse riding which was the highlight of the day!

Kaitlin, Holly, Dan and Avery Whyte.


Avery Whyte
Holly
Kaitlin (who showed off how she can ride on her own and trot!)
Avery Wright, Kaitlin, Abby, Dan, Ashlyn


Avery Wright


Abby

Ashlyn

Kaitlin and her lonely cupcake!! (her decision to have cupcakes instead of a cake)

Later on in the day Kaitlin's good friend Savannah came to go for a ride and spend the night.
Everyone had fun going for a ride and decorating their own real horse shoe! (thanks to uncle Jason who happens to have lots of them!!) Now, the birthdays are over until Sept when once again I will have to come up with and plan for yet another party!