My favorite "C's" in life are...

Coffee!

Chocolate!

And Chris!!

I love you Honey!
Thank you for being wonderful!

Felices Bodas de Plata Papa y Mama!

Los quiero mucho!

Espero que sean felices, coman perdices y que el Senor les de muchos anos mas a Su servicio.

Today is my sweet Mommy & Daddy's 25th wedding anniversary. Long live love! And that's all I have to say.

The turtle and the ice cream

Bear with me on this post. I know it's a lot of the same pic but he's just SOOOOOOO darling!

"You want some?"

"Here you go!"

Canada Day Picnic!

Te celebrate Canada Day (on July 1st) we went to a park that is by the river, appropriately named 'Riverside Park' heh, and had a picnic. It was a bit cold but there was a fair set up with lots of food booths, a stage where different bands played music and performed and some games for the kids. Then in the evening, we all sat by the river and watched a beautiful display of fireworks.

Visiting the Philippine booth and trying on their traditional hats.

The smallest Filipino of them all!

Climb to the top and then slide down!

In this game they strapped a bungy cord to your back and you had to try to pull against it and make it to the end of that passageway before it pulled you back.

The 'Sticky Wall' was great! They put you in a suit of Velcro and you could jump onto the wall, which would hold you there. Ben loved it! I even saw some adults trying it out.

He didn't jump all that high, heh.

Just a random pic of Chris with Danielle and Ruth.

End of school!

June 29th was the last day of school for the kids. The Kindergarten class had a little graduation ceremony that the parents were invited to and it was the cutest thing. Here are the pics:

They made their own caps and received a little certificate.

With Mrs. Jorgensen, his kindergarten teacher, who is one of the best teachers I've ever known. We will really miss her!

Lining up to sing for the parents. They sang 4 songs and it was beautiful.

Trying to get a pic of us together. (I was holding Cadence and Justin on my lap so this was the best I could do, heh.)

The only way to keep him quiet throughout the ceremony was to let him play with Ben's cap.

They're growing up so fast!

I got their first report cards and they're doing so well! They're both above the expected level for their grades and Ben is at a 2nd grade level in Reading Comprehension & Science! Lily's class had a month of swimming lessons in which she did very well and they also went on regular visits to a nice gym downtown where they practiced gymnastics.

They both really look forward to field trips and so far they've visited a farm, a lake, a Dental Center and have gone to a concert.

They've also made quite a few friends and we're entering the world of playdates, parties and sleepovers. Fun!

I'm so happy that the Lord worked it out for them to attend this school and we're all learning a lot through it. We're so happy that summer is here now!

Ben's 6th Birthday!

Ben-benino is 6 years old! He was looking forward to his party for so long, it was super cute! The theme, of course, was dinosaurs! He asked us if he could invite some of his friends from kindergarten and he drew the invitations himself, check them out:

I thought they were sooo cute! I think 2 of those are supposed to be velociraptors (his new favourite dinosaur) and he was very specific about which dinosaur was for which child.

I will let the photos tell you the rest of it:

All the Canadian Uncles and Aunties got Ben this awesome bike and the gear for it! There were also lots of cool dinosaurs, a Nerf gun, water gun & another of his favorites: bakugan warriors (or whatever they're called). Also txs Grandma for the nice clothes!

Originally Ben had asked for a repeat of the cake he had for his 4th birthday: a volcano with dinos around it. However, at the very end he changed his mind and asked for a 'flood with the dinos drowning in it'. Chris very graciously made him a mix of both. On the upper left corner you can even see a wave coming in. It was so cute!

Blowing out the candles.

Note: All the good photos were taken by Ruth, with her awesome skills and great camera.

We also made these muffins to go with the cake. They were supposed to be dinosaur nests with the eggs in them. (We wanted to buy these little speckled chocolate eggs that would've looked great but they only sell them around Easter.) Ben loved them!

My big, beautiful, birthday Benny-boy!

With his cousins & friends from school.

A highlight of the party was that we started it with a water-balloon fight! Chris & Nico joined in and the kids had a blast!

As soon as the fight was over the weather got a little chilly and we had to take the party inside but it was fun while it lasted.

Even the 'older kids' had fun with the baby toys, heh.

Traditional birthday family photo.