60th Birthday Party!!

I started writing this blog last week and finished it today.

It is still hard to believe that my parents both have now turned 60.  WOW!  We had a big celebration for them last Saturday (May 21st)  and invited friends and family.  It was so nice to see everyone.

Being part of a big family definitely makes putting on a party like this a lot easier.  There was 5 of us girls to prepare the food, decorate the hall and make the day special.  Make that 6, my mom helped us with the baking, she made 3 tortes and the birthday cake.

I took on a huge project of putting together a slideshow with pictures of my parents, mostly of their married life.  They have definitely done a lot in the 40 years that they have been married.  Starting out in Calgary then moving to Wetaskiwin in the mid-70's.  There were many pictures of different vacations that they went on and lots of pictures of us kids.  It really made me realize again how important pictures are to preserve our memories.

We had a great day with friends and family and lots of food of course!!  Thank you to everyone that came out and made the day special.

Looking through all the pictures reminded me again of all that my parents did and still do for me.  Thank you mom and dad for all the wonderful memories you gave me as a kid, for everything you did for me and everything you still do for us.

Most difficult picture to take!!

God has truly a blessed our family!!

Mother's Day!

Flowers from my girls!!

I thought I would continue to share on my blog.  We are no longer on vacation but we continue to make new memories on a daily basis around here.  With six kids there is always something happening and some sort of memory that I would like to lock into my memory to cherish, as the time is so quickly slipping away.  Life seems to be passing by faster and faster each year.  I cannot believe we are already approaching summer again.

Yesterday we celebrated Mother's Day.  I feel so blessed to be a mother to my six beautiful children.  I still remember being a little girl dreaming of the day I would be a real mother and telling my dad "but I am a mommy to my dolls."  Those days seem so long ago.




In the morning we went to church and after church we took these pictures to remember the day.  I have come to realize that even though I do not like to be on pictures I need to force myself to take pictures with my kids so that they have pictures of me when they are older.

We went to my mom's house for lunch after church.  I think there was 39 of us there in total (21 kids and 18 adults).  The kids are now outnumbering the adults, not a good situation!!!   It is always a bit crazy but the weather was nice yesterday and the kids could be outside.

Mark's gift to me!

That night, the kids gave me their presents that they had made for me.  Mark surprised me with a very special gift that he had brought back from Colorado Springs.  When we lost our little Joseph, I really wanted some sort of wall hanging that expressed how special my children are to me and to remind me how blessed I am that each one is healthy.  I never could find anything and I had even looked at Focus on the Family but missed this one.  Mark did see it and bought it for me.  It is perfect, the verse on it is very special to me. (Psalm 139:13,14) When I was pregnant with the twins, I listened to a CD with the kids that had a song with this bible verse in it.  Then when we started having problems it comforted me because I knew God was in control and that He loved my little boys even more than I did.

I love my children very much and I thank God for them each day.  My greatest pray is that they will grow to have a personal relationship with our heavenly Father.

Me and My Mom!