Owen is SO persuasive

Owen's class has been working on written persuasive arguments. The other day I went to Parent Teacher Interviews. Had a nice chat and then got to look at his "work done" folder. Found this draft:

Doesn't have time to practice soccer or piano or watch tv?!? Oh, the first world problems my boy has to deal with!
On a side note, I'm happy to read that he does not want to mess with me!

Halloween 2012

It was a cold Halloween night this year. Haven't had one of those in a long time. But it didn't stop some crazed, candy hungry kids from getting their loot!

 Tony Stark made an appearance.

 Tons of candy bars, chips and other goodies. Thankfully, people don't buy yucky candy like the olden days (ie: when i trick or treated)

The trick or treaters of the night: Snow White, Jasmine from Aladdin, the bag of jelly bellys and the NHL lockout. 

happy birthday friend

i have a friend who is having a "big" birthday tomorrow, and i thought this may be the only way to tell her "hey, i'm thinking of you- have a happy day!"

the thing is, she is here:

and i, well...obviously, i am not!

the best birthday present is not being here for our first winter storm! i know you are grateful to be soaking up every bit of sunshine and adventure! i am not alone in saying, happy oct 24 to everyone, especially karri.

he said it

overheard today:
Owen: "Indexing is my favorite thing in the world- except for soccer"

25 years of Run for the Pumpkin...and a little something else

Over 250 kids, 14 and under, ran the 2km this year. What a beautiful day it was. Some of my favourite kiddos are in there...somewhere!

The clothesline of fame. I wonder who else is the proud owner of of 25 Pumpkin run shirts?

The boys took a TON of iphone pics of Daddy Bru doing the 5k. The 'old crow' can still race.

Look who we found in the pumpkin patch: 

Thanks Mom/Grandma, for 25 great years of running memories

Lastly, Bruce opened his second physio clinic today! He's still waiting for cards, signage and equipment, but he's ready for business at the U. After 10 long years, another checkmark can be placed on his bucket list! Congrats, Bru.

happiness is...

... a leisurely bike ride with these three on a calm, peaceful fall night

 ...the changing colours of the season

... staying up WAY to late on a school night to watch The Avengers with their favourite hero! 

... an amazing electrical storm complete with an intense, pounding rain (as seen from the dry safety of my vehicle)

Olympic SUPERfans

We had an opening ceremony party with our dear friends.
We've watched on computers and tv, read blogs and tweets...and it's only Day 3.
A little too connected, perhaps? We need to go chase our own dreams once in a while....

But we sure LOVE the Olympics!

the end...or the beginning

Dean's last day of grade 6

Dean's first day of summer vacation

Happy Father's Day

Saw this cute video and had to repost it. To all the dads out there, happy day! I love my dad and the dad of my kids. 

We celebrated with homemade, choose your own adventure PIZZA. (sorry, no pictures) Bruce knew today would be a busy day for me and kindly suggested that over lasagna or ribs (his 1st and 2nd loves). Gotta love a guy like that! Immediately, I knew that called for theme meal: fruit pizza for dessert. Delish!

A dad and his boys....

 A young friend of ours makes and sells pencil toppers with half of that money being donated to the Alberta Children's Hospital. Bruce is a big softy when it comes to stuff like that (difficult to tell through his thick skinned, manly physique!). Instantly I knew of a one of a kind Father's Day gift. Can you guess what movie he loved?

 Obvious headline of the week:

Life as we know it

 We got to babysit this cute little monkey! He's a dream. His brother and sister were too busy playing to stop for the photo shoot.

 On our drive to school on Friday.

 These 3 helped at Ladiesfest, volunteering at water station #1. In my books, they are #1  :)

 Owen was in the paper on Friday. Then, there was this article about Roxy and her cousins in Saturday's edition. I joked with Rox that another Stewart better step up for Sunday's paper! She smiled.

 The perfect storm of sports! Loved the title of this article. As we are a bit of sport junkies around here, Saturday meant trying to do our work and still catch a few highlights.

 We did take a break to eat. Thank you for nourishing us, Cafe Verde. After two unsuccessful trip- they close at 8pm on some nights. Sometimes,  I haven't even thought "What's for supper" by that hour- we were richly blessed with yummy burritos and a drink of Horchata! Bruce was out running with Ramona. They got the same thing when they were done.

And we didn't just watch TV sports. We ran over to see Sara play in the Finals of "Battle at the 'Bridge". It went into overtime, but they won in the end! When we left Owen said "Well, that was a dramatic night!"

Oh, I ran in Ladiesfest on the weekend, too. But that's another post. My thoughts about what to say about it are still percolating. Saying "It was a great day." just doesn't do it justice.

We lead such exciting lives!

The pictures are not in order, but when you lead such exciting lives as the Stew Crew, you can forgive such minor details! I hope anyone who reads this can hear my sarcasm :)

 Saw this sign as we left the hospital on Saturday. We have another new nephew! He's awesome and his mom is a rockstar!! Welcome to the family, baby.

 We LOVE ice cream. It's a terrible addiction....terribly delicious, that is! Bruce and I chose safe blends of cheesecake with strawberries and white chocolate with strawberries. Owen's usual (yes, we have it often enough that we all have our "usual" fare) is birthday cake with gummy bears, but Saturday he ordered strawberry with Nerds. But Dean...he's the X Factor, the Connoisseur of the cream, the blender of bold flavours... He really reminds me of Remy (aka Little Chef) from Ratatouille. He had key lime with blueberries. Now, that may not sound entirely daring, but I just love how Dean tries all kinds of flavours. I don't think he's ever had the same kind twice. I think he'll be a chef... or a pilot (he's also very methodical!)

 Ever wanted to get outta Dodge (or wherever you live), but you knew you couldn't? This was my boys way of getting me to Montana! We had a fun Friday night date, until a little boy pulled the fire alarm! Even then, it was a bit humorous.

How lucky am I to have these handsome boys in my life?! They love athletic wear. A few years ago, Bruce read the book "Sneaker Wars" about the Dassler brothers and their EPIC, HUGE family rift as they started rival shoe companies, PUMA and ADIDAS. These 2 know they can wear the clothes, but they better not fight or they'll have one angry momma to deal with!

We also played basketball at the Church gym and perused Chapters. I saw this mantra. I love it.

The local landmark got a new facelift. Snapped this on Sunday morning. It's for someone named Lynz, but I think they'd share it with our Roxy.

Thursday's Thoughts...and I have many

Last night was the Little Souls Kids Marathon and Fit Physio 5K Family Fun Run. The announcer, Erin, was awesome, calling out almost every single name (350 competitors) and saying that sweet sponsor alliteration as often as she could!

We didn't run this year. Owen decided that he wouldn't do Marathon club. That was tough for me to digest. "We've always done it, though." I thought, "He'll change his mind." But, he never did. He didn't bow to peer pressure (albeit, positive) nor parent pressure. For good or bad, but mostly good, once Owen makes up his mind, that is it. 

We went last night, well, because that's what this Crew does. As we drove away, I asked Owen if he was sad he didn't run. His response was priceless. He said "No Mom. I was just glad I could be there to cheer my friends on."

And I thought that was a good lesson for me. Sometimes you get to be the do-er and sometimes you get to be the cheer-er. And life is always better with friends!

Owen knows who he is. And I couldn't be happier with that.

Dean also taught me a lesson last week. At school they were starting a lunch hour soccer league. He loves the sport, and decided that he wasn't going to wait around for someone to ask (or not ask) him to be on a team. So, he's captain of the "The's", although the name was not his decision,  with 7 of his classmates. I am impressed that knew what he wanted and went after it. It reminded me that though he may possess quiet mannerisms, he's preparing to take on anything that comes his way.  

This is a picture of Owen trying out for the Summer Games late last night. I spoke to the coach around 9:30pm, who said he needed to see Owen's skills. So I got off the phone and yelled, "Take off your pyjamas and put on your soccer gear!" Dean came, too, to help him run some drills. We'll see if he makes the team or not.

 I did not want to make dinner last night, but had no problem making this lovely treat. Can you say chocolate addict? It is 1. from a mix and 2. gluten free. Not too shabby, but I think I am a fan of gluten. They don't hold a candle to my Grandma Dean's brownies.

 This is a really funny book that I got from the library a few weeks ago. Sadly, I never got through the entire book, but it is here to remind me to renew it when I have a bit more free time.  I can tell it will be the perfect summertime read: frivilous and funny.

But this has to be the most surprising moment of the week.
It reads " Gone for a quick run back by 7am How was yours?"
Bruce. Ran. In the Morning ???

He does a ton in a day (sometimes, WAY more than me, but let's keep that a secret), but maybe he didn't want to feel like this guy today: 

Week in Review

Just a quick recap of the comings and goings of the Crew:

 Been driving by this local "national heritage site"for a few weeks now. Love the latest artistic work!

 That's right. Last weekend in May and there was S-N-O-W on the ground. Welcome to Canada ;)

 Dean and Bruce's triumphant return from Scout Camp! The overnight portion has been cancelled the past 3 years in a row due to rain, but this year the sun prevailed! They had a great time.

 So it was just me and Owen on Friday night. We stayed in and created our own Marble Slab creamery. Owen's mixins were fruit snacks and blackberries on neopolitan.

 Just love this quote.

The boys doing the  "Hey, hey, we're the Monkees" pose. They did it up and down the hall as the girls watched and giggled.

Another quote that I've been thinking a ton about ever since I became reacquainted with it. It was in the kitchen of Bruce's aunt and uncle who are on a Church mission in India right now. Bonus points for whoever finds out who said it.