the Chartrands

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

One big happy family

We love our crazy kids! Here are some random pics from the past couple months. Tyler earned enough money to buy a new bike (we paid for half of it)! He earned a big chunk of it on our trip home from Colorado, entertaining and taking good care of Lily.

We finally checked out the splash park at The Woodlands Waterway and rode the free trolley

Hangin' out with Lily at the splash park


Claire made me a donut Scott loves swimming now that he knows how to move around fast with a floatie
When Lily's really happy, she stretches her mouth open really wide--it's so adorable!

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Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Calgary reunion

Okay, I still haven't caught up with my pictures! These pics are from the Eng reunion (my dad's family) in Calgary. Lily and I got to go while Tim stayed home with the other three. We had a blast! It was my first time back in almost TEN years, so it was good to finally visit again. Some highlights: watching the Eng children (7 of them) sing "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" in Sacrament meeting, watching the Eng sisters plan and argue reunion details for hours on end, visiting with my brother and cousins and other relatives, going to Princess Island and dim sum with my mom and cousin, learning how to ballroom dance with my brother, eating delicious Chinese food and learning how to make it from Grandma, getting stopped at customs for not having a letter from Lily's dad!

Princess Island with cousin Nadine
Paying respects to Great-Grandpa & Great-Grandma;
We also honored Grandpa and Uncle Kevin.
Winners of "How well do you know Isaac (the missing Eng sibling)?"
My parents, Grandma, and so many other great relatives helped take care of Lily
A little blurry, but these were all the Engs at the reunion
Tim took the kids to Galveston while Lily and I were gone--they had a great time and all made it back safe and sound!

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Sunday, August 23, 2009

Lily's blessing

We blessed Lily while we were in Colorado, which was in July. We were grateful that my parents and my brother David (who just got home from his mission!) could come down to Tim's parents' and both sides of the family could be a part of Lily's special day!

It was pretty funny when my parents and David got to the Chartrand home (it was their first time there, and they happened to come during an exciting day in the country). A bear had been lurking around the property for the past few days and gotten a hold of most of the chickens. So a ranger had come out and set up a big bear trap, complete with a deer heart covered in chocolate syrup. Well, the bear took the bait and got trapped just before my parents arrived. Imagine my dad's shock when they were greeted inside with, "We're on our way to see a bear that we just caught! Do you want to come with us?" My dad opted to stay inside, although he still didn't quite feel safe, especially when he asked, "You lock your doors, right?" and we all burst out laughing. Tim's mom's reply was, "We keep MOST of the doors CLOSED, except for the mud room!" I'm sure it didn't help when she told him that she had seen a bear on their porch a few days ago trying to open the front door. Anyway, when all the excitement had settled down and people needed to use the bathroom, we had to inform my family that there was NO WATER, so we needed to keep track of which toilets had already been flushed once, and we had to use storage water jugs to wash our hands. Tim's dad is the one who built their beautiful home, along with their own well, and it had been acting up for the last couple days. On top of that, when Tim's dad finally made it home, he was covered in spackle from head to toe, having just finished spackling his mom's house. I could tell that Tim's mom felt bad, but everyone was having fun, and it made for an exciting weekend! It made me realize how much of a part of Tim's family I feel now, and how much we love them, as well as my own family, as different as both sides are. We had a lot of fun spending time with our families, and we were so glad that we had our families there when we blessed Lily.



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Sunday, August 16, 2009

Claire's 5th

It seems like this was ages ago... Lots to add on the blog since my last entry. Anyway, this was in celebration of Claire's 5th birthday. We went roller skating at a nearby rink--it was like stepping back in time to the 70's. Tim and Claire enjoyed doing the hokey pokey and the chicken dance together. It was funny to see how the kids' personalities showed in their skating. Claire was slow and steady, almost never falling. Tyler would zoom as fast as he possibly could, then crash right into the walls and fall. Scott, well Scott just kept getting frustrated because he couldn't stay up. And Lily, she just slept on the sidelines.
I can't believe our little cutie pie's 5 now!



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