Super Woman!

A few months ago Felisha and I had a discussion about a need for Felisha to get out and do something fun for herself. I imagined that being trapped in the house with 4 or 5 kids everyday plus the other tasks of being a mother and a wife could be a little wearing. One thing that interested her was voice lessons. She always loved singing but never had any kind of singing experience other than around the house like most of us. Soon after this discussion I had a client who I knew had experience with teaching voice. I asked her if she still taught and she did. Soon after Felisha was signed up and ready to start. Soon after she started the Raymond Playhouse Society announced that they were going to do the production of Big River. Being that there was a major need to African American actors and singers Felisha's teacher encouraged her to audition. At first Felisha was not too sure. She got encouragement from a few more people and decided there was nothing to loose. Sure enough a few weeks later she was auditioning... and she got a part. From my understanding she has a pretty big roll as one of the singers in the "Slave Choir" among other small parts. I wont know exactly the roll she has until I see the play for myself. I know she has some solo parts too. I'm getting really excited to see her perform. I know that when Felisha sets her mind on something she goes for it full speed and excels. This is something totally new for her and it just makes me that much more excited to see her doing something new!

GET YOUR TICKETS!!!

In the process of working on the play her teacher encouraged her to do more. For the past few weeks shes been practising to sing in the Lethbridge Kiwanis Music Festival. She will have judges give her feedback and everything. As I write this she is on her way to perform there. I would like to be there but I am home with the boys and Felisha said she would be more nervous if I was there. I will be going to the play whether she likes it or not.
I'm so proud of Felisha for trying something new and really putting a lot of time and effort into it. She is a very hard working lady. She is an amazing wife to me and mother to our 2 sons. She runs a small day home and watches 3-4 other kids during the day. She is a Scentsy consultant www.felishaboehme.scentsy.ca She got her first recruit today, and more to come! On top of all this she has church callings and responsibilities. I don't know how she does it all, she must be Super Woman!

Keiston is growing up!

Do you see that face?? we are super lucky to have this boy!!!

Our little Knight isn't a baby anymore. This boggles my mind. He still looks like a baby to me. I guess some might argue that he still is a baby but he is well at the beginning stages of toddlerhood. I'm so amazed how much he has thrived within a year of life.

Keiston is most definitely a charmer. Once he cocks his head off to the side and bats those brown eyes you don't stand a chance. So sweet and loving. Gives kisses and hugs if you ask.

The boy will not sit still. A speedy one might I add. Already running after kids and wanting to be included in any fun. He's always set his own paste when he started:
-crawling at 4 1/2months
-cruising at 7 months.
-walking by 11 months

Major milestones were hit early by this boy.
He really loves to dance. Once I turn on
Dance Central on xbox he gets this big grin like he knows what time it is and then he's dropping it low! Ha, it must run in his blood or something.
Can sign, more, all done, up and down,
Food is his true love. The boy can eat and will eat almost anything! He can pretty much out eat his brother.
Not a very good sleeper. Takes very short naps and wakes in the middle of the night but we are currently switching him to share a room with khyrum so hopefully he sleeps better away from us but I kinda feel bad for khyrum ha! we'll see how that goes.

If you couldn't tell already, we are so proud to have an amazing boy! He fits perfectly in our male-dominant home and we are full of thanks to have been given him.

-Felisha & Tate

Holidays and more Holidays

This Christmas we had planned to travel to Toronto to spend it with my family but we had a change of plans when Tate's parents asked for everyone to come to their 40th Anniversary. December 21 was their day. All their kids gathered together for photos and food. Their 6 kids collaborated together and put together some money for send Val and Viv on a trip. They decided on Cuba and are there right now. They wanted to go on a trip for a while now and were really planning on it until other things happened, like the giant tree in their yard starting to fall and will cost a few thousand $ to bring down, the old hot water tank in their house needing replaced, and Val's car dying and needing to get a new one. 

Christmas eve was spent at Tate's parents with a lot of his family. Their tradition is fondue on Christmas eve followed by the grand kids reenacting the Nativity and then a visit from Joulupukki (the Finish equivalent to Santa). Typically Val plays the part. He dresses up in some funny Santa like costume, hands out gifts to the kids and then kidnaps one of the kids in his bag. We have an exchange student from Switzerland (Jan) staying with us for a few months so we decided to have him take the role of Joulupukki this year. The kids right away knew that it was Jan but they still enjoyed it nonetheless. This Christmas Joulupukki brought scentsy buddies to 23 out of 26 grand kids. One grand kid already had one and the other was 'too old' for one. (scentsy had a buy 1 get 1 free promotion for a while so we told Viv and she liked the idea of getting 1 for each grand kid). Khyrum and keiston already have scentsy buddy's so khyrum got a horse head on a stick that makes sounds (He LOVES horses) and Keiston got a stuffed giraffe.

Christmas morning we did presents from Santa at our house. We didn't get too much for the kids because we didn't feel the need. We did get Khyrum a leap pad so that he can stop asking to play games on our phones. We got Jan a nice Canada jacket (Tate got one too). He really liked it. He showed his dad and he wants one now too. Tate and I always say not to get each other anything because we make big purchase during the year that we say are our Christmas presents. This year we got a new washer and dryer, a DSLR camera, and a new kitchen table with a bench. I love them all. But of coarse we still did a few little gifts for each other. I got clothes, runners, and a carpet cleaner that I've wanted for a long time. Tate got some clothes, runners, and hockey gloves. We know Christmas is not about the gifts but its still fun to do. As the kids get older we plan to incorporate a lot of giving into our Christmas traditions to make Christmas a little more enjoyable for another family- whether it be a family in Africa, Jamaica, or local.

Christmas evening we planned to have our own little family dinner. Viv called and said they would like us at their house if we wanted. So we decided to go there but take some of the food we were going to do. My family does not typically do the turkey or ham like most people do. We usually do fish, chicken, goat, oxtail, and other Jamaican dishes (can you tell us Jamaicans love meat?) So we took salmon to dinner. We also wanted mashed sweet potatoes but did not know how to make it so my sister in law Jen helped. I think they were the best mashed sweet potatoes I ever had! Viv did the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, and a few more sides. All in all we had a lovely Christmas and are happy that 2012 was good to us.

For New Years we wanted to get away. We went to Edmonton to stay with our good friends the Haylins. New years eve we took the kids to Stony Plain for a kids festival. They ate popcorn and drank hot chocolate, we went on hay rides and watched fireworks. They had a great time, except Khyrum had a hard time with the fireworks. After we went to Vanessa's family's house for a party. Lots of food and lots of music and dancing. Khyrum and Maiisha stayed up until 2 AM drinking apple juice, dancing, crying, and dancing some more!