A family visit

Farrell's mom and dad and nephew Daniel came up for a fun weekend visit (Spring Break is this week down there in Edmonton where it is actually spring and the snow is almost gone!). Here are a few pictures of the kids playing outside. Yes, Gavin only has one boot on, the other one was stuck somewhere beneath our six feet of snow. ;)

We can laugh at ourselves, right?

Now, I still LOVE my Oilers, despite their current, um, struggles, but this just cracked me up!

Edmonton, Canada - A seven year old boy was at the centre of an Edmonton courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him.

The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with the child custody law and regulations requiring that family unity be maintained to the degree possible.

The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her. When the judge suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried out that they also beat him.

After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him.

After two recesses to check legal references and confer with child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the Edmonton Oilers, whom the boy firmly believes are not capable of beating anyone.

DON'T smile!

We took Abby to get passport pictures taken today - which we were dreading, truthfully, remembering the ordeal that Gavin's passport pictures had been a year or two ago - and he was quite a bit older. (Try getting a child you've carefully brainwashed to SMILE as soon as they see a camera to NOT smile for this particular picture!)

But...somehow our Abby girl who never stops goofing around understood exactly what she was supposed to do. The photographer took one shot right away, which was actually pretty good except she had her mouth open a little bit, so we helpfully told her to close her mouth and not smile, and here was shot #2! Amazing!

But no, we're still not looking forward to doing it with the new baby. The photographer admitted that it usually takes upwards of 20 tries to get a proper shot for a newborn.

And truly, how many security risks are they keeping out of the US by forcing newborn babies to carry passports?!?