The 2009 Vimy Award and my friend

My good friend Will MacDonald is the 2009 recipient of the prestigious Vimy Award. This award has been given to Priminister's and to General's and it is the first time it has been presented to an NCO. I and everyone else who knows Will, is extremely proud of his efforts in serving this country.

I can't say enough about Willy. Congratulations on the award and well done as always................Brian

http://www.leaderpost.com/news/Regina+soldier+Willy+MacDonald+receiving+Vimy+Award/2238223/story.html

Will also was awarded the Star of Military Valour in February of 2009.

It's been a while.......

Summer 2009

Hello everyone, I hope all is well and everyone enjoyed the summer. Although we didn't get much heat this summer, we still enjoyed the beach and the park as much as we could. Charmaine was off for the summer and I took a few weeks when I could.

The family had a great time at the beach with the water, the boat and having the odd fire. The twins are speaking more and more and full of personality (and attitude). Maddy has become a "big kid".

Fall is here now and life is moving back into a routine for everyone. Char is back at work, Maddy has started Kindergarten and the twins have even started in Pre-school. It is hard to believe. Maddy is taking the bus and seems to enjoy school and the whole process, thus far. The twins have just begun school but they also seem to be having fun.

Time flies with children and I can hardly believe it is September already. Char and I have our good friends' wedding at the end of the month and we look forward to seeing Chris and Kate, as well as the West Coast. Not much else is new. Activities begin again and today was our first swimming class (all 5 of us are involved!). Everyone did great. More activities will begin soon.

Here is a short slide show of some pictures from the past 3 months or so. Hope you like and keep in touch...............Brian & Charmaine

Maddy Graduates......from pre-school

Sorry for the lack of updates in the past few months.

All is good with the Stouse family. Maddy is about to finish her last year of pre-school. She has done well with French immersion and we will see how she does with it in K. Zoe and Ava are also doing well and pretty darn fun these days. They will start pre-school in the fall.

The cabin at the beach is about to get into the swing of things and we look forward to a nice long summer. (especially with such a crummy spring)

Not much else to say but I hope to add some video or more pictures soon. I like to think this is the first of several graduation pictures for Madeline before she becomes a doctor..........have a good summer......................Brian

Madeline Dance Recital 2009

Valentine's Day Wedding

(click on the photo to view it a little better)

Valentine's Day was pretty special this year as Auntie Keni (and some dude named Bryce) got hitched. It was a great day and everyone, including the kids, had a blast. Maddy, Zoe and Ava were flower girls and they were pretty excited about the whole thing. Amazingly they did really good for the actual ceremony and then we all enjoyed the party that followed. Our other Auntie and Uncle ( L & D ) were in attendance and Cooper loved dancing with his many dates for the night. Auntie and Uncle (K&B) are away on their honeymoon and home soon.

Since Christmas, we have been busy with work and life. The winter seemed longer and colder then normal. Either because I am getting older (birthday tomorrow) or because we didn't go away this year. Either way, we are looking forward to summer and the beach again. Kids are busy with school, dancing and gymnastics. We are therefore busy with all that too, plus work and other stuff. Hope everyone is well and enjoying the last of winter's weather..............B

(the heart above is hard to see so I will ensure I post some pics of at least the kids)

Chrismas and New Years 2008

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone. Just one of many pics and videos taken from the last month or so. Holidays were great and more updates to come soon. I am sick of the weather and wishing I was somewhere warm or retired..............or both.................Brian

(Zoe is left and Ava is right, in case you were wondering.......or at least I think......)