I'm Not Lost

This week has been so crazy and it all started with the weekend.

We were getting ready for Keagan's birthday that was on Sun. and we got a phone call from Jamie's uncle to say that he was in Calgary and was on his way up, which is great for the kids because Uncle Gary is their favorite great uncle. He is a real kid at heart and things always get a little crazy around when he is here but it is a really good time. We had a good birthday planned for Keagan, in our house when it is your birthday you get to pick your birthday dinner and cake. Keagan this year chose lasanga and for dessert we went to the Italian market and he chose an assortment of cakes, it was a lot of fun. Unfortunatley, just after we got home from church my mom called to say that Jamie's mom was really sick and had just be put into ICU.

Then the fun began of still trying to celebrate and have a good time for Keagan and try to figure out if Jamie should fly home. So Jamie flew home early Mon. morning only to discover that his mom had been transfered to another hospital in Vancouver. It was a little bit crazy but he was really glad that he went so that he could see how she was and brighten her spirits a little. The kids made a funny vidoe for her to watch of them all dressed up in army gear pretending to fight the bad sickness. It was a good laugh. Jamie came home yesterday afternoon, his mom is still sick and will be in the hospital for at least a week but things are looking better. Darien has been praying so hard for Grandma, which is very cute. All is going to be well.

I am still trying to get my camera to work so that I can download a bunch of pictures. Rylan is now in a big boys bed and he is loving every min. of it. He is so relaxed that I still have to go and get him in the morning, but it is really cute to see how much he loves being a big boy. Now if only we could get the potty training worked out.

Bullies

Ok, I always thought that as your children got older things would get easier don't ask me why I thought that, maybe because you can talk to them better and they will understand more, but as we move into every new stage I am finding that with it comes new challenges.
I am very sad to say that I have a 7 year old who for the past 4 months has been bullied at school which breaks my heart. We thought that it has stopped just after chIt is not physical but emotional and that is very hard. The hardest part is that my normally loving and caring child has turned into some one that is more short in his temper and very emotional, it seems that he cries as that the drop of a hat over the most simple of things.
Today, is one of those days when he just could not bring himself to go to school saying that he is sick. But of course when you are sick you are to stay in bed or on the couch and relax and he doesn't really want to do that, so that tells me that there is something else going on, and once again he tells me that he is feeling hurt by these little boys. The saddest thing is that one of the little boys was one of his best friends last year and some one that Darien wants to have over (even still) because he says that he is nice at our house just not at school. It is all very confusing to me. I am just thankful that Darien has a wondering teacher who is a great support, and very easy to talk to. The other great thing is that Jamie and Darien have a great relationship and Darien is a lot more open with his dad. I am so thankful for Jamie in that he can keep calm when I am just a bundle of nerves and emotion. Thank goodness for balance.

Meetings

I feel like this week has been nothing but meetings. We had a meeting mon. night regarding grade four students having to go to the junior high in Sept. because our town is growing too fast for our schools and as a mother that is a real concern for me. I am not ready for my little boys to go with bigger kids nor do I think that he is ready for what he is going to see and hear. So welcome to the wonderful world of older children and the concerns that go with that. Darien is only going into grade three but that doesn't mean that it is not something that we need to be aware of so we went to the meeting.
Last night was spent registering Keagan for Kindergarten. I feel almost like an old pro at it. I was a lot calmer doing it for Keagan than I was for Darien but that is the difference between being the first and the second. Keagan is so ready for school. He asks me everyday if he gets to go to school and is working hard at learning his ABC's. I am excited for him to start school.
Today was spent at school with Keagan for my duty day, then off to a Relief Society meeting for church and then a playschool meeting tonight. I have decided that even though Rylan is starting playschool in Oct. I am not going to volunteer for anything. I am going to need a little bit of a break, which will be nice.
I think that is it for meetings, and I am very glad. We had a wonderful weekend with Tammy and Patrick. The boys had a great time going to the monster truck show, and just like last year Keagan fell asleep during the show if that is possible. We spent Sat. traveling on the transit train to down town Calgary for something different to do, then we had a little party for Keagan. Tammy made a wonderful cake and we had some good laughs. It is nice to be able to go and visit when ever. We even found time to go and have some new family pictures taken, so hopefully we will get those off soon. Tammy and I love our little trips to VV (Value Village). Of course as I am getting bigger so the trips are not so much fun for me, but I like finding stuff for Tammy and she promised that she would share once I am back to my non pregnant body.
I can't get my camera to work right now, so I will post some pictures later.

Puke Everywhere

Ok, do you ever have one of those days when you don't know what else could go wrong? Well, that was my night from about 5:30 until now. If you had read my previous entry you will have read that I was going to be having bookclub at my house tonight, well in the last 1 1/2 hours that has all changed. Jamie came home sick from work which is fine because he can just hide out in the bedroom, thats ok but then we sat down for dinner and Rylan said that he was not feeling well, and I thought maybe it was because he likes to be like daddy, but then he didn't eat any of his dinner which is not like him. So he got down and went to lay with daddy and the next thing I know he has puked all over Jamie laying on the couch. YUK. So after everything is all cleaned up I am thinking ok just get everyone to bed and all will be well but after Rylan's bath I am just getting ready to sit and snuggle with him before bed and as he is walking towards me he once again pukes (not just a little bit). I have had it and I phone the Relief Society Pres. (lady in charge of our womens group at church, I work with her in planning lessons and education stuff) and tell her that the location has to be changed for bookclub and so now the phone calling begins. All I can say is thank goodness for people who can adjust and change at the last moment. I am sorry that I am missing the meeting but I am glad to be home so that I can recoup after a very busy evening. Everyone is now sleeping and I am going to go and watch some t.v. to unwide. What a night! Lets hope that is the last of it. I already have two loads of laundry to do. (I love laundry LOL)

Buying Clothes

Ok, there are somethings that I just do not like paying full price for and those are new jeans and pants for Darien (7 1/2 yrs.) because I know that they will not make it to the next child. I have found that once they hit grade one the pants are never the same, whether it is just from nomoral wear or because they spend so much time on their knees playing at the park during school but I can not bring myself to spend more than $15.00 on a pair of jeans. So this morning has been spent searching every second hand store for good used jeans and obviously it is a problem for a lot of other people because I found none. I than hit Children's Place and they have a good sale on right now so he got two more pairs of pants. The other problem I have is that my kids are so very skinny that the pants never fit them right and we have to tighten those little straps all the way and they say that it hurts, so again I can not win. I like to make my kids look nice but for the cheapest price possible. LOL.
For this afternoon, I will be cleaning my house and making some treats for tonight as it is my month to host our bookclub. I really like getting together with friends and have a good talk about a good book and then it is fun to talk about other stuff later. If anyone has read any good books later that you think would be good for us to read please let me know, we are always looking for other books.

Re-Group

Do you ever get to the point where you feel like you need to re-group as a family and start from scratch again? Jamie and I came that realization this weekend that we need to go back to do the basics with our children again. What that mainly includes doing is finding the joy in the simple pleasures of life and enjoying one anothers company again. We have decided that there will be no more t.v. for a while, and gone with the game boys and playstations (not that they play them a lot). It seems to us that they and us have forgotten how to play together and how to play with their toys using their imaginations, so it was time for a change for all of us. I can already see a good change in that this morning before church the boys where actually playing together with minimal fighting which was lovely. I don't know how long we will do this but for a while to get back on track and enjoying each other again instead of running off and doing other things.
Rylan and I stayed home from church today as he woke up with croup. It of course comes after we had just gone to the doctors about his coughing and he had no cough only to have it come back three days later. I can see that we will be making another trip to the doctors this week. But it was nice to get everyone else ready for church for 1:00, then put Rylan down for a nap and read for a while with no interuptions. I have been reading "Mary and Joseph" for our church book club which is this Wed. at my house. It has been a very instereing book to ready about what life was like when the Savior was born. I really look forward to each month and book club other wise I might not read as much as I do even though I love it.
Jamie was up this morning getting dinner ready and thank goodness we have two crock pots because in the one he has a lovely smelling roast on the go and in the other one he is trying a new desert. I can't wait I have been smelling it all day. I am thankful for a husband that loves to help and do his part.

Week Is Over

I just have to say that I am glad that this week is over. I have looked forward to 7:00 bedtime every night this week. It has not been difficult, but I have a husband that works shift work and this weeks shift is the one that I dislike the most. He would go to work at about lunch time and return home around 10:00 pm which means that I have the children during that wonderful happy hour just before dinner and then on to bed time. My children are not horrible but I always find this the most challenging time of the day because everyone is tired. (Especially when you get up to go pee 3 times a night LOL) I think that the hardest part is that Darien really misses seeing daddy when he gets home from school. Jamie and Darien get to see each other for only about 30 min. in the morning, and when you have a son that loves his daddy so much he really misses him and has a hard time when he is gone. I am just getting to the point were I can not rough and tumble with the kids anymore and they need to have that. I am thankful for Jamie in that he tries to change out of those shifts because he knows how hard it is on his family but there are times when it can not be help. But that is ok for the next six weeks he will be working a normal job which is Mon. to Fri. home at about 4:00 what bliss that will be. He is preparing to teach the next set of students coming in which is fun but also stressful. I find that he is more stressed teaching than he is doing is normal job which is supposed to be one of the most stressful jobs, but he loves to teach and does a good job at it because they keep asking him. Looking forward to the bliss. LOL

Let It Snow

Yes, it is once again snowing in Alberta. This is the worst time of the year because it seems like it should be getting closer to spring but it just keeps snowing. I just hope that March goes by quickly so that my trip home comes sooner. I can't believe that we are so close to the end of Feb. already. Yesterday was a busy day with going to Keagan's school for my duty day and then in the afternoon I had my R.S. meeting. We got home just in time for Darien to get home from school and then it was off to the dentist. Darien it beginning to realize that he doesn't like the dentist as much as he thought and I can understand where he is coming from because they are not my favorite people either. Jamie was gone all day because he went to court to see if he could have a speeding ticket that he got reduced. He as never had a ticket so he was hoping that they would go easy on him, he did get some off which is good and then he went to work early. I know it doesn't sound very exciting but that is the way life is sometimes. I will be going for another ultra sound on March 6 because the baby was not in a very good position to see his spine or heart so they want some more pictures. I am hoping that I can get one of those 3D ones done so that the kids can get a better idea as to what he will look like but we will see. Today I have to take Rylan to the doctors because of his on going coughs, they think that he might have asthma so we should have a better idea today. Of course he has been coughing since Oct. but he has not coughed in the last two weeks, isn't that always the way.

Fun Fun Fun

Well, the night was great for my birthday. My husband arrived home with a lovely vase full of roses and then Tammy arrived with her family. We got all dolled up and headed out to the restaurant for dinner with some friends. Dinner was great and I have decided that one of my favorite meals is the lettuce wraps at Joey's, they are so yummy. Then it was time to take the babysitter home so that we could enjoy some fun with our husbands. We went to the club where Renae's husband is the DJ which is our favorite place to hang out because the music is good and there are all age groups there which makes it fun. The rest of the night was spent dancing, laughing, and having fun. It is great to get out with friends and have a good time. We got home at about 2:00 am for a little bit of sleep before the kids got up and Sat. had begun. Tammy and I had to be at Renea's house for 8:30 so that the hair appointments could begin. Tammy is a very hard worker and it is great to see that people appreciate her as much as I do. We then headed to a cheerleader compition where a friends sister was competing, it was so fun to see how these kids work so hard for a 2 1/2 min. routine some of the moves where amazing. They came in fourth which was really good. Then home to Renea's for dinner. Jamie took the opportunity to fly to Yellowknife last night because he has a friend that is a pilot for a 737 so he could go in the jumpseat. Yes, he went up there last night only to fly back this morning (he loves to fly). Today will be church this afternoon, then dinner at the Marsden's. Good times.

Birthdays and Being a Mom

I have come to realize that as you get older birthdays are just not the same. Don't get me wrong I have had lots of wonderful phone calls this morning and we have plans for tonight but now that I am a mom the bathrooms still need to get done and diapers need to be changed even on my birthday. How funny is that? I have been putting off doing my bathrooms for a while because they are my least favorite things to do but finally I had to do it. So yes they are sparkling clean again and it feels good. It was really cute because the first one to wish me a happy birthday was Keagan and he said it as soon as he came down stairs this morning, he was so cute looking tired and half asleep but he still remembered. I love my children. I have let my husband off the hook in the way of presents for this year because I got to go on a fabulous trip and I did do some shopping damage in the way of shoes. He was glad to hear that because he seems to have a hard to planning presents. Tonight we will start with our girls only dinner and then we will return to pick-up our wonderful husbands and head out for a night of dancing and fun. I will post some pictures later.

Shopping

As I was unpacking yesterday, I came to the realization that my husband has developed a shopping addiction and that he now has more clothes than I do. Yes, I know that might sound amazing but it is true. Since we have been going to the states and he has discoved outlet stores he is in shopping heaven. It is funny to see him go, infact one night while we were away I left him to shop on his own with his brother and they came home with about 4 bags each full of clothes. I just laughed and asked him how we were going to pack it all. It is nice that he is finally taking a interest in clothes on his own. I remember when he came home off his mission and my mom and I took him shopping for clothes and it was like pulling teeth to get him to try anything on. I guess for him it makes a big difference when he knows that he is getting a deal on it, Jamie really dislikes paying full price for anything. This morning I have been little miss secretary arranging hair appointments for Tammy when she comes up this weekend. Once again she is going to be leaving a very tired lady because she has a lot of work ahead of her this weekend but it will be fun because we are heading out Fri. night for dinner and dancing for my birthday and our friend Renea's birthday which was at the beginning of the month. I will post some pictures latter.

Run Away

No, I have not run away nor have I disappeared off the face of the earth. We have been away.
We left to go to Florida on Feb. 1 with our kids and there we met up with my mom and Jamie's brother (Tyler), wife (Michelle), and friends John and Pam. From Florida on Feb. 3 we left on a cruise to the Bahamas and Caribean. And it was a wonderful 7 day cruise that stopped in Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Martin and then returned to Florida where we stayed in our time share for an extra 4 days to relax before coming home to this lovely cold weather.(NOT) We got home late last night and the kids were ready to go to school today. I have spent the day unpacking which is just as much work as packing and wishing every min. that we had not come home but real life has to happen.
We saw some amazing places while away and did some really cool things. The first place we stopped in was Nassau where we caught a water taxi to Paradise Island and we went past the famous Atlantis Hotel and found an amazing beach where we could snorkle and swim. Our second stop was in St. Thomas where we went on a tour and were taken to a coral reef and everyone went out snorkling even the kids. It was so cool to see everyone out there and they got to see some really neat things. Then on our final stop we went to St. Martin where we rented a car and drove to this famous beach right by the airport where you can be swimming in the water and the planes fly right over your head and the runway is just on the other side of the fence and when the planes take off you have to hold onto everything including your kids because they will get blown right into the water. That was the coolest and the kids had a great time waving at the people as they were coming in to land. Then we headed to another beach where all the adults went up parasailing. It was amazing to watch them (I did not go) They saw huge see turtles and mantarays. I was so shocked when my mom said that she wanted to go. She had a great time. Between each port and the days that we were on the boat the boys where able to go to camp carnival which was amazing and the kids had a great time and the adults enjoyed some alone time. All in all it was great and there was plenty of shopping to do. I will include some pictures.
I have enjoyed catching up on everyone ones blog since I have been home.

Weekends Are Fun

Another busy weekend has come and gone. Jamie took Darien and Keagan to the movies on Fri. night as their reward jars where full. They get smarties in a jar for good behavior and reminding us to read the Book of Mormon each night and when they are full they get to either eat the smarties or go to the movies and of course the movie always wins. It is great to see them work so hard and get excited about the reward at the end.
Sat. we had dinner with some friends and just hung out.
I am happy to say that Jamie managed to get all three kids ready for church and clean the house and get stuff ready for dinner all by himself. I never doubted him. I had meetings before church so I had to leave at 9:30 and I didn't see them until they walked in at 12:30, and they all looked so cute. We always try and have someone new over for dinner after church and yesterday we had too great families over. It is fun to get to know people and play some games.
People are now asking if I have picked out any names yet for this baby and I have nothing right now. As you can see I like names that are a little bit different but not too crazy and they have to end with an "an, en" sound. I know that sounds crazy but those are the ones that I really seem to like. So if anyone hears anything can you please pass them on to me and I will add them to the list. You can never have too many names to choose from.

And It Is!!!

As shocked as some of you may be, we found out today that we are having another boy. I am very excited and of course that is what I thought it was going to be. I will never no be amazed at the pictures that we were able to see and how cool it is that all the boys where able to see his little heart beat and see each of his fingers and toes. It was so cute because all Keagan kept saying was "Oh how cute", it was so neat. I always just sit there completely amazed. I know a lot of you are wondering if I wish that we could have a little girl and to be honest with you I have never thought that. I always knew that we were destined for boys. I do have some disappointed boys in my house that were really hoping for a little sister. I am glad that we were able to find out so that they can get excited about something else. Darien has taken the ultra sound picture with him to school today and Keagan can not wait for his turn. We are lucky that they were able to see so much because I am not as far a long as the doctor had thought. I always figured that I was not due until closer to July and I was correct. The new date is June 30 so that puts me at 18 weeks on Sat. I can not believe how quickly the time has gone by. I am already half way there and after seeing the pictures yesterday I can not wait to hold him and see him. It is very exciting. Thank you to everyone that was praying for pink but once again it will be blue, at least everything that I have been saving can be used one more time. We will have a busy house but it will be fun.

Game Night

So here I sit actually I am waiting for the laundry to dry so that I can fold it and then back as I am heading down to visit Tammy in Calgary. You can always tell when I am pregnant because I want to cut my hair short. I am going to try and reframe from cutting it too short and I know that Tammy will not let me. Good times. I am taking Keagan and Rylan with me and they are going to have their hair cut and than I will take them to have their pictures taken at Superstore (in Calgary) as I have heard good things about their pictures. Crazy I know. It is always fun to get together with Tammy.
Jamie right now is playing Settlers with some friends. It is not really my kind of game, but they seem to have fun. I like to watch them which is more entertaining. Jamie has to work on Sat. so Darien gets to spend the day with Daddy at work while I am away. He is pretty excited and Jamie will try to make it as much fun as he can.
I will post the results of the hair cut after the weekend.

Coming Home

I am very blessed to have a supportive husband. I was talking to my mom on the phone yesterday and I asked if I could come home and visit during spring break at the end of March and she of course said yes and then while I was talking to her Jamie called so I shared the news with him and he thought that would be a great idea. The only problem is how do I get there with the three kids. My first thought was to drive but that is hard when you are on your own, but it can be done. But 10 min. after I got off the phone with my mom Jamie called me back to say that there was a seat sale on so he would drive out with me and then fly home on Mon. then fly back on Fri. and drive home with us. I am so excited. I just hope that the weather is good while I am there. So I will be coming home large.
Today was our work out day and for the past year we have been measuring ourselves to see where we are at and I discovered today that I have gain 4 inch. around my chest yes can you believe that. I was shocked to say the least but I am happy to say that the important parts to me (my but and thighs) have not changed to much.

Ice Rinks

Saturday was spent doing the usual running around and we got home, it was time to get to buiness building our backyard ice rink. All was going well and the kids where having fun jumping on the wood to press down the snow, until it was time to spray it down with water and of course the water would not come out it was frozen, we had even gone to the trouble of finding the hose and nozzle to do it. The kids where a little bit sad but then daddy had the great idea of going to the lake behind our house and clearing the snow off of there. They did a great job, but at this point the kids where getting cold so they came inside and Jamie continued to work which involved caring large water jugs full of water from our house to the lake to make it nice and smooth. After about 6 trips back and forth Jamie was done. Today will be the first day that they get to enjoy using it. It should be great and I know that is the first place that Darien is going to go. I will take some pictures and include them on this blog. The first pictures are the our attempt to make a rink in the back yard and the last ones of the real rink are on the lake behind our house. They had a great time.

Homesick

It doesn't happen very often that I feel homesick but this week is one of them. It is probably the hormones. It is funny how home will always be home not matter where you live. Don't get me wrong, I really do love living in Alberta but there is always home.

Today, I have managed to go through all of our toy boxes and sort out the toys. It seems like every so often we have to do that and put toys back with their original sets and take toys back to the basement as they seem to have worked their way upstairs. I think that our family project for tomorrow will be to go through the toys downstairs and get rid of some and then we are going to try and build an ice rink in our back yard. The boys have really enjoyed iceskating this year and it would be fun to just send them outside where I can see them. I will let you know how it goes.

Tonight I am heading to my friend Renea's as both of our husbands have to work, we will have dinner together and let the kids play. (They have 5 children) It is always nice to get together.

Scrapbooking

So now that the basement is finished I thought that I would organize my scrapbooking stuff. I now have an official area for it and one day when the bills have been paid down I am going to get some cupboards and a desk for it but for now I have a folding table but at least I have a space where I can work on it. So I went down there and organized a little bit but that was as far as I got the creative juices where not flowing. I always seem to do better when I have other people to do it with. I guess I need the motivation or the input from someone else to help.

I can't say that I have really missed the blood work that you have to get done when you are pregnant but we are back at that stage again. I have been putting it off for a couple of weeks now but I had to finally go and do it, oh what fun. That was a very exciting day but what can I say I just don't get out much with the kids when it is -26 all day. Maybe tomorrow will be better because we have to go grocery shopping Yipee!!!

New Years

I know that this is kind of going back in time but we had a wonderful New Years. This is the first year that we have actually gone out anywhere and left the kids at home. Our bestfriends the Robin and Renea invited us out because Robin is a DJ and had to work that night obviously as it is one of the busiest nights in the year. The night included a wonderful 5 course dinner, dancing, and then a room at a nice and fancy hotel with two beds so they invited us out for the whole night, how could we say no. It is always nice to get out and enjoy ourselves. My mom was here so we were able to go and not worry about the kids, plus it is nice to get dressed up for something fancy, and there were some pretty fancy dresses there (one that I would not be caught dead in but each to their own, just too much skin) but it was great. The next morning we went and had some breakfast and then tried to do a little bit of shopping but the stores where not open yet. Good times. Of course today we have not gone any where because of the blizzard warning that we have had here since 12:00 last night. From all the reports the roads are crazy so we have been cleaning up the basment and reorganizing after taking all the Christmas stuff back down. I hope that this weather doesn't stay too long but it is supposed to be cold for the few days. What can you say we live in the North and yes we do get used to it. (Just to explain the pictures. There is Renea and I, I am dancing with Robin because my husband seems to have forgotten how to dance except for slow dancing, and the other guy at the table with us is another friend and of course our lovely snow. But I just talked to my mom and she said that, she is getting a huge dump of snow right now too.)

Back to School

Well, I am happy to say that we all survived the holidays, and had a great time. We had a great time getting to know Tyler and Michelle's daughter that was adopted 18 years ago and now we are finally getting to know her and her wonderful family. She is very much like Jamie's bother Tyler, and we had a great time with her and her family christmas eve. Every Christmas eve we get together with our best friends the Marsden's who have five children. Yes, it can get a little bit loud but it is always a great time with lots of food and fun. We all open up PJ's christmas eve and take lots of pictures but I forgot our camera so I am waiting for them to email out some pictures. Of course Christmas day as always was exciting, our kids got way too many toys, in fact I just opened up and put together another toy today. But it was great to just get up and have the family here and see the look on their faces. We had a wonderful Christmas dinner and Jamie was able to stay home until 6:00 pm and then head to work so he got to enjoy the whole day. The kids have been good over Christmas break put I am glad that we are back into the routine of school again. I like to have a schedule and things planned out, Darien is alot like me that way. We are well on our way to having Rylan potty trained. He is doing so well. He has only had one accident today, but we are still trying to work on #2 as we have not caught him yet, he just decided that he wanted to go on the potty, it would be great if that could be done, but we will see.

Just Quick

I don't have a lot of time but I thought that I had better say what a wonderful Christmas we had. It is hard to believe that it is over already, but it is nice to get back to everything else that has been put on hold. We had a great visit with our family and the kids of course receive way too many toys so it is now time to go through everything and donate some of the ones that we have had for a long time and do a little bit of rotating. I will update some more maybe tomorrow but it is getting close to bed time and I must be off. I will also post some pictures.