Happy Birthday Amber

Here we go Happy Birthday Amber. There is something so fun about celebrating getting another year older. LOL
These are my dearest and bestest (at my kids would say LOL) friends and the people that I turn to when I need a shoulder to cry on, someone to laugh with and the people that I am looking forward to getting to know for many more years. They are the greatest and I love them to pieces.
The addes bonus is that our husbands all get along really well. So a three couples we always have a great time together and the best part is that we love being together. There is always plenty of laughter going on. Thanks guys for another great night.

New Year New Blog

So here it is. I have now been keeping a blog for three years and I have really enjoyed keeping track of all our memories. It has been great to go through it every so often and see all the different experiences that we have had over the years and I am looking foward to many more.

I decided to change blog addresses for a fresh start and to try something new. So here it goes. For those of you that are reading my blog for the first time I hope that you enjoy the every day life of a family of 8. We enjoy making a lot of great memories together. We have our trials but at the end of the day we are a family and that is the way that it will stay. For those of you that have been following my blog for a while, thanks for being a part of our lives and I would love any comments that you have to make.

Heres to many more years of blogging :)

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.