My Boy Turns 8

Ok, I know that I say this with every birthday that my kids have, but really why is it that time goes by so quickly and were does it go? My cute, fun loving Keagan turned 8 today. It has been a wonderful 8 years with lots of learning experiences but also a whole lot of fun.
It is hard to say what Keagan was most excited about. He was so happy to be turning 8. He was so excited about his up coming baptism and also being able to finally start cubs.

Because his birthday was on Thurs. it made for a very busy night because he was going to his first night of cubs. We managed to get some presents opened up before heading out the door for cubs.

Tonight was the Baden Powell Banquet. I will be honest it was a little dry but the boys did well. There were a couple of times that Keagan looked a little bit lost but he loved it.

This is the boys playing out their skit. It was so funny.

The big group. It was a great way to start the birthday celebrations for Keagan. The whole weekend ended up being one big celebration with our wonderful family and friends.

West Edmonton Mall Fun

As a special treat because my brother was here we decided to pull the kids out of school for the afternoon so that we could go to WEM and enjoy the afternoon of going on rides and boy did the kids have a great time.
First ride up was the swings.
Stefan was so excited because he was finally tall enough to go on some of the rides and this was one of them. the laughter that was coming from him each time the ride dropped a little was priceless. I remember the first time that Rylan went on this ride with my mom and it was so cute.

The boys were so excited that their uncle was willing to go on the roller coaster with them. They all had such a great time.

This was another ride that Stefan has been waiting to go on. It is a smaller roller coaster. He and Rylan were adorable. I love watching my kids have fun together.

I was shocked when the boys decided to go on the space shot. It is not a ride that I would go on. It shoots up 5 stories and then drops several times on the way down. I don't think that it was their favorite but they can say that they tried it. LOL

So very cute. I can't believe that he is going to be three in just a couple of months.

After spending all afternoon at the mall. We went to our favorite place for dinner when we have our kids. Ikea. LOL Yes you read it right we can feed our whole family for less than $20.00 It doesn't get any better than that. It was a great day.

Boys and Root Beer

This was a very exciting and busy week. It all start with my brother and his son coming out for a visit. It was so exciting because the last time that they came to visit was about 7 years ago. It was great to have the cousins together. They enjoyed playing outside.
Their first nigth here they made some home made root beer. Jamie bought the kit a couple of months ago and this was the perfect night to make it. They are preparing the lids for the bottles.

Rylan is so cute. He was so excited to involved with doing what the big boys were doing.

After making the rootbeer and putting it into the bottles they had to wait three days to drink it. They were pretty proud of themselves and enjoyed making it. So much fun!!!

Bring on Spring

Our boys are so desperate to ride on the motor bike. The weather here has been very warm and the snow is done on the roads so the boys figure that it is time to go for a ride. LOL Jamie is such a good sport that he pulled it out for them and took each of them for a ride.
It was a little bit chilly but they loved it. I must admit that I can't wait for my turn. Since these pictures where taken the snow is gone from the front yard so we are getting closer, it is great to see the grass. :)

Foster Parent Banquet

We are very lucky to be a part of a great agency for fostering and every year they have a banquet to celebrate their foster parents. This is our second year going and this year was really good.
They had an amazing group of aboriginal dances that I really enjoyed watching. I wish that I understood all the symbolisiom but it was amazing.

Finally, they had a motivational speaker come that was born with no arms. His name was Alvin Law. It was amazing to see all that he could do with out his arms and to hear about his life being raised in a foster home and the wonderful parents that he gained that helped him change his life for the better because they believed that even without arms he could do anything.

It was great to listen to him and to see his wonderful talent for music. He could play the piano and drummers. Amazing is all I can say and very motivating. It was a great night and nice to be out with my hubby for the evening.

911

This was a crazy night and not one that I want to repeat any time soon. After taking the older three boys skiing for the night. We had just got home and were walking in the door when I heard a noise that I had never heard before. I wasn't too sure what it was but I knew that it wasn't good. It ended up being Stefan breathing with a really bad case of croup. Jamie was just on his way to take him outside because the cold air helps to open up the airways but after being out there for 30 min. There was no change and he was having such a hard time breathing and it was so different from any other time. That we decided that we needed to call 911. He's breathing was very staggered and he was becoming more lethargic. It was so surreal listening to the sirens and knowing that it was coming to our house. Up until that point we all managed to stay pretty calm but once they arrived the boys got really upset. The EMT's came in and right away took his vitals and his blood oxygen was in the low 80's which isn't good. They put him on oxygen with a nebulizer. Thankfully he stablized really quickly. They decided to still take him to the hospital to have him checked over by a doctor.
Jamie went with Stefan in the ambulance and I followed after I had gotten the boys all settled down. It took a while because they were all very upset and in shock. It was amazing to see the different ways that they reacted to the situtation. Darien got very upset and was crying. Keagan went quiet and stone faced and Rylan got really angry and mad. But all were very worried for their brother. We had to watch as the ambulance left and were all relieved to see that the lights were not on which was a good sign.
We are very blessed to have wonderful neighbours and one of them came over to stay with the boys while I followed behind in the car.
By the time I arrived at the hospital Stefan was a totally different person. It was as if nothing had ever happened.
The doctors gave him another steroid (dexamethazone) and then he was hopping. Steroids really get him going. He was thirsty, then hungry and then he wanted gum. "Mom I have gum, I have gum mommy please". He said that over and over. It was so funny.

Here we are trying to keep him distracted. It was so amazing. It was a crazy night but from the time of the ambulance arriving to us getting home it only took 2 1/2 hours. I hope that we never have to call 911 again. It was too much stress for me but thankfully all is well and we have all recovered.

A Hiking We Will Go

We such a great time this last weekend. We made out way down south to Calgary to have another visit with our friends Tammy and Pat and once again it was a great time. We went out in the morning on Sun. to take some time to enjoy the beautiful sun and warm weather. We drove out to a Provincial Park. Here are the kids heading into the forest with their weapons. LOL I love boys.
The adults are following close behind.

The boys love to climb.

I LOVE this picture. I love being with our friends and enjoying the weather. I love the fact that most of the kids are looking at the camera. It is so nice to have friends for life.

The boys had to take the road less traveled. LOL It was pretty hard going but so much fun.

These are some very cute kids. This time Kelsey and Stefan really enjoyed playing together. It was so cute because the first thing that Stefan asked in the morning was "where is Kelsy" and then they played for the rest of the day and we hardly saw them.

Darien was being such a good big brother because we willing to help Rylan who had to stick the with bigger boys. Darien at one point was even building snow bridges to help Rylan make it across the water. In this picture there was no way that a bridge would work so....

Darien held his hand and helped him jump across. It was so cute and not once did he get frustrated with helping Rylan.

After hiking and exploring for over an hour we were nearing the end of the trail only to discover that it was down hill and very slippery. Actually, it was so slippery that all of us ended up on our bottoms (the bruise left behind on mine is bigger than my fist LOL) I even manged to capture Tammy's fall on camera. So her she is sliding after the fall.

There was no stopping her until she ran into Patrick who had also fallen but had finally stopped. LOL These are the things that memories are made of. It was such a wonderful morning. I am pretty sure that I was on cloud nine. I can't even begin to express to you how much I enjoy being out in the fresh air with my children and seeing them be children, playing and exploring in the forest. Nothing better!!! Thanks Hanson's for another wonderful weekend. Can't wait for the summer!!!