Thursday 27 September 2012

Geocaching

Last night was an absolutely beautiful fall evening, so we went on a nuture hike with the kids to find some geocaches.  For those of you who don't know.  Geocaches or treasures are hidden all over the place by different people.  You use a GPS or an App on your cell phone to find the co-ordinates and then you can find these special treasures that are hidden in the woods. 

The kids love geocaching. 

Alyssa finding a treasure....

 
Sibling love....
 
 
Daddy and the kids hunting for a treasure....
 



And finally.....my three favorite people in the whole entire world.....

 
We had so much fun and if this nice weather keeps up, I'm sure that we will be doing some more geocaching this fall.  It is a fun family activity that is realitively free (you have to leave something in the geocache when you take something out.  So we go to the dollar store and pick up small items to leave.)

Tuesday 25 September 2012

The Changes In Cell Phones

I got a new cell phone yesterday and I was amazed at how much different this one is compared to my old one. Two years makes a huge difference in the life of a cell phone.

I got my first cell phone when I was about 16 or 17. It was my dad's old phone and it was huge. It was basically, maybe even bigger than a house phone. I was given it strictly for emergancies and so my parents could contact me whenever they wanted. I remember quite clearly how short the battery life span was. Sometimes it didn't
even make it through the evening.

I don't remember having a cell phone when I was in college.

When we moved to Edmonton I got a cell phone for emergancies again and this one I used prepaid minutes. I remember calling Matt alot on that phone, usually to tell him I was lost in this big city of Edmonton and that I needed help finding my way home.

After a few years, we finally both signed a contract and got 'real' cell phones. I still remember quite clearly how excited both of us where to get these new cell phones. We were on a plan that allowed us to call each other free and we took advantage of that. These phones were tiny, flip phones.

Three years later, our contract was up and I got to upgrade to a pretty, small purple phone.

A few years later, texting was starting so I got a phone where you could pull out the bottom so you could text easier. That phone was black and was a little bigger.

Then, the touch screens and I Phones came out. I stayed with my trusty Samsung that I had had so much luck with. And I officially became an android user even though I had no idea what that meant.

Fast forward to today....I have a brand new Samsung Galaxy SIII 32GB and I love it, as I have loved all my new cell phones. It is bigger than my last tough screen but so much faster and has so much more memory.

Sixteen years ago, I would have never thought that I would be using words like 'syncing' or 'data plans' or 'texting'. But, here I am just trying to keep up with all the new technology that changes by the minute.

It makes me wonder where we will be in another sixteen years.

Friday 21 September 2012

Nothing Like A Kitchen Dance Party

I hope my kids always remember our kitchen dance parties. Whenever the day seems to be stressful, I crave a kitchen dance party with my two littles. We turn up the kids worship music and dance until we can dance no more. And after our little party I find that the house feels that much more peaceful and joyful which is what we all crave.

We needed that stress relief something furious today.

I mentioned earlier this week that Alyssa had a bad fall, hitting her head hard on the monkeybars. Well out of nowhere she got two really bad bleeding noses. The second one lasted 45 minutes. She has never even had a little bleeding nose before. I was worried so I called the pediatrian who advised us to go right to the ER to make sure she didn't have a skull fracture. Yeah...I was pretty panicked at that point.

Our morning turned very hectic in like two minutes. Lucas is running around, pulling everything out of the bag I was trying to pack. Alyssa is crying and spitting out the blood she is swallowing and she is begging me to pray with her. Which I did a number of times. Anyway we got out of the door with Alyssa still bleeding quite badly. We dropped Lucas off at my good friend Jamie's and we were off to the hospital.

Thankfully at the hospital we were seen pretty quickly. The doctor did a good exam of Alyssa's skull, ears and nose. He didn't think that the fall and the bleeding nose was related. He would expect to see CSF fluid in her ears and nose if it was in fact a skull fracture; along with bruising around the eyes.

This mama was relieved.

So we picked up Lucas and had a dance party in our kitchen to rid ourselves of the stress. It did everyone really good and our day instantly went from bad to good.

And then our day went from good to excellent when we were invited over to our neighbors and good friends house for dinner. Laura made delicious pizza, the kids played nicely together and I got some adult conversation in. It was just what we needed.

And.......Matt comes home tonight which means my world is about to be righted (is that a word?) again.

Happy Weekend Everyone.

Tuesday 18 September 2012

Travelling for Work Sucks!!!

Matt has been travelling a crazy amount for work lately (actually for about 10 months).  He is gone at least 50% of his time and we all hate it. 

We all long to move so that we can have him home everynight.  Hopefully in the future it will happen.  But, for right now we are left trying to make the best of this situation

I will never get used to the day Matt leaves.  It just plain sucks.....we all kind of feel just plain depressed as the weeks ahead with him gone, look unbearable. 

But, somehow I pick myself up....dust myself off and we make the best of the situation. 

We go one with our life.  Talking to Matt as much as we can.  Skyping with Matt as much as we can.  Alyssa really needs time with Matt so she will often take the phone or the computer up into her room at night so she can just talk to Daddy alone.  They can be on the phone or Skype for a long time.  I asked Matt once what they talk about and he says he just tells her stories; either pretend stories or stories from when he was a little boy. 

I find the hardest time of the day to be suppertime.  That is when Matt should be getting home and the mood in our house always changes.  From tired, worn out mom to Yeah...Daddy is home.  I find that I often try to get us out of the house at that time of day.  Whether it is to the park for a picnic supper, or to Kidz Quarterz to let the kids run wild.  We seem to eat out more when Matt is gone because I just plain don't want to be home at that time of day. 

So we somehow make it through the week and then the weekend comes.  I hate Friday nights when Matt is gone because the weekend just looms before us.  Everyone seems to be so excited that the weekend is here but to me it just feels so empty.  We get through it though. 

Then the countdown starts for when Daddy will be home and the mood starts to shift to Pure Excitement.  Days are counted down.  Clothes are picked out by Alyssa for what she wants to wear when Daddy is home.  Pictures are drawn and colored for Daddy. 

Then Daddy comes home......and all is right in our little world again.  He completes our family and having him home just feels so right. 

As much as I complain about how hard it is to have your husband away, I know that Matt is suffering just the safe; if not more.  He too is worn down from all this travel.  He just longs to be home with us in the evenings and weekends. 

I know that this travel season is just that; a....season.  We will get through it.  We know that this is NOT how we want to raise our kids.  We NEED to be together.  So until this short season is over we will work on thriving as a family instead of just surviving.  And we are doing it....we are really doing are best to make the best out of this situation. 

Monday 17 September 2012

New Routines

The last week or so has just been getting us used to the new routines that fall and kindergarten bring.

Alyssa has done really well in adjusting to kindergarten. She seems to be really enjoying her ckass and new friends and taking the bus is a big bonus for her. She was excited though, when the weekend came and she could "sleep in" which really means just being lazy in the morning rather than getting up and ready pretty quickly.

I moved bedtime to an hour earlier and it seems to be going really well. I really do like my evenings back as 8:30pm just felt too late. It worked for us in the summer but, 7:30 is much better. Lucas seems to be taking a little shorter nap in the afternoon but, then has more nighttime sleep. It is all working out for now and hopefully doesn't change now that I've written it down.

Matt is in Fort Worth right now and like always we can't wait until he is home again. All of this travel is getting absolutely crazy and all of us can't wait until it ends. That being said though, our family is really happy to know that so far for the month of October there is no travel planned. Yeah........I think this is the first time in ten months that Matt will be home for the whole month. Yeah.....We are going to enjoy every moment with Daddy this fall.

Lucas had a speech assessment done today and he does have a moderate speech delay, probably from all his ear infections in the past. We will be taking him to a speech therapy playgroup once every three or four weeks until he us caught up. We are also still waiting to get his hearing tested to make sure permanent hearing loss hasn't occured. I don't really think this is the case but, it is best to get it checked out.

This afternoon was an absolutely beautiful day so we called up some friends for a nature walk in the river valley. The kids had lots of fun exploring through the trees and looking for some geocaches. We ended the evening with a picnic in the park. It was a really nice time, until just before we were to leave. Alyssa fell off the top of the monkeybars and hit the back of her head hard on the bar and then did a flip mid air and landed on her tummy. Needless to say, she was hysterical and has been in alot if pain since. She is sleeping in our bed right now and I will continue to wake her up every few hours tonight just to make sure she is okay.

Anyway I am off to bed to snuggle my little miss Alyssa.  She doesn't get to sleep in our bed very often but I am going to enjoy it while I can. 

Edited: Note Alyssa woke up this morning just fine.  Her neck still seems quite sore and is a little stiff but she feels fine.  Around 5am when I woke her for the third time, she rolled over and said, "Don't wake me up anymore, please.  I am absolutely fine."  LOL.

Wednesday 12 September 2012

Women In Touch

Women of all ages; with all different backgrounds meet together to encourage one another.

Beautiful decorations create a peaceful space in the fireside room at our church.

Coffee with flavored cream are staples on a Wednesday morning.

A spread of delicious food is layed out at the back table; so thoughtfully prepared for this meeting.

Women being transparent and honest with one another.

Women lifting each other up as we walk through the trials of life.

Tears and hugs being shared when life gets tough. Laughter and smiles a few minutes later fill the room.

The Holy Spirit is present.

The children are being lovingly cared for by "the grandmas" so the moms can have a break.

Women are growing and moving closer to God.

Books are studied and used as a tool to help in our journey.

Prayer is essential and the Holy Spirit is so kind to always meet us where we need. 

Women leave more peaceful, more rested, and ready to take on the week. 


To me, Women in Touch has been such a blessing in my life.  The fellowship that happens on a Wednesday morning is what I crave.  The support that these women offer has been what lifts me up during difficult times.  I can't give it all the praise that this program deserves.  It is what I look forward to each week and I can't imagine my life without it. 

I took a step of faith this year and I am now on the executive team as well as I am leading a book study.  I need to give back all that has been offered to me.  I pray that God uses me to encourage other women, to lift them up when they are down, to help them grow on their spiritual journey. 

I am so thankful for all WIT has done and will continue to do. 

  

Tuesday 11 September 2012

First Bus Ride

Although I had a hard time letting Alyssa go to Kindergarten, I was really struggling with her taking the bus.  I just couldn't imagine letting my five year old on the bus all by herself.  But, I knew that it was something I needed to do and she needed it to. 

Alyssa was beside herself excited about taking the bus for the first time to school today.  Again, she was up before me, dressed, and eating breakfast when I came downstairs in the morning. 

She kept reminding me of the time all morning so that she wouldn't be late and miss her bus.

Here she is waiting like such a big girl for her bus to come.


Alyssa getting on bus route 232 at 8:35am in the morning.


As the bus left with my baby girl on it, Lucas was left crying as he wanted to go with his sister on the yellow bus and I was left with tears blurring my eyes as once again Alyssa grew up right in front of my eyes. 

So what does any crazy mother do.....she follows the bus.


I just had to make sure that she wasn't left not knowing what to do once she got off the bus.  But, my fears were rest assured when I saw the assistant teacher waiting for the kindergarten kids to get off the bus. 


The assistant teacher took them to their doors where they waited for the bell to ring.  Once I knew she was safely inside, I finally felt okay to leave her. 

She got off the bus at 12:18pm and the smile couldn't have been bigger on her face.  She was so proud and she looked so old. I knew that we had made the right choice in letting her take the bus.  



Monday 10 September 2012

First Day of School

Alyssa was doing so well and was so excited about going to school, until two nights before she would have her staggered entry.

As she lay in bed, the tears came about how scared she was.  How she was upset that Lucas would be getting more attention that her.  She was crying and saying, "I just want to spend more time with you, momma."  My heart was breaking as I held her while she cried. 

Once she settled down and went to sleep I sent out a prayer request to a couple friends; asking them to pray.  I then went into her room while she slept and prayed over her. 

When she woke up she didn't say anything about school and we just went on with our day like we normally would.  We met up with some friends and went mini-golfing at West Edmonton Mall.  After mini-golfing I took the kids to Build-A-Bear. 

The teacher had sent out a letter saying that if they needed to, they could bring a favorite bear with them.  So we went to build-a-bear where we allowed her to build her special "Kindergarten" bear that she could take with her the next day. 

Both Lucas and Alyssa had alot of fun building their bears.

Alyssa put a recording of her voice into her bear saying, "I am so excited to start Kindergarten."


Alyssa named her bear, "First Day of Kindergarten" and she named Lucas' bear "Thomas" as he loves Thomas the train.

 
I really found that the combination of prayer and building a bear really helped Alyssa.  She woke up the morning of school before I did.  Once I got downstairs she was up and already dressed ready for school.  She was SOOOOO....excited and so ready for school to start. 
 
I can't believe that my baby girl is in Kindergarten :(
 
 
Lucas had to get into the picture taking too.  He also had a sign that morning that said "Lucas".
 
 
We dropped her off and took her to her classroom.  She never looked back and was just following her teacher.  Her confidence shown through and I was so proud of how well she did.
 
 
Matt took some time off work and picked her up after her class so they could go out for a celebratory lunch.  Alyssa chose a pizza parlor and loved having all of Matt's attention.

 



Sunday 9 September 2012

Ten Years

I am two days late in writing this post.....but, here we go.

Ten years ago, the big wooden doors were opened as my dad nervously walked me down the aisle to my future husband. I remember that moment as if it happened an hour ago. I was aware that the church was filled with our guests but, really I didn't really notice that they were there. I only remember meeting eyes with Matt, and knowing that everything was going to be okay because he, my prince, was waiting for me.

Matt, still today, offers me that peace. He only has to lock eyes with me across the room to comfort me. He is my protector, mt comforter, my source of strength. He is my everything.

As I made it down the aisle, and my dad gave me away. I knew with complete certainty that this is where I belonged; right by his side.

The pastor started talking and I really don't remember much of what he said. I just remember feeling peace. As we turned towards each other to share our vows, Matt winked at me and made giggle. He can always make me laugh and even in the most serious of moments, he knows how to always lighten the mood.

I love to look down memory lane and remember the moment that changed my life forever. The best decision I made was saying "I do" to Matt.

Since then we have had alot of 'ups' and a few 'downs but, it has always been fun; filled with plenty of laughter.

I love him today, more than ever and am so proud of the man that he is.

He surprised me with dinnet out at a very nice, romantic restaurant and a beautiful anniversary ring.

I am a very lucky girl and am so blessed to be married to Matt.

Wednesday 5 September 2012

Roadtrip

So I may have been a little bit crazy; with the thought of spending alone time with Matt in Houston, fogging my brain.  But, I agreed to drive home by myself with the kids all the way from Kamloops to Edmonton (about nine hours without all the stops that kids require). 

The trip didn't start out that well.  When we got to McClure (about 45 min) outside of Kamloops and traffic came to a complete stop.  We waited for about an hour but there was no traffic moving our way or coming at us in the opposite direction.  No one knew what was going on.  So I turned around and we drove back to Kamloops and decided to try our roadtrip the next day. 

Unfortunately no one was home when we got back to Marg and Glen's.  Fortunately, though Uncle Allan had accidently left the basement door open.  So we "broke" into another house.  Thankfully, everyone was happy to see us and made us feel like we were back at home. 

The next day started out better and we got on the road a little earlier. 


Yeah, to say that we were packed to the brim, is just a little understatement.  Three weeks away from home with two kids requires a lot of stuff.

The drive actually went really well.  Both kids just watched their movies.  I was a little surprised that Lucas didn't nap throughout the whole day but, he held it together. 



We stopped in Hinton and got a hotel for the night which was another adventure.  I had to ask for help bringing our luggage in as I just couldn't do it all by myself without leaving the kids unattended at some point.  Thankfully they were more than helpful and we ended up with a really nice hotel room.

Here is Lucas waiting for the elevator at the hotel....

 
Alyssa was beside herself when she found out the hotel had a pool with a waterslide.  Lucas didn't really want anything to do with the pool so he just "supervised."
 
 
Alyssa waiting for the waterslide....
 
 
And Lucas looking up at Alyssa, wishing he was brave enough to swim....
 
 
After the swim, we got settled in for the night.  Lucas was exhuasted from missing his nap, so he was asleep before he hit the pillow. 
 
 
And Alyssa was not long after him in falling asleep....
 
 
She was pretending to sleep in that last picture.  Thankfully though, both kids slept really well and all my anxiety over the hotel was useless. 
 
We got an early start the next morning.  We enjoyed a nice pancake continental breakfast and then we were off to finish the last of our journey.  We got home just before noon and then the real task began.....unloading and unpacking the van after being away for more than three weeks (by myself as Matt was in the UK at that point). 
 
I can't complain though, it was all worth it and we had a wonderful summer vacation where many, many memories were made.  


 
 




Nana and Pop's

So I am going back again to our vacation.  I am trying to stay in the "now" but I also want to document what a wonderful summer vacation we had.  So please bear with me. 

After I got back from Houston we went and stayed with Matt's dad and stepmom, Marg.  It is always so nice to stay with Marg and Glen.  It feels just like home. 



 
This was are attempt to get a good picture with Nana and Pop.....
 
 
 
The kids love staying at Nana's too, because they love their cats; Shya and Buck.
 
 
We love staying with Nana and Pop!!!


Monday 3 September 2012

Baking and Bulldogs

It's the night before Alyssa starts kindergarten and I cannot settle down for the night.  I don't know what I am feeling; the only word that I can think to describe it is.....unsettled.  I am super excited for her to start kindergarten as she is more than ready for it.  Yet I am sad.....so sad....that she won't be home with me anymore. 

I've read over the letter that her teacher sent home about what she needs to bring about 10 times.  Her bag is packed and I have rechecked that everything is just so.  Everything is labelled.  Yet, I feel that I should be doing something more to mark this occasion. 

At bedtime, I think Alyssa was just stalling, but when she came downstairs asking me to sing "Jesus Loves Me" to her my heart just melted.  As I rocked her and sang her favorite song I just couldn't get over how small she still is.   How she needs me still so much.  How perfect her little body still fit in my lap.  Yet, tomorrow she has to be a big girl and go to school.  I cannot grasp how she can still be so little, yet so big all at once.

Oh and just to let you know....she is only going to school for 45 minutes tomorrow and I will be with her the whole morning.  I know I am once crazy momma.  We just go to find out what teacher she will have etc and get her fully registered.  It is not until Friday that I have to leave her with her teacher. 

Yet I feel so emotional.....so unsettled.  Is this normal?  Am I crazy? 

How did the past five years go by so fast?  How did my little 5lb15oz baby become a school age girl right before my eyes.  I so want time to slow down.  I need time to slow down. 

Anyway, I will put my ramblings behind me for now and tell you about a funny but oh so cute thing that Alyssa and I saw today. 

We were at the church parking lot waiting for a friend to come open up the church so we could bake sugar cookies to hand out at Ignition Sunday at our church on Sunday......and there was a little bulldog riding a skateboard. 

We later found out that her name is Buttercup and that she has been coming to Evangel's parking lot since she was a puppy....learning how to ride a skateboard. 

 
How cute is that?????
 
 
Alyssa had a blast decorating the sugar cookies for us.
 

 
I was amazed....it only took us three ladies, plus Alyssa just over an hour to bake and decorate 200 sugar cookies.  We were on fire in the church kitchen. 
 
Anyway, I should probably head to bed and try to settle down for the night.  I hope everyone had a great long weekend.  (We didn't really do anything exciting except hang out with daddy and enjoy him being home.)
 

Saturday 1 September 2012

Houston

I love Houston.  I love spending time alone with my husband.  So what a great getaway I had when I got to join Matt in Houston while he was on a business trip. 

Alot of family came together to help make this trip to Houston for me and Matt possible.  So thank you....thank  you...thank you to Brent and Christine, Brad and Janna, Grandma Sue, Grandma and Grandpa, Nana and Pop and Aunty Judy and Uncle Ken for allowing Matt and I this time together to reconnect and celebrate our ten years of marriage. 

Knowing that our kids were well taken care of and showered with love while we were gone was so comforting to us.  Thank you again. 

Houston is a beautiful city.  It was HOT though in the middle of August.  I have to say that I enjoyed the weather a little more in March, but, I still think that Houston is an awesome city. 


When Matt travels for business to Houston, he gets to stay at his bosses appartment and it is beautiful.  I love it there. 


While we were there together, I got to do some of my favorite things.  I got to spend time with Matt; alone and uninteruppted, I got to lounge by the pool.....


I got to shop....


I got to have grown up meals in nice restaurants without kids.....and eat really, really good mexican food....


And I got to spend some quite time alone with just me and my book.