Picture Day

This morning started out hectic!!!!  Everything seemed to be going wrong and I had two very grumpy kids with colds, on my hands.  We were running late.  Alyssa's dress that we had bought specifically for pictures, didn't fit that well so we ended up changing both Lucas and Alyssa's outfit a couple of times.  Goldfish crackers were spilled and stomped on by a little boy I know.  A piggy bank was completely emptied of all of its change. 

By the time we got into the van....I was done.  So I started praying, before we even left the parking pad.  I prayed for peace and joy and that everything would go well at Sears.  I prayed most of the way to the mall and God delivered. 

Getting pictures of the kids never went so well or so smooth.  Lucas obeyed and sat well for the pictures and they turned out great.  Thank you, Jesus. 

So without further adue....here are some of the pictures (so many turned out that I had a really hard time choosing.)

A Quiet Weekend

We had a nice, quiet, relaxing weekend and it was so, so, so needed.

Matt drove home from Calgary Saturday morning (yes, he did end up going back to Calgary after helping clean up the flood). So the kids and I went to a garage sale. We don't usually go to garage sales very often but, when we do the kids have a blast.

Alyssa's rubber boots just got a hole in them. The first thing we saw when we arrived at the garage sale was a pair of rubber boots that fit her just right. Love that.

Alyssa had $2.00 that she was allowed to spend. She choose pool floaties for her and her brother.

When they got home....they had to try them on to make sure that they fit over their new life jackets. 

The rest of the day was just spent soaking up Matt.  We are all so happy when he comes home.  The kids ran through the sprinkler; while Alyssa ran through the sprinkler with friends.  Lucas is pretty scared of the sprinkler so it should be interesting when we go to all the spray parks this summer.  We BBQ'd and just enjoyed a nice family day.

On Sunday, the kids and I went to church.  I had a deliciously long afternoon nap while Lucas was sleeping and Alyssa and Matt were playing Lego.  (Matt made a pit stop in Calgary to his favorite store....The Lego Store). 

In the evening, we went for a bike ride to the store and got some special popsicles.  Lucas loves being in the bike trailer.  He laughs and laughs whenever we go over a bump. 

We came home and I shared my popsicle with Lucas.  Well, actually, I only got a few bites.  He had the rest. 

This morning, my two cuties were cuddling on the couch as they often do in the morning and I got some cute pictures of them.

Notice Mickey Mouse right next to Lucas.  He has gotten quite attached to Mickey Mouse.  So wherever his blankie is, Mickey Mouse is always right beside it. 

This morning, Alyssa had a preschool class, Messy Hands; so Lucas and I went to get some groceries.  I was able to stock up on some utensils as I am realizing how fast the time is coming until my sister and her family will be here.  YEAH.  (The too do list is quite long though before they get here, though :(

On to news about the flooded basement.  The insurance adjuster came on Thursday morning and by Friday morning he had a contractor here and a cleaning crew here to clean up the basement and take out all the carpet.  Four people worked from 11am - 3:30pm on Friday but finally got it done.  Fans and dehumidifiers are going right now and the contractor will be back on Wed to make sure everything is dry and then we can go ahead with getting new carpet etc.  The basement is a MESS and my sister and her family as well as my aunt are coming in less than two weeks.  There is no way that the basement will be finished by then.  Oh well, we will just have to make the best of the situation.

Anyway, I have to go put my monkey down for a nap.  We are BBQing again tonight....hamburgers and then we are off to have a family bikeride and baths tonight. 

Tomorrow is picture day for the kids at Sears.  Hopefully, Lucas will behave okay for the pictures so we can get a couple of good ones. 

Happy Monday.  





Worship

I love to worship the Lord and most nights fall asleep in worship while listening to my IPod.  These are the songs that lately have been speaking to me.  Most of them are on surrendering because that is where my heart is at right now.  I am fully, completely, one hundred percent surrendering my heart to God.  What a great place to be in. 

Rooftops by Jesus Culture
http://youtu.be/4-gLdIO5G-Q

The Stand by Hillsong United 
http://youtu.be/bN1JyZ5yvE0

I Will Rise by Chris Tomlin
http://youtu.be/f8c69FHUZzY

I Give You My Heart by Hillsong
http://youtu.be/ST1RD2LzMkM

All to Jesus I Surrender
http://youtu.be/7x2IpLSfqp8

My Nice Finished Basement is No Longer Finished

Around 6:00pm the kids and I went downstairs to organize some toys.  As we step on the carpet though, I realize that something is not right.

I immediately go into the laundry room and discovered WATER and lots of it. 

I opened the door to where the sump pump is and BINGO I found the source of our problem.

At this point, I started freaking out a little bit.  Matt is away for work and how in the world am I going to clean this up by myself. 

 I ran upstairs and called Matt.  Thankfully, he was only in Calgary rather than Houston so he left immediately to come home.  I thrn called my friend/neighbor Laura.  Her phone was busy and I couldn't get through.  I sent Alyssa over to there house in her pj's to see if Mr. Treder could come help us out. 

Thankfully he was able and help he did.  He found that our sump pump had quit working.  He went back to his house and gathered his kids and then took off to Home Depot to buy us a new sump pump for us. 

While he was gone, I prayed.  I prayed that I would find peace in this situation.  That we would have grace with the insurance company.  That good would come out of this.  I just asked Jesus to come walk by my side and he did.  I felt in my spirit, complete peace and that this was just a little inconvience; to keep looking for him and all would be alright. 

When Nick got back, he started installing the sump pump while I started moving things around.  We discovered that the carpet was more damaged than we had originally thought so we started pulling it back and ended up removing the damaged underlay as well.



My nice, finished basement is unfortunately no longer finished.  But, that's okay.  This is an inconvience and that is all....an inconvience.  We will get it figured out.  I am so thankful for good friends/neighbors, for house insurance that will cover the cost of this and that Matt was only in Calgary rather than Houston so he can come home.  I am finding alot of good in this situation and will keep looking to God to help me keep my positive attitude.

The one thing that I will be praying about though, is that my sister and her family come here in less than two weeks.  I can't imagine that our basement will be done by then and we really don't have the space to keep everyone upstairs so I'm not sure what we will do.  But I'm sure that that God will provide us with an answer and we will figure it all out.  I am choosing not to worry about tomorrow. 

Anyway, I should probably get back to the clean-up.  Matt should be home in about half an hour and we will continue on.  

Life This Week

Yesterday it was pouring rain. I was tired from a restless sleep (the wind drives me batty at times). I wanted to stay inside and have a pajama day. Alyssa had other ideas though. She wanted to go for a walk. I tried explaining that it was cold and wet; that it was raining. She looked right at me and said, "but mom, if we stayed in on every bad day, we would always be at home."

So we called a friend and went for a walk in the rain.

I really enjoyed myself as did the kids. The wind had died down and i wasn't too cold. Seeing five kids running down the path with their little umbrella's bobbing as they ran, warmed my heart. (Unfortunately my camera battery had died as it really was a perfect picture.) Lucas had a blast; keeping up with the older kids and jumping in puddles. He held his little mickey mouse umbrella just like the big kids and had so much fun.

So once again I learned a valuable lesson from my daughter.  You can always find joy in life even on the cold, ugly days.

Today, we went to the John Deer store to get a few small tractors for Lucas' birthday present.  My little boy lit up like a christas tree. He was almost shaking with excitement. "Whoa.......whoa......whoa.......that....that......whoa." He was pointing at all the big tractors, with wide eyes and such whole hearted excitement. He would put his sweet little hands on a tire and then bend down as if he was really inspecting that tire. So sweet.  Trucks, trains, and tractors really are ingrained in a little boy's heart.

After the John Deer store we met some friends at the John Janzen Nature Centre and the kids had a blast playing and letting their imaginations run wild.

This week I had two situations occur that really showed me how attached kids can get to their things.

The first was regarding Alyssa's play kitchen. She came to me a few weeks ago and said how much she wanted to get Lucas a play workbench for his birthday. I explained that i thought that that was a good idea but that we were running out of room in the basement and that if she wanted to get him that she would haveto donate her play kitchen to a kid that needed it more than she did. She agreed. This weekend a lady came to pick up the kitchenand she was okay with it. But, then bedtime arrived and so did the tears. She was genuinly sad that she had to donate her kitchen. I just laid with her in her bed and held her while she cried. As i explained to Matt later, sometimes a girl just needs to be held while she cries. Alyssa wanted me to call Miss Leslie so bad and get that kitchen back. I calmly explained that we couldn't do that. She cried and cried and cried some more. My heart broke for her. I so wanted to get that kitchen back for her, but, I knew she needed to learn this lesson. If we give something to someone we can't take it back. The next morning thoug, life went on as normal and she hasn't brought the kitchen up again. Whew....we made it through that storm.

The second situation was with our ten year old neighbor. He has this toddler ride on toy that Lucas loves. It is perfect for Lucas and he rides up and down the sidewalk just like the big kids. I offered to buy it off Sam as they no longer use it. He was adement that no, he wasn't selling it. It was his since he was a baby and he was not getting rid of it. I was okay with that and didn't push it. It just surprised me that a 10 year old could be so attached to a toy.

Anyway, I should get going. Lucas is calling from his crib. He just woke up from his nap.

Happy Wednesday.

Neighborhood Kids

We have been blessed with great neighbors with lots of kids Alyssa's age.  And actually Lucas' age too, they just aren't playing outside as much as the older kids. 

Once the weather turns nice, Alyssa is outside from morning to night.  She starts by riding her bike up and down the sidewalk and slowly the kids start coming out.  There is usually about 5 of them that play all the time but often the head count reaches upwards of 9 or 10. 

They play out front or the run into each others backyards and play for a bit in the back.  They ride bikes, race races, ride scooters, play hide-and-seek, play tag, run through sprinklers, play doctor or spies or family. Actually today, they were playing safety school????   They have such imaginations and keep themselves entertained for hours upon hours upon hours. 

They are doing what kids are supposed to do.....PLAY.  I am so grateful that we have all of these kids on our street.  Because not far from us is a friend who lives just a few blocks away and there is only one other kid on their street.  You just never know when buying a house what the neighborhood dynamics are.  So I have been praying and praying hard that if we do end up moving that we will be blessed with a bounty of kids for Alyssa and Lucas to play with . 

Here is a picture of the core group of kids that Alyssa plays with.....

Note that Alyssa is wearing her helmet.  That is what she looks like on most summer days as she is forever riding her bike and then playing and then back on the bike again.  So she usually just doesn't take it off. 

We do have some rules about Alyssa playing outside.  She is allowed to go out on her own (after asking of course) but she has to stay within her boundries.  The other moms and I have discussed the boundries and each year it extends a little.  So last year Alyssa wasn't allowed to cross the street unless an adult gave her the go ahead.  So you would hear alot of "mom...mom...mom...MOM, can I cross now."  She, like her friends, would wait patiently or sometimes not so patiently for us to say okay.  This year we have allowed her the privlidge of crossing the street unsupervised (just our street not the busy street that is at a T from us).  But if I ever see her crossing the street without stopping and looking both ways then she will be pulled inside for a consequence.  We have also extended her boundries.  So last year she was only allowed between certain lampposts.  This year she is allowed to ride her bike to the end of the street and even around the block if Kaiya (who is almost 8) is with her.  All of the kids do really well staying within the boundries.  And although we aren't directly outside you can be sure that all the parents windows and screen doors are open and that we are all watching closely from inside.  Oh and the other rule we have is that if she is going into anyone else's backkyard, except for Kaiya and Kaden's, that she has to ask first to go in the backyard.  This way I am not hunting all over the neighborhood when I have to go find her. 

So the only downside of Alyssa being outside from morning to night all summer is that when we do call her in for supper or bedtime etc. she is grumpy.  All of the fresh air has caught up with her and she comes inside just miserable.  Usually though,  some food and a drink will get her right back to her cheerful self (she is just like her mama....when she gets hungry...watch out). 



Busy Weekend

We had a very busy yet fun weekend working around the house. 

On Saturday, we did a major purge of some stuff in our basement.  Half of our laundry room is filled with stuff (camping stuff, childhood memories, baby clothes etc etc etc.).  After this purge, though we are down to about a quarter of our laundry room filled.  Yeah.  I love it.  I love organizing and getting rid of stuff. 

The only baby stuff that I have left in this house is baby clothes.  I can't seem to part with them, although I am getting closer to wanting to sort through them to sell or donate.  We have probably 15 rubbermaid containers right now filled with baby clothes.  Craziness.  But everything else, related to baby is gone.  Well, except the crib but we are still using that. 

Anyway, it felt so good to go through everything.  I find we do that at least once a year...sometimes twice and it always feels so much better to walk into that room afterwards.  I had a friend come and pick up a whole bunch of stuff that we are donating.  Her friend is having a garage sale to raise funds for a mission trip.  So donating all that stuff was for a good cause and now I have another person to pray for.

Then today, Sunday, I taught Sunday School at church.  I always enjoy being in the 4-5 year old room with Alyssa.  I am scheduled to teach once a month and have done so for two years now.  Well actually I have just grown up with Alyssa in regards to serving in the church.  I started when she was in the nursery then moved up to the 2 year old room and now am in the 4-5 year old room.  I always really enjoy it but it does leave me a little tired on Sunday afternoon.  I'm not sure how you teachers out there do it....I give you lots of credit....it is tiring work.

After church, Alyssa and I went to the green house and picked up some bedding flowers.  We came home and went to work planing all the flowers we had just bought. 

My neighbor took this picture as she thought it looked neat from her view. 

Lucas did some playing in the backyard after nap.

And then it was time to wash Daddy's car which was fun for both of the kids.  The love washing cars. 

Then the puddle jumping began....



We had a quick dinner and then baths and now the kids are settled in their beds.  Whew.....

Tomorrow, as it being the holiday Monday, we are going to spend the morning soaking up our Daddy before he leaves again for work.  I'm so enjoying having Matt home that I'm really not looking forward to another week away.  Oh well....I will survive. 

I'm also feeling a little bit sad tonight.  My cousin Andrew passed away about a year and a half ago. It is his birthday today.  He would have been 26.  Something went wrong with his heart and he passed away while driving home after getting his grandma's car washed.  My thoughs and prayers are with my aunt, uncle and cousin Shea in Winnipeg.  I miss you Andrew.  You touched this world and will never be forgotten.  I just checked his facebook page and there are countless posts wishing him a Happy Birthday.    



We Are Done

I have always said that I wanted four kids. Matt always wanted two. So we decided on three.

However, after Lucas was born, Matt was quite confident that our family was complete. I too kinda felt done but not completely.

I prayed and prayed. I asked God to change our hearts so whatever the outcome was that we were in complete agreement.

Today is the first day that I can say.....I am done..... with complete confidence and with not a little hope added on.

Looking at Lucas and Alyssa, I can finally say that my little family is complete.

I am enjoying not having a baby anymore. I am enjoying going to the park and being able to relax a little and not having to fully chase Lucas all over the park (don't get me wrong I still have to keep my eyes on him at all times).  I am enjoying only having to work around one nap. I am enjoying the independance that Alyssa is showing like getting herself dressed or not waking me up in the morning when she gets up. I am enjoying being a mom to a five year old and an almost two year old.

Because I have such a close relationship with my sister I always wanted to give Alyssa a sister so she could have that special bond with a sister. However, I am now seeing that I have given her a special gift already; a special bond with her brother.  The bond that they share is truly amazing to watch. They truly love one another whole-heartedly. And just now I am realizing that that Alyssa doesn't just need a sister to have that special relationship with, but that she can also have it with her brother.

I am ready to move on to the next stage of our lives. To move past strollers and bottles and diapers (note: we are still working on giving up bottles and i haven't even attempted to start potty training). And move on to family vacations and older kid things.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the baby stage while we were in it. It's just time to move on.

So as I look excitedly into the future, I am happy and content to see just the four of us.

Be Prepared at the Park

In the last two months I have had to call 911 twice.  Thankfully, both times were not for my family. 

The first time was when a friend called me because she was in incredible pain.  When I got to her house she was barely conscious from an intense migrane.  The ambulance attendants were so amazing.  They arrived at her house in just a few minutes and they were so good to her and to all four kids. 

The second time was a few Friday nights ago.  I was getting ready for bed (Matt wasn't home) and I heard what I thought were about 10 gun shots.  The police were there in minutes and I was so thankful.  I never found out what happened.  But the sargent called me a couple of times.  I was the third person to call it in and they had the police helicopter and K9 dogs out in abut 7-10 minutes. 

I am so incredibly thankful for the emergency response people in our city.  Every day and night they put their lives on the line to keep us safe.  They respond as fast as they can and they work hard for us. 

When I heard that the City of Edmonton were having a "Be Prepared at the Park" day, I knew we had to go.  It was at Hawrelark Park on a Saturday that just happened to be beautiful in regards to the weather.  All of the emergency vehicles (fire trucks, command centre trucks, decontamination trucks, ambulances, multiple casulties buses, police cars, remote control bomb detinators, Police helicopter, Stars Air Ambulance Helicopter, the K9 dogs, rescue dogs, diggers from Epcor, rescue boats, a police tank etc. etc. etc) were all there for the kids to see and climb in and for the parents to ask all the questions they could. 

It was really well done and we sure enjoyed it. 

Lucas driving a firetruck.

The kids climbing into one of the numerous fire trucks that they had for us to see.

The kids "in command" at the Command Control Centre truck.

Lucas driving a Police Car.  The policeman tried to get Alyssa to ride in the back of the police car but she wanted nothing to do with that. 

In front of the news helicopter

The police helicopter

The Stars Air Ambulance Helicopter

The Epcor diggers.  Lucas found the horn.....and wouldn't stop honking the horn.  What a guy!!!!

In the Ambulance.  Both kids wanted nothing to do with laying on the stretcher.

In the police tank

We ended the morning by having our first picnic lunch of the year.  It was a fun, memorable day and we are looking forward to it next year. 

Oh and I should mention that Alyssa was so brave and even petted a few of the rescue dogs.  I was so proud of her.  She has a real, intense fear of dogs; but, she is coming so far in fighting her fear.  Last year we wouldn't have even gotten her close to any dog.  She would have been in my arms with tears running down her face.  But, this year she was still very hesitant but was definately fighting her fear.