HELP!! I've Fallen...

 WAYYY behind in my blog and I don't know if I can catch up!! I don't know when life has ever been so upside down and backwards but I think maybe.....just MAYBE we are settling into something of a normal routine?? Not too long after grammie passed away, we got more bad news about aunty Jan. That she wasn't going to be getting better. It was such a bitter sweet experience to have a little glimps at God finishing his work in a faithful life. Aunty passed away in November.

 

Here are some bits and pieces of what took place in the midst of life. HEre are some photos (that I may have already posted??) of Chelsea's date with her dad. They had a great time together as you can see. Went to an old soda shoppe for candy and burgers.

 

 

 

 

 Both girls were in track and field this year. They aren't coming in 1st but I am so proud of their desire to run and be active. Hayley has a hard time not winning but she still does excellent.

 

 Yes Abby and Ashley have their jerseys on inside out! Hahaha. Oh well.

A photo taken the Sunday after Grammie's funeral.

 

So....at Zumba awhile back this lady I used to work with says "Hey there is a job coming up in Leduc that you have to apply for!" Apparently it isn't easy to find work in my field so I thought....well.....I'm not ready to go back but whats the harm in applying. Then weeks went by and I didn't hear anything. Was with Hayley at a dyslexia clinic in Calgary that I get a call saying I have an interview. Have the interview and wait another 3 weeks and figure I didn't get the job. Sad cuz we desperately need the money. Happy because I get to stay home with my babies. Well....all that figuring and assuming and BAM!!! I have a job. The exciting part is I haev a desk. Isn't it cute? The worst part is that it's full time. Full time hours with 4 kids and a home is kicking me in the rear. I'm totally exhausted. Looking forward to summer break. (I Only work 1 day a week in the summer). Oh.....what am I doing? I'm a speech assistant. I do 1 on 1 therapy with school aged kids, group therapy with preschoolers, and classroom modules where you teach the entire class for 4-6 weeks 1 - 40 minutes session a week. Its fun I suppose. I miss my kids. THANK GOODNESS FOR GRANDMA!! The girls go on there on the days Kylie doesn't have school and Chelsea goes to a lady in Leduc (the city I work in) when Kylie IS at school.

 

 

Then I experienced a little Deja Vu! After I went back to work after mat leave with Hayley, she decided to get extremely sick. Ended up on 2 days of IV antibiotics. This time....EVERYONE got the flu. And a horrible flu it was. Here is how Chelsea dealt with it.

 

My serenity

 

 

Steve got the ice rink set up again for the girls so they are really enjoying it.

Ahhhh yes and there was halloween in there somewhere too. We had a tiger, an M&M, a pirate, and a monkey.

 

 

So going back to the flu....I THINK we're just getting over it and Kylie wakes up with this huge lump on her neck. Her lymph nodes had swollen up to over 2.5 inches!! Poor kid.

The first doctor thought it was viral and just sent us home from emerg.

Unfortunately about 2 days later she spiked a high fever and ended up BACK in emerg. This time they ultrasounded it and put her on antibiotics. The meds did the trick and it has shrunk a lot. Kylie gets everything wierd. Her pediatrician told me the other day she has acrocyanosis. Sounds fancy for 'blue hands'. Basically her bloodflow to her extremities is good but return flow is sluggish so the oxygen gets all used up before the blood can get back, turning her hands cold and blue. Nothing you can do but keep her core warm. Nice.

 

The sunset on my way home from work the other day. I guess the good thing about being done at 4:15 is its not totally dark when I get out.

 

Kylie's selfie.

 

Mom has been helping me paint the house and I finally got some pictures hung so it's coming together.....6 years after we move in!!

Well everyone, I hope you have a fantastic Christmas!! I know we will. It's our first one in YEARS with mom and dad, and Grandma Krapu will be here so both grandmas too. WOOHOOOO!!

Love you all.
 

Thanksgiving 2012

Another thanksgiving has come and gone and with it another wonderful trip to Kananaskis. There is so much to be thankful for but we want to be careful not to count our blessing on just thanksgiving day but live a thankful life EVERY day.

 

We seem to have come about a week too late this year to really get the beauty of the fall colors but it was still gorgeous as you can see. At least it's not like 3 years ago when there was about a foot of snow on the ground!!

 

Yes this lake is really this color. It has something to do with the particular minerals in the lake. Its so pretty.

The first evening we got there we went and made pumpkin sun catchers. Please excuse some of these pictures. I had to shrink some of them lots to cut down the upload time, and my camera had been dropped and I thought I'd fixed it (it wouldn't take pictures at all at first) but lots of my photos came out blurry. Disappointing.

The next morning we did pumpkin carving. The activity center lost it's director last year and the restaurants changed management. VERY BIG MISTAKE on the part of the hotel. Typically they light up all the pumpkins at night and then you get free hot chocolate while you look at all the lit up pumpkins. This year....no hot chocolate....not even 1 lit up!!! I will be expressing my frustration. At the restaurant, our waiter didn't want us there and we had to ask 3 times for kids menus. He kept telling us to go to the other restaurant because they had more options for kids. Stupid thing is, the restaurants are all run by the hotel and all offer the exact same kids menu!!! Grrrr. Plus our favorite part of the holiday, the 4 course thanksgiving dinner, was moved to an adults only restaurant. Ticked me off when 95% of the people there were families with young children!

They had a little petting zoo set up one afternoon.

The weather was really pretty great the first few days and this is a fairly big playground so the kids had fun here.

We have our family picture here every year. Will be fun to put them all together one year.

The pool is another favorite place to hang out. I'm a fan of the hot tub myself and Steve loves the eucalyptus infused steam room.

Tried to get a few group photos of the kids.

This famliy one is one of the super blurry ones :(

On Sunday afternoon we went exploring. Found this neat trail at Beaver Ponds.

Like father like daughter.

It snowed on Monday but that didn't slow us down too much. Still went out for a little stroll.

Looking toward the lodge.

And that is all for this year. Unfortunately we were gone at the exact time mom and dad moved in, so hopefully I can get over there tomorrow to help them put things away or something. Meeting here and then Thursday is piano because of the missed Monday night lesson. Then on Sunday Hayley and I take off for her week at Rocky Point Academy. Still gives me a stroke to think of the cost but if it helps it will be worth it right??

Didn't hear from that job I applied for so I guess it wasn't meant to be. Thats okay. I wasn't really ready to go back anyhow. Would love it if maybe something worked out for next year.

Sounds like Steve's grammie isn't doing very well so we wait news that her journey is over and she's reached her eternal resting place.

More later....probably in a month or so. That seems to be my schedule...

Love to you all! Thanks for stopping by!