Oh Oh Oh Oh

OHHH OHHHH I may have a solution to my stroller situation. The Child Resource and Referral Center in town has a program where you can borrow baby gear and toys for only $25 a year. I went there today and asked about strollers and they actually have a triple stroller that I can borrow for as long as I need it!! Isn't that hilarious! instead of hiking around with 100 lbs of kids squished into a dual stroller I can have them sitting pretty in a triple!!!

Ha which do you think is going to be a bigger attention grabber!!!

Caidy Girl

Caidy has been such a little monkey lately! She is at the best age and I feel like I could just play with her all day! I trimmed her bangs today, they were getting so long and always in her eyes (they look crooked because I only cut a very small amount and the longer pieces have fallen forward!).

Here she is in her favorite spot, right at the bottom of the stair sitting beside her favorite baby doll. We have a gate, but it is used more as a car door (Leah and Elijah's favorite place to play as well!). She had to have this doll in particular during one of our many trips to Wal-mart, as soon as she saw it she held on tight and would not put it down. Actually screamed when we had to pay for it!

And her infamous glare! I am not sure where she learnt this look from, but she is always doing it! She looks at you kind of inquisitively, like she is just trying to figure it all out!!

I am really loving this age, I feel like I can't even remember Leah and Elijah being 17 months... most likely because Leah was only 18 months old when Elijah was born, and I was already 5 months pregnant with Caidy when Elijah was 17 months old!!! HOLA did we ever have them close!!! But serioulsy I would never change a thing and would do it all again in a heart beat!!

Walking

A good friend and I have been walking a couple days a week. She drives over to my house and we go about 2 km over to the park, let the kids play, and walk home. I thought about blogging this because of all the people who laughed at me and my stroller situation!! I have a dual stroller, kind of like this, only 2nd hand (which I am NOT complaining about) and well used. I make it work by having Caidy in the front, Leah in the back seat, and Elijah sits underneath in the storage basket!! We call it his own special boys hide-out spot!!

I have really never thought too much about it one way or another, until people laughed that they had no idea Elijah was even there, or until they saw me squeeze 3 kids into it!!

I have considered getting a jogging stroller, kind of like this, and just have Leah or Elijah sit in the front on the foot rest. But really would it just be harder to push and maneuver around??

HMMMM the puzzling things that consume your mind as a stay at home mom!!!

Camping Trip

Our camping trip up the North Fork, the middle of no where!
The kids eating oreos and having kool-aid.... you have to do this while camping!
A cool tree we had to stop and take a picture by.
Leah and Elijah in their 'own' tent. Although I did end up sleeping in it with them. The tents were right beside each other, but I was more at ease if I was in there with them...

I may as well get everyone caught up on our summer since it has been so long since I updated this thing!!! :)

Last week was James' week off and we took the kids camping for a night. It was great, we were only about 1/2 an hour away from Grand Forks and totally roughing it. We had no electricity, no water, and only a little make shift outhouse. That may sound the opposite of a vacation, but it was wonderful! We were the only ones there, no one around to have to be quiet for. We were able to build some great fires and stay up quite late talking and spending some great quality time together with no distractions, and the kids absolutely loved it! It reminded me of Family Reunions in Sask at my Great Grandmas house, the only difference was there are absolutely no mosquito's or grass hoppers (great memories of one jumping into Kims shirt! ewwwww)

New Truck??

James has been looking for a truck for quite a while, I guess since he had to sell his Toyota when we got married. Anyway, we think we found the perfect one... now to just find some investors who can make his dream a reality! Any takers??

Jersey Land Dairy

This morning we went to Jersey Land Dairy, an Organic Dairy farm in Grand Forks. The kids loved the petting zoo, mainly goats and miniature ponies, but were very impressed. Caidy would squat down, she is now walking all over the place, and look. While Elijah liked them animals from a distance. Leah was right in there, saying that if she stopped petting the pony it would be sad!!

No Relief

WHEN WILL THIS HEAT END??!!

I am getting really tired of the heat!

Of course I could handle it when it nicely cooled off at night, but when the house is feeling hotter at night than it did during the day, I can't hack it!

Last night Leah and I slept in the basement on the hide-a-bed, but poor daddy had to fight the heat as well as ELijah and Caidy.

They are saying it will be 40 or more on Friday, ummmm ya.

I can't wait for Winter!!

BRING ON THE SNOW AND MITTS AND -30!! (he he he)

Powder Room

I am so happy that 1 room in the house is now FINISHED!!! I finally hung up some decorations to pull everything together and the Powder Room is done. From my earlier post you may remember me saying that even after we finished painting the countertop we had to redo it because of the verithane, and then after the 2nd time painting we went out and bought the right verithane and there are STILL yellow spots!! AHHHHH!!! I guess it is just the paint reacting and we will never get a true white counter, but at least I now am comfortable enough to show pictures!!

Summer Fun

I love having Raspberry bushes in the back yard, between James and the kids it has been a fight to be able to have enough, but today I was able to get out their early enough ... to make a delicious fresh Raspberry Cheesecake!!
And then today Elijah and Leah thought it would be fun to have a mud-fight while I was busy picking. They have been told so many times to not play in the mud, but this was ridiculous!!
I think Leah was trying to pose so that you couldn't see all the mud that was thrown on her back and down her legs...
And finally to end the crazy day, Elijah playing in the ball pit we bought for his birthday from Great Grandma and Grandpa Johnson.
As much as I love the summer and being able to play outside, I am beginning to notice it is way more work than any other Season. Between loads of laundry after the beach, or playing in the yard and, of course, mud fights. My days are getting longer and longer as the summer progresses. I am really glad, though, that here is cools off so nice in the evenings, that by the time the kids actually fall to sleep James and I can sit outside and relax. I really love the patio furniture we picked out and am loving the time we spend enjoying it!!

Happy Birthday Elijah!!

It is hard to believer that my baby boy is 3! Elijah is such a great little guy, he is sweet, kind and a little shy! He is crazy at times, doing things that I would have never expected out of a 3 year old and always amazing James and I. He already loves baseball and all sports for that matter. He also is mesmerized with music and we are really excited to maybe get him into guitar lessons in the next year. Elijah is definitely my little monkey and I love him to pieces!!!

Elijah during his birthday dinner! We asked him what he wanted and steak and shrimp it was!! The boy has great taste and it was a great day!!

Christina Lake

Leah digging a trench, her and Elijah were trying to make a hottub! Caidy walking in the water

Leah "swimming"!
Elijahs nice sandy back!

We have been spending quite a few evenings at the lake trying to cool off. It has just been so hot during the day, that we have opted to go out in the evening and let the kids cool off before bedtime.

June 28th Pictures in Wild Flowers

I can take a hint!

Subtle or not :)

I have had 5 people in the last day tell me that I need an update on this blog! Hmmmm I guess I can think of something to tell you all!

I feel like it has been so busy in the last little while and I am really loving it. There was something intimidating about the city for me that kept me cooped up in the house more than I would have liked too be, but here in a smaller town I am loving the feeling of freedom. Although they are over now for the year, I was kept busy during the week with play groups and bible study. Now that summer is here the other moms and I try to get together at least once a week, for our kids and our own sanity! We went up to Christina Lake today with 2 other families and had a great time, the kids loved the water and although I was great about sunscreen for them I am bright red! Oh well, at least they aren't. I am also looking forward to go tubing down the river, everyone spends the day at the river here and am hoping James will give it a try with me!He has never liked swimming, but maybe for me he will :)

We have also been doing tons of Reno's around here. It feels like the more we do, the more doesn't get finished!! Right now we are waiting for an electrician to clean up the mess we made from removing a wall, and once that is done we can paint and finish the island and get counter tops!! We also scraped the old ceiling, WOW that was way more work than I expected, but that also has to wait for the electrician before we can paint and finish! James has been trying to get a couple different guys in here to look, but they are pretty booked up.

I have also been working on the powder room on the main floor. It was dark forest green and AWFUL!! They painted everything from the fan to the outlet covers green. A very big job to clean up, but it was well worth the work and was looking great... Until I decided I wanted to paint the counter top. The old owners had spray painted it, it looked retarded and was super ugly. I painted it with a melamine paint and had just started putting urethane on it when a problem arose. The lady at the store gave me tinted stuff instead of clear, it looked so bad. I tried to sand it off, and got impatient so tried to scrape it and then scraped to the old counter top and now we will have to get an electric sander and sand it all down and start again.... AHHHHH just when I think at least one thing can get finished I have to start again.

The kids are all dong well, Elijah has his 3rd birthday coming up on Sunday, the 8th and James' parents are coming out for the weekend. Leah is loving the sunshine and could spend hours running through the sprinkler. Caidy has almost started walking!! She can take about 5 steps in a row before she starts laughing and falls down, I don't think it will be too much longer, this morning she walked to me without me even having to coax her.

I can't really think of much else to say, we had some professional pictures taken last week from a girlfriend of mine so I will post some of those soon!!

New Swing Set

Thank you G+G Wright and G+G West for the great swing set for the kids birthdays this year! Elijah was sleeping during the photo op, but I am sure there will be many more pictures here throughout the summer!!!!!

Sneak Peak...

Finally an Update

Sorry it has taken me so long to get this updated, but Caidy really didn't start feeling better until yesterday. It was the last time she puked and she was actually able to drink some milk and eat a couple crackers. (she was having water and pedialite the whole time she was sick)

AND THEN

Today I notice her tummy is looking really swollen, she almost looks bloated. I tried a couple times to sit her on the floor while I had to get something, and she would scream, not like she was just being clingy, but like she was in serious pain. So I called James and he rushed home and we took her in to the ER again. The dr thinks that because of all the puss and infection in her ears, eyes, and nose that it is in her tummy and making her really uncomfortable. I started getting really worried here, but he said that since she is still having regular bowel movements she is able to get it out, but put her on antibiotics anyway, Novo-Trimel, to be exact.

It is really really getting frustrating. She had the tubes put in in Dec and they have been nothing but trouble since. I am so mad that I didn't just decline them in the first place, yes she did have fluid in her ears, but was it really affecting her hearing to the degree of speech and mental delay? I am starting to think not, but I can't blame anyone nor can I blame myself. She has tubes in her ears and they suck, but that is life!! :) I really have to keep reminding myself that in the whole scheme of things that could have gone wrong with her clefts and didn't, to have some ear troubles really isn't too bad.


On a lighter note

We did get possession of the house on Monday and have been trying to make our way over to paint in the evenings, but with all that has been going on with the kids, Leah and Elijah have been sick right along side Caidy, just not as bad, we haven't been over at the house as much as we would have liked. And then last night we got a phone call from a good friend of James' saying he was in town. Since James was over at the house Nathan went over and helped him paint. To top that, he has been at the house ALL DAY today painting all the rooms so they will be move in ready on Saturday!!! THANK YOU JESUS!!! Nathan has been such a huge blessing and it has taken so much stress away to know that the house is still being worked on even amongst all the chaos with the kids!! :)

Update on Caidy

On Friday night both Elijah and Caidy were up all night sick, neither of them could keep anything down till Sunday afternoon. Elijah was feeling a little better in the afternoon so James took him and Leah out to a BBQ. You could tell that this was taking more of a tole on Caidy since her eyes were all pussy and she had a terrible fever. I really wanted to go out as well, so we both thought that the outing would be good for her. As soon as I woke her up she vomited all over and I knew that I just needed to put her back to bed. She hadn't been able to keep any food or liquid down since Friday so I took her to the ER tonight (Sunday) and the dr was concerned as well. He ordered a blood test, because of the fever and puss, but the results proved to be normal for how she was feeling. He was reluctant to put her on antibiotics because he seemed to think this was a viral infection, I questioned him because both Leah and Elijahs' eyes were starting to look a little gooey and puffy tonight. He asked me to bring Caidy back tomorrow morning and he will see how her night went, if she was able to keep down the Pedialite, or plus how her eyes are looking. I am thinking I may just bring Leah and Elijah with me as well so he can look at them at the same time. Please be praying for the kids and us, this is a little frustrating because it feels like everyone was just sick.

Great day of Pictures and Singing!

Caidy was in a perfect mood after her nap, so I took advantage and grabbed the camera. I have been trying for weeks to get this gorgeous smile in a picture! Finally!

Leah wanted me to take her picture because all the attention Caidy was getting and wanted all of them to be silly!! Elijah didn't want to take a picture, but rather wanted to make his singing debut!! Definitely a Johnny Cash impersonator!

http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b94/mommajaime/?action=view&current=P4240045.flv