G-O-L-D!

Skating post again...

Emma had her VERY FIRST SKATING TEST DAY on Thursday...

We read the e-mail that listed all the times being tested and decided if she really wanted to do it.... She did, even though we had no clue what half the items were! *L*

We talked about the different medals you could be placed in, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Merit. After much explanation of what 'Merit' was I felt satisfied that she would be alright not "placing" in this event.... As long as she had fun, that's all that mattered to me.

The day came and it happened to be one of my busiest days ever. I ran errands and met up with a long time friend before picking Zoe up from school.... We then rushed in to meet my Mom at the wedding dress shop in Sherwood Park where she ended up placing her orders (Geeeee!!)... We then grabbed lunch for 30 mins and rushed back into Leduc... On the way I had to call Andy (who was coming to see Emma do her test) and get him to pick up Emma as I was that behind schedule! *L* Thankfully I had thought to grab her skating bag before leaving the house in the morning, so we were good to go.

With 10 minutes before being on the ice Emma showed up and we got her changed, skates on, hair done and on the ice!

I didn't take photos during the test... I could have but decided that was the last thing Emma needed, the 'skating Mom'.... *L*

She came up after her test (which seemed to have gone well) and announced that she got gold....


GOLD!!!




Ha! I was so thrown off I had no clue what to say!! So instead, I bought her a root beer! *LOL*

I am so very proud of my big girl.... She's growing so quickly before my eyes.... Even though I'm with them 24-7 I feel like I'm missing out on so much! *L* Crazy right??!

Congratulations to my Emma.... A 'Gold' is exactly what she deserved after ll of her hard work! <3

A Quick New Year Update... Part 1

This past year has been a roller coaster at best. At time it felt like the drop of doom while others made you feel like you could fly...

Would I trade it in for a different year? Humm.... Parts of it maybe.

It's been a full year of Tyler working in the field away from home... For most of that year we were on a schedule of 24/4's (24 out and 4 days home).... Just recently (the past few months) we've been on a schedule of 10/4's.... With a random 24/4 here and there. It's been nice to have him home every other weekend.... And the girls have adapted to every schedule without any major issues.

Emma is in Grade 2... What a year! She's one of the stronger readers in her grade, reading at a Grade 4+ level with her writing right behind it. She's creative, fun loving, outgoing and brilliant.... In a book smart kind of way! *L* She likes to know what everyone is doing and why, why, WHY! *L* If she told me today that she was going to be a Lawyer or Judge when she grows up, well.... It wouldn't surprise me. She loves to follow what's right! She's also the one who LOVES jokes! She'll be the first to giggle at one being told and then loves to share it with everyone she knows!

Zoë is in Kindergarten this year and is growing into such a neat little individual. She's finally finding 'herself' this year with a bit of a rocky (not-so-sure-about-all-of-this) start at the beginning of the year.... But now she talks about who she's going to marry when she gets "big like you Mommy!"... *L* She's loving, kind and caring.... Wherever Zoë is an animal isn't too far behind her! I love seeing the moments when she's cuddled up next to our cats (and honestly, one of them is a total scaredy cat!) singing to them.... She also has this neat ability of sneaking into my bed in the middle of the night (without me even noticing until my alarm goes off the next morning!)... She says it's 'because you're lonely ('cause Daddy's not home)!!' Melts my heart!!

As of right now both girls would like to be a 'Horse Trainer, Rider and Vet".... For now though they've settled for Figure Skating Lessons! *L* Emma is currently in Junior and it's been neat to see her grow on the ice... She's doing moves I never thought she would! *LOL* Zoë is currently in CanSkate and seems to like it.... Although she's still not too sure about this 'slippery ice' thing. They both would like to try out Ringette, Soccer (Emma), Basketball & Dance.... As well as some music lessons on the side. I've also noticed (since they were little) that they LOVE to learn new languages!

I myself am very involved in the girls school.... Have been ever since Emma started there in Kindergarten. Currently I am the Chair of the Parents' Association.... And, because so many of you have asked, I'm also involved in:

Hot Lunch (every other Friday)

Workroom Wednesday (on a rotation)

Classroom Rep for Kindergarten (first year not being Emma's!)

Teachers' Appreciation Week

Spring Dance Coordinator

I cut back this year to have more time with my girls as Tyler is away from home more... I'm sure there's more that I'm missing but at this hour (wee hours of the morning) that was all I could think of! *L*

I'm also in charge of the Carnival with the girls Figure Skating Club.... It's the year end show which is proving to try and kick my butt.... *L* I've never done it before and there wasn't a whole lot of information that was passed on to me from previous years so I'm trying my best. We have a rehearsal the day before and the actual show the next day.... There was an awesome turn out last year for it and I cannot wait to see how it all unfolds this year. Currently I am booking costumes, searching for the others, making the schedules and booking a photographer! *LOL*

For my Birthday this past year (2010) I was given an amazing gift.... My Nikon D3000!!! GEEEE!!! I have unbelievable friends and family that love me sooo much!! Before the years end I started up my own photography company called 'Cinnamon Photography'.... So if you're in need of photos, please check me out! I'm on Facebook right now while I work on my web page! :)

I am still working with VIP Event Consultants as a Wedding Coordinator. I love how every client we have is a totally different experience! I've had a blast working here and look forward to the events planned for this year!!

Other then all of that (schedules, classes, meetings, etc.) I'm still a Stay-at-Home Mommy.... I'd love to say that 'I'm loving every moment of it' but usually I'm not.... *L* The girls are starting to really get their own personalities (which I do love) but they don't always mesh well in a houseful of girls! *LOL* For the majority of it though, I do love it. I honestly wouldn't trade it for anything else!

Tyler and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary last July (2010).... Crazy how the time flies by! And true to our crazy lifestyle, Tyler ended up having to be at work away from home so I spent our Anniversary in Jasper with Sarah (one of my best friends and fill in for Tyler! *L*), my girls & Jessica, Kevin and their little girl Juliet! JK&J came all the way from Toronto for a visit and we tried to cram in as much as we could! *LOL* It was an awesome time and I hope to get out to them this Summer!

We're all doing very well and are loving the City we live in. I adore being so close to the country and yet only 15 minutes away from a major City too. The girls are in an amazing school with kind, caring individuals. What more could I ask for??!

We look forward to this upcoming year which seems to be full of weddings (Zac & Amy, Jessica & Kevin... My Mom & Andy), a random reunion (Whoo Hooo!), my 10 year reunion, trips (Greece & somewhere stupidly warm for Christmas!).... and much, much more!

Hope you have an unbelievable New Year.... Make the best of it... And keep us posted!! ;)

Cookie Toss

You can actully buy this game! Click it!

So in the wee hours of this morning Emma woke up and tossed her cookies... In bed... And down her sleeve of her PJ's....

*sigh*

After getting the bed cleaned up and ready to go she went to sleep feeling great.... Until the next time she tossed her cookies.

The odd things about this? She has a "warning system" like I do. We usually have enough time to get up, make our way to the washroom, sit there for a few min's and then toss.

See the odd part of our early morning?

After cleaning up the bed again and grabbing a bucket, she was back to bed. Every 20 min's to an hour she would toss again... Or have tummy issues... At the same time.

A-W-E-S-O-M-E.

Very little sleep happened by the time my alarm went off at 7:15am.... She then proceeded to toss again and I phoned the school.

*sigh*

Liquid has become an enemy to Emma.... Poor kid. We've gone from pink toss (the Pepto I gave her after the first time stayed in her tummy for a few min's) to a teal look (Grape Gatorade)...

Now.... Sorry about this vivid blog.... I'm tired of dealing with this.... But what I'm really frustrated about is that this has happened after only 3.5 days at school..... I'm slightly apprehensive about this school years illnesses with Emma's immune system being shot after having H1N1 last October....

Anyhoo, so far we're doing alright. She's laying watching TV in my room with her trusty bucket and water bottle.... And a little Sister who will hold her hair for her while she tosses! (What a great little Sister to have!)....

Oh! I also have to thank my Neighbor for taking Zoe to the play date today, she had a blast!!

Almost!

Around here the 'New Year' begins when the new school year begins! And this year BOTH girls are in school! GEEEEE!!!

Emma will be entering Grade 2 and Zoe Kindergarten!!!

Again, GEEEEE!!!!

This doesn't really get to start up until the week into school as Kindergarten has three intro days (three different groups for this), but I'm excited!

Yay!

THEN Emma is registered with the Boys & Girls Club to give her something to do after school (esp. on cold winter days.... She'll need this!).... The best part? They help with homework! Phew! *L*

Zoe has KinderCare three times a week... So yes, I'll be picking her up at the end of a regular school day and not Emma... But really, who cares??! *LOL*

What, you may ask, will I be doing with 'all this spare time??!'.... I'm not sure. Maybe a class.... Probably a lot of housework (time to get that basement ready for another winter).... And a whole heck of a lot of volunteering!

Again this year I'm the Chair of the Schools' PA (Parents' Association) and on a hundred different committees.... As well, I'm on the Board for the Figure Skating Club that the girls are with (I'll be running their yearly 'Carnival')... And I offered to help decorate and plan activities for the Boys & Girls Club instead of paying the non-volunteering fee (that might change depending on how much time they need....).... *L* So I guess I'll be slightly busy.

Anyhoo, just thought I'd do an update of our household, it's been awhile!

More another day!

Update from the last Update...

Well.... We drove into the city for Emma's Doctor's appointment with our family Doctor (we all know how I feel about the Clinic Doctor...)...

Our Doctor looked in *gasp* BOTH ears (the clinic Doc didn't do this) and said 'Well yes it's a little pink, but so is her good ear!'... What does that mean? Her ears are normal.

Pain? Nope.

Infection? Nope.

Sick? Nope.

Fever? Nope.

Ear drum intact? Yes.

Humm.... So off our Doctor went to call the head people at the Stollery Children's Hospital... While I drove Emma back to school for her spelling test that her teacher was kind enough to hold out on until she arrived.

After chatting with her teacher and a few others I had 15 minutes to get home and take my med's (which I refused to go back for in the morning as we were cutting it close in time already) and be back at the school to work the Hot Lunch (Domino's!)...

Zoe trudged along with me! She's such a trooper!

Hot Lunch ended so Zoe and I rushed home for me to get portfolio completed for Emma's teacher (of the kids work) so she could show me what was to be added next....

As we were getting ready to go and pick up Emma from school my cell rang... I didn't get it in time... So I listened to the message... It went something like this:

"Hi there! It's Doctor Thompson.... We need to talk about Emma's hearing. If you could please call me on my cell (insert number here)! Talk to you soon!"

Uggggghhhhhh! You just know when a Doctor is freely handing out her personal cell number to you, it's not good.

So I called back..... For your sake I'll sum up what our conversation ended up being...

Emma has no reason to have hearing loss in that ear. No one (not even the specialist) can figure this out After going through her file over and over and over again they came up with a few things.

1) After a major viral cold (IE: flu) you can sometimes have hearing loss. Emma's was H1N1 back in October. So her hearing would have been lost in November. Odd.

2) If she's getting sick. Sometimes a cold/flu can cause temporally hearing loss but goes away once the cold shows up or leaves. Emma's not sick.

3) Fever. Fever's can do strange things to your body. Emma has no fever and hasn't.

4) We're out of ideas.

So... I was told that our Doctor was faxing over a prescription to our pharmacy ASAP for a certain Steroid pill. She's to do two days worth.... IF she gets sick, has a fever or whatnot (hey maybe her hearing will come back!) we are to phone and make an appointment with our Doctor for this coming week.

IF the pills do nothing then we are to rush over to the Stollery Emergency and deal with things there. Lucky for us they already have her files (and they will be resent Monday morning as our Doctor said, 'Things get lost in the shuffle!') and the ENT knows to take her ASAP for testing.

They believe that (if the pills don't work, etc.) nerves in her ear area have become inflamed and are causing her to have hearing loss. If left for too long it could cause permanent damage.

Awesome.

(For information you can check out this link regarding Sensorineural Hearing Loss).

So after taking a moment for myself, loading Zoe in the van and driving to the school (while having a heart-to-heart with my Mom) I took a breath and had to continued on.

I'm not going to lie.... I cried. It's annoying when you're unable to fix something that is wrong with your child medically. It's frustrating. Emma is as healthy as she has ever been since October. She's... Emma! And yet, she's gone deaf in her right ear! For lack of better word usage, WTF??!!

Anyways, I took the time to talk to Emma's teacher and explain what is happening and that if she's not there on Monday... Well it's because we're at the Emergency at the Children's Hospital. We're VERY lucky to have a kind, caring teacher for Emma. She understood completely and said 'not to worry!'... Phew!

I also took a moment to call Sarah and give a heads up about maybe not meeting up at Ikea Monday... (If you don't know... Sarah is one of my best friends... She's "Auntie" to the girls! I've known her.... Almost 10 years!)... Sarah was lucky enough to have the day off as she worked a show this weekend... So her response? 'Guess I'll meet you at the Stollery!'... Thank you, thank you, thank you! I don't think words could describe how much that means to me... Especially since Tyler is out of town working right now.

Later on in the evening I was able to call Tyler and update him on the situation.... I didn't feel the need to call and wake him up (he's working the night shift) as there's nothing we can do about this yet. This is turning out to be just another chapter in our lives... *L* And we, of course, will pull through.

We picked up Emma's pills and decided not to give them to her at night as they could cause her to not sleep... So Saturday morning Emma swallowed the pills down in hopes that her hearing would come back by the end of the day.... (As well, what a big girl I have! She actually swallowed the pills with water! No crushing them up, etc! Ha!)

No such luck. Maybe a good nights rest will help....

Emma woke up this morning... When I asked her how her ear was she quickly replied while heading downstairs to play with Zoe "Still can't hear!"

So, again, Emma took two more pills.... With the same hope that things will get better by the end of the day....

But yes... There's the most recent update. I'll keep you posted on the happenings of the next few days. Sorry that this one took me a few days to get around to post.... I needed a few days to digest everything and sort out how I'm going to handle this all....

Until then... Here's some photos of my girls from their last photo shoot! Geee!

My Emma!

Zoe is expressive when speaking!

*L*

Love!

Emma loves her new rain boots!

My Girls!

Emma outside!

Cuteness!

Her 'eyes were cold'... *L*

Gee!

Emma loves the outdoors!

Oh my!

Update 2010

Today I fully realized something... I had talked about it to others without thinking much of it... Just trying to 'survive' really.... But tonight, with a rare moment to myself at 12:30am it hit me...

Emma has been sick since October.

We've had a week here and there where she seems healthy but it just seems to be a lay over for the next thing that's about to hit her.

It all started with H1N1. By the time I got her to the Hospital she barely had a heart rate and was lethargic. I did, however, realize that Emma's mind would be one of the last things to go... After the Doctor had tried many times to find her heart rate with that finger heart rate taker and saying to her 'push your finger all the way to the end', she responded without moving a muscle: "I AM!".

That's my girl!

Emma the first night home. She was REALLY sick.

A check-Up at the Hospital. My Mom got creative and drew lips on her mask! *L*

Hallowe'en was spent sticking indoors taking med's all the time. Thankfully a friend from Church stepped up and made us a pizza dinner and candy grab bags for the girls! We were very, very blessed for that!

Emma made, what we thought, a full recovery from H1N1.....

The months that followed we dealt with colds, ear issues, throat issues and a cough that wouldn't let up. I have NEVER given my child so many different drugs in her entire life! Strep throat seemed to be hiding in her body just waiting for her to start to feel better!

The Olympic Torch after party. Didn't know just how sick Emma was! By the end of the night she just laid in this snow pile and couldn't move. Turned out she had the first major round of strep throat in her.

Last month, February, we had an appointment with a Specialist to see if there was something wrong with Emma's throat and/or sinuses. They gave her adrenaline to see if she had asthma... Which, thankfully, she doesn't... A little bit of a 'funny' feeling in her legs was all that proved to come out of that. Her sinuses were a bit swollen but nothing that a nasal spray couldn't clear up.... As for the cough that seemed to have taken up residence in her (honestly, she would get over every illness that hit her and there would still be this cough!).... We found out that Doctor's are still learning more about H1N1. Thinking we were in the clear was way off. Apparently the black showing up in her lungs (x-ray) was still from, you guessed it, H1N1! I guess it can stay in the lungs anywhere from 3-6 months after you're "healed". As well, the specialist called a few days later to say the swab they took of her throat came back.... And "nasty things (were) happening in her throat!'.... Yes, the typical med's they give you to clear up strep throat would no longer work for Emma (although she seemed healed from it!)... She needed the strong med's to kick it out of her.

Yet another trip to the pharmacy (I should get a special rate for being there so often! *L*) for another med...

Emma seemed to recover from her last bout of strep throat pretty well... I was starting to release my breath that I had been holding since the last time... Her snoring had stopped and everything had seemed to go back to normal. We had a final check-up with our family doctor and she gave us the all clear!

Finally! I could start to see the light at the end of the tunnel... So close! Emma was feeling good and happy that I didn't 'have to' keep her home from school on some random days.

Not only was I thrilled to see my daughter healthy and happy once again (although I do have to say, Emma is a trooper when sick. She'll tell you up front if something is wrong and she's gotten quite good at explaining the different symptoms going on.... As well, she keeps up with her medicine chart really well!) but I could sleep again! It may sound a bit selfish but I hadn't had a good nights sleep since the H1N1 back in October. I've been getting up multiple times a night just to keep up with her medicine schedules! And my Husband has been working 24/4 schedules... 24 out and 4 in (at home). To say the least, I was getting pretty worn down!

Life seemed... Good, slightly back on track. Last week I ended up with what I thought was a regular cold. Instead it turned out to be bronchitis with a sinus infection and pink eye in both eyes. Awesome. Thankfully my family was able to pick up the girls so I could have a few days rest... And for the first time ever in Emma's school life, I allowed her to skip school and stay an extra night with my family so I could sleep more. If the sinus pain (wanting to rip my eyes out to release pressure was a vision I saw daily) and pink eye didn't suck enough... Coughing until you bruised your ribs, threw out your neck, almost tossing your cookies (from coughing over and over again) and not being able to breathe as your body wouldn't take a second to relax to, well.... breathe sucked twice as much.

I was lucky enough to be prescribed some med's.... The pharmacist informed me that it may make me feel nauseated but that would be normal. I spent the first four days wondering if I was pregnant and why I had this horrible flavour in my mouth... It would wake me up in the middle of the night. For some reason it made my brain think I was hungry... Acid reflux? Huh. Turns out that one of the side effects is 'bad flavour in the mouth'. Nice. Imagine that you held a Tylenol, Advil, whatever powdered pill in your mouth for too long... You know that gross flavor that takes forever to leave? 24/7 here! *L*

Anyways... It's been four and a half days and I finally had enough energy to sit in our living room and read to Zoe while Emma was at school. I'd been in bed all day everyday up to today with the exception of taking Emma to school, feeding the kids, etc. My energy would be done by 9am... When I was only up at 7:30am... Yeah.... Oh! I would like to re-thank the two friends from Church that were kind enough to cook us dinner while I was down for the count. I don't think you'll ever know just how much I appreciate that! Thank you!

But back to Emma. Wednesday morning she wakes me up and informs me that she can't hear out of her right ear. I checked it out and couldn't see anything that stood out as 'wrong'.... So she went on with her day, no pain, no fever.... She went to school, she went to skating.... I had hoped that maybe her ear would pop and let her be able to hear.. A seasonal thing? After skating I drove her to the Hospital where they checked her out. The doctor said it was a bit red inside and handed me a prescription. The catch? I'm only to fill the prescription if she *hopefully* gets a fever and/or ear pain within the next few days. That was it. I wasn't told what to do after those 'days' if those symptoms didn't appear. So I took the prescription (and knowledge of Polysporin drops for the pink eye that seemed to be trying to kick in) and went home.

Thursday Emma still couldn't hear from her right ear. no pain, no fever. As the doctor had put it, 'weird'. I called our family doctor and asked for an appointment ASAP. It's amazing how quickly you can get in when you announce that your daughter has 'no hearing in her right ear, no fever or infection'.... We're booked for (today at) 9am! (And her 'pink eye' went away over night! Phew!)

So *fingers crossed* that everything will work itself out. I suppose I should get some sleep. It's 2am here and we have to be up for 7:30am.

Thank you for taking the time to read my little 'rant' if you stuck around... I haven't been able to blog as much as I've wanted to, and now you all know why. I'm exhausted... Totally, completely exhausted. But it was nice to take some time to finally update everyone on the major stuff that's been going on in our household. Maybe next time I'll be able to write about the 'other' stuff that ties in with the information above.

Have a great day! :)

I Suck.

I'm so sorry.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I must apologize to all my fellow bloggers... And my followers....

I have not been keeping up on my blog very well....

Let me give you a very quick update for now....

*The Spring Dance and Silent Auction went extremely well!

*Easter was good.

*It was nice to have Tyler home for three straight days where he was able to sleep for as long as he wanted...

*We were able to squeeze in some 'family time' (between sleep schedule's of course! *L*) for swimming, dinner out and then a movie! It was awesome!

*My Dayhome has slowed right down..... right down.

*Tyler's work sucks...... *ahem* Anyways....

*It's Alberta, last night it began to snow AND rain.... It's a bit of a weird blizzard to deal with. Things are melting yet you can't see in front of you.....

*This Summer I'm turning 26... This seems to be more of a milestone Birthday for me then my 25th.... Humm.. Decisions are being made!

*I had a kick-butt time in Vegas.... I've been working on my blog about this, don't you worry!! :D

*Sister Buck and her twin we're able to come up this Easter Weekend (we appreciate the 16 hour drive you did to get here!).... It was lovely to see Sister Buck again and to meet her Sister!

*I have the need to travel.... If only I had the funds!

I could go on and on but I bets pay some attention to my youngest while Emma's at school and my Dayhome boy is asleep (not scheduled to be here until next Friday but hey, they needed care and I like extra cash! *L*)....

More soon, I promise!

Schedule!

This Weeks schedule:

Sunday:
1-4pm: Church
Family Dinner afterwards until the wee hours of the morning.
Drive home (about 45min's).

Monday:
Have a bit of an insane minute and tear the master bedroom apart. *ahem*.......... ALL day and night.
Emma to and from school.
Able to stand inside the walk-in closet and close the door! Geeee!

Oh! Tyler hung the mirror in our room finally! *L* Nothing like an insane wife to get you moving on it! ;P

Tuesday:
Laundry, laundry, laundry... More laundry.... Laundry, laundry, laundry and even MORE laundry.....
DH Kid.
Emma to and from school.
St. Patrick's Day Party for the DH.

Emma and Zoë in their St. Patrick's Day outfits eating a green healthy snack....

More laundry....... (Folding).....
Missed Enrichment gathering *sigh* but had a wonderful steak dinner with my family made by Hubby... <3

Wednesday:
Laundry, laundry, laundry... More laundry.... Laundry, laundry, laundry and even MORE laundry..... (This is what happens when you tear apart the Master Bedroom that hasn't been unpacked yet for almost a year! Boxes and boxes and boxes of packed clothing.....)
DH kid.
Emma to and from school.
Drop off Emma's old glasses so they can transfer her lenses into her new ones (grrrr.....).
More laundry...... (and more folding....)
Meet Sarah at 'our store' (AKA: Wal-Mart) to pick up hair color and any last minute items for the trip......
Color hair.....
Attempt to pack.......

Thursday:
Hopefully all laundry will be done. If not, they'll do without!
Confirm packed bags.
Emma to and from school.

Emma's glasses: Get fitted in the morning.
Pack Zoë for her sleepover at Great-Grandma and Grandpa's starting on Sunday (until Thursday)....
Organize Emma for her week at school while I'm gone (I keep envisioning a week filled with missed library books, lunches...... Snow pants.... Ugh!)....
Confirm child care for Emma once again (she's going to one of her good friends house whose Mom happens to be a DH provider that I like! *L* Starting at 6:15am until 5pm with three walks to and from the school..... More later!).....
Confirm time my Grandparents will show for on Friday (they're watching the girls during the day and taking Emma to and from school as my flight leaves at 1pm).
Passport ready. Passport ready......
Last minute clean of the house (we have the professional sound checking guys coming on Monday.... Our neighbor is in control of our house at that time.... I'm a bit nervous that we won't be here.....)....
Cats food and water (I hear this keeps them happy......).
Clean out fridge...
Watch Grey's and ER.... (That ends at midnight)

Friday:
CHAOS!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(More later!)

My Mini Grown-up!

My first born has decided to take in upon herself to be a grown-up....

A few days ago she spoke with me about wanting to have Chase (yes, the current love of her life from the first week of school!) over for a play date. She informed me of this while we were on our way home. When I asked if she had his phone number she told me 'No but his Mommy said that she'd write it down for me so we could call and make arrangements!'... Just.Like.That. None of this 'can you ask for me Mommy??!' pleading crap, my little one takes charge!

So after explaining to her that we probably shouldn't have him over when the Dayhome kids are here (unless we have an open space!) but I'd be willing to set something up for afterwards or on a weekend. She was happy with this.

Then a day or so later Emma and Zoë are chilling on my bed watching some TV while I'm working on the computer.... Emma leans over to Zoë and says 'Tell Mommy.... *whisper*'....' This caught my attention so I look up in time to hear Zoë say, quite loudly, 'MOMMY!!! Lucas kissed Emma!!!!'...

Um humm.... My 5 year old has it going on... Not sure if I want her to have 'it' yet.... So I investigate by asking such questions as: Where? On the lips or cheek? Where were you guys? What were you doing? How many times has this happen? Her responses were, Cheek. We were getting ready for home time and he just kissed me! And no, it's never happened before (said with a shy look and slight giggle that would melt your heart!).....

All was well with that. I did have to inform Daddy of this. He didn't look to impressed until I mentioned that in the past I've seen her take charge and tell another little boy 'No. More. Hugs!' All while holding him away with her arm straight out in front of her chest to make sure there was some distance between him and her. Good girl!

TODAY we were late picking up Emma from school. Zoë was moving the speed of molasses (uuuuugggghhhhhhhhh.....) and then needed to use the washroom! Ack! So by the time we made it to her school she was playing with a few others that wait for their parents to pick them up. Nothing major (and her teacher stays out there until all the kids are gone)... Anyhoo, on the ride home she tells me that Chase's Mom was 'just too busy' and forgot to write down their phone number. But she will!

When I asked her if she needed me to ask his Mom she said the following (imagine some short questions from me between them):

'No! I already did! I asked his Mom if she had their phone number for me to give to you. She said she was just too busy and forgot but she'll make sure to write it down for us. That way we can call and make arrangements for a play date. And he's still allowed to come to a play date at our house! I also said that he couldn't come over when the Dayhome kids were here.... So we have to call!'

Me: 'Alright well, I'll call her and ask when is a good time for a play date once I have their number'

Emma: 'I'LL call!'

Me: 'You're going to call and ask his Mommy??'

Emma: 'Yeah! I can do it!'

Me: 'Okay then!'

And that was that.

*L* Yes.... This week has been a bit on the emotional side for Emma. She's been distracted at school, overly emotional at home.... At one point I honestly thought I might have to boot her outside just to stop hearing her be bossy and then cry at the drop of a pin! Ack! Not sure if it's the weather change, time change and/or the full moon thing but whatever it is it was wearing my down! And then she pops up with this.... Forwardness, take charge attitude... that I quite enjoy!

So that's been Monday through Today (Thursday). Emma has been invited by her friend down the street from us to go to Girl Guides with her for 'Bring Your Friend' night... They'll be playing outside in the snow today. I'm excited that Brook-lyn thought to ask Emma. They haven't hung out in awhile due to both families crazy schedules! I just know that she'll have a blast tonight!

In the meantime Zoë and I will be painting our nails!

Batwoman and Astronaut

No this isn't the beginning of a bad joke...



Today my two full time Dayhome children are still home sick... So I decided to take a much needed 'moment' with my girls to ask them what they would like to be when they get older.



Emma isn't 100% sure right now but being an Astronaut is still at the top of her list.



Zoë on the other hand said 'Mommy, I'd like to be a Dinosaur'.... k...... I think she was thinking that I was asking about Hallo'ween as she was that last Hallo'ween and LOVED it!



Then Zoë says 'I'd like to be a bat!' to which Emma asks 'Which kind? The one that you hit with or the one with wings??' (all with actions of course).... 'The one with wings!' replied Zoë.



Then she looks down at her place mat, moves her plate and say 'Like this!'... The picture is Batman. My youngest has the desire to grow up and become a Superhero! That 'flies'! Or at least has kick butt technology to make it seem that way!



Ahh yes... I look forward to asking them this question every now and then to see what their answers are. And I really look forward to telling them all of this one day when they're older... *L*

Illness and Gas Lines....

Long story short (I'll write more when I can):

Today none of my Dayhome children came as they are all ill.

I woke up deathly ill. So you can only imagine how grateful I was that they all weren't able to make it (although I wish it wasn't because they are sick)....

I had my neighbor drive Emma to school this morning and her Uncle Conor picking her up afterwards...

And then my neighbor phones me to let me know there's a gas line break at the end of the street and they're not letting anyone in or out (they let her as she begged to be let out since she was off to get her school bus!)...

So here I am, watching my neighbors try to leave and come home in every way they can think of... And they're stuck on the other side.

I'm grateful that Conor is with Emma right now... I would have been in too much pain to deal with such a thing!

I'll post more later. Stuck in my house for now and my med's are wearing off... *sigh*

Couch falls and Fevers

So tonight while I was making dinner I ran to our second floor to check my e-mail.... To which I heard a loud crash and just knew I should start running...

Sure enough by the time I was at the top of the basement stairs Emma was at the bottom starting to yell 'MOMMY!'...

Zoë had fallen.... big time.

I dig (oh yes!) my way to her and lift her off the ground where she instantly monkey hugs me.... Oh dear.

I guess she had been walking along the top of our L-Sectional couch (the back part I suppose) and had turned to look at Emma instead of where she was going. She fell right off the end of the couch landing in the back portion of our basement (where all the chaos is still as we have no garage yet)... And to make matters worse, she landed right on the plastic kid sized grocery cart (which is done for) and on our cement floor. If only she had fallen forward from the couch onto the rug portion of the basement! Ugh.

And then it happened, she asked me to get Daddy.... Daddy! Mommy was not enough to solve this issue... The hurt back of the head, neck, back..... It needed Daddy's love.

Luckily for us Daddy was on his dinner break at work and we were able to get him on the speaker phone. She kept asking him to come home which slowly broke my heart at every try... He promised her that when he got home from work he would wake her up to make sure she is better and to give her cuddles.

What a great Daddy!

We had a late dinner, watched a movie and seem to be doing okay. Zoë did mention that she was tired... So every hour tonight I'll be waking her up just to make sure she's alright... And to calm my mind as well.

On the other side of things... Emma's cough will not go away. Ugh. I asked the pharmacist which cough medicine would be best for her (I had three options all for the same symptoms but one was night, one was all day and the other I threw in for a different company choice)... Did you know that Health Canada is now suggesting that we no longer give our kids medicine for things such as coughs as there have been one to many over dosages given (as well as other reasons)??! Ack! They suggest just letting them cough it out and if it's a major issue, go to your Doctor. Unless your six, then it's okay to use cough medicine 'cause apparently parents get their acts together when their children are this age an no longer do the sleep deprived, were-on-a-four-hour-schedule, over dosage... Huh, go figure. I'm sure there's many other reasons... But personally I hate giving my kids medicines.. So I'm quite picky about when they get it.

Anyways, I bought her the night time one. *L* For my own sanity and hers. We're not getting much sleep at night, we're up much earlier then we've ever been before (on a regular schedule)... We NEED sleep! Especially when Dayhome children are here at 7:30am! And we have school! I promise that I will not give my child an over dosage! Honestly! I'm the parent that has a schedule posted on the wall with the last time the medicine was given, how much, what medicine it was, when the next is to be given and who gave it to her! I'm a bit of a freak that way. *L*

But yes, sorry to ramble there.... You can check out the articles on the cough and cold 'ban' under 6 here, here and here.

Anyhoo, I should get going! Must clean the house, switch laundry over, prep for tomorrow and check in on kids before goign to bed tonight... Ugh! *L*

More soon!

Emma's Cough....

My poor Emma has been battling a cough for days now. Yesterday I finally found our long-lasting kids cough medicine and gave it to her... And off to school she went. Apparently it didn't help. We tried again an hour before bedtime. She was up until the wee hours of the morning coughing.... Uggggh! Why can't the sill long-lasting cough medicine hold up to it's promises???!

Anyhoo, somehow today I will have to drag all the kids (only four today!) to Wal-Mart where we'll get the strongest kids cough medicine around! Lets hope THAT will help! *L*

I just feel awful that she's coughing sooo much! Poor thing! And she's being so good about it!

I better go! More later!

Pure Joy!

If you ever want to see pure joy on my children's faces all you have to do is sneak up to their rooms while they're watching a movie downstairs, move one mattress to the others bedroom and set it up for an unplanned 'sleepover'...



Then not tell them about this, make them do their bedtime routine without going to their rooms (although in this case Emma had to keep the secret while Zoë finished up in the bathroom since her PJ's were in her room) and tell Zoë to go to her room.



She opens the door, looks at the extra mattress as if she's confused to why it's there and then turns around with the greatest smile a 3.5 year old could have on her face!



Pure joy!



With the excitement of the unplanned 'sleepover' sinking in Zoë runs into Emma's room where both girls burst into giggles!



Ahh yes... To be that joyful!

Quiet time....

Just a quick one right now:

I have two sleeping beauties right now... And am so very thankful for that. After a very hectic month, birthday's, parties, Christmas gatherings, late nights, many turkey dinners and family staying with us at our new home my girls finally broke down.

Emma threw a tantrum that would have sent everyone into shock.

Zoë snuck into our room and ate the chocolate I had been saving.

I know this all happened because my girls are exhausted... Just like their Mommy and Daddy.... But let me tell you! *L*

I'm just happy it happened after our guests had left!

But they are asleep now.... the house is silent. It's snowing lightly outside and my home is warm. I've been reading my new book from Tyler ("Multiple Bles8ings" by the Gosselings) and am quite enjoying this silent time to myself.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas (will write a HUGE blog about this another time) and just in case, an amazing New Year!

More Christmas Stuff and Emma's Room

Late, late last night I was still decorating... And after rearranging my front room in every possible way (and ending up with it exactly how it was.... Honestly, it's the best design for the room!) I decided to decorate the girls doors a bit... Just slightly so they could get just a little bit more excited for Christmas!

Then this morning after my kids had breakfast and were playing nicely with our Dayhome child I decided I would put away Emma's gifts from her Birthday Party.... Well this lead to me organizing her room a bit... *L* I'll explain the changes after the photos in case you don't notice them...

Now her dresser is here (instead of in the closet)...

This tall blue dresser used to be where the dresser is now... I like it angled...

And her desk (used to be where the tall blue dresser is now) is in her closet. This actually freed up more room in the closet as the desk is shorter and can be pressed right to the side wall (no drawers to hit the closet doors)...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What actually started my re-organizing was that lovely pink and purple hanging organizer in the closet (who gave this for her Birthday? I totally missed her opening it, sorry! It's lovely though!)... So I really re-organized her whole room just to fit that in the closet! *LOL*

But I think it looks wonderful!

Quick Holiday Post

Tonight I decided (after going shopping with the girls when Emma got out of school today, and buying many breakable decorations...) that the little tree we have in our kitchen would be for the girls. They could decorate it any way they'd like.... It's all theirs!

And the big tree in the living room is all Mommy's! *LOL*

When I asked the girls how they felt about this.... Well they were all over having a tree to themselves! *L*

Here's some photos of the girls decorating their tree. I pulled out all the 'old' decorations that have been passed down for generations and let them take turns adding to it one-by-one.



They did such an awesome job! And I'm totally in love with the photo of Zoë and her hands... (#3). Every time she placed and item on the tree she'd hold her hands as if she was praying... Adorable! *L* As well... I didn't realize just how far up Emma could reach until she decided to place one of her bows near the very top! She did it all on her own!!!