The Wrath

Who pissed off Mother Nature? I mean, someone had to have done something rather nasty for her to inflict this kind of weather upon us now. For the past three days, we have been subjected to snow, and will continue to be so for at least another 2 days.

So whomever pissed her off, could you please make amends and be quick about it? If not, trust me when I say that my wrath will be much more to deal with.

YOU CAPTURE - WEEK 9

I must admit when I first read about this week's challenge, I was a little intimidated. How on earth would I be able to come up with something creative, beautiful or just down right witty? But folks, the key word there was earth; and children. I decided to leave this week's challenge up to our beloved earth and kids.

So, today (being April 22nd - Earth Day), we loaded up the van and headed off to the forest park as my son calls it. Armed with garbage bags and imaginative little minds, my children and my daycare children picked that park clean from litter and found pretty much the entire alphabet in their imaginative little minds. Here is just a wee glimpse of letters from their perspective and what Mother Nature offers us in her natural beauty:

Introducing the Letter "T"

And now for the Letter "H"

Let's hear it for the Letter "V"


Or, why not a Letter "Y"?

Or how about a cone for K?

And if these weren't entertaining enough, we were treated to our own live version of the Earth movie, released by Disney today. The pond within this park is stocked with fish for children under the age of 16 to fish in. A young osprey was hunting above today which had the kids quite enthralled as it dove into the water in an attempt to catch food. Out of the blue, a great bald eagle came swooping in and proceeded to take control of the pond. A struggle for power ensued only to quickly be awarded to the bald eagle. The young osprey, after a valiant fight, flew off while the bald eagle scouted the area for a throne to survey his new kingdom. Sitting upon his perch, it let out a few piercing cries to let us all know who was the king of the area.

It was incredibly educational and better than any movie and/or documentary that I have seen in many years.

Would you like to play along or check out some great talent from other participants? Head on over here!

Inner Smack Down

The smack down is going to happen today - with myself. Me, that little nagging inner voice and my head are going to have one serious conversation today and learn how to work with one another. We are going to work on focusing and keeping our eye on the positive as opposed to all of the "what ifs". When am I going to learn that I need to trust myself and instincts? I am a research nut and since having Kaelen prematurely, I research EVERYTHING out when it involves my family's health and as a result, I have honestly been RIGHT 99% of the time with my self diagnosis. Additionally, it has allowed me to ask informed questions with health care professionals and work with them accordingly. I am NOT that person who goes into the doctor and thinks that they know it all, but rather let them assess the situation and come up with their own diagnosis. If it differs from my own (which has only happened once), then I would ask (sincerely) if it could be what ever I think that it is.

We had the "appointment" this morning and all is well. I won't go into details as they can get pretty personal and intimate given the area of the body that it involved and I don't think that it would be fair to Kaelen to write about it so openly. If you want the gory details, then I can certainly email you with the outcome. Lets just say that all is well with his nether regions and the "lump" will resolve itself accordingly. I am to keep an eye on it to look for changes such as pain or redness and other things, but I am pretty confident that all will go well. WHEW!! And despite of me being pretty certain as to what it was, I am still thanking the higher powers at be for protecting my son and keeping him healthy.

Bug Juice Please

It was a long weekend. Long as in sick kid long. Nothing is worse as a parent when you feel totally helpless in alleviating your child's discomfort and wondering what the hell is wrong with them. And, if you are like me, you research all of the possibilities out and self diagnose. And because of that diagnosis, it took the little man and I to the hospital yesterday.

Kaelen had been complaining of a sore throat four days prior but it was mostly at night when he tried to sleep as he was distracted throughout the day with playing. Friday night was bad, with him waking up every couple of hours crying. Saturday was a total write off: he couldn't talk, wouldn't eat and cried every couple of minutes. The night was even worse; he was awake for most of the night moaning and whimpering. Yesterday morning came about and the left side of his neck was swollen as was his jaw. Neither Tylenol nor Advil were bringing him any measures of comfort so that had me very concerned. So concerned that I even resorted to giving him Tylenol 3 left over from his surgery a month ago, which didn't provide him a measure of comfort either. Nothing seemed to be cutting through the pain to help him out. Everything from the mumps to strep throat to post surgery infection for his adenoids came to mind and I was at a loss to how to help him.

Thankfully, I trusted my Mommy instinct and took him into the hospital. I was pretty sure that all he had was strep throat, but in the back of my mind what I couldn't discount was the swelling was about nor why Tylenol 3 wasn't helping him. After 4 hours of waiting in a hospital bed, we got our answer: not only did he have strep, he also had tonsillitis and an abscess on his left tonsil. $70 later, with a bottle full of "bug juice", the proper dosage for the Tylenol 3 and Advil, we headed home in hopes that we could avoid surgery to drain that abscess.

With a solid sleep that had eluded him for the past four days, Kaelen woke up to his normal, exuberant self this morning. He is still sore and he still can't talk very well, but he is eating and wanting to play. He will only take the "bug juice" and doesn't want any pain relievers. And the best news? At this point, the "bug juice" looks like it is working it's magic and the abscess has receded and on it's way of disappearing, meaning no draining necessary. Whew!

Now, only if I can have good news like this come Wednesday for a nervous appointment that he has. I haven't mentioned it to many because I don't want to be told not to worry, nor that "it is likely nothing". And, I am NOT thinking worst case scenario either, but nevertheless I am nervous. Back in February, we discovered a large lump on Kaelen's "dewy" and after a thorough examination by our family doctor, we have been referred to a specialist to try and figure out what exactly that lump is. Our family doctor wasn't sure and felt that we couldn't ignore it and should be proactive to rule all "bad things" out. Chances are that it is nothing, perhaps fatty tissues or something, but I am still nervous and have that sunken pit in my stomach for some reason. Until then though, give me a break if I seem a little distracted, m'kay?

YOU CAPTURE - WEEK 8

One would think that seeing as I pretty much live in the redneck capital of North America, that this week's theme would be cinch. Mmm hmm .... every where I went throughout the week I was "seeing" opportunities, wishing that I had batteries for my camera. When crunch time came around (ahem .... yesterday afternoon), all of those opportunities were no longer there: the rusted old wagon in the neighbor's yard up the block: gone. Heading out to Fort Steele, a heritage town: too late. That really old fence post with a wagon wheel leaning against it: burnt down.

Upon my sister's suggestion, I was going to take photos of my house only realizing that I will save that for a retro theme or something that Beth may come up with. Because believe you me folks, my house will spank any other house out there in the retro category.

It was my son's suggestion that we go to the forest park just up the road. And it was also his suggestion to take photos of the "really" old bird house and fence with pine cones right beside it. I even took them in sepia in hopes that it added to the ambiance of the moment. So, if it this is not rustic, let's just pretend for my four year old that it is K?








Would you like to play along? Or, how about checking out other's photos in this great fun? Head on over here, it will be worth your while!

Excuses

Excuses, excuses. I have so many really for not blogging. Excuses like the Internet service being down AGAIN, to a busy, fun filled loving Easter weekend to a fully loaded daycare due to said Easter weekend. Oh, and lets not forget that spring has sprung here so we are outside for a majority of the day playing, finishing off our landscaping and attempting to run to get into shape. Then there is that book that I just finished with another one just begging me to dive into and the Stanley Cup playoffs begin tonight, specifically my team, the Vancouver Canucks. And, there is just nothing better about early evenings in the springtime than the exciting hockey playoffs. Sigh ... excuses ... I am so very good with them, no?

I will however leave you with these: photos of my family at Easter brunch.


Aren't my boys incredibly handsome? And the girls? Well, the little one is precious beyond belief and that hag like one cuddling her is me. I thought dying my hair copper red would help soften the lines that seem to develop everyday however, looking at this pic only shows me how delusioned I am. Thanks Auntie Tee Tee for taking these great pictures!

YOU CAPTURE - WEEK SEVEN

This week's theme was fun. Oh and what fun we had. In fact, with spring finally here, it was really hard to quit taking pictures of the kids enjoying the sunshine and outdoors. HOWEVER, my capturing abilities are somewhat challenged so 99% of my pictures were blurry, eyes were closed or just plain stupid.

I did capture the kids blowing bubbles, which had them highly entertained for almost an hour. You will have to pardon the date stamp on the photos though. I tried to edit them but cropping them out took away from the actual bubbles.

Wanna play? Better yet, wanna check out some fabulous photos from people who actually know what they are doing and have the knack? Head on over here!

6 Years Ago ...

Today is my anniversary folks, and as always, it feels kind of weird. 6 years ago, after living in sin for 10 years, my hubby and I, along with 30 close friends and family, were celebrating our love tropical style. We were married in a garden grove just off the beach and then sauntered down the beach onto a catamaran and floated around the bay to do our speeches, toasts, dancing and celebratory drinking.

Those moments feel just like yesterday as I close my eyes and relive those memories, yet somehow, 6 years just doesn't seem like enough. I want more and will have more. We want to make it to 50 years, to live in our love and share it with all that surround us. We are proud of our love and we are strong in our love for one another. We marvel at the past 6 years, and giggle with wonderment of the past 16 (come November) and the adventures we have experienced with each other.

We tear up as we embrace our children and melt within each other knowing that our love created these perfect, precious little beings. We dream of our future and what it holds for us, specifically what challenges we will face and the adventures we will go on. We take deep breaths as we face our present challenges and find the lesson learned in life for the years that have passed. It is our understanding of each other and bringing that balance to each other that keeps us pushing on with determination, excitement and curiosity.

Love can be an amazing thing, and I am truly humbled to have found the man to share it with. I am incredibly blessed and my life has been enriched because of him. Words can not do justice how much I love him, respect him and enjoy being with him. Sigh .... I am so in love and I am so lucky to be so.

I am off to relive my wedding with my children through a video and picture albums .....

Spring Has Sprung

Sorry folks, blogging has been sporadic and will continue to be as such because spring has finally arrived! The weather has been sunny and averaging +17 C meaning that we are spending all of our moments outside expending some serious energy build ups. The grass is starting to green, the kids are sleeping through the night and yes, I already have a light watch tan line!

Sigh .... I am sooooooo excited for summer now! Kind of greedy aren't I ....

Today is 500

It is a landmark day for this blog site today: this post is number 500! And, ironically, I have nothing to talk about. Normally I would just refrain from posting but the lure to post on this landmark moment was just too tempting. I figured that I should tell you all about why and how I started blogging.

As many of you can likely attest to, finding the time to send emails to family and friends with updates was time consuming and you just never knew if they were actually reading them or not. And, I found that many times, I would be sending multiple emails in an effort to individualize them all to each party. Meanwhile, my good friend Goofball, had her site and it was a way for us to keep up over the miles that separated us. It was upon her urging that I enthusiastically jumped into the blogging world as an alternate way to keep in touch with family and friends. That was 3+ years ago and while the blogging may be sporadic some days, this little obsessive hobby of mine is still going strong. No longer are emails sent out, bogging down my server and I no longer wonder if people are really reading them or not. Instead, they can come to my personal online diary to see how my children are growing and to follow our lives.

Over the past couple of years, I feel like I have met some pretty incredible people despite never actually meeting them. One day, I would love to have the opportunity to meet people like Steph, Sheryl, Amber and Beth as they were my first online bloggy friends and have continued to provide me with support. I have been blessed to have met Jenn, not once but twice, and know that one day, we will meet up again hopefully this time with our children. I look forward to meeting other precious online friends such as Ellen and Beth because I feel over the past year, I have a special, unique connection with them. I am determined to meet the incredible and inspiring Ashley's Mom because her strength, drive and passion for her children and other's with disabilities is truly breathtaking and admirable. And truthfully, there are so many others out there in the blogging world that have encouraged me, supported me and enlightened me that I do the injustice of not mentioning.

My life has been incredibly enriched by the blogging world and I constantly marvel at how important it is to me. It is amazing really the power that the internet holds and how complete strangers can pop into your life and make such a difference.

Thank you to my blogging friends and to my lurkers that never leave me a message. Thank you for caring enough to come and check us out to keep up on our lives. Here is to another 500 posts ..... good gosh, it could get scary.

YOU CAPTURE - WEEK 6

Okay ..... as many around North America can attest to, this week's challenge was a bit of a toughie due to Mother Nature and her wish to not cooperate. I know for me, I am tired of that wet, icy white stuff and just itching to get out and be wrapped in the warmth of those sunshine rays (with sunscreen on of course).

So, sadly, my photos this week are not good, in fact are cheesy. Both were taken yesterday in a moment where the rain had just finished up to take away the snow. And yes, the snow is back on the ground this morning with a nice fresh layer of ice on it too. The good news is that we are supposed to hit the double digits next week .... sigh .... it can't come soon enough for me!!

Yes - I am hoping that Mother Nature will take the hint with my sidewalk chalk graffiti.

A shot of our backyard that we landscaped last year. We went from trees and mud to a nice open, grassy, fenced in play area. And from the looks of it, the sod looks like it is starting to green up nicely!

That's it folks! Head on over here, to see what others have captured or if you would like to join in on the fun too!!

No Joke

I keep wishing that someone would come and tell me that the white stuff outside is all an illusion, part of an elaborate April Fool's Day joke on me.

Sadly, no one has enlightened my day and I am beginning to think that the weather man is not joking when he says that we will have snow on and off again for the next few days.

Ugh. When is Spring EVER going to arrive?