Some New Things

We pulled out the exersaucer for Gabriella now that she is 3 months. She likes to be in it for a bit; last night during our dinner she stayed in it the entire time, which was nice.And another gift Elijah got from us for his birthday was the A B Seas game from Discovery Toys. I hosted a party for our friends, Noah and Katherine, 2 years ago and bought this game. I've been saving it in my Gift Tote and now finally it's come out and he likes it!

Jason and His Family

On Jason's last business trip, he was able to stay with his sister Suzan and his other sister was able to drive down to Montreal for a mini-reunion! Yea!

Here Jason is with his 2 sisters, Suzan and Josie. (Lorraine lives near us so she unfortunately couldn't be a part of this reunion)
And this is Jason's neice! Rachelle. She is Josie's daughter, and actually a couple months older than Jason is.I guess these pictures were taken with Rachelle's camera, so by the time Jason was able to visit with Leigh-anne, his other niece, Rachelle was already back home... sorry Leigh-anne, it would have been nice to get a picture of you with Uncle Jason too!

Josie, Suzan and Lorraine

While Jason was away this last time he was able to visit with his sister's, Suzan and Josie and Families in Montreal! He really really enjoyed the time spent together as Family. Auntie Suzan and Auntie Josie sent home this beautiful sweater and matching toque from Roots for Elijah's birthday. (pictured below with Lorraine) We love it! It's so adorable on him and he is such a toque boy! Thank You so much!This afternoon we went to Auntie Lorraine's for a visit with her, Mike and the dogs. Thanks for the visit Lorraine!Gabi and Bailey (dog)Welcome Home Daddy!

3 months old

Really, can it be? My Baby Gabi is 3 months old. Man. But it sure is fun! She is starting to laugh; she is real alert and loves watching us and having anyone's FULL attention; she talks up a storm already (poor me with all the members in this family that LOVE to talk. to talk my ear off and compete for my ear. Ahhh!); she is really strong and likes to pull herself forward when sitting in her other seat; she sleeps AWESOME ~ last feed about 7:00/8:00 and then down for the night til 5:00/6:00ish, up to eat and then down again [dream baby]; her hair is curly when it is wet and will stay curly if I add a tad bit of gel to it; don't know what she weighs or anything like that... she is a bundle of JOY. We love her to bits!

Croup

Well, we had an interesting night last night. After Samuel went to bed, he woke shortly after with a cough/hard time breathing. Alexa, Anita and Miriam were all over, so I just got Samuel up and before Alexa went home, she so kindly went and bought me some cough syrup for Samuel. He was acting perfectly normal and not really even coughing, even after this point. But I kept him in my bed last night so I could ensure he was upright most the night (he is a mover in his crib, so there is no way he would have stayed on a pillow propped up on his own). At 4:00am, he awoke with struggles breathing (that's what it sounded like and his chest felt like it was working hard) so I called 9-1-1 right away. They came and accessed him. By this time I had been able to calm him down and he seemed already more normal, but I didn't regret calling for the help. Samuel 'got' to ride in the ambulance to the hospital, while Elijah, Gabriella and I followed in the van. Samuel got a dose of steroids (I think) from a mask of sorts, which he hated - but it's good for a child to hate it and cry to better inhale the meds. They tell me it's Croup. So, we came home and my Mom and Dad picked up Elijah for the day while the other two and I stayed home and play it cool.

Samuel is a bit quiet today, but really he is still pretty normal. He doesn't really cough. The odd time he feels he needs to, I can see him holding it back. I think it may hurt to cough. Now that I know it's croup and have read the Medical Guide about it, hopefully we can make it through tonight with more confidence. It's just very scary when you hear your child wheezing like that...

So here he is. This is for you, Jason. I made Samuel a smoothie with blueberries, banana, that package of Vega (or whatever it's called) and yogurt. He sure loves his smoothies! And that's why this little boy is sooo healthy! This is his first episode of any sickness, really...We could use your prayers though... over Elijah and Gabriella so that they too don't get this virus that is contagious. And over Samuel for quick healing and a good night tonight. Thanks!

Happy Birthday Elijah!

Today Elijah turned 4! :) So Happy Birthday big boy!We are at Grandma's for dinner tonight and this is a little dessert we put candles on for him! This morning we went to Chuck E Cheese and had Alexa, Luke and Erin and Bradley join us; it was a fun time! Thanks for coming!

Keeping Busy

RAK:
Thank You to some friends for some different forms of RAK (Random Acts of Kindness)!!
- Dana for bringing over a piece of Turtle Cheesecake for me to endulge in! Yummy!
- Alexa for picking up Elijah one afternoon on a whim and bringing him along to McD's for an ice cream cone!
- Kelly for the great loaf of banana bread!
- Sherry for the opportunity to dig through some bags of clothes you are finished with!
- Marlene for all your help today at church! I really appreciated the extra set of hands. :)

Yesterday Alexa, Baby Erin, Gabriella and I crossed over into the USA for a day of shopping at the Outlets! Of course we found good deals. It was a great day, 12 hours worth from start to finish of time together... thanks for the great day, girls!
Here are our baby's ready for our trip South:
Then today I really felt like going to BP for dinner with my kids in honor of Elijah's birthday. I called my Family to see if anyone wanted to join (help) us and so Uncle Paul came along! Thanks Paul!these matching sweaters are one of the great deals I found yesterday at Children's Place. I just LOVE them. Elijah loves it too!Gabriella and Momma(help please! when I had a Kodak camera it had a great program for doing this and that, like red-eye adjusting. I can't seem to find something to do such a thing on here, is there? I like this picture, of course except for Gabi's eyes)Gabi's outfit is also what I bought yesterday. I find it strange to see her in a green shirt because I usually have her in pink and sometimes purple, but it's still quite cute! And I am just in-love with her new jeans!
Great weekend... and a busy week ahead!

Elijah's First Party

On Sunday we had my Family over for 'the family party'. It was a week early, but Jason's travel back East keeps him away for Elijah's actual birthday next week.

We had a good time... mostly focusing on Elijah and Samuel's goofyness... and eating dinner and cake together!

Here we are:

Happy Birthday to you...this jersey is one of the gifts he received, from Auntie Carla! Thanks!Samuel has fun blowing this!Grandpa and GrandmaChrissy (Matt's girlfriend) of course, joined us for the party (soooo good to have you!), Beppe and Uncle Paul

(see my pic frames, boy are those a pain to keep all straight! With 2 frames, it worked great, but adding in Gabi's frame a few weeks ago hasn't worked out so nicely. I had them straight at one point, but can't seem to keep them that way. Ugh. Ignore that detail!)

I forgot to bring out part 1 of Elijah's gift at the party...hello! So here is one of the things he opened from us, Mr Sketch markers. The smelly ones! Love those!
Thank you for coming to his party everyone! And for all the lovely gifts!

Saturday Fun

Today we went to Wyatt's to celebrate with him, his 4th Birthday. Happy Birthday Wyatt! It was a fun time for us. Here is Jayden who was at the party too. We haven't seen Jayden since the very last day of January, so it was nice to play with you today! (this is why I did a 'rush' on finishing his book up b/c I knew I'd see him today at Wyatt's party)Madison loved holding Gabi today (Madison is Wyatt's sister):
Then this evening we went to the First Annual Lantern Festival... we each made a little lantern like this one that Samuel is holding proudly (with a battery powered tealight in it, for those of you who will ask!)we went on a parade around this area of the park, ending at a Labyrinth:(see the man in the photo with the camera pointed at Samuel? That's the newspaper photographer, the same one that got Elijah's and Samuel's photos in the paper this summer! Hmmm... maybe again this week! Unreal!)

create

This is something I worked on the past couple weeks off and on. Something that has been sitting on my craft table since January! Ahh! It's a book in which I had all the photos sitting in and everything this whole time, as a keepsake gift for Jayden and his mom (Jayden was a little boy I cared for til the end of January this year). The day after Jayden left though, Jade and Sara arrived and well, you know how busy we kept with them in our home for 5 months. Anyway, thought I'd share! And I added one of the Christmas Cards I made at Sarah's this week in her 30 cards for $30 class. Nice to be able to get 30 Christmas cards done in one night! :)

(the first and last photos have been flipped somehow. Saved on my computer, they are saved the correct way, so I am not sure why slide.com flipped them, however you may not be able to tell as well since I chose the "cube" slide)
Happy Weekend All! (if you hover the cube with your mouse you can control the movement of it! cool!)

Revival Arts Photography

My friend, Miriam, just had a photo shoot with Revival Arts. This couple does amazing photography. I just have to share it with you... take a look at what he did with Travis and Bradley! Click this!

Labour Day Weekend

This Labour Day Weekend we went up to Kelowna and Salmon Arm.

We first went to visit Jason's cousin, Micheline. Georges was not home this trip, so we missed seeing him. Georges and Micheline are our children's Honorary Grandparents for Jason's side. See a post I did when they first came to meet Samuel last year.
Thanks for the great visit, Mich!One of the lakes in the area:Then we drove to Salmon Arm to visit with our friends: Noah, Katherine, Beth and Ky. We had a lot of fun. The boys enjoyed just playing with all Beth and Ky's toys and out in their beautiful and huge backyard! Thanks for sharing your toys with Elijah and Samuel!
On Saturday morning we went for a walk to "Christmas Island", a bird sanctuary. We found feathers as evidence of the birds.We went to the IPE on Saturday. The Big Fair in Armstrong. Tractors, concerts, petting zoo, Chuckwagon Races with Miniature Horses (so cute!)...it was great fun!And on Sunday in the morning before we left for home, we went for a walk in their "neighbourhood". They live out in the beautiful country... it was wonderful and so peaceful.
These neighbouring horses were so friendly. We are realizing that Samuel is a huge animal lover...Jason said I should have seen him in the petting area at the Fair (I was nursing Gabi while they went in there).these ones are the expensive ones that this particular neighbour raises and sells. They even look a bit snobby, eh?! LOL, but still beautiful creatures.continuing on a walk to see the cows in the distance

And here is Gabriella yesterday, at home, now 2 months old. My oh my.

Tuesday

This morning we went over to Sherry and Marayah's house for a play time too! Busy busy! We had a great morning playing outside and eating Sherry's very yummy Coffee Cake Blueberry Muffins! Thanks!

Here you see Sherry (only 11 weeks to go before Baby #2 comes! Hooray!) and the kids all searching for fallen hazelnuts. They collected all the ones that the squirrels have wiggled out of the tree and Elijah put them into a bag to bring home. He was pretty excited about these nuts!
And here's my Baby, my Strong Baby Girl. She loves to stand up on our legs or the table already. She can move herself already (at 6 weeks) from a different spot than where I placed her. For example, I wished I had thought to take a picture first, but I didn't realize she'd moved this much! I placed Gabi at "3:00" on this mat, looking at it like you are... she moved completely around counter-clockwise to "6:30" (shown). Isn't that nuts??? And do you see what she is doing?Yup, she found her thumb yesterday... and again today... so maybe I've got myself a first-thumb-sucker.Oh and Gabi is doing great in the sleep department. Maybe I have finally got a good sleeper! Well, I do and I hope she sticks with it. She'd done quite a few 6 hour stretches like I've mentioned before. Then last week she did three nights of 8 hours... and the last night she went from 10:00-7:00 (or as I count it from 9:00, her last feed). AND last night Samuel (and Elijah) were at Grandma's overnight so I actually got to benefit from her full night's rest!!! For the FIRST time in a LONG LONG LONG time. :) Keep it up, Baby Girl.

EDIT: oh my goodness... this whole time all three children have been asleep. Gabi, where I left her on the floor... or so I thought, until just now when I went up there... look at this. She's moved all this way now!!! Unbelievable. Ahhhhh!

7 weeks apart

Here is Erin Faith, home from the hospital and finding her place in the Family! We went over for a playtime yesterday and to put Gabriella and Erin side by side while Erin is still smaller than Gabi!!! (she'll pass her up in no time!)

having a ball

Oh my, you should've seen the kids on Saturday night after they all warmed up a bit... we had Brian and Korinne, Mercy and Koby over for dinner. They all played calmy and shyly before we ate, then after they got some ice cream in them for dessert they were chasing each other and just having a ball together! Korinne got some photos for me while I nursed Gabi on the couch. Thanks Korinne! I think a lot of the fun for them was hiding from you and laughing hysterically (spelling?) once you "found" them. Check out the fun!

Hurry, hide, here comes Mrs Korinne!Ahhh! She found us! (Mercy has an idea...)where's Mercy?Peek a Boo, there she is!Thanks for a fun evening!