Signs of Spring

Spring has sprung here in Calgary....

I am looking forward to it more this year then ever! I think it's because winter was long and COLD this year!!!

We had some little visitors in my back yard yesterday.

I was getting dinner ready and I looked out my kitchen window to discover a momma duck and her babies.

I watched as they walked around our yard looking for a way out.

As I watched her I wondered how she trained her babies to be so obedient. Every time she stopped the babies stopped and sat down behind her, when she moved they followed right along behind her. Maybe I need to take a lesson from a duck. When I stop my kids keep going and when I go my kids go the other direction......

Happy Spring everyone enjoy the nice weather!!

Scrapbook Your Heart Retreat!!!

I think I'm finally caught up on my sleep from the weekend!

Once again Allison and her team put on a fabulous retreat! If you ever have the chance to go to it . YOU have to go!

This year's theme was Princess Warrior. I'm still trying to absorb all the great information!

I thought I was a strong woman, but really I want to be a "Woman of Strength"!

I thought I would try a top 5 things I learned at Scrapbook your heart:

5. Kim is worried about Rabbits being left outside...

4. I never thought I would have such a great time crying all weekend!!

3. I need to have more weekend away to rejuvenate and reflect on my family.

2. Scrapbookers are really the nicest women in the world. Get a group of scrapbookers in a room and no one knows each other and you would have thought they were friends forever!!

1. I have really great friends!!!

My kids can't wait for me to leave.. their helping me get the van packed

Late night scrapbooking!! Kim's excited to be there!!!

Kim and I trying to find the WARRIOR side!!!

May Long!!!

The view from the farm

Is it true... is summer FINALLY coming?

As a kid May long weekend always singled to me that summer holidays were almost here, only a month and 1/2 of school left then two whole months of doing nothing!!!!

Now as a mom I look at it different... Now it's ONLY a month and 1/2 till the kids are out of school for two WHOLE months..... I love having the kids home all day for summer, but it can get wearing. Good thing we live in a Lake community and we spend almost the whole summer at the lake!

Our May Long Weekend was an eventful one this year. We drove up to my mother-In-Laws farm in Sundre on Saturday morning. The kids were soooooo excited they love going to the farm!

Ben saying Hi to Grandma!

We had a great day playing on the tramp, riding the Gator and the ATV, meeting the new horses and donkey's that have come to the farm. We also saw the the baby fox's and the mom that hide under one of the houses.

Then the eventful part came. While Tracy and I were getting the kids ready to go home, my Father-in-Law decided to take our truck to get gas, so we didn't have to stop on the way home. While I appreciate the gesture.... he hit a deer on the way there and wrecked the front of the truck! He was fine a little shaken up and felt really bad, but fine. The deer died and our truck has over $3000.00 damage to it( if we're lucky). Good thing Tracy works in a body shop!

We had an unexpected sleepover at the farm.. The kids loved it!!! The next morning Tracy was able to fix the truck enough to get it home and we're home safe and sound.

Overall it was a great weekend I took a TON of pictures of the kids and the kids and a BLAST!!! that's all that really counts

I hope everyone had a great May long and is home safe and sound!

Presentation of the Cheque!

Kaitlin, Ben and I were up at the hospital to present the Crop 4 Kids cheque to the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation.

We were up there at the end of April, but... someone set my camera to RAW format and I just now was able to re-format the pictures into .jpeg.

Crop 4 kids was such a great time! I'm so glad I was able to do it, I know it sounds corny but it was a life changing event for me. We spend so much time at the hospital it was so great to do something to give back. The money that was raised at Crop 4 kids is going towards Storybook Theatre performing at the hospital. I'm so thrilled that we were to raise the money to have the performers come and entertained the kids. I hope it will bring a smile to the kids faces that are facing so much and help them forget for maybe just one minute that they are in the hospital.

That's a wrap!

The best ladies to work for... even though I've heard rumors about TONS of rules!

Yesterday the lovely Kimberly invited the Monday night class team out to her farm for a photo session. What a blast we had!

The ever so talented Allison Orthner was our photographer for the day and what an awesome job she did. check out her blog at www.allisonorthner.blogspot.com she has an amazing picture of Kimberly on it.

The Monday Night Class team knows how to have fun, even if it was cold, and windy out.

The "Crew" waiting for our next instructions

In my mad rush to get out the door I forgot to grab my camera so Kimberly took a few pictures to document our "Photo shoot".

I was "trying" to work it.. look out America's next top model here I come...

This Picture is for Tracy. Because I knew if I told him there were old trucks out there he would ask me a million questions about them, so I had Kim send me a pictures so he could just look at them himself.

OMG

I love the Biggest Loser show. Last night was the season finally and what a great show, I can not believe the dedication the contestants show the oldest contestant 63 year old Jerry lost 177 lbs. WOW!!!!! That gives me a kick in the butt, if he can change his old habits I should be able too???
Tracy and the kids know I love Jillian, so they gave me Jillian Micheal's workout for the WII for my Birthday and OMG I am sore today!!! but I did it again today and she kicked my butt again. She yells at you to keep going I just imagine she's behind me yelling at me!!!
we'll see if I can move tomorrow.. maybe I'll do Yoga?


On another note:
I'm excited to announce that I booked the location for Crop 4 Kids for next year!! Save the Date... March 20, 2010. I have so much to do before then, but it is soooooo worth it when I see how much fun everyone has and when I had the donation cheque to the hospital, I get all chocked up ( I think a few tears came to my eye when I gave all the money to them this year). A few of us are planning a Crop 4 the cure for the fall so stay tuned for more details.... www.scrap4it.ca


I better get to bed, all of us lovely ladies from Monday Night Class are having our picture taken tomorrow, I don't want bags under my eyes.. or bigger bags then I already have.

I'm done I'm done..

I've been trying to finish my layouts for Monday Night Class and I'm DONE...check them out










Watch for them coming soon....

Happy Mother's Day!!!

What a great day here in Calgary, the sun is finally shinning and the kids can get outside to play & we can finally fire up the backyard fire pit!!! I love a good wiener roast

Uncle Matt in the bouncy house!!!

My mom and aunt sent me this link from CNNBC who knew I was Mother of the year!!! lol

http://news.cnnbcvideo.com/?nid=e4VnrW2Hqk3kdSIPpUoCgTI4ODU5MzM-&referred_by=16283397-8B_U9Bx&p=moveon

I hope every Mom out there had a terrific Mothers Day!!!

It's one of the hardest job's in the world but worth every Kiss & Hug I get!

Ben's Big Day!!!

The day finally came!!!! Ben's infection has cleared and he was given to green light to have his PICC line taken out. YEAH!!!!!!

The poor little one had one more hurtle to go over.. getting the PICC line out!!!!

I've never heard him scream so hard it broke my heart. The nurse kept telling me it will be ok, he's so young he won't remember this....

Little does she know his mother is a crazy scrapbooker, and I've taken pictures of the journey so he will remember it! I just hope he doesn't remember the pain.

Death by Chocolate Crop

What better way to celebrate National Scrapbook month then a Death by Chocolate Crop!!!! Join me on the Last Saturday of the month (May 30th) and dare to be put in a chocolate coma!!!
RSVP to Scrap4it@gmail.com

Happy National Scrapbook Day!!!!!

Kim's excited it's National

Scrapbook DAY!!!
Did you know that yesterday was National Scrapbook day? What did you do for the day?

I enjoyed a f-a-b-u-l-o-u-s day with Allison and the GBC scrapbookers.

I had a hard time getting anything done...... Kim made me laugh too much & I talked too much with everyone!!!

Christy Looking sexy as always

This is the layout I tried to work on all day!!!

The wonderful Christine aka Craft diva, doing the make n' take

This is how a rolled yesterday!!!! Yes all my scrapbooking supplies fit into a smart car!!!

wow it's been a while!!!!

I was so busy updating the Crop 4 kids blog site and web site I forgot about my own... so now it's time to get back to me...

It's been a long month. I know some of you have been asking about Ben. so here's the scoop...

At the end of March ( 3 days before Crop 4 Kids) Ben went in for surgery to have a PICC line put into his arm so he could get IV antibiotics 24 hours a day. He was so amazing. I am soooooo proud to have a son that can go though so much at such a young age and still have such a smile on his face!

Everything was going great with is line and him getting his antibiotics. Every day he would come and sit in the living room and get his line changed. I know lot more about nursing than I ever wanted too...

Then it happened, the thing they told me hardly ever happens.... his line broke.....

On beautiful Tuesday morning, my lovely husband had just left for work when I hear..... MOM!!!!!! I see Megan and Ben at the end of my bed(it's 6am), Megan has Ben's line in her hand and Ben is no longer attached to it. I jump out of Ben and spring into auction. Remembering what they told me to do... "If anything ever happens to his line just put heparin in it and come to the hospital." It wasn't till I was half way back up the stairs that I realised the line that the Heparin is suppose to go into to.. is in my hand.. what do I do now!!!! I hear the MOM!!!! scream again when reach my bed room there is blood all over my bed, Blood is now coming out of Ben's line... So I did what every mom does... I called my mommy....

So to make a long story short we got him to the hospital and we tried to repair the line. but after 24 hours he had to go back into the OR and have a new line put in. Once again my brave little 3 year old was a trooper. He had not eaten anything since the night before, and they finally got him back into the OR at 5pm... he kept screaming he wanted scrambled eggs.... when he woke up from the OR the first thing that came out of his mouth was "Can I have scrambled eggs now?"

Fast forward to the End of April.. We made it!!!!

He's done 4 weeks of caring around a 20lb backpack 24hrs a day.....

we were at the hospital on Wednesday and we have stopped his IV but.. they have kept his line in just in case his infection comes back.... lets cross our fingers it doesn't....

we'll keep you posted...

Ben walking the halls of the hospital with his back pack

One of our favorite nurses in the ID clinic

Ben getting his x-ray to make sure

everything is in place