Life's full of surprises

So my niece Dakota graduated from High School last week.  My Mom and I are working on getting a quilt made for her to take to school with her when she heads off to the UofA in September.  Dakota came out to Macleod for a few days to help me with Maitland so that I can sew during the day and hopefully get the quilt all finished.  That was the plan for today except for a small mishap that got in the way of my sewing time...  

I feel really bad for Dakota.  Poor girl had to bring a bleeding and crying boy home to his Momma.  Maitland was over at my sisters playing and slipped going up her stairs into the kitchen and bit right through his bottom lip.  :(  Such a sad little face greeted me at the door when Dakota brought him back home.  We decided we better go get him checked at the ER to make sure he didn't need stitches or anything.  

 Here's my sweet boy with a fat lip and a blood covered Dakota at the ER.

He really didn't care that we were there and only cried when I had to hold him down so the Dr. could clean the wound and check to see if stitches were required.

I look terrible!  But Maitland is as cute as ever!!  

I wasn't planning on leaving the house at all today...that'll teach me!

Anyways, the Dr said that no stitches were necessary and gave us some antibiotics just in case of infection.

We survived our first ER visit that involved blood!!  

Let's hope that I don't have to deal with more crazy injuries in the future.

And don't worry Dakota we still trust you to babysit...are you busy Friday?!?! :)

Getting settled

These past few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity and chaos!  But I think we are finally starting to settle in.  We are currently living with my Mom in Fort Macleod.  It's not ideal but you do what you have to to make things work right?  Maitland seems to be doing pretty well and doesn't seem to mind at all that we are staying with Nanny and don't have our own house to terrorize.  Now if we could just get him to sleep through the night again.  He wakes up and screams at 2am almost every night and will not settle again.  I am lazy and will bring him into our bed but I ended up sleeping on the couch last night because I just couldn't sleep with Maitland and Matt in the double bed...it was driving me nutso!  So I am super tired and grumpy today because I didn't get hardly any sleep and woke up feeling gross this morning.  Fun fun! 

I have started to feel baby #2 kicking and moving around now which is fun and exciting.  Sometimes I forget that there's even a baby in there and then I  have to take off my sweatpants for real clothes and that's a very real reminder of what's happening.  Love me maternity clothes.  Blah!!!  I'm too poor to buy cute trendy new clothes so I am making due with what I have and a few hand-me-downs.  Whatever.  I think it's impossible for me to look cute preggers anyways.  So sweats and t-shirts are the attire of almost everyday.  

Matt was a sweetheart and took me out for a date last night to O'sho's!!  Oh how I missed that place when we were up north!  Beef terriyaki! Yummy!  And then we got to go and meet sweet Bridget and visit with our friends Trev and Whit!  It was such a fun night and a much needed break for me.  Thanks Mom for babysitting!!

I am starting a quilt for my niece Dakota and can hardly wait to get sewing on Saturday!  It's going to be amazing and I need the change of pace and something creative to do.  Don't worry I'll post pictures when it's all done!  I have 7 days to get the top done...cross your fingers! haha I hope Maitland will cooperate and let me sew a bit during the day without pulling the iron onto his head or something.

Anyways, that's life at the moment...oh, Matt likes the new job so far and is way happier and gets home before 6 every night.  I love it too!!  We are blessed that this opportunity has come for him.  Now all we need is a place to call home and I'll be happy too.

Moving on...

Well things are on the move again for our little family. 

Matt has been given the amazing opportunity to apprentice for his parts designation 

at the New Holland/Challenger Dealership in Claresholm, Alberta.

We are super excited to be moving back south to where most of our family

and friends live.  Not so excited about moving back to the wind! :)

We have been so blessed since we moved to Kitscoty.

I have nothing but great things to say about the Branch here.

I have never felt so accepted and valued and needed in a ward as I do up here.

I am sad to leave my YW and their smiling little faces!

Maitland won't know what to do with himself at church when there isn't

a swarm of girls trying to tickle him and make him laugh all the time.

We have made some amazing friends that I will miss for sure!

Thank you everyone in Lloyd for all of the love and support and friendship!!!

We have prayed fervently for the past few months for something to come

along for Matt that would make his job situation better and it seems we have found it.

I really do believe that our prayer had been answered and this move will be good for us.

I just hate packing...and cleaning...and unpacking... 

I guess it's good for dejunking!!

If anyone has any good tips for moving please feel free to pass them along!

I can use all the help I can get!!!

Finding time...

I know that I said that I wanted to blog more...and I do!  I promise.  But it just seems that I have even less time lately than ever.  Maitland is in full destroy mode lately and is going to town on anything he can reach and a few things he can't.

Anyways I thought I would get back to my list of questions to answer.  I'm going to skip a couple though.  They are too lame and not all that interesting.  What I will do is share a few stories from when I was in High School and going through that lovely stage of life! :)

• What is your favorite color?  I'm surprised Oprah even printed this question...really? that's the best you can come up with as a conversation starter...I'm skipping it.

• What is most memorable about your high school years?

 So I have a few stories from High School that I am brave enough to share.  This first one happened in the fall of 1997 when I was a senior and co-captain of the varsity volleyball team.  I was super bummed because I was the only senior on the team that year and it was lonely for me but I loved the game so much that I wouldn't quit just because my friends didn't make the team.  Anyways...on to the story.  We were at a tournament in Lethbridge with the boys team as well and we had some down time between games to kill so we talked the coaches into taking us to the mall.  Excellent, I thought. Little did I know that one of my most embarrassing moments was about to happen.  As I was walking down the corridor with some of my teammates I happened to look down at my feet and I saw a shiny new loonie (Dollar coin for anyone not from Canada) just laying on the floor so of course I bent down to pick it up.  I was so excited! Free money!!  Except when I tried to get it off the floor it was stuck.  How does a coin get stuck to marble floors I asked myself...so I kind of kicked it with the toe of my shoe and still it didn't budge.  That's when I started hearing the low rumble of laughter and giggles.  I looked up and the senior boys from my school had all stepped out into the hall and were pointing and laughing at me.  Apparently they thought the best use of their time would be to glue a loonie to the floor and see how hard people would try to pick it up.  I happened to be the first person to try.  Seriously.  I was mortified and so embarrassed.  I looked like a fool and all in front of the boys that I so wanted to impress and "be cool" in front of.  One of them even commented that he knew that I would be the one to try and pick up the dollar.  Seriously.  I was super embarrassed and didn't quite know what to do next.  I got made fun of a lot for that one for the rest of the volleyball season.  Good times!

Another story...When I was in Grade 12 I had opted out of playing basketball.  I didn't find it super enjoyable even though I was skilled and was generally one of the starting lineup.  I wasn't good friends with any of the other players and I was insecure.  I regret now not sticking to my guns and playing even though my coach and I didn't get along and I had no friends that played...but it worked out pretty well for me! :)  Since I wasn't playing basketball that year the gym teacher asked me if I would be willing to coach the Grade 8 girls team as they were having a hard time finding someone.  I thought that was a great idea and sounded much better than doing nothing at all for the season.  It was a good learning experience and I loved those girls and we had a great time!  For some reason that year the NBA (and I mean the real one...you know like Michael Jordan NBA) was sponsoring some sort of sportsmanship awards for the season and each High School got to nominate a Senior girl and boy player for the award and a local coach.  I was nominated and won that award for my school.  I wasn't even paying attention in the assembly where they announced the winners because I thought it didn't pertain to me seeing as I didn't even play on the Senior team that year.  One of my friends had to tell me that they had called my name.  It gets better.  After I won the award for my school I was also entered into a nation wide contest and was selected as the national winner for sportsmanship in coaching! hahahaha seriously!  I thought I was in huge trouble when my teacher came to get me out of class and made me go to the office and I had to sit in the conference room by myself and wait...and then the principle and a few other teachers informed me that I had won the national award too and I was going to Vancouver to accept the award at a Grizzles game and it was expenses paid trip!  Woot Woot!!  Just to be clear I am not sharing this story to toot my own horn because I really didn't do anything amazing and I am pretty sure it was a random draw that my name was picked out of a hat for the big trip but it was still dang cool and something I will always remember about High School.  My Mom and I got to fly to Vancouver and got put up in a swanky hotel and had court-side seats to the game.  I also go invited onto the court at half time and was awarded a huge plaque. It was a great trip.  And made my decision to skip playing ball that year a little less painful.

I think that's enough about high school for now.  I actually have a hard time remembering much else that's worth sharing.  It has been a few years since high school... 1998 seems like forever ago!

The Best Job!!

There is a blog that I read on a regular basis.  This woman amazes me and I am in awe of her.  Her blog is called 71 toes and can be found at www.71toes.com if anyone is interested in checking it out.  This morning I was reading her mother's day post and came across this video...

As I watched I couldn't help but get emotional as I thought about all of the amazing things that my Mom has done for me and my siblings and how hard she had to work to be able to give us everything we wanted.  I also realized that there is so much more in store for me as a Mom. 

I mean just over a year ago I was at this point. 

I had a brand spanking new baby boy! 

And now 14 months later I have this...

Things sure have changed over the past year and they are only going to get crazier and more adventurous! As I sat snuggling with Maitland while he napped on Sunday afternoon I couldn't help but tear up as I thought about the moments that were slipping away and how my baby boy was growing up so fast and changing so quickly!  I love seeing all the things he is learning and saying and how he can almost walk now without looking drunk! :) But most of all I am excited (and a little scared) to see how he reacts to this...

That's right!  We are going to welcome another baby into our little family sometime in November.  We are so excited and can hardly wait for Maitland to have a sibling and for our family to grow!  I can't say that I have loved every minute of being a Mom so far but what I can say is that there is nothing else in the world that I would rather be doing.  I love being a Mom to my sweet little boy and getting to see his smiling face all day long.  I look forward to the challenges and love the moments of snuggles and hugs and slobbery kisses. 

I am so blessed to be a Mom and to have been given so much.  I am looking forward to having a new addition to our family and to see the changes and transitions to come.  I can see the grey hair coming in already ;)  

Things you might not care about...

I have been struggling lately to know what to write about.  I really liked the 30 day challenge I did in November because it gave my blog a focus and got me off the hook of trying to think of new things to write about.  Well I found this list of questions from O magazine and I am going to answer one or two or three a post to help me out and hopefully not make my blog so lame! ;)  Here is the list of questions and I'll get right to it.

• Who was your favorite celebrity as a child?
• What type of pets do you have?
• What is your favorite color?
• What is most memorable about your high school years?
• What word describes you best?
• What is your greatest accomplishment?
• What drives you every day?
• What is your favorite food?
• Where do you want to retire?
• What is your business goal this year?
• Where do you like to vacation?
• Who do you admire?
• What is your mission?
• If you were invisible, where would you go?
• What traits in others are you attracted to?
• What is the kindest thing anyone has done for you?
• How do you want to be remembered?
• What would you do with a million dollars?
• If you were on an island, who would you want to be with? Why?
• You have a 10 minute speech to give at a high school, what is it about?

Please don't judge me but I was super star crazy as a kid and had some almost stalkerish crushes on some celebs! Not that I could stalk anyone from Orton AB but I would read every magazine and watch every movie and dream that I was a part of their glamorous lives! haha  I had two serious celebrity likes as a kid.  One was Keanu Reeves (Cool Breeze Over the Mountain as I learned his name meant from Teen Beat magazine! Gag!!  Who remembers that kind of crap!!)  I honestly watched Speed about a 100 times over Christmas break the year it came out on video.  I can't say why I loved him so much because I watch some of the movies of that era that he was in now and can hardly stand to finish them.  But man I thought he was cute stuff!!  

 

He is cute right?  It wasn't just me that thought that back in the day?!?

The other crush I had was on Mike Vitar from the movie "The Sandlot".  I was in love with him!!  I mean who wouldn't love this face as a 14 year old girl?  

I will confess that I even carried a picture of him from one of the magazines with me into my Grade 9 Science final exam for good luck...and then when I realized that I had forgotten it in my textbook I talked the teacher into letting me into the school after we had been let out for the summer just so that I could go through all the text books and find it!  I was such a loser!!  But I did find the picture! :)  (I actually still have it...don't tell Matt).  Anyways...I just really loved this kid for no real reason other than I thought he was the hottest guy I had ever seen.  End of story.  

Next question is what type of pet do I have.  None.  Never ever will I have one or will my children have on either.  You may think me evil or mean but I just have no love for pets and if I am really spilling my guts here most, if not all, pets make me nervous or outright scared.  So I won't be having them at my house.  Sorry kids and Matt.  

I guess that's about it for tonight.  I will continue next time I get a minute to sit down and hope that Maitland will let me type for a few minutes.  Speaking of the cutest boy on earth...here is his smiling face!!

Maitland's Birthday Trip

This past month has kept us pretty busy... hahahahaha...ok that was a joke because Matt just now went to work for the first time in weeks and we have been sitting at home being lazy pretty much that entire time!  So this is what we were up to for some of his days off.

Maitland turned one the end of February and we didn't get a chance to do much for his big day so we planned a trip to West Edmonton Mall with some good friends and had us a little birthday holiday!!  Here's the pictures of the big event!

This is Maitland's first ride ever!  They let kids under 2 ride for free 

and of course they need an adult so Mommy got to ride for free too! 

 Tonya and I took the boys on the car ride...looks intense eh!

Caleb didn't want to sit down...you can tell who's going to be the rebel in this pairing!

 Tonya made Blaine switch her spots after going round a few times.

Blaine was super excited for the fire truck! 

As you can see Matt didn't try this ride either...chicken?!?!

Just kidding honey!

 Matt had a pretty bad headache on the first day there so Blaine 

decided he should have an aqua massage.  I wish I had the headache! 

Matt said it was pretty great!  

After the first day at the Mall we decided to go to Red Robin for dinner.  It's Matt's favorite place and the food is so good!  I love the cherry limeade drink!  Then we went back to our hotels to rest up for the waterslides the next day. 

 This is the crazy slide that they just got!  

There was no way I was going on it so of course Blaine did!

He had to wait all day for them to open it but it didn't disappoint!

 That's Blaine at the top checking out just how far he has to fall before going through the loop.

Here's the loop...two different escape pods in case you don't make it all the way around!

Maitland loved the water and especially the waves!

He thought it was hilarious when he got splashed in the face!

Here's our happy swimmer fresh off a wave in the face.

I didn't want to post this pic because no one should have to see me in a bathing suit

but I wanted to prove that I was there and participating!! :)

The birthday boys!  Maitland and Caleb are only a week apart.
They had so much fun together!! 

We need to do this again!
Thanks for the fun May's!!