~He's speaking to my heart....

Yes, the big man upstairs is starting to show me his Grace once again, and I'm completely in awe...


I found baby Kayleigh though another blog My Charming Kids and found an instant connection. This baby is a miracle that she has lived so long and now as the fight is on for her life, I ask everyone to spare a few moments and drop to your knees and ask out good Lord to save her life... Miracles happen each and every day and I believe that today is one of those days where baby Kayleigh is going to live... God is bigger then any of this and makes things like this happen! Please tonight and every night say a prayer for baby Kayleigh and her beautiful family!

~snowman swap goodies & Trouble

So, because I am now addicted to this wonder world of blog swapping, I did it yet again! It's so fun to put together boxes to send off and then to receive one in return! I love love love it! So, this winter I signed up for a snowman swap and was so excited because snowman just simply bring me joy! I receive my box the other day from Suzee who sent me the most ADORABLE apron that she made! I must say it's my favorite thing in the box and I am so taking it to the lake for Christmas! The box was full of a whole bunch of other snowman goodies, including trinkets, hot cocoa, a cookie cutter! I love it! Thank you SO SO much Suzee!!!!

TROUBLE

Some other news to report on the Karley front- I've comfirmed that she is totally going to be a shopper. She emptied out my purse last night, thrilled that she could do it all on her own and ever so quietly so no one would have heard her, and once she was busted she had the biggest smile on her face and was she EVER so proud to bring me the $10 she found and then proceeded to crawl away from me ever so fast so I didn't take her money! So C-U-T-E!!! I wonder what she wants to buy?? Maybe I'll leave here and take trouble out shopping???

~Twas the night before tomorrow

And all through the house...

not a JJ was stirring.... (but he did lay out his clothes for the next day of school),

not a peep out of sissy- only a peek out of Ruby,
Not a wink out of Connor and cowboy bear all tucked in by his side,
and not even a hello from late night Mason (who just by chance is getting bigger and now only sleeping in his underwear!).

But as this mommy tiptoed to peek on Karley she found her wide eyed (a little shy of the camera flash) and ready to Roll....
So I grabbed her up, snuggled her into my shoulder, blankie and all, and this mommy shouted with glee "Now sleep away, sleep away sleep away ALL!!"

~I'm honored

My friend Loraine who I met through a FABULOUS blog swap nominated ME for a blog award! I never ever thought my little ol family update blog would get an award and I must say I am more than flattered! Thank you so much Loraine!
“This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.”

So now It's my turn to give out some blog awards.... How fun!!! I choose:

Crafty Rachel - because i love what she does around her home and how she keeps it all together with 5 kids.... I wanna be more like her!
Full of Life Maria - This is my girl friend who goes way back- well not like childhood back, but far enough back that I'm proud to still be in touch with her! She, in fact, is the one who turned me onto blogging! I love it!
Baby Oliver grows and grows - this is jason's cousins' blog who had her baby, oliver, premie, and i just LOVE LOVE LOVE watching him grow!!!
I don't know her Bridget - but i totally stock her blog- she in SUPER woman and of course i so wish i could be as creative as she is! and maybe someday we'll be buddies????

I know it say's I have to nominate 8 people- but i can't because I Think these 4 and my friend Loraine are simply fabulous bloggers and I love their blogs!!!

Happy award day ladies!!!

~Baby it's cold outside!!

Winter us here- yep, it's here and baby it's cold outside. And actually I love it! It feels more and more like Christmas everyday and it gets me more and more ready for this beautiful holiday! Is it cold where you are and are you enjoying this blustery cold? It's -11F here BUT it feels like -32 with the wind chill! Wow!! There is not playing out in the cold today like we did on this day:

Today is just dark and blizzardly and COLD!!!!

~struggling with immunizations

So- I lied, I called and cancelled Karley's 2nd flu shot- i told them she was sick- she wasn't. But I'm so nervous about these needles now that I have started research. In fact I wish that I had never gotten any immunizations for my children in the way I did.... actually I wish I had spaced them out a lot more. There is NO NEED to inject 3 or more into a little tiny child at one time. So- she didn't get her 2nd flu shot, nor is she going to. And then at 1 year a whole new bout of immunizations come up- and ya know what? I'm not doing them at 1 year either. I am so afraid to get her the MMR vaccine- with all the controversey that surrounds it. And why in the world should I make her get 1 needed with all 2 at once on top of more of them. Anyway- in the mean time I'm working on becomming better educated on the matter.
Just so you understand, I'm not saying I'm never going to get my kid immunized again- but I think it can wait until she is further developed and her tiny little perfect body can handle all those yuckie in there to make her be healthy in the long run.
In fact I really have an issue with the HPV vaccine and don't intend on giving it to any of my girls.. UGH I don't know. Anyway- if any of you are WELL EDUCATED on this matter- please post or e-mail me alexaappel AT yahoo {DOT}com. I need all the materials I can get to make a perfect decision regarding my family!

~The weight on my shoulders.....

Someday's I just really feel like the world is out to get me down, not that anything in particular is wrong, but just that things aren't right. I often find myself reading other blog and wishing my life was much more in order like theirs. I wish that my children we're always well behaved and I never ever once had to riase my voice at them. And what the heck would it be like if my dogs never barked like wild coyotes when someone arrived at the door. Maybe once in a while we'd be able to step back into the olden days where people really cared and helped each other out, huh? What would that be like? Why isn't there a dishwasher that's invented that loads for me? What if there were never any disagreements in marriages/life... what would life be like? Then I come to remember that there are some people out there... like this woman who attend my church who has brain cancer and just had a baby c-section 2 months early (3lbs) and is on her death bed.... who would love to live my life, as frustrated as I get with things she would trade me places anyday. I somethings think I'd love to be in her shoes too... But really when the weight of the world sits on my shoulders there is no other place I'de be then right here in the arms of the one I love! (** and to just keep remembering that!)

~He loves me

I always knew that he loved me... but as time goes on the moments we have to share alone together are always few and far between- esp. those REALLY special moments. Because Jason and I share a unique and special bond I think we know how much to cherish our marriage and know that it could be over without a moments notice. This is a little story about my first EVER limo ride:

A friend had called up and informed me that this ladies club she is part of had a cancellation for thier monday night Christmas celebration and asked if I was willing to come. After consulting Jason and getting permission I decided it would be fun. Besides there is this one girl who was going to be there who I really wanted to get to know better and share my "story" with. My friend who invited me, Tanya, said it was a really fancy dinner and that they'd all pitched together and rented a limo to pick us all up and to bring us home after a few'girlie' drinks. I was excited. Never in my whole life had i driven in a limo! My SIL was in town and was helping me out with the kids until jason arrived home to take over. She was actually more excited then me when the Limo arrived to pick me up... She was following me out in her pj's with her camera in tow (kind of embarrasing me in front of a whole ton of girlie friends- i felt like she was my mom taking me to school in her bath robe and slippers) and took this shot before I hopped in for my night out on the town:

I then casually sat down on one of the seats and said a little hello to all of the ladies that were supposed to be sitting in there joining me for dinner! To my utter surprise there was NO ladies in there at all- and this is what I saw:

My gorgeous hubby sitting in there looking all sexied out holding a dozen BEAUTIFUL red roses! ** note my face in the above photo- I was SHOCKED (to say the least) and couldn't beleive that he got this one past me!!! I think I said "What are you doing here? Tanya was in on this??"
The above photo is the picture that was snapped as we were getting ready to take off (my SIL took this picture with tears in her eyes- she couldn't believe that they'd pulled it off!!!) Notice my face? I'm still totally stunned!! This is us as we arrived home from out very romantic dinner and hour long limo ride drinking wine and looking at all the fabulous Christmas lights around town! It was so fun and so appreciated! I know for sure that I am absolutely loved!!
** does anyone want my husband to e-mail your husband to get some insider tips as how to pull one of these off for YOU???

~ i love to SWAP!

Have a EVER been busy- but a good busy. I'm afraid it's catching up with me a little bit tho and would really love for my life to slow down some! But, alas, it isn't going to so I'll just sit back and enjoy this lovely ride I'm on! Speaking of rides Hanna sent me the dandest cutest most lovely ornaments! Back in October I signed up for Julie's secrest ornament swap and have received mine! The great thing is- I didn't only get 1 ornament I for 2! I absolutely adore then and think they look fabulous on my tree! I love how the little feet dangle below. Thanks so much Hanna and I wish your fabulous family a very Merry Christmas!!

Oh ya, Aubrey has received the ornament that I sent to her! I was so excited she got her's in time for Christmas and that it was her first ever package from Canada! Merry Christmas Aubrey and a very Happy New Year too (all the way from Canada!).

Keeping with the spirit anyway, the kids and I went candy wild last night and decorated out gingerbread house- isn't it LOVELY???

~8 is great

Happy Birthday baby girl... I can only imagine why you think 8 months is great- but here are a few I could come up with:

1. You can get basically ANYWHERE you want and as fast as you want on all 4's- what more could a girl want?

2. You have your mommy wrapped right around your darling little finger.... All you have to do it crawl over to me, tug on my pants and say "mama" & up you go!

3. Food is so so so yummy, esp the good stuff that you can gum and swallow down as fast as your little heart desires! But your all time favorite is still plain ol mommy milk! ( i wouldn't want it any other way;0)

4. It's so thrilling to pull yourself up on the furniture and then look at everyone in the room so they can see you!

5. It's even more thrilling to hold on with only one hand (notice in the photo) and see the reaction you get out of mommy with the camera!

6. Christmas is just around the corner and you LOVE to get your sweet little hands on every decoration you possibly can.

7. Your big enough to sit big in a shopping cart (with a cover so you can't get all the germs!) and you love to hear your voice in all the cool stores as it echos!

8. Your still the apple of your families eyes and we love love love you more and more each day!

~MIA- my life in a nutshell these last few weeks

So, the weekend of the birthday was wonderFUL!!! My fabulous inlaws came to visit for their birthday and stayed for a week! I, in the mean time, was off to the Good 'Ol US of A to get in some much needed retail therapy.... with my
MOM! Thats right, it was a girls only trip with my mom, Karley and I. It was so much fun! We shopped ALL DAY long and then when we got back to the hotel room in the evenings we wrapped all the presents! It, I think, should become an annual, or at least semi- annual event in my life to do this with my fabulous mom!

Upon returning to Med. Hat I was lucky enough to have a date with my little boys.... during the day I was parent helper in Jameson's kindergarten class- which I LOVED and thanks to my wonderful MIL I didn't have to worry about baby Karley! That night was a great chance for Jameson, Connor and I to have a special night, just the 3 of us, with a wonderful friend of mine and her boys! We went to see the live play of Franklin! It was so awesome and I think my boys throughly enjoyed it. One of the highlights for me was watching my very BRAVE friend go up on stage and...

SING! thats right- she was so brave and has a wonderful voice! It was lots of fun. Thanks to my genuis friend for the great idea of getting the tickets and having a night out on the town- lets do it again soon.

Mason got to have a sleepover party for his birthday and it went wonderful! It was the first sleepover for his friends and none of them got homesick! I've opened a can of worms and know there is going to be many more sleepovers in Mason's future!

Little Miss K is pulling herself up and standing EVERYwhere!!! And of course she is so proud. I love when she crawls over to my legs and pulls herself up while saying.. mamamama

Jameson, my 5 year old kindergartener... lost his FIRST tooth! that thing was worth $7.00.. wow I remember when I got a few quarters... hmmm... whats going on in this day and age with that tooth fairy!

And I leave you today of a shot of my beautiful blue eyes baby who won 2ND place in the baby photo contest I entered her in! Thanks to all of you who took the time to vote for her!

~Happy Birthday gorgeous blue eyed boys

Today marks a big day in our household! Mason turns 8 and Connor turns 5. Thats right, 3 years to the exact date these 2 gorgeous ones were born. Today is special for our family because it means that we've been blessed longer by these 2 blonde haired blue eyed bomb shells.

Mason

Mason, who is 8 today, has enriched my life in SO many ways, I can't even begin to tell you. When I came into this life he really opened up my eyes as to what a little boy is made of... And Mason is all my little boy. I came into his life shortly after his mommy died and he accepted me with open arms. He has loved me beyond words and my life has been more than enriched since I've had him in it. Not a day goes by that I don't think about how lucky I am to have him as my oldest son. I hope this day is the first day of many that we get to celebrate his spectacular life! I love you Mason!!!

Connor

Connor is our jokester and keeps our house rolling with laughter. He is such a great kid to always have around. He is the boy in our household that has numerous nick names because every name he seems to play the part so well. He is my little boy that when I look into his eyes I just melt. He is genuine in whatever he does in life and loves everything about it. When he's happy- he's really happy, when he's mad- he's really really mad. He likes to be the funny guy, but if people are sharing in his laughter he gets mad because he doesn't like to be teased. Connor is the little guy who you can see deep in his soul he is happy to be alive- which is so the truth. Connor is our Miracle baby! I love you Mr. Miracle!

~The NEW and IMPROVED

Edward Cullen from the Twilight Series books... don't you think he look like a great looking Edward for the books and the movie? I sure think so!

~Mini Swap

Yesterday in the mail I received these WONDERFUL gifts from Loraine in South Africa. I joined a blog swap hosted by Emilie and was so excited to get off some gifts to Loraine and recive mine! I LOVE it! Thank you so much Loraine. My daughter and I are going to scrapbook tonight and use the little girls you sent.

Blog swapping is a new concept for me, and I LOVE it! For those of you who are unfamiliar with blogging, there is this whole world out there of people who blog and make friends by blogging. We'll I have become one of these people who creep on other peoples blogs and get to know them! And I stumbled on the concept of blog swapping! So here I am- receiving my 1st gift in the mail from clear across the world! This is so fun! Now if I could find the time to create home made stuff for them... somday, right?

~All Hallows Eve

What a great day! I limited myself to 2X on facebook- once this morning and once this evening and would you imagine the stuff I got done!! My basement is 1/2 done, the sheets are washed the clothes are 3/4 done and some are even put away. I even had time to play weebles with Jameson and Karley today. It was so fun! I'd say it was a good day...

And then halloween tonight. I was actually really impressed with my kids' costumes. They turned out so good and they all loved their costumes this year. It is still my goal next year to make their costumes instead of buying them- I do intend to do that!! Someday....

~Unbalanced

un·bal·anced
-adjective
mentally disordered; deranged

Yep- thats me- Just mentally flustered... Not all in there- I think I left some of my mind on Facebook- which I have to stay off of! What a waste of TOTAL time. I have such a full plate. And it's not all bad- It's just FULL. I love what I do. I love that my kids are playing hockey and I love that they love it. I love that they come off the ice and brag about being all sweaty and stinky. I love that 2 days a week I have to have supper ready by the time the bus arrives because we have to leave for practice shortly after and they're always starving after school. I love that I am managing their team and both jason and i are overly involved... But I'm just deranged right now. There are some things I'm going to try to do in order to get my ducks in a row and become more balanced: I'm going to take the evenings to do ME stuff- only me- not anything to do with my hubby or with my kids- I need some time to scrapbook, read, bath. After the last kiddo hits the sheets I'm NOT gonna do any dishes laundry or hockey stuff. I'm going to make it about me. I'm going to stay off facebook all the time. I'm sick off the time it takes away from and my crew. I am limiting myself to 1 time a day on facebook. I am going to try to get 1 load of laundry done a day- starting first thing in the morning... And I'm going to try to appreciate the little things- I'm still eagerly working on getting myself back into balance... Hold tight it's coming!!!!

break down

Yep- thats me- just having a pitty party here today- but I hope to be back to "happy go lucky" me tomorrow... Just today I'm broken...

~Fall Decorations & a 7 MONTH OLD!!!!

She's 7 months old today- I can't believe it. I'm really not ready for her to be 7 months already. I sort of feel like I was just pregnant with her... I guess they all grow at some time or another.

Here are some (7 for her 7th month) things I love love love about this girlie!!

1~ She has the most BEAUTIFUL blue eyes that can melt any heart

2~She's crawling like a mad woman- I don't remember any of my other kids crawling this soon or much!!

3~ She said "mamamama" 4X now, I wonder if she really associates the word with me? I hope so!

4~ She is a REALLY GOOD baby. She hardly ever cries (only when she bonks her head on the hard floor) and she is FULL of smiles

5~She still loves her sister and brothers. After a day of them at school she is SO happy to see them arrive home! She smiles and squeels with delight.

6~ She claps her hands when she's happy... I say "Yay" and she claps. (her daddy and brother mason taught her that)

7~ She is still utterly perfect in my eyes, and I can't imagine my life with her.

***If you didn't read about this before, I entered Karley in a photo contest and would LOVE it if you voted! You can vote once a day EVERY day once you have registered your e-mail. Karley could win a $2000 college RESP- so please take the time out each day to vote? and also if you felt so inclined please e-mail this link or blog this link to ALL of your friends and help me out? I'd really really appreciate it! http://photocontest.babystages.ca/en/vote/ballot.php?photo_id=145372***

~I LOVE LOVE LOVE fall decorations!~

I have been decorating for the season. I love fall time. The crisp air and the breeze are the best (mind you today we had 80F degree weather and NO wind! I liked that too). In Canada thanksgiving is in October so my fall decoration can come down in november and I can start the Christmas decorations, but really I'm not ready- fall can last a little longer! Here is a bit of what I've done- enjoy!

~I wish...

...that I never ever had to leave my house ever again

...that the laundry would do itself

...that Jason could cook supper EVERY night (he's an awesome cook people!)

...that my kids NEVER fought and always played so nice together

...that my family lived closer

...that jason's family lived closer

...that my baby didn't have to grow up

...that i could blog stock other people's blogs everyday all day

...that i had more time and energy to scrapbook

...that my arm didn't hurt from my flu shot

and last but not least...

I WISH... that you enjoy our little Christmas card sneak peak!!

I love being in control- I think

Hockey season is well underway, I'm sure most of you know. I'm actually loving it this year because I'm the manager of JJ and Connor's team and that means I'm in control. I actually feel important and that I know whats going on around the hockey world. I think I'm going to end up being a lifer with this hockey thing, because I admit I'm a control freak:) SHHH don't tell my hubby I admited to that fault- is it a fault?? ;)

Last weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving here in canada, which just seems plain dumb to me.. That is the American coming out in my blood, I suppose. But the beginning of october is supposed to be about me and turning a year older. Anyhow- we celebrated the long weekend by heading to Calgary- just the 7 of us- our happy little family. I had a few things up my sleeve planned as surprises for my kids, but I must say I was more excited then the kids, I think. Anyhow, we stayed at a really nice hotel with a waterslide. The great part about this hotel is that the waterslide wasn't in a water park so it was just the perfect size and not any people there- we had it to ourselves most of the time! The room was perfect with enough areas to sleep! We arrived friday and the first thing we had to do was waterslide! After watersliding we all dressed and headed to RED LOBSTER- yum yum! I love that place! It was awesome and all the kids LOVED their sea food- I wish we had a Red Lobster here:(

I made reservation's at a farm to go on a pumpkin hunt saturday afternoon. So we spent the morning at IKEA! Loved it, but refrained from spending too much and buying too much- maybe because we only have an expedition and with all the kids, there is no way we could bring lots of loot home. The kids enjoyed themselves because Ikea has a killer play area that they're allowed to hang out in for an hour. After Ikea, we went and bought a really nice roof rack for the expedition- when I go shopping in the states I can bring more stuff back now! thank you JASON! Then it was off to our pumpkin hunt. I must admit it was a little chilly as the elevation is a bit higher then the city of Calgary itself. We were all a bit cold- but I still loved it. This is what I was looking forward to the most out of the whole trip. I think I enjoyed it WAY more then the kids, but hey, a moms got to get her kicks somehow!




After the pumpkin hunt we came back to our room for some more family fun! We all played a board game together. I can't tell you the last time that the 7 (okay 6 cause Karley isn't old enough) of us all sat down together and played a game! We loved it! It was SO SO SO fun. I hope we get to do more stuff like this together. My favorite part of the game was Connor trying so hard to look UP at his card and couldn't see it to save his life:)

On sunday we went to the ZOO! The kids have been asking us to go to the Calgary zoo for a long time now, and we finally did it. We didn't tell them where we were going. As we were driving on the highway Alyssa noticed a sign that said 'zoo' and right away knew where we headed! They we SO excited and it was so nice at the zoo. Again in the morning it was COLD (i even bought karkey a hat (touqe for you canadians) and some mits. Still her nose was RED! Anyhow- we so
enjoyed our time at the zoo. The great part is that there was hardly anyone there. We had so much space to play and look! And of course it was nice to let the kids have some freedom to enjoy the animals without being afraid of them getting lost. My fav. part of the Zoo was when the kids fed the ducks! I love the pics! Jameson had the most patience and the best duck come to him to eat out of his hand. He then got to teach the other kids how to be still and feed the ducks from their hands. For some reason the pics and the act of him teaching them simply melts my heart. I think the kids' favorite part was the dinosaurs. We saved that for last and although we were ready to go, the kids wanted to stay with the dino's the longest! Anyhow we had so much fun as a family and I HOPE HOPE HOPE we get to go more of this family stuff!















*** just a note for all you photographer people out there... I did NOPT edit these photo's- they are direstly out of the camera- so please go soft on your thoughts of their quality!!!!***