A New Year, New adventures

Well, it has been a while since I have written. I need to do better at that. Especially if this is my journal for now. I used to be really good with writing in my journal but since getting married, I have really slacked off. Not sure why. I need to start writing in a journal again. But for now, my blog is my journal.

Elva turned 2 on December 3 2014. We went to Chucky cheese with Nathan and Lindsey (she is a friend that lived with us for the last 6 months), had some pizza and spent 2 hours playing the kids games they have there. The kids loved it!! Elva loved the jumping horse the best and Caeleb likes the games like whackamole. And even now they ask to go to Chucky Cheese frequently (but I have to tell them that we can only go for special occasions). Elva got a Little People Nativity set for her birthday. A fun thing to play with but hard to keep the little parts together and I am sure we have lost quite a few of those parts by now. We love our little independent Elva. She is such a special part of our family and we are so grateful to have her.

Anyways, we had a simple but good Christmas. We spent the weekend before Christmas at the farm and enjoyed some family time watching Christmas movies, listening to Christmas music, going for walks and having a fire in the fireplace. The 4 Grandkids put on the nativity (in the best way that they could) and looked cute in their costumes. I worked night shifts Christmas eve, Christmas day and several nights after. But that is my job, that is life. We kept our Christmas budget low. Chris and I had our Anniversary trip which covered our Christmas spending on each other. Caeleb and Elva got a fishing game, a Minnie mouse house and Disney figurines (they are all about Disney since mommy and daddy went there), an animal puzzle for Caeleb and Tea-set for Elva, play food, some books and ornaments from the grandparents, some restaurant gift certificates and books from other relatives, some clothes and a few other small toys.

New Years eve was kept simple. We played games (Hungry Hippos and the Fishing game) with the kids and Nathan and Lindsey and then watched a few movies (including one of Nathan's favourites, Guardians of the Galaxy) after sending the kids to bed around 7:00 pm.

I worked quite a few nights in January and then I started a new rotation in February and I really like it. I like working nights but they were getting hard on me (emotionally mostly) as they are hard to recover from. My new rotation is days/evening - 2 day shifts every other week and then 1 and a half weekends of evening shifts (it is nice to only have to work 1 and a half weekends every 4 weeks - most nurse have to work 2 full weekends). It equals 8 shifts every 4 weeks. I have to pay more in babysitting for the week day shifts but I feel like it blesses some families in the ward to pay them to watch my wonderful kids. I have always struggled with being a nurse (don't get me wrong, I love being a nurse - I just have self confidence issues when I am working due to a bad experience in my past) This new rotation has been such a blessing in our lives. I know Heavenly Father blesses us with what he feels we need.

Chris has been working hard in his job. He is such a hard worker!! We are happy that so far his company has not really been affected by the economic downturn in Alberta this winter due to oil prices dropping.

Our BIG and EXCITING news of the new year is that I am expecting again. I found out at about 5 weeks along. Due date is Sept 17. Maybe he or she will come 3 days early and be born on Chris and Caeleb's birthday. Wouldn't that be funny. Or, the baby could always be Grandma Watters' birthday gift. I am 15 along weeks now and we are staying positive even though I am pretty nervous right now. I have lost 2 babies around this time. The nausea and vomiting was quite bad until about last week so hopefully that is a good thing (I always get so sick with pregnancy but am getting used to it). I go to the clinic every week to make sure I can hear the heartbeat and I see my obstetrician in 2 weeks. We feel blessed with our family now and we accept the Lord's will but we also would love this little one to stay and we pray that he or she may do well and join our family on earth.

Caeleb and Elva keep us smiling. I love our adventures together whether it be at home playing "Minnie Mouse Boutique,"  going to the zoo (we did a lot of zoo trips until our passes expired in February), baking, watching a movie or reading. Caeleb and Elva have their daily fights and daily times of playing well together (I love those times). I also enjoy it when they fight in the car because the song on the radio is only allowed to be one of their songs. "It's my song"..."no, it's my song..." I get a good laugh out of that. Caeleb loves preschool. He does not seem to have any great friends but he knows everyone by name and he is a friend to everyone. (Always be that way Caeleb!) He is so cheerful and excited about doing things. He went to a birthday party a few weeks ago of a boy in his preschool class and he was so excited for everything. While one boy was sad if he did not win a game, Caeleb said "oh, wow, I love this game", (and he did not win any of them),  "Oh, wow, I love cake", "I love opening gifts," etc. I am so proud of his positive, enthusiastic attitude and easy going personality when he is around others. Elva keeps us busy. She is a busy little girl full of independent personality! Her personality matches her beautiful (and crazy) curly hair.  "I do it" is one of her favourite phrases. She is always climbing on things or in things. She is so different than Caeleb was at her age (he still likes help to do things while Elva wants to do everything herself - cracking eggs by herself and stirring the cookie dough is a favourite). Caeleb is excited that there is a baby on the way. He wants a brother. I hope he gets it.

It has been a beautiful temperate winter. We can not complain at all. Today was about +20 degrees. The kids and I went swimming (still inside swimming of course) with a friend and they had a blast! Tomorrow we hope to go on a picnic to Elbow Falls. I love my weekends off - I love to spend them with my wonderful family.