Fall - My Favourite time of Year - Birthdays, Baptism, Appendicitis and more

Fall really is my favourite time of year. I love the crisp air, the leaves changing colors, star gazing on cold dark nights, Halloween and Thanksgiving. It has been a good Fall. It did snow in September but cleared up a couple of weeks later and now at November 4th, we have no snow and it got up to 11 yesterday so we are enjoying this weather.

Caeleb and Elva went back to school Tuesday September 6th and they have been enjoying it. Caeleb is in grade 3 and Elva is in Kindergarten. We wanted her to have a full Kindergarten year here in Champion - it being a great kindergarten with only 8 kids and 2 teachers (I love the student to teacher ratio).
September is birthday month. LouAnn and Gary came out September 13 to celebrate Chris and Caeleb's birthday on the 14th as well as Caeleb's baptism on the 16th. We celebrated Mary's birthday on Saturday September 15th (her birthday is on the 19th but we wanted Chris to be around for it. On Friday, the Nelson family, Nathan, the grandparents and us went to supper at the Chinese food Buffet in Champion. On Saturday, I took Chris, his parents, Mary and Selman to the temple (They did a session while I look the little ones to a park and the library), and then we went to Waterton and back home so Chris could do some homework. Saturday was stake conference and then Supper at our place (Middletons) and then to Caeleb's baptism at 5:00. I am so proud of my little boy who has made the decision to follow Christ's example in being baptized and receiving the Holy Ghost. It is a challenging world out there and I know that as we strive to live with purpose in life by following Christ's example, we will receive an eternal happiness, the kind that doesn't go away.
Monday was LouAnn's birthday and we had watermelon cake and hung out at home. I hope she had a good relaxing day, resting and playing with her grandchildren. Chris had to go back to school that morning and I am getting used to single momming life. LouAnn and Gary left early early Wednesday morning. Caeleb went to bed Tuesday night with a fever and stomach pain. He woke up, threw up a couple of times and was in a lot of pain around 2:00 in the morning, tossing and turning in bed. He wanted to go to the hospital as the pain was not going away and he could not sleep or walk even. I called mom to come over and watch the girls as Gary and LouAnn had just left and I took Caeleb and Selman into Vulcan at 4:00 in the morning. They did blood work and his Nuetrophil count was up so the Doctor suspected Appendicitis (I had a thought that it was that) and he was sent in an ambulance up to the Children's hospital in Calgary while Selman and I followed in the van. Not thinking, I had worn pants with a huge rip in the crotch area so I ended up borrowing hospital pants and wearing them for the next 1.5 days. After an ultrasound and some humming and hawing among the doctors, it was decided that he had appendicitis and we signed up for a study that randomly selected him for either surgery or an antibiotic trial. But he was selected for surgery and he had it at 7:30 that night. Chris was able to miss classes and be at the hospital with us. It was my first time sending a child into surgery and was a little nerve wracking waiting that 1.5 hours to see him again but he came out of it with flying colors and it was a good thing that they took his appendix out as it definitely was appendicitis (is what the surgeon said). Selman and I spent the night in day surgery with a drowsy Caeleb and we were sent home the next day at 1100. He did wonderfully and his recovery was so quick!

For Caeleb's birthday, he wanted warhammer models and to take some friends to the movies so I took him and 2 friends to see Smallfoot Friday September 29th. I thought it was a cute movie and the boys had fun quoting the movie and laughing on the way home.

Chris has been very busy with school and there were a couple weekends were he had an extra course so he could not come home. I have felt like a single mom throughout September and October and I feel very grateful for the help my parents have given me. We have missed Daddy but I have felt busy raising 4 kids and time has gone fast. I love being a mom!!

Nathan and Chris were home for Thanksgiving and we had a lovely turkey dinner at Mom and Dad's house. Our next big family dinner will most likely be at the brick house so we cherished that yummy meal at Mom and Dads. I have had so much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving. A wonderful, close-knit family, a free country to live in, a good job, a husband who is working hard in school, a beautiful old home to restore and live in and keep in the family. We have been blessed.

Halloween was last Wednesday and Caeleb was Dash and Elva was Violet from the Incredibles movies. Mary was a princess (she wants to dress as a princess every day really) and Selman was the frog Prince. They all looked adorable. We took neighbors Amy and Annabelle in the Van with us and Selman stayed with Mom and Dad. We went to 13 houses and it took 3 hours to do so between driving, visiting, the kids singing lollipop at the houses and getting house tours (te he he). The weather was nice, though it went from light to dark so quickly and we had a blast. It was hard getting Elva up and to school the next day as she was so tired but she did it. Oh, the Saturday before Halloween we went to the Champion Hall Halloween party and dance and it was so much fun. About 50 kids there and my kids had a great time dancing and participating in the games. I love small town living and supporting the community.

An update on the kids. Caeleb has lost 4 teeth now (his upper 2 are out now and it is so cute) and Elva has lost 2 teeth. Caeleb is doing above average at reading comprehension and he was not doing great at it a year ago so it just goes to show that things click at different times in life. He is a good student, doing a lot better at his printing this year and he loves to learn and write books (he is always writing books). He also loves Harry Potter now and just went through stint with Big Foot fascination. Elva is a leader in her kindergarten class - being the oldest - and I think she is a bit of a class clown as she is a funny little girl. She makes me laugh. All my kids do! I do love Elva's sense of humor though. Mary is almost graduated from potty training school. It has been a long slow process starting on and off in the summer but it clicked about a week ago and she has been doing great since the start of November. She loves to talk and voice her opinion. And she loves to play barbies and dollies (she got a doll for her birthday). If I am sitting and feeding Selman, she always says, "lets play barbies" and she brings the dolls to me and we play from the chair. She and Elva love to play polly pockets and so do I. All my kids have great imaginations. They learn it from me I think. Selman started sitting really well 2 weeks ago (mid October). He babbles on and on (lately saying Dadadadada - I don't think he knows what it means though) and he is now loving solid foods. We started feeding him right at 6 months old but he did not seem to like it at first. He loves yogurt! But who wouldn't really. He also likes rice cereal and meaty baby food but is not a fan of avocado or bananas yet (crazy little boy - the rest of us love Avocados).
Mary and Selman and I go to the Champion Legion on Tuesday and Thursdays at 1000 for Play group and Time for Rhymes. It really breaks up our week and I love having a bit of a schedule. We also go to the Champion Library one Friday a month for Winter library club.

Well, Chris is home now for the rest of the semester. Oh, how I have missed him. He starts his student teaching tomorrow at the Nanton Elementary school and he will commute the 30 minutes from home every week day and that is not a bad drive for country living. We are so grateful to have him back in our lives more.
And now, I am starting to look forward to the Christmas season and am itching to listen to Christmas music - but I will hold off for now (though Mom, Camellia and I did make our Christmas turtles a few weeks ago and I had to listen to some then). Lets get through Remembrance day first. I am a huge fan of Remembrance day and feel it so important to remember all those who have fought and died for our freedom. I feel so blessed to live in this free Country and on the farm that I grew up on. Life is good!

Simple Summer Days 2018

Wow, another Summer has come and gone. It was a simple summer. I liked it that way. We stayed close to home for most of it. We got to know Champion really well. Monday and Thursday mornings from 1000-1200 was Summer reading program at the Champion Library and I think we only missed 2 of them. They made a lot of crafts! We would stay in Champion after as I would pack a lunch and then we would ride bikes and go swimming when it opened at 2:00. We went swimming 3-5 days a week at the Champion pool and would stay in the pool 2 hours at a time playing and laughing and never wanting to leave. The water felt so nice on those hot days and we had a couple weeks of pretty hot weather (middle 30s). Caeleb and Elva have got to be pretty good swimmers this summer. Caeleb did 2 weeks of swimming lessons this year so he is getting really good. After we went to their place for Mountain View Canada day celebrations, The Nelsons joined us the first week in July for swimming lessons and we spent the Thursday night camping at the Champion campground. It was fun but sadly the only camping we did this summer as Chris worked from July 2 right up to the start of school (and is still working 5-10 hours a week while at school) and he has been so busy. What a blessing it has been that he could get hired back on with his old IT company. He worked from home and only had to go into the city on average 1 day a week. He was working in the city the day I took the kids to BMO kids day at the stampede. He dropped me off at the grounds and I braved it with the 4 kids by myself while he went downtown to work. We had a fun day. We got free pancake breakfast and we went to the dog show and the kids really liked that. It was busy and I almost lost Mary in the crowds a few times but we survived and I would do it again. After the movie we went to Max and Sebastian's house (our good friends) for a few hours and I watched all the kids while their parents worked and then we went to a movie (the Incredibles 2). We did not get home until 10:30 pm or so and Chris had to go back to Calgary the next morning early but it was a good day and we had fun!

Camellia and Doug had there little girl on Friday July 20. She was breech and had to be turned before being induced. It was a long day for them but little Evelyn arrived safely. We spent Saturday July 21st going to Lethbridge to visit them and then to Granum for a stake activity. We swam in the lake there, visited other members, ate lunch and supper too that was provided by the Stake. It was fun getting to know some other ladies in Claresholm that have young kids. The kids and I went over to the Claresholm spray park a couple of days this summer and we met up with some of those ladies one of the days. We also tried the Vulcan spray park and the Coaldale Spray park early August ( With Camellia and Amanda and their kids).

Another thing we did this summer was learn to ride bikes. We practiced really hard the first few weeks of July but it clicked for both kids one day when Caeleb's friend Dominic showed him how to ride his bike. We took the bikes to Vulcan one day to ride around the path by the golf coarse but we pretty much kept bike riding to the farm and Champion. We need to get Chris a bike!

Jared and Landon came the second week in August. We went swimming in Champion, to Little Bow beach for a ward party and to Drumheller for about the hottest day of the year (It was high 30s, maybe touched 40?). Chris was able to join us for that so that was wonderful.

Chris and I took a quick Saturday trip to visit Camellia and Doug and so we could go to see the play Newsies in Cardston August 18th. We came back the same night as we had church duties the next day (I am now the second councilor in the primary and there are only 5 kids - but I love our little primary). Newsies was really well done and I sure love to see live theater. We also saw my child friend Gillian at the Nelsons house that day and it was fun to catch up.

Saturday August 25th was the last day the Champion pool was open for the year and so we went to swim as a family of coarse and then we went to the Champion Chinese food buffet after (It is great that the restaurant is open again). The lifeguards let us keep a few floaty toys which was fun and we will save them for more swimming adventures next year.

We Spent Labour Day weekend at Camellia and Doug's place as little Evelyn was blessed that Sunday. We always love to go visit Camellia and Doug at their beautiful paradise home by the mountains and we love their family very much.

Well, that is what I remember of Summer 2018 (I am writing this November 4 in the basement of the brick house as the internet has been set up there and now they have heat there too so it is comfortable). Since we have been living at Micky Middleton's house, we don't have the internet there and it is hard for me to spend time updating my blog. But that will soon change. With a few timeline delays, we are now set to move into our house the end of November (I hope). We are getting so excited and the house is looking great. As for having no internet for the last 5 months, I think everyone should go for a time with no internet in their homes. It is good to live without being so dependent on it at every moment.


Well, I will end this post and continue on with a post about the Fall. But before I do, I want you to know that I am loving the simple life living in the country and I enjoyed our simple summer.