Yesterday I made the nostalgic drive out to Brooks to play in the Messiah. It was fun to play, and even more fun to catch up with people I haven't seen since I was probably 12 years old.

During the performance something happened that I have NEVER seen in all of my performing career!! Every time I am playing with a choir on risers the conductor always gives the speech "Bend your knees, wiggle your toes. We don't want anyone passing out." I have heard that speech so many times and never actually believed that it happened. Well I am now here to tell everyone ... it does indeed happen!

The baton is up and we are ready to play our last movement "The Hallelujah Chorus" and a girl on the third riser up passes out and knocks a lady in front of her off the stage and into the orchestra. Initially it looked like the woman had just tripped and fell off the stage onto the cello player and over two stands, but then we looked back at the lifeless body hanging upside down on the riser and realized that she was hit from behind by a dead weight.

Don't worry ... all instruments and people survived the incident and then we performed the Hallelujah Chorus. It kind of killed the moment, but what can you do?

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I saw something today that I have never seen before. It was just starting to snow and the sun was shining. I looked outside and couldn't tell if it was snowing or not, but it looked like the air was sparkly! I love sparkles and just stared for a while, taking in the beauty. It was really quite magical. Unfortunately it is now a full on blizzard outside and the magic is DEFINITELY GONE!

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I want to give a big CONGRATULATIONS to my friend Ang who had her dream weekend!! Congratulations on your wedding and baptism!!!!!!!!!! I am sorry i couldn't be there yesterday. I thought about you all day and can't wait to get the details on how everything went.

What to say. The last couple days my mind has been so full of thoughts. I guess I will just tell y'all what we have been doing. Interesting or not, important or not.

We finally got the second installment of Evan's H1N1 and I was able to get mine. THANK HEAVENS we are done for a year. What a nightmare! My arm is still a little sore, but not too bad.

We are at my cousins house this weekend to have a late thanksgiving dinner. (Mmmmm......turkey!) Justin isn't with us :-( Poor Evan is having a REALLY hard time falling asleep on his own which is totally abnormal for him. Landon is having a really hard time falling asleep on his own (which is totally normal), but ISN"T crying ... just staring (this is abnormal, really cute, but abnormal).

The drive here was amazing, Evan was really good the whole drive.

It is REALLY cold!

I got to go to a concert with my cousins husband. It was awesome because I haven't been to a wind concert since I moved. It was really nice to go.

I am drinking a really yummy caramel apple cider and LOVING it.

I am missing my family and can't wait until Christmas so I can give them hugs!

Pardon my biased opinion, but I really think it is more irritating trying to play with out of tune violins than out of tune oboes!

I had a rehearsal for the Messiah last night. It was one of those rehearsals that I knew I didn't really need to go to but had to attend because they had never heard me play before. (Oboe is one of those instruments that is either played really well OR NOT).

I am just happy I got there alright (country road signs are REALLY small) and I am happy to be playing regardless of the level!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS

Ok, truth be told I started to decorate for Christmas last week! I couldn't stand it, I have already been to 2 Christmas markets, bought and drank Egg Nog, played a Christmas carol in church, starting to rehearse for the Messiah performance I am in. Last week I only put a little bit up, but I am pleased to announce that we are in full blown Christmas mode now!

Last night we went to the Home Depot and got our tree for Family Home Evening. We decorated it when we got home ... it is just so lovely to have everything done for us to enjoy!

I love this time of year!!!!

(Mom, is Evan's stocking at your house???)

This how Evan dressed me up the other day. I thought it was funny enough to take a picture.

When Justin is being silly with Evan he will sometimes call people "poop face". (I don't know how to put it in writing that it doesn't sound weird, but I guess you just have to know Justin) Well, Evan has totally picked up on it and is now calling people "poop face". When I pointed it out to Justin and he witnessed it he agreed that he better put an end to it. (It is kind of cute to hear Evan saying it, but it is sooo not polite).



Evan wanted to take a nap but when we got to his bed he wanted to sit up while I left the room. So I left him sitting up and when I went in to check on him he was totally passed out folded in half. So cute!

Evan-ism: basketball = hoop ball

(this picture is so typical! Landon is always throwing up and rubbing his face in it :-)

Landon: Still big, still strong, still cute!!!

Landon has discovered his tongue. He is always sticking it out and blows bubbles all the time. He thinks it is the funniest thing.

I cannot believe that my 3 1/2 month old baby is now wearing size 3 diapers.

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We have already been to 2 Christmas parties for the offices that Justin works at. Unfortunately I don't have pictures for the family practice because I was suffering from SEVERE "female issues" and didn't remember the camera.

I was feeling much better for the reservation practice's party. It was such a fun night.

It was sooooooooo wonderful to go to the first showing of "New Moon" I can't wait to go again this week! When are we going ladies?

(don't mind Sydney ... she refuses to smile in pictures because she says she looks "weird". She really isn't mad!)

WHAT a day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously ... I have no idea how to even begin to describe my day. It starts out good, gets really bad, and ends great!

9:50 AM- Leave our house, feeling cute and perky.

10:15 AM- Get Landon's 3 month pictures.

11:20(ish)- Passport office with my two munchkins.

12(something)- Get in the car and see that I missed many calls from various people. I call Justin and ask him what is wrong. Apparently when I set our alarm I forgot to lock our front door, and one of my friends tripped the alarm. Justin tells me to get home as soon as I can because the cops are there.

I get home (no cops) and for some reason ALL of my doors are locked. Well, I generally don't carry a house key with me because I always go through my garage. I don't really know how, but when I tried to get in my house EVERY SINGLE DOOR is LOCKED!!!!!! I am now completely and totally locked out of my house with no way to get in.

As I am freaking out and trying to figure out what I am going to do a man walks out of my back yard. I wonder if it is something with the yard and I ask him if he was doing something with my house. He very curtly says "I just turned off your power". I ask him why and he says ... "I don't know, they don't tell me why, you need to call them and find out."

Meanwhile I can't get a hold of Justin (he had a CRAZY day at work) so I was camping out at my friends house waiting for Justin to call me back.

I drive to another friends house who might have an extra key to our house ... they didn't. (still can't get into our home) I completely have a melt down as it is now around 3:00PM.

I call the energy company and there are apparently some "mis-communications" about our bills. Long story, and close to $100 in late fees we sorted it all out, but still didn't have power.

I drive to my in-laws house to put the kids down for at least a little bit while we waited for Justin to get home from work. At this point we still can't get into our own home.

5:00PM- Drive to the vet to pick up our sick Buddy.

Since our power is off we had to go out to eat. While out Justin ripped his pants and I was unknowingly walking around with a long trail of toilet paper stuck to my shoe.

7:15PM- I finally get HOME

8:15PM- The energy company comes and turn my power back on.

8:40PM- Leave with some friends to stand in line outside in the cold for the first showing of "NEW MOON" (so worth it!!!!)

What a FANTASTIC movie!!! Oh my gosh!!!!! I don't know what to say other than it is 1:45AM and I am still giddy and swimming in the experience of this movie.

I can't wait to fall asleep and experience it all over again!!!!

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False Alarm late fee $75

Extra expenses with the energy company close to $100

Vet bill $110

Edward back in my life

Again I say ... WHAT A DAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Family member update

Over the weekend I had a good visit from a Florida friend. Julie was here on a business trip and I had the best time with her. My heart still resides in Florida and it was great having a piece of it here with me for a day.

Evanism: If he or anyone coughs he turns to me and says "Mama, there's a frog in my throat"

The Ensign is a magazine that our church puts out. Each month it has messages from various leaders in our church. I attend a study group with some women in my ward. Today at my Ensign study group the teacher asked who had an Ensign with them and Evan (who was playing with his toys on the floor) proudly and very loudly replies "I DO!!" It really was too cute.

While driving home from the vet today Evan started to throw his food on the floor. I got after him and told him to stop throwing his food. He says "ok Mama" and very gently begins to drop his food on the ground. Ingenious little booger.

I know that this little guy will eventually sleep through the night. He still gets up at 1:00AM and 4:30 AM and then wants to wake up for good at 7:00AM. The other thing he has started to do is to eat smaller amounts more often. It's a darn good thing he is really cute and his whole face lights up when he smiles. It is one of the only things that is saving his tired parents. (Oh ... and I am pretty sure he is teething).

We took Buddy and Jasmine to the vet today to sort out some problems. Buddy had to stay at the vet overnight because they need to get a urine sample from him. It was so weird to come home without him. Poor Jasmine has spent the last 10 minutes that we got home wandering the house crying and going from room to room looking for Buddy. I love that our two feline children love each other. It is so sweet to see them with each other. Evan loves the cats so much, and he was so concerned when we had to leave Buddy at the vet. These animals bless our lives so much. I sure do love my beautiful Buddy and Jasmine.

Happy Birthday Justin

Somebody had a birthday,

It is our Justin dear.

May father in heaven bless him,

throughout the coming year!!!

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Justin,
Happy Birthday to you!!!!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!!!!!!

Monday, November 16, 2009, my dear sweet hubby turned 30 years old!!! I can't believe it. I had a lot of fun decorating the house while the boys were taking naps (yes, for the first time they slept at the same time ;-)

When the boys woke up we all cooked a special breakfast/dinner for Daddy. Evan liked making the birthday "cake" the best. It was actually a toffee bar dessert. Justin doesn't really like cake.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

This is what the back of Evan's curly hair does if I am not constantly on top of it. When this "fuzz" happens, I call him my little orphan child.

Evan loves to take pictures now with the camera. I say he has gotten pretty good! He took this pictures of me and of Justin below.

After dinner and presents we all went swimming at the Southland Leisure Centre. It is kind of an indoor water park and one of Evan's favorite places.

I love my man so much!!! I love him more than I thought I could. I admire him. I admire his kindness to everyone. I admire his devotion to our family. I admire his positive attitude. There are so many wonderful things about Justin and I am so lucky he is mine!

Happy 30 Birthday

Let the parties begin!

Yup, in just one more week my sweets will turn the big 30!!!! I wanted to make this birthday really special for him. I really wanted to surprise him, but he kept wanting to plan things. Well together with his step mom we managed to pull off a surprise dinner for my lover and I thought it was a really fun night! I love some of the expressions of people who weren't paying attention to the camera.

There are times that the only thing Landon wants is to be upright! It isn't always easy to give him this. Justin stuck him in the jumper today and Landon was immediately quiet. He LOVED it!!!! The funny thing though is that his feet didn't even reach the floor. He was literally just hanging there, happy as could be! (In the first picture it looks like his feet are on the floor, so we zoomed in to show y'all how far off they are)

I wrote a post about this picture in my SMA blog. If you'd like to read it, go to: sma-mama.blogspot.com

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GAME TIME!!!!

I was cleaning out my fridge today and found this in the back. I want to see if anyone can figure out was it is. I will give the answer in a couple of days. I am curious though to see what everyone thinks it might have been.

(I think this might rival the rotten watermelon we found in the back of our fridge when I was single and living with my 409 girlies :-)

confused

Justin is getting us a house keeper. I don't really know how to feel. I know I am not super human and I can't do it all (although I can get really close sometimes :-) I don't expect myself to be perfect either. There is a part of me that is thrilled and can see this as the gift that it is. I don't live a normal life. Having a child with a handicap makes it so I can't send him down to the basement to play while I take an hour to really focus on cleaning. He can't really clean up after himself, and I generally have to be in the same room as him for his own safety. I don't want anyone to think this is complaining. I spend more quality time with my kids and I see that as a gift. Landon is determined to be on a different schedule than Evan and if they do end up sleeping at the same time I am tired and want to sleep OR I need to eat. I refuse to ignore my kids in order to have a clean house, but what ends up happening is that I ignore me to clean my house. I don't do the important things that make me tick. This will give me some time to do those things and not give up my time with my babies. I am grateful for this gift .....

But there is still a part of me that feels guilty. That feels that I just wasn't good enough to do it all.

Landon Update

We went to the doctor today and I "officially" have a chubbers on my hands! :-) At barely 3 months Landon weighs 16 lbs. 8 oz. He is in the 50% for height and 97% for weight.

Landon is a very sensitive baby (I do believe that I have mentioned this before). A funny story that displays this happened on Saturday. Justin was playing peek-a-boo with the boys. One of the peek-a-boos scared Landon and he would have nothing to do with Justin the rest of the day. If Justin so much as looked at him he would scream BLOODY MURDER!!!! Seriously too funny!

We have now had 3 nights in a row that Landon went to sleep without having to be swaddled!

Landon rolls over constantly now!!! That is REALLY early! A couple of days ago he rolled over and ended up chewing on Evan's foot. Evan didn't even really notice until I pointed it out to him. 5 minutes later Evan (with a VERY pained look on his face) is hugging his foot and says "Mama ... Wandon BIT ME!" He told me again a couple of hours later. He wanted me to get Landon in trouble. I can't believe the tattling is already starting :-)

I will not!

I will not eat candy today. I will not eat candy today! I will not eat candy today!!!
I WILL NOT EAT CANDY TODAY!!!!!!!!

I never know anymore how to label these posts. They are all mostly updates now, and I feel really lame labeling them all as such. I do wish I was a bit more clever. This post does however include some cute Evan-isms, and a story at the end if you want to just skip the novel.

Evan had his bi-annual appointment this week at the hospital. Everything looks great, a slight ear infection, but really good!! The only thing is the one that we are very aware of. Evan really does get sick quite often. We have managed to stay out of the hospital, but his poor little lungs are constantly battling a cough and mucus. While saving all of the nitty gritty details for my SMA blog we learned that the hospital received a donation and they are purchasing cough assist machines, and we are on the list!!! This is so important for our little Evan to have and has been quite an ordeal trying to figure out how to swing it (no, insurance won't pay for it). This information made our day for sure!!!!!

These appointments are really great, because we get to see everyone in the same day, but it is really hard on Evan. By the end of the day (8:30AM - 1:40PM) he is definitely starting to break down. Because of the medication Evan takes he needs regular blood tests. This was the first time that he recognized the room that they take his blood and he DID NOT want to go in. Of course he had no choice in the matter and as soon as he was done he announced "Mama's turn!"

We always get loads of attention because he is so small and uses a power chair. When we were in the elevator leaving a nurse bent down and gave him an "I was Brave" sticker. It seemed appropriate and Evan wore that sticker the rest of the day.

We are so lucky to live so close to a FANTASTIC children's hospital, and work with people who love our family. We are just so lucky!

showing off his tattoo

All of his prescriptions from our visit

Since Landon's day from hell, earlier this week (constant crying), he has been a dream baby! I have a sneaking suspicion that he may be starting to teeth.

He is now consistently rolling over by himself (I still can't believe just how early he is doing this!!!!) and he smiles all the time!! I cannot get over how cute this child is and just adore his roly poly physique!

I might even put this in the "triple" chin category.

Long story short:
The way Alberta distributed Flu shots was ABSOLUTELY ridiculous!!!! The city is over run with H1N1, which isn't entirely bad if you are a strong healthy person, but is down right scary if you have SMA. Our doctors at Children's said they "may" be getting it in. We decided that since Evan gets sick so often we couldn't wait for "may" and it had already been too long. They re-opened the clinics today. Justin waited in line with his cousin at 3:30AM to reserve a spot so our kids didn't have to wait in the cold for 6 hours. I hit MAJOR traffic on the way there, was an hour late and totally frazzled (I have a problem with road rage, and a bus cut me off). Justin's cousin helped me out. We were bumped to the front because Justin was there so early, we had an early number, and a doctor's note. Got home to hear a message on our answering machine from the Children's hospital saying that we can go in tomorrow and get one there. It would have been way more fun to wait with our friends (have fun without me Angela). Oh well, at least Evan has the first part of the immunization now!!!!!

While we were in getting our shots Evan knew exactly what was up and would NOT drive his chair willingly up to the table. If I didn't maneuver the chair for him he turned right around, and tried to leave. Poor guy!!

Justin and David with their numbered bracelets. 2nd and 5th in line.

The nurses truly got a kick out of their tail gate party! They had movies and everything!!!!

Evan and I were playing today and he found a stick in his toy chest. He told me to lay down (which I did). He says "this hurt a little Mama, ok?" and sticks me in the arm. He then counts to ten (which we do when he has to stretch, so he knows when it is over). He sticks me twice then applies pressure and pretends to put on a band aid and kisses it all better. He then "inserts" the needle in the spot where you draw blood and does the same thing. I think this has been a rough week for him ... what do you think?

Evan-ism: He was sitting on Justin's lap and starting poking at a mole on his face. Justin asks Evan what it is and Evan very confidently replies "A NIPPLE!!" We started laughing hysterically and so of course Evan started to laugh and kept saying "face nipple".