so this is what we have been doing for the last two days .....

more details later ;-)

Landon

My sweet Landon. What can I say about my little boy?? He said his first sentence a couple of weeks ago. I was getting something from the pantry, he rounds the corner and says "HI MUM!"

Since then his vocabulary has really taken off. He mimics all over the place. Landon is so rambunctious. In fact I can't tell you how many times I am told that he is the most active kid that people have ever seen.

For as tough as this kid is (he scraped up his toes and hardly complained) his skin is so ultra sensitive. He currently has mosquito bites on his face and he looks like a teenager with an acne problem.

For as active as Landon is he is equally loving! He is always willing to smother us with hugs and kisses.

Some of his favorite things are turning on and off the lights, opening and closing doors, praying, and hugging his brother.

The BIGGEST news for Landon is a MAJOR discovery that I made. Ok so I know that most of the discovery was a result of divine intervention.

Landon is Red Dye sensitive.

Ultimately what it means is that he can't eat or drink anything that has red dye in it. Landon was crazy for about a month and a half. Crazy doesn't even come close to describing how he was acting. The closest would be a possession. At the toss of a hat he would go from happy go lucky Landon to a head spinning version of my child. I thought it must just be his age and that the terrible two's were going to be one wild ride.

Easter was worse than the whole month combined, and then it clicked ..........

I remembered a conversation some musicians in the Red Deer orchestra were having about their children, who are red dye sensitive. I put two and two together and went straight home to find out what the other symptoms are.

Landon had everyone of them.

-Blotchy skin

-funky rashes

-random, unexplained throw up

-poor eating

-poor sleeping

-EXTREME emotional, bi-polar attitude.

I took him off red dye only and every single thing improved or cleared up. We haven't even had one episode, normal tantrums, but no exorcist episodes. A week after I took him off Evan gave him a couple of M&M's and he totally broke out in a rash.

Girls Weekend

Girls just want to have FUN!!!!!

My friend Val has a house in Arizona and invited a bunch of girls on a girls weekend. It was lovely and much needed! When Evan's teachers asked him what I was doing in Arizona he said ... "she's swimming." Well that is pretty darn close to what I did. I didn't swim but I did float and bask.

I finally have a little color and I remember what it is like to be warm.

(oh, and I got a massage!!!!!!!!)

check out the sex appeal!

our plane ended up being grounded. We left about 8 hours later than we were supposed to and got back to Calgary at 4:30AM. We figured out ways to entertain ourselves ;-)

Goodbye Arizona!!!!!!

One at a time

Now that I have a small bit of sanity in my life I am going to quickly let everyone know what has been going on in our little piece of Heaven.

Let me start by saying that yesterday was a great day!!! Actually it has been a great week! I can easily give credit to the weather. It is starting to get warmer (FINALLY), the grass is starting to turn green, the bushes and the trees are starting to come to life again, and yesterday the last bit of ice melted from our lake.

I went to check out our house yesterday (the one we are building) and I stood there looking out the windows at the beautiful lake. I LOVE water!!! Water always brings a sense of peace in my life and I felt like the luckiest girl in the world as I pictured the rest of my life watching the water from my windows. The way the light glitters on the ripples as they move along the surface is close to perfection for me, and I get to see it everyday once we are in the new house.

-------------------------------

So I don't get too overwhelming with posts I will start today with an Evan update.

(mad face at the pool)

I feel like Evan is growing up so fast! I love that we have full length conversations and I honestly think he might be one of the funniest people I know. He is so positive and so loving to everyone!

Evan was really sick last week ... like really sick, but we got him better and he has been going to school this week. Now we just wait and see how long this cough lingers, or if it turns into another round of illness. I feel really proud of myself though because I have learned a lot through Evan. Kids with SMA get sick often, and easier because their immune system is so week. I am to the point now that I know what to do most of the time. When I am up with Evan at 4 in the morning I know what he needs. I am so grateful that I have been taught that knowledge from his doctors and other parents in my same situation. I am equally grateful for Emergency Rooms for when my knowledge/equipment isn't sufficient.

Evan thinks that I am beautiful. He tells me all the time (which I love!!!) while stroking my face. The other day we had a conversation that went like this:

Evan: Mom, I love you sooooo much. I am going to marry you.

Me: Oh Evan that is so sweet, but I am already married to Daddy, and I like being married to Daddy. when you get older you are going to find a beautiful girl, you will fall in love, and then you can marry her.

Evan: (thinks about this scenario) You are beautiful ... I will just marry you.

Me: but then what happens to Daddy??

Evan: well I will marry you and Daddy can marry Landon!

I couldn't be more in love with this kid!!!

A lot of hard work

I have put in A LOT of HARD work the last month. It is finally all coming together tomorrow. Come and support me.

Knox Presbyterian Church, Calgary

7:30 pm

"Stringing along the Seasons"

(more regular blogging starting tomorrow, I mean really my kids have been so cute lately)

please come please

I am begging you to please come and be my audience!!!!

I have another Quintet performance next week on May 4, 2011.

It is an INCREDIBLE oboe program and I am sooo excited to perform some of this music. I even play the English horn on this concert. I am so lucky to be able to have this many MAJOR solos in one program.

Justin is out of town and it makes me sad that he won't hear it.

I need an audience. Please please please come!!!!

Knox Presbyterian Church

7:30 pm

I have tickets ... just call me ... please.

easter weekend

Happy Easter Everyone!

I will try and keep the long story short. Oh who am I kidding!!! I think this post is interesting, but if you are not wanting to read a novel make sure you read the stories in the middle. I think they are worthwhile ;-) We drove up north to the West Edmonton Mall to play with our boys. We love Love LOVE the recreation center in Red Deer and always make a point to stop there when we are going through the area.

Let me tell you, this place is amazing and is fun for all ages, is fun and functional for both Landon AND Evan, and is warm for Mama. We played and played and played. There was one moment where my heart stopped. Evan wanted to go down a waterfall by himself. It was small and though I was hesitant I am trying to not be the one to constantly dampen his fun. Naturally I was at the bottom waiting for him. Well he goes down and there is a current at the bottom of it and he gets sucked under the water. I quickly grab for the yellow neck float and pull him up. Justin and I both had a small heart attack and what does Evan says when he comes up???? "Let's do that again!!!" Evan wasn't very pleased when I told him that we would never be doing that again. I did try and reassure him how good it was that he held his breath.

(Landon is always trying to undress himself! He would walk around naked if I let him.)

From the rec center we continued the drive to Fantasy Land. The boys had a lot of fun, but we were fairly limited as to what we were able to do with them. I don't think they noticed and it ended up being a really fun, wonderful family day for the four of us.

(Evan looks soooo much like his Tummy mommy here, it is crazy! Seriously, AC, if you are reading this compare it with some of your pictures)

(we did this ride a couple of times, and if our boys had the choice they would have stayed here all day long ;-)

(check out Evan's suave look as he passes the camera)

(that blur is Justin. Evan kept saying "Daddy you are so brave!!!")

My Grandma lives in Edmonton and so we stayed with her. We were all pretty lame and went to bed really early. We knew that we had another big day ahead of us so we wanted to recharge.

I wish that I had pictures from the next day, but alas ... it was too hard to manage the camera AND make sure my children didn't die. We went to a full on waterpark, which has created some very lasting memories for our family. Before I dig right in to story time let me say (feel free to skip over this rant if you'd like) ...

if you have a disability and you are attending the water park at West Edmonton mall prepare to be VERY frustrated about the changing area. There are no change rooms big enough to fit a wheelchair, the aisles by the lockers are barely big enough to fit a wheelchair, and there are no change tables or private areas for people who cannot weight bare.

Ok now that I am done with that: STORIES!!!

1) We may have traumatized Landon. They have a children's section of the water park, not kiddie area, but still for children. Adults are not allowed to ride with them (stupid rule) but could catch at the bottom. The slide doesn't look that bad so I run down to catch both of the boys at the bottom. Landon goes first. Landon is so freaked out that he stops himself in the middle of the slide and spends the next couple of minutes screaming! Justin and the life gaurd are at the top yelling at him to let go. I am at the bottom convinced that my baby is drowning. Finally he slips and comes down the rest of the way. If only there were words to describe the terror/relief to see me on his face. Next came Evan ... crying as well. THAT was a BUST!!!

2)I was sitting in the hot tub with Evan towards the end and he tells me to move because he can't see. I asked him what he was looking at and he points to a girl sitting in the hot tub across from us and says "Her". I asked him why he was looking at her, to which he replied "Because she is sooooo beautiful!" He then proceeded to give me updates every time she smiled. When it was time to go I asked him if he wanted to tell her that she was beautiful. He said, "Yes, I will swim to her." And he did. He swam over, introduced himself and told her how beautiful she was. :-) Such a charmer!

3)Our locker jammed (of course) and Justin went to get some help. While I am holding Evan in the shower I watch Landon slip and smash the back of his head on the tile floor. (now let me remind you that this kid is TOUGH) well he just fell into my arms screaming (understandable). The next thing I know he is turning purple, his eyes roll back and he passes out!!!! It was only for a second, and I don't know if it was from the fall or from forgetting to breathe, but it was SCARY!! Especially because I was holding a floppy Evan and now a floppy Landon. It took everything in me to carry them both across the slippery tile floor to a bench where I could easily hold both. All day we watched him for signs of a concussion and I think he is fine .... but man oh man! Can we say adventure???

We head back and pick up Grandma, make the drive home and go to sleep ... eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Easter Bunny.

Oh the magic of childhood!!! The Easter Bunny left a trail of candy from the boys rooms to their baskets. You should have seen the wide eyes of wonder on Evan's face when he saw what was on the ground. I wish you could have witnessed the cuteness of Landon's Hansel and Grettel moment following the trail of candy, while stuffing it in his mouth!!! It was beautiful!!!

Church of course was lovely, dinner with family was wonderful, and my bed looks sooo inviting. It was one very busy weekend.

p.s. the weather was FINALLY nice and I even got a tan line when I went and sat on my deck!!!!

(first signs of life in my yard. Is that a plant with a bug on it???)

(cuddling with sweet baby Levi)

(check out how small he still is!!!)

HAPPY EASTER

from our family to yours!!!