Second Birthday Party

Brynna's birthday party was a success, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, despite the heat and humidity which forced us to change plans for an outdoor party to an indoor one. Fortunately, we had a bit of warning on that this year and were able to set up indoors from the start. Brynna's cake turned out very nicely, and she had a lot of fun with everyone. She's really starting to warm up to people now that she's a bit older, even letting our once scary neighbour feed her her cake and ice cream.

Visits, Construction, and Birthdays

First up, our visit with Lisa, Chris, Brendan and Gavin was really great, very busy, but we had a good time, and are talking about getting together again next summer, somewhere in between everyone's home areas. We saw lots of things around Ottawa, some that we'd been to before(Parliament Hill, Museum of Nature), and some we hadn't(Rideau Hall, Science and Tech museum) and then the last day of the visit was spent at the local splash pad just relaxing.

Kevin is now trying to finish the construction of the patio/walkway and has decided that the post for the gate needed to come out and be replaced with a longer one to make sure it doesn't heave out of position next winter. He's trying to get it done before Brynna's party, but that may not happen, nor will the moving of the pergola.

Speaking of parties, Brynna is now officially 2 years old!!! I cannot believe that our youngest has been with us for 2 years already. *sniff* Her party will be on Sunday, so that her aunt(and godmother) Jess will be able to attend.

One Step Closer

Just got a call this morning from our family doctor letting me know when my consultation appointment with the surgeon will be for my hands on August 30th. I've been diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome. I've already had the nerve conduction testing done, confirming our doctor's suspicions, fortunately, I didn't need to have the second level of testing done(or maybe that will happen later on), which is the needle version. I'm hoping that if I do have to have the surgery, it can be scheduled at a time when the kids are back in school and Kevin will be available to help at home while I heal.

Summer Has Arrived

The kids are home(and that leads to lots of issues), the garden is growing, the patio is slowly coming together, the cherry harvest is in full swing, and we're starting to get ready for both Brynna's second birthday, and the arrival of Lisa, Chris, Brendan and Gavin for their visit.

We need to figure out what sorts of things our visitors would like to see. I was thinking maybe Upper Canada Village, maybe Almonte for the falls and the small-town main street. Or maybe Hogsback for it's falls and the surrounding park and beach area.

I've completed the C25K program, and am continuing to run 5K(actually getting to around 5.3K in 30 minutes), but have to decide whether or not I'll drop to 2 days a week or keep it at 3.

Caleigh and I made it down to Parliament Hill for Canada Day and the visit of Prince William and Catherine, but we didn't manage to see them on anything other than the big screens above the main stage(although I could see the top of her hat and his head), despite the fact that we had an excellent spot, right straight ahead of where they exited the landau. We ended up being blocked by a bunch of military photographers, who stood in just the wrong spot. We did, however, have a GREAT view of the military bands and the RCMP mounted escort for the landau, which exited from in front of Centre Block right past us. We may not have actually gotten to see them, but it was quite the experience, and we can say that we saw them during the first stop on their first official tour as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Running Again

I decided that I wanted to start back on the C25K program this year. Ironically, it was Mother's Day last year when I did my very first run. I just this afternoon did my first run, and Mother's Day is on Sunday. It felt good to get back into it, and I think Brynna enjoyed the going fast, going slow, then fast again. I think she liked the fast most of all, though.

I Didn't Realise

Wow! I hadn't realised that it was January when I last updated here. It's been busy, as usual, but things have been going well. Shortly after Caleigh's 7th birthday party, I decided to give something new a try. I had been pointed to a website that was supposed to help with getting my house under control, and boy, has it ever made a difference! I've managed to reclaim a lot of the house, and get rid of a bunch of stuff that, while still in good shape and useful, they were not useful to us any more. Since finding FlyLady, I'm not crisis cleaning any more. People can come over and I don't worry about things so much any more. It's awesome, and I'm getting my kitchen organised, which is making working in there so much easier and more enjoyable. I love this site!!!
http://www.flylady.net/index.asp

Brynna is getting so big, practically running now, but not talking yet. It's incredible how much she's learned and grown in the past 2 months alone. She's learned to give high-5s, she's helping put dishes in the sink and dishwasher, and learning to scribble with crayons!

School is going super for both Caleigh and Aidan, with them learning sooooo much, and getting involved in charities(which means getting me involved) like OKCleanwater. Their school had a fund raising raffle last week for OKCleanwater, and asked parents to donate decorated cakes to be raffled off. I decided that I would donate a cake. It wasn't what I had initially planned, but the bunny turned out pretty good. The school got 18 cakes donated and raised over $150. Some of the cakes were amazing, making my little bunny look a bit plain. I think I need to make another one for Easter because Aidan was not happy that we didn't keep bunny to eat for ourselves, lol!

It's Been Soooooooo Busy

I've been super duper busy since before Christmas. The kids to keep busy during their holidays, prep work for Christmas itself and post holiday decompression. I didn't manage to get everything done that I had wanted to for the holiday season, including knitting people's presents, which I'm still working on, although what I did manage to get done was we.ll received.

Tigger has been doing much better since he had a relapse a couple of days before the vet closed for the holiday. We've had him on hypoallergenic food since then, and he's been doing so much better - no throwing up, less stinky in the litter box, and he's been gaining weight back!! So, it looks like the initial diagnosis of pancreatitis might have been incorrect. He might actually just have a food sensitivity that has gotten worse as he ages.

The kids have been doing well, a few bumps in the road at school, but good. Caleigh had a big test last week on her Word Wall Words from before Christmas, and she got 22 out of 25 right!! However, she's having troubles with her reading. She can read at her level during class time, but during a test, she falls behind. We just need to work on her confidence and get her to take learning risks. Aidan is doing well, he does have a few issues with letting others help, and pushing and arguing to be first in line. We've got things in place, either that we've thought of, or that others have suggested, to try to help both of the kids with these issues.

Brynna has her 18 month appointment next week, and there are some issues that Kevin and I need to work on, but life is relatively good, especially when we keep in mind that there are other people who are worse off than us.

We also have a new hamster(yes, our third :( ), whom we adopted from the Humane Society a week and a half ago. She's very, very friendly, but a bit on the silly side because she keeps plugging the tube up to where she's nesting to the point where she can't/won't dig it out to come down and interact.