Is it Spring yet?

Does anyone else feel like surviving January is a bit of a milestone? I feel as though if you can make it through dreary January, Spring is right around the corner! We actually haven't had terrible weather this month, a few rainy days, yes, but several sunny, almost Spring-like days! Can't complain! February could still be nasty so we're not out of the woods yet, but I have decided to celebrate the end of winter a bit prematurely anyway.

What has been happening . . . not much. Our renovation is coming along, the tile floor is done and as of today, the shower is almost half tiled. The bathroom could be done as early as next week if Brian is feeling very motivated! Most likely it will be a few weeks yet, as Brian has to do the door, the shower door, counter top and sink mount, and toilet install. But we are so close to having a bathroom downstairs again which is super exciting! The laundry room will be a bit longer, our cabinets won't be here until the end of February and Brian has to make the cubbies, but at least it is functional with an actual floor now, so a big improvement. Definitely through the worst!

Adam has had a bit of a challenging month. I think it might be related to getting another new teacher after Christmas break. I met with her last week and we had a good chat, I think she will be good for Adam once he gets through his stress of yet another transition. Brian left for a work trip to London last Wednesday and the weekend was a bit difficult. He had some pretty highly elevated moments where he needed things repeated to him, and even if we did repeat it, it wasn't helping him. I decided on a whim to take the kids to church by myself yesterday (which I wouldn't normally do, but I was feeling good!). The parking lot was more challenging than usual and we ended up getting stuck behind several people that were vulturing for parking spots for several minutes. I thought I stayed fairly calm even though we were getting later by the minute (and seriously, with people piling up behind you you're really going to wait for several minutes for a parking spot?? Just move along please!). It was the church parking lot so I felt some pressure to stay very calm and non-road ragey haha! Unfortunately, Adam was picking up on some just-below-the-surface stress as I realized that finding any parking spot at all was going to be a challenge, and I made the mistake of saying out loud, "I guess we should have come earlier". He fixated on the word earlier, and stressed about it for 10-15 minutes inside. He was conspicuously loud but I powered through (not really sure why I didn't just go home, but I really resist doing that for many reasons, one of them being setting a precedent of him dictating everything our family does and doesn't do).  He did eventually calm himself and decide to go into the Sunday School room, and then he was completely fine through the whole service thankfully. He had another really challenging episode in the evening as well. He's been good today so far, honestly I am just doing my best not to talk to him at all. It's sad that it has come to that, but it does cut down on his repetitive episodes if people don't directly address him so I'm going with that for now.

Lynsey and Nathan are doing well, Lynsey just started her second semester at middle school. Her grades are good, she has some good friends (some of which are in her second semester option classes as well which made her very happy) and she has a pretty good attitude about school over all. She has cooking and Yearbook as her options this semester. Time to get her more involved with helping make dinner! Brian took her snowboarding last Monday which she really enjoyed, I know it really helped that they went with friends - such a social butterfly! Nathan is doing really well at school, he is doing some testing to see if he qualifies for the highly capable program at school. I'm not sure if we will put him in even if we qualifies, as I think there's a lot of homework in that class and I am strongly against homework at this age, but it would be good to know what the options are if he does qualify. Maybe he can do part time which would keep him in his regular class most of the time, but he would be pulled out I think one day a week to keep him more challenged if he needs it. His biggest struggle right now is learning how to lose at games. I get that all kids have a hard time with this, but he seems to really take it to the next level. Lots of tears, especially when he's in a group with a lot of older kids and he's more likely to lose. Poor kid, hard lessons to learn out there!

I have been busy planning our summer, which is really quite an undertaking! It's looking like we will probably go up to La Crete for my family's camp out in the beginning of July, now we just need to decide how we get up there. Fly to Edmonton and rent a car, or just drive the whole way . . . decisions decisions. Why does La Crete have to be 21 hours away anyway! We'll figure it out, it will be the only really big road trip we do this summer so maybe we can suck it up and drive. 

Christmas Holiday fun!

Happy New Year! It is January 9th, 2019 - another Christmas season has come and gone! We had a really great Christmas, a nice blend of relaxing at home spending time just the five of us and hanging out with friends and family. We had a very relaxed weekend before Christmas, Brian took Lynsey to see the Lion King on the Saturday before Christmas, and they had a really nice time. Our friends the Daveys came over for dinner on Sunday, and they helped me get a good start on a puzzle that kept me busy for a few days. On Christmas Eve, our family went out for dinner and then came back home to open stockings. We had our first Christmas morning at home since 2013. The kids enjoyed opening their presents and playing with them all day, I enjoyed doing a puzzle by myself, as Brian is absolutely no help at all in this area. We just had a very relaxed week, which I loved! 

Saturday morning we embarked on our trip to Calgary. I was expecting a very uneventful easy flight, as flights to Calgary usually are, but we didn't get off to the best start. The Seatac airport was very busy, apparently flying away over New Years is not some novel idea that only we had. Brian had gone to stand in a different line to drop off our checked bags since we thought it would save time, so I had to walk through the crowded airport by myself with the kids to meet up with him. I was talking on the phone with him trying to find him, and therefore not as attentive to whether or not all 3 of my kids were still following me. I sometimes have this unspoken (and unrealistic) expectation that Lynsey takes charge of the boys when I am not paying as much attention as I should, but this is not always the case. I get to where I see Brian, and then I look behind me, and Adam is not there. It was the worst 5 minutes ever, airport staff got involved, other passengers were calling out his name, I was so panicked. It was a sea of people, he could have gone anywhere, and we were right by the outside doors as well so he could have wandered outside with or without someone. If you've ever lost a child, then you will know the sick feeling I had as I imagined our family becoming the news headline for the day. This could have been the day that everything changed for us, this defining moment in our story where I did what a lot of parents do, which is lose track of their child for a brief time, and this was the time when I did not get away with it.

Thankfully, that day was not upon us! A passenger that knew we were looking for him found him wandering around in the hall beside where we were mostly looking and brought him back to us. Hallelujah! The relief I felt was palpable, he was not at all upset (honestly him being upset would have been helpful, what sound do I know better than an upset Adam!). Our journey continued through security and we made it to our gate. Brian and Adam had been upgraded to First Class (they were on a separate booking and Brian has some elite status, no bitterness here:-/) and Lynsey, Nathan and I proceeded to our "peasant" seats. We were about halfway through our short flight when the pilot comes on saying everything was smooth sailing, shouldn't be many bumps coming up and we were free to move about the cabin. The flight attendants get up to start their drink service, when all of a sudden the plane just drops. I have experienced turbulence before, but this was the most nerve wracking turbulence I have experienced to date. It went on for probably a few minutes, very rough with some big altitude changes. Lynsey and Nathan are giggling up a storm thinking this was great fun, and I am white knuckling and praying. Not fun for me at all, I envied their childish innocence and faith! After a bit the pilot comes back on and explains that they hit an unexpected air pocket and they had to change to a different altitude, but that all was well. By the time we got to Calgary, I could have kissed the ground! We did eventually make it in one piece to Brian's parents place, so I was grateful for that!

We went to Bobbi and Jer's that afternoon and hung out with them, and on Sunday we went out to Lois and Sterling's house for the Penner Christmas gathering. The kids had a good time, it all went pretty smoothly! Monday morning (New Year's Eve) Annie's dad came by in the morning to take some Christmas pictures for us. A lot of the pictures in the middle of this large grouping of pictures are pictures he took. Then the moment the kids had been waiting for, presents! They were all spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa of course! In the afternoon, Brian and I went to DQ to pick up an ice cream cake for Adam and do some other shopping, and we had a little mini-party for him in the afternoon. He loves his ice cream cake! After that we took the kids sledding for a bit. Brian had already taken Adam on a different day since we got there, but he was more than happy to go again! Everyone had a great time! We had a delicious Christmas dinner, and then our family stayed up to ring in the new year. Nathan was pretty tired, and even at one point said that he never wanted to stay up until midnight again, but I think he was pretty proud of himself for accomplishing that feat:-). 

New Years Day we took the kids swimming in the morning and built gingerbread houses in the afternoon. That evening, Brian's parents were so kind as to buy all of us adults dinner at the Keg while they watched all 7 grandchildren! Steve and Andrea left the following morning, but we stuck around for Wednesday as well. I had coffee with my friend Larissa in the afternoon, was great catching up with her. Packing up all the gifts was a bit of a challenge, but somehow we managed to take the same amount of bags home as we came with, no extras! 

The flight home Thursday was thankfully very uneventful! We have been getting back into the swing of things with the kids starting school this week. I enjoy Christmas time, but I have to say that it's always a bit of a relief when we make it through another Christmas season. January is always so calm and uneventful, time to get caught up on things that we fell behind in during crazy December. This year we are finishing up on our laundry room/bathroom reno, tile should be starting next week sometime! We ordered our tile and painted this past weekend, everything should be good to go. When the tile is in, it will feel soooo close! I will post some more pics after that stage, we need to get cabinets ordered soon since they could take some time to arrive.