My, Oh, My, she's getting so old

Happy Birthday Kymberly! How can you possibly be 4yrs old? When we moved here to Milk River you were only 5 months old. That seems like just yesterday to me, and yet a lifetime ago at the same time. And here you are...4 yrs old!!!!

Kymberly chose the colours and told me how to decorate it.

 Now that you are 4, what can you do? Here are a few of her answers.
-I can shut the door on the van.
-I can bounce Kathryn's basketball.
-I'm not afraid to go on a train.
-I can go swimming.

We had some of Kymberly's friends from church and their families over for a wiener roast. Ever since Tanlsey's toonie($2 coin for my american friends that may be wondering what a toonie is) birthday party Kymberly has wanted one of her own. So we told her friends to bring a card with a toonie in it and Kymberly will spend it on a present. She loved it, every time she got a toonie she was in heaven.
When we cut into her birthday cake she was so surprised by the rainbow that was inside. (Amanda over at I am Baker(I love getting ideas from her blog) has inspired me to be more playful in my cake making.) The cake was a big hit.

I think that everyone had a great time and Kymberly felt like a special little girl. I believe we shall call it a success!

Bonanza day 2011

This year we had daddy with us for Bonanza day because he took the day off so that I would be able to run in the 5k race. It was a fun and relaxing day all at once. We watched what was possibly the longest Bonanza day parade in the 60 year history of Bonanza day, Kymberly got her stash of candy and we all had a great time watching the parade. Tansley and Kathryn enjoyed being on the float for the Church and felt pretty proud of the fact that the float one first place in the "church float" category(I believe they may have been the only church float).

Both Kathryn(1st place) and Tansley(1st place) had entered some art in the art contest. Tansley also had made a lego creation(1st place) and Kathryn had baked some cookies(2nd place) for the baking contest. Both girls had also entered some of their photos in the photo contest. Kathryn won 1st place($25) in the Scenic category for the under 18 age group.

 The girls and their prize winnings

We spent the afternoon at the pool cooling off. It was a hot day and the cool water was a welcome thing.

And of course we finished of the day with fireworks...well Kathryn and Tansley and I did. Daddy stayed home with James and Kymberly because they are not a fan of fireworks so they were put to bed at a sane hour. It was a super fun day and as always we look forward to doing it again next year.

Race Day!!!

Today I ran my first real 5K road race. IT WAS AWESOME! Kathryn and Tansley, ran with me. They stayed ahead of me the whole time. Tansley had a strategy. She would run out ahead of me and when she got tired she would walk until I caught up to her. Kathryn's strategy was to simply beat Tansley. In everyone of our practice runs Tansley always finished first. This time Kathryn wanted to be first. I kept up my usual pace, but I at the half way mark I knew I was faster than usual. I ran the whole thing. I was running beside another lady right at the end, and it was great to have someone to run against. It made me really pick up my pace and push through to the end. As a result I finished the race 3 minutes faster than I have ever done it. At the finish line there was my handsome hubby and the two youngest kiddies. He had a bouquet of flowers and a chocolate bar for me! The whole things was amazing.
Our times were
Kathryn 37:51 Silver(10yr and under)
Tansley 38:05 Bronze(10yr and under)
Me 38:29(5th out of 6 ages 30-37)

More Camping fun

Every year the Paxman clan(my mom's side of the family) descends on Waterton for one day. Some of them camp for the week, others just show up for the day and we have a big potluck dinner and enjoy plenty of visiting. Every year we go up for the day, and every year I wish that we had more time to visit and play. So this year I decided to take the kids and camp in Waterton with my mom and dad for a few days. I headed up Monday afternoon, it looked like it was going to be a rainy week. But much to our surprise the sun came out that afternoon and we spent a fabulous time at the lake with some of our Forsyth cousins.

 That night right when I was getting kids to bed in the tent it started to rain hard. When the rain stopped, I opened the door to the tent I realized that it hadn't just been rain, it had hailed too. Lucky for us we were camped beside a camp kitchen so we played games in out of the rain until it was much to late.

 On Tuesday it was kinda cloudy and threatening to rain. We hiked around Red Rock Canyon and had a picnic. We were even so luck as to see a bear on the side of the road and get some pretty good pictures from the safety of our van.

 Wednesday morning I took Kathryn and Tansley to hike up bears hump. There was a whole group of us Paxman's that were on the trail. I think by the time we all reached the top there must have been at least 30 of us. On the way down it's possible that there was at least one Paxman on every switchback of the trail from top to bottom.

What fun we all had!
I have to put a huge shout out to a few people for making our camping trip with out Daniel so much easier.
Thank you Maren for helping me set up our tent with out even having been asked, you just saw a need and you were there with a helping hand.
Thank you Josie for being a fabulous big cousin and helping keep my younger kids happy, taking them for walks and playing with them.
Thanks sis, for letting me use your two fabulous girls.
Thanks mom and dad for letting me and my kids eat dinner with you each night, that was one less thing that I had to worry about and it was great!

We'll be doing that again!

All the crazy Courts in one place

This year the Kaye Court clan once again descended on Writing on Stone for a family reunion. Although I suppose technically it isn't much of a reunion since we are all pretty united in that we all live in Lethbridge and area...well I suppose that Rob and crew are temporarily living in Saskatoon. Regardless, it's not like we don't see each other regularly, so there really is no need to be reunited. But we've started to make this a yearly thing. We all get together and we play, and play and play some more for three days. Writing On Stone has been our venue of choice and it has been a great time every year. This year the only down side was that there was a fire ban, leaving our evening firesides without a fire, but that didn't stop our fun.
We spent a glorious day on the beach, swimming, digging, splashing and sleeping.

One evening we played Minute to win it.

The next evening we did our own "The Courts got Talent". You shoulda been there to see all of our talent.

 Good times, Good memories. We'll do it again next year, possibly in a new location. I've heard from a little bee that Grandma Kaye would like to do something close to Waterton next year so that we can do some of the hikes. I think she might be on to something, a little change might be fun.

The Court Cousins

My Birthday

I started my birthday with a morning jog. I decided to take it easy, seeing as it was my birthday, so I only ran 1 mile instead of my usual 3. I ran it straight, with out stopping. It took me 12 minutes. That was a first for me. It wasn't super fast, but it was more than I could have done a couple of months ago.

When I got home Kathryn and the girls were making breakfast for me, I wasn't allowed to look so I went straight for the shower. When I got out and dressed, I was presented with this

 Then Kymberly and Tansley gave me my birthday presents. They were so sweet. the week before when we had been in Lethbridge they asked if they could go to the dollar store to spend the money they had made selling lemonade. When we got there Kathryn asked if she could just take Tansley and Kymberly inside so that they could buy me some birthday presents. So James and I waited outside the doors while they went in and bought me gifts.

Tansley chose a pretty heart necklace

Kymberly chose a pretty welcome sign to put in the garden

 We then headed off to Lethbridge to spend the day at grandma and grandpa Forsyth's. After Lunch Kathryn presented me with the birthday cake she had made me and with her gift, a beautiful shadow box frame with roses in a vase.

My Birthday cake

Blowing out candles

Later in the afternoon and went out with my dear friend Leah Sheer. I hadn't seen her since Kymberly was a baby. We went and had a pedicure and then we headed to the Cheesecake Cafe for supper and of course cheesecake. We had such great evening. It was nice to be able to have so much time to visit, and it is always like we've never been apart(except for the fact that we have so much to talk about).

At the end of the day it was simply a wonderful birthday.

Fun comes in all shapes and sizes.

Yesterday was the girls and I's payday fro delivering the Prairie Post. This payday was the most exciting yet. We had finally saved enough money to buy the trampoline that they have been working for. We went out and delivered the Prairie Post first thing in the morning, while we were delivering I just happened to notice that Canadian tire had their 14' trampoline on sale for 30% off, dropping the price to just under $200. Perfect. This meant that I would then have enough money to buy the beach shelter that I had been eying for the past little while. So as soon as we were done delivering, we got in the van and headed to Lethbridge. Our first stop was Burger King to treat ourselves to some lunch. Next we headed over to Canadian Tire and picked up the trampoline and beach shelter. SO EXCITING!!! When we were all done there we headed on over to the Superstore to do a little grocery shopping. We had about $80 left over which the girls had planned to buy some groceries with. They went through the store humming and hawing over what to buy, but slowly we filled up our cart. After it was all paid for and we did a great job and using up the remainder of our money, we headed on over to the food bank. We got there just in the nick of time. They were closing up. But they were more than willing to open up the doors and let the girls bring in their donations. I explained to them that the girls had been working hard delivering papers for the past few months so that they could buy a trampoline, but that they also wanted to use their money to do something good for someone else and they chose to buy food and donate to the food bank. They chose this as their good deed because of the story I told them at Christmas about my parents taking us grocery shopping to buy our favorite foods and then they told us that we would be donating them to the food bank. When we left the girls said "That was so much FUN!"

Today we set up the trampoline. I did it all on my own(with some help from the girls) in about an hour, maybe even less. I was surprised at how simple it was. The girls have done little else today but play on the trampoline. But soon I'll have to call them in for dinner and then we will have to go out and deliver a few more flyers.

I wonder what well be our next fun purchase?

Kymberly's Surgery

Monday was a long hard day.

We went up to Calgary on Sunday night and spent the night at my little brothers new house. He and his wife just took possession on June 30. It was so kind of them to welcome us into there home even though they were still unpacking.
Monday morning we needed to be at the Children's hospital at 7:45am. Kymberly was so excited. She was all smiles and full of energy. When the nurse came in to get some info and check Kymberly's vitals, Kymberly was more than willing to answer every question and tell her stories to go with every answer. While we waited we played some of Kymberly's favorite games and coloured.

Then I went and got one of the DVD players and Kymberly chose a Thomas the Train movie to watch. She hadn't got very far into the movie when the porter came to get us to go to the holding area. As the nurse took Kymberly off down the hall to be put to sleep she was in blissful heaven and completely trusting. She skipped all the way down the hall.

The next time I saw Kymberly she wasn't very happy about how she was feeling. Her eyes hurt and were sensitive to the light, she was groggy and just down right miserable. Poor girl. I wanted to cry. But I didn't. I just sat beside her and stroked her hair and held her hand. One of the first thing she said to me when she woke up was, "I didn't get to finish watching the Thomas movie." The poor girl was seriously disappointed.

 By 1pm, Kymberly was OK to go home and we made our journey home. I sat in the back seat of the van with her and held a cold wash cloth on her eyes to help ease the sensation of sand in her eyes. She slept most of the way home. When we got home she slept on my bed. She was restless and sometimes needed me to just lay beside her. We had a long night, and I wished I could take all her pain away. She asked me to say a little prayer over and over again. Daddy offered to give her another blessing but she said "No, you did that already, just say a prayer". So we would say a little prayer as often as she asked. By Tuesday morning she was basically herself. Her eyes were still a little sensitive to the light, but she was happy and mostly pain free. I was so grateful. It actually has been a great week.
I've been asked if she can tell a difference, but I don't believe she does. I still watch her cautiously walk down the stairs, just the same as she has always done. I'm pretty sure that over her time her mind will learn that things are as they seem. That things really are as far away as they seem. That that stair really is where it looks to be. And then one day maybe I'll notice that she isn't as cautious about things as she used to be.

Seeing the world as it should be.

Tomorrow Kymberly will have surgery on her eyes to correct her vision. Her eyes don't work together because, in short, the muscles in her eyes are different lengths. She is so excited! We watched a slide show on the Children's Hospital website that showed her all the kinds of things and the kinds of people that she would meet and what was going to happen. She loved it, and wanted to watch it over and over. She soaked up all the information and has been talking about it for days. I wish I could say I was as excited as she is. I'm glad that she is having it done. But the thought of her getting put to sleep...and everything else, makes me nervous. This is a routine surgery, one that gets done dozens of times in a day. But there is always that 1 in X chance that something goes wrong...and what if my Kymberly is that one X?...OK, enough of that. All will be well. Daddy along with a few other Priesthood Brethren gave her a blessing today, and all will be well. And soon, she'll see the world the way Heavenly Father wanted her to see it. How exciting is that?!

Canada Day

Oh Canada, today you are 144 years old. How we love you so. We love to go camping in your beautiful Rocky mountains. We love to drive over your spacious plains. We love to play in your amazing hoodoos and splash in your cool waters. We love your amazing sunrise and sunset. And yes we even love your diverse weather and seasons, without them you would not be you. We love the freedom that you provide us. We love all the comforts of life that are here for us. You truly are magnificent. Oh Canada, We stand on guard for Thee!!!

We spent the day at home today. It was a nice relaxing day. The kids put Canada Tattoos on. I helped Kathryn make some Canada day clip on earrings and a few other fun ones too. She and Tansley have been itching to make some earrings for awhile now. I'll have to get pictures of a few of the ones we have made so far. But that will be another post.

 

We opted not to go into Lethbridge to watch the fireworks, which really was a good thing. Kymberly and James HATE them. Instead tonight we decided to play with some sparklers that Tansley got for her birthday. These would serve as our own quiet fireworks. At first Tansley didn't want to even hold them because she was afraid that it would burn her. But then she got brave and had fun with them. Kymberly didn't want anything to do with them, she just stood back and watched Kathryn and Tansley wave them around. When that was all said and done I sent them to bed. They are sleeping out in the tent in our backyard again tonight. I love summer.