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.

Saying no

I think my husband would be proud of me. I just said no to a friend of a friend that needed help sewing a jacket for a wedding this weekend, the only hitch was that it needed to be done this afternoon. I probably could have done it easily....but I wanted to spend this gorgeous afternoon with my fabulous girls and I wasn't sure that James would be completely cooperative, we had a long night...look at me, I'm making excuses to make me feel better for saying no. I don't do it often. I would have liked the extra $40 or $60 that I would have charged her for my quick service....but in the end I didn't think that giving up this perfect afternoon was worth the money. That may be a bit selfish of me, but I think I am entitled to a little selfishness when it comes to spending time with my kids...so why do I feel so guilty?

School Sports day

This past Thursday was the School Sports day. So of course Kymberly, James and I went up to the school to cheer on the Kathryn and Tansley. Well Kymberly wanted to do much more than just cheer them on, she had to be apart of everything. I'm starting to think that she is going to be my Athletic child. She loves to be involved in sports. Here's a few pictures to show off all the fun.

Coutts days

I just realized that I haven't take the time to blog about all of the fun we had a Coutts days last weekend. so here it is in a quick little post.

 

The girls were on the Church float.

Kymberly, James and I worked on catching candy for everyone.

 Then we went over to the Hansen's for a BBQ

After that we headed over to the school for some kids games, but we were late and everything was done and cleaned up so we just played at the park instead.

Kymberly surprised me by wanting to learn how to climb all over the playground. She was so pleased with herself when she had climbed up all by herself for the first time.

After we played at the park for awhile we went into the school and watched some entertainment. The girls danced to the music and Kymberly even got to go up on stage and dance.

When the entertainment was all done we headed over to the Rodeo and had so much fun watching all the different events.

The Rodeo Zamboni

 Then we played on the playground some more while we waited for the family movie to start.

Totally exhausted

Our own buckin' Bronco

While we were waiting for the doors to open we also saw this beautiful double rainbow.

 Finally to finish off the day was stayed and watched the fireworks. Kymberly is still not a fan of the fireworks, she cried at first, but daddy covered her ears and she closed her eyes and pretended that it wasn't happening.

James wasn't a fan of the fireworks either and he cried the entire time. I tried to cover his ears, but that didn't seem to help at all.

All in all it was a fabulously fun day.