More Fall Photos

Okay, so I caved.  I am not going to put individual pics in the Christmas card, so I thought I would post a few more of the boys, mostly individual ones.  Well, that is what I will do today, anyway!

I love taking pictures and wish I had (or made) more time to do it!  These are a few that I liked.  I love seeing how the boys change over the years.  I can hardly believe that Kayden is almost a teenager, is 5ft 3, and wears a size 9.5 shoe!  Ah!  Jaren is now in grade 5 and is having a good time (whether he realizes it, or not) with his new teacher.  Every day, he comes home and tells me all these things he has learned.  I love it!  Carter is adjusting to greade four and the heavier work load.  I think he would go back to grade 3 if he could - then he could avoid his weekly spelling assignments!  And, now for Tyler.  I truly think he has found a great teacher this year.  You know how sometimes a child and their teacher just click?  Well, I think this may be the year for Tyler.  Thank goodness for that!  He is happy and seems to be doing so much better than last year!  Hooray for Miss N!

Fall Photo Shoot

I love the fall!  For so many reasons.  It smells good, the air is cool, the colours are beautiful, and I get to do a photo shoot with my ever growing boys. 

Each year I think about the location for said photography session and each year, we find a great spot where the mom (me) can take pics, and the boys (as you see here) can explore and have fun.

Now let's just pretend that it is always that easy.  Ah...wouldn't that be nice.  Nope, there is a lot of yelling and scolding and saying stuff like, "chin down, look at the camera, look at me, smile, stop moving, get your finger out of your nose."  This year our poor little neighbour dude wanted to come with us.  I am afraid he saw me at my worst (he has since come back to play, so I guess I didn't scare him that badly).

Anyway, I am probably going to post a couple of the pics, cause I don't want to ruin the Christmas card surprise!  Yikes, did I say Christmas!?! Already!

APPLES, apples and MORE apples!

Look at these yummy things I was able to make out of my MIL's apples!  I made 5 apple pies, (as you can see from the first pic) and these three large bowls of apple sauce.  Some of the sauce I mixed with strawberries and bananas and either froze or made into leather, while the other portion I left plain (and did the same sauce/leather thing.

It was super easy making the apple sauce (the kids loved using the strainer.  In fact I did most of it while they weren't home and saved some cause I knew they would like it) and the cooking apples made my house smell DELICIOUS!

Thanks grama for all those apples!

The King has returned!

I just want to thank everyone for all your care and concern regarding our little king!  Kaiser is now home and doing pretty well.  He can now stand up on his own and even walk a couple of straggly steps.  He is starting to eat better and this morning, he growled when he heard the garbage truck (that is such a Kaiser thing to do).  We hope that soon he will be back to his regular old self - well, maybe less the annoying habits.  Ha!  Seriously though, we are very glad that he is going to be alright!  :)

Hooray!

So I spoke with the vet today and Kaiser is doing a lot better.  Yesterday, he wasn't doing very well and the vet suggested that maybe we could come for a visit.  So, Kayden and I ventured over there on the way to mutual.  Kaiser seemed happy to see us, but didn't really move around.  We sat and petted him for 20 minutes or so and then left.  Do you think it was our visit that was the cause of this sudden improvement?  I would like to think so!  I sure hope that the vet is right - that he will be able to come home Friday!

A Very Rough Day

This is Kaiser, our mini schnauzer.  He's got attitude, barks too much, and sometimes is a little crazy, but we love him.  Saturday, while Carter was taking him for a walk, he got off the leash and ran in front of a vehicle.  I had been out running Wrigley, our lab, and just returned when Carter came running down the street (crying) with a leash, but no Kaiser.  He told me that Kaiser had been hit by a car.  I jumped in the van, headed over to where they were walking, but by the time I went to pull out of the drive way, I saw two men walking down the street, one of them holding Kaiser.

It looked really bad.  Kaiser wasn't moving, and the guy holding him just said, "his heart is still beating."  Ugh.  So, after a quick call to the vet, we were off to the clinic.  Oh, back up a minute.  First of all, I made sure that Carter was okay, and that he realized that this wasn't his fault.  Poor little fella, he was feeling pretty darn sad.  Now, back to the vet.  Lindsey was at work, so Kayden stayed at home with the little boys and Jaren came with me to the vet. 

We found out that he was in shock, he had a lot of abdominal bruising, and that he couldn't move his back end.  The vet wasn't sure what was broken and told us that after he was medicated and treated for shock, they would do x-rays.  She then proceeded to give him an IV (this is when Jaren had to step out for a minute) and told us that she would let us know if anything changed, and sent us on our way. 

Sigh...now what?  What an awful feeling.  I couldn't even imagine if he was my child.  I felt so helpless.  I think I cried a little that day - okay maybe a lot.  So, Sunday morning,  they did x-rays and found out that he has a fractured pelvis. I guess these type of fractures can heal on their own, but the vet said he will need to stay there for a few days to make sure that all is well.  Phew.  What a sigh of relief.  The boys were so happy when we heard this news and frankly, so was I. 

If anything changes, I will let you know.  Thanks for listening.

thinking

Lately I have been thinking how quickly time flies.  Like, take for instance, this picture of my baby.  Well, he doesn't look like that anymore.  No more chubby cheeks and little brown curls (although his face still looks like that very often).  He is now six years old and a genuine first grader.  He loves coming home with a green apple - which means he had a good day.

 So, back to the reflecting.....I wonder if I truly appreciate and enjoy the stages that my boys go through.  I wonder if I enjoy my boys like I should or if I am too busy being busy.   I am pretty sure that I don't.  I have had some time to think lately and I know that something has got to change.  I don't want to just fly through life without enjoying anything.  I don't want to be at the end, wondering if I could have done more.

The other night, Lindsey asked me if I had any regrets.  I don't think I do (that is what I told him too).  But, I don't ever want to either.  I want to try my best and live my life in a way that I will never think, if only....