Getting Ready For Halloween

I have been taking the boys on a weekly basis to Mother Goose Story time in Veteran. Since it is Halloween this week the kids got a chance to dress up in their costumes. What do you know....Jaren STILL fit into his zebra costume from last year so we got to use it again for this season! I REALLY hope that he grows some next year so he doesn't have to be a zebra 3 years in a row! :)

The Mother Goose group that gets together.
We were missing two of our regular members today so they weren't in the picture.

Update: 11 Days Post Burn

I took these pictures today, which would be 11 days after Landen burnt his hand. A week ago the specialist said that his hand would be healed in 7-10 days...obviously he knew what he was talking about!! After his bath tonight a bunch of the white loose skin came off that you see here so it looks even better! I am absolutely amazed and astounded at the result of his healing that has been taking place. These little people are amazing!

"Okay Mommy, enough with the hand stretching exercises!!"

Our Week Away....

Here are some pictures from our week while we were gone up to Grande Prairie and Smoky Lake....besides being at the hospital!!

(You'll have to read the next posts to see why we were at the hospital soo much!) Learning to play together
Jaren and a new friend Brock

Kevin got to slip away for 1 1/2 days to visit Steve so this is picture is from their adventures around Steve's country in the Spirit River area.

Briana (Kim and Steve's little girl) and Becky (Kim and Steve's friend)

We met them for lunch on Thursday

Uncle Dale sharing the secrets of faming with Landen and Jaren

Hugs and kisses from Auntie Loanne


On Friday we headed to Smoky Lake where we spent the weekend with the Trenchuk clan and had a nice relaxing time.

Brian and Nathan & Kevin and Landen

Rosanna with one of her 9 puppies

Our final trip home after a long week away!!

(Wonder what he's dreaming about??)

Burn Unit Appointment

Look at me, I'm as happy as can be!
Jaren getting a little rest while the doctors were checking out Landen's hand

Wednesday morning Randi and I headed off to Edmonton with the boys at 6:30am to see the specialist Dr. Tredget at the Burn Unit that afternoon for Landen's hand. Our appointment was at 2pm but of course he was about 2 hours behind!! With the news we got from him we didn't mind waiting for those extra hours - he said everything would heal 100% in 7-10 days. We got back to Grande Prairie that night at 10:45pm - what a LONG day but thankfully we had some good travellers!! Patiently waiting to see the doctor
....and more waiting with Auntie Randi. Surgical unit at the UofA hospital where we were. Thankfully we didn't need to come back to have surgery!
Biding our time and having fun!
After the good news we were ready to hit to road and get home!!

"Brrrrrmmmmmm"
"See Mommy, I told you everything was going to be okay!!"

Unfortunate Start to Our Family Get-Away

Last Sabbath (Oct 18th) we started out on a little family holiday where we were stopping in Lacombe for the day to visit with friends, Lori and Dave, who we haven't seen in over a year since they moved to Manitoba and then we were headed up to Grande Prairie for the week to visit with more family and friends. But on Sabbath a tragic accident happened to our little Landen. Just before eating Sabbath dinner Landen placed his hand in a piping hot casserole that had just come out of the oven at 375 degrees and severely burnt the palm of his left hand. After placing it under cold water we rushed him to emergency where they bandaged it up and tried to give him some relief of the pain. I don't think Kevin and I have ever felt sooo sick and helpless in our entire lives! He received 2nd degree burns to his hand. The doctor recommended that we have it dressed daily as to keep watch that infection didn't set in. So on Sunday we still made our way up to Grande Prairie to see everyone but we had daily visits to the hospital where they changed his dressings and we got to see that each and every day the hand looked better and better. Wednesday we were made an appointment with the Burn Unit at the UofA hospital in Edmonton where the specialist told us that within 7-10 days he should be healed 100% with no scarring!!! PRAISE GOD!!! That was the best news we had heard all week long! So needless to say I really didn't have much of a holiday but I was soo grateful of all the help from my family while we were in GP. Landen handled everything like a little trooper and continued to have a smile on his face at all times! We are soo blessed to have such a healthy, happy little guy. We are keeping his hand wrapped still for at least another week to keep it moist and to let some more healing happen. Once again..... praise God for being the Almighty Healer!

The picture above was taken the morning after the burn happened while we were at the hospital getting the dressings changed.

This is our happy little guy on Sunday morning (the day after) at the hospital just flirting with the nurses and not fussing a bit!

Pictured below is his hand exactly 1 week after the first picture (8 days after the accident). Each and everyday it is still looking better and better!

My Harvest Time Dream!

Record setting harvest was done in Winkler, Manitoba, Canada.
160 acres was harvested with 100 combines and several grain trucks in
10 minutes and 15 seconds.
This record will be entered in the Guiness World.Proceeds of this crop is to be sent to a kids camp.

NOW THAT'S MY IDEA OF HARVEST TIME!!!

Thanks for the email Brian :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving day today with some family. Randi and I had our very first attempt of doing our own turkey and if I must say so myself - it was pretty good!! Dinner was a success!

Kevin carving the bird

Doing the last minute preps before eating. I don't know why Kevin has that expression on his face, I know he was probably hungry by that time but not mad ;) Maybe he didn't hear Randi say SMILE!! :)

Our meal ready to be eaten with Jaren sitting at the table patiently waiting to be served and deciding what should be put on his plate and what should be left off.

Let me tell you.........get the dishes done from the Thanksgiving meal and it's outside to start getting ready for Christmas!! While the weather was beautiful and I had a little help I decided to drag Randi outside (kicking & screaming) with me to put up some lights on the trees. What better time than now before our hands are freezing and I don't want to be out there (especially by myself).

Trent attempting his "roping" skills on a cow that Kevin has been treating for a wounded leg. Only took him 3 tries to get her! It's a good thing she didn't move at all otherwise we might have been there all night! :)
Me and our little boy
Auntie Randi and Landen
Going for a little quad ride with all our kids! :)
"Okay, I think I've had enough turkey! Goodnight everyone!"

Auntie Randi and Uncle Trent are FINALLY Here!

My sister Randi and her boyfriend Trent arrived safely at our place on Friday evening. Needless to say that the boys have had nothing but endless attention and someone to play with since they have arrived. Jaren is up bright and early to greet Auntie and make sure she is out of bed by 6:30am! I think that she'll need to have a good rest once she gets back home after spending a weekend with us.

On Saturday we took a drive around the country and went to the mud buttes to have a little walk. It was a gorgeous sunny day with a cooler breeze so it was nice to get out and get some fresh air. The last time we were there was a year ago with some of Kevin's family at Thanksgiving. It is something to see, in the middle of the flat prairie you come across this deep, huge pit/hole/canyon in the ground.......where does something like that come from?

Landen and I before heading out
Assessing the view

Those little legs just NEVER stop!
"Do I look like I am having fun just hanging out??"
Randi & Trent
Just because....
Auntie Randi always teasing little Landen

Re-Certification Day

Last Thursday I had to re-certify my CPR for my annual Dental hygiene licence so the boys and I headed to a fellow hygienist's (Barbara) to do our refresher course at her place. She knows an instructor very well so the instructor comes over to her house and we do the course in the midst of tending to the kids. It works really well - that way we don't need to arrange to have a babysitter. Barbara also had a baby this summer so we got to meet Rena for the first time as well. A real added bonus to the day! Sorry no pictures of the course.....just of the kids! (as usual!!)

Landen relaxing in Rena's fancy swing

Rena and Landen

She was born on July 25th so she is only 10 weeks old but weighs 12lbs already!! Watching these 2 together really gives perspective of how fast they change within that first year. The things they learn in those 12 months are incredible!!

Rena Lily

Rena, Jaren (impressed as usual to take a picture!) & Landen

I think next year we may have to get a sitter so we can focus - it might be a little distracting with 3 kids motoring around :)

Heaps of Fun

Yesterday was a nice typical fall day. So after the kids had their naps we went for a drive. Of course a drive is NEVER complete without at least checking some sort of a crop so pictured below is Kevin and Jaren taking a careful look at the winter wheat that was seeded in early September.

When we arrived back home Jaren discovered the pile of wheat in our Quonset (sp?) so he had a blast playing in it for quite sometime.

First he had to load up the Super-B with his tractor.

Landen trying to figure out why we are hanging out in here when he could be in the house eating supper!

Jaren climbed the pile of wheat twice - so I was REALLY hoping that it would tire him out so he'd have a good sleep but it didn't seem to work too well like I thought it should! Maybe tonight we'll have to get him to climb it three times!! He had wheat in places that I didn't think imaginable! :)