Gone, be gone...

Winter blues....I truly believe this year is the first I have ever experienced them...winter is quite long in Alberta (amidst the sunny days). I think that along with the spring weather and sunshine pouring down a few other factors are helping me to overcome the blues. I just got a new job at St. Michaels Health care in Lethbridge as an RN and I work in the PARP program there. PARP stands for Post-acute Rehabilitation +Program. So we get lots of clients who have suffered strokes or amputations and need lots of OT/PT support and medications sorted out to be able to hit the road running at home. They have usually come from the hospital or other care facilities in the area. I love the job! There are new challenges in  my life and it's been really good for me. The first few shifts back, my head literally hurt from over-thinking. Did I pour the right med? What is that med again? Which patient needed the urine C&S? What time is his tube feed? Where do I find the supplies for IV? etc etc. But I just love the challenge and the more I learn the more independent I am and the more productive I feel. So it's been a learning process but a very good one! For all who are wondering, I am hired on as casual and so I hope to only work a few times a month. Probably around a shift or two a week. Shifts are 8 hours in Alberta which is another plus. So if I do an afternoon shift I can still spend lots of time with the kids and then go to work and Jasper picks up the kids, feeds and baths them and puts them to bed. It works out great! Last night I got home from work at 11:40pm, quite tired and went to bed. I was awoken at 3 am to a phone call from my dear mother who told me she was planning on coming to Alberta for my brother Peter's confession of faith. She's landing tonight! ~ This is another wonderful gift that was such a nice surprise!
Also my wonderful friend Irene came to visit me in March and we had such a great time! Even though the weather was off and on nice, we managed to have lots of laughs. We showed Irene "Frank Slide" which is a mountain close by which had in 1904 blown up and rolled over a town killing some 100 people. It was a very interesting. They expect the mountain to fall again in the future and now have some insanely accurate sensors placed at the top so they can hopefully prepare for another mountain fall. Here are some pics:

 

*rocks are everywhere - large boulders

*snowball fight - I totally won!

*we drove further to Sparwood, B.C. for supper and checked out this HUGE dumper.*

James also had his 2nd birthday party when Irene was over:

*thank you for all the gifts! He loves playing with them and also the truck he got from Megan and Roger!

Jasper has been working HARD on finishing the deck for us for this summer and he has done such a great job! I just love it! All we need is the gates up and James and go out alone and play without me having to worry that he's heading to the lake or the road.

Well I have to run and clean my house now and then drive up to Calgary to pick up MOM!!!! 

Things we've been up to lately...

LIBRARY:
The weather has been quite nice the last little while. So thankful for no big snowstorms...although in Ontario it seems to be the norm...*thinking of you guys! We've had blue skies and aside from some crazy wind, it's been great. I decided to take advantage of it and took the kids to Lethbridge and we stopped in at the library and they've got a big fish pond at the entrance and an electric train driving around. It's really neat for kids and James was just mesmerized. He quickly learned where the button was to get the train going again and it took more than bribing him with candy to get him out of there. There is a toy library there as well so one can pick any toy they want and take it home and return in three weeks. Ideal for getting new toys in the house without the cost associated (and the clutter). Hereby some pics for those visual people out there...

PARK:

Henderson Lake (I think) it's called. A really beautiful and random park in the middle of Lethbridge. We took a walk around the lake and James went to play on the playground. It was packed full of kids all taking advantage of the weather and getting outside. So wonderful to have these breaks in wintertime. 

James plomped down on the spinning climb thingy and the boys pushed and pushed it round and James just loved it.

For all those curious, the reason why there are trees here is because they were planted after WWII to commemorate and remember those lives lost in the battles.

BAKING:

Yes. I've been trying to bake bread. It's an uphill battle, but the results are fun. Here is some raisin bread I attempted which worked out quite well. 

OUR NEW WAGON:

One day, I went to go check our mail in town and I could not believe my eyes! There was a HUGE package waiting for me. Sweet!!! I love those days! Turns out it was technically addressed to James and Nicole, so once we were home we unwrapped our gift and it turned out to be a really cool red wagon which could have wheels under it or skiis! Neato! This wonderful gift was from Auntie Irene!!!! Thanks again Irene, we have already had so much fun with it. James likes to haul around our black cat and take him for rides! Here's some pictures:

NICOLE STANDING:

DECK:

We are building a deck! Yay! So looking forward to this summer! Jasper started building it Saturday last week and he is using Family Day to try to get a good chunk of it done. Totally fine by me! He's building it himself and I'm mighty proud of him! The kids love looking out our windows and watching him.

Ok so ironically, the deck is already looking different while I am typing this. Here's an updated picture!

Nicole cannot wait to get out and play on it!

Till next time folks!~

Peter and Presents

Uncle Peter has finally arrived! He battled an insane snowstorm to make it here for Saturday. He said he couldn't see for nothin' and was following a semi truck lights when he saw it slide into the ditch right in front of him. So Pete steered the other way and kept driving...well....crawling along. Then he passed four cars right behind each other all in the ditch nicely spaced apart of about 15 meters. Hmmm. Anyone guess what happened there? lol. But thankfully the roads and visibility got better as he headed south and so he made it to our house safe and sound at around 2AM. We all slept in since Jasper and I were out by friends till 1AM anyways and James went to bed late, so by the time we were all up and running, it was around 10. So we made coffee and sat down to chat and share some presents. Peter spoiled our little guy...have a look at some of the pictures.

A sweet quad from Bass Pro Shops!!! It makes all kinds of sounds too.

We gave James a pickup with a big trailer with some horses.

And a book...

Peter got us another version of "Settlers" called "Settlers of America: Trains and Rails" Very fun game!

Well Aunt Heather, now Nicole has her very own car too!! :)

Me and my little kiddies!!!