Joy joy joy!

Well here I am...this is what I did on Friday evening and Saturday (9am-5pm!!!). Yup, scrapbooking at church with "Scraps of Joy" - an area of our Women's Ministry. It was fun...I worked on Asher's hospital scrapbook and got quite a bit accomplished. I will have to finish it up this week so I can get organized for my next project and this next week away at Scrap Camp (they just so happen to fall 2 weekends in a row that I get to scrapbook...that has NEVER happened before). I am happy to sit on the Scraps of Joy committee, which really just means that I "help out." Our community service project for the Fall is to make some cards and leave them for use within the Women's ministry, so these are the cards I made:


Ooops, not sure what happened to that last card photo, it is all turned around. Anyhoo, I was very excited to make cards again!!! I just love scrapbooking and card-making!

I see that while the cat was away the mouse did play and wrote a little note in my blog. My husband has been home all week because of his injured ankle, so he is becoming like Mr.Mom and he even told me that he ENJOYED writing in the blog today (yes you said that dearie) and could see how I like to do it too :) What a blessed woman I am aren't I??

Mr. mom for a day and change!

Well..... In case you haven't already picked it up from the title, this is Mr. Shutterbugg Mom.
I thought I'd throw my two bits into this blog thingy, you ladies really like doing this stuff don't you. I personally can't see what the big deal is, but whatever!

My wife! Where do I even begin.... I suppose a more appropriate title like," The bestest mom/wife in the world", may suit this blog entry a little better. I so appreciate my little shutterbugg mom and the wonderful job she does as a,"Shutterbugg" mom, sister, daughter and especially wife! I have the privilege of watching our boys on a solo mission, last night and all day today. I call it a privilege because It`s not often I get to taste being,``The Lone Ranger``. As trying as it can be, it`s still a privilege. However, I think the best illustration of watching are little boys without backup is like getting thrown into a deep lake, without a life-jacket and you can't swim either! If that doesn't paint the picture for you, I'm not sure what will. The point I would like to make is.... there's no way I could do the job you do sweetheart! Thank you, thank you, thank you.......Thank you for being the most under paid-over worked person on the planet. (hmmm, not much of a complement is it!) Thank you for getting up at all hours of the night and still having a smile on your face in the A.M! Thank you for being able to laugh at Addison peeing all over the rug! Thank you for being okay with puke all over your shirt. In short, You're da bestest!
I don`t know if I`ve said that enough to you. Countless times I think it, just not sure if I communicate it.

So to wrap up my little blog entry, us Mr. Shutterbugg`s do appreciate you Mrs. Shutterbugg`s out there! It may take a,`drowning experience` ,but we do. Thank you to all momma`s out there. We love ya!
Have a wonderful weekend scrapbookin` I can`t wait to have you home!
mwha
P.S. Addison thinks peeing on the rug is fun!

Dedicating Asher

On Sunday we had Pastor Barry Oram from our church dedicate Asher to God in a nice little ceremony at MacKenzie Trails. We had some family and friends join us and following the ceremony we had a yummy lunch and some play/picture time :) The weather turned out so lovely as the forecast had been calling for rain all week. Thank you Lord! God knows how stressed I would have been to have all those people in our house and He prevails! :)

As we approached the Dedication, we faced many attempts by the enemy to reschedule this dedication again. We did have Asher scheduled to be dedicated months ago but Asher ended up in the hospital with broncholitis and was discharged only 2 days before the service so we decided to reschedule. So, we did it this past Sunday and DID NOT let the enemy have a say in our lives. Asher ended up in the Emerg again a week before the service because of wheezing and fast/laboured breathing (turned out to be a reactive airway something or other to the cold he had.) So a puffer and steroids were prescribed. And then...on Friday night Wes was out at Camp Caroline to go to the Men's Retreat through BOB and he dislocated his right ankle. I wasn't sure I could pull this off with him out of commission but all turned out so well. All Wes had to do was hobble around on his crutches and stand up with our family. I did have to let some things go and I did ask for help and I prayed. God filled me with His grace and the ceremony was a success!!

Thank you to all the friends and family who supported us in this.

The Bible tells us that Mary and Joseph presented their son Jesus back to God in an act of worship and dedication. "Then it was time for their purification offering , as required by the law of Moses after the birth of a child, so his parents took him to Jerusaleum to present him to the Lord ...There the child grew up healthy and strong. He was filled with wisdom and God's favor was on him."

Luke 2:22, 40

Girly Fun

We had the pleasure of playing with Tegan and Anaya this evening while our friends Scott and Rachelle went out for dinner. The girls enjoyed? pizza with us and then we broke out the nail polish! Wes couldn't believe they would rather paint nails then jump on the trampoline....well I very well could. I could barely finish my pizza I was so excited to get painting! I even heard Wes comment "so this is what girls like to do..." It would be such a shock for him if we ever had a little girl I swear! Well here we are painting nails and next time we get together we have plans to do more "girly things." I was just in my glory....

Addison, of course, wanted his nails painted too and Tegan was quick to volunteer her talent with the nail polish....
Beautiful work Tegan!! I wonder how long Wes will let me leave his fingernails painted? (Wes & Scott slipped out of the house for the Men's Retreat before they knew about his event). I won't tell you which one, but if you checked out one of those dad's toe nails you might see some pretty pink piggies on that daddy too! Such fun!!!

birthday present

I turned 32 years old on August 17. Not a whole lot happened on my birthday...we went for a stressful breakfast to McDonalds with Wes' parents before we drove back from my sisters wedding in Canmore, I had a "birthday nap" in the afternoon, Wes made our family supper, and then my parents and baba (pretty special that my baba was here) came over for cake...turtle cheesecake...yum! A few days before my birthday I talked the boys into getting my birthday present early...one present, ok all the presents took me off guard. One that touched me most was a personalized liscence plate that reads "MY BOYZ"....so all I got was a piece of paper saying that it had been ordered...I waited a long 4 weeks to receive it in the mail. I absolutely love it. What an awesome gift! I love my boyz so much!

If you see a black Honda Odyssey with this license plate please honk and wave...waving is a kind gesture...one I rarely see :)

Boyz...

Fun on the trampoline in our back yard. That trampoline was a great investment. Our boys get hours of use out of it. It has acted as a giant play pen, a dance studio, a water place, but mostly a wrestling ring. (Is that even what they are called? I am sooo behind the times when it comes to wrestling and I don't let Aidan watch WWE so I really am clueless :) Other then the wrestling that goes on in our back yard. If Wes was home he would have been out there right in the middle of it too! I love my boyz!!

Fall Fair

Asher got his first sucker from Grandma Linda at the RD County Fair today!

My Mom works at the Red Deer County office and for the past couple of years we have gone to the Fall Fair that they put on for people to learn more about what the County of RD has to offer. Sure I would love to live on an acreage...yes I really would. My husband though? Not so much! He likes the city...there is someone to talk to at any given moment and he loves that. Anyhoo, off we go to the Fall Fair this morning...fun was had by all. This is a photo of Addison laughing at the "Flying Bob" performance. He was quite amused by this guy.
As you can see he is right up there with him, watching and laughing...the audience is on Addison's left...what a fan!!

As a "Shutterbugg Mom" I posed Addison by this fire truck...isn't he just adorable?



There was a live owl there...and guess who had to give it a kiss? You got it...Addison! He is kissing everything nowadays!

A ride for our nephew Zachary, Addison and Asher in the Markerville Creamery tractor. This was a big hit for Addison last year too but this year he got to sit on a big cream can, not in the box like Asher. So cute!

Missing my Friend

This is my bestest friend Ginette and her family. Husband Andrew, son Shaun and daughter Alexa. Ya, I like to say that they named their first born after me...although he was a boy so "Shaun" would do :) And the "Alexa" name...well you all know how well those "A" names are adored by me so sweet little Alexa steals my heart!

Ginette and I have been great friends since meeting at Grant MacEwan College in 1996. She helped me stay motivated to learn...motivated to get great marks, motivated to watch Beverly Hills 90210, motivated to be kind, and motivated to be ok to cry. She is the biggest crier I know :) I absolutley love her sensitive nature and heart. I remember going to watch "Titanic" at the movie theatre with her and as she walked quickly in front of me as we left the theatre, I thought...why is she walking so fast? Why is she turning her head away from me? Why? Because she was crying...all the way to the car and she didnt' want me to see. This was the beginning of many tears shed.

In May Ginette and her family of four moved to Shediac, New Brunswick. We have always had a distance kind of friendship except when we both went to College in Edm. Ginette went on to obtain her degree in Community Rehab. and I stayed in Edm to work and get married (for the first time). So all in all we have spent many many minutes on the phone and visits at her house or ours. So yesterday we had our weekly phone call (never a short conversation) and this morning I woke up with a heavy heart. She was on my mind. I miss her. It is just hitting me now that she is all the way across the country and I have to fly 7 hours to see her. It isn't that easy to drive an hour and a half to Calgary to visit. So...I miss you Ginette...my bestest and long-time friend!

May our wonderful Lord bless and keep you and your family G...I love you guys!!

Happy Anniversary

3 years ago today Wes and I were married. Wow, what a busy but amazing three years we have had! Looking back at the photos I can't believe how young Aidan is...missing his 2 front teeth....how cute is that! For a scrapbooker, I am afraid to admit I haven't done a lot with our wedding photos. I did make a Storybook through Creative Memories, more to show people what Storybooks were all about. We spent 3 hours at Dave Brunner's (he has an amazing outdoor set up and he and his wife are great people) house so he could take our photos...and here I have not done a thing with them. I was looking at the professional photos the other day and still love one photo of Wes and I walking away from the camera on a railroad track. I want to order a big photo of that shot...just haven't done it yet.
I can see how people can say "it seems like yesterday" when we got married...then I think of how simple life seemed back then. Our lives have been filled with so many blessings I can't even count them all. Thank you Lord for your love and Your guidance in our marriage. May our hearts and actions to each other and to others be pleasing to You.

Fun in the Playroom

Once upon a time two boys were in our play room "playing." The two boys have a magnificent mommy who thought things were sounding much too quiet so she went to check things out....something told her to bring her camera with her and this is what she found... Addison opened the basement bathroom door and was "cleaning." "Mommy, I clean it..." he tells the Mommy. What a kind brother the Mommy thinks...he is washing his baby brothers hair...who wouldn't love a shampoo and hair wash in the middle of play time? Well Addison decided his "horsie" needed a wash too...so he was suddsing (is that a word?) the saddle... Hmmm...had to find the source of water. Addison was so impressed with himself and pointed the toilet water out to me like a trooper, bragging about his "bubbles" while the hand soap lay on the floor nearby.
Ooohh...sometimes I just have to take a deep breath....ok a lot of time I do that....sometimes I start hyper-ventalating. These boys sure keep their Mommy on her toes. Everyone lived happily ever after after a minor "clean up" from Mom.

The End

Grade 4

Well it has been one week since Aidan started Grade 4. I was really excited to take him to school, it is kind of one of those events I love to do with my kids and get anxious and excited for...kinda like their birthdays, Christmas, etc. I would probably cry if I had to miss his first day of school for some reason. He was even co-operative with my photo taking. I think he is starting to learn that taking photos makes me happy and so he poses for me. As long as he will do it, I will do it. He was pretty pumped to find out he was in Miss McLean's class, he had been saying he wanted her as a teacher since last year.
There were other moms in the classroom with cameras too, and I pointed that out to Aidan just so he wouldn't feel like it was only him who had to go through all of this photo taking.
The pose by the Mountview sign was a little tough for him...as students and parents stood around watched...I said "but we have a photo in front of this sign for every year...it is so cool" (and of course I am thinking of my scrapbook) and he is ready to run...but he doesn't :)

So today I asked him if he wanted me to come and help in his classroom every Friday afternoon (if that worked for the teacher as Wes is off work on Fridays) and he kind of hmmm'ed and haaa'ed about it. Then he says "well it depends what we are doing." Hmm...Wes tried to prepare me for this...saying there might come a point where he doesn't think it is cool to have his mom there...*sigh* Already though? I told him to think about it today and we would talk about it after school.

Sundays

Did you know that I absolutely love Sundays? My day starts off right by attending church and boy does it feel soooo good to worship the Lord and hear more on His word. I wish I could do that every single day...maybe then it wouldn't feel so special...I don't know.



Sundays ususally consist of us getting some sort of take out for lunch (Wendy's today) and then we ate at my parents because we were picking up the little guys. Once home time for the little ones and Mommy to have a little siesta (which always feels so wonderful when I know my husband is listening and attending to the kids). I wake up to Wes playing outside with Aidan and I got Addison ready to get out there and a little hockey game begins. I can see this being a regular occurrence around our house...and as soon as Ash is walking I am sure he will be right in there as well. I love seeing Wes playing with our boys....it brings joy to my heart! He is such a great Dad!

Then we met some friends at the park and the kids played and we kind of had a conversation. Between pushing kids on swings, and changing poopie diapers we did get some opportunities for some adult conversation. I took a few photos...of which I tried to upload but it isn't working for me here...might have something to do with how large the photos are as I am using the new camera now and I think I might have to change something in the picture size setting? I edited some of the photos this evening and want to show you....but I can't...how frustrating! Well my husband is waiting for me upstairs so I should say Bonne Nuit!

P.S. Taking photos makes me happy!!

500 again

Well me and my computer skills and hands that seem too big for this lap top seemed to push the "publish" buttom before I was done. Maybe that is someone else's hand saying "that is enough for one blog...and leave it at that...prayer and the love for my boyz! What an amazing God! Please read below to know what I am talking about.

500

I have celebrated 500 visits to my blog, sometime between 10pm last night and 5pm today. I would say only 340 of them are from me checking to see if someone left me a comment...haha, just kidding. Thought I would celebrate this by letting you in on some things about me:

1. I love "A" names and have wanted all my children's names to start with "A" since Aidan was born.
2. Hence, I have the "A-Team" in Aidan, Addison and Asher.
3. I have baby girls that start with "A" on the tip of my tongue at any given moment.
4. I long for a baby girl.
5. I want to paint little baby nails.
6. I have painted my 2 year old son's toe nails at his request.
7. I want to put "pretties" in a little girls hair.
8. I want to get my little girls ears pierced.
9. I want to use flower embellishments and the color pink on my scrapbook pages.
10. I love my boyz and have a license plate to prove it.
11. I am outnumbered as the only female in the house.
12. I used to think I wanted a female dog to help balance out the genders.
13. I changed my mind when I recently retired from being a dog owner.
14. I used to go to Petland and look at the puppies 2-3 times a week.
15. I once bought a puppy from Petland and named him "Oliver."
16. He hated Wes and Wes hated him.
17. I almost broke up with Wes when we were dating because he couldn't love Oliver like I did.
18. Wes loved Aidan...what more could a single mom ask for?
19. God put Wes in our path.
20. Wes wouldn't give up on me, even though there was a time when I wanted to give up on him.
21. I am so thankful he didn't give up on me.
22. We have been through so much in almost 3 years.
23. Our wedding anniversary is on September 11.
24. We chose that day because that is when Pastors Ken & Neila could marry us and we weren't willing to wait any longer.
25. We were married on a Sunday evening.
26. I love Wes so much.
27. It brings tears to my eyes if I even think of one of my boys dying.
28. I don't fear death.
29. I look forward to meeting Jesus.
30. I love the Lord.
31. I wish everyone loved the Lord.
32. I often wonder why people don't want Him in their lives and don't understand it.
33. I am so excited that Aidan can grow up with the Lord by his side.
34. I sometimes wonder the person I would be today if I had the Lord by my side as I grew up.
35. I am probably the most confident nowadays then any other year in the past.
36. I used to be so shy I couldn't order off a menu at the restaurant as I didn't think I could talk to the server.
37. Now I teach my children to order for themselves and give them the time to do so.
38. I want to empower our children.
39. I pray everyday for guidance to raise great children who turn into wonderful, kind, respectful adults.

Tea Party

Did you know that boys too like tea parties? Well our 2 year old boy does... Here he is at Grandma Barb and Papa Helmut's house drinking "tea" and pouring it into those itty bitty cups. Grandma pulled them out one day and Addison has since asked to have a "tea party" every time we go over there. He ends up spilling water all over the place, including all over himself but he sure has fun doing it! Such fun times over at Grandma's house...

Waterpark Fun!

Big smiles for the birthday boy!

Catching the waves...I actually had fun doing this until my tube tipped and I ended up under the water for a bit...can we say panic attack?

One view of the Waterpark...Wes went on the red slide...

Wes' feet after landing from the purple slide in the photo above...he claims to have lost his trunks in this photo (too bad all we see is feet)

My two older boys...boy I love them!!!

We had a fantastic time at the WEM World Waterpark on Sunday! Wes, Aidan and I went to Edmonton while my parents were ever so generous to watch the 2 little guys for us so we could have some "one to one" time with Aidan. We spent about 5 hours at the park then went and "tried" to do a little shopping in the mall (crazy busy place) which wasn't that fun because of all the masses of people. Aidan was still happy as he bought an Ipod shuffle. Oh and I saw the cutest ever Halloween costumes for the little guys at the Disney Store (I LOVE DISNEY) but Wes talked me out of buying them for $40 each...it really wouldn't have been a "smart" purchase, but it sure would have been cute in the photos (that is how a scrapbookers mind works).



So, back to our water fun...it was fun while it still wasn't too busy. As usual, Wes was the bravest of us all and went down the big red slide...crazy guy! He also taught Aidan an interesting "bum slide on cement" as we were leaving....boy he makes me laugh...still such a kid at 30 years old and our boys just love it!! I just laugh and shake my head but secretly (ok not so secret anymore) love that he has fun like that and respect his loving kiddy heart! Overall it was a great day...ending with a fabulous dinner at Olive Garden (after an 1.5 hour wait mind you) but we had great company as Aidan's Auntie Amanda, Uncle Shawn, UncleColin, and Auntie Jenny joined us to celebrate Aidan's birthday as well.