The sure sign of spring

 It's that time of year again!

 Every year that we have homeschooled we have watched caterpillars turn into butterflies.  We used to have a big release party - with sandwiches cut in the shape of butterflies, cookies, or butterfly themed cupcakes....all sorts of fun stuff, but now we are usually just so ready to get rid of them that we just let them out!  You have to wait for a warm sunny day and that is not always a given at the end of May or beginning of June in Saskatchewan apparently!

We still love it regardless!

We are still working on...

Destination Ireland!
I haven't forgotten!
We also had to deal with red eyes last week (that were viral, not bacterial) and then someone lost their lunch (actually I think it was mostly marshmallows that had been snuck out of the baking drawer) on the way to mid-week clubs.  And on top of that, I just wouldn't get better.  I can't tell you how many nights I was up all night coughing and hacking - so many in fact that I can't count that high on that little sleep!  I think I am mostly past it now.  And there is only one more person in our house with red eyes (but these are bacterial, not viral) so we are on our way to health around here!  yay!

We also had two guests with us two days in the past week.  My niece and nephew were also sick and of course can't be at daycare so they came to hang out with us.  We had a fun time with that.  Yesterday we made cute monkey masks after reading Caps for Sale and then we were going to make monkey cookies, but we got some other company.

So I will post more pics, but this is what I took last week.

We learned where in the world Ireland is.  We learned about the Giant's causeway and we watched videos of the land and area of Ireland.  Kind of amazing actually.  We also talked about a certain pony and will learn one vocabulary word a day (or each day that we work on it).

Do you know I always take longer than it says it is supposed to take? I don't know if we are slow or if we talk about stuff too much and have too much discussion, but I can't do units like this in the one week it is supposed to take.  Well, I could, but the rest of their regular subjects, Math, Bible and Language Arts, would all have to be put on hold - OR we would have to work through the whole afternoon too, and really then the baby would just entirely destroy the house, so that won't work.  So we will take two weeks or so to complete it.  And I am fine with that!  I never used to be, but now I realize it is just a tool - not my master!

So there you go, I will post more pics later and especially of the finished lapbook!

Have a good day!

really behind, but still want to show these pictures!

 We also had a first birthday in our house this summer....

 Yes, I copped out and bought a cake.  I guess the reason is that we were barely home from our journey when it was her birthday, and the laundry alone from a vacation is daunting!  But she didn't seem to care.  The real downside to buying a cake is that it was vanilla, so you can't really see how much of a mess she made all over her face.

But a mess was made, cake was had and we have a 1 year old!

 What is that that my daughter and husband are holding??  Have you seen it before?  Can you tell by the first glimpse what it is?
I am a sucker for world records, the world's largest, the worlds longest, etc.  I would love to see the world's largest frying pan...don't ask me why, I just would!  We stopped on the second lap of our summer journey quickly to see the World's Largest Ukranian Easter Egg!!

 Pretty big, heh??

 Yes, all my kids had to have a picture where I tried to make it look like they were holding it up...I know, not even slightly original, but remember....I have never been anywhere, so whenever I go somewhere I don't mind taking typical tourist shots!

 What I didn't know is that there would be this awesome caboose there...really neat actually!

 We crawled all through it, and being a typical mom I read aloud all the historical info on the posters inside...I think I even took pictures of the writing, but will not bore you with it!

Wow, that girl is super strong!

The rest of the rest of summer...

So the rest of the rest of summer included some excitement for us!
We came home from Cypress Hills on Friday, started the laundry and went to the wedding on Saturday, changing laundry each time it was possible.  Then we packed up and after church on Sunday headed straight to Edmonton.
Here is what we saw...

We headed to Edmonton and took a day at the mall - let's not really talk about it too much, because it was kind of a bust.  Do you have any idea how much it is to go to the water park??  Like, I don't think so!
I was flabbergasted!  I know, I know, if we didn't have 5 kids it wouldn't be so bad.  But WE DO have 5 kids, so it is terrible.  I mean seriously, you can practically get into Disneyland for the price of admission to the pool...I refused!  So we watched the Seal show - it was fun...they are crazy!  Then we wandered for a while, got separated, got stressed finding a bathroom that was open...had a snack and left.  Not really the time that we had hoped for, but whatever.  We weren't really in Edmonton to go to the mall...we were there for our little Dash to have a procedure to correct her Supra Ventricular Tachycardia.  It all kind of happened faster than we had expected, and we found ourselves with less than 2 weeks notice for her procedure date.  We were able to get it all arranged and so we headed there to the Stollery Children's Hospital to have it done.

 Here we are just getting there.  I don't know what the deal is, we were EXACTLY on time, but it was all so rushed as if we were late, which let me tell you (as one who is late often) we were NOT!!  So they rushed her into her little gown here, and then I snapped this one....Norman Rockwell or what...

 Teeheehee!

And we took her downstairs for the procedure.  Here we are trying to distract her a bit with this book.  She was doing awesome with the whole idea while we were getting there, even up to the day of the drive.  But then once we were there at the hospital, and by this point, there were so many nurses and doctors coming and talking to her, she was getting a little overwhelmed.  Luckily it was time, and the doctors were pretty good at reassuring us, so we didn't cause her extra stress.  What a weird scenario though.  To take your 4 year old to have a procedure done on her heart while never having met the doctor before.  Strange I tell you!  This province needs a children's hospital already!
So anyway, she was in surgery for 3 and a half hours.  I have to admit the first half an hour was very hard for me.  I could barely talk, I felt like I would throw up if I even said anything, and it was all a little surreal.  I was just waiting for the gift shop to open so we could buy her a stuffie.  So finally, once it did I was able to find some stuff I loved, and then I felt a little less trepidation.  So then we went upstairs to have a bit of a bite to eat, and just as I felt like I was going to jump OUT of my skin if the pager didn't go off, it did go off and we were able to go back to the ward to see her wake up.  The first few minutes in there were a little scary for me as well, because it seems like she was really sleeping!  I would post the picture of her that I first took, but it is on my phone and I haven't figured out how to get it off.
Once she was awake they took her down to pediatrics and then she stayed overnight.  Originally she wasn't supposed to stay overnight, but because the auxillary pathway was on the left side of the heart, and because we were from out of town and even where we were staying was an hour from the hospital, they had her stay. But check this out....

Just so you know, I have never, and I mean NEVER, even when she was sleeping, seen her heart rate below 120.  Seriously.  Never!  Here it was at 101 - her normal was between 120-140 - unbelievable to me!  I am so happy about the whole thing! So now we are 2 months since the procedure, and so far so good. She has been off medication since 3 days before and she is doing great.  That time in the hospital was hilarious.  She had to lay on her back for 3 hours before she could sit up and so after a bit we propped her up a bit to have some juice.  So the plan was to give her juice and if she kept it down, give her some fruit, and if she kept it down she could have some toast, and if she kept it down...well you get the drill....so anyway, she did great!  She was SO hungry and she drank and drank and then ate and ate, but she couldn't get over the fact that she was allowed to eat IN BED!!!  And that she had a TV in her room and could watch TV in bed.  It was hilarious!

She did great, but really came back to life when her sisters came to see her.  She was so glad to see them, and it was one of those moments, because they all piled on her bed to play cards, and it was almost as if she, even at only 4 years old, sighed a sigh of relief and all was right in the world again.  I loved it, it really touched me!  

It was all so amazing.  I had asked my awesome cousin, you know the one in the post about Calgary, if she could come watch the rest of our kids in Edmonton whenever the hospital phoned with a date and she said, sure thing.  So then when they actually did call I had to phone her quick and she was going to Edmonton the weekend before anyway, so she just stayed extra days!!  She also made all the arrangements for us to stay at her parent's, my aunt and uncles and that was awesome.  They have the humongous house outside of Edmonton on a few acres, so we were able to stay there and everyone had a room of their own except Amelia and Abbey still shared - but seriously...where can you take a family of 7 and have them be accommodated so well?  It was such a blessing!  Then the other thing that worked out kind of well is that the weather was all rainy.  Which might sound like a bad thing, but if you have ever tried to keep Dash from running around with that much space, you would know that rain was exactly what we needed - because after the procedure she wasn't allowed to run around for a couple of days.  We had the most fun, my kids absolutely LOVED my aunt and uncle, they can hardly wait to see them at the wedding in a couple of weeks and we had a great time.  AND the icing on the cake is that it seems, that as far as we can tell, the procedure was effective, and it seems that we might be done with SVT forever!  Yay!

more summer fun

So now for some more summer pics.  While we were in Cypress Hills we visited Fort Walsh.  We had so much fun!

 When we first got there, the girls were given booklets that had assignments to complete a self-guided tour of Fort Walsh.  They were supposed to follow directions to find themselves some red coats to dress as Northwest Mounted Police recruits, then they went on to                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

 the supervisor's "residence" to make themselves pillbox hats and complete a map of the Fort.

 After they were done this, we were on our way to the next mission and we came across an interpreter, who took charge of our "recruits" and encouraged us to catch up to the tour, he would run them through the paces of being a Northwest Mounted Police officer.
So we carried on to the next stop on the tour, which I can't remember what the guys title would have been, but it was the home and office of the highest ranking man on the Fort.  His home was furnished with fine things, and there was a bed in the back for his servant!  Weird, heh??

 Okay, so this is so cool - up there is a bottle wrapped in paper that is a Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce bottle, and in the previous building there was an empty one, an actual artifact, and the name of the only Worcestershire sauce I have ever bought is STILL Lea & Perrins, cool, heh???

 Here another tourist from the tour and I were "arrested" by the new Mountie recruits and put on trial in the courthouse.  My name was Bill something or other and I was charged as a repeat offender of Possession of Intoxicating Drink.  LOL!!  I had a card to read with my responses, and apparently the names, crimes, verdicts and sentences are all true historical facts - although the middle dialogue was speculated. (Just in case you are wondering I was found guilty and sentenced to 3 months of hard labour in the guard house or a $200 fine- Pretty steep for 1875 if you ask me!)

Here are the recruits after being 'sworn in' as Mounties with their commanding officer.  It was such a fun trip, totally made me interested in Canadian History all over again!