March

We did some major decluttering in our house this month. No room was ignored. We got rid of so much stuff. It was astonishing how many things we've accumulated over the years. We still have a lot, but the amount was reduced significantly.

I read some James L. Ferrell books. They were amazing. I borrowed them from a friend and definitely plan to get my own copies at some point. I learned so much from them and would highly recommend them.

My Relay for Life team reached its goal this month, which was really exciting. I reached over double of my initial personal goal. I'm really looking forward to taking part in this in May.

John and I took the boys to the Telus World of Science for a day. They had a blast. We checked out the Angry Birds exhibit. Ty and Brettley had fun in Discoveryland and Caleb enjoyed the Robotics Lab. It was a fun family day.

I'm pretty sure that was where Brettley picked up his croup from. All 3 boys ended up with it, but Brettley's came first and was the worst by far. He had to miss several swimming lessons because of it.

We took the boys to go see the temple. We love being there and feeling the spirit just walking on the grounds. That was where I'd told John that I knew I was supposed to marry him. The boys really enjoyed hearing that story during our trip.

I started watching hockey, which has prompted a lot of texting between my step-dad and I. A few days ago our team, the Edmonton Oilers, clinched a spot in the playoffs. This will be their first time in the playoffs since I was pregnant with Caleb, when we went for the Stanley Cup, so we're super excited.

The boys finished school this month! They worked so hard and finished their curriculum early last week. They still have some things we plan on having them work on over the summer, a bit of extra work to strengthen their weaker areas, but they are technically done their 2016-2017 school year and finished before Edmonton Public kids even went of spring break. I also put their portfolios for the year together and they are ready for the facilitator visit next week.

 Yesterday was my late father-in-law's birthday. We had our annual tradition of having some sort of cake to celebrate. This year was cheesecake.

The boys also finished their swimming lessons yesterday. Caleb was the only one who passed, so he'll move up to Swim Kids 4. Ty just has to work on his distance. Brettley, well, we knew going in that he would take a few different rounds of lessons to pass. Swimming coordination is not his forte. They had so much fun, though, which is great!

Well, that's about it for this month, I think.

February Pt 2

The boys and I spent my dad's birthday with him. We did a bit of school first, they played outside and a few games of chess were played. My dad thanked us a few times for spending the day with him. I'm so glad we were able to make that happen (gotta love home school).

I registered to do Relay for Life in May in my home town. I'll be walking in memory of my late father-in-law, who passed away 5 years ago (this month) from pancreatic cancer. I will also be walking in celebration of my mother who is a thyroid cancer survivor. One my my fundraisers is people buying votes to see what colour I have to do my hair in. The amount I raised for that determines how long I have to keep the colour for. The colour currently in the lead is teal.

Brettley had his post-op appointment and gets to stay glasses free for the next 3 months. We'll see from there what he needs.

We went down to southern AB to visit John's family and be there for our nephew's mission report in church. He just spent 2 years serving in the Arizona Mesa Mission. We loved being down there with his family. I didn't have a single anxiety attack while we were down there, it was the most refreshing feeling. We came back with an extra body. My niece stayed up here with us for a week. I was so happy having her here. She's great! We introduced her to Dungeons & Dragons and bought her first set of gaming dice for her, ha ha.

Caleb and I have started decluttering our house big time. We're about half way done. We have several bags and boxes of things to give away or sell and have thrown out about two dozen bags of garbage. It amazes me how much junk we've accumulated over the past (almost 6) years in this particular home. I'm looking forward to having less things to worry about cleaning :)

Well, that's about all that I have to talk about right now. Hope your March is going well so far!