Update. . . .

Wow, it is wensday already. Why do these weeks keep flying by faster and faster? First of all, while uploading Aidan's birthday pics, I realized I took these of the kids last week, trying to practise on my growing photography skills. Taking pictures is something I really, really love doing lately. Really only ever since I got my fancy new camera. (and am already eyeing an even better one! LOL!) My kids rarely ever sit nice together and was surprised they did for ONE shot! That was all the time Liam had in him. Cass on the other hand is my little poser.

Aidan's birthday started out with opening a few presents. Cassidy bought him a wooden vintage car which he loved and he also got a new big boy bible. He loves listening to bible stories and Noah's ark is a big favorite right now.

We were then off to Church were Aidan had special birthday treatment in sunday school. That afternoon Uncle Tony came over early and gave Aidan a nerf gun shooter thing. This thing is quite scary and the kids had a blast with it, I think Daddy liked this one the best too!

The rest of the family arrived and we had a fun evening together.

Cake time!!!!

Pinata time!!!

Pin the number on Lightening McQueen game!

Aidan got spoiled as usual. One of his favorties is his remote control car from Juile and Ashton.

Showing off his new race track.

Also, in other Keown news, I had to share that Liam's vocabulary is finally growing. He does have an appointment to have his speech assesed still but I already see an improvement. The funniest thing he is saying is "Cass" but it sounds just like "ass". SO CUTE!! and we laugh and he says it over and over again.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AIDAN!

Five years ago today I was about 35+ weeks pregnant, I had been in the hospital since the night before with early labor. You see, I had a very eventful pregnancy and even when pregnant, Aidan seemed to cauze trouble! (and this has not changed) I had been in the hospital a few weeks previous for a week with early labor and put on bed rest. Anyways, that night on January 13 they were hoping to send me home in the morning and stop it but my water broke in the night and I started bleeding. They gave me drugs to speed up the labor but i didn't progress fast enough and they were concered that I had placenta previa so they did an emergency c-section at 6:50 pm. That is when Aidan was born, weighing in at 5 pounds 14 3/4 ounces. I remember i stayed awake enough for them to say it was a boy and then they knocked me out because my epidural had fallen out and I could feel the staples. Recover was terrible and I was in alot of pain but I survived and went on to have two more, which were a piece of cake compared to this.
Aidan was small and premature. He spent a week in the hospital because he wasn't feeding properly and gaining weight as well as very jaundice. It was a very long week and finally we were able to come home.
I remember coming home from the hospital and feeling as though I was stealing him from all the nurses who seemed to take care of him. I wasn't sure how I was going to do it but we managed. He was a fairly good baby, (not as good as my other two) but pretty average.
Today Aidan is an energetic five year old that defiantly keeps us on our toes. He loves cars, especially old vintage ones, trucks, tractors, really anything with wheels. He also loves school and is a social butterfly. He is not shy at all and loves being with people. Aidan means 'Fiery' and that describes his personality to the tee! Aidan loves to push all my buttons and test his limits. I guess it all comes with his age. lets just say I am terribly excited to have him start kindergarten!
Aidan also loves being a big brother. Although many hours of the day are filled with fighting with his siblings, there are those few precious moments where they are playing so well together that you just want to bottle that time and cherish.
Happy Birthday Aidan!!
Enjoy the small slideshow of just a few of the pics we have taken over the years.



Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

On one last note, Aidan must give up his blanket today. For those of you who know him well, he has had a blanket (named 'bugs') that he has had since he was a baby. There is a picture of him lyeing on it in the slide show as a baby. We have warned him for a while now so we will see how it goes.

Here is a preview of his birthday cake. I am not too impressed with this one. It seems red icing is as impossible to achieve as red paint on a wall. After two jars of red food coloring, this is what I got. Oh well, Aidan still loves it! I will make another one for his school party on tuesday and we will see if I can find something that works better.

Here is take #2 on the cake. This one is for his school party. I went and bought premade red icing. Why didn't I think of that before???

Videos

Just a couple videos I took the other day. Liam is trying to sing 'twinkle twinkle' he has the tune right, that is about it.

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

Back to regular schedule

I have blogged recently but am having trouble with blogger. I keep losing things and I keep having to redo stuff. Hopefully this will be up to stay.

January is here. I always hate January. It is cold, snowy and we all have holiday withdrawl. I always say if we can get through January then we are in the home stretch to spring!! Thankgoodness we have been very blessed with super mild weather here lately. But today it is back to -17 degrees celcius! (-25 with the wind chill)

We are pretty much back to normal schedule here. Aidan starts school tomorow morning.

Steve's job has not changed yet. I am beyond frustration. I am too a point of expecting nothing is going to happen. But. . . supposibly, it will. If his job didn't pay so well, I would have said enough already. They are still working out the new positions and he will have a 9-5 job. Monday to friday. This is what we originally wanted I just wish sometimes prayers aren't answered in such a complex way. Originally when we thought he would be on early mornings, we were a little stressed over the vehicle thing. We only have one right now and I need it for Aidan's school. Buses don't run that early in the morning so we were praying that would all get sorted out. So our prayers were answered in that regard since he will not have that shift anymore.

9-5 job would be perfect in many ways. So we will wait some more I guess. I think this is a true lesson of patience on my behalf. Really, a year ago he was a temporary worker with no guaranteed hours and now he is permanent full time supervisor. We would have never imagined him to climb the ladder at Canada post so fast.

Aidan's birthday is this weekend. Steve has taken sunday off to celebrate since we originally thought he would not be working. Steve also has two weeks off in February of vacation that he has to burn up.

Yesterday, I noticed that I had not taken any pictures for a couple days. Mainly because my batteries were dead and I hadn't gotten around to charging them. So i quickly snapped some new pics to post.

2006

When I look back this past year, i honestly wonder where the time went. We have done more in this past year then we usually do which made it fly by extra fast.

The first week of January, are house was filled with a wonderful gift from the kids cousin. CHICKEN POX! The kids were covered from head to toe but survived!
Januray was the first full month of our house being on the market. Very frustrating having people through it everyday and crappy offers. Brandon has a tough market (unlike Winnipeg) and you need patience and time which we did not have.
This month also marked Aidan's 4th birthday. We celebrated by having a big pool party at a local hotel.

Steve was not working at this time as he was still on paternity leave.
February marked my 25 birthday (although I am sure I am at least 35!) and we ended up taking our house off the market after two months. We instead decided to rent it out and keep it as an investment property.

March rolled around and we were packing like mad! Steve was moving to Winnipeg to live at his sister and brotherinlaws place while I stayed put till the end of March. We had renters lined up to move into our house on April 1st but we had yet a place lined up in the city. Steve was part time working in the Canada post downtown plant.
We started serious house hunting but felt very intimadated by the bidding wars. We had made three different house offers and finally found a place. The place we did buy we bought UNDER market price because it needed ALOT of help. We decided because the place needed so much work we would rent for two months while we worked on the house.

April came and went, we moved into our townhouse in Windsor Park and May 1st we got the keys to the new house.

May was spent working hard on the house. Ripping it apart and putting it back together. Steve also started full time nights. It was a hard long month as we spent every spare moment working at the house.



May 26 marked Liam's 1st birthday. We were able be in our new house and had a party there to celebrate.

Summer came (and went just as fast!) We bought an older tent trailer and made good use of it taking some trips up to Falcon Lake and St.Malo. We also spent lots of times at the paddle pools, the beach, tinkertown and across the street at the park.


August, we took off for a couple days to Edmonton. The kids had a blast at the hotel and at the West Edmonton mall. It was a quick trip but alot of fun and they still talk about it.
August also brought a new position on for Steve at work. He became a supervisor in UTS (urban transportation service) at the Canada post plant. This job was a change from the 'monkey' job that he had but a good challenge and he enjoys it.

September brought Cassidy's 3rd birthday! Hard to believe she is three already. We had a small party here in Winnipeg and then went out for another party in Brandon. She was defiantly spoiled with two Sleeping beauty cakes and lots of presents.
September was also the start of a new school for Aidan. He started at Springs Christian Academy preschool and loves it. He goes every tuesday and thursday morning.
Fall was uneventful. We stayed close to home and started getting the house ready for Christmas. The start of December, my sister Jamie and her family were able to come from BC so we could meet our new precious niece Keziah. We had a great family gathering together and early Christmas. It was also the same time my Aunt died very suddenly and went home to be with Jesus. It was nice that my entire family was home and able to attend the funeral.

Christmas was a little less stressful this year. We didn't have to travel anywhere since we had Steves side of the family gathering at our place.
The new year has come and we are thankful for the way God has orchasetrated the move to Winnipeg. How he has found us a great church close by and a place to live. As most of you know, I hated this house for a long time but am learning to enjoy the work we have done. We are also thankful for the way God has moved Steve up the ladder at Canada post very quickly and still continue to pray that this whole new position thing will get sorted out. We are thankful that we are finally adjusting to the city. A year ago I would have never imagined driving downtown and now I do it almost everyday without even thinking about it.
Although our kids can drive us crazy, we thank God for them and are blessed God choose them as ours.

We look forward to what God has in store for us in 2007. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

SNOWED IN!!

Literally!! We just got over 20 centimeters of snowed dropped on us in the last 12 hours. So insane!! Last night at supper time, I left to drive to pick up Steve. The roads were terrible and I was being cautious. As i got off the disreali overpass and turned left on main street, i fishtailed and ended up doing a complete 360. Yes, during rush hour traffic. Thankgoodness for a red light holding up the oncoming traffic. I ended up in the same position and continued driving. The kids were all asleep soundly in the back and didn't remember a thing. I then made Steve drive home. I hate driving in Winnipeg in winter!!
So this morning Steve was late for work because he had to dig his way out. He shoveled himself out of the entire back lane but he made it. As you can see from this picture. I can not open my front door.


And this is out the back door. Crazy!! It is supposed to be very very mild this week so I am sure we will lose alot of it.

Christmas is over!

I am so glad the holidays are over and I can take my decorations down and get my house back to normal. We had a good holiday so far. Since we celebrated my side of the family at the start of the month, there wasn't as much going on which was nice.
Christmas Eve, Steve only worked till 4 and then we went to the Christmas Eve service at the church. They had a live nativity scene and had a really neat service. It was just good going to church all together again.
Christmas eve night Cassidy ended up throwing up all night which gave us all a rotten sleep and we were pretty tired on monday morning. But she was over it in the morning. I think she just had too many sweets the night before. We opened all our gifts that morning and the kids enjoyed the morning by playing with all there treasures.

Aidan's train table


Cassidys dream house (if you look at the front of the house, there are windows and a door painted on)


Liam's little people



We then hosted the Christmas celebration with steve's side of the family on Christmas day. It was hectic but we all survived and the kids had alot of fun. We opened more gifts and ate more food and had good fellowship.

Liam enjoying their new aquadoodle

The kids in there new outfits from Grandma and Grandpa that they got in China town on there Montreal trip. Cassidy would not take hers off.




Now for other news, Steve's job is now up in the air again. Last week, he got some news that his they made a mix up with the new shifts and hiring so everyone had to bid on shifts again. We were pretty frustrated and upset but since he is now permanent, he knows the worst position he will get will be mon-fri 11am - 7 pm. I am not crazy about this shift.
But then, things changed again and he may get an even better one, which we hope to know by friday.

Merry Christmas, from our house to yours!

make sure your sound is on!

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

Aidan's Christmas Concert

Last night, Aidan had his very first School Christmas Program. He was so excited and has been waiting for this for weeks now. This was the first time we have ever been to the Springs Christian Acadamy School Christmas Concert and I must say they go all out and do an amazing job. The concert was alot fancier then I remember any of my school concerts being.

Aidan and his class started out the evening with a wonderful randition of Drummer Boy and Jungle bells. Aidan was more interested in watching the big screens behind him that they are all on rather then singing. I didn't bring my camera cauze we brought the video camera to tape instead.

The kids got all dressed up for the event. Here is the one of very few pictures they actually all sat still for me.

Princess Pictures

I took a whole load of pictures of Cassidy yesterday in her Christmas dress.

My big boy

So all this talk about other people and keeping there kids in there beds made me decide not to procrastinate and move Liam into his big boy bed. I knew we could really use the space in his bedroom, since the boys have bunkbeds. So, this morning I took down his crib and set up one of those crib bar things on the bottom bunk bed. I put him in there about 1/2 an hour ago for his nap. He cried a bit, but soon was fast asleep. Because this bar was so big, I think he doesn't realize he can get out. Hopefully this means bed transition will be as easy as the other kids. Does anyone know of anyone in need of a good crib?? I am EXCITED to get rid of it!

Christmas is fast approaching, as you can see from my ticker above! I have been done shopping for a long time now but we are still working on Cassidy's gift. You see, Cassidy has been eyeing the barbie house in the Sears wish book but I figured by the time I furnished it and bought it, it would cost a fortune. so. . . I got an amazing deal from a lady here in Winnipeg. She sold me a gigantic homemade barbie house, complete with furniture and 3 suitcases of barbies and clothes, barbie jeep, barbie horses etc. . . All for a cheap price. The only thing is the house needs some remodeling. Just some repainting and new flooring which worked out great because we have lots of stuff leftover from remodeling our house. So Steve installed laminate in the living room, linoleum in the bathroom and carpet in the bedrooms. Yesterday, I painted the rooms. Now the plan is for Steve to cut doorways into the rooms and build some little stairs going up. And then we have to figure out how to get this giant, heavy piece of furniture upstairs!! LOL! When we are all done I will post some pics to share our masterpiece!

As for other news, Liam recieved his first hair buzz the other day. Steve usually does it but I did it this time. He liked the vibrating feeling on his head and sat great the whole time.

Steve is counting down the weekends. Two more after this one and he is a free man on weekends and evenings. I dread the weekends and try to keep us busy as much as possible. I even took the kids shopping yesterday (on a saturday in December,) yes, I am crazy! I can't really do play dates with people because they all have husbands home at this time. So that is very frustrating! Today, we went to Mcdonalds play land for a long lunch. The kids enjoyed playing with the other kids there. Liam is rather frustrated because he is a little too young to play in them yet.

That is about all for news around here, I hope to do a photo shoot with the kids in the next while when I get the time.

my new addiction. . . .

So as you can see I finally changed my siggy at the top of this page. I was getting rather sick of them but didn't have the time to make one. As well, I never knew how to make one until now. Those siggys (the animated slideshow picture things) were made by a friend from my message board.
Since I knew I was fully capable of doing it myself. I spent the last few days figureing out how to do it and I finally made my first one, the blue snowflake one! Yes, my computer almost went out of the window a couple times but I did it. I then went a little more difficult with the one on top.
For those who are wondering. I get all my clip art from online. freedigitalscrapbooking is an example of website that offers free downloads. But if you search free digital scrapbooking, you get tons of pages. You need the program Adobe Photoshop to make the pages and then you need Adobe imageready to make them animate. Now, if you don't have either of these programs, if you go here, you can download a 30 day free trial! (but if you want to keep it, you have to shell out big bucks!!)
This is SO much fun! And highly addictive. And FREE! (that is if you already own the expensive software)
If anyone is interested in some step by step instructions for making there very own siggy, I can email you a great tuturiol a friend sent me.