Life at Oak Grove

My friend Heidi at Reviews By Heidi is having a contest to win a copy of For Parents Only by Shaunti Feldhahn.  You might have heard of her previous books; For Men Only and For Women Only...

To participate you just have to leave a comment on her blog...  You can access the specific page of the contest here....

Blessings!

Well...  Three more weeks to go - three weeks where I sure hope I can sleep well at night.   Right now, there is only one side I am comfortable and after a while my leg hurt.  So I switch sides and since the baby is mostly on that side it hurts even more so back on the original side...  ARG!   Back is out of question obviously...

I do have a body pillow... but somehow it is not doing the comfy part this time.   So I take the sleep I have and pray that I will go through my day - homeschooling included!

Another issue we have is figuring out what to do for when my mom will come down.   We lost our guest room since Jérémy is in there...  So we thought to put the three boys together but I am wondering if this is wise...   We need to go borrow a single bed at my in-laws - Alexandre will sleep on this one directly on the floor and mom will take his bed.   Dominic's bed we can move easily...

Talking of bed - I was away for the week-end at a leadership training with a bunch of other women from my church.   My dear husband decided to vacuum under our bed which means removing the mattress than the splitted boxspring.   Problem is the footboard broke.  Oh he fixed it all right but now we need to glue some wood and color it...   I guess there was not enough screws holding it!   Oh well... It is just furniture after all...

Jérémy is turning two today!  

A two year old who likes to follow his big brother.   A sweet little boy who is our little birdy since he makes his nest when he goes to bed.   A gentle little boy who takes cares of the baby dolls at Sunday School.

He is growing so fast.   He is a little sponge trying to learn a lot.   He likes to repeat after us and to makes us laugh...

I love you my son and I pray that God will guide you all your life.

This morning, I'm up early somehow... 530am.

I go downstairs and see white through the windows of the main door.   But I am unsure if it is really white or not.

So I get in my office and look through the windows.   What do I see?   A picture from God - literally.

In front of my house there is a small tree which is in the same family as a lilac tree.   There is snow everywhere (first snow!) and beside the tree a wild rabbit just sitting there.   Oh I wish I was equipped to take a picture of this magnificient picture.   It's still dark outside... but the settings is just perfect!

I thank the creator for this postcard just for me...  I can't wait to tell my husband about it!

Like I mentioned earlier I went to the Toy Warehouse Sale in my city.  A first here!!!  Here's the deals I've found...

- Graco Travel System for 155$

- Narnia book for 10$ an edition that would have cost 40$ when it came out a year ago...

- DK readers books 10 books for 10$   I got the level 1 and level 2

- Mr Dressup activity books 1$ each

- Rescue Heroes books 1$ each

- Giant puzzle

- 3D paper construction  looks fun to do for 3$

- Another DK book about Explorers for less than 5$

As you can see, there was good deals... Lots of things for little girls too!   but since there is no niece in the family yet...

I am glad and hope that this sale will be back next year.   I was able to get something for one of my nephew.   Then we went to ToysRUs and found something else for another nephew...  Now I just have to covered one other nephew (hey what can I say only boys in the family) and I will be done for the boys...

Only thing left is husband (birthday and Christmas), my mom and my in-laws...

We have this new warehouse sale in my city until the end of the month.  So this morning, I am going with my in-laws and hope to be able to finish my christmas shopping for my nephews and a little bit of stocking for my own kids.

I've heard good things about the sale.   Many friends and told me to go...   I already planned to go but was waiting for our monthly payroll to drive there.

For example, they have the Narnia books in a signature edition for 10$ instead of 44$ (canadian that is).  Still I think it is a good price.  There is a few things I want to check out... but I saw the ad on TV the other night and it is HUGE!

So to be honest I don't know what to expect.   I might be surprised...  We shall see!

This morning, I am joining my husband to the last half-day of the church planting conference Imagine.   Hubby has been involved in putting this conference together for months.  It started last Wednesday and finishes today.   I couldn't go the last two days because I didn't find a babysitter, besides there was gymnastics on Wednesday and my OB appointment yesterday.

But looks like I missed some good talks about church planting.  Oh well...   At least I was able to do school a bit... on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Made Alexandre watch his lesson 12 of MathUSee last night and he will bring his book to do at grand-maman today.   I added a few little things for him just in case.   Hard to ask my mother-in-law to do school really but he could do things by himself.

His reading has improved a lot which is exciting to be honest.  Now he takes books and read to his little brothers.  Fun!  It saves my own voice (ha ha ha).   I do continue to do read aloud though as they loves to snuggle next to me and listen.

Tomorrow, I am going to a Toy Warehouse Sale with my in-laws (NO KIDS!).   I am hoping to find gifts for my nephews and a little a stocking for my own kids.

Boy am I a mess this morning.   Woke up in the middle of the night because it hurt just to breath...  I had to sleep with two pillows on top of each other to be able to breath properly!   This morning I feel as though I have sand paper in my throat and bronchos...  

I really hope that the medication will kick in fast.  I will try very hard not to speak too much...   hard to do when you homeschool no?   So it might be Math U See, Rosetta Stone and Typing Tutor this morning.  

The sinuses are painful too!  Why in the world do I get everything worse than anyone???  

The way my breathing is I can understand the trouble Jérémy had last week.  Poor kid!  If it was like I am this morning... I can see why his coughing made his bleed a bit.

Will drink a lot today and take some honey...  Might be good for the throat!

After three kids and the husband it is now my turn to be sick... bronchitis and sinusitis...  GREAT!

But there is a scripture that says in everything we need to be thankful... so here's what I am thankful for:

- that even though I waited two hours at the hospital to get checked it took less than 5 minutes to get the prescription!

- that I wasn't sick for the event on Friday... it would have been a bummer to miss it!

- that it is nothing in fact to have bronchitis and sinusitis... it could be worse!

- that it wasn't pneumonia....

- that I am able to determine right away when it is bronchitis... Good thing I know myself!

- that I had my Old Schoolhouse magazine with me to kill the time while waiting!

- that my husband volunteered to go get my prescription - wht a sweetheart!

- that I could drive to go to the hospital and not walk for hours...

- that we are free in my country (after all it is rememberance day!)

- that my kids are obedient when it is bedtime... like right now!

- that I have a roof over my head and that even though I have some discomfort during the night I have a bed... a real bed!

- that I have children to greet me when I get back home!   Oh the joy to hear your joy when they see me!

Yes even though I am sick, I am thankful....

Good morning...

Tonight we are having our first event.  So please pray for this.  We did some advertizing - on the christian radio in town, on a secular radio (a university one) and some posters at the dorms of a university.   We don't know what to expect.    A group from the National House of Prayer will be there to pray during the event.   A youth group from Maniwaki will show up...   Many seems excited about it... which is cool.

However, there is sickness in the team.  We go hit pretty bad during the last week or so.   Us as a family but others too!   Last night Rob wasn't feeling much and I was a bit depressed.... and stressed for the two of us.  This morning I feel dizzy...

Check out our website H.E.A.T. Worship House.

Obviously it won't be attractive to many people but we are trying to reach a specific group.   We got comments on our facebook page about not doing this for a broader group of the population.  

We got told that where we live, it is harder to start something new than any other city in Canada for some reasons. 

So please pray that everything goes well tonight.   We are excited but a bit nervous about it.

Homeschooling is better this week.   Got a lot done last week.   Alexandre is better than me at typing...   Should I start doing Typing Tutor as well???   Mmmm!  Something to consider!

Jérémy's croup turned into bronchitis.  The poor little one had some rough nights...  Now he is on medication and he has a pump to help him breath.   Need to keep track of this.    So I made little sqares on the calendar to make sure I am not missing a treatment.   When done I checked the sqare off.   Medication is 3 times a day - pump twice a day.   OUF!

Last swimming course was last night.   I was disappointed because my kids didn't pass...  But with the problems we had with Dominic I shouldn't be surprised.   Alexandre however missed only a few things...  Bummer.   So we need to practice his crawl and his back swimming.  Then he will pass.   But it was his first time with swimmer 2 which is harder than what he used to do.  Besides he was the youngest one in the class from what I could see.

So we still have gymnastics for a few weeks...   Now I need to decide what we will do for January.  Husband thinks we should postpone until Spring but I would really like for them to do something in the phys ed department.   So I need to see my options...   But deep down it might not be wise with the c-section planned for Dec 19th.

Today I will homeschool again and do some referee work if needed between my young ones... Oh the joy of staying at home with your kids...

... bookkeeping it is... This week-end was mostly spent doing the year-end stuff for the business.   Not my forte but it has to be done.   I don't particularly enjoy it... no wonder I switched from accounting to information technology when I was in University.  To top it off, I found some errors in the quarter payments... which means I need to adjust for this year.   Not impressed with myself whatsoever!

But it is done!   FINALLY...  A bit late this year I must be honest with myself.   I really need to organize myself and not procrastinate.   But with 3 kids and homeschooling... plus being pregnant I had little energy when afternoons came.   So I had to find a time where hubby would take care of the kids and I doing the accounting.

Not easy when you know your little one - that's Jérémy - is having a bad case of croup...  Since Thursday night... poor kid.   Wakes him up in the middle of the night but he doesn't cry - just cough.  Barking sound is almost all gone... but still I feel for him.

I also organized my files for the bookkeeping for 2007-2008.   Now I just have to keep up-to-date and organized the tons of paperwork to file in the filing cabinet.   PWEEH!   A never ending job it seems...

Well, I should go... The kids will be up any time soon and I need a shower!

Trick or Treat.  Smell my feet.  Give me something good to eat.   Not too big.  Not too small.  Just the size of Montreal.

Yes.  This is the little things my kids were saying while walking the roads last nigt!

 Aren't they cute?

Make your own slide shows and scrapbooks

You must be wondering what the heck I am talking about in my title...

Last night - Halloween...  Warm night to be honest...  Surprising!  We walked a few streets, the kids went to bed later than usual...  I walked with them since Daddy wasn't feeling so hot himself.   Result?   My back is killing me this morning with a tiny bit of sciatic pain going down one side.    I didn't sleep much somehow - too much exercices maybe?   Anyhow, I was awake at 430am and then decided to get up at 530am...  Couldn't sleep so go up...  Should have stayed down though.   I'm a grump...

This morning I had an appointment with OB.   Dear doctor moved his practice so it took us about 45 minutes to get there... while usually is was 30 minutes.  Oh well, I am at the end of the pregnancy three appointments before the baby is there and then one 6 weeks later.  Got a date too!   19 of December is the c-section date but since he switched hospital as well... well there is a new routine to go through.  The hospital will call after week 32 and I will have to go for a blood test the day before my c-section.   Crumb!   Oh and since it is my 4th c-section well it will be a vertical cut to avoid problems while they sew my back.   Double crumb!   But the bright side is that we will have the baby before Christmas.  I should be back home on the 22nd of December.

Oh last night also, we had a record trick or treaters somehow...   Husband decided to put one of the disco ball outside and it was spinning round and round with bright colors.   Usually, people would just walk past us...  This time, not so.   Dominic wanted to go to the bathroom at one point and we stopped home.   Emptied their bags.  Well daddy had to give some of their stash to keep up with the demand.  Our neighbor ran out as well and ended up giving some $ at the end...   Next year, my husband is planning something bigger with fog machine and many disco lights (all the ones we got for H.E.A.T.) and so on.   It was a big success!