July and August

Because we moved in a week early was able to clean the old place from top to bottom, shampoo all carpets, fill all holes/marks, sand and touch paint. It was a long, hot job but finished it a day early and called the Landlord to have a walk through. No answer so tried again for a whole week. When he finally called to set one up it was 14 days after June 30th and he had been inside the place doing work. Now taking that all in to consideration I did a little homework about Alberta's Landlord/Tenant Act and found out that he had to do the walk through within the first 10 days after the 30th and he was not allowed to do any work on the premises until said walk through was finish otherwise by law he was required to turn over the whole damage deposit regardless of damages done to the property. He tried to argue with me about the carpet cleaning that I never hired professionals to do it and that it was going to cost $350 to have someone come in to do that. I got mad, LOL, and yelled at him that he either turned over the damage deposit or we would see him in court. Which he thought was funny and felt bad we could not come to an understanding. Well we left and he had until the end of July to either send the full damage deposit or take off what he felt was owed and then end up in court. I am going to assume here that after he went and read the Legislation he realize how difficult it would be to prove that he had just cause to with hold our damage deposit because I received the entire amount in the mail.
August was a nice and quite month, not LOL. August required two birthdays and a wedding. So my oldest is now 17 and graduating this year WOW. She wanted to have some girls over and have ice cream cupcakes from Marble Slab. So we had a BBQ, cake, presents and the cupcakes. Love teenage birthdays they entertain themselves!! Just need to provide a safe environment for them. Next up was the Wedding.
One of Tyler's cousins that he grew up with was getting married. None of these cousins I have met, so it was a must to attend this. Well the girls travel ok up to Calgary but this time we had to go all the way up to White Court. It was a beautiful drive, lots of trees and clean air and screaming children. We had to stop almost every 2 1/2 hours because for 2 hours the girls were good, played, slept and then the last 1/2 hour they screamed or cried. It was just GREAT. Cara is a very active 16 month old and after sitting for 2 hours needed to get out and run around abit and have a bum change. Veronica after 2 hours started to complain her bum hurt, lol, so she needed to get out and run too. Made the whole trip alot longer because of the constant stopping and starting but oh how I miss seeing such beautiful trees. Made me alittle homesick for the Maritime! The Wedding was on the same weekend as Veronica's birthday and she thought that the reception hall was decorated for her... As we entered the hall she stopped in the door way and said "OOHHH so pretty, mommy my birthday!" It was way cute. She loved the fact she was allowed to dance and that she had so many dance partners. It was wonderful to see because normally she is shy around strangers and wont venture to far from me or Ty but she was up dancing the whole time after supper. Tyler's cousins loved her and willingly danced with her quite abit. Tyler even danced with her, he still not ever danced with me! :( Well of course when we went to leave it was poring rain so we made a deal with Veronica, because she did not want to leave, that as soon as it stopped raining we would leave. It did not stop until Midnight and she danced the whole time and still got up at 7:30am the next morning. The also announced at the reception that it was her birthday too LOL. She loved it and I am glad we went even with how horrible they are at traveling.
 The next weekend I have Veronica's 3rd party to plan and have. It was a quite affair with both sets of grandparents and close friends. She loved her tea set and plays with it everyday outside with the water table. Tyler and I got her a VTech ereader which teaches her grammar, reading, word meaning, etc...its good up to 8 years old. The big hit was Grandma and Opa's present, a TinkerBell Quad! Its purple and she loves it, Cara even gets on it to ride.
Now of course it is the end of August and School starts tomorrow for Fred and Michaela, both in High School and Michaela graduates this year. She already has her Grad ring picked out, Grad dress picked out, Driver Education starts and she is on School Council. Its going to be one busy year for her. Fred starts in a new school and is in High School. He turns 14 this year so that means a learners permit to drive. I am going to have straight white hair soon LOL. Still no word on when the boys will be relocated here we are hoping for October. All up to date now, hopefully more post on a more regular bases. I know I have said that before but I am always striving to make it.

Were to begin?

Lets see if I can update you all on all the things that have happened or changed with us.

First, my nephews were pulled from my mom's house and placed in foster care just out of the blue. I got involved and called or emailed several MLA's and Minister to find out what was happening and why no one was informed or why the boys were not placed here instead of foster care as that is what is suppose to happen. After a week of letter writing and phone calls I heard from a Social Service supervisor. We talked for about an hour and half about the situation and their decision to put the boys in foster care and not contact us. After that call I started dealing with the boys care worker and the Taber office. It was determined during that phone call that Tyler and I would start looking for a larger place to stay as they wish to place the boys with family and not with a foster family. This would be a huge decision on our parts as the boys are 4 and 7 this year and instead of a small 5 bedroom home we would have to find a large 5-6 bedroom home. Plus it would complete change the dynamics of our family. Not only would Tyler be raising my 2 older children from my first marriage but he would also become a father figure to 2 little boys not related at all by blood.

So the hunt was on for a larger home. We wanted to stay on the West side of town close to a school. I started checking all the listings out there and found one on kijiji.ca. The house was 2 blocks away closer to the school. In fact we are right across from the school. The house is a large 5 bedroom home. There is alot of room right now but I know once the boys are placed here it will seem alot smaller. There is a large kitchen and dining room, living room (which I use for the day home), bathroom, master bedroom with 3 piece on suite and 2 bedrooms on the first floor. Veronica and Cara will share one room and the boys with bunk beds will share the other one. Downstairs is a large family room, 2 bedrooms, 3 piece bath large storage/laundry area and a nook that I use for crafting. Fred's room is on one side of the family room and Michaela's is on the other by the bathroom.

Packing was a pain as we had 2 weeks to pack and start moving and I was still running my day home. Try packing with 3 small children under feet and trying to keep them out of the boxes that are already packed and stacked. I was kept very busy. The last weekend of June arrived and we rented a moving truck and moved everything over. I had to have at least the kitchen and living room in order for Monday when I had kids in to watch. Thankfully we had a couple of members show up to help move otherwise it would of taken us 7 hours instead of 5. We had run out of boxes so I was emptying them and Michaela was repacking them, that is what took so long. Now if we had to move a greater distance I am sure we would of had everything packed.

So that brings us to the end of June.