Joyous June!!

Ahhhh ... June is such a wonderful month :)  The promise of summer, the celebrations of a wonderful school year and the end of work for two whole months for me!!  Can't say I'm not feeling extremely fortunate (although I will miss the pay cheque).  Below are a few of our June highlights:

Our school joined 102.3 NOW Radio in their fundraising efforts for Jordan's Journey for a cure.  Jordan is a kindergarten student at our school.  She has a rare disease called Giant Axonal Neuropathy.  There is an experimental treatment in the USA that requires Jordan and her family to stay in the States for 2 months.  She is signed up for the treatment this summer but of course, it is extremely expensive.  Fortunately, Jordan's cause was selected for the annual 102.3 NOW Radio Empties for Angels program and together with fundraising in the community and our school approx. $90,000 was raised!!  Blake, Em and Reese participated in the schools Hula-hoop-a-thon on June 1st.  All donations went towards Jordan's journey.  It was a fun afternoon, with Fitzy from NOW radio mc'ing and the trucksickle handing out free popsicle's.  A grade 5 student dj'd the event and all the students and staff dressed in a Hawaiian theme.  It was so much fun and everyone was so proud of all the money they raised for Jordan :)

Enjoying a popsicle from the NOW trucksicle!

On June 2nd our School Council hosted a staff appreciation luncheon. A fellow council member and I were busy that morning, ensuring everything was set up and perfect for our wonderful teachers and staff!  I enjoy this annual event and am always glad to be involved.

All set up for the staff appreciation luncheon (each staff member brought home a bundle of flowers) :)

 June 3-5 brought a busy weekend with Blake's lacrosse team in the Titan's tournament in Sherwood Park and a girls weekend for myself and my two besties!  It wasn't the best weekend for me to be away but it was the only option that worked for Lindsey, Candace and I and we missed out on our girls weekend last weekend so we 'had' to make it work this year ;)  Cal and the kids had a great weekend.  They even managed to make it to a baseball event on Saturday!  The league Blake plays in, Community Park, hosts a fun day every year and it just happened to fall on this weekend (isn't that the way it seems to work?!).  They enjoyed a BBQ, bouncy castle and face painting.  I was glad they snuck it in, in between lacrosse games.  I don't know what the Wizards record was in the tournament but I hear they played hard and had fun, which is all I care about ;)  My weekend was awesome!  We stayed downtown at the Matrix hotel and had so much fun.  We ate, we drank, we shopped, we danced and we talked and talked and talked and ate some more and then drank a lot more ... lol!  It was so much fun and very rejuvenating!  A much needed time to decompress and just have fun and not stress about how messy the house is or the piles of laundry ;)

Not having a good time at all ... lol!  Love these ladies!!

 On the 6th I attended an office party.  My co-workers are so great!  Our offices are in a wing of a school, so essentially my cubicle is in an old classroom.  The room is of course quite large and I share the room with 8 other co-workers.  There are SLP assistant's, one other OT assistant and Mental Health Therapist's in this space.  Jean, an SLP assistant, invited us all over to her house for a Room 22 (our classroom number!) year-end party. We had so much fun, drank some wine and celebrated a successful school year! I love working with these ladies and will miss them over the summer break!!

On the 11th the kids had a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's so Cal and I could attend a friends birthday party :)  The kids had such a fun time!  Grandma and Grandpa even took them public swimming on Sunday before bringing them home!! They couldn't stop gushing about how much fun they had!!  Thanks Mom & Dad!!  Cal and I also enjoyed our time, sleeping in and enjoying a quite house.  It was a little strange, though!  Were not used to being home by ourselves!!

On the 14th I took the day off to attend a field trip with Em.  We went to Fort Edmonton Park with all the grade 1's and had a blast!  It was great to spend the day with her and her class!

Fort Edmonton park field trip with Em the gem :)  Love her to pieces!!

 The evening of the 15th Reese and Cal had a father's day bbq at the school.  Cal said Reese was miss popular ;)  Apparently she was her usual shy self, lol!  They enjoyed their evening, playing outside at the park and having dinner.

Cal and Reese, ready for their Father's Day BBQ!

 Cal's spring hockey season wrapped up on the 17th with his final ice time and a team bbq!  He had a great time and plays with a great group of guys.  If his schedule allows, he'd like to play on their winter team.  But with the kids activities and coaching hockey, he's not sure it would work out ... we'll see!

On the 18th we attended our good friend Adriana's 40th birthday party.  The kids had a blast, running around with friends and the adults enjoyed themselves as well!  And I can tell you, those Italian's sure know how to throw a party ;)

Adriana with her awesome cake!!  So grateful for her friendship, a wonderful hockey team manager and fellow hockey momma!!

The 19th was Father's Day and Cal started his day early with an early morning run.  It was his long run day, so he chose to wake up early and get it in sooner rather than later ;)  After his run we met my parents and sister and her family at BP's for a Father's Day lunch.  Then it was off to Blake's 3 on 3 game, followed by homemade burgers for supper (Cal's favorite) and baseball practice!! Oh, Em also snuck in a birthday party on the 19th.  Wow ... apparently that was a busy day!! I had a great photo of Cal and the kids but it doesn't seem to be saved on my computer :(  I'll have to dig a little deeper!

The best Grandpa and his grandkids, on Father's Day :)

On the 22nd Cal was off to Calgary for a few days of work.  The kids and I enjoyed Finding Dory with my mom, sister and nephews and ate out a few times, as often happens with either Cal or I are away for a few nights ;)

Blake's lacrosse playoff's started on Friday the 24th and it was an exciting ride!!  They played hard and Blake played some of his best lacrosse.  It was an exciting few days but they fell short of making the final.  And so our lacrosse season came to an end.  Blake learned so much this year and really improved his game.  Novice lacrosse is a lot different from Tykes lacrosse!!  Much faster and tougher!  We were really proud of Blake's play and strength this season and loved watching him and his team play.  I would never pressure him to play a sport but I REALLY hope he plays lacrosse next year ;)  I love the game and watching him play!

Buddies - hockey and lacrosse teammates.  Love these boys!

And that brings us to the last week of school (and my first week of summer break!)!!  I volunteered at games day on the 27th and just like last year, it was a scorcher!  I got a good start to my base tan ;)  Games Day is always a fun day and I enjoy visiting with all the students and teachers!  This year I lead the parachute games station.  I had to dig deep to remember the days of parachute games at the YMCA ;)

Today is the last day of school and I have to rush out to pick up Reese soon, so I will say so long for now!!  Tomorrow we have a fun day planned with school friends at the spray park.  A sort of year-end celebration ;)  Hopefully the weather will cooperate!! 

Health Scare

When Blake last had pneumonia, in Dec/Jan, our pediatrician wondered if Blake might have asthma.  But because of the pneumonia, we needed to wait until his lungs were clear to re-test him.  Fast forward a few months and I finally decided to take him in again, as he's had this nagging cough for the past few months - mostly at bedtime but sometimes throughout the day as well.  It was so bad a few times, that we kept him home from school.  The cough had been going on for so long that I thought it warranted a trip to the doctor.  Dr. Radisic had him do a lung function test and due to his low numbers, referred him to the pediatric pulmonary specialist who he shares an office with.  He also said that he suspected that Blake had asthma.  Dr. R was willing to give Blake a puffer to trial until we saw Dr. Z. but I thought we could wait.  Our appointment was in two weeks.  Well, after a few nights and days of Blake hacking, I changed mind and decided we couldn't wait.  I was especially worried because I was going away for the weekend and Blake had a lacrosse tournament coming up and I didn't want Cal to be burdened with 3 kids and having to take Blake to the emerg!  Luckily, Dr. Z had a cancellation and we were able to get into him that week.  When Dr. Z's nurse did the lung function test, Blake scored 80%.  After 5 minutes of ventolin he scored 90%. Big improvement and a clear sign that he had asthma.  Dr. Z wanted to run a variety of tests - blood work for allergies and to check his immune system, urinalysis to check protein levels, a chest x-ray and a sinus x-ray.  It was a long afternoon of appointments and blood work and at the end of the day we found out he wanted Blake to do a sweat test, to rule out Cystic Fibrosis.  Apparently Blake has not had a clear chest x-ray in the past 3 years.  All 3 x-rays from the past 3 years (taken when he had pneumonia) showed the same black spot in the lower lobe of his right lung.  This was certainly alarming and raised a lot of questions for both myself and Dr.Z.  Always trying to find the positive, I mentioned that Blake had been screened for CF at birth, to which I was told the screening can often miss something.  I then said, "I'm sure not very many patients are diagnosed with CF at this age, aren't they mostly diagnosed in the first years of life?" To which I was told that no, in fact just a few weeks ago a 30 yo man was diagnosed.  And then Dr. Z remarked that CF patients are often tall and skinny ... yikes.  So I spent the next two weeks worrying (off and on) about the possibility of Blake having CF.  During those two weeks Blake was prescribed a twice daily does of a steroid and an inhaler for before and after strenuous exercise and for as needed.  I was very glad when Thursday June 16th arrived and we would have the sweat test results that afternoon.  The sweat test was painless, they stimulate sweat glands in your arm with electrodes and chemicals (to put it simply), then attach a coil to collect the sweat. That test was at the Stollery and then we were off to Dr. Z's office downtown.  To make the afternoon a little more fun, Blake and I took the LRT to the UofA, then back downtown and enjoyed a quick lunch in between appointments (my Mom watched the girls). When we got to Dr. Z's office, he had good news for us.  The immune system tests were excellent and although Dr. Z didn't have the sweat test results yet, he felt very strongly that Blake did not have CF because if he did, his immune system would be weakened.  He also told us that the allergy tests showed that he was allergic to dust, mold and pollen - which explained his sinus x-ray results, which weren't great.  He said that Spring will always be tough for Blake, much like a large majority of the rest of the world!!  Plugged sinus' during Spring!  Next Spring he will prescribe a med for the allergies to ease the discomfort of the sinus problems that come with those seasonal allergies.  For now, we're heading out of allergy season and Blake's sinus' should clear.  Finally the sweat test results were in and as expected, Blake's numbers were great!!! I was so happy to hear this. The next questions I had, had to do with the spot on the lung.  Dr. Z is a very funny, personable man and when I asked, "So about that spot on his lung ..." he interrupted me with, "The spot I wish I never would have told you about?" lol!!!  Yes, I brought that spot up a lot during the last 2 appointments!!  So what Dr. Z said was that considering his immune system was excellent, the sweat test came back negative and the spot has not changed in the past few years, he will keep an eye on it with follow up x-rays twice a year and concluded that it is likely scarring due to a previous pneumonia.  Also, after two weeks of the asthma medication, Blake's numbers were up to 100% which is the best news possible!!  So as it stands, Blake is on the asthma meds for the time being and will see Dr. Z again in October to re-evalute.  Blake has noticed a huge difference with the meds, noting that running during lacrosse is a lot easier and less painful (less coughing and less chest pain).  I've noticed that he is not coughing at night anymore.  All around good news :)  I'd prefer that he did not have asthma but as it is, we are grateful to have excellent medical care and medication to treat it!

Appt #1, 5 min of ventolin followed by a long afternoon of poking and prodding.  Of course, he took it like the champ he is!!

Appt #2 on June 16th, Dr. Z has rubber chickens in all his rooms ;) All smiles because the CF test was negative and his lungs are functioning at 100%!!

Other May highlights!

Oh my goodness, looking back every month I realize how full our days are and how truly blessed we are!!  I wanted to document some of the other highlights from our month of May :) One day, I'll be glad I did!!  So here are a few ...  

- Emerson's class collected recyclable materials over the past few months and put them to use this month, building robot's!  They then wrote a description of the robot and presented their robots to other classes and parents. 

I was able to leave work 1/2 hr early to catch her presentation.  I'm so glad I could make it, I was so proud of her :)  She  robot presentation was excellent and she was even recruited by Mme. Khair to assist the other students in presenting and translating their presentations from French to English for the students and parents who didn't speak french.  She's such a strong student and is so proud (as she should be!)!

- Mom, Lindsay and I went out for dinner and movie for Lindsay's birthday.  We had a great time and ate more sushi than we thought we could ;) Our evening together made us excited for our girls trip in July!!

- At the end of the month we celebrated the end of our Sunday school year with our finale and BBQ.  I love our Church community and friends and we always enjoy finale day!!  Students move from the pre-beginner's class to kid's praise when they move into grade 1 and recieve a cross pendant, so Reese Reese was presented with her pendant.  And when students move into grade 4, they recieve a special bible from the Church, so Blake was presented with his bible.  Sunday school will start again in September and all three kids will be in kid's praise!  For the past 5 years I've been volunteering in the pre-beginner's class so I guess I am also graduating to kid's praise ;)  I'm glad Sunday school break's for the summer months, as we would miss a lot with camping and vacation and I hate to miss.

- Blake started 3 on 3 this month and is excited to be playing with his cousin Colby and a few of his Saints teammates!

- The school staff hosted the annual volunteer drive-thru breakfast at school!  This is always a fun event and the parents really appreciate the recognition :)

Some of our awesome school staff, at the volunteer drive-thru breakfast!

The kids all decorate brown lunch bags, which are filled with cream, sugar, a stir stick and a muffin!

And now it is June and we are soooo close to Summer Vacation, we are getting excited!!!  

May long flood .. aka camping!!

A great time was had on May long weekend, albeit the weather!!  You just never know what the weather is going to be on May long but this year the forecast for a week straight pointed towards rain.  And not just showers, lots of rain!  I was almost contemplating suggesting foregoing the trip this year but I'm sure glad I didn't.  Just getting out of the city was a welcomed break.  The forecast turned out to be accurate, we did get a lot of rain.  So much rain that the kids had to put plastic bags in their rubber boots because within the first few hours of being at the campground, their boots were full of water and their socks were soaked!  My Mom recommended the plastic bags and it sure worked well!  We did get a lot of rain and it wasn't very warm but thankfully the fire ban was lifted and the fire kept us warm, when needed :)  And the tarps placed around and above the fire, also helped - Thanks to the guys for their handy tarp hanging skills!!  The kids still had a great weekend and we did too!  Poor Heidi was not at all keen on being outside and spent the majority of the 3 days in the trailer.  I'd open the door to check on her and she'd give me the stink eye, as if to say, "Are you kidding me??  I am not going out there."  I felt a little bad for her, she seemed cold and unhappy all weekend :(  But she made it through and hopefully she'll be happier on our warm, July camping trip!!  Our kids and the Streadwick kids ran the campground and in and out of our trailer and the Streadwick trailer.  The only casualty all weekend was a light above our dinette. Not sure the story there, but one of them was a little forceful with it!!  I had bought a bunch of dollar store crafts, which the girls spent a lot of time on!  The water was too rough and the weather too cold and rainy to take the boat out, which was disappointing but understandable!  And although it did rain a lot, it didn't rain all weekend!  The annual Saturday night appy night was delicious and the company was grand :)  We took a drive into Athabasca on Sunday, to escape the rain and have lunch.  The burgers and fries at the Burger Barn were delicious!!  Thanks to the Stecyk's, the Smith's, the Scott's and the Streadwicks for another great May long.  Fingers crossed for a sunnier weekend next year!!!

Girls trip to G.P.!!

On the 13th the Edmonton and Stony Plain Cameron ladies embarked on a road trip to Grande Prairie!!  The primary purpose for our visit was to meet Miss Aurora who was born at the beginning of April, to our niece Kourtney.  Of course we also were excited to visit many other relatives :)  We had a fabulous time! The kids had so much fun and loved playing with their cousins and meeting Aurora, who by the way, is the cutest baby ever!!  Kourtney is doing such a great job as a new mom :)  Here are a few pics from our road trip (which I hope is the first annual Cameron girls road trip!!):

Emerson, Kailey and Kerri loving on Aurora :)

So sweet, Em just loves babies!!

Kerri, Reese, Kourtney, Aurora and Kailey at the baby shower

Reese loves her new baby cousin!

So thankful we were able to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Alstad, they hold a special place in my heart.

 

Let's see how much we can fit into one weekend ...

This weekend Blake's team was in the Beaumont lacrosse tournament.  They had a great tourney and we got to spend some time with the Stony Plain Cameron's, as Colby and Blake's teams played each other :)  On Saturday evening Blake headed to his game with the Mauro family, while Reese, Cal, my Mom and my Dad, my sister and I headed to the DOW Centennial Centre in  Fort Saskatchewan for Emerson's year end dance recital. Em's group performed two numbers and rocked that stage!! They did so well!  Emerson really enjoyed herself and wanted to stay to watch the older kids :)  We left after the second act and Cal and I took the girls to Red Robin's for a late dinner, before picking Blake up at Matteo's house.  Blake had fun with the Mauro's and enjoyed their dinner at Mongoli Grill!  He was very excited to tell us about the goal he scored in his lacrosse game that afternoon!!  Mother's Day we were up and out the door very early for the last game of the lacrosse tournament.  Mom and Dad met us for the game and afterward we all met at Boston Pizza for a nice Mother's Day lunch!  The rest of the day was fairly low key ... I even snuck in a nap ;)  I hope all the Mother's out there in blog land had a wonderful Mother's Day!!  Thank you to all who support me in this journey, I couldn't do it without you!  

xo

~Tracy

Em's year end dance recital - so proud of her and how much she has learned this year!

Happy 9th Birthday, Blake!!

On May 5th, Blake turned 9.  I am so glad he is not in the double digits yet ... my momma heart wouldn't have been able to handle it!  So now I have an entire year to prepare for the big 10th birthday ;)  Blake had a very busy birthday.  We weren't sure when we would host his birthday party, between baseball, hockey, swimming lessons, dance practice and a dance recital, lacrosse and a lacrosse tournament and soccer ... we didn't have a lot of free time!!  Fortunately, we have early dismissal Thursday's!!  Reese doesn't have school on Thursday's and Blake and Emerson are out at 11:51 am AND Blake's birthday was on a Thursday, so it all worked out although we were sad that a few of our family and friends couldn't make it.  We had the party the afternoon of the 5th and it went well!  I was so worried we'd be rained out but thankfully we weren't.  We had the party at the park and I think it might have been one of the best parties to date!  The kids played on the playground, ate lunch and cake and finished the afternoon off with a baseball game!  All Blake wanted to do for his birthday party was play baseball, so I'm glad we were able to grant that wish :)  Below are a few pics from our morning before school and from the party:

Opening gifts from Mom and Dad and Em and Reese

Nuggies for his sisters ;) (Reese didn't have school that morning, hence the pj's!)

Ready for school :)

Party in the park - the handsome birthday boy!

Just a bunch of monkeys, hangin' out!

Cake time!!

Most of the party crew :)

Batter up!

Eating lunch on the fire truck ;)

3 cuties, Ava, Reese and Nathan

Blake requested either a Jays cake or a Cubs cake ... DQ didn't have a Jays cake so Cubs it was :)

Opening presents

Waiting for their turn to bat!

Grandpa playing bat catcher, while Dad pitches it in!!

Em also loves a good game of ball!

 After the party at the park, we headed home for a quick dinner and Grandma's famous carrot cake before Blake headed to lacrosse and Reese and I headed to school for a Mother's Day tea.  Lindsay and the boys, Mom and Dad and Blake's buddy Dante joined us!

Some downtime before lacrosse!)

Blake's request ... hot dogs!!!

Cutie patooties!!

The final cake of the day :)

 Happy 9th birthday to our boy!  Blake, you make your Dad and I so proud every single day.  We love the young man you are growing into - kind, thoughtful, caring, driven, smart, funny and athletic! You stand up for your friends and aren't afraid to do so.  You have a strong sense of right and wrong and always try to do the right thing. You are a strong student, a wonderful big brother and a great friend!  Love you to the moon and back, our (not so) little man!