Adding it up, looking forward

So I have been thinking alot about my children's education...... I guess this is what parents do?? Right??
I realise that in 2 years I do not know where I will live or where my children will go to school???!!!! This is crazy.... but this is th elife of the RCMP family.
Then I added up what has happened to my children so far...
little Josie was born in the valley of NS, to stay there for a few years before her daddy got the itch to join the RCMP. From there we lucked out and went to PEI!! Jackpot.... We had baby Alex there in Charlottetown, and then got an itch..... We packed up that 3.5 year old and that tiny baby boy and drove to the Yukon!! Carmacks Yukon was my daughters first school (I can't imagine what she will think looking back on this later in her life!!) Now as we sit in Josie's 4th house and ALex's 3rd in Faro Yukon we wonder where we will go next....
I went from living in 1 house my entired life (with the exception of university apartments)  to jumping around the countryside and loving life!!! Take life by the horns.... and then wonder where you will go next!!!!

Nightime not dark trips to the health center!

So I have only been a parent for 5 years and about 300 days and in this time there has been one single thing that would scare me more than anything else.... my children having trouble breathing......
 I check in on my kiddies each night before bed and lastnight noticed Alex was squirmy and struggling to breath in his deep sleep... this weirded me out.  I  called for tim to come in and see and we got him up and checked him out and then layed him back down on his request. He continued to breath poorly.... laboured, struggly (word?). So i said I am calling the nurse.... Tim said not to bother her...  I bothered her.  She told us to come down to the health center... so at midnight... nice and brightly lit up Yukon midnight i bundled my confused little boy up and drove him (unbuckled....) to the health center to meet the nurse. The following is what i encountered;
A very welcoming, unjudging, supportive,helpful, compassionate, caring lady who acted as if she wanted to do nothing else but help my son in the middle of the night.  As a parent you never want to feel stupid about decisions you make regarding your children's health and taking a kid to the nurse for a cold is always so embarrassing but she never let on that she was bothered. She took her time, talked to us, yes talked to Alex, was caring and gentle and made me trust my intuition about what is normal and not normal regarding children. I learned alot from her.... and had to teach my husband that although he gets called out in the night for much different things, this ladies job was exactly what I ahd called her out for this beautiful Yukon night. 
So as Alex and I left the health center a mere hour later (yep an hour from call to release!!!! ) he was alittle more awake, had been treated for his breathing, and proclaimed as we went outside "lookadat Mommy its dawk outside" I giggled as I realise he probably can't remember the last time he saw the dark (oh and it wasnt really dark it was like dusk).

Thank you health care workers. You make us believe in care and compassion and that with a little attention you can teach and treat and empower us parents!!!!

Pillowcases

So I get a parcel in the mail the other day, actually addressed to my 5 year old daughter, and inside is a melange of goodies from my momma! Amongst the mish mash of note paper (for Josie to write a letter back to  Mom on) and socks for Alex there are 4 pillowcases. Only can your mother get away with mailing you pillowcases. 2 of these pillowcases are from my childhood.... a sesame street one and the one my mom made me when I went into a big girl bed! It has all my families names on it and some cute pictures! As well there are two white pillowcases with sheep on them. So i immediately opened them up and was going to throw them down to the laundry when I noticed my mom's signature iron marks (yes she irons pillowcases) and then I had to go in for a smell..... yup...... it smelled like home..... I teared up (as I am now thinking about it) and decided not to wash them right away.... what coulda happened to them across 7500kms of Canada post! I have freshly mailed pillowcases on my bed now along with Yukon air dried sheet...... I hope I dream about things far and wide tonight

Candles

I have recently started burning a candle again! It is somethiing from my pre-kiddie life that i remember loving! I don't like really stinky ones. The one I have going right now is a nice vanilla one... not too strong.... fally, warming, glowy, and has a cute little piece of jute string around it. Another thing I love about this candle is that I remember where I got it! My best friend Natalie gave it to me for Christmas 3 years ago. At that time I thought i couldnt burn a canlde.... kids could get it.... than I got another kid, and there wasno time to burn a candle..... soo I have carted it from PEI to the Yukon in the hopes I could burn it. So it sat on the shelf in my bedroom, so hopeful loooking.... the little jute string smiling at me.... until a week ago.....  I said I am gonna light that candle.... I put it right in the living room, up high of course, and lit it! My room got warm, I thought of my friends, i adored the smell, and guess what?? Those little people I worried about touching it, burning themselves, bugging the idea of  my candle......didn't even bother it.... seriously they don't know its there.....
So my 40 hour candle is goina on about 20 hours now.... and I have ordered another online... a gingerbread scent.... I am loving having the candle back in my life!

Blogging while sitting on kids

Today and yesterday I kept the two lovely Waldner girls........well I mean I am currently still keeping them/neglecting them (and my own sweet baby boy) as I try to spill some feelings.

It is hard parenting.
Kids demand a lot of time/energy/papertowel
I love kids, and intend on having no more
i love it when babies fight.... I mean what could be cuter than two toddlers yelling at each other (luckily I have 2 current non-hitters here)
I feel an amazing sense of succes having them all sitting at the table eating...
I am abusing treehouse

I think it is character building to extend yourself fully exhausting yourself with children who are fed clothed changed smiling .... I am too tired to continue and the fish sticks are done

What a weekend

So this has been a glorious northern weekend.... beautiful weather, beautiful colours..... oh and wait...... the stomach flu.  We dealt with Josie's all night bout of the stomach flu on Thursday night ... to skip Friday and have it hit me on Saturday. This is when I mention how lucky I am .... my looovely husband is great in this department... He does the sleep in's with the puking child whilst I sleep in order to b e functionable the next day.... he handles the buckets, the rinsing, the facecloths for the face... the support a 5 year old needs while hurling all night! As well I feel lucky because he was off on Friday in order for all of us to havea bit of a lazy day inside.... then Saturday hit..... I was a bag of bones... layed in bed most of the day and suffered..... my great hubby again saved the day this time with some great parenting and perfect kid out of house distractions. So now is is Sunday, we all feel good and had a great ridge walk and fall air fun! Later we will go to the campground take out for one last time this summer before it closes..... then there is no more eating out in Carmacks.
I will get older tomorrow and i am okay with this. I think I am wiser for having done my 1st year in the North. As we head into another long Yukon Winter I am very proud to be starting some baby mocassins, learning how to bead on deer hide, and trying to learn some of the skills the people here have been doing for centuries.

Day 1 of trying to Blog... bear with me

So after having snooped in on a few friend's blogs I decided I could do that .... it seems like a neat way of documenting life and memories!
I will start with a little background..... 
We moved to Yukon territory one year ago from PEI..... yes a crazy long way to move but we have never looked back! PEI is beautiful, we have great friends there, and of course our families lived just a boat ride or long bridge away but we were looking for a little adventure! With the great support of our families we decided to do it, we decided to move to Carmacks YT...???? 

One year in and we have learned a lot and have a lot to learn. Life in a northern village of 400 is certainly interesting and we talk of the word isolation all the time. I don't really feel isolated here.... sometimes a little trapped by weather and too long of a distance to drive but not isolated! And we are never lonely... a four year old (five tomorrow) and an 18 month old ensure constant companionship.