Kilts, Rugby, Bagpipes and Tossing the Caber!

Unfortunately we did not make a quick trip home to the UK! This weekend was the Rio Grande Celtic Festival here in Albuquerque, they have it every year at Balloon Fiesta Park. In the 7 years we have lived here we have never been, that was until this year. Seeing as both Jon and I have Scottish and Irish in our Family Trees we decided that we would take the boys bright and early on Saturday morning and introduce them to some of their Family heritage. Sounds good doesn't it! Well it turned into more of a day of Mommy dreading that it would be an anatomy learning day as it was VERY WINDY, and in a hope that the men were not taking the wearing of the kilts in the true Scottish manner!

THANKFULLY we had no anatomy questions.

Instead we got to see the Rugby Sevens Tournament, some of the Bagpipers, wander the stalls, and some of the Highland Games.

Getting ready to watch the Rugby

Not quite Twickenham!
Tuning the Bagpipes
I am sure there is a proper Scottish name for this Highland Game, but it looked just like Shot put except with a large rock!

A heart filled with love

This week has been full of FANTASTIC news for our household. On Wednesday Brendan had his heart check up appointment and we were curious to know the outcome, it has been a few years since his last check up. For those that don't know and are reading this, our eldest, Brendan, was born with a hole in his heart. The first year we were at the hospital every month, then we only had to go every couple of years. We have been VERY LUCKY that he has not had to have surgery, and as he has got older we have not had any complications from him playing sports.

So I picked Brendan up from school and off we went across town to the Cardiologist. Once we were called back, Brendan was hooked up to the EKG machine, while Aaron kept asking all the nurses and Dr's if he had to have a shot! Aaron assumes that because we were at the Dr's he had to have a shot, and was very relieved when Brendan's Dr, Dr Berman, told him that they don't give out shots here just stickers and suckers!


Once his EKG was done the Dr came and listened to his heart, and straight away said that he couldn't hear anything, which was a very good sign. See from an early age Brendan has known that his heart makes a special noise and he would very proudly tell people. So he was slightly confused when the Dr said he couldn't hear anything, I told Brendan that his heart would be beating normally and that the Dr is saying that he can't hear the whoosing noise that the blood makes as it rushes through the hole. But to be 100% sure he wanted to get an ecko done of Brendan's heart. So we moved to a different room and Brendan was hooked up to the machine and settled in for pictures of his heart. The nurse had put Lightening McQueen on the TV which Aaron was very happy about, but Brendan decided it was fascinating to watch the different pictures of his heart.

Once the Dr reviewed the pictures, we could not of got better news, the hole had closed and Brendan was given the all clear, no more check ups, no more worries, or as Brendan said "he is now normal!"


When Brendan was 1 Jon and I wrote in his Brithday card that "although he had a hole in his heart, the hole would close because Mommy and Daddy would fill his heart with love" 8 years of love has proved to be a very powerful thing and we are now so grateful that the hole in his heart has closed.

Cub Scouting Fun Filled Weekend

This past weekend we had a fun packed time involving Nature Centers, Rock Climbing and Roses! Saturday Brendan and I headed out the Rio Grande Nature Center were the boys got to see Owls and birds of prey. We hiked down to the river and boys got to do some weather experiments, the weather was slightly warm, but the boys had fun looking for frogs and climbing trees.

Some of the owls and birds of prey we saw

The Gang down by the river
Me and Mr Brendan

My Mothers day was nice and my gift from my boys and my hubby was AWESOME. I got a couple of rose bushes, which was really nice. I have never had my own roses to grow before, now there is a funny side to this because when it comes to growing plants I have a pretty bad track record, hubby thought that it would be really nice if I could have roses all the time, so here's hoping I can!

My roses

Then my Mothers Day was rounded off with a trip to the new indoor rock climbing gym (not exactly a Mothers Day activity, but it was fun and I even did some climbing!) Our Cub Scout Pack had arranged a trip to the new indoor rock climbing gym, some of the boys had climbed before, but Brendan and Aaron had not. Aaron tried it twice but was a little scared. Once Brendan realized that he couldn't fall because Daddy was belaying him, our spider monkey made it all the way to the top!

Our Spider monkey!
Mr Aaron hanging on for dear life!

Our weekend was busy, fun and rewarding. I am one lucky Mom and wife! I hope all the Moms out there had a great Mothers Day

A Dentist, A Doctor and a Lost Son!

Yesterday could not of been any worse for me. One of those days I would like to erase and re-do, I wonder as Mom's if we can have re-do days!? because I needed one yesterday. Brendan was scheduled for the Dentist in the morning because the boy had another cavity, and I was planning on being there. Whenever he has dental work done he has to take antibiotics because of his heart condition. But the dental appointment was last minute because it was the mobile dentist at school, and I completely forgot to give him his antibiotics, realizing this I raced to school to let them know he could not be seen, which was okay but wanted him seen either later in the day or the following day. Of course we had none of his antibiotics at home so from school I went straight to his Dr's office to see if I could get a prescription. Now before I tell you what happened next, Aaron was with me during this exciting adventure and he was none best pleased about being in and out of his car seat. He loves going to the Dr's office because of the large fish tank that is on display in the pieds waiting room. While Aaron was naming fish I waited for the receptionist to be ready. Without sounding frantic about needing drugs for my 8yr old son I explained the problem to the receptionist and she headed back to see if the Dr was here.



The nurse came and told me that the boys Dr needed to see me, of course a scene errupted because I had to tell Aaron we were leaving his precious fish. The Nurse tried bribing him with a sucker and a sticker, and the look on my son's face was one of those that said "lady, you will have to do better than that!" We made it back to the Dr's office and the words "you need to come and sit with Mommy" were uttered as Aaron headed for his escape. The Dr was then trying to tell me that due to new regulations Brendan no longer needs antibiotics when he has dental work done, and out of the corner of my eye realized that my little escape artist was gone, and when I say gone he had escaped, myself and about 6 nurses were calling his name and they were frantically asking me what he was wearing, Mr Aaron had made it back in to the waiting room without anyone seeing him because he would of had to pass 2 nurses and was out in the main waiting room. So there I am relieved that Aaron was found but wanted to tell him off but I am stood in the middle of the waiting room and everyone is staring waiting for my response! How I found the strength to stay calm and quietly say "You scared me, you have to stay with Mommy" I do not know!

So after losing my son, we had to head back to the school and get Brendan in for his dental appointment. If there is such a thing as a re-do, I really would of liked one that day!

Our S.O.A.R Student

Very proud of our eldest son, Mr Brendan became the S.O.A.R Student of the month last month. Basically his school recognizes students who each month shows Safe, On time, A+ attitude, Respect and Responsibility. The students are issued S.O.A.R tickets every time they show one of the above traits, and then the child from each class with the most tickets is nominated as the S.O.A.R student of the month.

Brendan will have his picture up in the front office and get to have lunch with the principal. He has been doing really well and Jon and I are so proud of him. He is our soaring raven! (school mascot is a raven)

I knight thee Use Up Monday!

I have decided that Monday's in our House will here by be knighted and deemed USE UP MONDAY! We went grocery shopping over the weekend as we do every 2 weeks, came home and when we were putting things away in the freezers (we have 2) I noticed there was a lot of packets and boxes with just one in or bags with a few fries etc. So dinner today will be cook up and use up day. I am just going to put it all in the middle of the table or on the breakfast island, kind of like buffet style and everyone can help themseleves.

Houston we have a problem............

Our Saturday morning was filled with winding rubber bands and rocket malfunctions! Yesterday was our Space Derby with Cub Scouts, each Den had launch times allocated and Brendan's rocket which had been made the night before (don't ask) was a camouflage themed rocket.

The prize winning rocket!

We helped set up and realized that this was going to be one of those activities that involved a lot of fixing and re-do races. Only 3 of Brendan's Wolf Den turned up and the rockets were paired off and wound up! The boys were really excited and got into the spirit of racing, and Brendan's rocket got first place, not quite sure who was more chuffed Daddy or Brendan!

Brendan getting his 1st place medal and a pat on the back from our Cubmaster

(this is one of those photos were speech bubbles would come in handy with all the different expressions!)