Bare

It can still look beautiful out there without any leaves!

Dress-Up

Looks like Sara's following in her siblings footsteps - "dress-up" will be an important part of her day!

Zane - 2 Months Already!

Man this boy is cute!!!

How Many People Does it Take?

Apparently 5 ladies are needed to change Zane's diaper.  One to "do the deed" and four to make sure it's done correctly!

Babysitting Fundraiser

Our GEMS group had our second fundraiser tonight - babysitting!  We offered a fun night out for kids - games, crafts and snacks - in turn the parents could enjoy a quiet night shopping (if you consider that quiet this time of year) or dinner or whatever they wanted to do.  Although a loud evening (we had about 25 kids come, plus our girls group of 24!), the evening went well and was a success!

Esther is here playing a memory game with some kids - good practice for her as she's almost at the age to be a babysitter herself!

Cookie Kick

I'm into baking at the moment - cookies specifically - the kids and Alvar are quite enjoying (my face..not so much..why oh why does chocolate have to have such lousy consequences?!?).

I'll take any good recipes you all might have for cookies....the softer the better!

Crafty

Wednesdays are short days for the kids, they get home around 2:15pm - so we enjoy a bit of a longer afternoon (not so much of a rush before dinner!).  The kids love doing crafts - and I love Dollarama for ideas.  Although these pictures made quite the mess (small little pieces of foam everywhere!) - there was no glue required, so it was easy vacuuming afterwards - no gluey mess :)

Happy 8 Years!

It's been an AWESOME 8 years - it's amazing how love can continue to grow! 

We thought we loved each other a lot when we got married - it's such a blessing from God to see how much our love has grown since then!

The Newly Married Couple 8 Years Ago

 His gift to her: Flowers

Her gift to him: Favourite Meal

Crazy Girls

Esther had her birthday sleepover party on the weekend.  The girls look pretty chipper here - this was the Friday night...I didn't get a picture of them after that night though...but they weren't quite as chipper looking on 3 1/2 hours of sleep!  Crazy girls!!

(p.s. purple seemed to be the colour of the day...and they didn't even plan on it!)

Oh, and the other kids had to get in on the funny pictures too...can't say no to a photo shoot!

How Long Does it Take?

 All I wanted to do was put Sara's boots away.  This SHOULD have taken about 30 seconds.

No room in the closet though - summer shoes & "too small shoes and boots" are taking up space.  May as well bring them downstairs and get them out of the way. 

 Hmmm....there's also a great big box of winter stuff that's taking up space - I should put them in the bench in the front hall - winter is coming after all!

Shoot...summer stuff is still in the bench - well, might as well take that downstairs too, make room for hats and mitts!

 Go downstairs to get a box to carry shoes and summer stuff (my arms are not big enough).  Wow, basement is a mess!  Well, I'm down here anyway - might as well clean it up!

 Oh no!  Run upstairs - it's 2 o'clock and I need to get the roast in the oven - I quickly chop up the veggies and brown the meat - get it in the oven for 2:10!

 Ok...just one piece...well, maybe 2.  Ahem...about 10 minutes later I realize I had actually forgotten to get a box from the basement to carry down the summer stuff and shoes...so I take a trip back downstairs.

 As I'm downstairs I realize I may as well get the winter boots out for the kids - after searching thru tons of boxes I come up with 2 pairs - guess I'll have to do some shopping for Esther and Sara!

Ahhh....finally....2 HOURS LATER Sara's boots make it into the closet - my original intentions earlier that day.  Well, at least supper is on, the closet is cleaned up, shoes are organized and winter stuff is out and ready for the first major snowfall.  I think I need a nap! 

Happy Birthday Esther!

Today is Esther's 11th Birthday - how time just keeps rolling by so fast!

Esther, you are growing up to be such a lovely young lady - wow - where did the time go?

We love seeing your love for God grow each day and pray that He continues to strengthen your faith as you learn more about Him!

We love you lots Esther - and thank God that He's given you to us in our family!

I've been waiting to give Esther her birthday gift since September (have I mentioned how much I love wagjag deals!!).  She actually does not like puzzles at all (which is what the "real" present was taped to) - I think she was a little unsure until the she looked at the back of the box.  She's been into horses for quite a while now - and her reaction was perfect - I think we got about a millions hugs and "thank yous" before she even got to school.

No Matter How Small

During Caleb's after supper duty of vacuuming, we hear this:

 "A baby centipede!"

 "Hi baby centipede, how are you? You're a cute baby centipede!"

Caleb never seems to miss these little creatures, and make them feel important - I think sometimes he should have played the part in the Dr. Seuss book "Horton Hears a Who"!

Ride'm Cowgirls!

 Sara and Anna enjoyed an afternoon of playing ponies

 Nice to see a bit of "boy" side to them once and a while

It's not always dolls and princesses around here!

Black Eye Update

Well, I thought I should let you all know that my black eye is doing fabulously :)

It came right off Friday night already with a little piece of cotton and some water.  No actual black eye...just the make up :)  Guess I did a good enough job applying the make-up - I even received a couple phone calls about the blog post making sure I was ok!

I needed a black eye for GEMS meeting(a girls' club in our church).  I was leading devotions with the girls and came to our meeting this way, and nice big shiner!  Lots of whispering and lots of "what happened to you!" came my way that evening.  But in my devotion I was portraying someone who was hurt with words - and the black eye was to show how even though words aren't physical - the results of unkind words can be just as hurtful.  I think the point was driven home quite well - a good reminder for the younger generation - and even for us "oldies" too :)

"Reckless words pierce like a sword,
   but the tongue of the wise brings healing."

Proverbs 12:18

Family Photo Time!

On Saturday we were able to take advantage of the weather to get some family pictures done.  Mike and Karen and the boys joined us - it was a "you take our photo - we'll take yours" kind of afternoon :)

We took a quick hike down to the Hermitage as we figured there wouldn't be much colour left on the trees - so we wanted something good to use as our background.

The kids loved climbing all the rubble 

 Our kiddos!

 Even the adults had a photo-shoot courtesy of Esther and Matthew

 Karen and I took our turn together too

 The Hermitage Walls

 The kids sure are growing up fast!

 Sara was quite appalled when Alvar asked her to touch the milkweed - the nerve!

 Even though there weren't any leaves left on the trees - it's still a beautiful area to hike!

 Kids found a trench to walk thru (full of leaves!)

Awww....such cuties :)  Joel and Anna - best friends!

Hmm....

Any guesses to what happened?

What Makes for a Good Day?

After picking up the kids after school - and them NOT knowing what I did during the day, I hear Anna proclaiming this to her siblings as she closes the door to the bathroom:

"I get to be the first one using the clean bathroom today!!"

It's a wonderful thing to hear once and a while from the kids that they notice I do in fact clean around the house once and a while!

Snow

I may not have been able to take an actual photograph (I was driving the van), but I know what I saw today:

SNOW!

(I am seriously excited - I do love the winter season!)

Dr. Seuss

The kids have a "Dr.Seuss" theme week at school...and today was dress up day!  Shown is my attempt at dressing up the kids...we have "Daisy-Maisy", "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" and "Cindy Lou" (from the Grinch book).

Um, How is This Going to Work?

Sometimes clothing just boggles the mind!

Missed Calling in Life

 Judging by these pictures

 Caleb would have made

 an excellent flower girl

Lucky for him leaves and a bucket in the backyard were enough to fulfill that calling for him :)

A Few Pictures From Danielle

Danielle passed these onto me a couple days ago - proving the both herself and the kids fared well while the parents were away :)  Thanks Danielle - it's nice to see what the kids did back at home!

Seeing as Sara must do everything that her siblings do - a helmet was no exception on her bike ride.  Maybe I'll need to find one that fits her a little better though :) 

 Anna still enjoys going in the baby swing at the park...I truly think that when your child is old enough to climb in and out on their own, it's time to move onto the bigger swings - oh well - I should also just let my kids be kids...right?

 Yup, the kids were safe and sound with Danielle...hmmm...what's that your holding Caleb - a mallet of some sort?  Wow...I'm not sure who's more concerned...me - seeing these pictures after the fact - or Anna in this picture beside Caleb at the time (although I'm fairly certain Anna could defend herself with the megga clippers she has in her own hands!!)...

 Love this shot Danielle!  Oh, btw - Danielle took the kids to the "Touch a Truck Show" in Ancaster on the Saturday (see the following pictures...)

Esther, you're getting tall - but still a bit of catching up to do with the tractors! 

 Future employment for Caleb?

 Patient Anna making sure the stretcher is ok (I'm really not sure what her expression is saying here! :)

Esther making the noises while Sara drives the truck - it looks like they had a lot of fun here Danielle!