The extra pictures are of the first turkey that I fixed and celebrating Nana's Birthday. A wonderful weekend!
Saturday, July 27, 2013
One more step...
in building a barn.
The extra pictures are of the first turkey that I fixed and celebrating Nana's Birthday. A wonderful weekend!
The extra pictures are of the first turkey that I fixed and celebrating Nana's Birthday. A wonderful weekend!
Friday, July 19, 2013
Promised pictures
Caleb "helping" put up the new clothesline.
Flowers blooming around here!
The chickens are getting big and looking good:).
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Interesting tidbits...
I thought I'd post some things about the kids to finish catching up on my blog posting. Hopefully the next couple will be filled with pictures, now that we have batteries that work again:).
Addie is showing signs of being a future mountain climber. In the past week she's had to be brought down from the climbing wall at least 6 times! She gets up there with no assistance and this morning we were surprised to find that she'd gone up there while we were doing morning chores, climbed into one of the hammocks and was fast asleep! She also has no problem getting onto the trampoline! She moves a bucket over there, climbs on top and proceeds to climb through the netting ALL BY HERSELF! How can it be possible that this child is only 19 months old??? She's a very independent sort. She's figured out how to open my pineapple juice and pour it herself... On the other hand, she's a very good fisher when it comes time to pull the clean dishes out of the rinse water and put them in the drainer. She was Darlene's most helpful assistant while they were here:).
Kiersten, hmmm, what to say about Miss Kiersten. She's still obsessed with the color pink, but has declared that she now likes blue too. She loves to have Daddy hose her down outside on a hot day:). She's my favourite naptime buddy. She loves books like the others and I look forward to seeing her learn to read for herself. Hopefully there will be a book written with a good, kind, loving stepmother, when that time comes. She's picked up on the concept that pretty much all books have portrayed about stepmothers being wicked and I'm VERY thankful that I'm not her stepmother:). She doesn't have very good plans, should she ever have one, from what she tells me. Praying she never gets one and that she gets saved if there is ever a need for her to have one, but I've let Scott in on her plans just in case:)))).
Caleb is still Caleb. He's picking up on this reading thing a little bit at a time. I think it will still be several months before he will realize that he really can read most books once he puts the sounds together like he does in his 1st readers. I'm not rushing him. We call Caleb the master chicken herder. He has no fear and is quite amusing with his antics in driving them out of the house. Darlene got some good video footage of the kids while they were here, but it would probably take too long to upload it here. Maybe I could get her to do a Youtube video then embed the code:). Anyway, he continues to be a great help whenever there's something to build or take apart. He LOVED helping dig a hole for the laundry line post recently and has been pestering Daddy to let him do the other one and sand the chairs for a refinishing job that Scott has:). Yesterday we were looking for him and Garrison was the first to spot him. The other kids were jumping on the trampoline. Caleb was sleeping in front of Scott's truck in the grass! When we woke him up and asked him what he was doing he said, "waiting for Dad to get home!" He's Dad's little shadow...
Garrison is growing like a weed. There's really no height difference between him and Elyssia now. He's reading the same books and magazines that she's reading, except the girl ones:). That means he's reading at a 4th or 5th grade level and he's still 6 years old! I love it though:). We wanted all our kids to love reading and it's truly their favourite thing to do. They're all doing well with chores, although it's hard to get them out there when it's super hot. We get up early and just try to get it all done before 9 now. That allows us to stay in for the hottest parts of the day and there's always plenty to keep us busy inside too. He's eagerly looking forward to his special trip to Hanna with Dad. They're going to a gun show and it's a "man" trip:). His top two teeth are loose! He also has a "man size appetite" these days, which makes it hard to keep him filled up. Wondering if he's getting ready for a big growth spurt...
Elyssia, hmmm, plenty to say about that girl:). She's busy these days with chores, reading, pursuing all the hobbies that she enjoys and talking about starting her grade 4 work early! It will be interesting to see what God has in mind for this one in the future. She's a big help most days and is still a social butterfly. Making friends isn't hard for her and thankfully we haven't had to be concerned about her making the wrong friends yet. She's been blessed with several good friends in the area and enjoys spending time with them as much as possible. Thankfully church brings us together on a regular basis. Horse riding lessons didn't happen this summer, due to the instructor cracking a couple ribs, but it's something we'll plan for in the future if she keeps her interest in horses. I think she's read well over 100 bigger books so far this spring/summer. She's working through the shelves of books that Nana brought, which means we won't have quite as much set aside for winter reading. Thank the Lord for the Public Library:).
All the animals seem to be doing well. We're amazed that all the chickens are still alive and thank the Lord for that! Scott has made 2 varieties of goat cheese so far. One is a cream cheese consistency and is well liked by most in the family. The second was a 30 minute mozarrella and was a wonderful consistency for every dish that we used it for:). I think cheddar and goat's milk soap are next on the list of things he wants to try. Thankful that Scott has the motivation and a bit more time of late to make these. My energy level is increasing a bit and the nausea is decreasing a bit, but still not back to normal. Thankful for each day that we've gotten through though and that we're all still alive and well:).
Until next time and pictures...
Addie is showing signs of being a future mountain climber. In the past week she's had to be brought down from the climbing wall at least 6 times! She gets up there with no assistance and this morning we were surprised to find that she'd gone up there while we were doing morning chores, climbed into one of the hammocks and was fast asleep! She also has no problem getting onto the trampoline! She moves a bucket over there, climbs on top and proceeds to climb through the netting ALL BY HERSELF! How can it be possible that this child is only 19 months old??? She's a very independent sort. She's figured out how to open my pineapple juice and pour it herself... On the other hand, she's a very good fisher when it comes time to pull the clean dishes out of the rinse water and put them in the drainer. She was Darlene's most helpful assistant while they were here:).
Kiersten, hmmm, what to say about Miss Kiersten. She's still obsessed with the color pink, but has declared that she now likes blue too. She loves to have Daddy hose her down outside on a hot day:). She's my favourite naptime buddy. She loves books like the others and I look forward to seeing her learn to read for herself. Hopefully there will be a book written with a good, kind, loving stepmother, when that time comes. She's picked up on the concept that pretty much all books have portrayed about stepmothers being wicked and I'm VERY thankful that I'm not her stepmother:). She doesn't have very good plans, should she ever have one, from what she tells me. Praying she never gets one and that she gets saved if there is ever a need for her to have one, but I've let Scott in on her plans just in case:)))).
Caleb is still Caleb. He's picking up on this reading thing a little bit at a time. I think it will still be several months before he will realize that he really can read most books once he puts the sounds together like he does in his 1st readers. I'm not rushing him. We call Caleb the master chicken herder. He has no fear and is quite amusing with his antics in driving them out of the house. Darlene got some good video footage of the kids while they were here, but it would probably take too long to upload it here. Maybe I could get her to do a Youtube video then embed the code:). Anyway, he continues to be a great help whenever there's something to build or take apart. He LOVED helping dig a hole for the laundry line post recently and has been pestering Daddy to let him do the other one and sand the chairs for a refinishing job that Scott has:). Yesterday we were looking for him and Garrison was the first to spot him. The other kids were jumping on the trampoline. Caleb was sleeping in front of Scott's truck in the grass! When we woke him up and asked him what he was doing he said, "waiting for Dad to get home!" He's Dad's little shadow...
Garrison is growing like a weed. There's really no height difference between him and Elyssia now. He's reading the same books and magazines that she's reading, except the girl ones:). That means he's reading at a 4th or 5th grade level and he's still 6 years old! I love it though:). We wanted all our kids to love reading and it's truly their favourite thing to do. They're all doing well with chores, although it's hard to get them out there when it's super hot. We get up early and just try to get it all done before 9 now. That allows us to stay in for the hottest parts of the day and there's always plenty to keep us busy inside too. He's eagerly looking forward to his special trip to Hanna with Dad. They're going to a gun show and it's a "man" trip:). His top two teeth are loose! He also has a "man size appetite" these days, which makes it hard to keep him filled up. Wondering if he's getting ready for a big growth spurt...
Elyssia, hmmm, plenty to say about that girl:). She's busy these days with chores, reading, pursuing all the hobbies that she enjoys and talking about starting her grade 4 work early! It will be interesting to see what God has in mind for this one in the future. She's a big help most days and is still a social butterfly. Making friends isn't hard for her and thankfully we haven't had to be concerned about her making the wrong friends yet. She's been blessed with several good friends in the area and enjoys spending time with them as much as possible. Thankfully church brings us together on a regular basis. Horse riding lessons didn't happen this summer, due to the instructor cracking a couple ribs, but it's something we'll plan for in the future if she keeps her interest in horses. I think she's read well over 100 bigger books so far this spring/summer. She's working through the shelves of books that Nana brought, which means we won't have quite as much set aside for winter reading. Thank the Lord for the Public Library:).
All the animals seem to be doing well. We're amazed that all the chickens are still alive and thank the Lord for that! Scott has made 2 varieties of goat cheese so far. One is a cream cheese consistency and is well liked by most in the family. The second was a 30 minute mozarrella and was a wonderful consistency for every dish that we used it for:). I think cheddar and goat's milk soap are next on the list of things he wants to try. Thankful that Scott has the motivation and a bit more time of late to make these. My energy level is increasing a bit and the nausea is decreasing a bit, but still not back to normal. Thankful for each day that we've gotten through though and that we're all still alive and well:).
Until next time and pictures...
Catching up...
Can you tell that I have a bit of extra time on my hands and a bit of energy:). I thought I might as well take advantage of it while the weather is too hot to do much else. Dreading turning on the oven to make supper tonight, but thinking that the enchiladas will be worth it!
Last week we had quite a bit of excitement. The kids found a water pool that had lots of tadpoles in it. Elyssia was concerned that it would dry up and the tadpoles would all die. This meant that she felt the need to rescue them... We now have about 10 tadpoles in a fish tank. Boiling lettuce to feed them until they turn into frogs and we can release them. One turned into a frog, but then apparently drowned. The second one we caught right at the turned into a frog stage and she released it today. Hoping it does well, but leaving it up to the Lord because it's a part of His creation and goes the way of all nature outside. Kinda neat to watch the gradual change as they lose their tails and grow the legs though:).
Last weekend brought the arrival of Kirk and Darlene! It was a good thing they brought books because we adults didn't seem to have a lot of energy for entertaining. They took turns reading and I think pretty much every book was read at least once:). Some of the musical books were confiscated after Addie decided that she liked to hear them non stop... Two of the kids fell asleep sitting with them in church Sunday morning and the big excitement was going to lunch at A&W afterwards. I think Kirk might have gotten Uncle of The Year vote from Garrison over that one:). Not to hard to know how to win that kid over though. He's definitely led by his stomach. Seems I can hardly keep any of the kids filled up for long this summer. Lots of activity outside this summer just keeps them coming back for more. Thankfully they love fruits and vegetables and the occasional popsicle is enough to rehydrate them on the really hot days.
Last week also brought something that we'd been praying for for a couple years now. A friend, diagnosed with Lou G's disease, got saved!!! We're SO thankful for this. The kids were especially concerned as they heard about him getting weaker. Caleb would ask weekly if he'd gotten saved yet, "cause we don't want him to die and go to Hell," he'd say. That's no longer a worry:). We pray that the time he has left down here is eased as far as the suffering is concerned and look forward to spending eternity in Heaven with him, where he will once again have his ability to speak! We've never seen anyone go through this disease before and it's truly one of the most unpleasant ways to die. Thankful that He has the Lord to walk the rest of the way with him from now on...
Last week we had quite a bit of excitement. The kids found a water pool that had lots of tadpoles in it. Elyssia was concerned that it would dry up and the tadpoles would all die. This meant that she felt the need to rescue them... We now have about 10 tadpoles in a fish tank. Boiling lettuce to feed them until they turn into frogs and we can release them. One turned into a frog, but then apparently drowned. The second one we caught right at the turned into a frog stage and she released it today. Hoping it does well, but leaving it up to the Lord because it's a part of His creation and goes the way of all nature outside. Kinda neat to watch the gradual change as they lose their tails and grow the legs though:).
Last weekend brought the arrival of Kirk and Darlene! It was a good thing they brought books because we adults didn't seem to have a lot of energy for entertaining. They took turns reading and I think pretty much every book was read at least once:). Some of the musical books were confiscated after Addie decided that she liked to hear them non stop... Two of the kids fell asleep sitting with them in church Sunday morning and the big excitement was going to lunch at A&W afterwards. I think Kirk might have gotten Uncle of The Year vote from Garrison over that one:). Not to hard to know how to win that kid over though. He's definitely led by his stomach. Seems I can hardly keep any of the kids filled up for long this summer. Lots of activity outside this summer just keeps them coming back for more. Thankfully they love fruits and vegetables and the occasional popsicle is enough to rehydrate them on the really hot days.
Last week also brought something that we'd been praying for for a couple years now. A friend, diagnosed with Lou G's disease, got saved!!! We're SO thankful for this. The kids were especially concerned as they heard about him getting weaker. Caleb would ask weekly if he'd gotten saved yet, "cause we don't want him to die and go to Hell," he'd say. That's no longer a worry:). We pray that the time he has left down here is eased as far as the suffering is concerned and look forward to spending eternity in Heaven with him, where he will once again have his ability to speak! We've never seen anyone go through this disease before and it's truly one of the most unpleasant ways to die. Thankful that He has the Lord to walk the rest of the way with him from now on...
Babies, Babies, Babies...
Exciting times watching friends wait for a deliver their first, second, third, or sixth, etc, Babies! Monday brought the arrival of a friends baby girl. She was a tiny little thing and arrived 10 days early:). So excited to see this couple with their first little one and thankful for the technology that allows us to know about these things so quickly! Waiting for another friend to deliver her little boy any time in the next couple weeks. I'm sure she's more than ready to have him on the outside with this heatwave! It's 90 degrees F here today and that's hot enough for me. Thankful there's a bit of a breeze, but still staying inside til it cools down a bit. I was out yesterday pulling weeds in the garden. Thankfully it was quite a bit cooler and had 3 full rows to show for the effort! I think I slightly overdid it since I was feeling less nauseas yesterday, but don't seem to feel too bad today. Last night ended up being rough with Kiersten opening and closing her door every 10 minutes, or so it seemed. I had kind of had enough when it was near 1 in the morning and followed her to the bathroom to tell her to stay in bed. I found her in the middle of throwing up, poor girl. It truly seems to be something she ate that didn't sit well though, because she didn't throw up after that and the other kids all seem just fine. Only time will tell...
Truly Thankful
Last Sunday night we had something quite rare happen. We went to the evening service at church and , although we knew 2 families wouldn't be there, no one else came... We were kinda disappointed, but Scott was also relieved that we would get home before the tire on the van(that was leaking air) went completely flat and necessitated a changing of the tire to the donut. Another reason that we felt this occurred was revealed when we arrived home. Scott went outside to find Skye because she was usually right there to greet us when we got home. He found that she had gotten her head stuck in an old hot cocoa container while we were gone. The kids had used it as a drum and unfortunately Skye decided that she wanted to play with it. Scott had to cut it off and he carried her to the porch, where she lay panting, eyes closed, tongue hanging out and completely drenched in her own saliva. He called the vet, only to find that there wasn't one for the week. The one in Unity recommended that we drive her to Saskatoon, but didn't offer any other advice. She honestly looked half dead and probably wouldn't have made it for a 2 and a half hour drive. Thankfully we prayed and God gave Scott the presence of mind to start cooling her down. We gave her water from a turkey baster and she started to open her eyes and respond little by little. She laid on the towel next to to the door for a couple hours, then wanted to go outside. You couldn't tell she'd been through a major ordeal by the next day. She's back to normal and running around like her old self. So thankful for answered prayer and reminding myself of that when she acts like a puppy and tears things apart:).
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Slacker!
That's me these days. You should see me floors! Okay, so I don't really want you to see them, but I'm thinking ya get the picture:). On the other hand-I HAVEN'T THROWN UP! This is a first for me and this is my 6th pregnancy. I'm EXTREMELY thankful to the Lord for this. Praying through the rougher days and gaining strength from Him to get through the busier days. Nausea is still my "mostly constant" companion, but perhaps it's lessening a bit as we've passed the 12th week now.
The question I hear often is, "when can we find out if it's a boy or a girl?" To be honest I'd really like to tell the technician that we want to keep it a secret, but knowing the curious side of myself I'll probably cave and say "yes" when they ask if we want to know:).
We had almost non-stop company last month and started off with more at the beginning of July. We were blessed to have a singing group from Faithway College in Ajax, Ontario. We hosted the girls and a family from our church hosted the men. Elyssia was instantly drawn to them and declared that they'd be best friends forever:).
It's been quite hot here lately with only a 2 day break. I'm VERY thankful that I'm not at the other end of the pregnancy and swelling with the heat. I look forward to being able to keep warm at the beginning of winter with just the baby and a light coat! I find that, although I'm not a super big fan of winter, I'm definitely favouring spring and fall as my favourite seasons.
Just thought I'd write a bit so people know we're still alive and doing fairly well.
The question I hear often is, "when can we find out if it's a boy or a girl?" To be honest I'd really like to tell the technician that we want to keep it a secret, but knowing the curious side of myself I'll probably cave and say "yes" when they ask if we want to know:).
We had almost non-stop company last month and started off with more at the beginning of July. We were blessed to have a singing group from Faithway College in Ajax, Ontario. We hosted the girls and a family from our church hosted the men. Elyssia was instantly drawn to them and declared that they'd be best friends forever:).
It's been quite hot here lately with only a 2 day break. I'm VERY thankful that I'm not at the other end of the pregnancy and swelling with the heat. I look forward to being able to keep warm at the beginning of winter with just the baby and a light coat! I find that, although I'm not a super big fan of winter, I'm definitely favouring spring and fall as my favourite seasons.
Just thought I'd write a bit so people know we're still alive and doing fairly well.
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