All caught up?

It's taken me quite a few posts to catch up this time. I've probably forgotten some things that I wanted to post, but I think I did pretty good:). We've been working hard at homeschooling. Our goal is to be done sometime in the next 2 and a half weeks. I'll keep working with Kiersten through the summer. Her reading is coming along really well and this will help her to start 1st grade with more confidence. Caleb has come a long way with his reading and I think 3rd grade will be his independent year. He likes me to read his directions with him, but I've seen him reading when he thinks I'm busy.

Other than that we are getting ready for the new baby chicks and trees. Cleaning up the barn and property usually takes quite a bit of work, but it's worth it. Scott will be seeding for Alan Japp over the next couple weeks. That means the kids will have a few more responsibilities around here. They're used to that happening at the end of winter though.

Elyssia is super excited to ride a horse this weekend:). We're looking at the possibility of having her take horse riding lessons a couple times a month. We know a place that offers lessons at a very affordable price. We just need to see if there are any openings. Looking forward to a busy spring and summer!

Look who's 6 weeks already!

Lillian is just over 10 lbs and about 22 inches long. This is just slightly over Samuel's weight and length when he was born!

She continues to bring joy to everyone around her. I've had the opportunity to introduce her to most of our neighbours and the ladies at the Legion. They've all enjoyed holding her and trying to get her to smile. It's more challenging than it was with Sam. He was just a naturally smiley guy:). However, it's well worth the effort, when Lillian does share a smile. It's priceless, although I'll admit that I'm quite biased:). She's a good sleeper and usually just cries when she's hungry or has a tummy ache. She's easy going when it comes to letting her siblings hold her and kiss her. She has a strong grip and always seems to be moving her arms and legs when she isn't sleeping. She seems to enjoy tummy time and looking at picture books. She's already making little cooing noises, which are also super cute:).

Recent pictures of the kids...

Latest Kitchen Adventures...

Pictured above are meat and cheese braids and homemade drumstick ice cream treats!

One of our freezers stopped working properly, which meant we had quite a bit of cherries, pumpkin, frozen bananas, raspberries, etc to use up in about a week. We made 2 batches of raspberry jam, cherry cheesecake brownies, cherry crumble coffee cake, cherry lemonade, Raspberry N'ice Cream(uses frozen bananas instead of cream), chocolate chip pumpkin cake, etc... It's times like these that I can be thankful for growing children. They can eat these things and burn off all the calories:).

Kiersten is good at coming up with interesting ideas and is always a willing taste tester:). Someday she might even take over the majority of the family baking. I don't think I'd want her to do all of it though because it is something that I really enjoy doing too.

Kirk and Darlene's Visit

It was a short visit, but we made the most of it. The kids always enjoy extra reading time:). Caleb built his Birthday Lego Set, went to lunch with Kirk and Darlene and also managed to play a soccer game, or two... The little girls enjoyed swinging and talking with Uncle Kirk and Auntie Darlene.

Spring?

We actually had all 4 seasons in one week. It was extremely hot for 2 days and Scott got a sunburn. My tulips came up! We even washed 2 of the vehicles...

Then we had 3 days that were extremely windy, followed by 2 days of rain.

Last of all we woke up to this:

Now we are back to "normal" Spring weather, whatever that is...