March Photos

Just a little bit of what we've been up to this month:

 We celebrated Steve's birthday - fairly low-key, in the midst of report cards and my Opa's funeral.  We did hang up some balloons, open a few cards and presents, and had a yummy apple pie instead of cake.  (A warm apple pie, fresh from the oven.  Too fresh from the oven:  When I put the candles in, the bottoms melted.  I pulled out a few candles, and they were nothing but wick!  Oops... So our yummy warm apple pie was full of wax.  Lesson learned.)

 We had wacky hair day at school!

We had a week of for March Break, which was great.  At the beginning of the week, each girl made a list of things they wanted to do during the week - games, reading, riding bikes, sewing.  We got most of the things on the list done, although we didn't play in the sprinkler!  (That was on Rachel's list.)  We spent some time at Steve's parents, while they were boiling sap.  Steve and I went to a hockey game, while my Uncle Jim and Aunt Barb babysat the kids.  We played outside on the bikes.  We did some crafts:

Steve helped the kids make a big fort:

 We had a visit with sweet Silas:

 Then, after going back to school for one day, we enjoyed a snow day:

Petra's Sens snowman:

After that last hurrah in the snow, I'm ready to take the bikes out again, and the sidewalk chalk and the bubbles.  Hurry up, spring!

(February pictures below... keep scrolling!)

February 2013

A few weeks ago, I had all these pictures ready to put up on the blog... but then things weren't working and I gave up.  So, here are some pictures showing what we were up to in February:

One day the girls decided that they had had enough winter, and decided to wear their swimsuits all day.  Rachel didn't just wear one; I think there are five layered on her here:

Elijah loves to stand at the sink with the water running, filling things up, using the scrub brush, and pouring water onto the floor and counter.

 Naomi got glasses last month!  We think she looks pretty good in them!

Petra has lost a few more teeth, including one of her top front ones:

Elijah is starting to enjoy putting on different types of clothes, including hats, helmets, shoes, and life jackets!

 We went away for a night in February, to the Ambassador Hotel, which has a great pool and waterslide.  We had adjoining rooms, and the kids had lots of fun in their room.  Here we are watching Pingu and eating popcorn:

 The kids had lots of fun swimming and the older two were able to enjoy the waterslide.

Naomi has been practicing her recorder quite a bit.  She loves to play "Ode to Joy."

Here is Elijah helping with Saturday morning chores:

 The blocks are a real hit around her lately.  Rachel will sometimes lock herself into a bedroom to build towers like this one.  If Elijah's around, the towers don't last long!

Random stuff:

Just a few more everyday things from around here....

Looking cool in his shades and tie.  (and bougers!)

I just love listening to Rachel pray.  She is always thankful for our good day and the nice weather, and throws other things in, too, like:

• Thank you that Elijah does cute things.
• Thank you that it is almost bedtime (as she yawns)
• Thank you that when we are really tired, we can go to bed early.  (Another yawn, and yes, she went to bed early.)
• Sometimes she'll use big words, like "Thank you that we can celebrate all our blessings."

Elijah's really getting into hockey.  He could carry around these mini-sticks all day, trying to get someone to play with him.

I let the girls each pick something for me to knit for them for their birthday.  Rachel requested a blue frog last summer, and just last week I got around to finishing it.

Meal times can still be a battle around here.  It's pretty rare that everyone likes what I made for supper.  Tonight Naomi made us laugh, as Petra was complaining about her chicken.  "Il n'est pas degoutant," she told us.  "Pardon?" I asked.  She repeated it, then translated for me.  "It's not disgusting, Mom."  I'll take that as a compliment!

 We've had a few snowdays this year, which has been great.  We've kept busy inside and out.  The kids love to have a big puzzle on the go.

 And today we had some fun with marshmellows and toothpicks, making letters and shapes and crazy 3D structures!

Stuff

Just a few photos to show some of what's been going on around here...

Outdoor fun on skates, indoor fun with masking tape roads on the floor, stuffed animals watching weddings, trying on shoes, eating spaghetti... just regular every day stuff.

Loose teeth!

A couple of months ago, Petra noticed her first loose tooth.  She was hesitant to wiggle eat (or eat anything crunchy!) because she didn't want to hurt it.  The new tooth was pushing its way in, so we encouraged her to keep on wiggling, and finally she let Steve give it a little tug.
She was pretty excited when that first one came out!


Two days later, the next one came out, and a week later, a third.  Now she has a wiggly top tooth too!

Growing up!

I don't want to forget...

The past few months in a nutshell...
I've started working three days a week.  Steve continues to be busy with work and all the paperwork that goes with it.  We've had little health issues pop up like dislocated shoulder (Katrina), wisdom teeth pulled (Katrina), possible chicken pox (Petra and Rachel), and a round of the stomach flu.  We've continued to renovate, and move furniture and stuff from one room to another.  We've had a new nephew (Silas) and a new niece (Kaelyn) born over the past couple of months.  And we've had regular things like birthdays and family gatherings and church and school stuff.

I haven't updated things on this blog as often as a I used to.  Sometimes I look back over the past couple of years, and I love to read about the things that the kids did or said.  I feel like that's missing for the past couple of months.

So while I'm not going to try and catch up with everything, here are some things about my life right now (as busy as it seems sometimes) that I don't want to forget...

Naomi and Petra's excitement about school and their teachers.

Elijah's wavy mop of hair.

Having kids sit on my lap at bedtime with damp hair that smells so good.

Petra's big hugs and kisses in the hall before I leave to go home at lunch.

Naomi coming and kissing me in the hall or walking around with me on my recess duty.

Rachel running to give me the first hug when I get home.  (And Rachel's excitement when Elijah is in bed when I get home, which means that she is guaranteed the first hug!)

The kids wanting to cuddle with me at bedtime.

Reading novels with Naomi, and hearing her talk with excitement about what she's reading.

Elijah's one-syllable grunts that he uses to tell us everything from "I'm hungry" to "I want to go outside" to "I want a big hug, squished between Mommy and Daddy."

Seeing all the ways the kids can interpret the Christmas story - drawing pictures, acting it out, playing with the Nativity sets, making their own Nativity sets with blocks or logs.

Rachel's love of family time.  She just loves it when we're all home together, and loves to announce "family meetings" at which she would like to "make all the decisions" about what we should do.  Usually a game, which brings me to another...

Playing gameis together.  This fall, the girls have started enjoying games more, and it's been fun to play them together.  (Now if we could just get Elijah to stop climbing up and taking pieces away.)

Lego creations!  The girls are so into legos right now, and I love to see the things that they've made.

Elijah's cuddles.  He just loves to put his head on my shoulder and pat my back.

Petra's excitement to be growing up... booster seat, loose teeth, chapter books.

Seeing the girls teach each piano lessons, and hearing them play.

Listening to Petra read!  She is learning a lot, and can read more words all the time!


....

I'm sure there are more, maybe I'll add some another day...
but now I've got two cuddlers who just climbed up on my lap, so it's time to go!

The Year of the Renovation

When I think about this year, I think about renovations.  We spent time at the beginning of the year planning, getting paper work in place, and moving things out of the garage.  In March, Steve started changing the garage to living space, in between working on all his other jobs.  This fall, we moved our stuff into the  new living space and changed the old living room into a new bedroom for Naomi and Petra.  While there are still things that need to be done, we are enjoying our additional space.

When I look back over pictures from the year, it's neat to see the progress that was happening as we lived in it.  And although there were times when I was sick of dust, or didn't know where things had gotten moved to, there are things that are fun about living in a renovation, especially for a very curious 1 year old who wants to be just like Daddy.

 Sealing the insulation with tuck tape.

 Elijah dancing at the radio.  (This reminds me of a picture of Petra at the same radio, in our first renovation five years ago.)

 Elijah using the plank for a car ramp.

 A great place to have a snack!

Trying to figure this out...

Laying the flooring.

 Almost done the flooring...

Getting ready to build a wall!

 A framed wall makes a great jungle gym!

 Filling all the screw holes with mud.

 Cool hair tricks with the shop vac.

 Time for paint!

This blue room is now Naomi and Petra's bedroom.  They are all moved in and enjoying it.

And here we are, enjoying our new living room!