Thanks to my cousin Ruth I once again have a pink and a blue monkey. I loved these jammies in 3 month size and I'm so glad to have them in 12 month size again. Pink and Blue Monkey mornings always make me smile.

I hope to get Sam's birthday up next.

I promised my sis I would put these pictures up. Made some little piggy banks for some sweet, tiny, oh so precious new men in my life.

Ps. The blue circles on the white circle have a story on their own. One you can hardly even believe. I just about pulled my hair. You see, I like to use empty toilet paper rolls for a stamp. They work great with paints or ink and make either neat circles or funky shaped ones. Problem number one, there was still 1/3 of the roll left and no empty rolls in the garbage can. So, yup, I really did, can you imagine????? I unrolled the tube feeling as gleeful as a one year old (!) as I watched that white softness make a pile on the floor. Then I picked up the pile and put it on the back of the toilet to use as we otherwise do when Cara's been the one to empty the roll. Too bad for me, Cam came along and created problem number 2, took the entire pile and dumped it in the toilet bowl. While I did a, "oh dear, Cam, you are NOT allowed to do that!" and ran for a plastic bag to scoop it all out again, Sam came along and thought to help me get rid of the problem all together by flushing. I still am waiting for the silly toilet to back up but I'm sure glad it hasn't happened yet. Object lesson, next time, no matter how much you want to get the project done, leave it for a few days until the toilet paper roll is empty. Problem is, because the toilet didn't overflow, the impression wasn't great enough and next time I'll want to "just get it done" and probably forget today's trouble.

And these two... I know it keeps them quiet and I know they aren't breaking anything and I also know in the grand scheme of things it cleans up really fast BUT the truth of the matter is that this drives me crazy. Always has. And no matter how much I just try to ignore it and enjoy the peace their fascination brings, I still usually end up chasing them into the living room and tossing everything back in the cupboard before they've had their fill.

so telling

Sometimes we look are our children and wonder what they are thinking. And sometimes, without our asking and prompting, they let us know exactly what is ruminating in those little brains of theirs.
Sam is four years old today and this morning he came upstairs carrying his birthday bag he had received from my secret pal (thanks! he was delighted). He sat on our bed and had a few commments about the balloons. Then Leah let him know, "you're four already, Sam, since the middle of the night!" And Sam, in such a disappointed voice, turned to me and said sadly, "I'm not big." Apparently, he thought that last sleep the night before the big day was going to do wonders.

yesterday's visit to the park

You have to be two to understand how much joy one can get from the driveway "hills" on the sidewalk.

My favorite of the day and it makes me wish I had a really good camera and a whole lot more know how. Plus photoshop on the computer to take out the benches :)

My hope is to get a great picture of her walking in the grass to get a bit of perspective on tall, gorgeous trees and short, cute, little girls.

And this little man comes crawling at me with the biggest grin on his face whenever he sees the camera so he's almost impossible to get right now.
This boy had so much fun throwing the leaves over his head.

These two dear ones were having a fantastic time running about trying to catch any leaves the gentle breeze would release to them.

And then I had a brilliant idea and set the camera on self time, 3 second intervals, 10 shots and I got a few pictures of us playing freeze tag together. Special times.

a couple more

This little train was Leah's first birthday gift from her Aunties Care and Shelly. It has put on some serious miles!
These two are still a crazy duo and are mischief waiting to happen. Cara got her first road rash doing this with Cam (a owie cheek). Her turn.

His turn. (edited to add it was not her pushing him but him pulling her! :) )

Really moving!

One of the great things our house has is a big living room window facing Mt. Cheam. That means the morning sun pours into the living room and kitchen in a very cheerful manner and inspires this type of shadow art! (Yes, that IS his tongue. How come my kids make the photos all goofy? :) )

the things the last week were made of

"Mama, can I please vaccuum for you?" and proceeded to vaccum the hall way, living room and kitchen area. He even moved a little rolling cabinet to clean up the toys and dust bunnies hiding there! Might not have been a perfect job but he was pretty thorough and I was pretty impressed.
The Visscher family passed on some neat (useless to an older boy) prizes he had won (thanks a bunch!). We have had a hoot with this mask singing a neat little song we have on tape, "deep in the jungle, there is a lion, and a lion goes 'ROAR.'" Sam's fierce face.

And Cam's upside down much less scary face.

The two girls.

not finished yet

Cam told me AFTER he dumped the iced tea jug in the fridge that he was "firsty" this morning. I really had to work hard to find thankfulness in that one. I just scrubbed that fridge from top to bottom 3 weeks ago and I do not make it a weekly or even monthly habbit to clean my fridge! I guess I am thankful that the fridge was pretty empty and so I really only had to clean the fridge, not everything in it.

Leah's quote of the day. Me, "morning, Lees, did your alarm go off?" Leah, "it was so noisy, I just turned it off right away" (said in a very rolled-over-and-went-back-to-sleep-voice). Oh my dear Leah, we are only 2 weeks into grade 1. You have hopefully many years of waking up to that noisy thing!

that kind of day

Today was the kind of day played out entirely for your enjoyment and my graying hair!

Where to start but at the very beginning. I woke up at 4:30 to hear Cara starting to rustle around in her crib. I left her too long and by 4:50 she had also waken up Cody. I got out and made a bottle and Steve ended up feeding Cara while I fed Cody. That wouldn't be so bad if they had gone back to sleep. Lovable Cody did, Wide Awake Cara did not. She laid in our bed quite quietly but I didn't go back to sleep with her poking her head up every few minutes to study us in the ever diminishing darkness.

It wasn't a bad morning to start early as I was really hoping to get out of the door by 9:15 for the ladies Bible study at church. Breakfast went reasonably well and both big boys were done before 7:30. The troubles started a bit later while I was feeding Cody a bottle. Cam was "firsty" and so thoughtfully decided to help himself so as not to bother me. My first indication of trouble was Sam's, "Mama, you better come quick, it's like a waterfall!" I don't really like wiping up apple juice messes. Sam told me how it went, "Cam poured his cup too full over the top and so he tried to put some back in (a 1L tetra pak)." You can imagine how well that went.

I don't remember exactly how the next saga started. I know I was in the bathroom drying my hair and I know I was called out for something, but whatever I was doing kept me busy for a couple of minutes. And so, I was introduced to my first twin plumbing session. If I hadn't been so determined to get out the door I would have gotten my camera. There they were, the two little monsters, digging in the toilet Leah had forgotten to flush, flinging clumps of toilet paper behind them as if there was a contest to see who could cover the most flooring with soggy toilet paper and pee water.

Well, I scrubbed the twins in the sink (didn't have energy or time for a full out bath) and dumped them shirtless into the playpen. Don't you DARE ask why they weren't in there 15 minutes earlier! :) It took effort to be thankful but I got most of my bathroom cleaned before leaving for Bible study. There is NO way I would have put that kind of effort into house chores if not forced into it on a morning I was trying to get out the door. :) One more thing knocked off the weekly list and done before 8:30!

By the time I had myself half ways presentable, bottles made and diaper bag packed I had an amazing chorus of unhappy people waiting to get strapped into the van. Having buckled 2 of the 4 in, I stopped by the grocery bag of the morning's diapers and went to put them into the outside can. There's nothing quite so unpleasant as coming home to a house reeking of diapers. You should know we have garbage bags in the can but they don't fit around the rim so when the bag is mostly empty we have to reach in and pull the bag up, are you following me? The bags we're using right now have the four "tabs" on the top to aid in tying the bag shut, yes? So, I reached in, grabbed a tab and yanked it toward me, intending to chuck my grocery bag in as soon as the bag was gaping enough. Imagine my shock when I was sprayed with soggy bits of black forest cake that came shooting out towards me. Someone dear, who shall remain unnamed, had thrown away a mostly liquified cake into the garbage and most of it had stuck to the sides of the folded up bag rather than sliding down to the bottom. I was covered from the top of my neck to my ankles in slimy, stinky cake bits. I was NOT happy. I muttered unkind things all the way to the bathroom where I tried to wash myself off to a point of feeling clean enough to not puke. There's no way I was going to hall the buckled kids out of the van, leave them unattended to do who KNOWS what while I went for the second shower in less than 3 hours. Between runny noses and unforseen circumstances I change my clothes enough times in a day to make my neighbors wonder if I have some weird obsessions for doing laundry!

After supper (yes that's a huge jump in the day but the time in between ranged from normal to wonderful) Leah, Sam and I went chocolate selling. We reviewed the intro a couple of times and knocked at the first door. We met some wonderful people who live around the park where we love to play. Leah made an older gentleman hoot with laughter when he asked, "how much?" "Two buc... two dollars" she quickly ammended with a sheepish look on her face.

Then tonight before bedtime Sam was looking for his favorite Scout novel. We started to read it once but quit because it was too scary but he still loves to sleep with it. Tonight I found out why. "I need to find my dog book, Mama, so I can dream about Mia (Gramps and Gramma's dog)." I reminded him about the rules of reading in bed. They get stories read before bedtime and then the lights go out. No straining the eyes in semi-darkness. Sam sweetly reassured me he wasn't going to look at it, only lay it beside him. Leah, who has been caught trying to read 'Cinderella' in the darkness and gotten in trouble for it before, pleaded, "but Mama, I need to take a few peeks to remind myself what colors I have to dream about! Otherwise I get their dresses all mixed up." Yah right.

See, I told you, makes for half decent, free entertainment, doesn't it!

Yup!

Well, dear secret Pal, if you read this blog you will see I used all the ingredients, even if it didn't end up very beautiful. :) Yes, my secret friend from church gave me all the fixin's for making a celebratory, yummy birthday cake. Now, there's a few things about making birthday cakes. a) there should be a bit of time cut out especially for the process. b) cake boxes should come with some simple decorating schemes. I didn't have either. Steve lovingly allowed me to go garage saleing sat. morning and the time I spent hunting for a specific sized shelf plus the time doing groceries plus some time spent getting my hair cut short again, took up from 8 - 12. Four hours by myself. It was special but I do hate wasting the time garage saleing when I don't find what I want.
Well, back to birthday cakes. I didn't have a lot of time left to decorate. As for ideas, I was going to make a sprig of flowers with the red gel and fill them in with sprinkles but the flowers weren't working out too well and so I quit before I made a real mess. Next time I'll look for an idea or two before I start.
The numbers... that's where I'm at. Sometimes hard to believe but really quite anti-climatic. Thirty sounds older but really my 3rd decade started with my 29th birthday (if you're confused, remember you live a whole year before you turn one). Yet, there is an incredible amount of blessings that have been poured on me in those 3o years. I hope and pray the Lord keeps me from taking all these things for granted.

Again, dear secret pal, it might not have looked designer but it tasted good and it was fun to have a real birthday cake. Thanks!
To all of you who continue to come back to read and keep up with us, thanks. I haven't had as much time or energy to blog faithfully but I'm thankful you continue to check in.

Catch Up

One of the things I was wondering about was how Sam was going to react to having Leah gone all day every day. My feeling was he was going to miss her alot. He does have him moments but for the most part he and Cam morphed into a comradeship quite easily.
They help Mom together.

They build houses for Papa together.

They go downstairs and outside together. They sit and listen to stories together. They come asking for snacks (hoping for candies) together. They have their occasional scrap together but for the most part they are enjoying this new stage. And I am so glad.

Then there is this funny boy. On Sunday he came upstairs with a ball under his shirt and we compared him to Aunty Rach (who's 9 months +). Yesterday he came upstairs, "look, 'ammy, my tummy ache." If only he knew! A few minutes later, ball on the floor, "look, 'ammy, tummy ache all gone," oh, if only it were so easy :)
Every once in a while he is considerate enough to remember that when he plays outside without shoes (which is almost all the time) he gets dirty feet. Then he kindly washes them, "by myself." If I stop giving him the benefit of the doubt I believe I will accuse him of just wanting to play with water. :)

But no matter how well Cam and Sam have adjusted to this new brotherhood thing there is no doubt in my mind Sam and Leah miss each other. Saturday I snuck these precious pictures. They were snuggled together on the couch, cheek to cheek, holding hands, and discussing everything they came across in Leah's new yearbook. So, while my heart was in a sentimental puddle on the floor I heard the last bit of conversation before they had to go brush their teeth. "So, you look through and find a girl you want to dream about and I'll find a boy I want to dream about." WHAT!!!??? Where did that come from?

So if it's true that "cleaning the house while children are growing is like shovelling the sidewalk while it's still snowing", then "settling in a new house with 4 children crawling is like shovelling the sidewalk while the blizzard is still bawling" must be equally as true.

It could be pointed out that not all 4 children at home this morning are crawling AND blizzards are more likely to howl than bawl and I would reply, "points taken but I couldn't think up better rhyming words on the spot".

I would also add that while that all might be true, the big point is that I feel like I'm shovelling the sidewalk with a teaspoon! (and please do not point out that I could be perusing through boxes and being useful instead of trying to make up pathetic adages while sitting down in front of the computer)

So, I'll add a few pictures and get back at it.

Happy first grader.

Envious brothers.

A gorgeous afternoon at the same old, same old wonderful park. Sure glad some things didn't change!

One of the activities this boy has taken up to deal with missing his sister.

A Little Stroll

I only wish I had remembered to keep quiet!

My heart swells. And the swift passing of time leaves a feeling similar to fright.

Lists & Boxes

I'm thinking I should follow after the shining example of Trichelle and start making some lists! Perhaps then I would feel organized enough to tackle all the things I've left behind to sit at the computer and type here a while. :) There are, of course, the odds n' ends types of boxes that wait sorting and redistribution in a new home. The types of boxes I open and quickly decide I don't really have the right spot for them. I'm struggling with office stuff and maybe you would know why if I ever get some pictures up here. :) I'm also unsure what to do with the big kids' special things. If I'm missing anything about our little house it is the shelving that was built right into the walls in the kids' rooms.

Anyone else ever feel overwhelmed by all the bits and pieces that need to be updated and dealt with when making a move? I'm starting to think my Dad and Mom sure had the right idea staying put on the same wonderful property!

Well, instead of whining let me tell you a bit of the fun things that have been going on here.
Cara has started walking as of last Sunday (just a few steps here and there and lots of standing around) and I'm hard pressed right now to thing of anything quite as thrilling as watching those first toddling steps. I'm really curious what Cody's going to do when he watches her move across the floor upright.
We properly broke the new house in during the first real family supper when Cam dumped his cup of milk over the table and floor. I should have made someone a bet on how long it would take!
Or how about Saturday morning's pancake making spree? I ran out of mix right before we moved and haven't yet remembered to buy more and so I thought I would be a kind mom and make them from scratch. I almost quit after the first egg,melted butter and milk mixture somehow dumped onto the counter and poured onto the floor. If it would have only dumped before I poured the melted butter in!!!
Leah surprised us all by being willing, no adamant, to have her own room in the basement. After all the bears and wolves stories they freaked themselves out with, I thought it would be months before any one of them would be willing to be alone in a dark room. Cam isn't thrilled to play there alone and tried on me the other day, "I no like basement" to which I patiently asked, "why not". "I 'cared," he replied, "lions coming". I'm glad they have good imaginations, but really!
Well, I could write on and on about things like all the love poured on us the last weeks. Things like my dear sister in law washing my kitchen/dining floor on her hands and knees (she's expecting her baby to arrive any day) or things like a friend who stopped by with a little gift and hit the nail right on the head with 4 letters that spell H-O-M-E. But instead of rambling on I think I'll call it quits and see what kind of pictures I can post over the next little while. I have work to do. :)