Pretty Sky

If that's not your shop the tree is resting on.

Last week had so much packed into it and there are still a few things worth sharing. On Monday night we had an incredible wind storm. Shortly before Leah went to bed there was a great big crash and I went to go look if the back door had smashed a window in. Nope but there were a few lawn chairs blowing about so I assumed they were the cause of the noise.

Later on, Steve discovered there were some florescent lights down in the shop. It didn't really make sense as it was obviously not windy in the shop. But then he spotted what the bright outside light was disguising.

This tree had come down on the shop roof. Now my photo doesn't really give a good overall picture but it was a little shocking to see this hanging over the sandbox.

Thankfully... it was a skinny tree. Thankfully the branches tended to shoot upwards so there wasn't really any branches attempting to go through the roof. It just sort of dropped down for a rest... in a bit of a rough sort of way.

But watching the leaning tower of pisa here did give us a few moments of concern. If we would have been paying close attention to the direction of the wind we would have been more worried for the neighbors but since we already had one tree on our roof, these VERY tall trees were making us a bit nervous. Especially cause it looked like the one was really ready to go. (You notice it goes from the bottom right corner up to the the top left)

All in all the next day's cold but sunny weather made for beautiful sky and I thought it smart to capture it the best I could. We are so thankful we were kept safe (the babies' room is at the corner of the house and I will admit I moved them out of their room for the first 1/2 of the night... until they woke up and realized they were on the couch...) and that even our property was kept from major damage.

It was something to be reminded that God controls the powerful winds!

Tie Tieing 101

Big Bro gives how to demonstration for Lil Sis.

Too cute. She'll be the classiest manager at Micky D's.

Ps. Don't you think Steve would look great in a pink and maroon damask tie on Sunday? ;)

Our Leah

Seven swift and healthy years.
God is good.

First Snow!

What a wonderful thing to observe a child's first snowfall. Be it the first snowfall of the season or the first noticed snowfall of a lifetime, the excitement is huge.

First, of course, comes the getting dressed. Fifteen minutes later the first one was already coming back inside, the last one was still trying to get all the pieces assembled in the correct order and one of the middle ones had made a huge mess.

It was partly my fault. I knew his boots were full of mud from visiting Daddy on the work site the day before and I should have known he would not just go out the door and stay out.

I should have locked the door behind him.

But I didn't so he came in to see if he could exchange his mittens for a different pair.

The footsteps came up the stairs....


and down the hallway onto the carpet.

The winter box had puked it's contents all about this room as 5 dear children madly dug for the items they thought they needed.

Then they went outside and played. Happily. For a very long time.

All except the first one who I mentioned earlier was in before the last went out. That was Cara. She came back in wimpering a bit and so I removed her boots and coat and told her to keep me company awhile.

'Cept when I wasn't looking she snuck back out the door in her socks and no coat. Figures!

These three had fun throwing snowballs at the living room window until Daddy came home and pulled them around the lawn on the infamous garbage can lid. I think they're finally won over. Ever since we moved they have periodically told us they like the old house better because Daddy could pull them around the back yard. Now that we got snow Steve finally proved to them that this house/yard is just as good!

This poor guy had to walk with his head permanently tipped back because his toque kept slipping over his eyes. I'm glad I got such a nice picture of his chin though because after this afternoon it will never be quite as seamless again.

I'm very thankful to tell you that by laying beside him on the doctor's "table" and clamping him down with the reminder that if he wiggled he would have to go to the hospital for stitches, we successfully glued his chin together and we were in and out of the clinic in 10 minutes. He didn't make a peep and was VERY cheerful company to run through Walmart with afterwards.

I say "we" because the sweet doctor said kind things to me about my effective "cuddling".

And when the top 2 still hadn't run out of steam the bottom 3 laughed and giggled while the snowballs hit the living room window. I had a much better picture of all the splats but it showed how abominably streaked the windows were so I opted for this poorer quality picture instead.

Not because I was worried what you would think of my windows but because I want to be able to look at this post without feeling like I should be doing something about the streaks.

I wish I had gotten a video of the kids first standing out there with their hands out stretched and getting snow in there hair. That's a pretty special joy, isn't it?

A Big Thank You

Dear Secret Friend,

I hope you can get a sense of the excitement my dear boy felt in getting to poke holes in the cake, aka multilating the dessert.


There's even cake on the end!

It was scrumptious, it was quick and easy, it was a do-it-again-sometime. Thanks ever so much!

For those of you interested.

1) bake a chocolate cake

2) let the one most interested poke it all over with a wooden spoon handle

3) pour sweetened condensed milk all over the cake and fill up those holes

4) pour some caramel sauce over the s.c.milk

5) cool in fridge a while

6) spread cool whip over existing deliciousness

7) drizzle with more caramel sauce

8) sprinkle with skor bar bits.

Now that you're drooling go work on your grocery list.

You're so welcome. I'm just nice like that. :)

And Holly...?! Jeff might not be long, black haired by the time you get here but he might be roundish. He liked that cake.

And I really like sharing cake with Jeff, you know why? He does my dishes on Wednesday nights. And sweeps the floor. And finishes off with a neatly folded cloth beside the sink. I would post a picture but while Jeff does all he can for my dishes, he can't get rid of all the piles of this and that on the counter. And you'll see them soon enough!

Did you know that about Jeff, Holly? Next time he visits make sure your Mom knows that Jeff's really good at doing dishes. ;)

A Motherhood Post

Because I need to pretend that you care enough to wonder what I did all day :)

Here it is in all its frustrating laundry-ness. My babies - they tell me as soon as they wet or dirty their diaper. It goes something like this.

"Dirdy diaper, Mama, change it" "come, Mama, come right now!" And I figure if they're that desperate to have it changed they can figure out a better way.

My babies - they enjoy going on the toilet and do so often. I figure there's no use waiting until they're nearly 3 and then fighting them because they've suddenly gotten scared of the idea.

But, going on the toilet when Mom thinks about it when you're still wearing a diaper and going on the toilet when Mom thinks about it and you're wearing an underwear are two entirely different things. Worlds apart, really. Or, mountains apart. Mountains of laundry apart.

Never mind the wet puddles and stinky floors.

I do set the timer, I really do. But they can never go when the bell starts to ring. Always about 15 minutes later.

So, if you're not of the motherhood realm and I still haven't grossed you out yet, here's the tally.

Cody - 7 pairs of underwear
- 2 pairs of pants

Cara - 3 pairs of underwear
- 1 pair of pants.

The only reason there were so few pairs of pants is because I got a bit wiser after the 3rd pair and turned up the heat as opposed to wearing clothes to ward off the chill.

And the Cara to Cody difference? He pees about 32 times more per hour than she does.


And while there were victories along the way let me still add that much to my dismay those underwear are not all just wet.

Tomorrow, here we come!

a youtube video

Reaquainted myself with this one this morning.

It's a daddy's version of Pachebel's cannon in D and there are parts that still make me laugh out loud no matter how many times I watch it.

But the ending's the kicker. Those crazy moments are really moments, not the sum total.

She Watched, She Begged...

And I agreed.

And tried not to do too much of this. Like interfere. Or cringe. Or correct.And tried to remind myself she's not going to care if her first seam was straight. It's only gonna matter that she sewed it. Herself.

And this afternoon when one of my darlin's had trailed about 150 meters of elastic all about the kitchen it went kind of like this. "Darlin' (insert name of little sparkle eyed girl here) you are NOT allowed to touch anything off Mama's sewing table. That's Mama's stuff, okay?!" Then Leah added her two bits, "and it's my stuff too 'cause I also work there now, right Mom?"

So in about 3 years when Leah finishes her second seam and we get around to completing the jammies we'll show 'em off here and you'll see her smile of accomplishment yourself. And you'll see I'm a few hairs grayer.

Ps. Did anyone else's Mom make them pin the whole long seam before starting sewing? Next project we'll get a pattern so all the seams line up and it's a little less frustrating!

Thought for the Day

I read this on a fellow busy mom's blog and it struck me. Like between the eyes.

She was referring to a conversation with a precious friend about the different situations that come up in life.


"There are a lot of factors at play..."
Indeed there always are. And usually we don't know the half. When in doubt, apply grace.


That can apply to anything/everything. It can be the looking into the eyes of a naughty child while trying to get to the bottom of a screaming sibling. It can be listening to the struggle of a friend when we don't know all the details. It can be the glance at the person holding the "hungry, no work, please help" sign on the street corner. It can be much, much more.

I tend to be too harsh.

When in doubt, apply grace.

I hope I remember next time. Even if I'm trying to get supper done and my nerves are tingling.

Introducing...

Did you know Jeff wears a wig? Or wait is that a coonskin cap?

A what? A wig! Are you sure? Maybe that's natural.

Hey, Jeff, you have some hair in your face.

Holly are you sure you dare come out this way?!

I personally prefer the black version, go for it, Jeff!

An Update... on a few things

We did find the boys a bunk bed and these three have spent hours downstairs playing school, moms and dads, friends (an actual game here, you hear in the morning, "com'on, let's go play friends") and who knows what all else. I haven't decided on the how's and where's of the furniture down there yet but it'll come... sooner or later.



Yup, I'm one of those mom's who fills the dressup box with 75% off post Halloween costumes.

My two pretty princesses. Can you believe it?!! Leah's not wearing blue!

And I couldn't resist a couple of $1.24 wigs... way too much fun.

This is actually a long wig that I braided to somewhat preserve it. I do have a really great picture of Cam with the braid over his shoulder... :)

And here I just finished telling Sam to smile because I was going to print these up to give to his friends at school. I got this picture and then he wouldn't put another wig on.

Today was the kind of beautiful day that could only come into exsistence by way of a Divine Designer. It was incredible. Part of it's beauty was because yesterday was a very blustery fall day. The kind that has cold, driving rain and LOTS of it.

Yesterday we were in BFM and Cam spotted some umbrellas. He insisted we needed them so I caved and we got them. They wanted to play outside but I insisted it was TOO cold and rainy.

Today we went for a walk, we couldn't help BUT go for a walk. The boys insisted on taking the umbrellas. It was GREAT! The umbrellies already have given back their $1 value each on just this walk and we didn't even get wet or cold trying them out!

Cody's first thing to do is look out for helicopters and throw them up and watch them come swirling down. Wonderful, simple pleasures.

And then we made some leaf piles. If you notice the hill is kind of green. Well, if you had been walking YOUR dog in the park this afternoon you would have seen this crazy lady shovelling all the leaves on the hillside down to the bottom so the kids would have a great big pile... or two. I did it doggy fashion, faced uphill and sent leaves flying backwards through my legs. The kids' giggles were well worth the LOOKS.

Much of this running downhill and tumbling into the leaf piles was done with the umbrellas in hand. It's a good thing we didn't invest too much in them. This type of activity does little to retain the original shape.

This was a millisecond before Cam accidently munched Cara into the mud beneath the hill's surface.

God is so good! Not only do we have the blessing of gorgeous weather but also the blessings of health to run around, safety - no wars, peaceful neighborhood, cameras for recording, ability to be a stay-at-home mom and a bed to crash in when the day is done.

It's where I'm headed right now. Night all. May you also have the blessing of such a gorgeous day come tomorrow.