Before the spots

This girlie came running to me, "MOM, do you like my BEAUTIFUL hair?!!!"

Never mind that it's just as messy as her face!

the polka spots...

Many of you have kindly asked after Sam and the shingles situation. I'm thankful to be able to tell you that while he did have the rash for about 1 week it didn't seem to bother him or slow him down much at all. The predicted pain did not, thankfully, play out and some have suggested it was because we got him onto the medication so quickly. Whatever the case, he didn't seem to be affected at all.

His siblings, on the other hand, were ready recipients for the chicken pox that shingles is notorious for passing on. Thanks for warning me, Steph! It was nice to be expecting it instead of surprised with their appearance after 2 weeks.

Thankfully, they too don't seem to be too bothered by it, more proud of their many spots than annoyed.

And while Cara's spots are super concentrated on her neck and in her hair, Cody has a bum that's more red than not.

And this morning Cam woke up with 2 suspicious spots so hopefully he'll get it over and done with right away too!

On a Gray Rainy Day...

It seems very appropriate to ponder all things sunny. Last Saturday, on one of the few sunny days of the spring break, our collective families all met at the farm to do some work, some organization and some general spruce-upping. It was a grand time. It reaffirmed my philosophy that kids that are brought up in the country are extra spoiled indeed.

There were the stashed full rides on the bob cat and the ranger and any other piece of equipment that had to move more than 5 feet.

How many guys does it take to fill the potholes on the driveway? ;)

One squashed uncle and four delighted sight see-ers!

The ladies made quick work of empting out the old shop and cleaning it to the point of pressure washing the floor. Side note: Dad we cannot be held responsible for anything "missing" via the garbage bin! Too bad we didn't have a true before shot but it was neat to see the different piles head to their proper spots in the new shop.

Shelly is, of course, absolutely amazing perched on the branches of the old apple tree pruning wildly giving no thought to the risk of a broken arm ;)

Headed off to set the burn pile on fire. This is probably not the most passengers Uncle Brian carried at one time, especially after a few kids hopped in the back. I've been meaning to ask him if Cara spent half the time hollering because I probably can't count on my two hands the times she has since told me about the scary fire they made.

Cody got really lucky the time he didn't have to share the space!

Every body pitched in one way or another. Cara did a lot of wagon pulling.

There was so much more we could have gotten pictures of. Lunch on the newly washed slab, first supper of the year on the lawn, kids working, kids playing but there is one picture I'm still kicking myself for not capturing. That would be the one of Sam sitting on Steve's shoulders in the middle of the raspberry field. Why should I have sprinted the 1.5 kms from the back field to the house to get the camera? Because not only was Steve pruning the raspberries with Sam perched on top, but Sam ALSO had a foot long pruning shear which he was using to cut the raspberry canes just a bit shorter.

Steve may or may not have gotten a hair cut that beautifully sunny Saturday afternoon!

ps. it isn't 1.5 kms from back field to the house so there really isn't any excuse :)

The kids were asking for special spring break events and so their creative Daddy told them to get their pillows and blankets. We were going to have a sleepover.

We had just put down this super piece of carpet courtesy of Brian and Leanne and it was way cushier than any tent floor I've ever slept on. Warmer too! I did warn Steve I had still a lot of work to do so it was going to be his priviledge to talk them down from HYPER to sleepy! It only took about 2 hours until they were all asleep.

And you can bet your boots that the girl in the middle was DELIGHTED when her littlest brother and sister insisted they both wanted to sleep beside her and then proceeded to snuggle in like bugs on a rug. Wait.... that pretty much sums it up nicely!

As for the Mom and Pop team of this operation. Pop, the instigater and follow througher was asleep the minute his head hit the pillow while Mom, the one who doesn't stir a muscle when the robbers cut the locks and empty the shop of food and tools, heard every single snuffle and shuffle those dear kids made.

I will admit that at 5:45 I asked Steve if I could go back upstairs to catch some sleep. And then I told him he was welcome to have a camp out whenever he felt he had energy to do so, but this was my first and last time. Party pooper, hey?! :)

Super Fun!

Steve and I went out for supper last night courtesy of Laura who gave us a (second :) ) gift certificate and babysitting as a last secret friend gift.

I picked up frozen pizza all in the name of thoroughly enjoying the night off and left the dear ones in her very capable hands.

We first headed to the river for a brisk, chilly, refreshing walk on which I requested a dozen photos to remember this fun night. After getting numerous hilarious self portraits we set up the timer on a bench.
Off we headed to Boston Pizza where we, yup we did, hauled in the scrabble game to a few strange looks and enjoyed a mostly quiet night of great food, superb company and a neck and neck game of scrabble. The SCORE sillies, WE were sitting on opposite sides of the table! :)

Maybe it was the sunny, spring like day that preceeded the evening. Maybe it was getting the walk in first while we could still enjoy the beauty of the trail. Not sure, but it was a fantastic evening.

A big huge thanks from all of us, Laura!

Spring break week 1 has already sprung past in a dizzingly whirl of days.

Day 1: up early to meet Nana Lynn who's moving her very wet horses to the farm by Gramps & Gramma. Leah spends next 2 hours tagging after Nana Lynn while the boys (somewhat cheerfully) help their dear Mother clean the new shop. After some sweeping and pick up we make a fire and roast marshmellows in the rainy, soggy fire pit. We are only slipping through 2 inch deep mud :) Leah stays to sleepover and everyone else comes home with mom. We get some work done and then go wish Mr. Van Brugge surprise birthday wishes at Uncle Brian and Auntie Leanne's.

Day 2: Leah's having a blast at Gramma's - rode horse with Nana Lynn for a good long while. Boys + Cara meanwhile go to bring some birthday greetings to Auntie Erin and get invited to stay and play awhile...dear Mother enjoys a cup of tea. Then we race on home, eat lunch, scrub our teeth and head off to the university dentist for two boys. Race home again, heat up soup, pour down 4 throats and get Leah off to vaulting. Dentist visiting boys are now sleeping over at Gramma's.

Day 3: Head out with "babies" ("WE'RE NOT BABIES, WE'RE TWINS!!!!") and Leah to Auntie Krista's to play with some cousins and make cards together. Instead of just the dear Mothers making cards we have 4 extra girlies cutting paper, gluing and discovering the delights of Auntie Leanne's Slice machine. We get to stay for lunch, head home, do a little bit of work. They we get a call from Gramma that Sam's got a weird rash thinks it's shingles, do a bit of research, get Sam home. Go to clinic #1 - find out we're 40 minutes early for opening time, walk over to ER find out what other clinic's might be open. We look at the clock and think the 15 minute drive over to clinic #2 is better than sitting 40 minutes in a parking lot. Get to said clinic only to be told the wait is 1.5 - 2 hours long. Head back to clinic #1 thinking the waste of gas drive killed 25ish minutes, we'll wait the last 15 at the door. OH NO! The line up at clinic #1 has grown those past 25 minutes. It's gone from looking deserted to having a line up from door to road.
We head back home a little stressed because of all that's still to happen yet tonight. Get home, Steve's made sandwiches for everyone to eat, tensely discuss situation over cucumbers and chocolate sprinkles (NOT together) head for the phone, discuss some more and Steve makes some decisions. He'll head back to the clinic #1 and wait out the line up with Sam and Cam, dear mother takes everyone else that has a 6:20 appointment at the university dentist, and then we can hopefuly reconvene before the special prayer service begins at church at 7:30!!! Well, I called Steve from the UFV dental clinic phone and told him I would meet him at church and exchange Leah for Cam. He could take her with him and I would take everyone else home. He may or may not have successfully dashed in the door on time.

Day 4: Spent the day sewing with a young friend. FUN! All the kids came along and played at her house, her and her dear mother babysat my children while I spent another hour waiting in the doctor's office to have a mole removed from my back (in less than 5 minutes - the equation usually seems so unbalanced!) and then same dear mother even invited our family to share supper with them while the sewing was more or less completed!

Day 5: We stayed home. The whole day. WOW!!!

But we spent the entire day baking.

Leah was the most confident. Can do much of the baking on her own and in doubling her recipe was only confused by 1 3/4. She drew it up on paper and had it figured out quickly. Her boterkoek looked very yummy if not a little dark.

Sam was the most intrigued. He read his friend Kerwin's recipe for Texas brownies out of his KG cookbook and enjoyed trying to figure it out on his own.

Cam was the most laid back. He has had a few more times to help in the last months and for the most part he took it all in stride. He was very quick to pick rootbeer cookies and very quick to try and convince me to do his eggs for him. Apparently he lost some eggshells in the pancake batter at Gramma's.

Cara was the most squeamish. At least when it came to doing eggs. She gently tapped until I told her if she didn't tap any harder she would still be tapping when Daddy came home. So she gave a nice solid tap, stuck her thumbs into it and promptly crushed her egg into pieces. She was so disgusted she dropped the entire business into the bowl and then inspected her hands as though they were going to wipe themselves all over her face.

Then she went looking for her eggs....and shells. No worries her applesauce muffins came out of the oven looking just grand.

Cody was the most entertaining...by far. But he sure likes it that way! :) After going to wash his hands he came back with sparkly eyes and asked, "okay Mom, are we ready for the 'gredients?"

"Ingredients," I let him know. And everytime after that he carefully added those first two letters. When I asked him what he thought the first ingredient should be, he joyfully crowed, "SUGAR!"

When Cam came past and saw Cody had cracked his first egg he cautioned him about the danger of careless cracking and ending up with shells in his blueberry muffins. "It's okay," reassured Cody, "Mom's already fishin' them out!" :) :)

Yup, it was a (mostly) fun day. Rest assured by the end of it dear Mother was a bit tense, quite cranky and thoroughly tired. I told Carolyn on the phone that the kitchen floor was so dirty I had to take my crocs off when leaving the kitchen because I couldn't bear to think what I was tracking all over the house by keeping them on. I will not tell you how quickly I shooed the kids out of our room when I found them playing on our bed still wearing the socks they had worn on said kitchen floor. I may or may not cry if I find egg shells or sugar between my sheets tonight!

And just in case you think my post from last week about me and preparing food was all lies and just an immature way to gain sympathy and sweet comments from loving readers like yourselves? :)

Well, this is the pile of applesauce muffin bottoms that dear mother had to cut off Cara's 2 dozen muffins. :):):) Yup, they LOOKED great from the top but the bottoms were a disaster! I blame my oven.

Thanks for sticking through to the end, dear friends. I feel better already for having typed it all out. There is something to be said about justification for exhaustion once seeing it all in black and white! :) And please forgive me if it reads as much of a whirl as it was lived!

Strange...

bordering on weird :) is the fact that this is the kind of scrabble game that makes Steve smile (and forces us to use the dictionary). I think you have to watch it once to understand the victory that comes with adding a letter to the middle of a clump to make the words up and down all work without a space.
Strange is the weather during this spring break that swings from pouring rain to hail to sunshiney skis to snow. But it did sure look pretty, the snow that is. The rain just can't help look anything but soggy.
Strange is the fact that Sam was diagnosed with a case of shingles tonight. Anybody else out there ever experience it in a little one? He's on some expensive meds (as of tonight) and has been told to expect some nasty pain and discomfort.

Hopefully we can post some sun pictures soon!

so thankful for him ;)

this post is my attempt at sharing a funny moment only. No need to flood the comment section with reassurances!

Let it be noted that my lack of "gormet cook" status has been admitted on more than one occasion within the files that make up this blog. Add "unorganized" to the list of my fairest qualities and you will notice that if you want to read these other stories you will have to read this blog post by post to find them. :)

Last night as I stood folding wash at the kitchen table I drew a deep breath and said to Steve, "I'm not very confident when it comes to feeding other people."

Now, I'm not entirely sure what kind of response I was hoping for but I would admit I was probably looking for some reassurance.

Apparently I will have to become much more blatent in my hints because Steve's response to my confession?

"Yah, you'll probably be one of those old ladies who's always bringing people a meal and they'll always be saying 'she means well, even if she can't cook.'" :) :)

What could I do but start to sing the children's version of 1Thess 5:11? "encourage one another and build eachother up!" :) :)

Laughter does much good in the face of insecurity (and pride)! :)

Sweet Boys

Yesterday Leah and Sam had a day off school. It was a marvelous day...not only because the sunshine allowed for 3+ hours of outside play time!

At one point I turned around from doing wash to see these two boys playing board games together. the next time I came past they had found this brand new game of UNO I was preserving until the other game was filed under "g".

They obviously were enjoying themselves. I thought to ask if Sam's stack of skip-your-turns had anything to do with faulty shuffling but I decided to leave them alone.
I was thankful to catch them both looking up at me at the same time...

I asked them to move in closer and give me this...

So Cam took advantage of the situation and giggling planted a smooch on Sam's forehead (I neither asked for nor suggested this action, only enjoyed it!)...

Sam, of course, in the name of all things manly, defended himself by grabbing Cam by the scruff of his neck.

Which only increased the giggles...

And encouraged Cam to try and sneak another kiss, which had Sam giving Cam the beats some more, which brought on more giggles...and on and on...

It's a precious thing to have a brother.

So spoiled

We finally did it! We went out and found ourselves a new van. And having talked much about it by Saturday morning the kids were very excited about the whole idea.

So excited they spent 2 1/2 hours playing "going to Opa & Nana's house". They lined up the kitchen chairs, got all the supplies needed and off they went.
It boggles my mind that for something like this there is no argument at all. Everyone has a place and it seems that they are all content knowing how it "should" be. Sam's the dad (and he carries the shotgun), Leah's the mom taking care of everything dad can't while driving. Cam's a willing big kid and Cody and Cara the little kids while they willingly held a little car seat with a doll between them to be the baby! They spent a bunch of time filling up laundry baskets with everyone's pillow, special blankets, pj's, books and toys. Each one also had a water cup!

After having gone about 2 years with no tape player/CD player one of the highlights they were anticipating was a vehicle with a CD player. My kids, like probably all other kids out there, love music and it never fails to amaze me how the music calms everyone down. Beyond their wildest dreams was the fact that the new van was DVD player inclusive! The best part was how this info translated into their play. I tried to get some video (but may have failed) of them all singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star at the top of their lungs when Leah mom "pushed" the CD into the player at the front of their van. Also a great moment for entertainment was when Leah held up a DVD case for them to "watch" after their many appeals to her for a video. It was funny enough that she held it up and they were willing to call the case their video but the fact that they started up with a running commentary on the video they were supposedly watching made it down right hilarious.

As for Sam's shot gun? Well, as dad it was his duty to dispense with all the wild pigs, fighting bears, moose and all other manner of wild life anyone happened to spot and call out. "Dad, dad, stop the van!!!!!!!!!!! There's a wolf out there! Where's the gun?" Sam would screech his van to a halt, jump out, yell for Cam to get out of his line of fire and bring his mini hockey stick up to draw bead on whatever "dangerous" creature was peacefully grazing at the highway's edge. (actually, the kids all gave reasons why the shooting was necessary.... "the black bear's fighting the grizzly!" "the wolf is chasing us!")

Our 2008 chevy uplander that has already seen a wet and dirty highway and a very wet and muddy farm yard.

I wouldn't necessarily say that the buying itself was a tonne of fun but we learnt a lot and we are VERY thankful for the van on our driveway. I would hazard a guess though, that if the salespeople at the dealership had to do it again they would reword the sign hanging from the rearview mirror FROM "SOLD to very nice people" to just a plain "SOLD". Maybe I was just too suspicious of car salesmen :) But despite some bumps it's now done.

SO very, very thankful.

And today when I asked them what we should all do in the spring break, the first and loudest answer was, "DRIVE TO OPA AND NANA'S!!!!!!!!"