Some Humour

Needed a bit of humour lately?! The kids have the sniffles and fevers, we are fighting it and John has one last exam on Tuesday. I can't wait for a break!!!

Even if we are tired and a tad grumpy, I love my kiddos so, so, so much! Even when they are tired, whiny and impossible to deal with (especially the 3 year old), I have moments like these that make me smile and thank God each and every day for them!

I am not sure what he is pretending to be or do here, but most likely it has something to do with Cowboys or Pirates!

HAHA, gotta love this shirt that was a hand-me-down from our friends in Australia.

Someone found a new favourite toy--the doorstop! She was so, so proud of herself!

What a ham! Enough said!

Two more

So I forgot that we went to visit Santa and got a picture on Saturday. I will have to go back and make a layout about that. John wrote a final on Saturday morning and then after he got back we ventured out into the cold and went to the Mall in Balzac. They were doing free Santa pictures at Bass Pro Shop. Well, you get what you pay for--right. So yeah, I wasn't too impressed with the quality of the picture, but it was free and we didn't have to wait in a long line. Plus they had some crafts for Zech to do throughout the mall, so it was a nice afternoon out.

Dec. 9 layouts

Here's a two-pager for the 9th.

Christmas Day 6

Here is Day 6! I am falling behind.....

Thanks to Crystal for nominating me for this little award! What a sweet, nice surprise! I am going to play along, however I don't know if I have seven people to nominate?

Once the award is accepted, the nominee has to do the following:

•Thank the sender for nominating you.

•make sure you link to the person who nominated you.

•Copy the logo onto your blog

•List seven interesting things about yourself.

•Nominate Seven Kreative Bloggers.

•Post links to their Blogs

•Leave a comment for each letting them know of their nomination.

So here are some random tidbits that you might not know about me:

1. I hate the cold! I am so NOT a Winter person, it is sad! I love having a White Christmas, but that is it! I would love to have Summer year round!

2. If I had the money I would be a Professional Student. I don't necessary want to get the 'Piece of Paper'--I just want to take courses that truly interest me and that I know I would have a blast learning and studying!

3. I took my first plane ride when I was in Grade 11 (Bamfield Trip) and now I can't count how many plane rides I have been on since.

4. I wish I knew more languages! I also wish that I could get my Spanish back to the level it was!

5. I took piano lessons for 12 years and now it has been 12 years since I touched the piano! Sad I know, but hopefully soon that will change and we will be able to get a piano and provide the kids with lessons.

6. I have to ask to lie down whenever I get a needle. Even if it is just a blood test, otherwise I will pass out cold. I am not sure how I have survived two pregnancies with two c-sections! Thank goodness I never saw the Spinal needle!

7. I always wanted 5 kids. Twins and Triplets! Doesn't that tell you how NAIEVE I was!

I'm going to pass this award on to:

Melanie (maybe you will blog a little more if I try and force you too! :o)

Aunty Elaine (I have been missing your posts too!)

And that is all that I know of.....

Genesis at 6 Months

My baby is half a year old already! We are so blessed to have her in our lives!

So at 6 Months Genesis:

- Weighs 19 lbs. (about 8 kg)

- Is 27 1/2 inches long.

- Wears mostly 12 month clothing.

- Wears size four disposables.

- Is finally on a routine during the day. Morning nap at 10:00 am for an hour to an hour and a half and an afternoon nap at 2:00 pm for an hour or more--depends. At least she is napping good now!

- Started sleeping through the night last week for a week. It was great!! It's back to never sleeping now since she got sick. Erghhh!

- Is almost crawling!

- Loves to be on the floor and she goes everywhere. We have to do some serious GG proofing here soon. While she isn't crawling, she uses her arms and legs to push herself along the floor.

- Still loves the Jolly Jumper! I wish we could take it everywhere we go! She loves to jump on our laps too!

- Is still sooo smiley and happy. We are told all the time that she is the happiest baby ever!

- Is really starting to get vocal. She chatters away all the time to herself. She is even saying DADA! John thinks that is pretty cool (even if she doesn't realize what she is saying)!

- Sits up on her own.

- Is eating solids three times a day now. She loves her cereal and doesn't mind her veggies. Still not a huge fruit fan.

- Loves, loves, loves her bath time!

- Got Scarlet Fever and is on her first antibiotics.

- Has exzema and this weird skin irritation that we thought was exzema, but got worse and looked infected. The doctors were even really perplexed by it, so we have three different creams we are supposed to try on it.

- Sits in the shopping cart now with her big brother and she loves it.

- Loves stories and books.

- Loves her daddy and gets so excited when he comes home. She plays shy with him--it is so funny and cute!

- Had her first little ponytail!

Dec. 4th & 5th layouts

When I started this, I knew that I would not be able to complete every single day, but was going to try. So I missed the 3rd already, but I am not going to stress out about it and will just continue on with the days that I do have. While the prompts that Jessica Sprague provides for each day of this course are really great, I find that I want to capture more of what we are doing right in the moment. However, there are also some great ideas from the prompts that I wouldn't mind recording as well. So I am kind of mixing things up a little--creative liscensing--right! :o)

So here are my posts for Dec. 4th & 5th.

Dec. Second layout

Here it is! I still have to finish a few things on it, but that will come later! :o)

I wasn't going to put that picture of us on it as I look HORRIBLE! However, it truly indicates how I felt yesterday with ZERO sleep, no make-up on, and bedhead, dealing with a sick little girl and an active little boy that seemed to wake up earlier than ever. I think I was even wearing an old tattered sweat shirt of John's---sad I know! Oh the memories! :o)

Decmber 2nd & Scarlet Fever.....

My page for today will have to be posted tomorrow. See already I am falling behind! :o(

Genesis has Scarlet Fever and some weird skin irritation thing going on, so today was a day of snuggling, cuddles and a lot of stories! The last two nights have been really rough. She just hasn't been sleeping and at least now we know why. The antibiotics seem to be helping and she had two really long naps today too! So I pray that she will sleep good tonight so I can get some sleep!

So tomorrow I will post my 2nd layout, but for tonight I thought that I would post this really cool email that we got. Have you ever wondered the true meaning of the song "12 Days of Christmas"? Check this out--pretty cool!

There is one Christmas Carol that has always baffled me.
What in the world do leaping lords, French hens,
swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won't come out
of the pear tree have to do with Christmas?
This week, I found out.

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics.
It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.
-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.

-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.

-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.

-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

-Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.

-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.

-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.
-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.

-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

So there is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me and I found it interesting and enlightening and now I know how that strange song became a Christmas Carol...so pass it on if you wish.'

Merry (Twelve Days of) Christmas Everyone

December First

The course that I signed up for has been really great and has really forced us to put a bit of time and thought into what we want our family to celebrate, honour and cherish during this wonderful season. I am so excited to start this and make a Christmas album along with lots of different traditions and values that we have and to see how things will change throughout the years.

I really want to do a Hybrid album, but for now I am going to do all digital and then see how things go and how much time I have. The cool thing about the way this class is set up, is that Jessica has provided templates for hybrid, traditional and digital scrappers. So these tags that you see, I could print them off at home and then paste them on my page for a more hybrid effect and then I could add my own embellishments such as brads, eyelets, etc.

I just hope that I can keep up and have the time to do this. I am not going into this unrealistically though. While there are materials for EVERY day in December, I just may not be able to do something everyday. I will try though, even if it is something simple like reading the Christmas story in the Bible, or reading Charlie Brown, etc. So here we go my frist layout (which just happens to be a two-page layout). I still want to add a few things, but that will happen when I get them printed out.

GrEightful....

Oh this week has been a long one. It is crunch time now for John and he has had papers and assignments galore. Not to mention FINALS are coming up here soon. So the kids and I have had to have a few suppers by ourselves, but soon we will have more time with Dad!

This week I am grateful for:

1.) My husband who is studying and working so hard and has such a huge desire to do well and succeed! I LOVE HIM so much!! :o)

2.) My beautiful little boy who has such a great personality, infectious laugh and adorable imagination. Did you know that I (yes I his mother) am his Princess....oh and he is my cowboy (sometimes my Larry cowboy--depending on his mood). So we walk around all day calling eachother by our new names. It is so funny to hear him call me Princess! :o) Man he cracks me up!

3.) Our little Ms. Smiley! She just melts everyone's hearts with her adorable, infectious smiles. She is such a happy baby!

4.) Great friends and the chance to have supper and spend time with them. They are also very willing to try our international cooking attempts. We had an Asian meal and tried making Bulgolgi (Korean BBQ) for them. It was a huge success!

5.) A super flexible and understanding Bible Study Group!

6.) The Bible and Salvation.

7.) The free "Holidays In Hand" course at Jessica Sprague's website. I am super excited to start some of our own Christmas Traditions and to really try and focus on what the Christmas season means for us and our family. I think this course will really help me focus on what values and beliefs are so extremely important to us. I

8.) Great books that are really speaking to us and helping us to be better parents, better partners and better servants and that are God centered!

One Word

Our church just wrapped up this awesome series called "One Word". Unfortunately we missed a lot of the series, but we were able to catch the last two sermons. Last week the sermon was just amazing! One of those sermons that just spoke to us and that really confirmed a lot of things that we have been praying about and have had to deal with.

You can view the sermon here if you so desire. However I will tell you a bit about the message because I am feeling bold and have this huge desire to share (doesn't happen too often--being bold that is)! :o)

The question the pastor asked was: What is your view of Scripture?

Think about that for a moment.....how do you view scripture. Do you believe in it? Do you think it is just a bunch of stories that have zero relevance for today's times? Is it a piece of history and that is it? Is it God breathed or a bunch of guys who decided to sit around and put together a book? Do you have a high opinion or a low opinion of the Bible? Do you read it, study it, revere it?

I have to be completely honest here, up until I met my wonderful husband and became a Christian, I didn't have a very high opinion of the Bible. It was just a book that made zero sense and that was so hard to read most times and it wasn't relevant, that is what I thought. When I became a Christian, I knew that I needed to start reading it and try and understand it.
My husband (boyfriend at the time I became a Christian) really stressed the importance of reading the Bible and really challenged me. He also really helped me to understand a lot of it and still does. I value his knowledge and I really value the times we have discussing scripture and of course trying to encourage and build one another up so that we can live by the Word (but we are not perfect and we do stumble and trip and fall a lot).

Anyways, the sermon spoke about how your view of Scripture will determine what you do with Scripture; study it, read it, revere it, obey it, spread it. The Bible College instructors that our pastor had, placed such a huge emphasis on the students' view of Scripture (this is not the case in MANY Christian Universities today unfortunately). The instructors taught that the quality of your personal walk with the Lord and the effectiveness of your ministry will be determined by your view of Scripture. WOW!!!

My husband has always quoted this Scripture and it was also a key verse for this series.

Hebrews 4:12

12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

The Word is our Sword and our defense. Jesus quoted Scripture over and over again and even used it as his 'sword' when he was tempted by the devil. It was just really cool to see how important the WORD is at our church and how devoted as a church they are in seeing that everyone gets into the Word. The sermon today was amazing too and they taught us a method on how to read and reflect on the Word that I am soooo excited about and have never heard before.

YUMMY...

So last night we had these for supper..........

and they were so delicious!! They are Addictive Sweet Potato Burritos.

My friend Heather had them posted on her blog and I was trying to get together a weekly menu plan (a few days late) and thought that they sounded easy and yummy! We were not disappointed!!

I told John about them and of course the first thing he asked is if they had meat, but they didn't. So naturally I was a little worried as to weather or not he would like them. But he did and he took leftovers for lunch!!

Zech was a different story. He is in this phase where if it doesn't look like something he knows, he won't try it. So it took a bit of pleading and some threatening, as he stated numerous times that he didn't like it but he had not even tried it yet! Erghh. I must say that the book Green Eggs and Ham, has been a life saver. We read it quite a bit and we talk about how he was convinced he didn't like the green eggs and ham, but then he tried it and was pleasantly surprised. I use this lots and it works with Zech!! So once we had a discussion about him either eating his supper or he could go to bed, and then we talked about green eggs and ham, he ate it all up!! Oh the things you go through to get your child to eat healthy! :o)

Just another note. The recipe makes more than enough for a small army. Heather had said that she halfed the recipe and I meant to, but didn't. So I have leftovers. I didn't make enough sweet potatoes, so I put the bean mixture in a tupperware and froze it. We will have it another day when I am in a pinch. Also I had another container of the sweet potato and bean mixture leftover, so i froze lunches for John and we have leftovers. Last, I didn't have kidney beans so I used black beans and it still tasted great.

Hope you get a chance to try these----they really are yummy (and I am not even a big sweet potato fan).

GrEightful

It's been a while since I did one of these lists, so I figured I should do one.

So this week I am grateful for:

1. Nice weather!! Today was 12 degrees and yesterday was 14! For the middle of November I figure that is pretty darn good! (I am so dreading the snow.....)

2. A visit from my Mom! I didn't take a single picture---I can't believe that!!!:o( Mom you will just have to come again so that I can take loads of pictures to make up! :o)

3. A night out with my hubby. We did take GG with us, but we had too as she has been so fussy and unpredictable lately with her teeth. Thanks to Mom and Bill for watching Zech! It was nice to have some 'quieter' time! ;o)

4. Two beautiful kids who I love and cherish more than I can ever put into words!

5. The Bible!

6. A great Bible Study group! We all have kids and we all understand what it is like so this group is laid back, flexible and committed to the Lord!

7. Packages from good friends (thanks to the Vianello's--they are waaayyyy too good to us)! We are so blessed!

8. A great friend who takes awesome pictures! Thanks so much Heather! We are so happy with the pictures you took! She got some awesome ones of the kids that I can't wait to blow up and frame! Check out the sneak peak on her blog.

Genesis at 5 months

Five months already, I know I say this every month, but it really is going by way TOOOO fast!

Genesis at 5 Months:

- weighs 18 lbs. 3 oz.

- is 27 inches long

- wears size 4 disposable diapers (they are a little too big, but no more leaks!)

- is wearing 6-12 month clothing, and some 9 month clothing and some 12 month clothing (no more 6 month clothing)

- has two teeth and is working on some more (she is not a good teether)!

- is sleeping worse than ever. This past month has been horrible!! She is up every two hours!

- started solids and loves her cereal, hates fruit and loves her veggies. She was so ready, but unfortunately it is not helping with the sleeping!!

- Is trying to crawl! She rolls all over the place and she is now going up on her knees. She also does the worm quite well and pulls herself forward (too fast---ahhhhh I am not ready for this!).

- Is still our little smiley monkey. She is such a happy baby!

- Loves her bathtime still.

- Is finally on some sort of a schedule during the day. Naps in the morning around 10 and then in the afternoon around 2:00. (our afternoon naps are still all over the place as that is generally when we go out and have play dates or shopping, errands, etc.)

- Loves her big brother and he adores her. They are so stinkin cute together!

- Doesn't want to be in her exersaucer anymore. :o(

- Likes stories and loves when we sing songs.

- Loves our prayer time---she just smiles and giggles the whole time when her brother says his prayers.

- Is very vocal lately.

- Adores her daddy and gets so excited when he comes home.

- LOVES her Jolly Jumper and could spend all day in it. She is crazy and she gets air in the thing!

- Is starting to get massive amounts of hair. Ok, she has always had hair, but it has really started to come in now and fill in those bald spots! :o)

- Is starting to get angry when we take a toy away or when she can't have something that she thinks she should have.

- We have had to let her cry it out a couple of times now as she is a little spoiled and the minute we walk out the door she loses it. You step back in and she is fine--silly monkey!

- Had a playdate with her friend Hannah and her brother Michael. Hannah and Genesis hung out in the exersauces together. It was cute and we both forgot our cameras! :o(

ICED PUMPKIN COOKIES

So we had these a few weeks ago at our small groups hosts place and they were DELICIOUS. Then my friend posted this recipe on facebook and was raving at how great they were. So now Zechy and I are going to make them (minus the icing as I don't have the ingredients on hand and everybody said they were just as good without it) and I thought I would share this yummy recipe with all of you! Enjoy!

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.
To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.

Happy be-lated Halloween...

Ok, so I am not a huge fan of Halloween. It isn't a true holiday and through commercialism it has grown so much over the past few years. I mean just take a look at all of the decorations available now. I am shocked at how some houses go all out for Halloween, some more-so for Halloween than for Christmas for example.

Last year was the first year we took Zech out and he enjoyed it, the candy presented a bit of a problem. I eventually just threw it out. It's a drug! I can't believe how much his behaviour is affected by it--even moreso now that he knows what it is! This year we were planning on going to a mall--or a local church here in town that was holding a carnival, but we didn't due to being extremely exhausted and run down and with all the H1N1 hoopla, we stayed in, safe and sound. We had a family night, with nachos and wings, a few treats and VEGGIE TALES!! Zech LOVES the Veggie Tale movies and they are not too scary! :o)

I did however, have costumes for the kids. Genesis was Marie the cat (thanks to the Vianello family) and Zech was a viking (total last minute costume).

We went to the Urban Treehouse here with a friend and it was awesome! The kids had a blast. They had a little theater area with dress-up clothes and Zech put the Knight costume on and wouldn't take it off. It was hilarious. So the next day while we were shopping for our Christmas boxes, Zech found the viking hat and a sword and there was his costume. I had some old material from a bellydancing costume kicking around so I pulled out my trusty sewing machine and made a vest for him. He thought it was the greatest thing. John had to buy a sword for himself so they could joust! However, the sword always seems to be drawn towards beating on his sister (thank goodness it is foam), so we have had to lay some rules and even take the sword away.

Hope that everyone had a safe night and now we can move on to the real holidays! ;o)

Two Page layout

Ok, I need your opinions again. I did a two, 2-page layouts and can't decide what I like best. The one problem with digital pictures is that sometimes you have too many pictures and you want to use them all, or can't decide which ones to use and which ones to discard. So hence the reason I did two different layouts! I couldn't part with any of the photos.

First 2-page Spread

Second 2-page Spread

Need Sleep

Oh I am in desperate need of sleep and should be sleeping right now.......but I thought I would post a link to this blog that my friend Heather had shared on her blog about a week ago. It is now a favourite and the "Carrots and Obedience" post was a pretty encouraging post. In fact this was an amazing post. It made me really reflect on my obedience to God and how much I whine, complain and am just too stubborn sometimes to listen and do what He is speaking, guiding and leading me to do. I needed to read this and do some serious reflecting! And now I need to get some sleep and will hopefully post some more pictures here soon!

Before and After

I know two posts in one day.......this is a record for me!!!! Just wanted to share another reason why I love Photoshop and the course that I am doing at my own pace.

This is the Before (pretty horrible picture taking on my part):

And after doing a bit of editting, using some "brushes" and some photo frames (all from Jessica Sprague's course) this is the after! I salvaged a photo that was pretty bad and made it look decent! YAY!!

Your opinions---please?

So right before Genesis was born I signed up for a free class from Jessica Sprague. I read that I could sign up and then when I had time, I could go back and work on the course at my own pace! I kind of forgot about it until recently. I am learning so much and I have always loved her free tutorials on her website. One day when I have more time and money I would love to take more of her courses.

For now, the free ones that I can do at my own pace will have to do. This was the first assignment, but I couldn't decide which picture I liked best, so I need your opinions, please. Which picture do you like best??

Zechariah at 3 Years

I can't believe my little boy is three years old. This was the first birthday that he was SOOO excited for and was anxiously waiting for. It is hard to explain the concept of time at this age. He picked out the cake that he wanted and I actually found a fairly easy recipe for it online (Betty Crocker). It had a video that I showed Zech one day and for the next week he asked to watch it over and over and over every day. I think I had it memorized by the time I actually had to make it!

So my little man at three:

- weighs 30 lbs. He just can't seem to get past the 30 lb. mark.

- Is about 3 feet, 2 inches tall.

- Wears size 3T and has the same problem with his pants--too short or too big around the waste!

- Wears size 8 shoes (in reality he is probably a size 7, but he now has orthotics)

- Wears orthotics---yes they make them small enough and they are expensive, but unfortunately he has his Daddy's and his Grandpa H's feet. Wide and flat---very flat that is why we had to get him orthotics. His knees go in badly and he has zero arch!

- Still wears diapers (size 5) and I am hoping and praying that we can get him potty trained SOON!

- Stopped napping! :o(

- Goes to bed at 7:30 pm and is up at 7:00 am (sometimes sooner, if he hears daddy going to school)

- Is such a picky eater now, but still loves his fruit and will eat his veggies.

- Has some pretty weird tastebuds......loves raw onions and garlic (eats them plain), likes salad (lettuce), eats butter and would sit and eat it by the spoonful if I let him, loves seaweed paper and thinks that it is a cookie. That is the healthiest cookie I have ever heard of.

- Still loves Thomas the Train.

- Loves trucks, cars and anything with wheels!

- Is obsessed with Fire Trucks, Ambulances, Police Cars.

- Is really into figurines and action figures (i.e. Batman, Hulk, Spider Man, Superman, Sesame street figurines, little people, etc.)

- Loves treats. Everything is a treat to him (pretend) and he will stuff his dump truck and garbage truck as full as he possibly can and they are his treats!

- Loves to cook. Always wants to help me in the kitchen and loves to help me bake too.

- Loves to wrestle with Daddy, play soccer outside and play pretend swords.

- Is no longer mommy's little boy. He thinks kisses are yucky and will only give me a kiss when I hurt myself and when it is time for bed.

- Absolutely adores his Daddy and asks me everyday where he is. He went through a phase of crying everytime Daddy left. He is such a Daddy's boy right now.

- Is starting to count--it's pretty cute!

- Loves music and anything to do with music. He loves to play Daddy's guitar and invent his own songs. The other night he was jamming and his song was "Jesus died on the cross, he died on the cross" and then John would pipe in " and he's alive and he's alive". So they had quite the jam session---I wish I had video, it was sooo funny!!

- His favourite song right now is "Belly of the Whale".

- Loves (or loved) his trampoline.

- Is a social butterfly. Loves to talk and loves to talk to ANYBODY! He is such an extrovert!

- Loves to go to Church School and asks almost everyday if we are going to Church.

- Is a great big brother and really adores his little sister. Although he can get a little rough with her and is not too fond of her now that she is showing interest in grabbing his toys!

- Loves his books again and will sit in his room for a while just looking and pretending to read.

- Is obsessive compulsive---if things don't go a certain way he gets quite upset.

- Would spend his whole day outside if he could.

- Loves to explore and see new things.

- Has an infectious laugh.

- Has such a caring, soft little heart.

- Is still as active as can be!

- Has a lot of temper tantrums, especially lately! He talks back a lot and sometimes I feel like i am dealing with a teenager---ahhhh!

- Has a lot of nightmares.

- Falls a lot and is constantly hurting himself because he doesn't pay attention to what he is doing. I can't count the amount of times he has fell down the stairs because he wasn't paying attention!

I think that is it for now. This is an interesting age as you never know what he is going to say or do and you take for granted how much they understand and know. I LOVE my little fire chief and am so blessed to have him in our lives.

Genesis at 4 months

As you can see, monthly pictures are getting a little more difficult. First she insists on eating everything these days and the basket looked mighty tasty. Then we have a little man who has seemed a lot more jealous than usual these days, so he hopped in the basket too! :o)

Another month just flew by!! So what is new in our little girls world, well at 4 months Genesis:

- Weighs 16 lbs. 13 oz.

- Length - 26 inches long!

- Wears size three disposable diapers.

- Wears 6 month clothing and some 9 month and some 6-12 month.

- Has the same problem that her brother did with pants....the waist is too big and the pants are too short!

- Still a super smiley little girl and we get lots of people telling us so!

- Laughs a lot, especially now that we know her ticklish spots. She also loves to laugh at her big brother.

- Rolls EVERYWHERE!! I will put her down and will come back and find her in a completely different area. Thank goodness she knows how to roll back and doesn't get "stuck" as often as she first did! I think she will be crawling before I know it!

- Loves her toys and is grabbing everything and anything. Has even started going for her brothers toys and that isn't sitting too well with him. We do have our moments though, sometimes he thinks it is funny and loads her up with toys, other times he gets pretty upset and tells her to "share". (guess what we are working on with him)!

- Loves to stand up and jump (time to get the jolly jumper out).

- LOVES her exersaucer!

- Likes to be read too and likes when I sing!

- Blows raspberries and has found her feet!

- Is going through some serious teething issues, but still no teeth!! We finally found some medicine that works (natural medicine) and have been feeding it to her like crazy! She has been drooling like crazy, attacking her hands and anything she can get her hands on, and screams (I am not sure if it is her finding her voice or if she is in pain, but nonetheless it is quite bothersome and even Zech tells her to stop and that she is hurting his ears!)

- Due to the teething issues, her sleep has been HORRIBLE!! Worse than when she was a newborn. I am up almost every two hours with her and not because she wants to feed, she just wants to be held and comforted or sleeping right next to me. So I am a walking Zombie lately!

- Has her first cold---which is probably due to the teething.

- Has curly hair. I kind of thought she did when she was born, but now that her hair is getting longer, I am surprised at how curly it gets when wet.

- Has really bad Cradle Cap. I have been trying to get rid of it using Coconut Oil and Olive oil. It works, but I need to keep up with it. Zech had it until he was two and once we buzzed his hair we got rid of it (I don't plan on buzzing her hair, so I need to stay on top of it)!

- Experienced her first snow! I didn't take her out, I just opened the door and let it blow on her face (she didn't seem to like it too much)! :o)

GrEIGHTful!

I can not figure out how to position the pictures exactly where I want using John's computer so they are all right here at the beginning--ergghh! Oh well, at least I can post some pictures! :o)

Trying to get pictures of the three of them was impossible.  I had to try and bribe them with smarties.  I hope that between Mel and I we are able to get some good ones! :o)

Yes we too enjoy jumping on the trampoline! It's a good workout, especially when we have to hold the boys!

Mrs. H and the beautiful blanket she made Genesis.  I will post more pictures of it soon--I hope!

Mom and Bill

Yes, that is mom (or grandma) who got on the trampoline too!

Yeah it's been a while since I have done one of these posts, so there will be a few more than 8 items to be grateful for.  I will try and catch up! :o)

I am grateful for:

1. The pictures that I do have on this blog, as they are some of the only ones I have left of Genesis now from the first couple of months!  We are still hoping that we can get the data recovered, but will have to put the hard drive away in a safe place for now.  Once we can afford it we will take it in.  We will still phone and get a quote just to see how much it really is.

2. The fact that I am able to breast feed Genesis exclusively now. I just started pumping and freezing milk and I can not begin to describe how proud and happy I am to be doing that.  I thank the Lord for this amazing miracle.  Plus we are saving huge amounts of money by not having to put her on formula (especially since she was reacting so bad to the lactose based formulas)!

3. Great friends who love us, encourage us, pray for us and who desire to really know us and accept us with all of our faults and shortcomings and appreciate our faith and our beliefs.

4. My amazing husband who has a lot on his plate with school, work and being a great father, husband and man of God.  I love him so much and am so BLESSED to have him in my life (and no he did not pay me to say that! ;o)

5.  My little boy who at times makes me want to take a long vacation, but is so completely lovable, adorable, inquisitive and hilarious.  I really love his imagination and the funny things he says lately.  I will have to do a post of some of our conversations.

6.  My little girl who is such a happy, content, smiley, sweet little girl.  She is such a blessing for our family!

7.  Answers to prayers. Understanding, provision and getting a chance to draw closer to God.

8.  Visits with my family.  My sister, nephew and Mom came for a visit and we had a nice time.  We also got to meet my mom's friend Bill for the first time!  

9.  Fresh veggies and produce from the farm.  Mom brought us a box full of garden veggies as well as some meat, honey, flour, flax, porridge and pancake mix and it is all from the farm!! :o) Thanks Mom!

10.  JOE.  I love shopping there lately while I am still trying to lose weight, but can't fit into my pre-prego stuff and all the maternity stuff is falling off of me.  I just bought two new outfits for well under $100! 

11.  A good, solid church.

12.  Great phone conversations with some good friends who I wished lived closer!  

13.  Two vehicles.  We finally got John's little car on the road (praise the Lord) and I now have a vehicle that I can go and do errands with if I need to.  Plus it's nice to have the peace of mind that if there were ever an emergency with one of the kids, I have wheels to get me to the hospital or whatever.

14. Playdates with neighbours.  Yesterday I was out playing with the kids and our next door neighbours had their door open, which is rare.  A little girl kept popping her head out and watching us, so we said hello and then she wanted to come down and meet us.  So her mom brought her down and then she jumped into our yard and started playing.  So she stayed for a half hour or longer and played.  She was only a year and a bit, but Zech and her had a blast on the trampoline.  Genesis loved her too and just started laughing and giggling with her.  I was a little shocked that our neighbours just let her play with us.  We don't really know them that well, but always say hi anytime we see them.  She was a real sweetheart.

15.  The Holtom's.  We asked to borrow their lawn mower and they agreed, so they called us up and said that they were on their way into the city and that they would drop by and cut our grass for us.  I told them that John was working but all they had to do was just drop the mower off and he could do it the next day, but no they insisted on doing it for us.  So the whole family stops by and each kid was assigned a job and then Mr. H and J cut the grass, N and L played with Zech and Mrs. H chatted with me, held Genesis and gave me the beautiful quilt she made for Genesis.  We are so blessed and thankful for their friendship and generosity.