Week 31

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1. Charity, with her new bike! All three of the triplets wanted big-ticket items for their birthday this year. All three of them asked everyone for money towards said items. So, this past week I got to take them out shopping to pick out their birthday gifts. Talk about fun! We went to Toys ‘R Us for the bike and the sales lady found it hilarious how the other two girls were trying to tell Charity which bike suited her best. After 15 minutes of going back and forth with the bikes, she finally decided on one. I mentioned that we also needed a new helmet and the lady said, “How about this one? “ To which Charity immediately replied, “Nope. Too pink!” That’s my girl… I often forget what a tomboy I use to be…

2. Eve with her new camera! She has been waiting a long time for her very own camera. I must say, I am quite relieved that she won’t be trying to take mine all the time anymore! She has already filled a memory card and can’t wait to blog her pictures. Eve, is an easy shopper. She bought the first one she looked at. She begged her brothers and sisters to model for her, but no one was interested. Fortunately for Eve- Lily couldn’t object. :) She had captured a really cute candid moment of Lily and I and she was super proud of it- until she accidentally deleted it! Poor girl, was not impressed with herself. Live and learn. I know how she feels!

3. Prayer, with her flute! After having to wait 20 minutes in the store for the “flute lady”, and then go out to the van to feed Lily… She finally got to choose one. About 2 years ago, Prayer asked for a flute. We told her to work on her piano and prove her diligence through that instrument first. And so she did. Last year, she once again asked for a flute. We bought her a recorder and said to practice with that because with the move and new baby- money was tight. And so she did. This girl, can play the recorder. I never imagined that I would actually enjoy listening to someone play the recorder- but she has mastered it. So this year, we bought her the flute. After half an hour of trying to figure out how to get sound out of it… she is on her way.

4. Lily’s 8 month shot. She will not sit still anymore unless I bribe her with something. Here, she is chewing on my lens cap like it’s a cookie! At 8 months she is army crawling, hands and knees crawling sometimes, standing up if she can get a good grip, falling, a lot… saying “Dada!” at 3 in the morning when he comes in from work, and saying, “Tac! Tac!” every time a cat goes by (she may be dyslexic… haha) Still no “Mama” yet! She has started making funny faces and waving bye bye. She still eats everything! No teeth yet. Still wakes up in the middle of the night to nurse. She refuses to cuddle during the night, but sleeps soundly in her crib. She loves her blankie. She is getting big so fast…

Week 30

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1. Happy 8 month baby girl!!! She has been so much happier this week. She is all over the place now! Crawling, climbing, standing, falling… She is falling A LOT lately. Even though she can do all these things, and quickly- she loses her balance a lot still. The other day, I was feeding her and she was looking the other way. I kept calling her and I was wondering why she was ignoring me, when one of the girls said, “You mean LILY, Mom???” I had been calling “Ella” over and over again.

2. Every morning, I wake up to the boys in our room playing with Lily through the crib. Elijah, loves to make her laugh.

3. This past Sunday, our meeting was cancelled so we went to visit a friend’s church. It’s always nice when friends feel like family. That’s what this church is like. Ella and Lily were the only ones in the nursery so I sat in there with them and listened to the service over the monitor. We had no toys or books to play with, but Ella managed to find some paper in my purse. Unfortunately, I had no pen! So, we made origami paper cranes instead. Paper cranes and paper balloons! Then, she asked for a teacher, cause she wanted a story… I can do that! So then I made up crazy stories that she found hilarious for a little while. She was such a good girl.

4. Lily’s first self-portrait!

Haha… the girls play Veggie Tales for her on my phone, so she now tries to grab it every chance she gets!

Week 29

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1. The week of the birthday parties…

The triplets and Keona, decided to share the date for their parties this year. We had a total of 19 girls here on a Friday night! I had set up my camera on the tripod, and given the girls the remote. Eve was testing it for me.

2. I’m not quite sure what Charity had done- but it doesn’t look like her sister’s are very happy with  her! Haha! We are NOT a violent family at all. OK… so we are. But all in good fun! Honest.

3. The older girls. They painted nails, drank lattes, and took 200 pictures on my camera. This was one of the only normal ones I could find! :P

The boys went over to a friend’s house for the night and Scott went to the batting cages. None of them were interested in hanging around! Surprisingly, the night went pretty smoothly. I don’t know that I would ever voluntarily do it again… but it was fun!

4. A leftover lemon-blueberry cupcake and my new favourite CD. I think that I like it so much because all four girls have alto voices and I can sing along. Usually, I can only sing the men’s parts! :P

This Sunday, we were in Barrie and it was a crazy day. My sunflowers were all blown down in a storm. Elijah’s breathing was acting up and he was wheezing horribly. I was afraid that we were going to have to go to the ER that night. Lily, was exhausted and grumpy. I was incredibly nervous playing an electric piano in front of so many people… Just a few minutes into service, one of the ushers came to tell me that they needed me in the nursery. Not knowing if Lily was just upset, freaking out, or hurt… I wanted to go check on her- but I was supposed to be playing for the girls to sing at any moment. Scott and I were whispering back and forth, and finally decided that I’d go and if I wasn’t back in time they could just do the presentation without the song. As I went to walk out, a lady that we’ve only met a few times walked up to me and said, “You stay. I’ll go get her.” She told me afterwards that she had seen us whispering and figured out what was going on. As I sat at the piano, praying that I would make it through the song, I could see her at the back of the auditorium playing with Lily. Lily. adored her.

At a moment when I was about to break down and cry from something that seems so small right now, but had just piled on top of everything else that day- this lady listened to the Holy Spirit and was a huge blessing to us- far more than she knew.

That I would always obey when God speaks… That I would always be prepared to hear, when He would use me.

Week 28

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1. Grocery shopping = one of my least favourite things to do. Scott coming along makes it slightly more bearable… Throw in a grumpy baby- and we’re right back where we started! She wasn’t too bad this time. :) But over $300 and two shopping carts later, she didn’t feel like sitting through checkout!

2. This past Sunday, we were at Oma’s church in Newmarket. Keona, wore her new heels…

3. Lily, wasn’t impressed. What else is new? This was a week of on and off fevers and she was mis-er-a-ble! We may have, possibly, let the kids feed her bits of banana muffin after the service to keep her happy. All went well. During Scott’s preaching we could hear banging on the nursery windows and Scott joked that one of our kids was trying to break out. Still don’t know if it was ours! On the way home, we stopped at McDonalds for $1 drinks and we waited at the drive-thru for a long time. Scott joked with the employee that an apple pie would make it worth the wait. The employee kind of laughed, and then said, “Are you serious?” So Scott said, “Well, yeah!” Haha… So we got free apple pies! Keona thought it was hilarious that Scott would suggest it. Ask, and ye shall receive! :)

4. My daisies are in full bloom. Every morning I go outside and look at all the flowers with Jeddy. The daisies, are by far, my favourite. Scott must have noticed that because he bought me a huge new pot of them. I have daisies in all of my back gardens now. They are a daily reminder to me of God’s goodness. I’m so thankful for our home.

Week 27

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1. Prayer on a swing in London.

2. Keona came to stand in the perfect light for me. Unfortunately, all the kids were dirty and sweaty from playing in the park- so I couldn’t take full advantage of it. But my girl is gorgeous! After this, she went right back to swinging and jumping off at the highest point. Pretty and slightly insane…

3. Me and Lily… She was getting tired and grumpy. Jeddy and I walked around the track with her stroller several times but she wasn’t impressed. Nothing that Mommy and her blankie can’t fix!

4. Scott, locking the van just as Keona tries to open the door- over and over again! It was pretty funny to watch! Almost as funny as when we locked him out while he was folding the stroller up… ;)

Week 26

 

1-3. Lily’s 7 month photos… or photo attempts, anyhow! She would NOT sit still for her pictures. :) In the third one, you can see her new smile… haha! My baby is finally getting teeth and she makes that face all the time now. I figure her gums must be feeling strange.

Lily says, “Da-da” on a daily basis now. We were at the park and when Scott came walking towards us she whispered, “Da. Da,” as she smiled at him. She also says it every morning in bed with us while she slaps his back, and at night when she wants him to take her out of her crib! She’s a smartie!

4. Phone pic of the kids at Heber Downs… You know, the place where my child fell off a downed-tree, into a river, and I laughed at her… In my defence, the scream, flailing arms, and then splash- was straight out of an Anne of Green Gables movie and it. was. hilarious. I love you Evie-kins!

Week 25

1. Scott and I were able to drop the kids off with his mom and sister (all 8 of them!) and go on a date last Friday. We spent the day driving around Markham; taking pictures for the church website; and checking out some locations. We may have also managed to fit some shopping time in there… :)

2. A path in Toogood Pond Park. This is where we watched a little brown bird swoop out of a tree and attack an older man who was just walking along the path in front of us. The bird came out of nowhere, and bit the back of the man’s head! The guy swatted and looked around- then the bird swooped in again and attacked the man’s head. The guy yelled, “It doesn’t like me!” Then the bird came at him again and the guy ran for his life! The funny thing is… I was holding my camera, taking pictures of the park but didn’t even think to take a picture of this whole scenario. We were both just standing there watching in shock. Then when the guy ran off- we were both bent over laughing. I laughed randomly for the next hour, just picturing it in my head!

3. Pacific Mall. It was here that my feet surrendered in pain to my wedge heels. I honestly expected to see blood when I pried my feet out of them… Anyhow, I have decided that I have to come back here to do some shopping with my girls!

4. The Holiday Inn that we’ll be meeting at in September.

We shared a Sub. We ate McDonald’s ice cream cones in a park. We had dinner at Swiss Chalet (my fave!) and watched the NHL draft together while we ate way too much food.

So glad I married my best friend.

Week 24

1. Dad and his girls.

2. My boys.

3. So thankful to say how well Elijah is doing! We started to go downhill a few weeks back, but after being put back on a supplement by the naturopath- he is breathing fine again! Dairy-free has become the norm around here for my boys. Elijah is a little bit disappointed that he won’t be going to camp this year- but understands that we can’t risk anything quite yet with his diet. Hard to believe that we’ve only been dealing with this for 7 months… So glad that we found Dr. Wong.

4. My oldest and youngest. Keona, is becoming such a mature young lady. She’s going to be 12 next month…

Having a baby with older daughters is such a different experience. They put her to nap. They get her up from nap. They want to feed her, change her, burp her, play with her… It’s a huge blessing. Other than the fact that she thinks everyone waits on her hand and foot because there is ALWAYS someone willing to give her what she wants, right away! Bah… She will learn. She is a dream baby at home. When we are out- not so much. She can be quite the little monster in the church nursery! But I’m glad that she loves home. I’m appreciating our quiet, secluded, nursing breaks so much this time around. Not the middle of the day, where she eats for 20 seconds and then looks around the room. Or when Ella decides to kiss her toes sticking out from under the blanket… But feeding her at midnight before I go to sleep, and cuddling with her for 10 minutes before I put her back into her crib- has become a nightly routine that I look forward to. :)

Week 23

I have already shared all of these stories, so I’m just posting this for my own personal benefit of being able to do a P52 photo book at the end of the year. :)

1. I am keeping this picture to show them when they’re teenagers…

2. My first attempt at a hair band…

3. Scott’s ordination service… Wow. Truly, by God’s grace alone we are where we are today.

4. Baby sneeze. Love that girl so much.

Week 22

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Gotta love those dimples!

Way to go, Jeddy! :)

Week 21

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1. Lily’s 6 month photos. The girl would not sit still! She kept wiggling her way down so that she could roll around on the couch. Scott came over to help me and apparently she finds him hilarious. :)

2. Jed may have been slightly frightened by the sparklers…

3. Still laughing at Dad…

4. All I can say is that you should really enlarge the photo cause his face in this picture makes me laugh every time I look at it! He did enjoy them after he realized that he wasn’t getting burnt.

Week 20

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1. Lily is currently enjoying the lick-everything-in-sight stage. I have to keep her on a quilt in the livingroom or she licks the floor… Lovely, I know. She also drools like crazy! Here, she is trying to get my bracelet into her mouth.

2. Lily, trying to figure out how to pull the button off of Scott’s pocket.

3. Scott asked me to make his lunch for work and Ella jumped up and said, “I’ll make your lunch dad!” She then proceeded to pack him a container full of cheerios, craisins, and a Welch’s fruit snack pack. :) That’s usually what we pack her for the toddler class. :)

4. He loves his girls. Seeing him with them melts my heart. Unless it’s the older girls and they’re playing hockey together… Let’s just say, we don’t have the best team players in this house. Something we’re working on!

 

As a side note, I just noticed that I’ve gotten so use to the auto-correct on my iphone and ipad that when I see that squiggly line, I just keep typing expecting the computer to correct it for me! Ha… Gotta love technology.

Week 19

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1. I believe in love signs from God. Today, on Mother’s Day, we saw baby geese with their mom. We saw rabbits. We saw hawks. We saw a herd (is that what you call it???) of deer… all on our drive to and from church. We stopped to get a picture of the geese.

2. We saw a gorgeous sunset.

3. Where we are headed…

4.  Scott stopped by a field to take my annual Mother’s Day picture with the kids. It may have a colour cast, and be poorly exposed, but I love it. Love it! Running across the street with the kids. Having Keona tell us that we were going to be fined for walking in someone’s field… seeing Ella motor when we said, “Car!” The cheesy smiles in this picture cause it was the last one and I said, “Ok, biggest smiles possible!!!” I love my kids. I could never have imagined being so happy to just be “Mom”…

Week 18

1. Ella, less then a minute old…

2. Ella, celebrating her 4th birthday with Papa!

3. My girl, is 4… No more naps!

4. I strung up my favourite photos of her from birth to now. I have a lot of photos of her…

 

Ella,

You are adorable, spicy, and sweet all mixed into one. You were exactly what I needed after having two boys.

I love that you wear a fancy dress but then throw on running shoes to play outside with the boys. That you ask for lip gloss, but then go get your hands dirty looking for worms. That you sit and read stories with Mom and cuddle to watch hockey with Dad. That you go from playing dolls to cars without thinking twice. That you draw me pictures every. single. day. That you can dance like a princess and wrestle with the best of them.

I love YOU.

Happy 4th Birthday baby girl!

Love,

Mom

Week 17

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1. I have to pry my own baby out of these girls’ arms! I wake up in the morning and she is already gone from her crib! They take her, change her, and bring her downstairs to play with. I’ve had to tell them to STOP picking her up all the time- I’m afraid she’s going to be as spoiled as Ella is… Ella, who tells her older brother “You think you can boss ME??” haha…

2. My baker! We made blueberry-lemon cupcakes and they were divine! I’m talking heavenly. I was addicted. I may have eaten 5. Or 10… They may be the sole reason that I can’t lose my last 5lbs of pregnancy weight!

3. We got to meet Cameron! He was such a little chunky monkey! The girls loved having an extra baby around for the day. :)

4. Dimples… My dimples, is reading. He is fluently… reading! It makes my heart happy to hear him reading words on stores as we drive by. It was such a long struggle with him and kindergarten. But now, my boy is reading! His brother has also taught him to count by 10, 5, 4, 3, and 2… At least math won’t be a problem.

Week 16

1. Prayer is always sketching. Always. She has several boxes full of pictures, along with her many sketch books full. I love that she knows what she enjoys and works her hardest to get better.

2. She loves her little sister. Adores her. And to think that I was worried about her being jealous! Every morning she comes into my room and quietly talks to Lily while Scott is still asleep. She usually keeps her happy while I do my hair and makeup. Then Ella slips into my bathroom just in time to ask for some lip gloss. :)

3. She loves her Daddy. She even likes sitting and watching hockey with him!

4. Her faces crack me up. The other day, I called her “monster” and Jeddy said, “Hey, she’s not your monster… I’m your monster!” So we decided that he was my “big monster” and we’ll call Lily “Little Monster”

Week 15

Week 14

Photos from our Easter dinner…

Week 13

I really wanted to make sure that each of their photos showed off their personalities- these four, definitely do!

I still find it crazy, to think that I have SIX girls! SIX!!! Scary sometimes, when I see myself in them… But they are such a blessing.

Charity, has worn that headband every day since Christmas. Why? Because her Dad picked it out for her. Along with the shirt… Although she hasn’t worn the shirt everyday!

Eve, looks a little more reserved. Don’t let her fool you! She has earned her nickname of “foghorn”… She is the mother hen of the bunch.

Keona, is pretty serious. Maybe an oldest thing? Or a pre-teen, I’m-too-cool-for-school thing? I dunno. I do know that her Dad can always get a smile out of her. Even if it is by calling her feet “flippers.” (She may or may not have gotten my massive size 11’s…)

Prayer, has always been our quirky one. She’s artsy. She thinks a little differently than everyone else. She makes everything fun and cheers everyone up.

Love them.

Week 12

Pictures for our “About Us” page have begun!

Also- Lily’s 4 month pic!