This Week's Recap

So as I posted on Wednesday, we have a few extra family members for the week and our kids are having a blast! Last Sunday before they arrived Elijah said, "I'm excited to have an extra brother for the week, but that also means I'm going to have TEN sisters for the week!" 

   The boys have been busy tobogganing outside, stealing food from the kitchen, playing Catan, Minecraft (of course!)...

...and making everything from lie detectors to radios with an electronics curriculum that just arrived.

The older girls have kept the younger ones busy as well. Lots of Barbies, tea parties, colouring, braiding hair, and playing outside. 

Having thirteen kids here doing school during the day has been a little bit busy. We only had two breakdowns from kindergartners that wanted to go play and a few boys trying to skip out on classes that they didn't think I'd notice. :)

We plan to bake some special Valentine's Day cookies tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.

Now for an update about our reading challenge! I finished my biography book "Unbroken" and it was an amazing story. I can't wait to watch the movie! At some points it was almost unfathomable what Louis went through. What so many soldiers went through. It was an eye opening book for me. Keona's going to read it for her biography as well.

I started reading "The 5th Wave" series to screen it for the girls but then I got really into it and had to know what happened next... Scott bought me the next one in series and I plan to read the final book when it comes out in May. Like I said... I like teen books. :)

I started "The Girl on the Train" last week and am about a third of the way through. I'm reading this for my "a book I've been meaning to read." So far I'm enjoying it. I have no idea what's going on yet- so that's always fun. 

Keona is reading "Alex Ryder: Eagle Strike" for a book she's been meaning to read. Actually, Elijah has been bothering her to read it for a long time now! So that's what's going on there.

Addy enjoys reading the dictionary...

I'm pretty excited for Family Day! It's always nice to have Scott home for an extra day. We're planning a little surprise outing with the kids and then relaxing. Ah... Relaxing.

 Did I mention that we ran out of fruit on Wednesday? Cause yeah, thirteen kids go through a lot of fruit. Thankfully Scott was kind enough to stop on his way home from work with Keona to grab some apples that were on sale for 99 cents a pound. So he bought 20lbs worth... That should last a few days. Oh, and Keona started her first job! She's working part time in the office with Scott. Mostly just filing and data entry, but it's exciting for her. 

What else?...

Rain is getting bigger by the second. There was a day last week when I wondered what we were thinking getting a puppy. Justus is pretty much middle age now- for a dog. He just sleeps, eats, plays with the kids for an hour and then sleeps again. I had forgotten what having a puppy is like! Not to mention, we got Justus when he was 13 weeks and already trained to go outside. It never dawned on us that at 8 weeks... They couldn't be trained yet! *kicking myself* But she makes up for it all in cuteness! The kids have been a big help. The girls take turns getting up with her first thing in the morning and taking care of her. Even Prayer. Who has decided that she is not an animal person and her children will never have pets... 

And for everyone who has expressed concern about Justus... 

He is doing just fine! He's been spoiled with extra treats and attention. He spends lots of time running around outside with the kids. Only occasionally roaming off the property and getting into trouble. He even let Rain hide in his bed with him when a loud noise scared her. 

He even tried to protect us from the Bell guy by keeping him from getting out of his truck in the driveway. Poor guy...

I guess that's about it! Hopefully I'll have time for more than one post next week.

Wipeout

I’m pretty sure that most people have heard of this show. I don’t know that I’ve ever sat through an entire episode, but the first round- the one where people get sucker punched into a mud pit, and inevitably fly off the big red balls… that’s my favourite. If Scott knows I’m having a bad night, he sends me a link to a fail video on YouTube. I blame my grandfather for my sense of humour. I still remember when we were playing catch and I ran for the ball, “Got it! Got it!” and it went right through my hands and off my face… Before he even asked if I was ok – he laughed! So in my defense, I come by it naturally.

ANYWAYS.. back to the real story.

So I was out on the porch chatting with Scott while he cleaned the car. Keona and Lily were playing around on the front lawn, and Justus was chained to the railing. I decided that I would take the girls and the dog for a quick walk around the block and kill two birds with one stone by tiring Lily and Justus both out for their naps. :) I casually unhooked his leash as I talked to Scott and had my back turned to the dog who was just chilling in front of the steps. I saw Lily head around the side of the house, and I watched as Keona followed her. What I didn’t see was a guy walking down the sidewalk in front of our house with his dog…

All of a sudden I felt a tug on the leash and as I tried to turn and get my footing, the dog took off. Being the brilliant person that I am- I tightened my grip on the leash. I think that for a split second I believed that I could hold him back…tripping over my feet and all.

Nope.

I fell down two steps and then my knees hit the pavement. I thought to myself, “Ouch, that was bad.” But it didn’t stop there… He proceeded to run and drag me, on my stomach, arms outstretched, like a cartoon, across 10 feet of lawn. I have the grass stains and bruises to prove it… When we finally stopped, I looked up and saw that I was at the feet of a guy with his dog. Meanwhile, Justus was still tugging at the leash and I was still lying on the grass. I saw Scott come around the truck with a very confused look on his face and he just stood there and stared for what seemed like an ETERNITY until I finally said, “Ummm, can you please take the leash so I can get up?” He grabbed the leash and dealt with the dog while I got up and brushed off my shirt. After the guy had asked me if I was OK several times, and told me how strong my dog was, (as if I hadn’t just witnessed it firsthand) I politely excused myself and said that I was going to go inside and clean up my knees.

As I was walking in the door he shouted, “Hey! Didn’t I see you guys in the newspaper!?”

Ha… Exactly how I wanted to be remembered. ;)

 

As a side note, I don’t think Justus knew that I had his leash. He has never pulled me like that before. We let the kids walk him (with one of us there) and he has never been a problem. When I went inside he came over to me and put his head up to my chest and then on my lap as if to apologize. We took him out several times that day and the following weekend, and no further incidences.

 

He really does love me…

On Saturday night, Scott and I were walking him to the park when a lady in a van stopped us to ask questions about him. She ended by saying, “He’s just so huge! If he wanted to go, you’d just be dragging behind!”

Scott and I both chuckled at how accurate her statement was…

And that is my wipeout story.

I am much relieved that there were no cameras around. My 13 year old laughing at me was bad enough. Though I can’t really blame her!

Beautiful Light & Baby Tantrums

When I have too many things going on in my head, I tend not to blog. It’s almost like it would be work to sort out my thoughts and decide what I should blog. Not to mention, I have been slacking with my picture-taking.

 

My photography website got a facelift and is up and running!

But I haven’t made our Christmas card yet…

I have practiced the piano for over an hour today!

But there is school work waiting for me to grade…

I have a (mostly) clean house.

But I don’t know what I’m doing for dinner tomorrow night…

I have planned the girls’ music schedule for the next two months.

But we still haven’t gone apple picking this year…

 

Isn’t that just the way it goes? It seems like I’m continually having to sacrifice something for what I believe to be more important at the moment. So here I am trying to keep my priorities in order. I’m currently sacrificing an hour of sleep… :)

God has been so good; not that it’s a huge surprise! Jeddy got baptized 3 weeks ago. He was Scott’s first baptism.

It was so hot in the pool room! My lens fogged up immediately and I didn’t have enough time to clear it before Scott started baptizing.

We have been so encouraged by everyone praying for us and by our new church family. It’s amazing how we can fee like family with people we’ve only just recently met! God has answered several specific prayers that I had leading up to the church starting; and for that I am thankful.

Proud of their school projects!

I took the kids out to a new location recently to take some pictures. It was some of the most gorgeous light I have ever seen.

I wanted to get a picture of the girls playing their instruments but couldn’t quite figure out how to fit it all in the frame.

Charity started moving her sisters around, “You stand here, and you here, and you here… and I’ll stand… here!”

As she jumped in front of them all.

I love my girls.

Ella went with me to do some shots at another spot behind our house…

I have yet to do the boys’ pictures. I had planned to do it the same day as the girls’… but Elijah was holding Justus’ leash, and Justus decided to go for a run… Elijah fell forward and our “puppy” dragged him several meters across the ground before I could stop him. It was hilarious and I kinda wish I had taken a picture before I went to help him. But I was a good Mom instead! If you can call laughing hysterically, while I try to yell at the dog- a good mom.

Lily’s pictures are also waiting. She is currently cutting 4 teeth, two of which have broken through, and she refuses to co-operate with anything.

11 months old

Her new favourite word is “Up!” Which in the middle of the night, turns into, “Uuuuuuuuuuuuup! Up!!!” She crawls over to us, reaches her arms out and demands, “up”. She also hits me in the morning and tells me “up”- which I think translates, “Get out of bed and make me breakfast. Now.”

She can stand on her own, but refuses to take a step.

 

She has learned to throw and hates sitting still. Her new favourite thing is books. She loves to look at the pictures. Just don’t try to turn the page for her- this results in screaming and her no longer being interested in the book. She kisses the phone when she hears Daddy’s voice and says, “Huuuuuuu” as she hugs her baby dolls. She has officially moved out of our room, and into a room with Ella. We will see how this goes.

This is how it went after the above photo. (The only photo I got of her even semi-looking.)

Noticing and pointing at the other cookie while yelling “Taaaaa!”

After I said, “No”…

“Is Mom still watching?”

Yep, better get even more dramatic!

 

This, was the reality of our attempted 11 month shoot… Hopefully her 1yr pictures go better.

Needless to say, she survived without the second cookie!

 

Our fall decorations are down.

We are celebrating Remembrance Day this weekend, and then the Christmas decorations will go up. It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost a year in this house- we are so blessed.

A year ago- in our old living room.