FUN IN THE LEAVES!

It seems that the leaves used to fall in late September and they'd stay crunchy for weeks. The last couple of years it seems that the wind and rain come together late October and the leaves never seem to get the crunch here that they used to. Well wet soggy leaves or not, you can't let an opportunity to jump in a pile of leaves pass you by so yesterday Dwain raked up the side yard into a pile and the boys proceeded to jump, dive and bury themselves in an enormous pile of leaves. The giggles and laughter shared by the four of us is sure to imprint a permanent memory even in our smallest little person. I managed to get a few shots of the fun. Have a great day!

THE QUILTS ARE ALMOST DONE! AND SO AM I!!

Well, I've been a busy girl. Last Christmas I posted a picture of the fabrics I got for Christmas. Dwain bought me fabric to make the boys Christmas quilts. I wanted to do something bright and cheery! Today I got them back from the long arm quilting lady. She did an awesome job! All I have to do is put the binding on them and they're done. These are my first professionally quilted blankets and I made them for the boys to use only for the month of December each year. They will be ready for their bunkbeds December 1st. I look ahead and someday see them on my own grandchildren's beds. It was fun because the boys are actually really excited about them. They have seen them transform from a bunch of fabric, to strips, to blocks, to rows and then a top of a blanket. They each picked their own flannel for the back. Lovella was kind enough to let me use her wonderful sewing machine she got for Christmas last year to monogram a special message on the bottom corner block of each quilt. "Handmade with Love for Ryan/Jacob From Mom, December 1st, 2007." Thanks Auntie! I actually have the 3rd quilt already cut out and ready to put together as I got enough fabric to make 3 quilts.
Go figure that one! Someone knew the family was going to grow!



Today marks my 4 week 5 days to go! The countdown is on. Lastweek I became a proud auntie for the second time. Check out Sweet Abundance in my favourite blogs to see my nephew Liam! He really is a little pumpkin!!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!

Well I survived!! My firstborn officially started school! This is Ryan on his first full day of Kindergarten. I had the same smile on my face as I took this picture but my heart was feeling a little different. I didn't have tears until I drove home by myself. The first couple of weeks were a little tough on me, yes me, but I am slowly adjusting to it. Ryan is loving it although sometimes he has had some anxiety he never complains and is doing well. I'm a proud mamma!! He is a very brave boy!

The month of September was a huge month of firsts for Ryan. He finally did it!! Ryan got on his old little bike without training wheels and rode for the first time without any help! The expression on his face was like he couldn't believe he was doing it himself. Look mom, no training wheels! "I can hardly believe it he says!" This time the smile on my face was as big on the inside as the out! Although I did almost shed a tear at the sight of him riding the bike too!

I'll see if I can upload the clip here.
I've missed alot of bloggin this summer. I wasn't feeling inspired or motivated to sit at the computer and write a post. But here I am now at the computer feeling driven to document my summer. I believe I am nesting as they call it!

We had a family holiday to Kelowna which was alot of fun as well as hosted two Japanese boys in August. They were totally awesome! They fit right in with us and the boys couldn't get enough of them. We are scheduled to host some short term students come the end of February but for now we are taking a break!

For Thanksgiving we made a thankfulness tree.

The boys each took turns saying what they were thankful for. Here's a picture of the tree! The list of thankfulness goes like this: Toy Cars (green ones), Food, Cookies, Sleepovers, my new fast flame bike, brothers, mommy, daddy, Ryan, Jacob, baby, cameras, blankies, and trees. Not a bad list. When Ryan was asked at school what he was thankful for he said BUNKBEDS!! I am so glad my boys love eachother so much! Sharing a room at 3 1/2 and 5 years old does not come without its challenges but so far it's working out to my satisfaction.

I also recently finished my fall tablerunner that I started before Jacob was born. 3 1/2 years sitting in my closet was long enough when I figured if I didn't finish it now it may well be another 3 1/2 years. So it is complete and on display!

Well I think I am caught up! That feels good! Have a great day!!

A GREAT DAY FOR A PICNIC!!

Lastweek we got our new camera so I've been having some fun
with it. I suprised the boys with a backyard picnic. Ryan and Jacob say it was the best picnic ever!
Our students are gone and we have the house to ourselves. How lovely to be just us again! I have posted a few pictures of the boys on their new bikes. They are mighty proud. We are hoping Ryan is brave enough to ride without the training wheels by the end of summer. He's gonna have to be cuz Jacob might be doing it himself! Have a great day!

SUMMER IS HERE!!!

So here I am again feeling guilty as I read everyone elses blogs and don't do a post of my own. Thought I'd give a quick update on life in what we call the fast lane. It has been quite a ride these past several months. Bringing on board 2 chinese students for a 5 month stay, starting a new job, discovering we were going to have another baby, 6 weeks of morning sickness (I'm not complaining cuz I have a friend who is just as pregnant as me and she is still soooooo sick), celebrating the last few days of preschool and meeting Ryan's new Kindergarten teacher, celebrating Jacob's 3rd Birthday and my 35th, quitting my new job, surviving the Fraser River NOT flooding, 10 weeks of learning how to grow kids God's way (7 more to go, yeeehaaa!!). There are so many inbetween things that I can't even think about it all.

Our chinese girls will be leaving us next Thursday very early in the morning. This will be a huge load off my plate! Friday I will get my UltraSound. We are quite excited as we anticipate what the sex of our baby will be. We should know in a week or two! We have decided not to tell anyone what we are having until later in the pregnancy. I think we will let our family know before the baby arrives but we really want to keep it to ourselves so I hope we don't get bugged too much. We want to just enjoy knowing for ourselves for awhile.

Tonite I did some sewing. I have started the boys PJ's that I make them for Christmas every year. I make them 2 pairs and they wear them all year. I'm going to attempt to make a pair of maternity capri pants this weekend. I hope it's a success. I'll post a picture when I've accomplished this task. I'll try to do it for my 20 week profile shot! Heehee!

Well gotta get to bed. Have a great day everyone!

ONE WHITE SOCK!!!

I had to just do a quick post tonite because Ryan made me laugh. The last several nights he's been going to bed with just 1 sock on. I wasn't aware that he was purposely doing this but lastnight again, I noticed he had just one sock on when I went to tuck him in before I went to bed. I pulled it off and covered him up. Well tonite after the boys went to sleep Dwain says to me, did you notice Ryan's been going to bed with 1 sock on at night? I said, yah, I take it off when I tuck him in a bedtime. We both chuckled. Dwain says, tonite he did it again, he says he wants to see if he can make it through the night! What a goof! Seeing as he doesn't know it's me that takes it off at night, I think I'll switch the white sock for a red sock when he's asleep tonite and see what he thinks about that in the morning!! Heeheee!

I'M WHAT?!?!

Oh people! Here I am totally dedicated to reading all my friends blogs and so today I run across my name on someones link list. So I thought, wow, it's been awhile since I even looked at my own blog so I clicked on my own link only to find 5 new comments. Too funny people!! Aunt Lovella, what could you possibly be waiting for me to say! Hmmmm I wonder!!!
Well I guess I can let the cat out of the bag!
The last 3 months have been somewhat of a blur. Getting 2 new 10 year olds in the beginning of February has proven to be more than I can handle. A new job with a month of full time work in training and all the other responsibilities that go along with 4 kids is really taken a toll on me.
Obviously God thinks I can handle a little more because what I didn't know when I started my job was that I was 3 days away from becoming pregnant! Yes I said it! The big P word! I hadn't even put in 3 days work! We only found out a few weeks ago because I was feeling so sick and it wasn't going away. I still feel green around the gills but at least I know why! I am hoping it goes away within another week! Today isn't such a bad day!
This morning we decided it was time to tell our boys. They have seen me laying on the couch alot the past few weeks and have been repeatedly told they can't hop on my tummy or come jumping at me while I'm laying down. So I got Ryan up on my lap this afternoon and Dwain had Jacob. I asked Ryan if he'd noticed me layin around alot. He's says "not really" . I'm thinking oohh good! He doesn't think I'm a lazy lump! Anyway, I told him that there was something very special growing inside of me and his face lit up like a firecracker! He knew right away what I meant and he just started giggling. He immediately started rubbing my tummy and was talking to the baby and telling it he loved it. It was sooo special. For the next hour he kept tackling me with hugs of excitement and has been including the baby in our activities today. I am sooo happy he was so full of joy! Jacob on the other hand is sort of oblivious but I think he knows too cuz he's watching Ryan.
So by the end of the first week of November we will have another addition to the family.
May we ask for your prayers for a healthy baby and pregnancy. This baby has surprised us all and I was not exactly doing all the good stuff you should be doing before you get pregnant because we weren't trying to. I know that God's hand is in this all and today it really has sunk in and become more of a reality seeing how excited Ryan is about it. Please pray that I will be able to avoid or at least manage the Gestational Diabetes with my diet if it comes my way as it has with the last two pregnancies. I am getting an MP3 for my birthday in June so that I have something to listen to when I am on the treadmill but I haven't been on it more than once in the last 3 weeks because of the nausea. Please pray that subsides soon too!
So there you have it! God definitely likes to keep me on my toes. He's gotta be laughing to himself thinking, "And you thought YOU had it all figured out didn't you!!"
Yah, I guess I thought I did! I'm almost 35 years old and sometimes he still chooses to WOW me to get my attention! OK, You Got it Lord!!