Baby Fat

Look at these cheeks! Avocados are full of fat, and they are the perfect first solid foods for baby. Did you know a medium size avocado contains approximately 700 calories and up to 30 grams of fat WOW! All this fat does amazing things to that growing brain.

Natalie and Henry

Took Natalie horse back riding it was part of her birthday gift. She surprised us all when she chose the biggest horse.

Maidin’ Monday

Since I am feeling a little tired today. I thought I would join a few friends and do their * Maidin' Monday* There is stuff I'd like to get done but so far today, I have gotten dressed. Here is the list!

1. Empty fridge *check*
2. Wash out fridge *check*
3. Wash kitchen floor *check*
4. Dunk Diaper and wash *check*
5. 1 load of laundry
6. Folded and put away
7. Change sheet in Master bedroom *check*
8. Straighten out bedroom *check*
9. Make DH a fantastic dinner:D *check*

ETA: I did my shopping and I am happy that I stuck to my $100 week. It is going very well. The menu planning has helped a ton.

Bummer I only got my diapers washed today. Oh well I think I did pretty good considering I had a very sad baby all day. She spent most of her day either in the Ergo or the sling. I find my Sling hard to do my house work in though. So when she was in there I was mostly standing there rocking the little muffin.

On the menu tonight

1. Ranch Chicken
2. Corn on the cob
3. Chicken noodles
4. Salad from our garden

I also at some point need to go do my shopping. But I haven't decided if I will go during the day or wait until DH is home and all go together.

Friday

These children melt my heart.

Tonight we had a big family BBQ. Sat outside until well after ten playing with the kids.

I finally had someone around to take a family picture of us all. It's not great but what-ever. We needed an updated one.

Camp Out.

My older boys were outside today playing when they came running in asking

" mom can we play camping?" I was mopping the floor and said " sure just don't walk threw here". A little while later I went out to check on them and found they had set up the tent and the air mattress.

Austin & Zachary: "Hey mom can we sleep out here tonight?!"

Mom: " I don't see why not? do you think you can do it?

Austin: Zachary: "Oh ya! We are 9 and 7 now, I think we can do it"

OK this is the bad part, I only said yes because I knew darn well they would never do it.

It made alot more work for me when at 9:30 they were all tucked in bed in the house sound asleep. But sometimes those "yes's" mean alot to two little men.

They plan to "try" again tomorrow night

At the Creek!

We had so much fun at the creek tonight. I just wish we could get a whole family picture when we go out.

The kids had a blast, they are so imaginative.

Gosh I could eat this baby!!!

Wednesday

It was much too hot for anything more than a t-shirt and cloth diaper

Brothers on a mission

~Best Friends~

What a great evening we all had together

Hot Summer Days

With most of our yard now seeded, it's hard to let the kiddies play in the water. So we take them too the local wading pool to cool off.

I tried dipping Rachael's feet but she didn't like that too much.

I love watching them play without a care in the world.

My Sweet Boy

Trampolines are alot of fun. I had one growing up and so did Chris. We both remember sticking the sprinkler underneath on hot days and jumping with the bouncing water.
My 3 boys were enjoying this childhood treasure Thursday evening. I was out on the deck watching them play when my youngest boy slipped and next came the horrifying scream.
Thankfully Chris was home and he ran him up to the ER. The verdict was a Hairline Fracture.
It's now Saturday and he still is not walking. It amazing how calm the house is when the preschooler can't move. But you know what? that may sound funny but it also breaks my heart.

Kefir

I have been on the hunt for a good kefir starter for awhile now. I have been dying to try some.
I finally found some. I am so excited for it to get here. And we can start this.

El Shaddai

You may not believe it but tonight I had my older four in bed and sound asleep at 6:00pm.

We had some pretty late nights and early mornings with doing papers that it was much needed.

I lite some candles, the house was clean, Chris was outside getting some stuff done, so it was just Rachael and I. We sat in the rocking chair for almost 2 hours. I nursed and sang to her the song El Shaddai and rocked her until she fell sound asleep. My heart is full!

ElShaddai:

Slumber pulls the shades on sleepy eyes, Lashes rest on ruby cheeks,We rock in time.

I want to linger here And bask in sweet reflections thankfully. Joy sublime. Feelings flood, thoughts seem to dance With love and pure delight, It comes so naturally to be the motherof my child. El Shaddai, in your image am IEl Shaddai, Creator of the Lullaby,Deep within your heart you hold the source for everything that's tender,Soft and kind. To caress the world the world withwarm affection

You thought of a mother -Beautiful design. And as I hold this baby in my arms I'm like a picture of you, To nurture with your love is what you made me to do

El Shaddai, in your image am I El Shaddai, Creator of the Lullaby

R

Lazy Day At The Beach

Today was a relaxing day with the kids at the beach. Packed them all up drove an hour one of the beautiful lakes BC has to offer. There is something about watching children play so care-free in the sand. My kids needed that. A day to be best friends and just PLAY!

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How Big is Our God!

This is a picture of Earth. Yes. If you look very carefully and closely, you’d see it. Just below the center line, on the right side, bathed in sunbeam. Yes, it’s that speck of dust.
“We succeeded in taking that picture [from deep space], and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam.
The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity — in all this vastness — there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. It’s been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”
This photo was taken by Voyager 1 in 1990 as it was returning from a space mission. The photo itself would not have been remarkable without the inspiring quote from Carl Sagan (an astronomer), that reminds us of how small we are, even though some times we think that we are the center of the universe, or even, the universe.
[via Big Sky Astronomy Club]

Something you may not have known about me

I don't normally share this because I don't find I am in a position that I have needed to very often. Something you may not of known about me is I don't pray out loud. Shocked?

I never have. Well maybe not never there have been a *few* and I mean a few times when the Holy Spirit has literally push the words out of my mouth. I have been in a handful of awkward settings where I have been asked to pray and I flat out say "no thanks, Chris will though" LOL

It's not a conviction I have, it's just who I am. People have tried to convince of another way, but that just upsets me. I don't feel I have to fit into a christian mold of how to pray.

So there you have it something you may or may not have known;)

Fun

My mom picked up this slip and slide for the kids. They had one 2 years ago but it riped really fast so I haven`t been too fond of them. But gosh they sure love them. They decided a *new* way to try it they would sit at the end holding on to one end of hose when someone would pull it as hard as they could on the other end. They got going really fast!

Leg Pains

First off I must start this post by say how awesome my husband is, and how easy he makes it to want to have a bunch more children.
So far all my children have woke-up in the nights with leg pains. And he is the first to jump up to rub their legs. I have read and researched every natural holistic way to treat this and so far all I have found that brings relief is a heating bag and Hyland's Calms 4 Kids.

Hello Beauty

I get to wake-up to this little beauty every morning. Aren't I blessed?

Really how could anyone wake up grumpy when you have sweet baby breath on you?

All my babies have co-slept until around 2 1/2 yrs, and for us it's such a precious memory.

In fact we still have a few that crawl in to our bed at night. I woke up this morning with Natalie

tucked in bedside me. Today I was going through pictures and I was reminded of just how fast

our time mothering littles goes, and to just enjoy today.

Summer Nights

I went to check on my littles before I crawled into bed myself to find my wee boy upside down.

Thankfully we do have a/c but the kids are pooped after a day of playing outside.