Overheard...

`Benny when we are grownups we will be neighbours okay!`

Ben Laughs, ``Oh Jake! Of COURSE we will be!``

September

We recently had our family photo's taken. They turned out beautifully and I am so happy that she captured these moments. I am grateful to say that the happy, healthy glowing faces that are seen in these shots are true to life. They have not been touched up, they have not been enhanced, they are not pretending to be something they are not. My little family is actually this healthy, this happy and this loved. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A story I wouldn't want to forget (even though I think I do right now~)

Elizabeth went to the hair salon with me a little while ago. She watched me with my head over the salon sink very intently. She took in every detail of the experience. A few days later, she and her little girlfriends that I babysit during the week alerted me to the suspicious absence with unusual silence. I heard commotion in the bathroom and fearfully opened the door. Ella and friends looked at me, thrilled with themselves for the hair salon they had set up. Ella had each little girl put their head over the toilet while she carefully poured water over their hair with her teapot. They stood grinning at me with (clean!) toilet water dripping down their faces. "Ella give haircuts!" she proudly declared.

(They all had baths.)

 

***It does look like a salon sink from this perspective doesn't it!

Ben is 7!

Dear Ben,

Seven! You are so SO excited for your birthday. 8 weeks ago you made a calendar countdown for your birthday and while you rarely remember to make your bed or
brush your teeth, ... you have not once forgotten to mark off the daily countdown!

Each morning we are told how many days left until the big day!

Today you couldn't contain yourself any longer!

"ONE MORE DAY!!!!!"

You have it all planned, down to the smallest detail.

Red and blue balloons
lego cake
gold and a tool box for gifts
dinner at a restaurant
a trip to the lego store
swimming
a party

Check, check and check. It is a tall order but you are so excited I can't bear to ask you to take it down a notch....so you will go swimming, and have a party, and go to a restaurant (or a "restranaut"as Jakey calls it)...and get gold and lego and all the rest!

You have earned it.

You make us very proud. From your piano playing, soccer skills, enthusiasm for everything new and interesting, your appreciation of books and passion for Mindcraft. You are so smart, interesting, unique, charismatic and funny. You are a good friend. You have a kind heart and a desire to do the right thing and preform well. You are such a good helper and a sweet son and a wonderful brother. You are just a great kid! We are privileged to watch you grow up. We are blessed to call you our son.

Happy birthday Ben!
I love every inch of you and every moment of being your mother.

Love Mommy
xoxo

July

We have had a colder than average summer but the kids haven't seemed to mind the cooler temperatures. We have 't been deterred as we have been to spray pads, playgrounds, beaches, the farm and picnics and as someone who does not enjoy the typical humidity we usually experience this time of year I don't mind one bit!

Ben and Jacob were both able to play soccer for the first half of the summer and loved it! Ben scored his first goal and really improved his defence. I love watching him participate in something he enjoys so much and is gaining real skill in.

In typical four year old fashion Jacob picked grass, scored on his own net and generally looked cute with his knee high soccer socks up to this thighs. He had a lot of fun and sure can run fast!

Ella enjoyed her role as cheer leader when she wasn't otherwise visiting with all the dogs and babies she could find in the sidelines.

Dear Ella

When I was expecting Benjamin and Jacob I began to dream of their futures as soon as the life changing line began to form on the pregnancy test strip. I imagined dinky cars and soccer games, summer vacations, summer days at the beach, training wheels and a beautiful life in store for them.

When I was pregnant with you I had trouble envisioning what the future would look like. Our present life at that time took everything I had to get through it and under the weight of overwhelming exhaustion I had trouble imagining what tomorrow would look like much less be able to dream for your future.

In the middle of homeschooling our kindergarten student, packing and moving houses, coping with Jon's surgeries and the start of chemotherapy while wrangling a two year old...the nine months of pregnancy felt more like years, full of long, hard moments that stretched on and on.  I was already as tired mentally, emotionally and physically as one person could be while still standing upright; how would a newborn fit into all of this?! You were being born to a mother who had no more worry left to dole out however, and so my fear did not trump my pure happiness at the thought of a daughter.
When it simply felt like too much for one person to bear...I was reminded that I was not one...rather I was two. And so I forced sleep on myself and continued to nourish our body even when I barely had the energy left to chew.
You were hope.
In secret moments of despair, sadness and hopelessness when my optimistic and positive resolve cracked I could go to you.
There is nothing I love more than a baby. The thought of wispy hair, the weight of your little body, tiny toes and that smell...that perfect smell, could bring me out of the darkest places.
You would roll and kick at all the right times, in the moments I needed to be reminded that I believe in a God of miracles.

The moment I met my daughter is etched so clearly into my memory I can pull it up with the most vivid of recollection.
 You laid, just born on the bed in front of me with your eyes wide. You were silent and intense and stared at me while your skin turned from a soft grey hue to a bright pink. You never cried. You just lay there, confident with life. I thought you were so beautiful it was difficult to even blink away for a moment. The essence of who you are  was tangible, your spirit so big, this little body could barely contain you and I felt fear slip away.

This was a girl who could dream bigger than I ever could for her and more special than I ever dreamed she would be.

My Elizabeth Annabella Joy.
My darling girl, 
Happy birthday.

 

A June Birthday

She has a mop of beautiful yellow curls, a ready smile, an infectious, deep laugh, an easily broken heart, a tough exterior, ocean blue eyes, a presence that attracts attention wherever she goes,
She sleeps with 20 animals and books. she is loud, in charge, bossy, cuddly, sweet, emotional, chatty, independent.
and now... she is two!