April 2016

The kids really wanted to play an April fools Day trick on Daddy so we covered a balloon in a cereal box and made it look like a cake. When he cut into it would theoretically blow icing all over him. It WOULD have had two little boys not giggled and jumped under the table right when he put the knife in;)

 Our incubator of chicken eggs arrived. It was very exciting to count down the days until hatching!

 We got the playroom furnished...

 And we heard the first little chirps inside the eggs. Watching them hatch was very exciting!

 Playing with the baby chicks was even more fun. We kept them for about ten days before they went back to the farm.

 We enjoyed a class at the butterfly conservatory and got to hold some interesting insects.

 The kids all began swimming lessons and progressed quickly. Matthew and Daddy did a class together and we have quite the little water baby!

 Ella has been practicing her letters and numbers.

 Ben participated in his first martial arts tournament and did quite well!

 Who knew play structures come in that many pieces?!
Yikes! Jon and Ben spent a whole weekend putting it together!

March 2016

 We are loving our new home!!!

This was worth the wait. I didn't know in the end if it would be but from the first night we really felt like this was home!

We have been so motivated to get unpacked and settled in because the contractors were coming in only a few weeks to finish the basement.

Ella loves her bedroom, Matthew loves the sink big enough to have after dinner baths. Ben and Jake love living on a court so they can ride their bikes around the circle. Our mild winter continues and we have been able to check our new playgrounds nearby.

 Jacob took this beautiful photo while we were walking in the woods.

 Ella and Onnika looking beautiful at Easter!

 Grandad and the boys!

 We saw how they used to collect sap from the trees and make maple syrup at the sugar farm.

 Happy Easter!

 Jake earned his next belt in Karate!

 Ben and Jake participating in a construction project at a local hardware store.

 We ate at our favorite restaurant. A woman came over to tell us "what wonderful children we had" and Ella grinned afterwards at me -"you have wonderful children Mommy!"

 We got our Easter Photos taken...

 The basement got started!

 Matthew eats everything!

And done! What a month!

February 2016

February was a long month this year. We were busy packing for our second move to our new and permanent home and we battled a rotating virus that kept at least one of us on the couch seemingly all month. Gramma came for some extra cuddles so I could keep packing! (Didn't we JUST do this?!) We enjoyed some unseasonably warm days and went to the playground. Matthew got to try out the swing and loved it! Ella finished up another session of dance lessons and did an adorable recital. For Family Day we went to an exotic animal show that everyone loved!

January 2016

January is a tough month. The excitement of the holidays are over and the realization that it is dark by dinner and we are firmly in winter for the next few months can hit hard. We are living in a rental house until March so while packing and wiping the endless runny noses we are getting creative in a small space with most of our belongings packed! Matthew is quickly becoming a foodie! He gobbles up his meals as quickly as the other kids and bangs his fists and screeches for more...we are working on table manners:) Elizabeth is ever the little mother...she came with me to the hardware store with her list of scribbles and her "lady purse". The boys had an idea to make a giant slide with their mattresses down the stairs and after a brief weighing of the risk of breaking a bone versus the risk of their mother losing her mind after the 2nd straight week stuck at home with another sick child...they won.

Happy Birthday Matthew!

My baby is one! This year was a roller coaster of events and you took it all in, grinning all the while. You just fit right in, grinning and smiling and reaching for your loved ones. Quietly taking in new skills and mastering them with a little smirk that says "look what I can do!". You are mischievous and funny...that sense of humor; willingness to giggle, snicker and belly laugh for anything at all and the delight it brings you to be the cause of laughter is a defining trait I think. There is much to still learn about you I think, I love getting to know you deeper as more of yourself emerges.

Matthew Thomas.

Matthew means Gift from God. And that you are. We did not believe we could have more children, until of course you were here.

And Thomas.

For the doubting Thomas of biblical times who reminds us that God is in control. That the impossible can be possible and there is always a place for hopeful petition ...because you were always hoped for.

I never told your dad of course. I didn't want him to believe that I was upset at our likely inability to have more children. I didn't want him to know of the lingering feeling that someone was missing. How I accidently bought four matching Christmas stockings for our three children or routinely put out 4 plates for their lunch... Until one day I heard a wistful comment that confirmed he felt the same. A longing, a wish...a hope. And then we hoped together and quietly for...you.

And if there was ever a baby so happy and beautiful and beloved and wanted, you delivered. You are such a sweet joy in our lives. A true gift and a blessing every moment we have known you.

Sometimes I look at you in disbelief that you are everything I could have dreamt of and more. I am in disbelief at times that I questioned fleetingly if I could be enough for four. Would my patience, energy, insight...love...be enough? Could I be stretched to cover the needs of another? And then so perfectly, as soon as I saw you; just as my body knew just how you needed to grow, instinctively this area of my heart expanded so that before I even knew it existed ...it was full. The part that was yours all along.

I adore you, I cherish you, I am grateful for you; my beautiful boy.

Happy birthday Matthew.

I love you so very much,
Mommy xoxo

11 Months Old!

Matthew is a Mama's boy. He needs to be within eyesight or arms reach pretty much all the time. He will visit with others briefly but he is pretty eager to get back to his Mama...which I can't say I mind. It makes getting dinner ready a little challenging but I will pick his cuddles anyday! Matthew is a sweetheart; an affectionate, cuddly, snuggly sweetheart! When he wakes up in the morning he is heard practicing his enthusiastic "HI-YA's" and when I open the door he is already flapping his arm in his mastered wave and needs to make the rounds. Each face is greeted with the same grin and "HI-YA!". He certainly follows his siblings in appetite! He breaks into a giggle if he sees a banana and watermelon? -you just made his day! So far the only thing he really doesn't care for is anything with potato in it.  He loves veggies- cucumbers, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, those are the first things off his plate! We just love this boy so much! He is such a precious delightful boy! I cannot believe he is almost a year old. In some ways I feel like he was just born and in others I cannot imagine a time when he wasn't here!

10 Months Old

Matthew Thomas! You are getting too big! You have lots of teeth, an infectious giggle, soft hair that is turning lighter and lighter by the day and big blue eyes. I love getting you up in the morning when you are jumping, laughing, babbling and clapping in excitement to start the day. You are such a good humored little guy. Everything makes you laugh and you adore your brothers and sister. You love Twinkle Twinkle little Star, You are My Sunshine and peek a boo. You love to be chased, have no interest in walking and seem to be moving out of (thankfully) your biting phase.