Baby Ella

Early this morning we welcomed our precious little girl into our family. This baby is so special to us, we are so excited to be able to hold her and love her!

Elizabeth Annabella Joy
8 pounds 14 ounces
20 inches
was born at 12:40 am June 28th after 6 hours of natural labor.

She is beautiful. We are so grateful to be so blessed once again with a perfect little baby in our family.

6 years

 When Jon and I were getting married we spent over a year planning every single detail. I even designed my wedding and engagement rings with a jeweler There was nothing that we didn't have a say in. We wanted the day to represent us perfectly. It did! It will always be one of my most favorite days and cherished memories.


It is ironic that what we felt had so much importance at one time...doesn't.
I loved my rings. I would get them cleaned every month and would get distracted at eating my meal in restaurants from the light catching the diamonds I had handpicked.
I loved my rings. They represented so much time, thought, love and value.

I wonder what I would have thought if someone has said...

"You know, 6 years from now you will not be wearing these rings. You will be the busy mother of two little boys. You are too swollen from 9 months of pregnancy and swallowed emotions to fit them over your fingers. He won't be wearing his either. He will be fighting Cancer. He will have lost too much weight to keep it around his finger. 6 years from now, those rings will be sitting in a box".

I would have thought then...as I do now... that those rings are beautiful. But as long as I still have his fingers to wrap around mine, I don't care what's on them.

6 Years later.



 Three houses, one crazy dog, three pregnancies, allergies, asthma, home schooling, home renovations, three kids under five, Cancer. Whew. Has it only been 6 years?!
Do we really feel like we did the day we said "I do"?
Without hesitation, I can say absolutely not.
I am so much more in love with him than I ever knew I could be. I am so proud of him and so very blessed to be his wife.

I love being married to him.
How have we stayed on top of all the things life has thrown at us over the years? Become stronger for it?

I thought about it...



We have enough differences to keep it interesting but enough that unifies us to keep us on the same page.
We share the same priorities and agree on the "big stuff"
We don't bicker over the little things.
 We talk about things...and in the end may paper scissor rock it.
We compromise. 
We don't get upset easily.
We give the benefit of the doubt to the other and don't take things personally.
We take time together everyday without children.
We laugh a lot.
We have defined roles- He is the provider, I am the nurturer, it works.
We appreciate one another..
We pray together each day.
We  have purposeful quality family time.
We are honest with one another.
We say kind things to each other and about each other.
We take good care of one another.
We are best friends.
We prefer to be with each other over anyone else.
We can count on the other.
I let him win when we play games. I don't care about winning as much he minds losing! 
We never tease, name call, belittle or raise voices to the other.
We are happy in our life together.
We don't take anything for granted.
We are grateful. 
We love each other.

A lot.

You don't need a ring for that.

Not Posed

He ACTUALLY fell asleep while colouring...crayon in hand.
Our last entertainment of the day is always checking on the boys to see what we will find...but THIS was a first!

Almost as Good as Ducks

Jon dismantled a birds next one evening that a robin had built right under our front door before she had a chance to lay eggs in it. She worked all night rebuilding though and when Jon discovered her hastily built nest the next morning...there were already egg in it. We left them then and have enjoyed watching them grow. Jacob misses his ducks so these baby robins on our porch have been a close second.

Watermelon Freeze

Our family is a little obsessed with watermelon these days! Or newest love? Watermelon freeze!

2 cups frozen watermelon
1 cup fresh watermelon
juice from one lime
squeeze of honey

blend... love.

(if you don't want to freeze the watermelon first (actually it tastes good just like that too!) you could probably add some ice to the blender instead but it wouldn't be as "watermelon-y")

He Reads!

Ben has begun reading his early readers series on his own. He is SO proud of this accomplishment, as are we. His biggest cheerleader though is, as always his brother. He has Ben read to him over and over again. Ben has now taken it on himself to teach Jake to read himself. This will be interesting:)

Hot and Huge!

Oh yes I am!