This is a test to see if I can post a new post after all this time. Much has changed in my family. We are still happy, but only by the grace of God. A month after the previous post, my dear husband was diagnosed with cancer and he is now in Heaven with God. The children and I have had many adjustments, but are now settled comfortably in a new home & life. God says He has a special place in His heart for widows and fatherless children....and He has proved this to us many times. His grace truly is sufficient in our time of need. Though I desperately long for the time when I can see Richard again, I know our Heavenly Father still has some plans for the children and I on this earth. Till we meet again, my love!

Today has been a quiet day. The kids and I have laid low, enjoying the next stage of our diet in which we can eat eggs. God is so good... you know how Jesus taught us to pray, "Give us this day our daily  bread"?...He did that yesterday. I had pulled the very last of the meat out of the freezer, and that is essential for this healthy soup broth. So is yogurt. Both of which I was out of. I didn't really have the means to move to the next step of this diet...until yesterday, out of the blue, God gave us the resources to be able to go to Co-Op, of all places, one of the best stores, and stock up on the good food needed to feed my family for the next bit. Praise Him! 
This afternoon, the kids played in the garage for some 'sort-of' outside time--at least, out of the house. They can play with bikes, skateboards, roller blades, toddler cars, etc. in there, and get good and dirty. It is warm in the garage, so I had to follow the trail of coats and mittens that they chucked on the way in. :) Meanwhile, I got some peace and quiet after the morning hubbub....Do you do that? There is the morning hustle, but after it is all over, everyone is fed & cleaned up & changed, I need a downtime retreat to gather my wits about  me and finish waking up. I am not a morning person, so I sort of stumble my way through all that hubbub. But after I saw them safely bundled up and playing outside, I grabbed a cup of strong tea to clear my head, my food, and headed for my desk to "Mommy's World"....check email, schedule an appointment, Facebook, call my husband, who I barely remember seeing this particular morning before he headed out. I normally get up to see him off, but this Mama was dead to the world this morning....I chose to stay up late getting the house clean and food prepared.....anyway, that time to myself helps me get my direction clear for the day and fully wake up. 
The kids finally decided to come in for lunch, so I --Oh, look! The sun's out for the first time in days!--so I fed them their broth, chicken, carrots, and tea. Then we had puzzle and storytime. Then, surprise for Gabriel, Aunt K stopped by to drop something off and asked if he wanted to go walk her dog with her. I casually said, "I'm sure he would like that", then went and peeled an extremely excited little boy off the ceiling, Lol! Get some fresh air?Go with Aunt K? Walk the dog? Time alone without little sisters and brother? Um, YES he would like to go! :D Considering what a huge help and responsible little boy he was all morning, he for sure deserved an outing. And sweet. Yesterday, he made me a card that said "I Love you, Mommy" and a bookmark that was my favorite color with little kitties on it for my book. He's so thoughtful. 
After he left, I put the little girls in bed with their baby dolls and some pretty piano music. Gracie planted herself by the door to scream, so I, sigh, went back  in there, tucked her back in with Grandma's special blanket and her doll from Daddy, and "shh'd" her to sleep, reminding myself that Auntie R said that the kids would be like this while their little bodies are detoxifying, and that they're sick, not naughty. I really think that 1)God is giving me extra grace & patience right now, because their fussing isn't affecting me that badly, or 2) the healthy eating is affecting my moods for the better, or 3)both! :) Either way, thank you, Lord, for patience! 
James began to be indignant that he didn't get to go with Aunt K too, so I whispered in his ear that I would spend some special time with just him. I was thinking, you know, we'll put all these puzzles back together, maybe color....then he came up with his own plan. "Let's drink tea and go watch a funny movie together!" Okay, then, that's we'll do. After all, it's your special time, buddy, I guess you should choose! :) So we drank tea and watched America's Funniest Home Videos for awhile. 
Well, I had to take a break and come back. Now Gabe's home, James is back down here trying to figure out the puzzles, and the girls woke up. I could tell they were still tired, so I turned on Nim's Island for them and fed them some yogurt. They ate it like it was going out of style and laid back down. 
Both Richard and I noticed that Gracie's eczema is all gone-she's not constantly scratching anymore! She's had that since she was born and no amount of hydrocortizone cream really ever took it away. 
Richard is scheduled for his first appointment with the naturopath tomorrow afternoon. He has had such a bad week, I'm glad Dr. B wanted to see him right away instead of waiting until after the colonoscopy. His boss is really supportive of him right now, which is such a blessing. He told Richard to do whatever he needed to do to get better. Praise the Lord that his job won't be in jeopardy over doctor visits!
Well, I really  need to go do some cooking and cleaning so I will sign off for now.  Have a blessed day!

Well, even in the midst of illness, we can still have a good laugh! While filling out Richard's medical history form for the naturopath, we ran across the question, "Have you ever had parasites?" I asked him, and he said, "No." I said, "Are you sure?'Cause sometimes people have them and don't know it..." He snorted like I was dumb, "No! It's not like I've had a bunch of airplanes flying over me!" I was speechless. "WHAT are you talking about? Airplanes?" "Yeah,"he said."You know, those airplanes that fly around spreading parasites to kill all the bugs." I died laughing, yes, AT him! "Those are pesticides, not parasites!" Then he died laughing too. And gave me permission to post this 'funny'. And asked me what parasites were. :D

Hello, All! 
It's been a few days since I've been able to write, so I had to take a scroll back through facebook to see what little things have been going on the last bit. I forget if I don't write them down. I would say facebook is like my little jotter notebook and the blog is the expanded story form....unless I'm in a hurry, then I just copy/paste from facebook. :)
So let's see....
Our van and Alero have both finally bitten the dust. On the way to church last week for the Lord's Supper, the van performed it's dying moments, it's last gasping breaths for life. Four or five false stops on the way to church and then it slid into the church parking lot for the last time. It must have died happy, because church was its favorite place to be. We called the junk towtruck to haul off the van from church and the alero from Richard's work on the same day. Goodbye, faithful cars! Praise the Lord Richard had the foresight to buy another car just before that seated 7 passengers, or we'd have been sunk. So, we are now a one car family, which is the economical thing to do right now anyway. 
I have to say, though, I'm having a bit of an adjustment not being able to 'hop in the van' and run errands.  It is good: it provides a little more stability for school and housework. But by Saturday, I have cabin fever. This past Saturday evening I couldn't stand it anymore. I called my friend at 8:30 pm and said, "You wanna go for coffee?Please?" After a relaxing visit to the Good Earth coffeeshop down the street, I felt much better and was able to return home a sane woman. It's not like I can't go anywhere during the week evenings...it's just that Richard's been so sick lately that he only has strength to go to work and come home and go to bed, and it's not like we have a nanny to watch the kids while I 'run off somewhere'. I do have to be a responsible person. :D So Saturday I waited until the kids were in bed and Richard was well enough to oversee and then I had myself a coffee break.  
I have spent the last couple of weeks learning how to drive all over again...stickshift. I think I'm finally getting the hang of it. I have driven myself and the kids to church alone twice now. My previously mentioned coffee friend is also my 'driving instructor'. You would think that with my husband being a car guy that he would be the natural one to teach me. NOT the case. He and I lasted 15 minutes together. His instructions sounded as understandable as Klingon to me, but all the while I could feel him being nervous that I was going to burn the clutch out of his new car, Lol. We were simply not connecting....so he suggested that I ask my friend. She was more than happy to help. She took me out to a deserted parking lot and used girl terms. I heard things like "tap, tap, tap" and "teeter-totter" and my Mommy brain was able to compute this into driving the car. To start moving in first gear from a complete stop, I need to teeter-totter between the clutch and accelerator-makes perfect sense! :D Richard telling me about the engine "dropping" sounded like it was going to fall out of the car! (I'm not a car person, can you tell, but I'm very familiar with the playground.) So lately I've been driving more and more on my own. Sunday, my friend rode with me while I drove to nursing home services, following the other cars from church also going there. Well, their route led me to a stoplight on an uphill....oh, goodie! we hadn't done this before. I went to go forward on green-and rolled backward, causing the car behind me to honk in panic right before I hit them! What was that? I hadn't experienced a hill before. :) She tried to tell me what to do, but I was so flustered I couldn't go anywhere. Everyone just kept coming right up behind me, even with my hazard lights on. In short, we stalled traffic for ten minutes and ended up doing a Chinese fire drill so she could get us off the hill. I would've been happy not to drive anymore that day, but she forced me back into the driver's seat for the ride home. 
Hmmm...what else? Richard's wellbeing goes up and down daily. One day he seems almost his normal self, the next, he's in pain with no energy. He has an appointment for an extensive check at the end of the month. But in the mean time I am scheduling him in to start seeing a naturopath. We are hoping we can help heal his body as naturally as possible..in essence, help his body heal itself-with God's help, of course. He's the Great Physician! :) Richard is too young and energetic(normally) to be taken out with health problems now. 
And....life with the kids: they have taken their turns with little coughs and fevers and sore throats, but nothing seems to be turning into anything serious. Staying away from Playland may be a big part---Germ City. :( There were a couple days last week that we took off school for sick days. One day, it was supposed to be a 'sick day'. But all of a sudden, while Gabe was taking a nap, James, Grace, and Jane all crowded around my desk asking to 'do school'-it makes them feel important to call it 'school' like their big brother. :) I didn't have a plan. We just started coloring and talking and the following list became our morning:
God made fish and bunnies; 
Fish don't have hands, they have fins(I showed them how fishies swim with their fins and tails. They enjoyed 'swimming' like the fishies); 
Jesus loves me ALL the time: when I get dressed and when I eat breakfast...; 
God cares about me; 
He makes pretty flowers and trees to enjoy;
Robin's eggs are blue; 
God made LOTS of egg colors-blue, white, brown, & green;
Monkeys have tails;
No, Curious George doesn't have a tail, because he's an ape;
Counting to 10;
The colors Red and Orange;
Laugh-a-Lot Bear is a girl, not a boy, sorry, Gracie, my mistake!
Circle the biggest, Cross off the smallest;
Color, color, color;
Play an ABC matching puzzle game
Sing the ABC song;
Learn to take turns;
Share the coloring table;
Screaming gets you sent to your room, but being sweet lets you play!
It turned out to be a very pleasant morning.
Last night, I went to say goodnight to Gracie. She said, " 'Nuggle with me, Mama!" and held out her arms. She was so very sleepy. She pulled my face close. "You're my Princess Mama!" Aww! "You're my Princess Gracie!" I said. She can be so sweet.
Another funny snuggle story: I was snuggling Jane-Jane down in her  bed for her nap. She finally stopped protesting naptime and relaxed in my arms, so I whispered in her ear, "Mommy  loves you. You are Mommy's little baby; you will always be my baby." With her eyes closed, she sleepily murmured, "I'm gorgeous." Lol-If you could hear her say it, it would crack you up-she says it like a Southern belle: "Ah'm Baby Go'geous!" Don't worry, she's not really conceited: it's just matter of fact. Mommy told me I'm gorgeous, so I just am! It's because she likes the sound of that word. Beautiful, adorable, lovely, pretty.....nah--gorgeous? yes. That used to be one of my favorite words when I was a little girl too. Pollyanna said it and just about everything Pollyanna did was what I wanted to do! :)
I don't know if this makes me a bad mom...???...:D:D:D....but the other day the girls were having 'coffee' with me. Seriously, only like a tablespoon of coffee fits into their tiny teapot, and we filled up their cream and sugar pots, and the girls sat down at their tiny table. Gracie did the honors and 'poured'. I wished I had the camera!
James had his moments this week too. He saw me looking at facebook posts of people from church with some photos and exclaimed, "Mommy! You have CHURCH on da COMPUTER?! Dat is SO neat!"
The poor little guy wasn't feeling so hot Tuesday, with some sniffles and a headache. After I gave him some Tylenol, he crawled up on my lap in the rocking chair. While I rocked, he fell asleep with one hand in mine and his other hand on my face. So sweet....I actually found a poem on Pinterest that reminded me of this: 

TWO AND A HALF

Hold him a little longer

Rock him a little more

Tell him another story

(You've only told him four)

Let him sleep on your shoulder

Rejoice in his happy smile

He is only two and a half

For such a little while

~author unknown~

Whether 3 1/2 like James, or 2 1/2 like Grace, or 1 1/2 like Jane....or even 8 yrs old like Gabe, this poem is so very true!

Speaking of Baby Jane, she sure gave us a scare Sunday night! Sunday afternoon, we all went for a rest, Richard & I in our room, and all four kids snuggled securely in the room next to us watching a movie. Nice and close. We went to get the kids ready awhile later to go back to church....and we couldn't find Jane! Casual "Have you seen Jane?" turned into urgent "I'll go see if she slipped downstairs" to panicked "Look to see if she crawled under the stairs and got stuck in the suitcases!" We literally turned our house upside down, all three floors, looking for her. We looked in the garage, in the car(did we forget to unbuckle her when we got home because she was sleeping quietly?--no, she for sure was right there in the room with the kids watching the movie). I nauseously checked to see if she fell out the one open window(heaven forbid). She doesn't know how to open ANY of the doors-how did she escape?....shudder--was she stolen?....all these thoughts went through our panicked minds. I pulled on boots to go running down the street, but before I roused the neighborhood to help me look, I ran upstairs to the movie room to do one last check. We'd checked everywhere in there, even under the bed, but just to be sure.....I got right down on my tummy and let my eyes focus under the bed. There, waayyyy under the bed, surrounded by dust bunnies and stray toys, my baby girl was laying on her tummy, fast asleep-not even aware that she was "lost"! I almost cried with relief, obviously very shaken up. She has slid under the bed, committed a poopie diaper(lol!), and fallen asleep. I don't know if she got stuck or just got tired, but she was perfectly alright. We had actually gotten scared to the point of calling Pastor at church, and he had a quick prayer meeting with those at church for her. That was really scary! Praise the Lord none of those horrid scenarios were the case!

Gabriel is starting to do really well in school. He's at the stage where he's having to learn how to write paragraphs and put his thoughts down on paper. And they are quite often funny, as is his spelling. Yesterday, he had to pretend to be an object in the room and write a paragraph of what 'it' might write in it's journal, life through it's eyes. He decided to be a picture on the shelf. Here's what "It" wrote: 

"Gabe was sing JESUS Luves me on Momday. Jamse was Playing ONO ON WENS-

day With TRISTEN.

Grace was Toking With hr Fend Delilah To go on a piknk

Delilah sed YES & Grace & Delilah did"

He is learning all about Vikings and Inuit(Eskimos) in school. He really enjoys learning about people and finding them on our new globe(compliments of Auntie Rochelle!). Animals are his strongest point. He loves wildlife. He'll sit there and watch National Geographic videos for hours. Another thing that I let him have freedom with is his science experiment kit. He catches on to his science concepts quick as a wink. He hates math but loves science. Tinkering around with his science kit also keeps him busy for hours. I have  taken to teaching him the concepts out of the books, but handing over the 'science guy' dvd and experiment box to him to do alone. He seems to like being given that 'hands on' freedom, and he does great!

Well, all of my children are awake now. I was up early to have breakfast with Richard. It was hard to initially climb out of bed, but I'm so glad I did. Richard and I got to enjoy the quiet and some prayer together before the kids were up. It pains me to see him hurting so and yet having to go off to work. My heart goes with him in prayer. He is such a good man and I'm privileged to be his wife. :) 

I'm off to make some more soup, catch up on housework, study with Gabe, and somewhere in there take a nap, cause I'm getting sleepy!

Wow, it seems I'm figuring out a whole bunch of things that are not healthy to do lately. I'm done with indoor playplaces because once again my kids are sick.  Sore throats, fevers, nausea. 
We're changing our whole diet and way of thinking....it's probably hardest to change for me because of my sweet tooth. I think I'm afraid to commit, lol. Richard's in such pain that he's doing whatever it takes to feel better. Having to rethink milk & eggs & meat & good fats vs. bad & yogurt & ousting all processed foods.....it's a lot to think about! But I'm sick of everyone feeling terrible, so it's worth it. Trying to get Gabriel to drink soup broth with 'floaties'(spices) or onion tea when he's not feeling good...well, it's about as easy as cutting his hair or trimming his nails or pulling a sliver out of his hand.  I'm afraid he's kind of 'not brave' when being messed with. :)
Well, James is feeling a bit better now and requesting to do some school. And Grace wanted to do her Care Bears workbook. And Jane wants to do her counting puzzle. All at the same time. So, I guess it's time for some preschool! :D

Some little clips from the last few days, as posted on facebook...:)

I love that my girls are 'girlie'...yesterday afternoon, we had a tea party with our special china while watching Little House on the Prairie....just us girls!
...and a couple hours later: Okay, scratch what I said about 'girlie girls'....I just slipped a delicate, pink flowered shirt over Jane's head, and she said, "Dis my muscle shirt! I'm Supermaaan!!!" Lol

With my New Year upcoming, I just have this incredible urge to organize everything! 

today: New Year is being spent getting stuff going....Richard and James just headed off to retrieve good parts out of our two dead cars, the girls are pretending to take a nap, I'm cleaning house and teaching school, and Gabe is diligently adding and subtracting up a number ladder.....starting our year out with hard work....our family gathering will be on Friday with Richard's brother and sister. :)

LOL: No words were spoken in the following conversation. I assigned Gabe 12 subtraction problems, subtracting to the thousands' place, while I went to make a pot of coffee. After several minutes, he silently brought me his math paper. No problems were done. Above the math problems was this message:"I cannot do it becus it is to hrd for me bi my self." Slightly annoyed, I wrote back, "Yes, you can. DO IT!" A couple minutes later, he returned the paper. "Mom you r not mi." (I had to pause and think.."I am not your WHAT?--Oh! that says 'me'. ") Going around the corner to suppress a smile, as it was getting rather amusing, I wrote back, "You could have had them all done by now!" Managing not to laugh, I silently handed the paper to him and went back to my coffee. He, also trying not to laugh, brought the paper back with this message, "OK Mom i will do it." Then he proceeded to finish all 12 problems in five minutes! Little stinker. :D

So, right now it is 10:35pm on New Year's Day. I did get much accomplished, still some to do before I can retire, hopefully not too late. James took this incredibly long, incredibly late nap, so he's WIDE AWAKE. :) He came to me at 9:30pm and asked to 'do school'(his preschool workbook). I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Why not?" So he voluntarily did four whole pages of shapes and concepts. Gabe did double duty on math and language arts today, yay! It will make his tomorrow easier. Well, I should sign off now, as Gabe is needing me to read to him...kind of late, I know....but it's a holiday. :) Happy New Year!

I have been loving watching the children with their Christmas presents. Everything they got seemed to work together with the theme that I chose in my own presents for them: something to help each of them learn and grow in some way. For Gabe, it was spiritually. For James, it was motor skills. For Grace and Jane, it was learning to help and take care of things. Of course, they got several 'just for fun' gifts, too. 
Gabe has been voluntarily reading his new Bible that we got him. It is a neat kids Bible, with big words and pictures. The pictures match the Bible storybook that he reads aloud for Language Arts in school, so he really enjoys finding those stories in the Bible. He also loves listening to the Patch the Pirate music and his Adventures in Odyssey cds while he is going to sleep. His theme for his whole year, it seems, is learning manliness through godly heroes and character building. It is posted all over our school wall. And his Christmas presents go right along. The Odyssey series is "Heroes", his Jesus coloring book is about Good Manners; his Jesus pencil says, "Jesus is my Hero!"....get the picture? :) Since turning 8, he has started becoming more responsible. He has gotten his own room, started doing his own laundry, has had to learn to be responsible for remembering his own personal property through trial and error. He is very proud of his new Bible; it has seemed to spark a new interest in growing with God.
James is fun to watch with his  new toys. He picks a costume for Larry the Cucumber (Veggie Tales), and then sets Larry somewhere. Yesterday he was a cowboy and he set him by the barn for the horses. He plays in his imaginary world with his road building set, or with his big diesel car -loader, or has conversations between his tiny animals. :) His new favorite movie is Free Willy, which he watches over and over. He also meticulously keeps his new toys in his new room and keeps the girls OUT. And when they come in, that's how he says it to them..OUT! While teaching him to 'walk in love'(Ephesians 5:2)LOL, we are trying to teach the girls to respect his space, which he keeps so neat. :)
And those girls!-what fun they are to watch with all of their new 'housekeeping' items....a Minnie Mouse vacuum that 'turns on' when they 'help' vacuum, dolly strollers, dolly beds&blankets, new dollies, 'groceries' for their little kitchen, etc. I walked around the corner last week and found Gracie vacuuming with her little vacuum right next to Daddy with his:it was too sweet. And Janie and  I put her groceries away in her fridge. They rock their babies and put them to bed and take them on walks. I hung up their little clothesline this morning and they 'did laundry'. It is hilarious to watch them put their purses over their arms, step into their princess high heels, and clomp around the kitchen pushing their baby strollers!
Well, I've got to help Gabe with the rest of his schoolwork, get the venison roast out of the oven for dinner, and get everyone ready for a special church service this evening. Have a Happy New Year one and all!

James, imparting spiritual wisdom to his little sister while decorating cookies: "What does Dod(God) say?"...speaking very slowly, as to a small child "Obey your pawents in the Woird cause dis is RIGHT! Otay?"

Wow, where to start? Lots of different things to share...maybe I should do my random thought list. 
~To finish up  my description of our Christmas day, I'll finish up that thought first. You know how with small children there is the initial craziness of Christmas morning and everyone's opening presents all at once, mixing paper with gifts, and you can't keep track of who got what from whom? Well, I was hoping to avoid that this year. Also, as the Mommy, I felt this invisible pressure to be everywhere at once: keeping track of presents so we could write thank you notes, getting the big crepe breakfast ready, getting Christmas dinner ready, somewhere in there getting myself ready! Like I was responsible for making sure 'Christmas' went smoothly. Sound familiar, moms? :) Then my husband had a wonderful idea! Why rush? Why not spread  Christmas out all day instead of getting the fever pitch excitement over with and then sitting around twiddling our thumbs all day? So that's what we did. We took the time to ENJOY the opening of the stockings. And that's it. The kids spent the next hour playing with those small items instead of rushing on to the next thing. While I made our lovely Christmas tradition of breakfast berry crepes with whipped cream. We waited until after breakfast to open presents. But before presents, we 'did' the story of Baby Jesus. It's so important to us to make sure HE comes first on HIS birthday. The children gathered around our Little People Nativity set. I gave them each a 'character' in the story to hold. As I told the story, our characters helped act out the story, with the kids' doing the acting and helping tell it. Then we sang 'Away in the Manger' and 'Happy Birthday' to Jesus. And then each of the kids prayed to tell God thank you for His present to us, Jesus, Who will wash our sins away and show us how to be good like Him. Then, they sat quietly and listened as Daddy read the Christmas story straight from the Bible, Luke Chapter 2. The kids' version brings it down to their level, but God's version from His Word is the best of all.  THEN....the presents! You can imagine the hubbub and excitement of that. Somehow, amid it all, we managed to save our living room. Four big bags of garbage were thrown out the back door to the garbage bin, lol. :) The rest of the day was quiet and lovely while we rested (after all, Mommies and Daddies put a lot of work into Christmas Day, sometimes even staying up late finishing last minute projects!) and the kids played with their new toys. And you know what? We were too tired to do Christmas Dinner that day. So we did it the next day. And today we cut out and decorated those gingerbread cookies that we mixed up in those pictures from a recent post. And tomorrow, I'll finally get around to making the lemon meringue pie that was supposed to go with Christmas dinner, but we were all too full and I was too tired to make. So, we have successfully spread "Christmas" out over four days! 
Well, now that I got my first random thought written out, I've decided to postpone the rest of my random thoughts until later. Like Christmas, I'm spreading this post out...:D

It has been a beautiful Christmas! Though, really, ours is not over yet. For one thing, this whole week feels like Christmas because Richard is off. This is by far the most relaxed Christmas we've had since we got married. We were more prepared. Also, we are out of the baby stage, so the kids are all more aware of what Christmas is. Their level of excitement made it that much more fun planning Christmas for them. Another reason the holiday is not over yet is because we haven't had our Christmas dinner yet. :) We were simply too busy and too tired. 
I have inadvertently established a sort of tradition of making a big Christmas breakfast of berry crepes with whipped cream, simply because that is what my husband requests every year. He was looking forward to that more this morning than any present opening. He remarked, "Every year I find myself looking forward more to the food than to the presents!"  Well, by the time I got the breakfast made and we opened presents, I was tired. Done. I went to bed. And, though everyone was hungry by late afternoon, we just didn't feel like the big ordeal of a huge meal all over again. I was running out of time to lay everything out, so we just postponed it. We ate box noodles for dinner! :D It will be so much nicer tomorrow, though.  
We will have time to enjoy it at a decent time of day when we have big appetites. 
I will post more tomorrow about our fun day with the kids, because Richard is waiting on me to go watch a movie. 

Yay! I figured out how to put pictures on my blog! These are of the kids and I making gingerbread last on Friday. I let them do as much of it as possible, because I remember being little and wanting so badly to 'help'. The only thing I reserved for myself was the mixing of the spices, or else we would have nasty gingerbread. You don't want to mess up those proportions!  But I even let James crack the eggs. We had a hard time getting started because the bowl kept walking away...on Jane's head! I gave each child a whisk and let them stir often. Of course the three youngest immediately tried to eat the shortening/sugar mixture...yuk. Jane began to cry when she got her tongue stuck in her whisk. I laughed and took a picture...it's the one where she's showing me her owie tongue. The second picture above was just too precious...Daddy reading his Bible while rocking Baby Jane. She looks so happy to be snuggled in with Daddy. :)I'm blessed to have a husband who leads our family with God's Word. 

Well, we're off to the Christmas Eve service at church with caroling afterwards. Looking forward to spending Christmas Eve with our church family, who truly do feel like family. But until the time to go, I'm going to sit here a few minutes longer and put the final stitches on Grace and Jane's layette for their baby dolls. :)Merry Christmas Eve!

"Deck the Halls with boughs of holly, Fa la la la la la la la la!"
Yeah! It's finally Christmastime! This is going to be a fun year; I can feel it. All the babies are bigger this year. In fact, really, they're not babies at all anymore.  I have a preschooler and two toddlers. And, boy, are all four of the kids excited for Christmas! Gracie has already unwrapped one of her presents, which I rewrapped behind her back and stuck back under the tree. She didn't know who it was from or that it was for her. And the girls have raided the stockings once when Richard and I accidentally left them all sitting in the rocking chair waiting to be hung up. Each girl is now minus a piece of candy that they stole and ate! And, of course I knew when I hung the candy canes on the tree a couple days ago that the babies would have a heyday with that. And they did. There are a couple broken ones that I repossessed and hid in a Christmas tin for later.  And one still hanging on the tree with a shorter hook than normal. It's our handicapped candy cane, lol. 
Due to our late start in the school  year, we had to continue school all the way up to today and, depending on what Daddy decrees next week, we may have to resume the day after Christmas. Or, he may say 'forget it' and we'll start when he returns to work the following week. At any rate, we eagerly finished up the week's work this afternoon. One very excited little boy busted out of here the  minute I said "Dismissed", much to my amusement. But I was as excited as he was. :) 
I am making sure to get my house shining clean this evening so I can have it nice for Christmas week. I want to start out right. I just finished the kitchen. The rest will come after the kids go to bed, because you know, as they say, trying to clean house with kids is like shoveling snow while it is still snowing! :)  Thankfully, the house didn't get too bad this week and will require minimal straightening. 
I am enjoying a few moments of quiet right now, as the kids are all upstairs hanging out with Daddy, my dishwasher is quietly humming, and it is not quite bedtime. I'm gonna let them stay up a bit longer tonight to enjoy time with their daddy.  But, after they're in bed--THEN I am going to have FUN! 
1. Set out supplies & ingredients for making gingerbread men with the kids tomorrow morning. 
2. Finish sewing Gabriel's sailor bedroom curtains.
3. Cut out and hem up the pink and white fleece dolly blankets for the girls, as well as the pillows and little quilts. It is finish up work for them tonight. I can't wait to lay it all out to see! I feel like I'm playing with my "dollies", making nice, tiny things for Grace and Jane. :)
4. Have a ball finishing up Christmas card making at my desk. 
5. Finish coloring the Disney Princess posters I'm having laminated for the girls' room.
6. Finally getting the chance to paint my Christmas ornaments for my tree. I hope to have them on the tree tomorrow evening. 
OH! and,
7. I better practice my song for Sunday! :) "Mary, Did You Know?" is what I'm going to attempt to sing. My voice is still suffering a tad from the larygitis I had awhile back. It takes me forever to completely recover. 
Well, I am not sure what else to write at this moment and the kids are wanting a bedtime snack. They ran off all their dinner playing out in the garage after supper. :) I will try to update over the next week. I'm not sure how busy it will be. Richard has the entire week off-hallelujah! :) So if I don't get back here till after New Year---"Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!" from Richard, Rachel, Gabriel, James, Grace, and Jane "Peace on earth, goodwill to men!"

Ahhh! Exhilaration, a breath of fresh air! We went to Gabriel's Calgary Children's Choir Christmas Program this evening. I am SO impressed! (I am squealing with excitement here) That is what a Christmas program should be like. I left relaxed, with a smile on my face. A couple of times it even brought me to tears. Those children can SING! They are learning to sing properly and classically. We were able to see the entire group of choristers, from itty bitty age four all the way up to high school graduates. I could see firsthand what Gabriel has to look forward to, and I was pleased. They never wavered from tasteful, classic music. And, what I loved most of all about the program--they left Jesus in Christmas! They weren't trying to be all politically correct. These innocent voices were allowed to sing out, "Jesus, born to live, born to die!" It was so beautiful to go to a Christmas concert with Christ included and to leave praising Him in my heart. It was not even a Christian function.
That said, Gabriel, in his formal choir uniform with a black vest and red bow tie, was adorable! I just wanted to eat him up. He's 8 years old, but he looked so small up there! Watching his face, I could see which songs he really knew well and liked a lot, because his face would light up and his body came alive with the music. He seems to genuinely enjoy his friends and music at choir. It is worth every penny.
So, that was Gabriel's big event this week. James and I had a day together this week as well. His Christmas program is not until next week, but this Thursday was his day to bring snack. His snack day is also my volunteer day, and his day to be Teacher's Helper and bring something for Show and Tell. It's like, "Feature James" day. I love how they give each child this opportunity to be special. And going along with him gave me a chance to watch how he learns and is behaving. I kept in the background; they gave me the fun job of putting up a new bulletin board-right up my alley. :) But I watched as James moved from station to station in his preschool room....corraling tiny horses inside a fence in the sand table.....donning a smock to paint a picture at the easel.....joining the girls to comb all the dolls hair, too funny and cute......interacting with his teacher as she helped him make a Christmas card. As a hands-on Mommy, I like to see firsthand the activities of my children.....though in this instance I'm handing the 'hands-on' part over to his preschool teacher. But I got to see how he's doing for myself, which made me feel good. :) James took his 'duties' very seriously. He got to be the head of the line and pick the colors for their game. He got to help pass out the snack he brought. At storytime, he got to sit up in a special chair right by his teacher(the one he has a crush on, lol!). She let him do the counting for the calendar and put the next day up on the board. And then he got to Show and Tell. He was so cute. One guess what he brought---um, yes, his Calgary Flames hockey stick and Daddy's special puck! :D That is James for you. Of course he had to show all his friends how he can play hockey. I could see his teacher suck in her breath anxiously as she cautioned him, "Be careful not to hit anybody!"....but even I was surprised how controlled his stick handling was, never even coming close to the kids in the front row. I had to laugh when she asked him whose team that was on the stick. He didn't say "Calgary Flames"-he said, "That's my daddy's team!-mine and my daddy's and my brudda's!"
Well, it is an early Sunday morning and I have oatmeal to make, clothes to iron, and a family to get ready. Have a blessed Lord's Day!

James announced joyfully this morning, "It's TODAY today!" which made me laugh and set a nice tone for the day. He's a hoot. :)
Yeah! Gabriel and I finally finished our first reading book for school. I thought we'd never get through it, due to time and circumstances. It was a mystery/adventure about the famous Blue Grotto on the Island of Capri. To celebrate the discovery of the mysterious cove and the completion of the book, we did an art project. We made posters illustrating the book. They turned out nicely, if I do say so myself. 
We are all waiting for the hot dogs to get done. We are all waiting for Richard to get home. I am waiting for the kids to go to bed so I can clean up my house. It was our first day back to a normal week of school today. I'm afraid I was not as organized as I should have been. Not to mention I stayed up too late preparing for today, only to be so tired today that I was out of energy. So the babies got ahead of me and now I have much to clean up. This was one of those days where all the hair pretties got dumped in the sink, clogging it up. The sugar jar was raided; hence the babies are in need of baths. Toys were dumped. Crayons were spilled. Baby powder squeezed all over(I'm afraid to go look in my room where the crime was committed!). That kind of a day. 
On a lighter note, there's eggnog. And the sun came out today. And the kids had fun playing outside this morning. And I made 13 boiled eggs with colorful happy faces for a fun lunch. Is boiled eggs and eggnog for lunch bad for cholesterol when the recipients are 8 and under? :) It was just what we felt like eating. 
Richard is tinting his new baby, his brand new Orlando, which he bought last Friday. Our poor friend, the Alero, gave up the ghost at long last. It's crippled remains are parked in the deserted lot behind CMP, where it faithfully transported Richard for 7 long years. Goodbye-you were a good little car!
Well, I need to go get those babies into the bath. The hot dogs got done and eaten and the babies are ready for bed now. Tootaloo! 

So I haven't posted in awhile because I have had a lovely week enjoying my mother's visit. We had mom/daughter time with a girls day out for lunch, pedicures, and a bit of shopping. We had grandma time, reading stories, setting up the Christmas tree, and some early presents. We had a Thanksgiving dinner Monday night and ate ourselves silly. I was so sad to see her go back home on Wednesday. Come again, soon, Mom! 
So Richard and I have given up. When someone tells us we should 'come to this thing' or 'come see this great show!', if that person is not a Christian, then the event is almost always going to be uncomfortable to us as Christians. Even work banquets end up being uncomfy and we leave early; we're not even going this year. Last night, we got a babysitter and were going to have a date to see what WE 

thought was a nice little concert at the high school featuring two pianists playing duets. Um, not so. They had the place set up like a Las Vegas showroom and the pianists were playing and singing raunchy songs with such distasteful jokes that we were incredibly uncomfortable. We literally walked in, sat down for five minutes, got back up and walked back out. It wasn't worth ruining our testimony to sit there uncomfortably; there's no reason for us to endure the world's junk. So we went and found a cozy coffee shop. Sitting there snuggled next to my husband on the couch drinking a chai tea eggnog latte was WAY more relaxing. And then I got to go watch him play hockey; he scored two goals for me-way to go, Richard! Then we found an empty parking lot and I got my first lesson in driving a stick-shift. I think I made him nervous, lol! Goodness, I made MYSELF nervous! :D

Janie made me laugh with a new word-I was trying to get her dressed from her bath, but she kept clinging to me like a baby orangutan, shivering, & saying, "I colding! I colding!"---as opposed to 'freezing', she's 'colding'. :) On that funny note, I'd better go get these babies ready for the church banquet this afternoon. Do I dress them up, or dress them in practical bibs from head to toe in light of the mess they are about to go make eating that big dinner...hmmm, there's a thought. :)

Mom's here!!! Three of my kids have never seen her that they remember, so they looked her over for awhile. But within an hour, they were holding her hand and showing off to "Dawma". :) We had a nice dinner out this evening. With Richard gone, I didn't feel like starting dinner at 7pm, making a big mess, and having to clean it up that late. So we let someone else cook, wait on us, and clean it up-good plan! Well, I'm tuckered and have a huge day tomorrow, so I best get some sleep myself.

Thursday was Thanksgiving for my American family and friends. I did not celebrate Thursday in the traditional way as they did, since it was just another day in Canada. However, many things throughout that day caused me to be very grateful to God. They are as follows.
 
I am thankful that:

Thursday went smoothly on four hours of sleep,
I found my way to my downtown destination with no problem,
I found a parking spot right away,
God supplied the three toonies I needed for the parking meter's minimum requirement,
My kids behaved in the government building,
The elevator was not see-through up to the 11th floor, but securely closed in for my fear of heights,
I made it to every appointment that day in enough time,
I accomplished even the difficult errands with children,
God provided me with a patient spirit, even during the trying moments,
God supplied the necessary funds for the day's needs and activities,
and 
I have a husband who listens to God, Who is listening to my prayers, Who tells my husband to leave those two toonies on the dresser for me, because He knows I will need them later that day for that parking meter mentioned above. Going downtown in a big city with one way streets, accompanied by four small children, hoping to find the destination, a parking spot, and enough change for the meter....that is a big undertaking on four hours of sleep! Thank you, God, for caring about those little things for me so I don't fall apart in exhaustion!

Come peek into my window and see some scenes from my house: here are some blips from the last couple of days.
Mommy Octopus: 2 tentacles-washing dishes; 2 tentacles-dressing babies; 2 tentacles-straightening floor; 2 tentacles-giving a spelling test and a math drill. You know what? Tentacles sounds ominous...I shall change it to "arms". Mommy "arms" sounds much more loving than Mommy "tentacles", lol! But, seriously, I wonder why octupi were bestowed with 8 arms and not Mommies. Look at that, I made a dangling modifier...it looks like I said, Why were octupi given 8 arms and not 8 mommies? :D But you know what I meant to say.

 I did not realize until I went how much I needed a Ladies Night Out! Dinner, then Bible study, then coffeetime after...I came home feeling refreshed! Thank you, Lord, for Christian ladies-friends!-to fellowship with!
  
Being home with my children is a privilege I don't take lightly. On a lighter note, however, :) when I was leaving Tim Hortons at 11:00 last night, I was thinking with relief that I had the option of sleeping in this morning. One lady had babysitting kids arriving early. Two others had to be up bright and early for work (I do NOT miss those days!). I was relieved that I didn't have to be up for anything

 this morning or go anywhere today. Fast-forward to 2 a.m.: two little girls who think it is morning, wide awake for 30 minutes. Fast-forward again to 6:40 a.m.: two little girls who realize it IS morning, hooray for them! Breakfast time! Playtime! Um, girls? There is this little thing called SLEEP that Mommy is not quite ready to relinquish.....snore...

 

 Baby Jane's all snuggled up in her beddie-bye. Big boy James who voluntarily did six whole pages of preschool worksheets is all tuckered out on his big orange pillow on the couch covered up with my coat. Gabriel is impressively coloring a frameable picture of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Gracie is coloring Hello Kitty at her little table with the new colored pencils. My house is clean and quiet

. The teakettle is on. Dinner is in the oven. There's a clean, fresh snow blanketing the world. And Beethoven is creating a calm, mellow atmosphere. Just right for storytime, which is the next thing in my plans. So, to take my cup of tea and settle in my rocking chair for a good hour of reading the mystery Gabriel and I are making our way through.

 

 Brrrr! Boy am I glad Richard told us to stay home tonight! He said I shouldn't be bringing the kids out in this cold. I hadn't stepped foot outside this evening until a few minutes ago when the cooped up kids were begging to go outside. Against my first(and better) judgment, I agreed for only long enough to take a tiny walk 1/2 block to check our mailbox. Seriously, only about six houses long. By

the time we got to the mailbox, I realized it is frostbite freezing out there! Painfully cold. The trip back up our alley was miserable and the kids are now in a warm bath. I thought I had them bundled up well enough, but that air gets in all the nooks and crannies....it's freezing out there! They asked to go out, but they were all crying by the time we got back home. You'd have thought we were at the north pole the way they carried on. But with good reason. Definitely a wise choice to stay indoors with little ones this evening. Thank you, Richard!

 

And, last but most definitely not least....

With four children, it is sometimes a balancing act to find individual time with each one. Sometimes, a moment is handed to you and you grasp it by its fleeting tail. Such as this morning, when the older three chose to go upstairs and watch cartoons. Which left Baby Jane happily downstairs with Mama all to herself. It blessed my heart when she grabbed my little white Bible and said, "Bible?" I asked her, "Do you want me to read it to you?" She nodded happily. We climbed onto the couch and with a great show of an exciting discovery I pointed out "her" verses....little repetitive snatches that I am trying to imprint on her heart: "Be ye kind one to another" "Walk in love" "Be ye thankful" and "Children, obey your parents" I talked to her for her two minute attention span, then prayed a tiny prayer with her. Then, while I finished my own devotions, she occupied herself quietly on the floor by pulling the papers off all her crayons. She was happy, I was happy. :)

 

1. I have a zoingy little feeling in my elbow that is making two of my fingers numb, so let's hope I can type properly. :)
2. It is amazing how extremely fast I can work under pressure-WHY I'm not able to replicate this at all times is beyond me. At any rate, I'm glad to have accomplished what I did today when I knew that company was going to be here in less than half an hour. 
 3. It is not the ideal situation to have the pizza man arrive ten minutes before schedule when you've just stepped out of the shower and he walks in the front door and yells up the stairs, "Pizza man!" It leaves you feeling rather disconcerted. Thank goodness for an 8 year old son who can cover for me. Gabe took the pizza & pop, paid the pizza man, and answered the phone all at the same time. What would I do without him?
4.  I greatly enjoyed observing my two tiny girls playing together, a game of "pretend" in the grown-up world. They can both talk now, imitating snatches of phrases they hear big people use. Both girls are wonderful little mommies, taking the greatest care of their baby dolls. They were playing in their little kitchen, which is in my big kitchen. I had made them each a hot chocolate, but put Gracie's in my Mommy-sized Tim Hortons mocha cup. She felt very mature with her "coffee", as she parented her dolly with such responsibility. Grace and Jane were having adult conversation over their drinks as I cleaned the kitchen around them. Then I needed to mop. I asked them with the greatest of respect if I could set their little chairs against the wall. "It can be Tim Hortons! Would you and Jane-Jane like to take your daughters for coffee?" Enthusiastic about this new game, they eagerly, and seriously, brought their daughters to "Timmy's". And they sat there for the next 20 minutes while I mopped-I couldn't believe it! They bring such joy to my heart. I love teaching them how to be good girls, housekeepers, mommies, women(it's all playacting now, but they are adopting ideals without knowing it) on their level with their miniature versions of real life. 
5. I had a wonderful Ladies Nite Out! I did not know how badly I needed one until I went. L. and I went for dinner before heading to Ladies Bible Study. The chicken nuggets at Chicken Cottage are to die for! The Bible Study was encouraging, refreshing, thought-provoking....Thank you, God, for godly ladies to fellowship with. But it didn't stop there. Four of us just didn't want it to end, so we went to Tim Horton's (see why my little girls find it so easy to imitate Mommy in this? lol) for further fellowship. Another two hours of 'lady talk'. Our children, funny experiences, our husbands(in a good way! :D), the Bible as applies to raising our children and encouraging each other in this aspect, encouragement in our relationships with God, grocery shopping experiences, Christmas shopping.....It was nice to relax, enjoy coffee, visit, laugh, and refresh for jumping back into the daily grind--which will come all too soon, as we didn't leave Tim Horton's till 11:00!
6. Certain things imprint themselves on my mind as classic representations of my children's personalities. A painted rock, a special picture, tiny cars all in a row that you know were left there by a meticulous little James, a dolly left precariously on a couch pillow covered by a scarf "sleeping" after the dolly's mommy has been put to bed herself. Such was the case when I pulled my van up to the house tonight. Two tiny chairs, a pink and a blue, sat atop my hilly front lawn, arranged in a conversational manner. It produced the distinct memory of yesterday afternoon when four ecstatic children were bundled up and released into the fresh snow to play. Then Grace and James got cold. James arranged both of those chairs and called, "Here, Gracie! A chair for you-pink for you and blue for me." And a grateful Gracie answering sweetly, "T'ank you, Jamesie!" as they both settled prettily down in their chairs to get warm. I could still see them there as clearly as they were yesterday. It made me smile and I purposed to leave those chairs arranged just so at the top of my hill. 
6. I think I need to go remind my husband that I am home and tempt him back inside with some hot pizza!  

Gabriel had his 8th birthday this weekend. I can't believe he's closer to 10 than 5! I say this weekend, because yesterday was technically his birthday but he had continued celebrations today. He had a nice birthday dinner with one friend and Aunt K. last night. We all went down to his new room first thing yesterday morning with a balloon and a bag full of presents to sing "Happy Birthday" and wake him up. The babies gave him their little presents that they picked out. He was very happy with the playdough I directed Gracie to, as opposed to the princess puzzles she originally picked out, lol! Today, he had three more friends come over to play games. Richard took over duty for this one, taking everybody to the park. I was done, having spent all night up with two little girls who ate too much cake and ice cream and had upset tummies. Fantastik was our friend, cleaning beds, carpets, and our room from their explosions. To go to sleep and wake up every 15 minutes for an 8 hour period is worse than not sleeping all night, in my opinion. Richard and I took turns with them, so he got as little sleep as I did. But I took morning shift and he slept till 12 or 1pm. But I was done as soon as the first kid arrived. I couldn't even think straight, so I handed it off to him and he took afternoon shift. I went to bed and didn't see the world again until 5:00. When I woke up, Richard was ready to crash again, so I took the evening shift while he went back to bed. Now I'm ready to crawl back up to my room and we both might get a decent night's sleep. I am assuming Gabe had a great time this afternoon with his friends. I heard about play sword fights with Daddy and a great trip to the park. I feel bad for missing, but really no one would have wanted a grouchy zombie mommy around all afternoon. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. There's no predicting life(or nights!) with toddlers. Well, I'm gonna run upstairs and make sure everyone's got something to wear to church tomorrow, then I'm off to beddie-bye!