some pics, no videos yet, and an announcement! - 12/14

Finally got some new pictures up. We took new christmas pictures of the kids yesterday morning and while Josh was getting those done up on his computer, I reminded him of Sept and Oct not being all done. So, those are up on dropshots now. I think he finished Nov, too, but I'll have to see where those ones are tonight.
I just remembered, while getting these done, that I have videos from the kids' observation classes at dance. I'll need to charge my camcorder (I'm sure), then I should be able to get them online too.

Things are really busy here, and, for the most part, going okay. The kids are busy practicing for the concert - this Thurs night - and they've wrapped their presents for their "secret santas" at school - even Isaac gets to do one!
Unfortunately, our van started troubles again (much like the gear/transmission troubles in April... that were apparently NOT fixed as we were told). Basically the kids and I were stranded in town last Monday night after dance. Josh couldn't come for us, as his car is small and does not fit 3 car seats in the back. We ended up calling Jen and Paul - they came and he towed us with his truck to the dealership, and they lent us their van for a few days. We got that back to them Thursday night, but we still haven't got our van back.
I have lots of questions for the dealership - not the least of which is wondering why they didn't actually fix this issue in the spring, and why they're refusing to cover any repair costs now - but I will end up telling them they're lying to us... so I'm going to wait until after the van is fixed and we have it back! We're hoping to have them settle for covering at least some, if not all, the costs.
And, no, they offer no courtesy vehicles. In spite of a lot full of brand new vechicles.
We are not pleased with them at all.

Last, but most definitely not least, Isaac wants to show you his new shirt...

Yes, you read it right!
We're due in the first week (ish) of June.
We haven't actually told anyone, until now, just let people notice if they do. People around us are starting to notice (I'll show you why later in the week) and so we wanted to share with everyone.
The kids are all excited... and all want a girl. I have no idea what we'll do if it's not - the older 2 say that they suppose that might be all right, Isaac suggested that "someone else will want him"!!!

12/7

It's been a long while since I updated this blog. We've been busy!
The kids are getting things all ready for the school Christmas concert - practising plays, they're very excited. The concert is next week, the 17th. Then they have their last day (and Josh's!) on the 18th and we're off for a couple weeks. They'll have their Christmas parties and whatnot that last day. Isaac even gets his own party at nursery school, though his is on the 16th - the last nursery school day before break.
Josh's aunt came to stay with the kids yesterday so that Josh and I could go into Winnipeg and do some Christmas shopping. We ended up getting almost everything we were looking for and are pretty much done shopping for the kids. The few things we have left to get - a couple stocking stuffers, and a couple gifts for the Neufelds still - we can get in Brandon. Hopefully we'll be able to finish up completely this weekend! We're debating only doing stockings for each other for Christmas morning, well that and letting the kids pick one thing for each of us, and then getting a couple things that we need (like a new DVD player) after Christmas when boxing day sales start. But I'd like to put something under the tree for Josh - we'll see.

We are w.a.y behind on pictures, I know. Josh and Paul have been busy hunting every weekend they could (got 2 deer between them) and I have no clue how to do his pictures up. So there's still lots from October (Zech's birthday and halloween) and from November (Ruth's birthday supper) to get online. We'll get there.
For now, I took a few pictures of our yard this morning - we have SNOW now. We went to bed on Nov 30 with grass. Nothing more. Woke up Dec 1 to a dumping of snow - welcome winter, I guess!

the front yard and road

the back yard - the kids have been playing out there!

more pictures! - 09/30

Found them!
There were some pictures on Papa's 4-wheeler, lots of pictures from the lake, and pictures of all the kids' first days of school. I'm getting them up and online right now!

some pictures are up... more to come! - 09/29

That about says it all - Josh got the summer pictures done (although I can't see any tubing ones, and I know he took lots, so I'll have to ask him more about those ones tonight) and I'm uploading them right now.
Like I said, tonight I'll see if we can track down the tubing pictures, and I'll get the first day of school pictures (for ALL the kids!) and get those uploaded as well.
Later tonight, or tomorrow... or maybe by the end of the week... I should have a post up with some pictures and of course, they're always all over on the other site... though I'll be working through the labelling as I can!

long time, long summer, BIG day! - 09/08

It's been 2 months since I last posted - long time.
We left on Monday July 13 for NS, arrived Sunday the 19th. Not too shabby, with 3 kids and a day+ lost going into southern Ontario and to Marineland. The kids had a blast there, and they were pretty darn good for the whole drive.
We had a pretty good visit out there, with my family, for 5 weeks. The kids had so much fun at the lake - swimming and bike riding, tubing and even water skiing for Zech and Ruth!!
Of course, there are lots of pictures, but with everything else Josh hasn't had a chance to get to them yet. As soon as he does, I'll get them uploaded to share.
We left on Monday August 24th - the day after the hurricaine hit. That wasn't actually too bad, though the weather was still fairly poor on Monday for our drive. We also hit more rain on the second last day and night. We got home late Saturday night.

Then we had a really busy week - unpacking the van and trailer, getting things put away again in the house, getting groceries to "restock" the cupboards, registering for dance classes and getting all that stuff together, going to Winnipeg to visit friends and getting school supplies for the kids - just getting everything done that we weren't here to do all summer!

And today was a really big day because it was the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!! Ruth started grade 2 today, and Zech started kindergarten!! He was very excited this morning, and had a very good morning at school. He is really happy that he'll be going every morning - he just really likes school. Ruth had a very good day, too. She has a new teacher this year, and a new classroom (for half the day).
Isaac was not very happy at all that he wasn't able to stay at school this morning. He was better when we went to pick up Zech, and fine when we picked up Ruth at the end of the day. But I don't think the mornings are going to be very good for him until next week - he starts nursery school next Tuesday. Once he realizes that he has his own school, I think he'll be much better about Zech and Ruth being able to go.
Hey, what can I say, our kids just like school!
And there are a bunch of pictures from this morning, too... but again Josh hasn't gotten to them yet. He will. I'll bug him. And then I'll get them up. But I'm not promising it'll be tomorrow!

couple new videos - 07/08

I just got 2 new videos uploaded - they're on June 16 - Zech riding his bike with no training wheels! He's had much more practice since those, and is much more stable, but this is him starting out.

We're busy here. I'm trying to plan, even though I can't really start packing much yet. I'm hoping we'll be able to get the camper set up in the driveway tonight so I can start getting the beds made and a few things moved into it. If I can get a little bit done every day, there won't be all that much left come Monday morning - just jammies and toothbrushes.
We're still hoping to get on the road Monday, as early as we can. Hopefully everything (and everyone!!) will cooperate and we'll set out beginning of next week!

Summer and pictures!!! - 07/01

And Happy Canada Day, too!
Just got all the pictures up this morning. All of June! The fair, eating ice cream, the kids learning to ride their bikes without training wheels, and Zech's nursery school graduation!
Enjoy!!

As for us, Zech had a blast at kindergarten orientation. He's very excited to be able to go every day in Sept. Ruthie's last day of school was Monday - swimming and pizza party, she had a ton of fun even though it was a little chilly (for me, anyways!). Josh had to go to school yesterday - admin day - and now he's done too!
HAPPY SUMMER!!!

all is well, just busy! - 06/25

Definitely busy around here, finishing up school for everyone!
Zech graduated from nursery school on Tuesday, had a nice ceremony and got a book. He is at Kindergarten orientation right now (9-11:45) - seems like a very long time to be without him. I remember it seeming long last year with Ruthie, too. He was very excited to go this morning, had no fears about walking right in and making himself at home!
Ruthie was excited to be a "helper" today - we asked her to make sure that Zech and Kayla (little girl across the road, she and Ruthie get along well but Kayla is very timid and shy) find their places for their bags and to make sure they are happy and have someone to play with at recess. I'm sure she'll be a great friend to them! As for her own school she's doing very well and has started bringing home things they're done with all ready. I'm trying to grab out and save what I can for next year - crayons, markers, glue sticks, binders, etc. - I figure we might as well try to reuse what is still good! This week her class (the K and 1s) went on a field trip to a farm and saw lots of animals on Monday. Yesterday everyone brought their bike to school and for phys ed (in the afternoon) they all (grades 1-8!) went for a bike ride all around Minto!! She was nervous, and she did fall once on the ride, but she had fun. Tomorrow night is the "awards nite" for the school, on Monday the school is going swimming in Boissevain and having a pizza party - and then that's it for this year!
Oh, speaking of bikes - Ruth and Zech are both riding with NO training wheels now! I think I have a video of Zech going, none of Ruthie though I should get some. And I know that Josh has some pictures of them practising. He also has pictures from the fair (rides) and stuff from this past month - he's been busy finishing up with his students and doing their grad so he's trying to get to the pictures when he can! Hopefully I'll be able to get them up in the next couple days.

So everyone is nearly done, and it's only a couple weeks before we'll be leaving for NS! We're very excited to go home for the summer - the kids are much more than us, as we're pretty occupied getting things done, but we're happy too. Still needing to talk to the neighbors about the cat, but I'm sure we'll get something figured out with him.

Isaac's ear - 06/09

These pictures are from yesterday afternoon. Definite improvement! It's still a little red, but the swelling has gone down completely and it's not hurting him or bothering him anymore.
I took him in to see the Dr Sunday afternoon (he'd asked me to when I had him in Wed night) and he said to just continue the cream 2x a day until the ear looks back to normal. Shouldn't be too much longer, I don't think.
From the back now:
From the front - no more Dumbo ear!
Our weekend was really busy, but really fun. We went to swimming lessons Saturday at noon, then grabbed a quick lunch and went to the fair. All the kids had bracelets, so they could ride all the rides as many times as they wanted to - and ride they did! We definitely got our money's worth out of those bracelets!! They all had a blast, Isaac said after every ride "That was totally awesome!" EVERY ride. Honest. We got there about 2pm and didn't leave until 11pm!! We were amazed that the kids lasted all day - we barely did.
Everyone slept in Sunday morning, so we couldn't make it to church. We still needed groceries though, so Isaac and I went in daddy's car to get groceries (and stop at the clinic to see the Dr). I'm still trying to recoop from the busy-ness!

I know Josh took a ton of pictures at the fair, and as soon as he gets a chance to edit some I'll get them uploaded to share!

Isaac's ear today - 06/05

When Josh got home last night and saw poor Isaac's ear, he really wanted me to take Isaac in to have it seen - I had been planning to give Isaac Benadryl for the night and see what it looked like this morning. But, okay.
The Dr said it's obviously an allergic reaction to something - likely a bite or a sting. He prescribed a steroid and antibiotic cream. We got that and put it on last night before bed, along with giving him another dose of benadryl.

It's much improved this morning - evidenced more than anything by Isaac saying first thing "My ear feels better today!".
It's much less inflamed and swollen. Still doesn't look totally normal, but it's definitely an improvement over yesterday! You can see spots where the little blood vessels even burst from the swelling!
I'm continuing the benadryl through today and probably will use the cream twice a day until it really looks normal color again. At this rate that will only be the weekend anyways.



At any rate, he's feeling better and that's the most important thing.
And tomorrow we're off to the fair! Many pictures to come, I'm sure.