Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Here's to 11 Years, Nathan Whom I Love!
So Nathan did have to make a 3rd and final trip to emergency for his kidney issue 2 weeks ago...and George, our tenant told me after he rushed him in for the 2nd time NOT to let them send him home until he was PAIN FREE! So when they sent Nathan home on morphine pills, George was not impressed. In fact, I was a little scared to face George, who felt he cared more about Nathan than I did because he would never have allowed him home, morphine or not!
George obviously has a soft spot for Nathan, and Nathan took full advantage of him the next morning by convincing George to drive him up to Ladysmith to buy this old 1952 Triumph that he plans to chop and turn into a bobber. (a hot rod motorbike!) I guess Nathan figured he couldn't very well drive or work on such high dosage of medication, but, not being one to waste time, he could head out and buy the bike he's been scoping out for a while! How could I deny him, the poor, sick boy? I'm just glad he's back in the land of the living and I'm no longer facing certain widowhood with 5 children under 9!
So yesterday we celebrated our 11th Anniversary...with Nathan in Vancouver for an Art Show (in the pouring rain) and me at home with our 4 very excited children back from family camp at Imadene (thanks to Nana & Papa) and 1 NOT-AT-ALL excited 1.5 year old who was NOT thrilled to see her siblings return!! I guess she enjoyed the week alone with all the attention of both parents! Anyway, we celebrated 11 years of marital bliss with me having strict orders of how and when to bid on Nathan's hoped-for antique gas tank for the bike! I must say, it was stressful at times with seconds to go and him giving me direction to take it higher and his cell phone cutting out and the people in the next booth coaching him and him coaching me...and we lost the first one-but it was really the back-up-and then...I have to say, it was beautiful and my ingenious plan to not bid at all against the 17 other bidders until the last 12 seconds when I jumped in there and cast my bid and scooped it out from the unsuspecting victims before they had a chance to counter offer! And I gave a shriek and Nathan gave a shout and the cheer went up from the next booth! (and the phone cut out for the 12th time) What a moment! So now when the bike is all bobbed out and in magazines because Nathan will be casting his own parts for it in his foundry, I'll see that gastank and the memories of celebrating 11 years together. It'll be a story to tell our new biker friends, who will be our clients & ministry for years to come!
So here's to 11 years! I knew it would be an adventure, but I'm glad I didn't know how MUCH of an adventure! Praise God from Whom all blessings flow, who knows far better than us what we need to make us depend on Him & grow closer together-when to send the rain & when to send the sunshine...even when to give us one more little sunshine that we hadn't planned on! He loves us too much to give us all that we ask of Him, and in the end He gives us just what we never knew we needed. But when we look back and take stock of it all, there isn't much we'd change, even if we had the power. We do not know what the future holds, but we know Who holds the future... So let the adventure continue!
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Hopefully the last of Nathan's kidney news!
Thanks to everyone who prayed, and especially thanks to Mickie & Jim who took the kids so I could be with Nathan most of the time. Our tenant was also very helpful feeding our chickens and taking Nathan into emergency, so we were well looked after!
Today-Saturday, they did operate on Nathan. The Dr went in there, but the kidney stone was already gone! To be healed and not know it...there's a sermon in there! Anyway, he said it can get ground up at the end sometimes. There was some scarring that concerned him, so they'll keep an eye on him. I'm not sure why his kidney was so distressed by it and got enflamed. Seems like he had mostly passed it early Wednesday morning and then it took until this morning to pass it the rest of the way. Nathan was feeling quite a bit better this morning, but not to the point where everything felt great and he felt like it was over.
So he's home, he's eating, and he's mighty sore! Now onto the rest of the healing!
Today-Saturday, they did operate on Nathan. The Dr went in there, but the kidney stone was already gone! To be healed and not know it...there's a sermon in there! Anyway, he said it can get ground up at the end sometimes. There was some scarring that concerned him, so they'll keep an eye on him. I'm not sure why his kidney was so distressed by it and got enflamed. Seems like he had mostly passed it early Wednesday morning and then it took until this morning to pass it the rest of the way. Nathan was feeling quite a bit better this morning, but not to the point where everything felt great and he felt like it was over.
So he's home, he's eating, and he's mighty sore! Now onto the rest of the healing!
Friday, July 23, 2010
Update on Nathan
I'll try to post updates on Nathan to keep you informed as to how things are going.
Tuesday night we had our usual date and all was well. Somewhere around 1, Nathan got up in quite a bit of pain. I didn't actually hear him until nearly an hour later when he called me and I couldn't figure out why he wasn't in bed. He was in excruciating pain, couldn't get up and wanted me to push on his back. After a few minutes where he could barely explain to me what was wrong because he was moaning so dreadfully, I decided to call the Nurse's Hotline, but quickly decided to call 9-1-1 for an ambulance. The ambulance came and thankfully told me it was probably a kidney stone--at that moment, I was imagining life as a single Mom to 5 kids! Nathan rarely complains about pain and has a fair amount of chronic pain, so when he does complain, I'm pretty sure it much be terrible.
They took him in to Saan Pen, did a scan, found that it was a kidney stone and kept him in overnight. They called and told me to come and get him in the morning because it was apparently 'mostly passed'. Nathan came home for the day Wednesday but was still fairly uncomfortable and hardly ate anything. Then I gave him a healthy, nonflavourful dinner, which he ate little of and has wished he ate more of ever since!
Thursday morning he was back to a very high level of pain-not quite as bad as Tues night. He couldn't wait for me to take the kids to his Mom's and then go to the hospital, so George, our wonderful tenant, drove him back to the hospital. They did bloodwork, and the Doctor sheepishly told him that it looked like his kidney was distressed and inflamed. (This Dr told him the night before that it wasn't that big of a stone and he needed to keep it down because he was moaning so badly--and Nathan has an extremely high pain tolerance, and then that morning said "oh-why are you back?" so he did seem a little embarrassed to admit there might be a bigger problem)
Thursday-he was to have the stone removed via surgery within 24 hours, so no food or water-he did have an IV. He had a second ambulance ride to Helmecken Rd hospital where I hoped he would get right in since they called him over when they were ready for him. Not even ice chips at this point. Waited all day, no surgery, no food. Finally at 9:30, the Dr came in and told him it wouldn't be today, so he could eat, but sorry, the kitchen was closed! I wish he called me-I would have driven over some food for him! He is in a lot of pain, but on pretty constant morphine and some other stuff that has a side effect of people stopping breathing, but is pretty helpful for the pain.
Friday-came and taped up his jewellry that doesn't come off at 11:30 am, so it looked promising. Still in a lot of pain, experiencing nausea. We went for a walk to the end of the hall and he nearly passed out and took a good 2 hours to recover from the walk. Somewhere in the afternoon, I started smuggling a couple of small drinks of water for him because I didn't think he'd get in anyway. All the emergency C-sections, etc, are getting in ahead of him, so they can't tell when he'll get in. I went to get a subway sandwich for him before I left the hospital, which he is looking forward to eating after they give him the "well I guess it won't be tonight, so you can eat until Midnight" speech somewhere in the evening.
The latest news is that he'll have the surgery Saturday afternoon, but they cut down the O.R. to one room + it's a full moon coming up and a lot of babies are born then-so I'm praying for healthy deliveries without C-sections!
We're very thankful that the kids have been with Nana overnight so I can go help him & keep him company. Jim came home from camp a day early to help Mickie with them today.
Thanks for praying for him! Poor guy! Coming from a Woman Doctor who has had 2 children & 3 kidney stones, she said the kidney stones dwarfed the labour pain! I'm reminded of my very unfortunate friend who had a kidney stone just days away from delivering her baby!
Tuesday night we had our usual date and all was well. Somewhere around 1, Nathan got up in quite a bit of pain. I didn't actually hear him until nearly an hour later when he called me and I couldn't figure out why he wasn't in bed. He was in excruciating pain, couldn't get up and wanted me to push on his back. After a few minutes where he could barely explain to me what was wrong because he was moaning so dreadfully, I decided to call the Nurse's Hotline, but quickly decided to call 9-1-1 for an ambulance. The ambulance came and thankfully told me it was probably a kidney stone--at that moment, I was imagining life as a single Mom to 5 kids! Nathan rarely complains about pain and has a fair amount of chronic pain, so when he does complain, I'm pretty sure it much be terrible.
They took him in to Saan Pen, did a scan, found that it was a kidney stone and kept him in overnight. They called and told me to come and get him in the morning because it was apparently 'mostly passed'. Nathan came home for the day Wednesday but was still fairly uncomfortable and hardly ate anything. Then I gave him a healthy, nonflavourful dinner, which he ate little of and has wished he ate more of ever since!
Thursday morning he was back to a very high level of pain-not quite as bad as Tues night. He couldn't wait for me to take the kids to his Mom's and then go to the hospital, so George, our wonderful tenant, drove him back to the hospital. They did bloodwork, and the Doctor sheepishly told him that it looked like his kidney was distressed and inflamed. (This Dr told him the night before that it wasn't that big of a stone and he needed to keep it down because he was moaning so badly--and Nathan has an extremely high pain tolerance, and then that morning said "oh-why are you back?" so he did seem a little embarrassed to admit there might be a bigger problem)
Thursday-he was to have the stone removed via surgery within 24 hours, so no food or water-he did have an IV. He had a second ambulance ride to Helmecken Rd hospital where I hoped he would get right in since they called him over when they were ready for him. Not even ice chips at this point. Waited all day, no surgery, no food. Finally at 9:30, the Dr came in and told him it wouldn't be today, so he could eat, but sorry, the kitchen was closed! I wish he called me-I would have driven over some food for him! He is in a lot of pain, but on pretty constant morphine and some other stuff that has a side effect of people stopping breathing, but is pretty helpful for the pain.
Friday-came and taped up his jewellry that doesn't come off at 11:30 am, so it looked promising. Still in a lot of pain, experiencing nausea. We went for a walk to the end of the hall and he nearly passed out and took a good 2 hours to recover from the walk. Somewhere in the afternoon, I started smuggling a couple of small drinks of water for him because I didn't think he'd get in anyway. All the emergency C-sections, etc, are getting in ahead of him, so they can't tell when he'll get in. I went to get a subway sandwich for him before I left the hospital, which he is looking forward to eating after they give him the "well I guess it won't be tonight, so you can eat until Midnight" speech somewhere in the evening.
The latest news is that he'll have the surgery Saturday afternoon, but they cut down the O.R. to one room + it's a full moon coming up and a lot of babies are born then-so I'm praying for healthy deliveries without C-sections!
We're very thankful that the kids have been with Nana overnight so I can go help him & keep him company. Jim came home from camp a day early to help Mickie with them today.
Thanks for praying for him! Poor guy! Coming from a Woman Doctor who has had 2 children & 3 kidney stones, she said the kidney stones dwarfed the labour pain! I'm reminded of my very unfortunate friend who had a kidney stone just days away from delivering her baby!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Download - christianaudio.com
Download - christianaudio.com
For any of you who are interested in downloading free Christian books, they have "Forgotten God" from Francis Chan on this month for free! Nathan & I really enjoy Francis' teaching and we even went to his church while we were in California. Of course, what do you know, he wasn't preaching that week...but we did see him, and he was wearing ripped jeans, so we like him all the more! This link gives you a free Christian audio book each month-usually books by people like John Piper, etc.
For any of you who are interested in downloading free Christian books, they have "Forgotten God" from Francis Chan on this month for free! Nathan & I really enjoy Francis' teaching and we even went to his church while we were in California. Of course, what do you know, he wasn't preaching that week...but we did see him, and he was wearing ripped jeans, so we like him all the more! This link gives you a free Christian audio book each month-usually books by people like John Piper, etc.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Back from Arizona!
Just over 24 hours ago, Nathan & I arrived back home from Phoenix, Arizona (where the temperature is 84 degrees right now, even though it's after 8pm) In Victoria, it's 57 degrees and rainy, with a large wind storm threatening to take out the power...although when I look out the window, it's perfectly calm.
I actually took this photo one morning from my bed! Nathan was already out there lounging in the morning sun and I was reading in bed, trying to decide if it was worth the effort to get up and go out there with my book or just plump up the feather pillows and think about getting up later! It was barely after 7 am, but after years of getting up with kids, anytime after 7am is sleeping in! This place was the casita of Kelly's parents. Many people have these casitas-it's a guest house, usually in the back yard or on the other side of their garage.
OH, America, the land of Guns and Loans!
The cactus's were all in bloom! Every cactus-and these stood about 13 feet tall-had these blooms just on the top!
My pictures are all out of order, but here's Nathan eating pizza...note later on about it.
I actually took this photo one morning from my bed! Nathan was already out there lounging in the morning sun and I was reading in bed, trying to decide if it was worth the effort to get up and go out there with my book or just plump up the feather pillows and think about getting up later! It was barely after 7 am, but after years of getting up with kids, anytime after 7am is sleeping in! This place was the casita of Kelly's parents. Many people have these casitas-it's a guest house, usually in the back yard or on the other side of their garage.
OH, America, the land of Guns and Loans! 
The cactus's were all in bloom! Every cactus-and these stood about 13 feet tall-had these blooms just on the top!
My pictures are all out of order, but here is one important reason for our visit: meeting the adorable Luke Taylor James Cassaday, who is now 4 months old! Noah & Luke are the boys of Heidi & Kelly-most of you know that Heidi was my next-door-neighbor & best friend all through our growing up years at Prospect Lake and now lives in Phoenix, Arizona
-We always enjoy playing with our family's favourite buddy, Baby Noah...who turned 2 this week and is not such a baby! Here's my favourite Noah story: one day I was talking to Noah when he suddenly picked up his sandal and got a little twinkle in his eye. I tried to continue what we were talking about, but he was no longer interested. He looked around, spied his target, took quick aim and fired at the cat! He's got a good arm, too! We didn't see that cat for a few hours after Noah went to bed!
-we ate out a lot and had some really fabulous food-Wow-they have great food in Arizona! We had probably the best pizza I've ever eaten (baked in a coal oven-I can't remember the name, but it was in Scottsdale)...and the best sushi (RA Sushi in Scottsdale)...and the best BBQ (the BBQ Barn or something like that)...we ate and ate! I've noticed since returning home that the food has definitely declined and the service leaves something to be desired!
-We went to Frank Lloyd Wright's home out in the desert. It was a bit of an expensive tour, but really interesting. (FLW is a famous architect who really changed the face of architecture) A crazy thing that happened while we were buying our tickets was that the lady noticed we were from Victoria and proceeded to introduce us to Mr Rattenbury-who's father designed the Empress Hotel and the Parliament buildings!
-We love visiting the galleries in Scottsdale and checking out the competition! I found a lot of amazing painters that I would love to collect paintings from. It was also exciting to see the original Dr Seuss & Norman Rockwells! The gallery owner wouldn't even tell us what an original Rockwell was worth. You sometimes have to get past the hoity-toity gallery owners...but I don't think they'd be gallery owners if they were great artists, so there!
-We found a few places to bring our kids back to-the Natural History Museum with their dinosaurs & gold panning, another Wild West place in Tucson and some fun places to eat. That's the trouble with travelling without your kids! You find places you know they'll love and wish you'd brought them along! We did have a lot of fun at the places that would have not been so fun if we had brought the kids though, and I think it was good for all of us to miss each other!
-The Catan Championship lives on...okay, Heidi mostly won every game, with Kelly winning a couple as well, but the last night, double or nothing night...Yours Truly took the trophy! Nathan's been laying low...quite unusual for him. We'll see what the next season holds!
It was a very fun trip, and good for Nathan to take a bunch of days off like that after all the stress of finishing off his last couple of projects before jumping into the next couple on his plate, but we're ready to jump back in again. I was reminded as I came home of Mole, in 'The Wind in the Willows' when he gets close to his home and is reminded of all that it means to him. It's just a shabby little place, but it's HIS place. It's good to be home!
Saturday, May 8, 2010
5 Little Sailors
Here are our kids on the way to the unveiling...of course there were many other attempts to get this photo, but this is the best. Notice Charis is eating a cookie to keep her in the photo! Thanks to the Palmers for the boys sailor hats!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Gallery: Navy Day Celebrations, Homecoming statue
Gallery: Navy Day Celebrations, Homecoming statue
Here is a link to the Times Colonist Photos from the Navy's 100th with some of Nathan & Acacia with the sculpture!
Here is a link to the Times Colonist Photos from the Navy's 100th with some of Nathan & Acacia with the sculpture!
Monday, May 3, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
Trip to Vulcan, Alberta to meet Spock & Visit with Uncle Bill & the Daveys
One of my favourite parts of Nathan being a sculptor, besides the #1 fact of seeing the hand of God continually provide for us and answer prayer in interesting ways (but that's a book right there), is the fact that we get to meet all kinds of random interesting people! We never know what's around the corner, but suddenly we are meeting people and learning all about them.
Nathan & I have just returned home from dedicating the bust of Spock in Vulcan, Alberta! What an adventure! The little town of under 2000 was crazy-excited to have Leonard Nimoy come "home" for a visit. (Spock, Nimoy's Star Trek character, is from the planet Vulcan, so the little Alberta town by the same name has taken it and run with it and Nimoy has really advocated on their behalf) It was quite fun to be a part of the excitement. We were able to be up there with the VIPs, within the first to greet Nimoy and then we got to go into the Trek station and personally meet him and shake hands with him. Of course, everyone was vying for attention, so it was a bit of a chaotic day, but we did meet him. Poor guy-he just wants to retire and hand over the attention to the new Spock. This was his last public appearance.
Leonard Nimoy standing behind the unveiled bust of Spock
Vulcan parade-it was very funny to see all the people dressed up and to see how the town posted pictures and messages on their storefront windows
We were invited into the Trek Station with about 30 town leaders, so we all stood around in a circle and Mr Nimoy came around and spoke to each of us.
Here we are inside the 'Trek Station' before the whole event got underway. Can you tell that we just watched our first Star Trek movie a month ago?!
Leonard Nimoy-who also acted the Prophet Samuel in an old movie of David-my personal favourite of his roles! He's been acting for 66 years, as well as some directing, and is more than ready to retire into a quiet life, doing some photography as a hobby!
Nimoy unveiling the sculpture. (the mayor is the guy dressed up behind) I thought Nathan did an amazing job! We also had a chance to talk with a guy from CBS, who was the one to check out Nathan unbeknownst to us before Nathan was asked to do Spock. It'll be interesting to see if it leads into anything further. We still laugh over the fact that we have never watched Star Trek and when we got the email asking if he'd sculpt Leonard Nimoy, we asked for photos because we thought he was a founding father of the town!For me, the best part of the trip was that we also got to stay with our friends, Todd & Julie and meet their beautiful not-so-new baby Nia and play with Josh & Asher, who are the same age as Caleb & Levi. We were disappointed to have left our boys behind especially, as they would have had such a great time playing. I'm quite sure Nathan's highlight of the trip was going gopher shooting with Todd! Todd tells us one farmer figures those gophers cost him $10,000 in one field alone-so it was really official farm business!
Here's the video I took of Nimoy's speech & unveiling-I apologize for the shakiness! Yes-they forgot Nathan's name-which of course I think was completely inappropriate, but they were awfully excited! The mayor-dressed in Vulcanwear is giving most of the speech and we had a chance to talk to him quite a bit beforehand. He's actually an appliance repairman by trade, but a really good guy!
So that's the Vulcan part!
Other highlights of the weekend were:
-having dinner with Uncle Bill in Calgary when we arrived
-nearly getting kicked out of the Vulcan Art Gallery when Todd tried to be sneaky, taking a photo of a painting-we had met the gallery owner earlier, who wanted Nathan to come and check out the gallery-which we did-but she didn't notice he was there. (everyone seemed a bit flustered and the owner was in the midst of knocking down a painting and breaking the frame)
-having dinner in Deifenbaker's Railcar
-Going to the Badlands-it looks like a smaller version of the Grand Canyon! Nathan & Todd hiked up the hoodoos with the boys and we can't wait to bring the kids back to camp there
-of course the part that made the weekend for me was being able to hang out with Julie and get to see her in her beautiful home her husband built and catch up with the family and see the town! There is nothing I love more than long talks with good friends-especially when there's good food and talk of good books involved!
-and I have to mention the car-wash/liquor store called 'Buds n Suds' which features bartending at such events as weddings, parties & brandings!
Keep posted for Nathan's big unveiling in 8 days: unveiling the Homecoming sculpture in downtown Victoria next Tuesday for the Canadian Navy's 100th Anniversary! It's a frantic week for him as he and Bob Palmer get this sculpture finished on time!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Kids...
Charis Cassaday-our big girl with pig tails!
I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I always forget how to spell my kid's middle name. Thanks, Heidi, for marrying a guy with weird spelling! (She's named after the amazing Heidi & Kelly, who now have the last name of Cassidy! Ha ha-I know that's wrong!) I always have to check Charis's birth certificate to see whether it's Cassaday or Cassiday! Cool name, confusing spelling. The first time Nathan checked her into the church nursery, he spelled 'Charis' wrong! That's really bad.
Anyway, Charis is doing great. She's walking all over the place now. She may be #5, but she knows what she wants and she is busy bossing around her big brothers & sisters and pointing and making the sounds of phrases! You can almost make out what she's saying sometimes because her voice sounds like she just said "I don't know" and things like that! She does say some words, but mostly she just points and hollers. She's not a baby at all anymore, but a tiny toddler! Everyone seems to think she's brilliant for being able to walk, but she is nearly a year and a half, she just looks young since she's still in about the 1st percentile (meaning that out of 100 babies, roughly 99 of them are bigger than her!)
I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I always forget how to spell my kid's middle name. Thanks, Heidi, for marrying a guy with weird spelling! (She's named after the amazing Heidi & Kelly, who now have the last name of Cassidy! Ha ha-I know that's wrong!) I always have to check Charis's birth certificate to see whether it's Cassaday or Cassiday! Cool name, confusing spelling. The first time Nathan checked her into the church nursery, he spelled 'Charis' wrong! That's really bad.Anyway, Charis is doing great. She's walking all over the place now. She may be #5, but she knows what she wants and she is busy bossing around her big brothers & sisters and pointing and making the sounds of phrases! You can almost make out what she's saying sometimes because her voice sounds like she just said "I don't know" and things like that! She does say some words, but mostly she just points and hollers. She's not a baby at all anymore, but a tiny toddler! Everyone seems to think she's brilliant for being able to walk, but she is nearly a year and a half, she just looks young since she's still in about the 1st percentile (meaning that out of 100 babies, roughly 99 of them are bigger than her!)
Levi on his 5th Birthday, showing off his new Lego book on the Coho-our day trip to Port Angeles
Levi has turned 5 years old! That means we've been in this house for 5 years and 2 weeks! Hard to believe!
I had to go to Port Angeles to do some banking and go the Social Security office, so I asked Levi if he'd like to come along since it was his birthday. Then I found out that you can ride for free on your actual birthday, so that was a great deal! I was a little worried that we were late arriving at the ferry in the morning, so we parked and ran-but we had to wait for a good half hour once we got there anyway. It's an hour and a half ferry ride, but he was pretty excited since I bought candy, which I don't normally do with all the kids. Since we had nearly 2 hours, I thought that would be plenty of time, but the ferry was running late and then the bank took forever and we only had a few minutes at the Social Security office and we just ran out of time, so in the end I realized we were going to miss the boat back if we didn't run! So we RAN and RAN all the way back, arriving out of breath and digging up tickets and passports as the whistle blew. Another 30 seconds and we would have had to spend the night! So much for taking Levi out for sushi (his favourite food) in America! We ate on the ferry-and let me tell ya-it's not like the BC Ferries where they have a selection! Levi was just thrilled to have a subway sandwich-I didn't tell him it wasn't a real Subway sandwich! We arrived back in downtown Victoria at 4:00 after a day of running our hearts out and sitting and waiting! I felt so bad for Levi having to spend such a boring day, but he was thrilled! He just loved the running, he said!
Here's a handy tip I learned last week: if a ballpoint pen explodes all over your hands and then you rub it on your face (the day before your birthday), use wet wipes! They work the best. Forget about the cold cream and olive oil. Don't ask me about getting it off of wood. I've decided I can live with that until I feel like attacking it!
Levi has turned 5 years old! That means we've been in this house for 5 years and 2 weeks! Hard to believe!I had to go to Port Angeles to do some banking and go the Social Security office, so I asked Levi if he'd like to come along since it was his birthday. Then I found out that you can ride for free on your actual birthday, so that was a great deal! I was a little worried that we were late arriving at the ferry in the morning, so we parked and ran-but we had to wait for a good half hour once we got there anyway. It's an hour and a half ferry ride, but he was pretty excited since I bought candy, which I don't normally do with all the kids. Since we had nearly 2 hours, I thought that would be plenty of time, but the ferry was running late and then the bank took forever and we only had a few minutes at the Social Security office and we just ran out of time, so in the end I realized we were going to miss the boat back if we didn't run! So we RAN and RAN all the way back, arriving out of breath and digging up tickets and passports as the whistle blew. Another 30 seconds and we would have had to spend the night! So much for taking Levi out for sushi (his favourite food) in America! We ate on the ferry-and let me tell ya-it's not like the BC Ferries where they have a selection! Levi was just thrilled to have a subway sandwich-I didn't tell him it wasn't a real Subway sandwich! We arrived back in downtown Victoria at 4:00 after a day of running our hearts out and sitting and waiting! I felt so bad for Levi having to spend such a boring day, but he was thrilled! He just loved the running, he said!
Here's a handy tip I learned last week: if a ballpoint pen explodes all over your hands and then you rub it on your face (the day before your birthday), use wet wipes! They work the best. Forget about the cold cream and olive oil. Don't ask me about getting it off of wood. I've decided I can live with that until I feel like attacking it!ACACIA MARIE...
Acacia has been doing some drawing lately. I squeezed the desk into the storage room downstairs so the "big kids" can go down there to draw and I put all the good art supplies & books down there. Here's what Acacia came up with last week:
I say that's not bad for a kid in grade 1, just looking at a 'how to draw' book all on her own! I love the green eyes! I think I'm going to enter that one in the Saanich Fair!
I say that's not bad for a kid in grade 1, just looking at a 'how to draw' book all on her own! I love the green eyes! I think I'm going to enter that one in the Saanich Fair!Oops. I better go-I need to pick up the kids from their class! I didn't even get to tell you about Eden and how she wants to have a girl baby named 'Noah' after Heidi & Kelly's very adorable son with great hair. Another time. It's probably for the best anyway, since she goes on in detail about how she's going to nurse her baby, whipping up her shirt and explaining it. How embarrassing to have observant children. It's still a bit difficult to understand her since she doesn't say the first letter sound of each word yet, but there she is, explaining and showing you!
Scott's Chicken Farm
Acacia & Eden have spent many hours watching and holding the chicks
Caleb pouring over the Buckerfield's ad, making plans for his pig farm-note the overalls. You can't see the gumboots, but they're there, too!
Picking up our chicks-we actually went to get them on Wednesday, but the lady had made a mistake, so Wednesday and Thursday were VERY LONG days as we anticipated our new babies arrival!As of Friday, April 9th, 2010, we are official chicken farmers! It doesn't sound as good as "Scott's Berry Farm", but it does seem to be more fun so far! Last week we purchased 30 tiny 1 day-old chicks. Of course, all the kids are thrilled, and we can hardly keep the girls away from the pen, but none have taken it to heart so much as Caleb, who can't believe we're actual farmers so much sooner than he had dared to hope!
The boys in particular were running out of pants without large rips in the knees, so I dug out their boxes of "clothes coming up" and found a pair of overalls someone had given us that were too long. Caleb tried them on and after failing to convince me that they fit just perfectly, he begged me to hem them RIGHT AWAY! That was Saturday, and he's been wearing them every day since except Tuesday when I convinced him that since he was going to Nana & Papa's, he possibly could do without them while they washed! He's also begun to get up quietly before 6:30am so that he can put on his overalls & gumboots and go for a run with Piper around the property. "Just so I get used to waking up at this time for when I have lots of animals and farm chores" he tells us. On Sunday morning, I found him after the morning run, sitting at the kitchen table with the calculator, just pouring over the Buckerfield's ads, calculator, pen & paper in hand, making a list of supplies he will be needing! Our friend Helen gave him a book called "Joel, Growing Up a Farm Man" which has further inspired him. We've been reading it as often as Caleb can convince us we have time and we've been learning all about things like how to castrate pigs lately, so thank you, Helen! Most informative and inspiring! (Joel got to drive a tractor when HE was 8!) Fortunately, Nathan's tractor is still in parts, as the restoration seems to be taking longer than anticipated!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Please sign up as a follower!
Now that I know there are at least 5 of you following my sporatic blogs, I would like to request that you sign up as a "follower" up at the top right. I was able to sign up, so it should be working. If I know you're reading, I'll be more inspired to post-hopefully shorter updates more often instead of these long posts every 2 months! Thanks for being interested! Thanks for commenting!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Young enterprising entrepreneurs
Okay, I know I never post and then I write a whole ton...but I have to write it down or I'll forget it! So if you're a Birthday buyer and you'd like some ideas for Levi & Eden, don't miss the post below with a few ideas.
I wrote all about this a while back and then it was deleted. So now that I have a minute with the Littles with Nana & Papa, I'll take advantage!
I have been teaching the kids the value of money. They have the opportunity to earn $1 a day if they do their morning habits without being asked. I think that's a pretty good wage, but then they do a whole lot of jobs. Then they are forced into the 10-10-80 plan where they give away 10%, save 10% in their 'forever savings' and have 80% for spending. I think I'm actually saving money since I now get them to use their own money for pretty well everything. Okay, I still buy them food and I'm not nearly as bad as some people I know who charge their 8 & 10 year old Room & Board! (I can't promise I won't do it however!) So what I seem to have created is a bunch of enterprising entrepreneurs. Acacia has a collection of quick drawings that she keeps in a portfolio so she can whip it out and sell artwork to any visitors! (Mostly we limit her to grandparents, don't worry) They're thrilled that we have people around the property working and renting from us-for them, it spells OPPORTUNITY! They try to sell all manner of things to earn money-artwork, lemonaid, ants for your private ant collection, worms, in case you're fishing...but the latest was my favourite!
Uncle Jeff gave the kids a home improvement video for Christmas where it shows you how they do a renovation. It even goes into how they make tiles, what sod is, it takes you to a lab where they're studying termites and shows you each step of a home reno from start to finish. For our kids, this is a dangerous thing. I'm starting to realize that the downfall with homeschooling is that they want to put everything into practice immediately and they have time and brain-power to do it! Caleb, Acacia & Levi watched this video and then bolted outside as soon as it was done. This concerns me.
I went out a while later and found them-sawing up the grass under their treefort! I noticed they had a large section of the grass marked out with sticks pounded into the ground. There was already a roll or two of rolled up lawn neatly stacked in the fort. When I asked them what on earth they were doing, they told me they were making sod and were planning to sell our lawn! I guess they figured their treefort area is theirs to do with what they will! So Bill, if you drive by and see signs up, advertising anything-like our living room couch or dining room table, IT'S NOT FOR SALE!
Coming Soon: Caleb & Acacia's Pig Farm! Now that they can read and print, they've been devouring pig books from the library. They know all about the breeds, what they eat, how much they cost, how long they need to be raised before slaughtering and they've lined up Grandpa to be the slaughterer (they have no problem with this slaughtering-which also concerns me!) I find scraps of paper around with labeled diagrams of pig pens. I often come upon Caleb with pen & paper & calculator, just calculating! Wonder where he got that from?
I wrote all about this a while back and then it was deleted. So now that I have a minute with the Littles with Nana & Papa, I'll take advantage!
I have been teaching the kids the value of money. They have the opportunity to earn $1 a day if they do their morning habits without being asked. I think that's a pretty good wage, but then they do a whole lot of jobs. Then they are forced into the 10-10-80 plan where they give away 10%, save 10% in their 'forever savings' and have 80% for spending. I think I'm actually saving money since I now get them to use their own money for pretty well everything. Okay, I still buy them food and I'm not nearly as bad as some people I know who charge their 8 & 10 year old Room & Board! (I can't promise I won't do it however!) So what I seem to have created is a bunch of enterprising entrepreneurs. Acacia has a collection of quick drawings that she keeps in a portfolio so she can whip it out and sell artwork to any visitors! (Mostly we limit her to grandparents, don't worry) They're thrilled that we have people around the property working and renting from us-for them, it spells OPPORTUNITY! They try to sell all manner of things to earn money-artwork, lemonaid, ants for your private ant collection, worms, in case you're fishing...but the latest was my favourite!
Uncle Jeff gave the kids a home improvement video for Christmas where it shows you how they do a renovation. It even goes into how they make tiles, what sod is, it takes you to a lab where they're studying termites and shows you each step of a home reno from start to finish. For our kids, this is a dangerous thing. I'm starting to realize that the downfall with homeschooling is that they want to put everything into practice immediately and they have time and brain-power to do it! Caleb, Acacia & Levi watched this video and then bolted outside as soon as it was done. This concerns me.
I went out a while later and found them-sawing up the grass under their treefort! I noticed they had a large section of the grass marked out with sticks pounded into the ground. There was already a roll or two of rolled up lawn neatly stacked in the fort. When I asked them what on earth they were doing, they told me they were making sod and were planning to sell our lawn! I guess they figured their treefort area is theirs to do with what they will! So Bill, if you drive by and see signs up, advertising anything-like our living room couch or dining room table, IT'S NOT FOR SALE!
Coming Soon: Caleb & Acacia's Pig Farm! Now that they can read and print, they've been devouring pig books from the library. They know all about the breeds, what they eat, how much they cost, how long they need to be raised before slaughtering and they've lined up Grandpa to be the slaughterer (they have no problem with this slaughtering-which also concerns me!) I find scraps of paper around with labeled diagrams of pig pens. I often come upon Caleb with pen & paper & calculator, just calculating! Wonder where he got that from?
Post to Birthday Buyers-Levi & Eden
Nana asked for suggestions for the kid's birthdays since I've been such a tyrant with gifts. Thanks to the family who understands that 5 kids continually having birthdays adds up to a lot of stuff, so I really appreciate you who buy for our kids and take it into consideration-but not half as much as my kids appreciate the birthday buyers!
Levi's birthday is coming up on April 13-and he's going to be 5! Wow-that means we've been in this house for 5 years + the 2 weeks I was pregnant-remember how thankful I was that he was late and didn't appear on April Fool's Day?
These are just a couple of suggestions for Mr Levi Everett Manning Scott. Please let me know if you do get something on this list that he would only need 1 of, so I can take it off so he doesn't get duplicates! Thanks!
--a pair of jeans or camoflague pants-extra tough since all of his pants seem to get holes and rips in the knees
-a suction-cup bow & arrow-he saw this in a Dollar store in the States but he had already spent his money so he just talked about it all the way home-how he would shoot the roof and suction to it and hoist himself up. I fear he'll be disappointed when he does get it, but he will be thilled beyond anything to get this! -Nana is going to look for this one
-anything cowboy-he's still our cowboy! He has a few straw cowboy hats, but if you happen to see cowboy boots in size 1, I think that would give him some room to grow into them-these can be expensive, so I'd buy used if I found some good ones. He also might like Cowboy songs on CD.
(-he's still a big fan of Roy Rogers-even though no other 4 year old around knows who Roy Rogers is! If you find Roy Rogers videos, check with me because he does have a 20-video pack, so you may want to go with another cowboy video-for kids, please! Not ready for adult-Western videos just yet! He hasn't seen the Dale Evans & Roy Rogers Show though, so if you see any DVDs of these, he would love them! -Nana has some Annie Okley videos)
-a snorkel or swimming fins-Caleb has bought him a mask, but he'd love a snorkel & fins
-a nice sweater for church-he seems to have grown out of all his sweaters
-Lamplighter Audio Books on CD-these are always a good idea for our family. Levi is starting to really enjoy listening to Audio books. You get these through the Lamplighter website http://www.lamplighterpublishing.com/sirmalcolm.html. We also love other Audio books-especially the classics, but check with me first as we have a few.
That's all I can think of for Levi-It is just meant to give you some ideas! Please don't go out and buy the whole list! We often buy second-hand and our kids think that's just great-a better product for less money!
Eden Christine-turning 3 on April 23rd (Finally Free we say, as none of them could say "th"ree when they were 3!)
-Playdoh is always a great thing for Eden, although she now hopefully knows that we don't take it into the bedroom and mix it with water and smooth the whole gooey mess into our hair, or the carpet or the table & chair & toys!
-Eden loves to wear dresses, and is growing out of many of hers, so she would love a pretty dress
-if you see a little trike that can be pushed but is low to the ground, she is riding her old plastic one where the pedals have broken off-but please be careful as she is a real dare-devel and loves to ride down our side hill from the middle shop all the way down-so I don't think a tall trike would be a good idea. This it the girl who tried to ride her trike down our back stairs last year onto the concrete below and was mad that 3 year-old Levi happened upon her and stopped her with his arm and hollered for me. In fact, she tried to bite him so he would move his arm and stop wrecking her fun...again, I thank God for protecting us! I was so proud of my cowboy for stopping her! Where was I? Just inside the kitchen-only steps away, but she's fast and she knows when I'm busy taking care of the baby!
-some of these ideas for Eden are more on the expensive side, so again, if you would like to donate towards it, that would be appreciated, and we love second-hand!
Levi's birthday is coming up on April 13-and he's going to be 5! Wow-that means we've been in this house for 5 years + the 2 weeks I was pregnant-remember how thankful I was that he was late and didn't appear on April Fool's Day?
These are just a couple of suggestions for Mr Levi Everett Manning Scott. Please let me know if you do get something on this list that he would only need 1 of, so I can take it off so he doesn't get duplicates! Thanks!
--a pair of jeans or camoflague pants-extra tough since all of his pants seem to get holes and rips in the knees
-a suction-cup bow & arrow-he saw this in a Dollar store in the States but he had already spent his money so he just talked about it all the way home-how he would shoot the roof and suction to it and hoist himself up. I fear he'll be disappointed when he does get it, but he will be thilled beyond anything to get this! -Nana is going to look for this one
-anything cowboy-he's still our cowboy! He has a few straw cowboy hats, but if you happen to see cowboy boots in size 1, I think that would give him some room to grow into them-these can be expensive, so I'd buy used if I found some good ones. He also might like Cowboy songs on CD.
(-he's still a big fan of Roy Rogers-even though no other 4 year old around knows who Roy Rogers is! If you find Roy Rogers videos, check with me because he does have a 20-video pack, so you may want to go with another cowboy video-for kids, please! Not ready for adult-Western videos just yet! He hasn't seen the Dale Evans & Roy Rogers Show though, so if you see any DVDs of these, he would love them! -Nana has some Annie Okley videos)
-a snorkel or swimming fins-Caleb has bought him a mask, but he'd love a snorkel & fins
-a nice sweater for church-he seems to have grown out of all his sweaters
-Lamplighter Audio Books on CD-these are always a good idea for our family. Levi is starting to really enjoy listening to Audio books. You get these through the Lamplighter website http://www.lamplighterpublishing.com/sirmalcolm.html. We also love other Audio books-especially the classics, but check with me first as we have a few.
That's all I can think of for Levi-It is just meant to give you some ideas! Please don't go out and buy the whole list! We often buy second-hand and our kids think that's just great-a better product for less money!
Eden Christine-turning 3 on April 23rd (Finally Free we say, as none of them could say "th"ree when they were 3!)
-Playdoh is always a great thing for Eden, although she now hopefully knows that we don't take it into the bedroom and mix it with water and smooth the whole gooey mess into our hair, or the carpet or the table & chair & toys!
-Eden loves to wear dresses, and is growing out of many of hers, so she would love a pretty dress
-if you see a little trike that can be pushed but is low to the ground, she is riding her old plastic one where the pedals have broken off-but please be careful as she is a real dare-devel and loves to ride down our side hill from the middle shop all the way down-so I don't think a tall trike would be a good idea. This it the girl who tried to ride her trike down our back stairs last year onto the concrete below and was mad that 3 year-old Levi happened upon her and stopped her with his arm and hollered for me. In fact, she tried to bite him so he would move his arm and stop wrecking her fun...again, I thank God for protecting us! I was so proud of my cowboy for stopping her! Where was I? Just inside the kitchen-only steps away, but she's fast and she knows when I'm busy taking care of the baby!
-some of these ideas for Eden are more on the expensive side, so again, if you would like to donate towards it, that would be appreciated, and we love second-hand!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Feb 6, 2010
Bev assures me that she, at least, is reading this, so thank you, to the famous Bev Knight!
I've thought of a couple of things to add...one I wrote all about yesterday and then it was lost before I saved it, so today, I will be smarter.
Levi was allowed to take 'Christian the Cat' home from Sunday School for the week. Christian is a stuffed animal in a basket that comes with a journal to record your activities with him as you teach him about Jesus in your own home. Levi's recording went something like this: " I threw Christian the cat up in the air and I catched him. I love God and he loves God! I love how he likes me to have me throw him up in the air! I love how he likes to swing on my arms and I throw him backwards and he does a flip! I love how he likes to be 'sling-shotted' by me! I love how he likes to be thrown and other people catch him! (at this point, I prompted him and reminded him of his assignment) I taught him about Jesus by throwing him up in the air, like he's with God!" That, people, is pure evangalism at work! Beware of the Scott kids and their methods of reflecting the love of God!
I've thought of a couple of things to add...one I wrote all about yesterday and then it was lost before I saved it, so today, I will be smarter.
Levi was allowed to take 'Christian the Cat' home from Sunday School for the week. Christian is a stuffed animal in a basket that comes with a journal to record your activities with him as you teach him about Jesus in your own home. Levi's recording went something like this: " I threw Christian the cat up in the air and I catched him. I love God and he loves God! I love how he likes me to have me throw him up in the air! I love how he likes to swing on my arms and I throw him backwards and he does a flip! I love how he likes to be 'sling-shotted' by me! I love how he likes to be thrown and other people catch him! (at this point, I prompted him and reminded him of his assignment) I taught him about Jesus by throwing him up in the air, like he's with God!" That, people, is pure evangalism at work! Beware of the Scott kids and their methods of reflecting the love of God!
Friday, February 5, 2010
February 6th, 2010-The missing post!
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Eden now insists on wearing her running shoes everywhere. When I pull out her easy, pink boots, she says "No Mom! Wunning Shoes! I wun wike uh wind!" (I run like the wind) and then she demonstrates how fast she can go while you wait and she yells out "I WUN WIKE UH WIND!!!" and of course, "You can't wun wike de wind! I wun wike uh wind!"
Lately, since we told them they were not allowed to sell our lawn, they've turned to play. Their favourite game lately is what they call "sale" where they collect all their toys and put pricetags on and buy from each other with play money. This seemed to me to be a pretty normal game until I overheard Acacia telling Levi that since he had lost all his money to them, he had to be the begger, and she and Caleb agreed to support him as long as he did some tricks for them and begged for money! Is this normal?!?
Thursday, January 28, 2010
End of January
Kid's Banana Tree Fort in Grandpa's back yard...these are some branches pruned off that have grown up since 2 years ago when Levi chopped the banana tree to the ground!
Here are the kids sculpting in art class...taught be ME, of course, because Nathan is busy sculpting!! I might be a natural born sculptor-who knew! Ha ha!
Here's Nathan working on Spock-to be installed in April in Vulcan, Alberta-the arms coming out the side of his head are from Acacia in the background
Caleb's party-notice the mohawks Nathan gave the boys while I was out shopping one day! Actually, he was going to shave them right off, but I thought they were pretty cute so they stayed for a couple of weeks. Now their hair is 2 mm all over, growing in for Nathan's next idea-lightning bolts.
Here are the kids sculpting in art class...taught be ME, of course, because Nathan is busy sculpting!! I might be a natural born sculptor-who knew! Ha ha!
Here's Nathan working on Spock-to be installed in April in Vulcan, Alberta-the arms coming out the side of his head are from Acacia in the background
Caleb's party-notice the mohawks Nathan gave the boys while I was out shopping one day! Actually, he was going to shave them right off, but I thought they were pretty cute so they stayed for a couple of weeks. Now their hair is 2 mm all over, growing in for Nathan's next idea-lightning bolts.
Here it is the last week of January and I have to say, I'm even worse at posting on a blog then I thought I'd be! It's busy around here! I must say something about all we've been doing though. Let me think of what we've all been up to. Nathan is busy getting his foundry running again-did another pouring day last week where he poured some of other people's pieces. It went quite well but he's still working out the kinks. He's got the Navy's Homecoming sculpture in various stages-some in clay, some moulded, some even to the wax stage. He has a couple of guys helping him these days, who take turns doing work for him. He's just finishing up sculpting Spock-he's officially the first guy to sculpt Spock! It looks great and we might have a chance to meet Leonard Nimoy when he installs it in the town of Vulcan, Alberta in April-never mind that we had no idea who Leonard Nimoy was when they approached us about the project and we asked them to send us some photos of Mr. Nemoy! Now we're officially Trikkies...I mean Trekkies!! Ha ha-I just don't think we'll fool them, but it was kind of exciting to hear that CBS checked him out without us even knowing about it.
Caleb turned 8 this month and is working hard at grade 2. His reading is really coming along, so that's exciting for all of us! He had a dinosaur birthday party, which was a lot of fun-painting pteredon milk cartons, making volcanoes...lots of fun with friends. Nathan just fixed up an old bike for him that used to be a girl's bike and is now very much a boy's camoflague mountain bike. He looks like a small boy for such a big bike, but he's having fun. One funny thing that happened recently is that Uncle Jeff gave the kids a video on a home renovation and shortly after that, I went out to see them sawing up the grass under their tree fort in attempts to open a sod business! They're entrepreneurial-what can I say?!
Acacia has just learned how to ride her bike without training wheels, so she is very pleased to keep up to her brothers finally! She's out there practicing and riding all over. She is also a money maker-she sells pictures to anyone who comes over-so beware! She has a whole portfolio! She and Caleb have been sewing dolls lately out of fabric. Of course, Caleb doesn't call it a doll-it's simply "Johnny", but they both have been snipping and sewing these little felt dolls and little clothes for them. Levi is enthusiastic, but needs me to do most of the sewing, so his guy is really still in pieces.
Levi is racing up to 5 years old before I can hardly imagine. He just entertains himself and plays and bikes and explores and gets dirty and has a pretty good life, if you ask me! He's still my clown and can entertain anyone and is very good to his little sisters especially. I'll have to think of a funny story but I can't at the moment. He's still a cowboy and is busy watching the Roy Rogers 20 movie pack he bought with his own money!
Eden is a 'big gew' she tells me. She is talking up a storm, but is still sometimes difficult to understand. Last week she was insisting on something about "wo-er" which I figured out to be "a drink of water", but it turned out she meant "Roy Rogers". She may not be a clear talker-though she is getting more and more understandable-but she makes up for it in volume! She is also incredibly brave, which worries me a bit! She drags her little bike up to the top of the hill-not the very top since I told her she CANNOT ride down the concrete part by the house-so she has to stop at the sandbox, and then she races down the hill over the bridge with her hair sticking out behind her and a slightly terrified, slightly nonchalant look on her face. Then she calmly gets off her bike and says "You can't do that, can you, Mom?" "I can do dat. Charis can't. She's a baby. I big gew." She had a nervous little girl over last week who is just a couple of months older and is # 3 out of 4-but they're all girls. They both went on the tire swing and her little friend insisted on her Mom pushing them, and not any turning, and not too high as she sat holding tightly onto the chains. Eden stood up on the tire, held on with just one hand-which she pointed out to us that she was doing, stuck her back foot out and said "Wook at me-I can do dis. Charis can't. Higher, higher!" I guess that's what comes of being the girl who's trying to keep up with Levi!
Charis is 14 months now and she is not a baby anymore-even if Eden tells her she is. She is still not walking-my slowest walker, I think-but she could if she wanted to. She has taken the odd step here and there, and she can balance perfectly, standing up and sitting back down from the ground with no trouble. She just doesn't want to take the risk-which is just fine with us, especially given her older sister's example! Charis just doesn't seem to want to risk falling-but she doesn't really like crawling anymore either, so it won't be long. She's going to be a funny kid I think. She likes to clap and cover her eyes-but she's not too good at getting her eyes covered-it's pretty cute.
I am just along for the ride, keeping up with everyone the best I can! We bought a piano with some Christmas money, so we'll attempt to add that in. It turns out it's from around the 1870s the tuner thinks. I love that it's a beautiful antique, but it might not be so practical for the kids to learn on so I may have to look for something more tunable!
Caleb turned 8 this month and is working hard at grade 2. His reading is really coming along, so that's exciting for all of us! He had a dinosaur birthday party, which was a lot of fun-painting pteredon milk cartons, making volcanoes...lots of fun with friends. Nathan just fixed up an old bike for him that used to be a girl's bike and is now very much a boy's camoflague mountain bike. He looks like a small boy for such a big bike, but he's having fun. One funny thing that happened recently is that Uncle Jeff gave the kids a video on a home renovation and shortly after that, I went out to see them sawing up the grass under their tree fort in attempts to open a sod business! They're entrepreneurial-what can I say?!
Acacia has just learned how to ride her bike without training wheels, so she is very pleased to keep up to her brothers finally! She's out there practicing and riding all over. She is also a money maker-she sells pictures to anyone who comes over-so beware! She has a whole portfolio! She and Caleb have been sewing dolls lately out of fabric. Of course, Caleb doesn't call it a doll-it's simply "Johnny", but they both have been snipping and sewing these little felt dolls and little clothes for them. Levi is enthusiastic, but needs me to do most of the sewing, so his guy is really still in pieces.
Levi is racing up to 5 years old before I can hardly imagine. He just entertains himself and plays and bikes and explores and gets dirty and has a pretty good life, if you ask me! He's still my clown and can entertain anyone and is very good to his little sisters especially. I'll have to think of a funny story but I can't at the moment. He's still a cowboy and is busy watching the Roy Rogers 20 movie pack he bought with his own money!
Eden is a 'big gew' she tells me. She is talking up a storm, but is still sometimes difficult to understand. Last week she was insisting on something about "wo-er" which I figured out to be "a drink of water", but it turned out she meant "Roy Rogers". She may not be a clear talker-though she is getting more and more understandable-but she makes up for it in volume! She is also incredibly brave, which worries me a bit! She drags her little bike up to the top of the hill-not the very top since I told her she CANNOT ride down the concrete part by the house-so she has to stop at the sandbox, and then she races down the hill over the bridge with her hair sticking out behind her and a slightly terrified, slightly nonchalant look on her face. Then she calmly gets off her bike and says "You can't do that, can you, Mom?" "I can do dat. Charis can't. She's a baby. I big gew." She had a nervous little girl over last week who is just a couple of months older and is # 3 out of 4-but they're all girls. They both went on the tire swing and her little friend insisted on her Mom pushing them, and not any turning, and not too high as she sat holding tightly onto the chains. Eden stood up on the tire, held on with just one hand-which she pointed out to us that she was doing, stuck her back foot out and said "Wook at me-I can do dis. Charis can't. Higher, higher!" I guess that's what comes of being the girl who's trying to keep up with Levi!
Charis is 14 months now and she is not a baby anymore-even if Eden tells her she is. She is still not walking-my slowest walker, I think-but she could if she wanted to. She has taken the odd step here and there, and she can balance perfectly, standing up and sitting back down from the ground with no trouble. She just doesn't want to take the risk-which is just fine with us, especially given her older sister's example! Charis just doesn't seem to want to risk falling-but she doesn't really like crawling anymore either, so it won't be long. She's going to be a funny kid I think. She likes to clap and cover her eyes-but she's not too good at getting her eyes covered-it's pretty cute.
I am just along for the ride, keeping up with everyone the best I can! We bought a piano with some Christmas money, so we'll attempt to add that in. It turns out it's from around the 1870s the tuner thinks. I love that it's a beautiful antique, but it might not be so practical for the kids to learn on so I may have to look for something more tunable!
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