yesterday today and tomorrow

Yesterday: Dave found a wonderful toy for us all to play with while purusing the online classifieds....a foosball table for ....you'll never guess.... $20!! :) yes that's right, we are the proud new owners of a foosball table. yipppppppeeeeeee. Sorry to Holly and Tyler, it arrived a week too late for you to use it! :(
This is more of the story of yesterday. Bonita, Dorinda, Amanda and Karli all joined us for a celebration supper. What was the occassion? Seeing each other again!! hahaha. what better reason is there to eat and be merry then seeing good friends again? haha.

Julia is experimenting with new fashions for her fingers....we call this one Crayola-Crazy-Hands.So, perhaps you have read a story called, "Blueberries for Sal". iF you have, you will understand what is happening in the above and below pictures....if you have not.....go read it.

Julia (last night) began to pick "blueberries" (blue christmas ball ornaments) off the "bush"(christmas tree) saying that she was "little sal" and that she was picking her OWN berries to can for the winter. Well, the story continued TODAY when we took the lovely red pail of "berries" and canned them with her new soup pot and cups. Don't worry, we didn't get burned in the steamy process of ... processing...( haha)..the fruit. We were well equipped with laddle, napkins, and other safety gear for the job.

Tomorrow: we are thinking to make an excursion. an adventure. a new story to tell. stay posted. Don't turn that dial!

For anyone who parents a boy:

dear folks,
i read a great article by a mother of nine children today and thought i'd pass it on.
so go to my link list and read the most recenet entry by "likeminded mommy" it is on raising boys in a feminist culture. AWESOME. i laughed, i cried, it moved me bob.

sue

At the End of Week 29...8-11 weeks left

photo: Julia hugging the baby, and talking to him/her and giving 'raspberries' and kisses.Dear Readers,

I hope all is well in the part of the world you are reading this from. Here in warm, mild, and grey S-town we are enjoying our first day of "normal" and "quiet" after a busy weekend of Christmas cheer. aaaaaah. Julia and I both needed a day of regular happenings after a whirlwind of fun and change. I know most of you understand how this works, but it just baffles my mind how stability in life, and the ability to know what is coming next go very well with children. Julia especially, she thrives on our weekly routine. When times of change come, we rework the routine and voila! our happy child returns. Not that circumstances make us joyful, but it is in well thought out daily life that our household is managed and peace is kept. Without a plan i find that chaos rules; when chaos rules, attitudes turn sour; when attitudes turn sour, love and care are lost, and we must start all over again at the foundation of our relationships to return to respect, love and obedience. All part of the command to be "fruitful and multiply" i suppose, which means much more than just "multiply and multiply" as i always thought.....instead it is much deeper than that. God desires for us to not only bring children into the world, but to train then in righteousness (that's the fruitful part). SO we try hard to make a plan, keep the peace, build love and respect in the home and pray that those disciplines help to grow children that love and care for the world and all the people in it.

well. my little babble-fest is over, and now i will go read and sleep and sweep and cook. Bonita is visiting us tonight!! yipppe, we shall have a dinner party in her honor!
sue

A Christmas Day and Night

morning at oma and opa's house....Julia woke up adam and karli (really fun for us...hopefully for them too.haha.) She jumped on the bed, and then onto their tummies and sat there saying, "Time to get up and open presents!!!!!!!!!!"
Julia received many lovely thoughtful gifts from all members of the household. many thanks to their generosity and love and care. Oma and Opa supplied her with lots of plastic food to play with, as she is prone to make-believing a restaurant with waitresses and such. Also a lovely IKEA tea set, and pots and pans for cooking.
this was the eve of the eve of Christmas at karli's house (sorry everything is out of order, and i didn't move it into it's proper place....so suffer the flashbacks with me. haha) Carla Raes is a favorite of our family, and here Julia snuggled up to her and pulled the blanket up as well! haha. so loved.
This is at Karli's as well, for Christmas eve dinner. We all brought a little something for a potluck, then we played and laughed and the children opened gifts!! Julia is wearing hers! a real cowgirl now. i'm so proud. :) haha. Thanks to Aunti Karli, she is living out her dream of being a horse girl.
Now to Christmas day again, Aunti Ann bought this cute, cuddly and snuggly horse for Julia. She fell in love immediately, naming it "Small One" from a Christmas film she had just seen. haha. and "Small One" accompanied her to nap time that day.

Christmas Pictures

oops, i was a bit late on getting the hug and kiss picture.
sampling the new plastic food in her 'restaurant'.
aaw the sista and her bro's. ain't they cute? they look happy too, this was BEFORE the war of Carcassonne began. :)
Not only did julia get the right clothes for her dream, she now is the proud owner of many a pony, horse, brush, shovel (very imp't for these beasts) and fencing to keep them in. Thank you K.

AND WE CANNOT FORGET......from afar came a lovely delight...a package from a beloved sister and her family! in it were many surprizes, some of which you can see here...a sticker book with stickers, and for mommy a beautiful ornament for the tree. THANK YOU! So lovely to receive a surprize!

love to all. we had a great family Christmas and spent a lot of time together (even though dave worked christmas eve and boxing day).... it was lovely to talk to loved ones on the phone, spend time singing praises to God at our worshipful Eve service, watch as Julia and others opened gifts with starlit eyes, and just be together for feast and fellowship.

I hope all of you out there in blogland had a great Christmas. May God reveal to you all of the peace and joy that are available in His soveriegn will for you.

love from dave, sue, and Julia.

more of the invasion...

Tyler taught Julia all about frieghters and other vessles as they played...haha, who says play doh is just for kids???
Awwwwwwwwww shucks, ain't they sweet? This is HOlly comforting Tyler after squirting him in the eye with the juice of an orange peel....okay, so it isn't really, but She did do that...and she is still holly and she still pulls all the pranks adn jokes and teasers that a good ol' HOlly should.
AND DAVE FINISHED HIS WORK OF ART!!!!!!!!!!!! JULIA HAS HER OWN MAILLE TO WEAR TO BATTLE!! these pics are not the best, we will work on better ones. THere is a lovely trim ofblack along the bottom of the shirt, in a triangle pattern. as well as a cross on the front of the shirt. very nice. and heavy!
the very serious knight in shining new armor! by the way!! thank you to aunti Carla for the fabulous book on castles and knights, it is AMAZING! Julia loves it, and so do i . the pop up's are amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thank you thank you. also thanks for the antisanta socks, we look forward to those every year! :)

love from all of us here at the sleepy-funny-farm.
off to rest now. byebye.

The Holly Invasion

Cousin Holly came to stay, we told her she couldn't go away.

She made a silly scowl, so we turned her into some fowl......


Just kidding, holly is still holly...but this guy was just wandering around the animal farm...loose...intimidating the animals and other fowl around him as he slowly sauntered up and down the aisle...haha.THis is Tyler....HOlly's boyfriend and the Goose-Whisperer. yes. it is true...he knows how to charm these creatures.
Feeding the Llamas.
Feeding the horses.

A montage of picture-stories

Uncle Adam is home from Sweden for Christmas break!! "And now i will wrestle with uncle adam !!" says the happy Julia.
Brushing up on world geography....learning her flags. This is her favorite page of the delightful Children's Atlas from my loving sister. Whenever she gets the chance, we look at this page and point out the flags we like and name the countries they are from. (if mommy can pronounce them! yikes.) (oh yes, and she is on her potty, doing very well i might add. today she told me each time she had to go!! i am thrilled! and one of those times was at the grocery store! thankfully we have visited that bathroom many times and knew where it was)
Another great shot of our new horse. yes it lives in Julia's room, but so far it isn't very messy. Seems to take care of itself quite well. I don't know why we didn't get a pet sooner!
Way back to last week and our "present day", we had our friends Chris and Mary over for "Christmas Dinner". (notice the horse is sitting with Julia?) haha. Lovely times were had by all. I truly enjoy these two, well, really we all enjoy them, but i am writing this. ha. Not only are they fun-loving, inspirational, and knowledgable...but you should hear the great accents that Chris can read stories in! haha.
And a final shot for this montage: Julia pretending to be in a band. yes, a marching band. The togue is her hat (it HAD to be tied under her chin, just like the band we watched in the Christmas parade) and the thing in her hand is a flag she made . (the marching band had flag girls) We (mommy and Julia) marched around the house in circles for at least ten minutes...and then daddy joined us for anther five before she decided the band should stop and rest. hahah. it was pretty fun.

and silly.
i like silliness.
enjoy your day!
i get to see my cousin tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i haven't seen her in a year! yippppppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

heehee.

Julia woke up on sunday morning belting out:

"oooooh Christmas Tree, Ooooooooooh Christmas Tree. how lovely are your tree branches!"

ahahaha. perfectly articulated to make it even more funny for us listening. oooh man. she just kept singing it over and over and over....heehee.

funny girl.

and here are some more pictures of our day....

Present Day brunch: daddy made some great eggs and bacon; mommy and Julia made cinnamon buns and fruit salad.(we slept in and opened gifts before eating to make it more special) (also, notice julia is wearing her new horse STILL)


mmmmmmmmmmmmmm good food. the horse likes it too.

in my stocking i found this lovely bracelet made by Julia. heehee.Dave spoiled me....these are the books he got me for christmas.....heehee. i finished the Storekeeper's Daughter already...okay, confession, i finished it at 1 am the night i got it....let's say it was pretty good, and timely since i am done my history of the church text book....so i needed a good emotional read to counter the good historical read! thank you thank you thank you dave!!! i love you!!! you know me so well....haha. he planned a great little hunt around the house for each book...there was one hiding in the piano bench, one in the sewing table, one in julia' s room, etc. so fun!
and this is just a super cute picture i forgot to post a couple weeks ago.

loves. from us here in warm mild ontario.

PRESENT DAY!!

Opening gifts together, ah, what a delightful time!The first thing Julia saw was a horse head, sticking out of a gift bag....before she even KNEW what it was completely, she says, "I want it on PLEASE!!" haha, so in all of our "present" morning pictures there is a new member of the family. BONNIE THE HORSE. yes, we got our Jules what every little girl wants at some time in their life: a horse.
Here she is opening and playing with her new alphabet puzzle from nana and grandpa.


I am not one to like 'name brand'-ish things when it comes to clothes and toys, so i try to stay to neutral cutie things instead...this however, i don't feel bad about at all. Who can pass up Bob the Builder slippers for $2.oo???? Besides, Julia REALLY really really really enjoys B the B, and it is one of the only kids shows i don't find annoying- so i'm glad she picked well!! haha. (also notice, she is wearing her new horse in the picture...)
Ah, veggie tales!! Thank you to Great Grandma Hillson for this gift!! (the money you sent went to this lovely "hero's of the bible" DVD, with the stories of Esther, Daniel, and David on it)
(Also, notice she is wearing her new horse in the picture.....)
Oma and Opa bought her a couple little horses to play with, so mommy and daddy added one to the collection....a lovely chestnut colored horse with a speckled bottom...immediately it became, "the daddy horse!!" since the other two were already named the mommy and the filly. (also , notice Julia is wearing her new horse in the picture.....)

Julia's stocking held many colors of glitter glue for decorating crafts and artwork.....here she is trying them out. (also, notice she is wearing her new horse in the picture.....)
More pictures to come.....................

Eve-Events.

No i don't have a stutter. (although i always feel like i do when i say that word...Stutter) Anyway, last night was our PRESENT day eve. (i'll explain later) We spent the night doing familyish things, like walking through the celebration of lights, making and drinking hot chocolate and eating delicious cinnamon buns that the Jules and i had made earlier. Below are the pictures of the walk and such. Julia just loves the mini-houses, and we spent the whole time running from one to the next to the next to the next. Yes, that is what we did for Present Eve........

the daddy and mommy hid away and wrapped gifts for the next morning.....

Happy "Present Day" Eve!

Sweet Dreams

Dear readers,

i awoke this morning, in the dim light the clock said some-time -around three am. There had been a loud boom, crash, thundering noise that was continuing.....so it was not a dream as i first had thought. The roaring noise was constant and i could see flickerings of light on our window. Stepping out of bed, then peering out the window i shuddered: there before me was an orange sky, blazing fiercely. I didn't know just what i was looking at, however, we do live north of many chemical and oil plants....so i knew it was something in that region.

Eventually i fell asleep again, lulled by the roaring of a fire miles away. but this is what i discovered it to be in the morning news: READ IT HERE

Well, enjoy your day, breathing better air then we are! yikes.
perhaps i should put doctor-masks in our stockings for christmas??

a night out

Here we are, all dolled up for the evening Christmas party. Julia was sad to not join the festivities (especially since she helped us decorate the hall for the party on monday night. putting out the plates, napkins, and tableclothes with me) but when Carla came to hang out with her for the night, she was hardly aware of our departure....as per usual now-a-days. haha. man does she ever love to play with people.
Dave looks a little serious here, but don't worry, he wasn't glaring at anyone in particular. haha.

So what was the occassion?? it was our Egroups Christmas party at church. (named 'Egroups' by our assistant pastor that likes Ipods and Email and other modern day 'E' 'I' words...he thought it fit well with our new lingo. haha)
Dave dropped me off early so i could practise on the piano at church, and for a few songs i thought i was playing the wrong notes.....until i realized it was only due to the IN tuneness of the church piano compared to our own!!! hahaha. that was shocking....i have a poor ear, so our piano at home sounds JUST fine when you are listening to it alone....but in comparisson...yeah, not so tuned. oh well.

The piano sounded just lovely. i love hearing a smooth, clear note ... this piano was just that. smooth. aaaaah. feels good to play on a nice instrument. (not that our piano at home is NOT a good instrument...it just needs some TLC)

After the fingers stopped shaking i played through my songs as all the folks entered the party, and i had quite a delightful time doing so. Then we ate, listened to a Christmas Story, watched a skit, sang carols, ate, ate, ate, and laughed our heads off at one of the groups....hahaha. Reason?? because it was Karli's group, and they are all NUTS. we each had to introduce our group, and then sing the first line of a carol that we thought represented our group. (for our group it was "Grandma got run over by a reindeer" because of all the surgeries and ailments our group has had in the last few months.) Anyway, Karli and her group said their song was the Nutcracker Sweets, otherwise known as The waltz of the Flowers. lovely song. NO WORDS though. haaha. and then their leader did ballet to it as they hummed the tune!!! it was AWESOME.

Anyway. I got to wear my dress from Cynthia's wedding again, and that was fun. i love dressing up! :)

lovely evening out. all rosy, cozy, and festive.

love from sue.

6months

So...i haven't done a good job of posting myself. but here i am. self portrait in my third trimester! yippee! i am nearly there!

Pregnant report: very minor lower back pain now a normal everyday occurance , my cure: a good husband that massages me every night! ! ! what a guy.

I enjoy my midwife visits very very much. Julia does as well. in fact, julia assisted a birth just last thursday while at our midwife appointment. yes it is true, they have a doll with placenta in a mesh bag that they use to demonstrate just how the baby is positioned within me...and they have the pelvic bones to show how the baby is born. JULIA LOVES THIS. she asks to see it every time we are there, so last week she helped 'birth' the baby. haha. Grasping the head as itcame out, etc. haha. My little doctor-girl.

Anyway, i should run. thought i'd leave the preggy photo for y'all.from sue.

Naus Christmas Dinner: extended-family-party-time

(back track a few days to our first "snow" which lasted only hours)
Naus Family christmas was this weekend. Julia loved the resturant....then afterwards going to Great Oma and Opa's for play and new faces. After being told not to each more of the candy's on the table (she had had quite her fill, and i didn't want lack of nap and too much sugar to make a grumpy sick Julia for the night) Julia proceeded to hand deliver candy to everyone. it was so cute. and funny. and i laughed a lot. She even unwrapped the chocolates for people....eventually she began walking around with the bowl of jelly beans person to person (being somewhat selective at times) delivering joy. (in the from of a sugary bean)


Highlight: cousins to play with!!!! twin girls just a year older, and a boy a couple years older...fabulous!! they all got a little toy from their great oma, and then wandered around the rest of the evening eating and playing with this magnetic dart board.

We had a really great time, but as the evening grew later i felt my lack of nap and needed to return home. So, we bundled up, jumped in our car and headed for our warm home an hour away.

Love day, lovely night. Something to look forward to every year....