lately

1) I have discovered that by leaving large sheets of paper and paints out on the table, much painting will happen.
2) Sam loves painting. a lot! he only tried to eat the paint once, and then i saw him continually make the conscious effort to remind himself that, "even though i'm at the table, in my dinner chair, holding a 'utensil' and scooping 'stuff' with it. it is not for eating. not for eating. not for eating."
3) of course Julia likes to paint. i mean really... who doesn't? :)
4) i have the two most handsome guys in town living at my house! :)

yep. that is 'lately' for all of you folk far and near.

what a lovely day this has been.

An early surprise and a visit from afar (another one!)

So we have visitors from afar, well, we sort of do... this time the lovely visitors are staying nearby, but we get the joy of seeing them as often as possible. :)
Here we are flying kites and enjoying quiet conversation on the lawn...... the wind was a little erratic, but we managed to keep the kites up most of the time. :)




I was silly and planned a surprise bday party of dave three weeks before his actual bday.... let me tell ya, that's ONE way to have the birthday person TOTALLY surprised.. haha. we had a lot of fun, well i know i did. heehee. i tried to make all of dave's 'favorites' : homemade iced tea (mamanaus style), homemade caramel corn, nachos (dave style), wings (thanks to mom), a DragonBallZ Cake (thanks to dave and janie!!) and other munchies. We surprised Dave by having the group of guys and family members at the park waiting to play a game of ultimate frisbee or football when we walked over. :) it was awesome for me to see the group all come together and play. I love when guys can have good guy time, it is hard to find when you are a daddy.

Sam liked the dragonball cake. :)

a fun filled week... followed by a fun filled week... followed by a fun filled week....

So Summer has been lovely, and its' "end" is going by so quickly thanks to a plethora of visitors, events and fun. Last saturday i took the kids out to a beautiful area of ontario, where some relatives hosted a family reunion. Julia had a fabulous time with the other kids, especially since there was a pond to watch older cousins fishing, a bridge across a stream (who doesn't like that???? i remember LOVING bridges and streams and algae and clay creek beds...okay, i still do) and trees to play hide and seek in, and a pet Owl, and a dog to pet, and well, you get the picture.
The next day Dave and I prepared for a much anticipated visit from some kindred friends we made in B-town in days gone by. ma and pa very generously let us move into their home (our cottage for the week) and there we set up camp for the 5 kids and 4 adults. it was lovely. we had a beach day, and pretty much had the entire coastline to ourselves!!! Sam loved playing in his 'boat' even when it wasn't in the water. The funny thing was that he discovered he could do his signature 'scoot' while IN HIS BOAT, so he went 'driving' all over the sand in his little floaty!!!(i wish i got a movie of it)
These three really entertained themselves for the entire 3 days.... i didn't see much of them at any time.... busy busy busy. Besides digging big holes in the beach and swimming, they also made a 'fort' in oma and opa's backyard, complete with fire pit and table and sleeping quarters. they climbed trees (sappy ones unfortunately), found frogs (julia actually caught it, and was able to bring it to us ... tame frog!) and had sleepovers. The last night, dave climbed into bed with Jules to cuddle and say goodnight, but she had other plans. She very speedily spouted off a bedtime prayer, and announced that daddy could now leave the room. poor daddy. :( but at least the kids were having THAT much fun together!! hahaha.
and of course.... we had to visit the waterpark, which we ALSO had almost completely to ourselves!! :)

Like every other blessed visit this summer, we had a wonderful time!!!! J and P are very special friends to us, and i love their kids too!!! if you don't know them... you should. haha.

well.. that's all for now. maybe in a week i'll let you know how our next 'out of town' visit goes!!

su

another AWESOME visit.

I need to start this post by saying, i feel totally spoiled, blessed and encouraged.
Spoiled: because there are so many great friends out there in this big wide world.
Blessed: because we get to see them and enjoy their presence, their personalities, their experiences and their kindness.
Encouraged: because even though i live far from many people that i love, i have started seeing them more often, and in my new hometown!!! :)
Thanks to the Biking Queen, we stopped many times for a picture. (she likes to pick a spot...ride all the way there and wait for us and then announce that we will be taking a photo here) This one is a memory for us all, if you look close enough you can see many thousands of fluttering things in the forefront of the photo. we couldn't talk for a portion of this walkway because if we opened our mouths' we were afraid of inhaling too many bugs!!! ug!
Two beautiful curly-haired folks!! :) (K - i hope you left our home with ALL of your necklace, i just see now in this picture that part of it is missing!! i hope sam didn't take it away! haha. ) And if you are reading this: thank you for visiting us!! you are a sweet, delightful person and i'm glad to have the opportunity to meet you!!!! i expect to read a lovely novel about you one day, the Patch Adams of the West!! :)
(too bad this is blurry... ) Good Night Uncle Mac!!! :)
I think it is awesome that my kids are starting to get old enough to remember important people in their lives, even if they only see them once a year!! Julia was super excited to have Mac come and bring his special girlfriend to visit us. Mac picked her up just before this picture, to give her a bedtime hug, and Julia thought it was pretty neat to be so close to the lights on the ceiling. hahaha.

Thank you for making the long drive out!!! We'll have to return the favor next time we are in your neighborhood!!

so proud of himself, scooting along ON a pillow instead of just the floor..... maybe he'll choose to use his legs one day... maybe.
Gina the giraffe. i usually have animals prowling the house these days, they love to play games with sam... who chases after the animals to catch their tails....
This boy LOVES soup. now, my whole family does i suppose... but he seems to love it especially so. Tonight it was split pea and ham, yesterday it was broc-cauliflower . He just DOWNS it. Sam is a bit picky with other things, textures and such, (For instance, he will suck on a watermelon, but not eat it.... ) but when it comes to soup... he knows what is good. :)
oops that is sideways.

anyway. you get the idea. i think this was the tail end of bowl three.... he doesn't usually ask for more of anything unless it is packed with sugar (go figure... who doesn't?) but soup is the exception.

so.... i know what i'll be making TONS of this fall!! :) yipppppeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!

tomorrow i'll be 34 weeks...

so in honor of that day, here is an early post. not officially 34 weeks, but a few hours away. :)

So as i sit and watch a beautiful display of the many nations of our God's world (Olympic stuff), i have an approximately 5 pound baby in my belly. amazing eh? we have our "Home Visit" in a week, which should be fun. My midwife comes to our home, runs us through possible problems, and reminds us of things that need to be in place, etc. i love getting ready. I have my list of needs for the birth, and soon i'll have it all ready. i love checking things off lists. :) my favorite is preparing the bath for right after the birth. so relaxing. ah.

Anyway. i'm off to cuddle with my favorite person (Dave of course) and prepare for tomorrow... a day of farmers' market shopping, cooking, cleaning and such. :)

g'day!

Sam I am

This is Sam's silly face. He usually makes it at the table, at his sister. heehee. or, if you make eye contact with him, he'll give you this cheesy-scrunchy smile. He really is a goof. The youngest is usually the 'clown' always trying to make people smile, but i think Sam will keep this position in the home! he is a natural at making us laugh.

aren't his curls precious???? i love them. i tell people that i can measure the humidity in the air by the tightness of his curls. :)

well, this is my post on Sam. he and J are at Oma's and i miss them... so what do i do? make a post about them! :) ha.

33 weeks Pregnant

So, i know i've been bad at keeping undates on my growing belly and Baby Mercy and all.... but hey, i figure you will all forgive me. :)

here i am, this morning, at 33 weeks. The countdown has definitely started.

i realize i forgot to tell my secret from a few posts ago.

Dave's sis is getting married this fall!!! yipppppeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!! So... we are hoping that baby M decides to show herself early and that way i can recover a bit before enjoying the day of festivities for K's wedding! :) it will be beautiful. she has such awesome taste.

so... pray for a timely or early baby for me okay everyone???? i'm serious. i want to enjoy K's wedding day and really have this time to bond with her, and the way things are looking... i'll be bonding in bed with a new baby!!! (which i am excited for as well, of course! ) Mercy is due two weeks before the wedding...... those are the important facts... now pray!

haha.
thanks team.

So... 33 weeks preggy and i'm ready to be done. Not that it has been 'bad' just ... long?? yes. long. I suppose after doing this twice before, part of me just wishes pregnancy got shorter each time you had to go through it... Dave has been faithful to massage my feet pretty much every night, praise the LORD. :) I am reformed.... i will never be pregnant through the summer ever again. it was the silliest idea we had... but hey, live and learn? :) haha. i cannot complain - right now- however, because August has brought in BEAUTIFUL cool summer air and i LOVE IT! the humidity makes me nearly ill, so this new trend is LOVELY.

enough banter for now.

g'day folks.