Just Another Monday

Hope doing schoolwork with her new dot markers. And her princess dress on. :)

Samuel did this word search pretty much by himself!

Samuel asked if he could feed Karys her applesauce tonight.  He was laughing so hard! He did a great job feeding her and I'm so glad I swallowed my immediate response of "No, that is Mommy's job!" and told him, "Yes, of course you can!"  Big brothers are awesome. :)

I love how his mouth is open too!

Karys and Mya!

Our Sweet Karys

The last time we were in Canada was when Karys was 5 months old.  Over and over again this weekend, we heard how delightful Karys was.  Different family members commeneted on how she has such a great personality, how adorable she is, how much fun she is, and how nice it is that she isn't afraid of them.  We couldn't agree more!!  We love and adore our sweet Karys Alexandra!

Canada Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend in Canada visiting with family!  It was great to get away and relax and enjoy good conversation and making memories.  Hope turned 5 on Sunday and she was absolutely thrilled to spend her birthday with her cousin (and best friend) Selah.  We had a fun little birthday party for Andrew, Ephraim, and Hope.  We also squeezed in a visit to Great Grandpa and Great Grandma's new place, a trip to Ephraim's hockey game to cheer him on (he was goalie!), and a necessary hot chocolate from Tim Horton's! ;)  The kids had a great time with all of their cousins and we had a great time catching up with a lot of Daryl's siblings and step-siblings.

Selah and her family slept over at Grandma's house on Friday night, too!  Selah and Hope were pretty excited that they got to share a bed!

Ring Around the Rosie

Story time with Aliyah and two of my nieces - Selah and Zahara

Karys loved climbing into Mya's bumbo seat!  She even figured out how to get out of it too!  Hope had a great time playing with all of the little girl cousins - especially Zahara, Wilona (pictured), and Selah.

A birthday party for Andrew (32 on March 28), Ephraim (9 on March 29), and Hope (5 on March 30)

Kevin and Wilona

Cousins and Friends :)

Reading a birthday card

Dot markers from Uncle Andrew, Aunt Rachel, and Mya

Selah and Ephraim (especially Ephraim) loved playing with Karys.  They were both so sweet with her!

Samuel's favorite game of the weekend - Connect 4 Launchers :)

P-O-P

As we were driving to Canada this past weekend, Samuel pipes up from the backseat, "Hey Mom! Do you spell "pop", P-O-P?" :)

I asked him if he saw it on a sign somewhere, but he said no, he just thought about it in his head.  And then he proceeded to sound the word out for me to show me how he figured out how it was spelled. 

Homeschooling has been going great this year but if there is any area we are struggling with, it is reading. I can see the wheels turning and progress being made, but this was a huge encouragement to me that he really is getting it!

Frozen Much?

My kids, especially Hope, are absolutely obsessed with the movie "Frozen". The way this conversation went should not surprise me at all:

Samuel: Mom, is one zillion a real number?
Me: No, one zillion is not a real number.  It just means a lot.
Hope: Like Olaf!!
Me: Not Olaf. A. Lot.
Hope: Well it reminds me of Olaf!

The Girls

Hope: Always says "sidewards" instead of "sideways" . . . it really makes sense when you think about it! Backwards, forwards, sidewards. ;)

Hope: "Karys grew hair in Haiti!" (one of the first things that she said when she saw Karys after we got back from Haiti)

Aliyah: "It's hard to stop doing naughty things."  From the mouths of babes . . . .

Samuel and Numbers

Numbers just make sense to Samuel.  He picks up on anything numbers related so quickly.  I feel like I don't even have to really teach it to him, he just gets it.  He has always had a love for numbers, especially for anything related to time/clocks.

• Last night, Samuel was in bed and calling Daryl to come in and snuggle with him.  Daryl told him, "I'll be there in just a minute."  When Daryl crawled in with Samuel, Samuel said to him, "Daddy, that was 1 minute and 12 seconds!"  When Daryl asked him how he knew that, Samuel said, "Because I started counting and I said 58, 59, 1 minute, and then I started over again and counted 1, 2, 3, all the way up to 12!"
• Today the kids played outside in the snow for 2 1/2 hours so we didn't eat lunch until 2pm.  We were eating supper around 6pm and Samuel was asking us if we were so surprised at how much he was eating "because I just ate lunch (looking at the clock and counting) . . . 4 hours ago!"  He told us he figured it out by counting the hours backwards starting at 6 and going back until the 2.
• He totally has the clock figured out . . . counting by 5s etc to figure out how many minutes and even correcting us if we say "in 20 minutes" if it is really 18 or 19 minutes by saying, "Mommy, not quite 20 minutes but more like 18 or 19."  Little smarty pants!

The "sheep" song

When I put Aliyah to bed at night, she often asks for me to sing her, "the sheep song".  The first time that she asked me this, it took me a little bit to figure out which song she was talking about.  It turns out, she calls "Jesus Loves the Little Children", "the sheep song".  I asked her why she called it that and she told me, "Because it has black and white in it."

Love this precious girl!

March 4, 2014

Happy 4th Gotcha Day, Hope!  We love you dearly and we are so thankful that God chose us to be your Mommy and Daddy!  You are a miracle.  You live life to the fullest and we know that God has an amazing plan for your life.  We couldn't imagine life without you.  You are generous, thoughtful, perceptive, and loving.  You love to imagine and pretend and your giggle is one of the sweetest sounds I have ever heard!

And happy 5 1/2 years to my oldest child and only son!  You are growing up into such a fun boy.  I have loved teaching you kindergarten this year!  You are a great big brother to your little sisters.  You are intense, particular, athletic, kind, thoughtful, driven, and in constant movement!! I lvoe you, Samuel!! :)

3 of the 4.  Best friends!

Karys Alexandra: 10 months

A Happy Blueberry Face!