Naves Family Blog

When We Had Snow

2012-02-08T17:40:00.000-08:00

This has been the year of the "non" winter. I think we had snow 3 or 4 times and it's already the second week of February! It just doesn't seem like winter. But when we did have snow back in January, Mary Beth LOVED it! Nathan, not so much. It takes him awhile to get used to something "new". These were taken before my camera went in to get fixed.

wearing snowpants and boots makes it hard to walk!

And difficult to get up!

Nathan stayed close to the house, waiting to back inside :)

Decided

2012-01-30T18:25:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I finally made up my mind as what to do with the bedroom furniture. After all the hemming and hawing, I just trucked it all upstairs (well, Chris helped me with the dresser) and set it up as is. And I must say it looks pretty good! Unfortunately I have no pictures to share. My camera has been sent off to get fixed :( Not looking forward to the bill for that! And my little point and shoot just doesn't cut it anymore, so I'll just have to wait (6-8 weeks!!!) till the camera is back in my hands to take any new pictures. It really sucks not having a camera. Nathan's birthday is in 18 days and I most likely won't be able to take pictures of the excitement on his face when he opens his gifts and blows out the candles. I think I'll have to borrow one.

We also bought a second bed off of Kijiji, this one for Mary Beth. Yes, I went a little nuts, buying 2 beds in 4 days, but it too was a great deal and I absolutely LOVE this one! I also found bedding at Ikea that matches her walls perfectly. I can't wait until she's big enough to sleep in it. It might be awhile though. Mary Beth does not want to sleep in the toddler bed. I tried laying her down on it this evening and she freaked! This could take some time....

Undecided

2012-01-27T13:56:00.000-08:00

I still can't seem to make up my mind as to what I should do with the bedroom set. I probably will end up refinishing it, despite all the work. We did buy a palm sander a couple years ago when we did reno's upstairs, so that will definitely help out with the sanding! While I do like white furniture, I don't think it would work for a boys room. I was thinking brown, but wonder if it will be too brown with the closet doors and window blind being brown already. Maybe I should just bring the night table up to Nathan's room and see how it looks in there before I do anything drastic :)

I examined the furniture closer and discovered that it indeed is laminate (Andrea, it is more of a grey colour [white washed oak?]- my camera flash isn't working so the colour looked off in that last picture). So what do you do when you don't know what's best for painting laminate? You google it of course :) And I ended up finding a cool blog called livingwithlindsay.com and she has step by step instructions here on how to paint laminate furinture. At the bottom of the post she has an update about a new product you can find here to use for refinishing cupboards and furniture. I'm not sure if it's available in Canada though. I can't find it on the Home Depot or Lowes websites :( If you want to redo your kitchen cupboards, you'll definitely want to look into Rust-Oleum! The demo makes it look so easy and the results are amazing.

So for now I still have a dining room full of bedroom furniture. Good thing we aren't having company this weekend!

Decorating Dilema

2012-01-25T11:30:00.000-08:00

So I picked up a bedroom set (well, Chris was the one to go pick it up) from Kijiji yesterday for Nathan. Mary Beth is getting to the point that she could sleep in the toddler bed soon so I searched for a single/twin size bed for Nathan. I ended up finding a complete set for a good price, mattress included. But now I'm torn as to whether I should refinish it or not. There is some damage to the furniture (see bottom picture) and what I think is nail polish stains on a couple of spots. I'm thinking that since it's just in the bedroom and the only people going in there are the kids, it's not a big deal to leave it the way it is, especially since it will probably just get dinged up some more as time goes on and the kids get older.

I also don't really feel like doing the work... but part of me does too :). I love looking at before and afters. And I love painting, it's the prep work of sanding that I don't feel like doing. Plus I'm going to have to do it in the dining room (I would in the basement but I don't think we'll be able to get the dresser down there), meaning the kids will be around, getting into trouble while I'm trying to paint.
What should I do? If I do paint it, what colour should I do? Nathan's room is a soft yellow with white trim and dark brown doors and blinds. Any suggestions??? You can see pictures of his room here http://annekenaves.blogspot.com/2010/11/before-and-afters.html Some of the damage

Daddy's little helper

2012-01-20T18:29:00.000-08:00

Someone wants to be just like her daddy :)

Sorry about the poor quality pictures... I don't know what my camera was doing.
Monkey see, Monkey do :)

Our tap has been leaking for awhile now, but only recently it was getting worse. So Chris had to spend part of his Saturday off putting in a new one. Mary Beth thought helping her dad was great fun!

Party Hardy!

2012-01-10T06:14:00.000-08:00

Birthday party #1 was held Thursday with my mom, sister, niece, nephews and brother here at our house. We shared the party with Luke, who turned 2 in December and Erica, who will be 8 on the 23rd of January. It was a fun morning, despite Mary Beth not feeling well and sleeping 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon. She was happy enough when we opened gifts and ate some birthday cake.

Someone enjoyed their cupcake!

Friday morning we had party #2 with friends. Gabe, Nathan, Mary Beth and Mia are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Werkema's so they could have cake :)

I made mini-cupcakes for this party as quite often little kids don't eat a whole cupcake. There was enough for seconds if the kids wanted another one. They're supposed to be monkeys if you couldn't tell... they look nothing like the sample I found on the web. Oh well... they were still a hit with everyone.

Mary Beth got beaten to blowing out the candles by Nathan (no surprise there!)

Becoming a pro at unwrapping gifts!

Thanks to Alissa, Ethan, Evelyn, Mia, Gabe, Asher, Charity, Judah and their moms for coming to celebrate Mary Beth's birthday!

Party #3 was Friday night with all the Naves'. I was a little concerned how Mary Beth would be that evening since she decided not to nap that day. She was good most of the time but decided she wasn't going to sleep that evening either and stayed snuggled on my lap. For some reason Nathan always buries his head when we sing "Happy Birthday".

Mary Beth was spoiled by everyone!

Dr. Mary Beth :)

Mary Beth, you bring so much joy to our lives! We love seeing your personality coming through and you make us smile and laugh on a daily basis. Even when you're being told "no" and being disciplined, a smile or smirk always appears on your face (probably not a good thing!) which makes it hard for us to keep a straight face! You are definitely the cuddler of the family, always wanting to snuggle or laying your head on my lap, even now as I type this. We love hearing new words from you, especially as you try to answer the children's catechism questions and sing Psalters or your personal favorite, "Away in a Manger".

While your screaming is ear-piercing at times, we love your quite times as you sit and look at every book on the book shelf. Sharing is not so easy for you anymore as it once was, at least not with your brother. He does adore you though, calling you "girl" or "baby" more often then your name. You love clothes,although not necessarily wearing them :) So often if it is quiet in the house we will find you in your old room where your clothes still are, emptying out every drawer of its contents. Just now you were wearing a wet sock and underwear (that were drying on the rack) around your neck. I think playing dress-up is going to be a favorite of yours (just like your mommy when she was a girl).

Happy Birthday dear Mary Beth! We love you so much and thank the Lord for every day we have had you in our lives. Praying that you may know Him as your own Lord & Savior!

Birthday Girl

2012-01-07T07:57:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my baby turned 2. Nathan always calls her "baby" still. But really she's little girl. I can't believe how fast time is going and how much she's growing and developing. It's bittersweet.

I was planning to write a long post yesterday but as usual, things have not gone as planned. This past Wed. evening Mary Beth started crying and didn't stop for several hours. She ended up with a fever that lasted just over 24 hours. My kids have hardly ever had fevers and when they did, the fevers didn't last very long and were never too high. I used to have one of those ear thermometers but it stopped working awhile ago and I wasn't able to replace the batteries so I had to do the old "thermometer in the armpit" reading. There was no way Mary Beth would keep one in her mouth under her tongue. But even trying to get a proper reading from her armpit proved to be a real challenge! Thursday morning I tried for several minutes and didn't get a full reading because she would not stay still. Mary Beth would let out a blood curdling scream every time I touched her skin (I think my hands were cold). I gave up when I read 102.3* F on the thermometer.

My mom, sister (with her 4 kids) and my brother (who was off of school for Christmas break) were coming over Thursday for Mary Beth's birthday. I wasn't sure what to do... call them all and tell them not to come? In the end, they all still came. I figured they could watch Nathan for me if needed to take Mary Beth to the doctor. The day ended up going fairly well, despite having a sick birthday girl. She slept 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon. I think the baby Advil helped :) Anyways, her fever finally went away that night, but then she decided she wasn't going to sleep. Mary Beth joined us for our annual "home visit" with 2 elders from the church. She was very good though and stayed snuggled up on my lap the entire time. But she didn't end up sleep all that much that night, which I wasn't too impressed about since there were friends coming over Friday morning for a birthday party. It would not have been nice for the birthday girl to be napping during her party! But she ended up being very good and we had a nice time with all the friends. I figured Mary Beth would be good and tired after lunch and have a long nap since she'd be up late that night when all the Naves' would be over. Then I would be able to sneak in a nap too since I was a little sleep deprived. Alas, I was reminded again that everything does not go as I hope and things are not in my hands. Mary Beth did not nap :( She cried in bed for over an hour. And then of course Friday evening after she opened all of her gifts from us, Grandma & Grandpa and the aunts, uncles, and cousin and played with Nathan and Junior for awhile, and slept for not even an hour before crying for half an hour in her crib. I don't know what her problem is with sleep these days but I'm not impressed. She was up several times last night again after everyone left. I'm so ready for a nap and it's not even 11:30.

I'm thinking all of this not sleeping/fever/not eating (yes, she hardly eating a thing) business is due to 2 year molars. But Mary Beth is not opening her mouth up too wide for me to get a good look. She chews on her fingers constantly and I stuck my fingers in her mouth last night to check for new teeth, just to be bitten hard, but by 1 year molars, not the 2 year ones. Hopefully she gets over this all soon. I don't think I can handle this for too much longer... but I will persevere with God's help. As the elders reminded me Thursday night, my calling to be a wife and mother is not for my own glory or benefit. It's for God's glory. I must do everything for Him. And it's only with His help that I can keep going.

coffee table fun

2012-01-04T13:37:00.000-08:00

Look Mom!

I have a fun new spot to play in and hide from you!
I'm so cute :)

Hmmm.... I think I might be stuck :(

Get me out of here!!! MOMMY!!!!

Pudding

2012-01-03T18:59:00.000-08:00

My kids favorite snack (or one of their favorites) is vanilla pudding. I'm not a huge fan of it myself but Nathan and Mary Beth love to sit at the counter and eat a pudding cup. They don't like any of the other flavors, just vanilla. It may not be the cheapest or healthiest snack around (don't worry, they eat fruit for snacks too!), it is something they love and enjoy. It's fun to have a treat now and then :)

giving

2011-12-28T07:48:00.000-08:00

Last year for Christmas with my in-laws instead of picking names for our gift exchange, everyone gave Sara $22 to put towards buying a goat for a family in Africa (or somewhere). While I liked the idea of buying something for someone who really needs help, I felt like I didn't know anything about what I was giving my money for. I was just told to hand over a certain amount of money and someone else took care of the rest.

This year with my family, we decided to do something along the same lines but with a few twists. My mom made up a box with a slot on the top. We could then put any amount of cash in it, whether it was just $2 or $200. It was totally anonymous so we wouldn't feel bad if we only put in a little. It was cute how my niece and nephews had been trying to find any loose change around their house to put in the box! They all wanted to contribute. Then we counted all the donations in the box. Once we had a total, we all looked through several different catalogues/brochures that we had received from World Vision, Samaritain's Purse, EuroEvanglisim, etc. and each family picked out something they wanted to "buy" for a needy family. My sister and her family selected drinking water. My parents chose 3 pigs. We chose a goat and 10 chickens. We have been so blessed with everything we need and more. It was nice to not worry about buying gifts for each other and instead give some very needy people items that will help them live.

Crafty

2011-12-21T11:25:00.000-08:00

I've been doing lots of crafty things lately. I purchased some new crochet patterns that I just had to try out right away! I do have a problem though... I crochet too tight. I don't know how to fix this. Every hat I make for myself is WAY too small! I end up having to adjust the pattern by adding stitches to make it larger. It's a little bit annoying but at least I've figured out how to do it.

Awhile back I saw some ribbon trees in a flyer. I think it was from Michael's but when I looked for the flyer again, I couldn't find it. So I had a mental picture of what they looked like and bought some ribbon and Styrofoam cones from Michael's to get me started. They turned out pretty good but were much more work then I had anticipated! I'm not so sure I like the tops... I can't remember what the examples from the flyer had on the top.

And I finally made a coffee filter wreath. I bought the coffee filters last year to make one but never did get around to it. My sister was over last week and we made one together to give to our mom for Christmas. They turned out pretty nice!

Spoiled by Daddy!

2011-12-19T08:07:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday Chris went out to do some Christmas shopping and he came home with not only a dozen red roses for me, he brought the other girl in his life flowers too!

She was pretty thrilled!
Nathan was quite jealous of Mary Beth's flowers so we ended up pulling one rose off the stem (it was a spray rose with 5 buds on it) and letting Nathan have it.

What a wonderful daddy to have!

Lil' Santa Clauses

2011-12-09T16:48:00.000-08:00

Gotta have the tongue out!

I love Mary Beth's expression in this last one :)

Long Week

2011-12-05T09:33:00.000-08:00

It's been a long week/weekend!!!! I feel like my kids and I have been sick forever :( We all have colds that just don't seem to want to go away (like an uninvited house guest) and then to top it off we all got some type of stomach flu. Oh how I wish it would just get really cold (like -10*) and all the germ going around would die. All this wet, rainy, +5* weather is just helps the germ breed! Hopefully we're just getting our dose of "sickness" for the year and we'll be all done and over with it for the rest of the winter. Probably wishful thinking :)

The Christmas Tree

2011-11-30T15:08:00.000-08:00

This morning it snowed, which made it finally feel a little more like Christmas. I guess it is still not December (this is the last day of November) and I usually wait until the second week of December to start my decorating, but I couldn't wait. I bought an artificial tree last year during Boxing week so I have been anxious since last year to put it up. Nathan decided not to nap this afternoon and helped me "decorate" the tree. I didn't even tell him anything about decorating, he just began picking up bits and pieces (like the warranty card, bubble wrap, tags, etc.) and putting them on tree.

And now what the tree looks after I was finished with it.

I think I'm going to have a hard time keeping the kids hands off the ornaments!

A Rare Site

2011-11-28T07:28:00.000-08:00

Nathan is very active. He doesn't stay still for more then 3 seconds. So when I had finished reading the Bible Friday evening after supper and I looked up and saw Nathan sound asleep, I had to take a picture. It was only 6 pm!!! He had not had a nap for the last 2 days. I think it had finally caught up to him.

He slept till 6 the next morning.

Messy Eater

2011-11-18T16:26:00.000-08:00

When Nathan was learning to feed himself, as soon as he started making any kind of mess, we cleaned it up. We were not into messes. Now with Mary Beth, most of the time we couldn't be bothered and just let her do her own thing... to a certain extent. The kids were enjoying some Dunderoos (yes, not a very healthy snack, I know) and I leave the room for 30 seconds and this is what I come back to.

Mary Beth prefers to wear the icing rather then eat it.
Same goes with jam.

Makes for beautiful concealer, don't you think?

Our face cloths get lots of use :)

Christmas Concert

2011-11-17T19:13:00.000-08:00

Just thought I should inform all of my readers in the greater Hamilton area that the Magnum Tuam Gloriam Chorus (the choir that I'm a part of) is having a Christmas concert on Saturday, December 10, 2011. It will be held at the Rehoboth United Reformed Church on Glancaster Road, across from Hamilton District Christian High School, at 7:30pm. We have been/are practicing to perform some beautiful Christmas arrangements and would love for you to come hear them! There will also be a guest flutist performing. The concert is free to attend but there will be a free-will offering taken with the monies collected going to Peace Haven. I hope you will be able to come!

Dental Health

2011-11-17T08:19:00.000-08:00

It's never to early to start taking care of your teeth!

Nathan always watches Chris floss (after every meal due to getting food stuck) and asks for some floss so he can floss too!
I think he just sucks on it because he likes the minty flavor :)

Pray for Charlie

2011-11-14T18:55:00.000-08:00

I just want to ask you all to take a moment to pray for Charlie and his family. You can follow his story on the blog listed on the right entitled "Charlie Dirk". It has made me realize, yet again, just how quickly life can change.

Give Away!

2011-11-14T06:06:00.000-08:00

No, I'm not giving anything away, but if you go to http://www.cardsbymeagan.com/ you could have a chance to win a free blanket from Dezignz By Liz! You can also get a coupon code for 10% off your orders from either cardsbymeagan or dezignzbyliz... a great way to save some money :)

Ups and Downs

2011-11-11T11:58:00.000-08:00

These past couple days have really had their ups and downs. Tuesday night started off great (for me) as I met up with my old friend Monique to reconnect. It's been a while since we've made time to spend together just the 2 of us. She is one very busy lady, working full time at the Dunnville Memorial hospital as a RN, working part time at her parents greenhouse, co-organizing a southern Ontario young adults Bible study group, being head counselor of the Kingdom Seekers (girls club), spending time with her family plus now a boyfriend. There's probably a lot more that I've missed as to what keeps her busy. It was so much fun to get out and talk like we used to.

I arrived home later that evening to a sick daughter. Mary Beth has had a slight cold over the past week, but nothing that was too serious. Tuesday night it manifested into croup. What a horrible sounding cough! It came on so suddenly and without any warning. Fortunately for the both of us, Mary Beth managed to sleep most of the night. Wednesday night was not so great :( Last night was much better with Mary Beth only waking up once. The croup cough is now gone (she sounded like a sick seal!) and has been replaced with a more rattly one. Her appetite is pretty low but I don't think her stomach is all that happy right now either. But I think she is on the mend. Thank the Lord for answered prayers!

Nathan is making slow progress with potty training. Most days are frustrating, or they are for me anyways. He just doesn't seem to care about it. But today we seem to making some head-way. Nathan has actually peed on the potty 4 times today (and the day is not over yet!). He did have 2 accidents, but that is quite good for him. We often go through 4 or 5 pairs of underwear a day. I don't find using pull-ups work all that well for him, although I don't dare take him out anywhere without one on. Hopefully he begins to catch on soon. Nathan has never yet told me that he needs to pee. I just put him on the potty every now and then and sometimes he goes and most often he doesn't. Today I've put him on the potty 5 times and he's gone 4 times, and each time he went within 1 minute of sitting down! I hope this progress continues!

Now I'm busy trying to do some crocheting for the RCS bazaar in 2 weeks as well as make my Christmas cards. I love doing "crafty" things. Unfortunately my house starts to suffer once I start a project. I need to come up with some sort of balance...

Time Change

2011-11-08T09:01:00.000-08:00

I'm not liking this time change. Well, for me alone it doesn't bother me but when you throw 2 young kids into the mix, it does! I enjoy having the sun coming out at 7 rather then 8. There has only been one morning (out of the 3 we've had so far) that Nathan was up before 6 (7 daylight savings). And that Sunday morning he just came into bed with Chris and I and slept for another hour so our mornings have been fairly good thus far. It's the middle of the day that seems to be the problem. By 11am the kids are just miserable. I think their stomachs are still programed for lunch then. The longer I try to hold off on lunch, the grumpier they get. It's the same with snack time, which is usually around 10 in our house. Now they're asking for cookies at 9 already! I hope they start to adjust soon because it's starting to wear me out.

On a funnier note, Mary Beth is really into imitating other lately. She's always copying someone! On Saturday afternoon I was holding her while standing in line to say goodbye to our Pastor and his wife (they've left for Holland) and the couple standing behind us both had their arms folded. Mary Beth took notice and immediately folded her arms. Several weeks ago Nathan fell down accidentally and bonked his head on the wall. He was crying so I comforted him. Mary Beth saw the whole thing and promptly threw herself down on the ground and knocked her head on the wall (on purpose) and began a pitiful whimper. I think we have an actress on our hands!

First Hair Cut

2011-10-28T09:41:00.000-07:00

This morning Mary Beth had her first hair cut! It was exciting and yet sad at the same time... my baby girl is growing up! While her hair is not really all that long, she did have a bit of a mullet that needed to go.
Mary Beth did not like getting her hair sprayed wet, which seemed odd since when I wet it at home she usually likes it. Thomas the Tank Engine was playing on TV so she sat fairly still while Melissa cut and Mary Beth only squirmed a couple of times when getting excited about Thomas :)

No more MULLET :)

Dancing a jig

Enjoying a sucker from Melissa!

Touch-A-Truck

2011-10-28T08:28:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday we went to the Ancaster Fairgrounds for the "Touch-A-Truck" event, where kids (and adults :) can get up and close to a variety of different trucks and heavy equipment. It was pretty cold, thus the winter coats and snow pants. I couldn't find any mittens before we left so the kids had cold hands but didn't seem to mind too much.
Nathan wasn't very happy for the first half hour we were there and cried, asking to go home every 2 minutes. You'd think this would be every boy's dream come true getting to sit inside of every truck imaginable! But slowly Nathan started to enjoy himself and was soon running from one truck to the next.

Mary Beth probably enjoyed eating rockets from Grandpa the best :)

We didn't bring the stroller in with us so there was lots of carrying around little bodies.

She looks so small in the drivers' seat of a transport truck for Oakrun Farm bakery.

Nathan and I waited a long time in line to for a chance to sit in the fire truck and get a fire hat. When it was finally his turn, Nathan didn't even seem all that impressed :(

Slacking

2011-10-20T09:09:00.000-07:00

I have been really slacking in the blogging department. It just seems like nothing exciting is happening in our household. And by the time I've finished reading all the new posts of the blogs I follow, I don't feel like writing anything on my own. Plus I haven't taken any pictures in recent weeks. The weather is cold and gray so I never feel like taking out the camera. I really should though since my kids are growing up before my eyes. Maybe this weekend when we go to visit my parents will be a good opportunity to get some new memories captured on "memory card" ;) seeing as I haven't used film in years!!!! Sometimes I miss using film... I loved picking up my pictures once they were developed, anxious to see if I got any really good shots. Now with digital you can instantly see whether the picture turned out or not. And to make it worse, the pictures often go onto the computer and there they sit, never to be developed. There's something about picking up a photo album and flipping through all the pages, reminiscing of days gone by. MaryBeth regularly sits down with an album (which she's not supposed to be touching) and points out mommy and daddy as she turns the pages. This is getting me in the mood to scrapbook :)

lost and found!

2011-10-06T06:58:00.000-07:00

Almost a year ago now Chris lost his glasses. Well, actually Nathan ran off with them and we could not find them. It was the Sunday morning of the time change. Chris was in the house early and decided to have a little nap on the bean-bag chair. Nathan was running (I think he was walking then) around and took off with Chris' glasses, which were laying beside Chris on the floor. Chris didn't think too much off it, until 20 minutes later he couldn't find them. We searched and searched to no avail. We came to the conclusion that Nathan must have put them in the garbage and I emptied it without checking (I don't normally check my garbage before emptying it :) Thankfully Chris has a second pair of glasses. They were meant to be a "good" pair but had to become "work" glasses. He also wears contact lenses but they are not good for in the barn with all the dust and shavings being used.

Yesterday I took out my wicker basket that I keep old wedding programs and shower games in for possible future use. My mother-in-law had asked me a few days ago to do some games for the up-coming baby shower for Bethany and Mikayla. So as I was searching my stash, lo and behold what do I find? The missing glasses! Why is it that I always find something like that when it's just been replaced? Chris' good glasses are so scratched up from him cleaning them with his work shirts that he can hardly see through them. 2 weeks ago he went and bought a new pair. And now these old ones have turned up. Oh well, I guess it's good to have a back up pair in case the glasses thief strikes again!

shishing and kitties

2011-09-27T14:24:00.001-07:00

This past Saturday Nathan decided he didn't need a nap (which seems to becoming the new normal around here). He really wanted to go outside. I on the other hand did not feel like taking him, wanting to do things inside the house. Chris was tired and wanted a nap. So I ended up sending him out by himself. Scary thought. I send him outside all the time but with the knowledge that Chris and the other farm employees are usually around to keep an eye on Nathan. I am constantly checking out the windows to get a glimpse of his white hair chasing after one of the many barn cats. If I don't see him for awhile, I go out and look for him and Nathan usually appears within a few seconds of me calling him.

On this particular afternoon Nathan wanted to take his net with him. I think it's meant for catching bugs and butterflies but he calls it his "shishing" net. He told me as he walked down the steps that he was going to go "shishing" and pointed towards the pond. I looked at him and warned him sternly not to go to the pond! I watched him trot away in his rubber boots, heading for the barn, much to my relief!

After maybe 10 minutes of Nathan being gone, my mind was filled with visions of finding him floating in the pond. I would never be able to live with myself if this were to happen so off I went in search of my little boy. And sure enough he responded to my call within seconds. He was safe and sound in the hay mow. He was so excited to have "caught" 2 kitties in his net! I headed to rescue them from the mesh that was stuck to their claws. For such young kittens, they have quite the claws on them! Nathan is always coming in the house with scratches all over his arms and hands. But he doesn't seem to mind one bit.

As I untangled the first black kitten from the net, I noticed the second one located at the bottom was not moving :( I don't know what had happened but the poor thing was dead. Nathan didn't seem to notice. He really has no concept of what "dead" means. I proceeded to carry the "sleeping" kitten in the net and went to the house to ask Chris what I should do with it with Nathan in tow carrying the now lonely sibling. It wasn't exactly easy trying to dispose of the deceased with Nathan right there. He kept asking about the kitty and I did my best to try to explain that the kitty was no longer alive. Today Nathan has informed me that there are no baby kitties. Who knows what happened to the other one? :(

MB's Vocab

2011-09-26T10:59:00.000-07:00

I didn't really think Mary Beth had too big of a vocabulary. Somewhere in the 20 word range I'd say. The pediatrician always asks and I know last time we were there Mary Beth had maybe 5 words at 1 year of age. The doctor didn't seem too happy with that. But he was thrilled with how many words she can now say. Such a relief to know she's on track! Here's a list of her words... maybe most people wouldn't understand them but we definitely do :)

hello

bye-bye

night-night (ny-ny)

mom or mommy

yes dad (Chris taught her that :)

outside

mooo

Nathan

nose

poop (Chris taught her that one too!)

woo-hoo-hoo (what tigger says :)

woof

what's that

I know there are more but of course I can't think of them right now! A few weeks ago she started making farting noises with her tongue and then said "scuse me"! Too funny! It's fun to hear her making up her own words and she babbles on and on, thinking we know exactly what she's talking about. I love this learning stage she's in! So much entertainment for us :)

Doctor visit

2011-09-24T09:42:00.000-07:00

It seems like I start most of my blog posts with an apology for my lack of posts. These past couple weeks have been somewhat busy, although not crazy. And while there is lots happening, most of it isn't all that interesting :) We did go last week to the pediatrician for the kids' biannual check up (the doctor makes us come every 6 months to assess the kids and see if he needs to refer them to any specialists. It's great having a very caring doctor! Our family doctor is nothing like this at all... we are hoping to switch as there is a new family doctor opening an office by the Wal-Mart in Ancaster). Anyways, the pediatrician was really happy with Mary Beth's development, so much that he told me that he doesn't need to see her as a patient again! He did say that if there is any concerns I can call him up and he would see her no problem but otherwise she was "discharged" from his care and would only see her if Mary Beth came along on Nathan's future visit. Mary Beth was just under the 25th percentile for height, weight and head size but for her corrected age (18 months) instead of her actual age (20 months). She weighed in at 10.05 kilos (around 22 pounds) and her height was 80 Cm's (31.5 inches).

Nathan, as I mentioned above, will have to see the pediatrician again in 6 months. He weighed in at 10.95 kilos (about 24 pounds) and he's 88 cm's tall (34.6 inches). His little sister might soon become his "big" sister as she keeps gaining on him. Nathan is not even in the 5th percentile for his age for weight. The pediatrician has contemplated the possibility of growth hormones. He said that Nathan is not a candidate for GH at the moments since he is still growing but at a very small, slow rate. GH are only used when growth has come to an actual stand-still. I don't really know all that much about GH other then it's a monthly injection that, from what I understand, only affects height and will not increase weight. We would definitely have to do a lot of research about GH before making any decisions if the doctor does say he thinks it's a good idea. Other then that, the doctor didn't have too many concerns.

Baby Cara

2011-09-10T06:59:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share the link to the blog of my cousin Julianne and her husband Alex. They were blessed with the birth of a baby girl named Cara Anne last week but she has problems with her heart and will need to have surgery. The surgery was supposed to take place yesterday but unfortunately it had to be cancelled. Take time to check out the blog here http://cara-verbinnen.blogspot.com/ and pray for this family!

Birch Bank Camp Part 2~ Campfires

2011-09-08T10:07:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed sitting around the campfire every night except for the Wednesday evening that there was tornado warnings and we had a torrential down pour for a couple hours. The kids only stayed up for 2 of the fires to roast hot dogs and marshmallows, which made it easier for us adults, not having to watch out for kids getting too close to the flames! I think some of my favorite memories are the conversations we shared around the fire as Christian friends. Friday night everyone had packed up and left, leaving our family by ourselves. With our kids tucked away for the night we ended up enjoying a campfire with our friends Rob & Geraldine who stopped by for a visit. They were staying at Brouwers cottages on the same lake. It made for a nice ending to our week!

Matthew

Meagan
Mary Beth enjoying a chip :)
Vince & Gwen
Gwen in her snowman suit :)
Charity
Brad with Gabe & Mary Beth
Ray & Paula

Mary Beth & Anne

Petra & Evan

Mia & Chris

Nathan & Chris

And a couple other pictures, not campfire related.

Nathan, enjoying his ice cream

And to prove to Aunt Miranda that I was there :)

Pictures courtesy of Meagan

Jacinda, Meagan & Me

The reason why there are only a few pics of me- always behind the camera

I spent some time crocheting

Birch Bank Camp 2011- Part 1

2011-08-31T08:05:00.000-07:00

Just a few pictures of our vacation last week. We had a wonderful time with friends despite the cooler temperatures. More to come later!

Nathan @ 3 and a half

2011-08-18T06:51:00.000-07:00

I've been very bad with trying to write things down about my kids. After Nathan was born I would write his weight down after every doctor's appointment on my calendar. I would keep track of some of his milestones on there, forgetting some too :( Unfortunately I cannot find that calendar anywhere! I think I accidentally threw it out in the garbage. So I'm going to attempt some record keeping here on this blog. It's mostly for my benefit but your welcome to read it too :)

I have no idea of how much Nathan weighs. I'm guessing about 25 pounds. We go to see the pediatrician in the middle of September so I'll know better then. His vocabulary is growing every day. Although Nathan is still very behind for his age, he will say almost any word I ask him to. He has trouble with 'f's and 'r's but I think that those letters are generally hard for little kids. Sentences are still a struggle for him. They are usually only 3-4 words long, with the occasional 5 word sentence in there. The pediatrician was really pushing for us to send Nathan to a daycare where he would have his own 'teacher', even for only a couple mornings or a full day a week. The doctor says that having Nathan with other children his age will help his speech develop. And I see a lot of truth to that. My nephew Wesley stayed with us for a week and after he left, Nathan did not stop talking! He took over where Wesley left off (he loves to talk!!!). We don't really like the idea of sending Nathan to a daycare. It's not done in our community. I think the best thing right now is to just spend more time with friends and kids Nathan's age. I started a "park morning" at the beginning of the summer with friends from church. Every other week we meet a park to play. Parks were never really fun for Nathan before. He would only sit in the swing since he couldn't run around. While his favorite is still the swings, Nathan does go down slides and climbs on the smaller jungle gyms. It's great to see him learning and developing all the time!

Potty training is not going well. Nathan just cries the entire time he sits there. While he is very "regular" every morning, I try to make him sit on the potty every day after breakfast and doesn't do a thing. Within 10 minutes of him back to playing, he's gone #2 in his diaper. It doesn't matter what I do whether it's bribing him with candy, read him books, etc... he will not go on the potty! I really don't know what else to try other then keep trying everyday.

Nathan is very active. We had friends over who were amazed at just how lively and happy he was. While he's not always very happy, Nathan has a hard time staying still for very long. Anyone who sits close to us in church can attest to that :)

And that's all I have time for now... maybe tomorrow (if I'm not too busy packing for the cottage) I'll write a bit about MaryBeth.

Tomato Eater

2011-08-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

This morning I was sitting on the deck, attempting to read a book while keeping an eye on my kids as they played with the neighbour girl Eden. It's hard reading with the kids around because I get interupted every 30 seconds or so. It was finally quiet for several minutes and I was able to read a couple pages without interuption when Eden suddenly asks "What's MaryBeth doing?". To my horror MaryBeth was squatting by the tomatoes that I had picked earlier and had placed on the deck to redden up in the sun and had took a bite out of 6 of the 7! She has already picked a couple of green tomatoes and attempted to eat them in the past few weeks. I guess she's going to be a tomato lover just like her mommy.

The lil' culprit :)

I might not be able to make another batch of salsa after all :(

Salsa

2011-08-11T11:54:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the lack of posts... story of my life it seems :) It turns out that the month of August is a busy one. We celebrated several birthdays, making preparations for VBS next week, slowly packing things for the cottage the following week and maintaining a fruitful garden. I've been blessed with lots of tomatoes from my 2 plants and I was able to make a batch of salsa today. While the recipe is quite simple, it is time consuming having to chop up all the tomatoes, onions, peppers, and celery. One recipe made me 6 medium jars and 4 small jars. There is a bit of juice left over which my mom suggests to use as a marinade for steaks.

Thankfully all of the jars sealed immediately. I love to hear the popping sound of the lids :)

I have a feeling I'm going to have lots more tomatoes ready next week so I might be making salsa again, if I manage to find the time!

A Day Out With Thomas

2011-07-28T15:59:00.000-07:00

Last week Friday we drove all the way to St. Thomas to spend a day out with Thomas (the Train :). Nathan has several Thomas books and movies plus some tracks and trains to play with. He's definitely a big fan of the blue train! So when I heard that Thomas was coming to town, I ordered tickets. It just so happened that we had my nephew Wesley over that week so he (very much a Thomas fan) was able to come along. When we got there we blew lots of bubbles. There was buckets of suds and lots of different wands we could use to blow big bubbles.

Wesley made some pretty big bubbles!

Sliding down the bouncy slide... took a lot of convincing to get Nathan to go down!

Inside an arena there were 2 large Thomas bouncy play areas, train tables set up with lots of trains to play with, a craft station, a spot to get temporary tattoos, gift shop, and actual model trains. There was also live entertainment (musician, magic show and ventriloquist) and an area with story-telling and Thomas movies to watch.

The kids loved playing with the trains the best!

Nathan and Wesley weren't too sure about Sir Toppham Hat :)

My kids loved the petting zoo which was full of goats, sheep, chickens and a donkey. They had no fear of all the animals. Wesley was definitely not as fond of the animals as Nathan and MaryBeth were.

Finally we climbed aboard our the train, ready for our ride.

It was SOOOO hot on there! We were the last to board our car so all of the good seats by the open windows were taken :( Everyone was a little sweaty by the time the 20 minute ride was over!

Once the ride was over, we waited in line so the kids could get their picture taken in front of Thomas.

Nathan was more fascinated with his stick then looking up to smile for the camera.

And that was the end of our day out with Thomas!

new blog

2011-07-20T11:47:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure why but I started a new blog. As if I don't have enough to do! :) I don't even post on here faithfully. Anyways, here's the link- http://navesfamily.wordpress.com/ . I really like having the pictures so big. Maybe they are too big? Oh well, I'm still trying to figure it all out. Wordpress is very different then blogger, but I'll learn in time. Don't expect to see too much though. I'm spending way too much time on the computer as is!

Rock Lake Lodge 2011

2011-07-19T07:45:00.000-07:00

The kids and I spent 4 (long) nights up at Rock Lake Lodge last week with my family. While Chris could have come if he had made his mind up earlier in the year, he chose to stay home and work since they would be busy on the farm doing hay. I think he regretted it later and wished he was coming along. Next year hopefully!

We were blessed with beautiful sunny skies with a gentle breeze coming off the lake to help us feel not so baked :) It even rained a few times, usually just for a few minutes. Long enough to make everyone scramble around grabbing lawn chairs and towels. The kids have such a blast there (during the day :) going down the slides, having under-doggies from Oma on the swings, or playing in the sand. Nathan, who's not a big water fan, didn't wear his bathing suit once the entire time! He was happy just to sit in the sand and play with trucks. As I have hinted at, our nights didn't go so well. The 3 of us were confined to a small bedroom for the first 2 nights and lets just say there was not much sleep had on my part with the kids waking up almost every hour. The last 2 nights were much better as Nathan was able to sleep in a room by himself since my sister, brother in law and their kids left. I think by then they were both just tuckered out!

One of the best parts of going to RLL is all the time spent with family. It's so nice for the kids to spend several days with their grandparents. While the kids see Chris' parents fairly often, them living just down the road, we only see my parents maybe once a month if we're lucky and often just for several hours each time. My mom is so good about watching the kids so I can relax. I have a feeling our holidays next month won't be as relaxing, although Chris will be there to help :)

Life & Gardens

2011-07-09T17:37:00.000-07:00

This past week has been fairly quite but with a few ups and downs. MaryBeth had a 24 hour fever that began Monday late afternoon. I never did take her temperature but she definitely felt warm to the touch and was not at all herself. She doesn't appear to be teething but you never know with her. Her first tooth showed up totally unexpectedly at just over 4 months of age. On Friday MaryBeth started having diarrhea until this morning. Not sure if it's related to the fever or something totally different. She has been fine for most of today so hopefully it's over! Especially since we leave for the cottage on Monday :)

On a brighter note, we sold our car on Thursday! We hadn't even really put any effort into selling it but I guess Chris has been talking to a couple of guys that work at the gas station close by and they were interested. All of a sudden they showed up Thursday afternoon to check it out. We got way less then what we were hoping to get but we really just wanted it gone. Plus we figured that if we spent the money to get the car safetied it would cost us close to $700 :(

This morning I took Nathan outside and in his hastiness to go see Uncle Kevin he took a big flip on the driveway. I didn't see it happen as I was putting a hose away in the barn at the time, but I've definitely heard all about it over and over again today. Nathan's forehead is pretty banged up and he scraped his knee :( He was so upset about it and cried for almost an hour but now he's so excited to show everyone he sees his "big owies" and tell everyone in his own way about "Uncle Kevin" and the "stones".

This year I must say that I'm so happy with how my gardens have been looking. What started off as such a wet spring has now turned into a hot, dry summer. That means watering on almost a daily basis. This is my little veggie garden. I planted 2 rows of beans and 2 of peas, staggering the planting by a week and a half for each row with the hopes that I will have a steady supply of green veggies in the summer.

Unfortunately my first row of beans didn't do so well but the second one came up nicely so I ended up moving the 2 plants from the first row over to the second. The peas on the other hand, are doing amazing!
I love fresh peas! Looking forward to picking them hopefully in a couple weeks.

I planted 3 pepper plants and all of them have little peppers on them. This one is the biggest so far. I also have 2 tomato plants that are huge. I just counted on the one plant alone 27 tomatoes!!!! The largest is a little bigger then a golf ball so far. There are also countless flowers that have yet to turn into tomatoes. I'm thinking salsa making might be in the agenda this summer :)

My flowers are doing quite well this year too! I personally am an annual lover. It probably has to do with the fact that we grew them in my parents little greenhouse. My parents weren't big fans of perennials. I think I inherited it from them :)

Last spring I did buy a couple of hydrangeas and peonies. They didn't bloom at all. I was extremely disappointed. This year the hydrangeas are doing well. A little droopy because they're dry but definitely blooming. Unfortunately the peonies haven't had a single bud. I think I might have to move them to a sunnier spot. There was an article recently in the newspaper about peonies with some tips. Hopefully next year I'll have some success.

Canada Day

2011-07-05T08:22:00.000-07:00

We began our Canada by donning our red & white. Well, mostly red in our house :) For the 3rd year now we ventured out to Lynden for the annual parade. The first year we went Nathan was only a year and a half and enjoyed himself up until the fire trucks honked their very loud horns and the firemen sprayed us with water guns. Thankfully that was the end of the parade and we didn't have to listen to Nathan's wailing for too long.

Last year went much better! MaryBeth was only 6 month old and slept the entire time. Nathan enjoyed himself much more, probably because he got lots of candy! This year we arrived early and found seats beside Grandpa, Grandma, Junior and Camilla. We were in the Dutch section with quite a few families from our church there. While we were waiting for things to start Nathan suddenly had memories of the Heritage Day parade (during which he cried almost the entire time) we had gone to a month earlier in Ancaster and wanted to go home. For some reason he doesn't like parades :( But he managed to last the entire time. The candy this year was pretty stingy. We got a total of one sucker and one other chewy toffee. Oh well, we still have fun.

MaryBeth just sat contently in her stroller and watched everything go by.
Later that afternoon we headed off to our good friends Brad & Meagan's house for a barbecue. They had invited several families from church to enjoy some fellowship in the backyard.

The kids loved being pulled around in the wagon.

MaryBeth is such a slide lover!!! She'll go down over and over and over again.

Home Book Study year-end get-together

2011-06-27T11:01:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, June 18th of 2011 our home book study group met at the Binbrook Conservation Area for a year-end get-together. We were blessed with beautiful weather that afternoon and even got to see some cool airplanes fly by as there was an air show going on in Hamilton that day. My pictures are in reverse order so if you want to look at them as they happenend through out the day, start at the bottom and make your way up :)

Jen & Roman Hannaford, Doreen, John & Jacob Tamminga

Paula and Ray Roth

Martina Bruinsma and Barb Wolfe

Irene Roth and Myra Tamminga (daughter of John & Doreen)

Meagan

Tanya

Maddie and Anna (Wolfe) helping MaryBeth and Anne Roth up the hill. Future babysitters??? :)

Maddie Byl (daughter of Steve & Tanya) with MaryBeth

Gabe Vandermaarel (son of Brad & Meagan)

Roman Hannaford (son of Brandon & Jen)

Matthew and Anne Roth (Vince & Petra). Poor Matthew had a stomach ache that day. Little did anyone know that it was appendicitis!!!

Peeking from under his hat :)

Mia Vandermaarel

bubble monsters

2011-06-21T19:01:00.000-07:00

Last week was incredibly busy, thus the lack of blogging :) Everyday I had to go out some where. I felt like I was running around like a chicken with it's head cut off! Thankfully this week is a little slower and now I can get caught up with house work and laundry. And of course we always make time in the evenings (most days) for bath-time. I took a video of these 2 clowns looking at themselves in the mirror with bubbles on their heads but I'm having a hard time getting it to upload on the computer :( MaryBeth had a serious case of the giggles! These pictures will have to suffice.

For Sale

2011-06-09T11:53:00.000-07:00

Anyone want to buy our car? It's a 2002 Mazda Protege 5, 5 speed with 220,000 kms. on it. It's been a great car for us and has a lot of life left in it. Makes a great first car for any teenagers out there :) If you know of anyone who might be interested, PLEASE send them my way!!! We're open to any offers.

Growing up too fast!

2011-06-08T12:38:00.000-07:00

Isn't she the cutest??? I'm so in love with my little girl! She's growing up way too fast!

Future Vet???

2011-06-08T12:18:00.000-07:00

Okay, so you're probably wondering why in the world Nathan has a pink plastic bag on his arm, right? While it seems kind of silly to take pictures of my son wearing a bag that our newspaper came in, it's pretty funny if you know anything about farming. Nathan has spent countless hours in the barn and has witnessed the vet and the men who breed the cows wear pink plastic gloves to reach inside the rear end of a cow. Maybe we have future vet in our house? :)

I just hope he doesn't actually try to to reach inside a cow!!!!

Connected once again!

2011-06-07T10:46:00.000-07:00

So yes, it has been awhile since my last post. I do have a good reason though for not blogging. We have had no Internet for a week and a half until today. I didn't realize how often I go online until this past week when I was unable to. I've gone over to the neighbour several times to check my email on their computer and do some online banking. Chris had called our Internet provider last week to let them know of our "technical" difficulties and they said it might be awhile until they could get here. Apparently a lot of their customers were having problems. Chris had figured out the problem was with a little black box that the Internet wires run in and out of. It needs electricity to run and the power light on it would not come on when it was plugged in. Chris took the little black box (no idea what it's really called) to Future Shop and Best Buy, hoping he could just get it replaced. But at both stores he was told that he had to go to our Internet supplier. For awhile I was worried that maybe our supplier somehow disconnected us because we didn't pay the bill they sent us. A tower was put on top of one of the silos here on the farm a few years ago with the agreement that both houses on the farm property would have free unlimited Internet. The company has since changed ownership several times and last month we received a bill from the newest company for the monthly services. Thankfully it was a mistake :) I went to the new office today and brought the faulty "black box" and had it replaced. So hopefully I'll get back to regular posting, or at least once a week!

Push-Up Challenge

2011-05-26T17:36:00.000-07:00

About a week and a half ago Chris mentioned to me that his brother Kevin does about 40 push-ups when he gets up in the morning and before he goes to bed at night. Crazy don't you think? Well, Chris thought it would be fun if we tried doing push-ups every evening too (not the morning, which is fine by me!). So for 4 days last week I did 10 push-ups every evening while Chris did 20 or 25. Once the weekend came I was beat! I didn't realize how out of shape I actually am. I did them again on Monday and Tuesday this week but gave up last night. Tonight I plan to try yet again, and this time be more faithful for continuing for the rest of the week. It's going to be tough going but I want to be able to increase the amount every week by 5. I don't know if I'll be able to or not since I'm SOOO sore today. I think I'm losing any "Armstrong" I have left in me :)

geese, cows and books

2011-05-18T07:22:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know, it's been 13 days since my last post. I've had good intentions. I always do :) But I just never got around to writing a new post the last 2 weeks. And I can't even blame it on being too busy since the last several days have been fairly quiet. This weather is a little discouraging. I so want to plant my garden (which Chris lovingly dug up last Saturday) and hang my 7-8 loads of laundry every week on the clothes line and not on my drying racks in the house. But I'm sure warmer weather and sunny skies will be on the way.... soon I hope!

We have a family of geese across the pond, like we do every year, and so one day I decided to go out in the pasture and try to get some pictures of them. The 6 goslings are so adorable! But as soon as I started making my way down the hill to get closer, mommy and daddy goose quickly herded their brood up the other hill and out of view. This is one of the best shots I got.

So while I was out in the pasture, the heifers beside me crowded together watching my every move. They were so eager to have their picture taken so I snapped several shots. I thought they turned out pretty good so I decided to submit one to "Eye on the Area" from the Hamilton Spectator. Every day on the front page in the classifieds a picture is printed that someone from the community has submitted. I've sent in pictures before (years ago) and never saw them printed so I didn't' expect it to happen this time around. But imagine my surprise and delight when Monday morning I happened to glance at the classifieds and see this!

It was fun to hear from different people who had seen my picture :)

The kids have been loving the outdoors (when the weather is nice) and have been playing surprisingly well when stuck inside. MaryBeth is our little book worm. Several times a day she sits by the book shelf and pulls off books, one by one, and looks at every page before grabbing the next one. It's so cute to watch her pretend to read, babbling the way she does and squealing with joy when she sees pictures of animals.
Nathan has also found a love for books, but unlike MaryBeth, someone has to read them to him :) But that's okay. It's nice to sit down once in awhile and read to my son. I think it's helping with his vocabulary as he often will repeat some of the words. Hopefully these children's love for books will continue down the road!

Owies

2011-05-05T10:39:00.000-07:00

Faces are not supposed to meet driveways but yesterday it happened. I didn't see it happen but MaryBeth took a tumble while walking from the front steps to the barn. It's a good thing we don't have any "picture" appointments (other then me taking a couple shots) any time soon. Poor girl looks like rudolph the red nose reindeer! She was very good about it though and only cried for a few minutes.

Barn fun

2011-05-04T17:41:00.000-07:00

I was hoping to get some pictures of the kids with the 3 kittens but their mother has moved them and no one knows where to. So pictures of the kids just exploring the barn had to suffice :)

Nathan absolutely loves going to the barn everyday, no matter the weather. He uses his shovel (dollar store) to push manure into the gutter as well as scooping up feed. And no, it doesn't get washed in between jobs :)
MaryBeth also loves the barn and has no fear at all of the cows. She'll walk right up beside them and let them lick her. Cows are very jumpy and skitish around unfamiliar people. They are now used to Nathan running around everywhere but MaryBeth is new to them and it makes my heart jump every time she gets close to them and they start to jump around.

Making their way through the barn. Little farmers already :)

Scooping up some feed that didn't make it into the cart. To bad he can't reach that high to get it in!

Eden is always hanging around in the barn too. "Dee-den", as Nathan calls her, often keeps an eye on him if I'm not around.

Sitting on a bale of straw, watching Daddy milk the cows. MaryBeth does a pretty good cow imitation. One of these days I need to video tape it so we can remember it always.

The hardest working man I know :)

I'm sure we'll be spending many more hours in this cozy barn in the weeks and months ahead.

Easy Scalloped Potatoes

2011-04-29T11:41:00.000-07:00

I found this recipe for easy scalloped potatoes several years ago in the fall 2007 issue of "What's Cooking" by Kraft and love it! So I thought I would share it with those who have not had the privilege to receive this magazine. I've found over the years that many of the recipes are repeated in the magazine with maybe a different ingredient here or there. In the older issues they would sometimes have recipes submitted by readers, which is what this one is. I personally have never made the "regular" scalloped potatoes but from what I've heard it's a lot of work. This one is so simple! All you need is the following:

1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup Cheez Whiz

1 tsp. black pepper

3 lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes (about 9) sliced

1 large onion, sliced, separated into rings

*this recipe serves 16, 1/2 cup each. I only make half for my little family of 4 and we have lots leftover!
Preheat oven to 350*. Mix soup, sour cream, Cheez Whiz and pepper in a large bowl. Add sliced potatoes and onions; toss to coat evenly.

Spoon into a 13x9 inch baking dish (or smaller dish if only making half); cover with foil.

Bake 1 hour 30 minutes. (you will still need to bake it almost the same length of time when making only half, or at least I had to!).

A windy day!

2011-04-28T08:36:00.000-07:00

This morning it has been extremely windy! And rainy, but so far this week I think it's rained every day. According to the forcast we can look forward to more rain next week. The hydro went out here and from what I heard on the radio it's out in a lot of places. Thankfully we have a generator because of the farm. If the hydro were to go out for a long period of time the cows would not be able to be milked and any milk in the cooler would not stay cold. When the guys hook up the generator it gives power to both houses on the farm as well. So nice!!! If we ever move, I'd really miss this feature. While I haven't heard how fast these wind gusts have been, they have been strong enough to do this.

This is a tree on our neighbour's property across the road. This second picture I took from the comfort of our warm house. The rest I took while risking getting blown away :)
Pretty crazy what some wind can do!

And this last picture is of a branch from the tree at the end of our drive way. It nearly took me out this morning as I was getting the newspaper. On Thursdays we get not only our daily Hamilton Spectator but the Ancaster News and some flyer's in the mailbox as well. I grabbed the papers from the driveway and continued onto the grass to wait to cross the road while cars drove by. Not even 10 seconds later this branch (while it is dead wood, it is very heavy) came crashing down exactly where the newspaper had just been. Kind of scary!

Chris told me that a poor calf almost got killed this morning because of the wind. The white hutch that it lives in was blown several hundred yards with the calf chained to it! Chris found the poor calf lying in a puddle with the hutch on top of it :( Thankfully it was unharmed and just wet.

And then there were 3 :(

2011-04-27T08:40:00.001-07:00

This morning I had good intentions to go to Ladies Society. It's almost the end of another season and I missed the last meeting 2 weeks ago. When you only meet every other week and you miss a week, it feels like forever since you've been, or at least it does for me. But alas, MaryBeth is not quite her normal self yet. She's been up several times during the last 2 nights and thus, so have I :( I didn't think MaryBeth would last the whole morning at church, as miserable as she has been, plus I had the beginnings of a headache. So we stayed home. I'm kind of wishing we didn't.

While MaryBeth was nicely napping, Nathan and I headed outdoors, hoping the rain would hold off (which it has so far!). I hung some laundry, raked some lawn, chased some cows, etc... regular farmer's wife stuff :) Nathan was quite fascinated with the neighbour dog Dax, who was playing on the lawn with what I thought was some garbage. After several minutes I got a better look of just exactly what was going on. To my shock and horror it was not garbage in the dog's mouth but a white kitten :( My stomach turned. I'm not a huge fan of cats, but for the last week and a bit the kids and I have been going to the barn to play with the 4 kittens in the barn. The kids love them! I contemplated trying to rescue the poor kitten from the jaw of the black lab, but it appeared that I was too late and any hope for the kitten surviving was futile.

In years past the farm has been over run with cats and somehow their numbers have dwindled "mysteriously", it was not very pleasant to watch a kitten coming to the end of it's life. Or at least I didn't think it was amusing. Nathan on the other hand kept telling me "Mommy, dog, kitty" with a big smile on his face. I don't think he had a clue as to what actually happened. It's probably better that way.

Easter weekend

2011-04-26T04:30:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a blessed Good Friday and Easter this past weekend! Our weekend didn't go quite as we had planned, but that's something I'm learning quite well. The Friday luncheon we were supposed to attend after church was cancelled due to my in-law's foster kids coming down with the flu. I think it was a good thing in the end that it got cancelled because Friday afternoon MaryBeth started puking and didn't stop all evening :( We were supposed to have friends over in the evening for a barbecue but I cancelled that. It was a disappointing day in the end seeing as it was also our 5th wedding anniversary. Remember last year on our anniversary? We spent the early hours of the morning cleaning puke off of Nathan. This year-same story just a different child and in the afternoon/evening :)

Most of the weekend was spent cuddled up with my little sickie. She was so out of it :( Saturday she had a fever for most of the day. Sunday she seemed to be getting better but then Monday morning she puked again (on our recently washed bedspread which just had to be washed again) and had the messiest poop I have ever seen! She was wearing a footed sleeper and lets just say the foot was full!!! So gross :p

Yesterday was a long day with lots of crying, and not just by MaryBeth. But thankfully she seems to be on the mend (I hope and pray!). So far no one else seems to have caught this flu bug in our house, although I cringe every time my stomach does a little flip-flop.

Anyways, I was the winner of a give away last week from my friend Meagan and here is what I won!

Does anyone know why we tend to only give Christmas cards and not Easter cards?

Unmotivated and a Prayer Request

2011-04-20T13:57:00.000-07:00

I am not feeling very motivated to do anything this week. I'm blaming it on the weather. The wind, the rain, the cold- it's all getting a little depressing. Or at least it's making me depressed :( I could be doing all kinds of spring cleaning inside my house, but I don't even feel like doing my regular weekly cleaning. I shouldn't complain though. There are many others who are worse off weather wise. My aunt and uncle in Manitoba are in the midst of being flooded out of their home. Every year at this time parts of their farm along the Red River are submerged in water due to the melting ice. This year it is particularly bad and the waters continue to rise, getting closer and closer to their house. They do have a dyk around their house but there is always a

chance it might not hold. I just checked on a website and the height of the Red River as of yesterday was 19.03 feet. The normal summer level is only 7 feet. Not very good. Please keep my Uncle Pete and Aunty Darlene in your prayers as they deal with the possiblity of losing their house.

A picture I found on the web of the flooding.

Busy Week

2011-04-14T12:03:00.000-07:00

This past week started off as a busy week with physio and speech therapy on Monday morning. It was a discouraging appointment, realizing just how far behind Nathan is in so many areas. But I'm resolved to think about how far he has come in the past few months instead of how far he should be. It's not good to always be comparing, right? Easier said then done me thinks :) Monday night the family headed off to sing at Willowgrove, a nursing home just down the road from our church. The old people just love seeing the kids. We sing lots of familiar hymns with the residents and someone from our church gives a short, simple meditation. It's always a fun evening. As soon as that was over, Chris dropped me off at the church for a bridal shower in honor of our pastor's daughter, Jeanette. Church showers are a nice evening to visit with women of the congregation. Tuesday we had a sudden appointment at a bank to set up a line of credit. We are shopping around for a new vehicle and while we don't want to be in any debt over it we also don't want to have to wait until our income tax return comes in the mail (that could take months). The appointment was over the lunch hour, which made for miserable kids :( Then by 2:30 I was off to McMaster with the kids to see the genetics doctor. I wasn't really sure what the point of the appointment was and in the end it seemed like a waste of time and $9.75 on parking. We were offered another test (something to do with Nathan's chromosomes) but the doctor said it was very unlikely the test would come back positive, so I declined. I wasn't in the mood to sit in the lab for half an hour with a little girl who was in need of an afternoon nap and a restless boy who I would have to hold down so the blood could be taken. Not my idea of a fun afternoon! Wednesday I skipped going to Ladies Society. I felt like I had hardly been home and needed to get my house in order. So I got lots of cleaning done. In the evening I had to go to Jordon for a choir practice. Thankfully I was able to carpool with some other choir members! It looks like I'm going to be the driver this Saturday for our combined concert with the Awake to Praise choir. With today's gas prices it's a good thing we can carpool! Anyways, this has been the excitement of my week. And now it's time to go outside and enjoy the beautiful weather with these cuties :)

This last one is my personal favorite! Best of friends :)

Miss Monkey

2011-04-08T18:09:00.000-07:00

Ever since MaryBeth started walking she decided that climbing was fun too! She's mastered the stairs and has no problem going up or down.

She climbs onto her chair made by grandpa. So proud of herself! One of her favorite things to do is climb into Nathan's car and get stuck :)

I often catch MaryBeth on the train table. Nathan is usually pretty quick to inform me "Mom, baby up!" Caught in the act :)

Now she's climbing on some small chairs. One of these days she's going to fall! I moved the chairs to a different spot

Climbing up on a big chair that I was using while cleaning in her bedroom.

Someone used the chairs that I had moved to climb on something else. Sometimes things don't always go as planned :(

Get me out!!!!

Things are much better with a big brother to look out for her :)

Easter Concert

2011-04-06T14:03:00.001-07:00

I guess this is getting kind of close to the concert date but I figured I should invite you all to the Easter concert by the Magnum Tuam Gloriam Chorus this coming Saturday, April 9th. The concert will begin at 7:30 at the Rehoboth United Reformed Church on Glancaster Road in Ancaster/Hamilton, across the road from HDCH. There will also be a guest harpist performing that evening. There is no cost for tickets, just show up and give a donation during the free will offering for Peace Haven which consists of 2 group homes run by the Free Reformed Churches for mentally and physically disabled people. I have been a member of the MTG Chorus for 3 seasons now and have loved it! Unfortuantely during my second season I was put on bedrest the week of our Christmas concert, so I have only actually sung in 1 concert thus far (this Saturday will be my second). We sing some very challenging arrangements, but it makes it fun to practice them! Come out to hear some familiar favorites- "Love Divine" and "When I Survey" as well as some new songs. There will also be audience participation, so you can sing too! And you know what the best part of this concert is??? There are baked goodies afterwards!!! How many other concerts do that? So come on down to celebrate the death and resurection of Jesus Christ through music.

Starting to feel like Spring!

2011-04-05T10:36:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday the sun was shining so we spent some time out on the deck. The kids LOVED it! They got a bit wet from the freezing cold water in the water table but oh well. It's just some extra laundry, right?

Listowel Birthday Party

2011-04-02T11:49:00.000-07:00

Last week Friday we headed up to the Listowel area to surprise Aunt Wilma and Uncle Wiet for their birthdays. Uncle Wiet turned 65 earlier in March and Aunt Wilma is going to turn 60 in early April. My mother-in-law loves organizing surprise parties (and showers :) and managed to get almost 40 of us to show up at the Binnendyk residence with food and cake.

We ended up getting lost on our way up. We won't mention any names as to who gave us bad directions :) Chris was not impressed at all and was ready to turn around and go home. I guess it didn't help when you have a screaming baby in the back seat for the last half hour of driving. Anyways, if we had made it there without getting lost, we would have been quite early, so I guess it was good in the end! There was lots of people we didn't know there and we aren't exactly close with Chris' cousins so we talked mostly amongst ourselves.

Aunt Miranda, Uncle Henry and Aunt Wilma

Sorry Amanda, this isn't the most flattering picture :)

Birthday boy, Uncle Wiet, is on the right.

Everyone chipped in to buy a large picture for the new house.

Nathan loves being in crowds. Most of the night he was trying to clean up all the paper plates and cups. He was very aggressive, actually grabbing a man's coffee cup from his hand with coffee still in it. That was the end of Nathan's "bus boy" job!

There were 2 other kids there- Tim(?) and Ella. I don't have any pictures of Ella but she was the same age as MaryBeth and the boy was a little younger then Nathan. I caught MaryBeth and the boy kissing :) Nathan and his great uncle Adolph.

The kids had fun playing with the hellium filled balloons.

It was a long evening... we weren't home until just before midnight. I was amazed at how well the kids did staying up so late. The didn't sleep in though the next morning as I had hoped :(

Wakie, wakie!

2011-03-30T11:38:00.000-07:00

I went in to wake MaryBeth from her nap the other day and she looked so sweet lying there so still, so I decided to grab my camera and take some pictures. But of course Nathan had to make an entrance and as he loves to do, made all kinds of loud squeals, thus waking MaryBeth up before a picture could be taken. So I just took pictures of her actually coming to her senses :)

Yes, she sleeps in a blue room and yes, her sleep sack is blue too :) Not so girly I know. I plan to move her upstairs to her pink/purple-ish (the colour is called "crushed peony) room sometime in the next month or two. As for the sleep sack, it was her brother's and I never got around to making one for her, although she's almost outgrown this one.

Awake and happy!

Pretty Bracelet

2011-03-25T11:53:00.000-07:00

Look Aunt Miranda! MaryBeth received a beautiful gold bracelet when she was born from her "great" (they're not old, just special :) aunt and uncle. I've been trying it on her wrist at least once a month in hopes that it will fit. It's getting pretty close to fitting, but I'm so scared it's going to fall off. I had tried it once on her ankle months ago but after only wearing it for half an hour, it fell off :( Thankfully I found it right away! Now it fits her ankle perfectly!

Nathan tried to hold her foot still for the picture :) He calls it her "pretty".
Such cute toes! I love baby feet :)

Thanks Aunt Miranda and Uncle Henry!

Fun @ the Naves home :)

2011-03-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up to snow :( Monday was the first day of spring and we were enjoying some nicer weather over the past week or so and now I can't even see out my one window because it's plastered with the white stuff! Oh well... I know God is faithful and warmer weather will soon be on it's way. It is a little disappointing though at the thought of having to wait longer to begin cleaning up the gardens and yard. A friend was supposed to come for a visit this morning but we decided to postpone it so she wouldn't have to drive the 45 minutes to get here. I know I wouldn't want to drive right now. It's really windy, thus making drifts everywhere.

Anyways, time for some exciting news :) MaryBeth is what I would call a "walker"! She's been taking steps for months now, but always with the encouragement from Chris or me. Never did she start walking on her own accord, until last week Wednesday. We came home from being out most of the day and she just decided that she was going to walk. While MaryBeth isn't walking 100% of the time, she's definitely gaining confidence. It's been so exciting to see her develop and learn at what is considered a "regular" pace. I found it interesting to see her learn all the steps that we had to teach Nathan. Another highlight this month has been re-introducing dairy products to MaryBeth's diet. I have been feeding her some yogurt at lunch time almost every day for about 2 weeks now and she hasn't had any reactions! Over the weekend she had some cream of broccoli soup (which has lots of milk in it) and still nothing! You have no idea how happy I am!!! Nathan was around 2 before he was over his cow protein allergy. It is so hard to avoid all dairy products. You don't realize how much dairy you eat until you cannot eat it. We are so thankful it didn't take that long for MaryBeth. This means saving about $30 a week on formula :) That's huge (at least I think so!).

Another area I would love to save money on is diapers, and thus this past Monday I was going to begin potty training Nathan. We bought a potty months ago and Nathan usually sits on it right after supper before he goes in the bathtub. Occasionally he will go pee, but not very often. It's been frustrating since Nathan hates sitting on the potty. He screams and cries the entire time. He'll calm down for a few minutes if you read him a book, but as soon as you leave the bathroom or attempt to do something else, the crying begins again. Thankfully Nathan will not get off :) I guess that's one plus. This past Monday I put Nathan in training underwear. He was so excited to be wearing "unawear" as he calls them. I asked him ever minute if he had to pee or if his underwear were wet. 10 minutes later as I was cleaning up some toys, I picked up a little chocolate ball. Nathan had been eating Reeses Pieces cereal (yes, totally unhealthy!) and thought this was a stray piece. Thankfully I didn't eat it or pop it into Nathan's mouth (I seriously was going to) as he was standing right beside it. I ended up smelling it and immediately realized that it was, yes, you guessed it, POOP! After throwing it in the toilet and washing my hands thoroughly, I ran back to Nathan and took off his pants, only to have more balls roll out of his soaking wet underwear :( Not a good start!!!

And now we are at day 3 and I'm very discouraged. Nathan has only gone pee on the potty once, which was yesterday, and it was maybe half a teaspoon worth and he had sat there for well over half an hour. He was so proud and yet 5 minutes later his underwear were completely soaked!!! :( How are you supposed to train someone who really doesn't want to learn? I need some ideas!!!

The things we teach our kids :)

2011-03-15T15:27:00.000-07:00

Not as wise anymore

2011-03-14T18:26:00.000-07:00

So last Friday was the dreaded day at the dentist. And you know what? It wasn't nearly as bad as I was anticipating. My mouth was very frozen so I hardly felt a thing. I did have one cavity filled first, which was probably worse then the actual pulling out of my 2 wisdom teeth. The worse part was the sound. Yuck!!! I can still hear it in my head. My dentist said they came out easier then he was expecting. It was all done and over in 5 minutes. I did have the laughing gas. I think it helped relax me. When the dentist asked me how I felt with the gas I told him I felt "spacey". I actually reminded me of when I was giving birth to Nathan- my body felt weightless and like it was spinning. But if I ever have to have more teeth pulled, I think I could do without it.

The worse part about having teeth pulled is the "after". This is the part I didn't give too much thought of previously. I did think about having some soft foods in the house, but I had not thought about the pain or swelling. My swelling wasn't too bad. At least I didn't think it was. I put an ice pack on one cheek for 10 minutes and then switched to the other for an hour or two.
Changing the wads of gauze in my mouth was kind of gross. But I only needed it for the rest of the day and went to bed that night with no more bleeding. My mom and brother came for the day to look after the kids so I could take it easy, for which I was so grateful for! While I wasn't able to sleep at all, it was nice to not have to do anything. My mom is the best :) On Saturday the kids ended up going to my in-laws for the day so I could get some more rest. I was feeling pretty good and the swelling was down a fair amount by then. I got Chris to look in my mouth and see if he could see anything as far as puss and bleeding. He said it looked really good and it hardly looked like anything had happened. Must be a result of the Arnica (homeopath) I took before and after the extraction. Anyways, I'm basically back to normal today. Still a little careful when I eat (I really don't want to disturb anything back there) and have a funny taste in my mouth all the time. I hope that goes away soon!

Little Thief!

2011-03-10T12:39:00.000-08:00

Last week I was having a shower (yes I do shower occasionaly :) one morning while MaryBeth was napping. I had put a movie on for Nathan, hoping to keep him occupied for 20 minutes. I should have locked the bathroom door, but had thought "what if Nathan really needs me for something", so I only closed it. Nathan ended up coming into the bathroom while I was drying off still inside the bathtub with the curtain closed. We're trying to teach Nathan about privacy, so I told him to leave the bathroom. So he promptly obeyed me, which I was quite surprised at. But as I proceeded to come out of the shower with a towel wrapped around me I found that my clothes were gone! Nathan had run off with every piece of clothing I had. I called from the bathroom door for Nathan to come back with my clothes. And after a couple minutes he did. I thanked him, closed the door and sorted through the clothes only to find that my bra and underwear were missing!!! I ended up having to run to the through the house with only a towel wrapped around me in search of my missing undergarments. Thankfully no one happened to be peering in my large living room window to see a very underdressed women snatching her underwear from a boy playing happily with them on the floor :)

For Aunt Miranda :)

2011-03-07T18:03:00.000-08:00

Just a couple of video clips from recent days.

Birthday Fun

2011-02-23T06:17:00.000-08:00

We were all a little sick on Nathan's birthday so I didn't plan much for that day. Junior came over to play in the morning. They have so much fun with eachother!

Enjoying a snack of pretzels.

MaryBeth gave Nathan a RCS bus :) He loves it!

Opening a gift from mommy and daddy.
Oooohh!

Someone loves TRACTORS!!!

Trying it out :)

Snowmen cupcakes for dessert at Grandma & Grandpa's on Sunday.

Reading a book with Grandpa.

Nathan got a giant floor puzzle/game from Aunt Sara & Uncle Kevin.

Opening a gift from G&G- a play fishing rod.

Nathan's birthday party on Monday. His friends Mia, Alissa, Ethan, and Evelyn as well as cousins Erica, Wesley and Luke, came for his party.

He didn't know how to blow out the candles :( I should have practiced with him before hand.
Opening gifts

Eating pizza for lunch.

Thanks again to all who came (despite the snowy roads!). Nathan had fun and we hope you did too!

It seems like yesterday....

2011-02-17T13:19:00.000-08:00

3 years have gone by since a small boy made his sudden entrance to the world. At times it seems just like yesterday that Chris and I were at the hospital, wondering what was in store for us as the contractions continued and increased, 7 weeks before our little one was due. It seems like yesterday that I was able to give my baby boy a quick kiss before he was wisked away by nurses to the NICU. It seems like yesterday that I was finally able to see Nathan Gerrit 14 hours after he was born in his incubator, all black and blue, hooked up to countless tubes and wires.

It seems like yesterday that he was laying under the lights to help get ride of the jaundice.

It seems like yesterday that I got to "feed" Nathan for the first time, even if it was through a tube :)

It seems like yesterday that Nathan's weight went down to 3 lbs 6oz.

It seems like yesterday that were more involved in his care at St. Jo's and I was able to spend more time with this special gift.

It seems like yesterday that we were finally home together as a family.

It seems like yestereday we dressed you up to go to church.

It seems like yesterday we were enjoying the sunny outdoors and filling our lives with sunshine!

It seems like yesterday we celebrated our first Christmas and you could finally sit on your own.

It seems like yesterday you were capturing our hearts, as well as the hearts of many others, with your cute smile and big blue eyes.

It seems like yesterday that we celebrated Nathan's 1st birthday!

Okay, this could go on forever... might have to skip a picture or 2 :)

It seems like yesterday you were play wrestling with daddy on the floor... and you still do!

It seems like yesterday you could fit in a tiny wash tub for your bath.

It seems like yesterday I was only able to see Nathan a couple times a week and he was scared of me :(

It seems like yesterday we had to make Nathan sit at a table and chair for physiotherapy.

And stand in the standing frame to help Nathan learn to put weight on his feet and strengthen their legs.

It seems like yesterday Nathan became a big brother!

Nathan has had many set-backs during his short 3 years of life but today is a day not to focus on the negatives but on the positives his life has made in our own. He continues to teach me daily about patience and how much I need to pray for this fruit of the Spirit :) Nathan can be very giving, offering to share his snacks with MaryBeth and whoever happens to be nearby. He loves his sister (most of the time), and is always excited to see her saying "Hi Baby" or "hey big gurl". He refuses to call her by name, even he can say it. Nathan gets excited over the smallest things. His face just lit up yesterday when he opened up a gift from MaryBeth, a small school bus. I hope this love for the little things continues! He also loves to read the children's Bible and is eager to pray before and after meals. We hope and pray that this won't just be a stage and the Lord will work in his small heart that Nathan will come to know the Lord as his personal Savior.

Sundays at our house

2011-02-11T06:47:00.000-08:00

Just a few pictures of some of the fun that goes on while the kids are dressed in their Sunday best.

My little butterfly :) She managed to wrap the slinky around both arms in a tangled mess. It looks quite cute!

teeth, Part 2

2011-02-10T04:00:00.000-08:00

Many people have been reassuring me that getting some wisdom teeth is a piece of cake... well maybe not quite but it's not as bad as they had thought it would be. I guess I'm not too worried about getting them pulled. It's more the holding my mouth open for long periods of time that I do not like. Which is probably another reason why I do not like going to the dentist. When I had 2 cavities filled last week, my jaw began to tremble as the dentist was finishing the first filling. I start freaking out about not being able to swallow normally and my mouth begins to quiver. My hands are clenched tightly and I don't even realize it. I tell myself over and over again to relax. And it helps... for about 30 seconds. But then I begin to tense up again. I don't know how to over come this. Any suggestions?

Does anyone know why a visit to the dentist costs so much? I mean, it cost me big bucks for an hour of work in my mouth. I know that there are several people involved in the whole visit but seriously, I think it's a little outrageous. One of my cousins had posted on Facebook that 1 filling for her son was going to cost $600 at the pediatric dentist. A little extreme don't you think? I guess ever since my dad had problems with his dentist, I've been somewhat concerned about what they charge. I know I shouldn't be biased and judgemental, but this story is pretty crazy!

This is going back probably 10-15 years already. My dad had a dentist that he would go to close to his work in Toronto (not the same one the rest of the family visited in Barrie). Having complete coverage through his work insurance, my dad never took home a bill. The dentist office simply faxed all the receipts for him. Made things nice and easy. One day my dad finds out that his dentist dies suddenly from a heart attack (not so nice part of the story). I'm not sure if a new dentist took over the practice or if my dad found somewhere else to go, but either way, my dad goes in for a check-up and cleaning. The new dentist is going over my dad's records. "You've had a lot of work done on your teeth" the dentist says.

"Well, not too too much. I have quite a few cavities" replies my dad.

"It says here you've had a couple root canals." says the dentist.

My dad is confused. Yes, sure enough on his records there are procedures listed that he never had done. The now dead dentist had been charging the insurance company for work he never had done. And look where it got him! So if your insurance is paying for your bill, you might want to check it over.

teeth

2011-02-04T17:09:00.000-08:00

I'm not a fan of going to the dentist. Which is probably why I always put off going. When I lived on my own I finally went for a check-up after 5 years. I had been having some headaches and thought it might have to do with my wisdom teeth. So I found a new dentist (I wasn't about to drive 2 hours to see my former dentist Dr. Taylor) in Smithville at the recommendation of a co-worker. Apparently my headaches weren't caused by my wisdom teeth but due to the fact that I grind my teeth. I also have a "click" in both sides of my jaw. Dr. Philips suggested a mouth guard. The thought of that made me worry... "how much is this going to set me back?" And then I was told some good news... lots of room for my wisdom teeth! But then I was told some bad news... 9 cavities! :( My cavities like to "grow" in between my teeth, hence the importance of flossing, something I detest doing.

I was given an estimate as to what all this dental work was going to cost me. I was really nervous as to what a mouth guard was going to cost me. Little did I know that it was nothing in comparison to the cost of 9 fillings! Honestly why does it cost so much? You think I would have learned my lesson and had become a dedicated flosser over the years. But because I hated it so much, I relapsed into my old self and continued to only brush twice a day until a few months ago and I began to floss regularly. Really good floss does make a difference! or at least I think so. And now another 5 years have gone by since those cavities were filled so I figured it was due time to have another check-up. Last week I went to yet another dentist, Dr. Zucker. My friend Meagan did her co-op placement for dental assistant with him several years ago, so he came highly recommended.

I got some bad news at my latest check-up :( I have some cavities in my wisdom teeth, not to mention the 4 others scattered in some other teeth. I got 2 filled yesterday and my jaw still hurts. The dentist gave me 3 options for the wisdom teeth- a) fill them and hope I don't get any more cavities in them, b) pull just the top 2 (the ones with the cavities which also happen to be the ones I have a really hard time flossing) out and leave the bottom ones in since they're fine, or c) go to the oral surgeon and have all 4 pulled while being put under. I've decided on option "b" at the dentist suggestion. We don't really have the funds for option "c" and with my luck I'd end up getting more cavities if I went with option "a". So in just over a month I'll have half my wisdom left :)

2011-01-28T06:48:00.001-08:00

So it has been just over a week since Chris and I returned from the sunny south. I'm finding it a little hard to get back in to the regular grind of life... laundry, cleaning, cooking, breaking up fights, etc... I was so spoiled with not having to cook or clean for a whole week! I can understand why people go all inclusive. And now we're trying to figure out where to go for our summer holidays. Just when I thought there was nothing exciting to look forward to we're already planning our next vacation, although it is 6 months away.

The kids have adjusted well to being back at home, although Nathan misses going in the car so often. When they stayed at my parents, my mom had to drive my brother Adam to his bus stop or to school ever morning and then pick him up in the afternoon. And since there was no one else at home, Nathan and MaryBeth got dragged along too. Nathan loved this! He enjoys going out and asks me every day if we can go in the car. I always like the mornings when we do have to go somewhere and I can tell Nathan to hurry up and eat his breakfast so we can go to the store or physio or to Grandma's.

MaryBeth is generally very good in the car as well. She has a very bad cold right now :( The other morning when she woke up her face was plastered in snot! It took me several minutes of fighting with her to wipe it all off. Poor baby has gone through so much lately. I had hoped she would be walking already but her being sick for so long back at the end of Dec. really took a toll on her. MaryBeth is getting very good at standing by herself for long stretches of time. It's only a matter of time before she's taking a few steps! She's been climbing upstairs for the past week and getting really good at it. The getting down part is another story. Generally she just sits at the top and cries until I come get her. Yesterday she was at the top when Nathan started calling her from the bottom. I had this gut feeling to go check on her and ended up catching MaryBeth mid fall. She was quite upset about it all. It could have been much worse had I not been right there. A full flight of stairs is a long way to go for a small body like hers! Today she has climbed several steps but does not want to go to the top. Hopefully she's not scarred for life!

Mexico

2011-01-24T13:38:00.000-08:00

Here's just a few (yes, I took a couple hundred pictures!) pictures of our week away to the sunny south. I'm sure you've been wanting to see these Aunt Miranda :)

Waiting in the airport in Toronto for our plane.

Flying over New Orleans
On the bus taking us to our resort (hour and a half from Cancun).
Road sign for our resort.
A shot of one of the buildings... very modern architecture.
Our room for the week.
On the balcony for the buffet restaurant, where we ate breakfast and sometimes lunch and supper.
First morning

A view of one of 2 beach areas. The second was further to the right, which is where we hung out usually.

The sky, the ocean, the rocks and the sand... so gorgeous!

One of 3 pools.
We didn't go in any of the pools the whole time... the ocean was much nicer!
We went on an excursion on the Monday to see some of the temple ruins in Coba. This particular area was totally covered by jungle only 17 years ago.
The tallest temple ruins.
It was a scary climb up and an even scarier climb down! People have been killed trying to climb up/down/

After seeing the temple ruins we went to do some "fun" activities.

We canoed (our guide Poncho came with us).
He was an awesome guide!
There were 2 crocodiles hanging out in the water over which we zip-lined. The 2nd one is at the very bottom hiding among the lily pads.
Chris zip line-ing.
My turn :)

Repelling into an underwater cavern.
Down we go.
Hanging out in the tubes.
Getting hoisted back up.

We borrowed my sister's camera that can go underwater so we could take some pictures snorkeling.
It was pretty amazing to see all the fish and coral.

We went for a Japanese supper our last night at the resort. It was very interesting to try sushi :P
Supper was good though :)

There were lots of komodo dragon lizards and iguanas on the resort when the sun came out.

All too soon we were back at the airport, waiting an extra 2 hours for our delayed plane to go home.
The view of Cancun from the plane was amazing!

Back to normal

2011-01-11T10:34:00.001-08:00

Just want to do a quick post before Chris and I leave for our little getaway and say that MaryBeth seems to back to normal. Well, at least somewhat "normal". I think her 1 year molars and her eye teeth are all making their way in at the same time :( Last night she was up at 12:30am completely inconsolable, chewing away on her thumbs (she doesn't suck on any fingers or a soother, just chews on whatever is around). I have never seen her so upset before in my life! Finally after drinking 5 oz. and a bit of baby Advil, she cried herself to sleep by 1am. Today she seems to be more her old self... something to be thankful for! Esp. when she's off to Grandma's and then Oma's for a week with Nathan. I would have felt horrible leaving her if she was still sick, even if she would be staying with her grandparents who would take the best care of her and Nathan. So now I feel like I can relax a bit more on this get away... and hopefully get a full nights sleep seeing as I haven't had one in probably a month.

more birthday shots

2011-01-08T07:22:00.000-08:00

Here's a few more pictures of the birthday girl... too bad she's not her old self yet :( We are slowly getting there but had a bit of a set back yesterday. Nathan had been eating a bun with Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread) on it. MaryBeth managed to get a hold of it and helped herself to a few bites. I don't know how much she ate but it was enough to aggravate her dairy allergy. I ended up calling the pediatrician, hoping to get an appointment for her that afternoon during his afternoon clinic (only on Fridays) but he didn't have his clinic opened that day. I left a message on his personal voice mail but I haven't heard back yet. While MaryBeth seemes to be a little happier, she still is not eating much and prefers her bottles over anything else. It's taking awhile to get some more "regular" bowel movements out of her.

Birthday Girl

2011-01-05T16:29:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to my baby girl!

A year has come and gone and life will never be the same now that a beautiful little girl has become a part of our family. MaryBeth was an easy baby right from the start. She ate and then slept, ate and then slept for several months before she started having "awake" time. Thankfully MaryBeth has been keeping up developmentally, learning to sit at 6 months, crawling at 9 months and pulling herself up to standing only a week after. She was starting to stand without holding on to anything about a month ago and likes to walk pushing her doll stroller. We thought it might be pretty close to her first birthday when she would start taking her first steps but alas, the flu really did a number on her and today is the first day she is starting to show signs of returning to her normal self. While her eating habits are nothing like what they were before she got sick, MaryBeth is definitely on the mend, which is a huge answer to prayer! 12 days of the flu for a little body is not healthy. I'm guessing her stomach has shrunk a bit, so it will take awhile before she's drinking her regular 6-7 oz. bottles instead of the 2-4 oz. she's drinking now.

MaryBeth is still a very serious child, barely smiling for anyone other then her parents or brother. But she does have some giggles in her, especially if you rub your face in her belly. She has some fiesty-ness in her too. We have witnessed her trying to hit her brother when he stole a toy she was playing with. MaryBeth is also sensitive and can get quite upset when she is disciplined. I hope this good thing and continues as she gets older.

At her last check-up (which was at 11 months due to a lazy mother and late immunizations) she was over 18 lbs. I think she was getting close to 20 but with being sick, she definitely not at the 20lb mark. Hopefully in a couple weeks once she feeling completely better, I'll take her for her 1 year check-up.

She still is quite pale and doesn't have much for hair... but it's slowly coming in.

MaryBeth, you have brought so much joy to our lives in the year that God has given us with you. Every day of bed rest was worth the wait for your arrival! We hope and pray that God will work in your young life so that you will grow to know Him as your own personal Lord & Savior someday.

Flu Bug

2011-01-01T12:59:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday, MaryBeth awoke with a messy diaper. I thought nothing of it... these things happen on occasion. She seemed fine all day, although she did have 2 more "loose" diapers through out the day. Monday morning she was plastered! Not my favorite thing to find :( Into the bath-tub she went. Nathan was jealous. Bath time is his favorite! All day you could tell she wasn't her normal self. She drank water, pedialite and diluted apple juice all day. Tuesday morning she woke up plastered again. Repeat of Monday :( Again Nathan was jealous of not getting to go in the tub! He actually asked Friday morning when I was changing his diaper if he could go for a bath. It seems he think poop and baths go together! Anyways, back to Tuesday. MaryBeth has decided that clear liquids are no longer drinkable and only wants to drink formula. I'm not sure if this is wise but figure "at least she's drinking". (I have consulted a medical book and website and both say that formula is still fine to give, esp. if it does not contain dairy.) Her diapers are getting not so messy- good sign! She then decides that food needs to come out the other end :( Nathan gets jealous and joins in the barfing fun, puking in his highchair, in the family room and again in his bedroom. I'll be renting a carpet cleaner next week.

Chris and I both started feeling queasy. I never know if it's just in my head or if I am actually sick because I really dislike the smell of vomit (although I'm sure most people do!). Chris did sit up in bed during the night and said that he felt sick. I told him to run to the bathroom. He just sat there. I asked him if he wanted the bowl that was on the floor beside the bed (I didn't trust myself to sleep without it, my stomach was turing so much!). He ended up laying back down . Other then feeling nauseous and somewhat achy (Chris said it felt like he had a fight with a giant, and won of course), we both have been fine. This is something to be thankful for because it's not fun taking care of sick kids when you yourself are sick. Nathan, thankfully, was fine again by Thursday/Friday. My almost 1 year old is another story. While the vomiting only lasted the one day, her diarrhea seems to be getting worse, not better. I think I'm going to bring her in tomorrow. Our family doctor is part of a group of doctors in Ancaster that always has a doctor on call on the weekends for emergencies so we don't have to go to a walk-in-clinic or to emerg. Something to be thankful for!

So this new year of 2011 has not got off to a great start. We cancelled our plans for New Years eve :( I also had to cancel a small birthday party that I was planning with a friend for her son and MaryBeth. But I need to look at the bright side and thank the Lord for the many things he has blessed us with. Last year at this time I was lying in a hospital bed, awaiting the arrival of MaryBeth. Up until now she has been extremely healthy. Nathan, while he hasn't grown much, he has learned to walk and do so many other things. Chris has been a faithful husband and loving father. The list could go on and on. God has blessed me so richly in 2010! It is my personal prayer to grow closer in my walk with Him in 2011.

Christmas weekend

2010-12-29T11:41:00.000-08:00

We had a very busy Christmas weekend, opening gifts with our own little family Thursday night, spending Christmas Eve up at my parents for the day, attending church Christmas morning and then having Chris' family over that evening. It was lots of fun (despite a grumpy Nathan) and the kids were very spoiled. I must say that it was so special to be able to partake in all the festivities as last year I was in the hospital over the holidays. My family didn't do much last year as my nephew Luke was also in the hospital over Christmas with bacterial meningitis. Thankfully everyone was healthy this year! So much to give thanks to God for. My parents had lots of snow so the kids had fun tobogganing down the deck (yes, the deck!) and skating on the backyard rink.

My niece and nephews all received hats that I had made in their stockings.

We enjoyed a supper of pizza Christmas day at our house with the Naves'. It was nice having it at our house and being able to put our kids in their own beds.

Christmas baking

2010-12-18T07:31:00.000-08:00

This past week I did a lot of baking! You always hear about people doing their "Christmas baking" but I always wondered what you do with it all. I mean, when you make 4 or 5 different recipes, that's quite a bit of baked goods to eat! So I decided to give most of it away and made up 7 tins of baked goodies to give to the neighbours and some of the farm employees. I think it went over pretty well :) One of the recipes I tried was "Molten-Middle Truffle Cookies" from www.dessertcentre.ca - part of the Kraft website. The picture showed this gooey caramel oozing out of a chocolate ball. Definitely something I would like to eat!!!! The recipe was pretty simple, although time consuming rolling out all the balls. And while they are very tasty, I came up with a trick to make them taste even better. Just before eating one, you microwave it for 10 seconds and it the caramel melts inside... SOOOO GOOOOD!!!

Here's the recipe if you feel like trying them for yourself. Most of mine are gone so there won't be any sampling here :)

What you need:

1-1/2 pkg. Baker's Semi-Sweet Chocolate (12 squares)
1/4 butter
1 can (300ml) sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (I did not add these as I am not a "nut" fan)
24 Kraft Caramels, cut in half
1/4 cup sugar

Microwave chocolate and butter in a large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 min. or until butter is melted, stirring after 30 sec. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Blend in milk and vanilla. Add flour and nuts; mix well. (Dough will be stiff.)

Shape 1 level tablespoonful dough around each caramel half, enclosing caramel completely. Roll in sugar and place 1 inch apart, on baking sheets. Bake @350* for 6-8 min. or until cookies are soft and shiny. Let stand 5 min. on baking sheets, then remove to wire racks; cool completely.

When Gabe came :)

2010-12-17T06:23:00.000-08:00

I babysat Gabe for a few hours yesterday.... MaryBeth wasn't too sure about this playpen imposter.

They really studied eachother.
Gabe studied me :)
Finally someone cracks a smile :)
And then a big grin!
Finally Gabe sneeked a grin in :)
He loved his crackers...
and devoured 4 by the time MaryBeth had finished 1!
It's fun to have a friend over!

Christmas Decor

2010-12-16T13:57:00.000-08:00

I love decorating for Christmas! Many years ago I bought lots of fake green garland and white lights. I used it to decorate at a young peoples dinner. Somehow it has ended up at my sister's and my parents... not sure how to ask for it back seeing as they have been using it for 7-8 years now. I think I can make due with what I have on hand. I cut lots of red sticks (I think it's dog wood?) from the side of the road and used them in my living room. You just have to be careful your clothes don't get caught on them when you walk by :)

This gold wreath I bought at the gift shop at McMaster hospital. I leave it hanging in my living room year round I love it so much! Normally I prefer silver/white gold, but when it comes to decorating for Christmas, I must say that I like gold.

I bought a small 4 ft. fake Christmas tree many years ago when I lived on my own. We still use it today! One day we'll get a large tree but for now it's nice having one that's small enough to sit on the table out of the reach of eager young hands :)

I used to collect anything with snowmen... I have several figurines that hang out on the book shelf.

Christmas time....

2010-12-14T08:01:00.000-08:00

Every day I have good intentions to blog, and yet it never happens. Life has been busy and it's easy to get caught up in all the hub-bub (is that a word?) of Christmas preparations. I had good intentions of getting all or at least most of my Christmas baking done yesterday but waking up to a crying boy at 6 am who was covered in poop kind of ruined the day :( I was also going to get some groceries this morning, just to have deja vu of yesterday morning! Whatever flu or bug Nathan has does not seem to be contagious (he's had the runs for over a week, but only being really bad this weekend) as none of the rest of us have and symptoms. While he was quite miserable and whiny on the weekend, he has perked up a lot and wants to eat everything he shouldn't when sick. It's hard to say no to him (Chris has a very hard time saying no and gives Nathan almost any food he asks for, much to my dismay because I end up having to clean up the mess that gets made the next morning) but I'm learning to put my foot down. I'm definitely keeping on top of my laundry these days :)

I did manage to make some Oreo truffles yesterday afternoon and a batch of shortbread and ginger snaps made this morning. Tomorrow is our annual Ladies Society Christmas programs... we have to bring some baking and an empty tin to be filled and given to an elderly or sick person. Last year I got 2 tins when I was on bed rest in the hospital... it's hard to believe it's been a year already! Time just flies by now and my baby is almost 1 :) I must say that I never liked the idea of having kids born so close to Christmas but God had different plans.

And now a Christmas memory :)Back in 1991 (almost 20 years ago!!!) my family spent Christmas in snowy Manitoba with my dad's family. We normally would go there in the summer to visit with the cousins, aunts and uncles, but that year we drove the 22 hours in December in my dad's little Volkswagen Golf :) I still remember the car wouldn't start when we stayed at my dad's cousin's in Thunder Bay on the way home... it was -40! Anyways, while visiting my grandma in Steinbach, she gave us grand kids all a Christmas ornament. You know how Hallmark always has new ornaments every year? Well she bought us each our own ornament. While my sisters were different from each others, they were the same as my cousins... I think one was a bunny on a ski lift :) The ornament grandma gave me was this beautiful glass oval with detailed etching and gold writing, "There's no such thing as far away when Christmas draws us close." I was so happy to have received such an ornament! My grandma said something to me about me being very kind to her and she wanted to give me this special ornament. I honestly don't think I deserved being singled out like that, but I treasured the moment and the ornament and still do today as it hangs on our little tree. My grandma is now 92 (?) and in a nursing home. I do not think she would remember me if I were to visit her (she hardly remembered my dad and mom when they visited her last summer) but I will always remember her and the memory I have of receiving this beautiful gift.

Pantry Clean-up

2010-12-06T11:55:00.000-08:00

I'm hoping to do lots of Christmas baking the beginning of next week and figured I should check my "pantry" (a very large cupboard in the kitchen) to see what ingredients I'm running low on. I ended up emptying the entire cupboard and did some spring cleaning and chucking out of some very expired food items. It's quite embarrassing actually to show these pictures but here it goes :) I didn't take any "before" pictures with the food still in the cupboard. The cupboard is very deep, almost 2x deeper then the average cupboard, which while good for storage, makes it easy to have items in the back that you have forgotten about!

Everything emptied onto my island.
Honestly, I'm embarrassed at how much food we have! And so much of it has been wasted :(

I can't imagine what life would be like if I didn't know where my next meal was coming from. We have been very blessed to have so much food and such a variety!

At one of my bridal showers before I was married, my friend Rennie gave me this red bucket with baking and cooking ingredients in it. It has become my "baking bucket". It holds salt, baking soda and powder, vanilla, chocolate squares, chips, raisins, nuts, lard, muffin cups, etc. Whenever I bake I just pull out the bucket! It's very handy :)

I also have a basket that holds all of my packaged mixes (taco, fajita, salad dressing). It keeps them organized and together.

And this is the after picture. There is a lot of empty space now. I lined up most of the items on the outside and back walls, making it easier for me to look in and find what I'm looking for right away.
And here's the pile of very expired or stale items! There is a certain person in this house (I won't mention any names :) who likes to open up a fresh package of crackers, eats some of them, then put the box back without closing it properly. We have had so many boxes of stale crackers! Of course being the "environmentally" conscious person I am, I emptied every box out into the green bin and the boxes went into recycling.

There were a few items that I wondered why I had bought them in the first place and know that if I put them back in the cupboard, they will still be there the next time I clean it out! So they will be given to the food drive the young peoples from church are organizing. I'm sure someone will eat them :)

Little Darling

2010-11-30T17:10:00.000-08:00

I was talking to my mom the other day and we discussed how a parent can become so "in love" with their baby. I just can't get enough of my beautiful blue eyed beauty :) I know every parent thinks their baby is the cutest, but I definately think MaryBeth takes the cake! I smother her in kisses every time I pick her up. Usually I'm rewarded with cute squeals of joy, which makes me kiss her even more. Most of the time she is very reserved when we are out in public... but she does smile.
Not just yet....

Not now either

Hmmm... still nothing
Thinking about it....

Finally a smile appears... kind of :)

Who can resist this face? :)
Okay mom, enough already!

I'm getting bored!!!

Apples!

2010-11-24T18:16:00.000-08:00

This past Monday I headed out to my sister Andrea's to spend the day making applesauce, apple crisp and apple pie filling. It was a lot of work and I must say we were not all that organized, doing a bit of each all at the same time. My mom was down too to help, and the kids wanted to get in on all the action.

Nathan and Wesley enjoyed munching on some peels :)

My mom peeled apples for the apple crisp and pie filling. The kids loved turning the handle on the peeler as well as the applesauce maker (which I borrowed from my mother-in-law).

Andrea hard at work coring one of hundreds of apples. She had 5 bushels of apples... I think we only got 3 done!

Bradley liked mixing the applesauce with cinnamon and sugar.

I didn't take too much home with me since I still had applesauce left from last year. But I did get 3 apple crisps and 4 jars of pie filling.
Fun with the cousins!

My cutie was so good the whole day! So nice having a good baby :)

Before and After's

2010-11-09T17:22:00.000-08:00

For those of you who are my friends on facebook, you've seen these pictures already so don't feel you have to look at it :)

So I guess it's been awhile since I showed my "sneak peek" of Nathan's bedroom. Here finally are all the pictures, well, minus the before pictures that I ended up deleting. This first is the only before picture I seem to have. Nathan did not sleep in here until it was finished. We had the crib set up for company... not a very nice room for company though :(

Here are some "during" shots. I painted the ceiling and trim white and the walls are "humus".

I took the closet doors off and painted them in the basement a dark brown. I figured it would be easier for the guys installing the carpet not to have the doors in their way, plus when the doors opened all the way, they dented the ceiling. I installed a chain on the larger door to prevent it from opening all the way and the smaller door is jammed shut. Chris and I ripped out the carpet. What a yucky job! We did find a penny from I think 1918. I have it saved somewhere :) I also replaced the light fixture, outlets and light switch all by myself! I love doing that type of thing.
Okay, now here is the other project I've been working on. My friend has this baby blanket made from old corduroy pants. I LOVE IT! So I wanted to make one for Nathan's room. But instead of just a blanket, I thought, why not make a duvet cover seeing as Nathan's room is not very warm, esp. in the winter. So I decided to make a twin sized duvet cover- with no pattern! I started off with 8 pairs of men's corduroy pants.

Then I ripped out some of the seams to make large pieces of of material and then cut out 48 12"x12" squares.
Then I stitched the squares together, 6 across and 8 down.
I also bought some material for the back and managed to sew it to the front and ta-da! The end product. I love it!!! Chris wants one for our bed now :) I have never wanted my kids rooms to be "childish" in appearance.... you know the "Winnie the pooh" or "barbie" bedding. Not my style. I like how this duvet cover is something that Nathan can use now and hopefully 10 years from now.

So here is a finished view- the duvet cover is folded in half to fit the toddler bed.

Nathan looks pretty happy with his new room :)

Life on the Run

2010-10-25T12:46:00.000-07:00

Sorry to all you faithful readers out there (actually I don't think I have too many :) for my lack of posts. Life is so busy... my usual excuse I know, but really it is. This weekend has been very busy. So thankful for Sundays and a day of rest! God certainly made Sundays for a reason. And this past Sunday was esp. nice because of a sermon and speech by Rev. Lewis. He's just one of these ministers who definitely has been given a gift for preaching the Word. If you've never heard him before, just look his name up on Sermon Audio and listen to one of his sermons. You'll be blessed by his preaching!

I now have two kiddos who are on the move and getting into lots of trouble while at it! Nathan has been walking everywhere and climbing on everything. I found him the other day on the very top of our lazy-boy chair, like where your head is supposed to be! He's been getting lots of bumps and bruises, typical for any child I guess who learns to walk. MaryBeth on the other hand, just started to crawl this past week. She's not very fast at it yet, but everyday I see her go a little further. It has been hard as a parent to see all the other babies at church about the same age crawling for many weeks already and you wonder if your child will too? It's always in the back of my mind "will all my children be slow learners like Nathan?" Thankfully MaryBeth doesn't seem to have any problems :) I don't think we'll be needing physio therapy for her!

Monday morning I spent several hours at McMaster with Nathan while he took a lactose test. As many of you know Nathan was diagnosed when he was about 3 or 4 months old with a cow protein allergy. Usually you re-introduce dairy to your child when they are 1 years old. I waited until Nathan was almost a year and a half and was greatly disappointed to find out he still had the allergy. So we cut out dairy again. Slowly we would give Nathan some cheese and yogurt before reintroducing milk, and he seemed to be fine. But after being on milk for 2-3 weeks we would start having symptoms of the allergy again so we cut out milk but not cheese or yogurt. The GI doctor told me at Nathan's last appointment that if he still had the cow protein allergy the symptoms would occur within days of drinking milk or eating any dairy. So we decided to do a lactose test to see if Nathan is lactose intolerant. The test involves fasting for several hours over night (not a problem) and then giving a breath sample, drinking some sugary drink containing lactose, and giving 6 more breath samples every half hour. It made for a long morning and I brought lots of books, puzzles and toys to keep Nathan occupied between the breath samples but he was only really happy when we walked around the hospital. Thankfully at the end of the test the nurse gave us good news- Nathan is not lactose intolerant!!! So happy to hear the results considering Nathan's favorite food is cheese :)
MaryBeth too has the cow protein allergy :( Her symptoms showed up at 8 months of age, which is very late according to the doctor. Because it showed up so late, the doctor has suggested waiting until MaryBeth is about 13 or 14 months before introducing any dairy. It has helped me to know what to expect having gone through this already with Nathan. It is not easy to avoid dairy for a baby because most formula, cereals, snacks (mum-mums) contain milk or soy. Thankfully there are 2 types of formula designed just for cow protein allergies and 1 brand of rice cereal that does not contain milk or soy. I do a lot of label reading!

My parents celebrated 30 years of marriage yesterday. The family went out for supper at Tucker's Market place. It was such a nice relaxing evening with no kids :) I love my kids so much but like my mom said it was nice to just be with all the adults for the evening. 30 years seems like such a long time and yet the years go by so quickly now! Even my parents said it didn't seem like it had been 30 years ago that they said "I do". Before you know it we'll be celebrating their 60th, Lord willing!

Thanksgiving Sunday

2010-10-14T08:47:00.000-07:00

We drove early Sunday morning to the church I grew up in, Covenant Christian Reformed Church. I must say that while I enjoy visiting with old friends there, I'm not a fan of the services or the preaching- a little too liberal and relaxed (almost every women is wearing pants and only my dad, the minister and about 5 old men are wearing suits). I didn't really agree with the minister (they had a pulpit exchange that morning) saying that a sermon should be short to accomodate the old people with back problems. I am definately thankful for the church I am now a member of and for our minister, who is a faithful preacher of God's Word!

Anyways, I wasn't planning on writing all of that :)

I love getting together with my family! I still feel at home in the house I grew up in... not much has changed there. The weather was beautiful, something else to be thankful for. While I was hoping to go for a walk at the nearby conservation area, we decided to stay home and enjoy the backyard instead.

Adam and Erica playing croquet
Bradley waits his turn

Wesley thinking strategy :)

Luke enjoyed a snack on the lawn :) grass!

My beautiful sisters~ Katelynn

Andrea

my chubby gal

Nathan was in his glory on this tractor!

the best family picture out of 4 with the self timer on my camera

too bad the lighting is bad in this pic :(

My parents and the 2 still at home :)

We bug my brother about his hair all the time, calling him Justin Beiber.

Tidy Closet

2010-10-05T07:04:00.001-07:00

I have hopped on the cleaning bandwagon as many of my blogging friends have done recently. Yesterday I tackled my bedroom closet. I don't think I've ever cleaned it this well before! I have in the past sorted through my clothes, but this time I actually took everything out and scrubbed the walls and shelf before putting things back. And while the results are great, I did suffer a major allergy attack and was sneezing every other minute the rest of the day. Next time I will take an allergy pill before I start :) And while the before pictures don't really look all that bad (at least I don't think they do), the results are ten times better! I also could not just stop with the closet... I ended up "spring cleaning" half of the bedroom. I ran out of time to do the other half so hopefully today I will finish!

Before: my side *note the shoe rack with no shoes :)

Before: Chris' side

After: my side

I used some plastic shelves that were being used as a toy by Nathan to get more use out of the large space overhead in the closet.

After: Chris' side
The result: a pile of clothes and a few other things to get rid of!

Road Closed

2010-09-29T13:49:00.000-07:00

For pretty much the whole the summer the intersection right by our house has been closed :( While it is a pain, having to detour about 5 minutes out of the way to get to the main roads, it hasn't been all bad. I must say that I try not to go out as much as I did before. It has always been so easy to hop in the car and drive the 5 minutes to Wal-Mart. But since the intersection has been closed, I think twice about going to the store because now it's a 10 minute drive.

Our road has been much quieter now too. I didn't realize how busy our road actually is until it was closed to "local traffic only". It was pretty funny (even still today) to watch how many cars, trucks and even transport trucks have ignored the signs in hopes they could make their way through, just to have to turn around. One Sunday morning while I was getting breakfast ready there must have been 30 cars in just over an hour racing by one way and then minutes later racing the other way! I felt sorry for the transport trucks who tried to get through. They would have to back up about a 1/3 km so they could turn around in the farm driveway. The kids and I have enjoyed many walks down the road, which was previously too busy to stroll down. We check the construction site at least once a week to see the machinary at work and observe the progress being made. We were told that our road will open in October... not sure what week yet. Until then we'll enjoy our walks! Next year there's a chance our road will be repaved... more construction to deal with!

Bathtime and teeth :)

2010-09-24T11:13:00.000-07:00

Nathan is a big bath lover! Every evening after we finish reading the Bible after supper, Nathan immediately points to the bathroom and asks for bubbles. I guess there are worse things in life that a boy could love. Lets just hope he enjoys bathing this much when he's a teenager :) The other evening Chris filled the tub fuller then normal and so when it was time to wash the soap out of Nathan's hair, he lay down and was almost completely covered! He loved it and didn't want to sit back up.

And this lil' cutie pie is getting very close to crawling! She's pushing herself up onto her knees all the time and rocking back and forth. In the past month 3 top teeth have popped through. Unlike with the bottom 2 teeth, which came in without incident, these top ones have taken forever to make their debut, complete with messy diapers, drooling and chewing on anything her hands can grab! I must say she is still a very good baby, playing contentedly by herself for hours.

First Steps

2010-09-18T17:18:00.000-07:00

So as most of you know (well those of you who read this blog on a regular basis that is), Nathan has been in physio now for over a year. The goal- to get him mobile. At just over a year in age, Nathan was only sitting and that's all. No crawling, no scooting, no pulling himself up to standing. So over the past year and a half we have been meeting with Nicole every month to learn new ways and ideas of how to get Nathan moving. Progress has been made, first with Nathan bum scooting and then doing some crawling and pulling himself up to standing. He then started to walk around furniture, only for the last 3 months or so. At the last therapy session, almost a month ago now, they gave us a walker for Nathan to use. The first couple days we were faithful with practicing, bribing Nathan with marshmellows to walk around. But the walker soon fell to the wayside. It was a little hard for Nathan to steer and I just got lazy with making him use it. Then a few weeks ago when we were visiting my parents, my mom got Nathan to stand and take a couple of steps to Chris. Wow, we couldn't believe it! Nathan was taking steps on his own! So now we have been practing ever day and he is slowly getting the hang of it. I think it will take some time, building strength in his legs and learning how to balance better, but it looks like our prayers are being answered. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for this special boy! We are so grateful for them and praise our heavenly Father for all He has blessed us with.

Potato Recipe

2010-09-08T18:35:00.000-07:00

Last night while making supper, I decided to make some potatoes. But I didn't feel like the regular boiled, baked or mashed potatoes. So I turned to my trusty "RCS Cookbook" (second edition I believe) and found a recipe for "Potato Squares" that was simple. I thought I'd try it since it said that potato squares are good for when you do not have gravy. My chicken was cooking in cream of mushroom soup so I should have just made boiled or mashed tatters so the soup wouldn't go to waste, but this recipe intrigued me. I like trying something new now and then. Basically the recipe called for 4 medium potatoes grated, mixed with some melted butter, bread crumbs and a slightly beaten egg. You then spread the mixture in a 9x9 greased pan and put in the oven for 50 minutes. The result??? One of the most disgusting potato dishes I have ever had!!! Talk about a major let down :( Well, it wasn't a complete disaster... Nathan liked it! But to me it was so bad I didn't even serve it to Chris (that's saying a lot!! :) So to all of you out there with the RCS Cookbook 2nd Edition, don't bother making "Potato Squares". Sorry to you if you were the one that submitted the recipe... it just wasn't for me.