Camera!

Yay! We finally received an email yesterday from Canon and our camera is on its way home! Can't wait to have a camera again! I've missed it more then I thought I would. It should be home just in time for a little girl's 5th birthday! I'm already making up a list of things to take pictures of.

G's wacky hair do's.
Tucker- looking really nice right now and loves to pose on snow piles etc.
J playing the keyboard.
Maggie in her largeness.

Oh and the list goes on! :)

Oh and yesterday I heard and then saw an eagle on the top of the neighbours spruce tree :)

Window Frames, Walls done!!! :)

 The two front windows!! Frames and walls are DONE!! This will be the kitchen/dining room. The kitchen window is the one Midnight the cat is inspecting. Yesterday the cat was quite a intense inspection agent. He sniffed the whole thing over, climbed all over it and tested several new napping spots. Today Papa will stuff insulation on the tops of the bales and around the window frames. He's also building a ramp for easier access to the house for us and the stucco supplies. 

This is what I did yesterday.. well on the house :).. it's metal lathe that will hold the shape of the corners and allow us to have the nice rounded corners straw bale houses are known for. It also allows us to stucco over the wood. Every stick of wood that will be stuccoed will have metal lathe on it. It's a LONG process. Sewing through bales with a bale needle and tying the ends of the lathe to each other through the bale.  This side is finished. 

This side is in process. I tie the strings to the outside of the lathe before I staple the lathe up to the pole and then 'sew' them through the bales to the inside and tie them off on this side of the lathe keeping it tight so the lathe retains the shape of the corner. 

Some ends will be a two person job. Like this one below. It takes two people working one on each side to get a hole like that filled and properly rounded. These doorways will eventually go from the bedrooms/bathroom/ to the hallway. 

By the time we are done with the lathe we'll be ready to stucco which makes working with this poky, sharp, rough lathe 100% worth it :) Every section of lathe makes stuccoing easier!! 

Funny Faces :) Drama Fun.

These two had to do a Drama activity where you only use your face to communicate  It was fun actually and they needed each pick a face and have their picture taken. L is going for angry and E is going for surprised. 

J's Puppet Show.

For Movement and Drama this term J had to do a puppet show, either Little Red Riding Hood or The 3 Little Pigs.. he choose The 3 Little Pigs and did a fantastic job with it. 

The first little pig and his house of straw.

The second little pig and his house of sticks.

The 3rd little pig and his house of brick.

The wolf talking to the first little pig. 

House one and two blown over, all the little pigs in the brick house and the wolf climbing up on the house to go down the chimney.  

Nutrition AKA FOOD FUN!!!

E and L's groupings of breakfast, lunch and supper using the Canada food guide 

They also had to fill in a chart with which foods they used and put them in the right heading... Grains, protein  etc. 

Rock Candy :)

Kids and I attempted to make rock candy again this year, grade two science, and it didn't really work.. it worked better then last year but not super well. At least this year we got crystals :)

J's Teepee

Side view :) 

The art on the back. 

J also had to make a teepee for school :) He did a great job!! 

Birdhouses

 J was suppose to make a 'stick house' out of a cardboard box, Popsicle sticks and tubes of paper.. I showed it to Papa and we both decided it was a useless thing. Then Papa put his foot down and said 'if he has to build something with wood it should be USEFUL" so we built bird houses instead of clutter.. It  also ties in nicely to our on going bird unit :) He did read the pages that went with the 'stick house' project :) 

J and his birdhouse :)

It really was a family project. Papa and I cut the boards, Papa cut the holes and helped the kids put them together. J, L and E pretty much put theirs together with the drill with Papa only showing and holding and  putting in a couple of 'holding screws.' R and J just passed him screws to put in to their birdhouses. 

 They are only missing one thing.. Papa is going to drill holes in the front under the entrance hole for a stub of a stick for a perch. 

L and his bird house :) 

E and her birdhouse. 

R and her birdhouse! 

J3 was SO very proud of his and that he got to 'help' Papa make it!! He loves it!! 

We marked them so when we put them up we will be able to remember who's is who's. The kids are very excited to put them up around the place and see who decides to live in them. 

House Update :) Pictures :)

 Well here you go :) Please remember that these pictures were taken with my ipad :) 

We've been working quite a bit on the house in the last couple weeks. The weather has been strangely warm and we've been taking advantage of it :) We cleaned out the space, if you look in the link below you'll see how much STUFF there was still in storage here. Some of it went to the dump, some to the bus and quite a lot of it to the newly cleaned out back shed. There are only two cabinets left and they will stay in the house. Papa and I made several To Do lists and a bit of a timetable which is helping us look at our time needed/time that we have. We are hoping to have our newest blessing born while we are still in the trailer but plan on moving into the house soon afterwards and pulling the trailer out. This will be keeping us VERY BUSY!! This means that as soon as the walls are prepped and the weather nice we will be stuccoing like mad to get two coats on so we can live in it. After the stucco we'll be installing windows, doors, walls, kitchen and bathroom. Because the hallway is currently in between the trailer and the house we'll only be building a few inside walls so we don't have to redo them later :) 

Ok this is the back of the house.. Master bedroom and bathroom area. If you look HERE you can see what it was like before our last building stint. 

Here is the front. Empty of STUFF and with the temp wall built.. more on that below. That stack of bales in the right middle of the picture are all the bales that are left from the 200 we got this fall. The temp wall ATE a huge amount of these which is wonderful as it's a great storage place as well as a warm temporary wall. 

Looking the other way.. that stack of leftover bales (for building the two walls around the front windows, more below) is now in the center of the picture. There will be a stick frame wall there across the end of the lower ceiling behind which will be my pantry. The vaulted ceiling of the kitchen, dining, living area starts right there. 

The Temp wall..and a great place to store bales for later use... is where the middle section of the house will meet this section. That wall is right where the living area will join the kitchen dining area. The bales in the temp wall will be used for the outside walls around the living room area and the back.. after the trailers removed. To live in the house while we build the middle of it we needed a wall there. It's just a bonus that we had enough bales left to make it. 

The front two window frames are next weeks project. The plywood there is right in front of the dining room window and the 4 top bales by the ladder are where the kitchen window will go. It is about 24 feet, I believe from the front kitchen wall to the pantry wall. 

 After the window frames are finished we can build the walls around them and start our stucco prep. Still lots of mess to make!! :)

Thankful Thursday Feb 14th :)

Yup it's Valentines day :)

Today I'm thankful for Papa. This morning after our family devotions we muddled through the years to figure out how long we've been married (13 years, 14 in Sept) how old I am, (You wish :P) and how long we've been together as a couple. 16 years, 17 this August 12th.

Yesterday Papa surprised me, after leaving here in the morning for work, and showed up 45 minutes later with a vase of red roses, and 3 boxes of chocolate.. one box of my very favorites!! And two boxes to share with the kids ;) I did share by the way!! They've all had several, much reading of box tops and thinking and asking questions about this sort or that big one or (in E's case) which ones don't have nuts. I'm sorry to say I can't put pictures up just yet as I have none.. the camera is still gone and I've got to have nice light to take good pictures with the ipad.. I will get some yet though.

I put the roses in my room on the dresser. I like to see them there. The table is much too busy of a place to hold flowers :)

ANYWAY!! Back to thankful Thursdays!! I'm thankful for Papa because he is an amazing man of God, father, husband, teacher, worker, cook, provider and so much more!! I actually wrote out a mushy sort of list and decided that it was our business :) not yours.

Suffice it to say I LOVE MY MAN!!! Thank you for all you do :)


I hope you have someone who loves you like I love him and he loves me. He is my other half and I'm his. Together we are complete. One.

And if you don't I hope you find him/her who is your other half :)

Forgetful Fridays..

Right now I have spaghetti sauce simmering on the stove... don't let me forget to stir it.. OK? It smells FANTASTIC and may detract from this post.

This weeks posts will be things I want to forget.. forever.

That nerve wracking feeling I used to get all the time with Papa driving a big truck on the road and he'd be late.. and I'd be sure he wasn't coming back. But he would. Every single time. With a smile and a kiss for me.

The hurt/anger/confusion/shock/pain of not knowing and not being able to conceive our first child.. took us 3 years of pain, heartache and stress. Of not knowing why or when or if ever. Of seeing others who conceived without plan or knowledge or trying at all.

The scorn of a 'friend' 'person' 'human'. The pain of not being good enough. Not good enough to fight for, or make it work, talk about it,  understand, or care anymore... being lied too and humiliated and not worth someones effort/time/love/friendship.  The knowing of being used by someone who takes advantage of you. Just. Because. They. Can.

Watching Papa walk the ridge pole of our trusses, no tin, not fully supported, 40 feet off the ground. In his boots. Just little squares of truss tops every 2 feet apart. Heart stopping. What can I say, the man apparently has more lives then a cat!! (Even though I must admit my heart went wild in a exhilarating way when I thought of that moment. It was exciting I'll give him that!! I'm just more of a 'oh what if he falls and breaks his neck' kind of person where Papa is more of a 'neat look what I can do!' kind of person.)

The loss of a relationship of a child. I love kids. I love to see them change and grow and though I may not show it in ways people see I just love them. Some of my biggest regrets are the children I knew that I no longer see. Children I thought I would see grow up, change, speak, interact with others. I miss them and what could have been. Children I'll never know like my sisters late term still born. I wonder how she would have fit in the family. Who she would have looked like. What she would have been like. Who's world she would have changed.

As I've been typing I've been thinking about forgetting. I'm wrong. I don't want to forget these things. Even if I did forget these things there would always be in me the lesson I learned or the grace that God gave me to live every day. The part of me that wants to forget is the part that still hurts. J is 9 this year.. 10 years ago we dealt with infertility. TEN YEARS!!! That's a long time!! The pain isn't as sharp as it was.. how could it be with 6 kids roaming around in my heart. But I still remember the pain of not being able. Of big mouthed doctors and tests and herbs and surgery and being told.. your 19 you can't possibly have trouble with pregnancy!! The pain of knowing each and every month that I failed, my body, my husband, my self with every negative test. But we learned so much. About each other, ourselves, our motives, our plan for the future, our trust in Him who made us and has a plan for us. Without that time I'm not sure we'd be here, now, doing what we are doing. What we believe God called us to do.. raise our family, live our lives with purpose.


Lessons learned are what I hope to remember.. a person is only as good as their word. Pain now may mean freedom with God later. Trust is shaken but the love is there. Bitterness is really hard to get rid of, try not to store it up. Freedom comes in many forms. Sometimes life is better lived apart. Pain never ends. Hormones can really take your imagination for a ride.. :) Never give all of yourself.. others don't treat your heart like you would, even if they say they will. Rarely do people actually think before they talk, don't take it to heart. I'm not 100% sure but I think maybe pain only lives on if you feed it. Sometimes it turns into bitterness, and needs to be dealt with by forgiving those who caused it. 

Papa used to tease me and say 'a man is an island' and I'd laugh and wonder. Now I think about it and wish we were an island. Our family, our farm, our lives. I imagine it would be free from scorn, disinterest, hate, disapproval and pain. It wouldn't be. I know that. My heart and my mind.. but sometimes it's nice to dream..

In case you were wondering I turned the sauce off awhile ago.. it still smells fantastic and I wanted to keep it that way :) 

This is more of me then I normally give, but I guess that was a bit of the point. Humans all of us.

 Every. Single. One. Of. Us. Is. A. Person.

 DON'T FORGET IT!!! 

What you feel others feel too. 

I always love those charming proverbs, but can never remember them. So I made this one up :)   

May the sun shine on your face,

 May the rain be warm,

  May your heart swell with love of our Creator,

   May your life never be empty of the good that can be found in this world.

    And May you remember that this world is not our home. We are just passing through. 

 It's never to late to love as Christ loved us. 

Good night. 

Birth Junkie :)

Yay!! I'm so excited!! Papa picked up the mail on his way to work and brought me a package with my 5 week formula in it from Birth Junkie!! I can't wait to try it and see if MAYBE just MAYBE I'll actually go into labor without having to be induced. Wouldn't that be fantastic!?! Hey and maybe I'll have a baby before I hit 42 weeks :) or 43 ;)

She also has a GREAT list of pregnancy birthing books on her website that she recommends. I love the list and have read several of them and I'm hoping to read several more before this baby comes.

 I'm a birth junkie too :) Are you??

Thankful Thursdays :)

Haha I remembered :)

Today I'm thankful for...

Being 20 weeks into this pregnancy, which means only 22 weeks until we get to meet this new child face to face. (Yes I know pregnancies normally run to 40 weeks, but mine are always 42 :) )

For my new 4 slice toaster. SO NICE to make toast in the morning now :)

For an over due visit with B&B :) 7 Months is WAY to long!! Come back soon!!

For a schedule. For school, for chores, for everyday living. It's so nice to have a plan!!

For the 4 day weekend that Papa has coming up :) YAY!!!

For kids who love our life like we do.

For Papa... all he is and all he does :) I LOVE YOU!!!



And the 'off' one for today is.. for sour milk... (Pun intended :))

The Littlest Griggs :)

Here is our newest family member :) 

Papa and I headed to the city to our ultrasound appointment on Monday and got some pictures and some other great information on the littlest Griggs :) 

The baby is healthy, whole, wiggly and looks pretty perfect :) 

Papa and I both guessed the sex of the baby wrong!! I'm always wrong but I was surprised Papa was. 

The kids all guessed right as did 3/4 of the other people who guessed!! 

********Disclaimer. Do NOT look below if you do NOT want to know the sex of the Baby or what we have named the baby. The picture on the bottom is the same as the one on top.*****************

The newest littlest Griggs is A BOY :) and his name will be Samuel :) We will tell you his middle names (2) when he's born :) But for now meet Samuel Griggs :)

Forgetful Fridays.

I had this idea for these posts this morning as I find I do a lot of my posting is later in the week and maybe MAYBE if I have a regular Friday post I will not feel behind all week. SO I'm going to try it for a little bit and see if I can get back into the habit of blogging. It's going to be a hodge podge of things I think.

The reason I choose Forgetful Friday as the title is because I keep forgetting to do my Thankful Thursdays on Thursday and almost always remember Friday morning. Since the idea has been in my head though I've had several other ideas come to me. Things I want to forget. Things I need to forget. Things I never want to forget. Things I can do to remember.. like actually blogging :)

Today's post is going to be things I want to remember.

The smell of a newborn. The feel of a new baby in your arms.

The wonderful feeling of relief when you push that last time and feel the baby slide out into the world.

The way my girls hair smells after a shower.

The crinkly eye squint J3 does, that I can never catch on camera, when he's thinking he's pretty darn cute.

The way I can feel all my troubles leave me when Papa and I cuddle :)

The way E and G both snore the minute they fall asleep.

The way L concentrates over a book or picture. Forehead lined in concentration.

The wonderful alive feeling of a warm wind in the spring.

G hugging so tight when she's not quite awake or comfortable.

The last few miles before home on a long trip.

The way J laughs when something strikes him as super funny.

The satisfaction of a job done right.

The delight on a child's face when they understand something new.

Papa's quick giggle when I manage to tickle him. Unrestrained and unguarded.

The shock and wonder of that very first positive pregnancy test.

Some strangers face as they count kids in the truck and their face LIGHTS UP with a huge smile.

The way R makes friends with a smile and a giggle.

What's your list? This is only a touch of mine. Find a way to remember the good things. It's worth it.