Christmas 2013

Christmas 2013

Deuteronomy 11:18-19

18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Deuteronomy 11:18-19

New International Version (NIV)

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Kitchen Walls have Color!



My mom and I spent a few hours staining the kitchen stucco walls in the house. 


The kitchen corner. These were taken while it was wet. It dried a bit lighter and we are still thinking about whether we will do another coat or not. 



We bought two gallons of stain...and used 1/4 of one! I think perhaps the living room will also be yellow :) 

Friday, August 8, 2014

New House Pictures! August 8th/14


The kids and I cleaned this room Wednesday and the oldest 4 moved in. It's nice to have a little bit of breathing space. One of the walls in what will be the kids room for now and the master bedroom forever :) 


The rest of that room. Amazing how much room there is left! And it's a good thing too, eventually all 7 kids will be in this room but hopefully only for a month or two! 


The master bathroom, or what will be the master bathroom. Toilet is installed as we really do need two :) but the rest of the bathroom will have to wait until we have a hallway...got to walk thru the walls right now! Oh and that big black snake thing is the bathroom fan vent system or something like that. 


The main bathroom, see the whole in the wall?? That's so we can get into the main bathroom thru the master bathroom. I'm really looking forward to a hallway ;) 


The vanity, from Costco online, all ready to except the drains for the sinks. 


Mirror, lights and towel holders. We are going to add two small mirrors on either side of the light switch. Turns out none of the kids can see into the mirror! 


The tub/shower! Yay! 


The little bedroom, Papa and I's for now and todder room later, good view of the missing chunk of wall for the mini hallway.


The rest of the little bedroom. It will also double as the living room/office for a bit as there is no other place to put the computer. 


The pantry. It just needs a little bit more painting at the moment. Eventually it will have upper shelves too. 


The kitchen dining room area. The stoves in the middle as Papa needs to install the pipes for the propane yet. Propane, drains, dishwasher set up is all that NEEDS doing before we can move in. 


The other end of that room. 


The utility room from the outside. Needs a door and she's ready for winter! 


The inside of the utility room. Hot water system on the left, pressure tank on the right. Filter inbetween. 


The hot and cold water set up. Looks cool. Several empty spots for the laundry room, milk sink and another bathroom. 

And there you have it, new pictures of the house. I won't bore you with a list of what we've been working on but it's coming along and we've been plenty busy :) 











Thursday, August 7, 2014

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Cousin Love







These two were so happy to see each other, after just a few days apart, the almost hugged and then shook hands like men :) 






Saturday, July 26, 2014

S's Birthday Pictures :)


Ohhh FLAME!! 


G got to blow the candle out, as per tradition. 


He was so excited for the cupcake he grabbed it before Papa could put in on his tray. 


MMMmmmm  Monsters are good to eat!! 


WHAT?? I'm ONE!!! I'm allowed to make a big mess!! 

Happy Birthday!! 

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Funnies!

E has quite the sense of humor...



And one I loved from online..


Thankful Thursday.


I'm thankful for kiddy pools and troughs. Nice way to keep from cooking oneself in this heat. 
I'm thankful for coffee. Truly. It's. Amazing. 
I'm thankful for ice cream, ice, and shade. Can you tell it's been a hot summer? 
I'm thankful for Friends. I'm truly blessed to have you as friends! 
I'm thankful for Family. Little people and big people. 
I'm thankful for people who keep an open mind and bless others. 
I'm thankful for Fred, the plastic owl, who is protecting the broilers so incredibly well this year! 
I'm thankful for water! Pump is in and irrigation is up!
I'm thankful for swimming lessons. 
I'm thankful for crackers, cheese, yogurt, granola bars and other hot days foods 

And my 'slightly odd' one. I'm thankful for this trailer. I dislike most of it, but I do love the memories we have in it, and I'm thankful we have it to live in until the house is ready.

What's on your list?

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Life Lessons.

Everyone is learning something at their own skill level. Just because they are learning something you can do doesn't mean it isn't a big learning curve for them. That's one of the things about large families that I find challenging, but fun. G learning to get herself dressed is just a big of deal as J learning to navigate in the bush or S learning to play pat a cake. Here are some things the kids have been learning and I thought you might like to enjoy hearing about them. 

Lets start with the baby! 

S has really started doing a bunch of cute stuff :) 
He waves, with just his little fingers wiggling.
He pants, breaths hard, and then giggles when you do it back.
He's talking and singing quite a bit, super cute in his little boy voice :) 
He has a couple of words; please, hi, papa
He's clapping his hands, he really likes patty cake. 
He drinks from a cup or a straw. 
He says shhhhh...and then giggles.
He stands up in the middle of the room.
And he just turned one! Pictures to follow! 

G is two and a half.
G has learned to get herself dressed 100% alone! 
She can get both her boots and shoes on alone.
She also is enjoying giving S a drink with his straw cup. 
She loves to fold the washcloths.
She can turn the bathroom water on and off! 
She can open the inside doors! 
She also learned how to move empty cups to the table for meals! 

J3 has a birthday very soon and will be four!
J3 has recently learned how to ride his tricycle! 
He also can count to 10 without help. Until recently he was missing 7 or 8. 
He brushes his own hair.
He also wipes himself now in the bathroom :) 
He sorts laundry by color. 
He can put away all his, G's and S's laundry without help! 
J3 is learning to enjoy water and last week he learned he could float!

R is six years old.
R has learned to ride her bike with two wheels! She just decided one day to do it and within 3 days she was! 
She also is getting much better at soccer and other games. 
She's also quite the little singer and crafter! 
She can set the table and get everyone's vitamins ready.
She can do a pony in her hair. 
She can sweep the kitchen floor.

E is seven years old.
E is really learning how to 'do hair'! She enjoys playing with R or G hair and putting it in pony tails etc! 
E is also learning how to do chick chores. 
She loves to 'baby sit' S and G and is quite the little momma.
She's learning some more soccer skills too!  
E and R do a lot of singing and crafting together :) 
E can clean the whole bathroom, including the mirror! 
She loves to finger knit.

L is nine years old. 
L is learning baseball catching with his new glove! 
He's also learned to wash the milking stuff! 
He's learning some soccer skills too! 
He loves to make things out of clay.
He loves to draw. 
He's learning electric wire fencing skills. 
L is reading the Narnia books :) 

J is ten years old.
J is learning some woodsmen-ship. Yesterday I sent him out with the phone, for communtation, to find the calves in the 30/40 acre lease behind our house. He did really well and he found them! 
He's also honing his baseball catching skills and his soccer skills! 
J is also getting very good and figuring out songs by ear on the piano! 
J has also recently learned how to light the mosquito coil with the lighter! 
J has learned how to make a small cow fence and the basics of electric wire fence building. 
J likes to make swords out of old metal broom handles. He's made one for everyone! 

J3, R, E, L and J are all taking swimming lessons this summer as well. Once a week. They are all doing super good! J3 has improved the most and is starting to enjoy the water more and more. If you remember he was scared of water, in any form; rain would cause him to scream for the first several years if his life, so this is a big improvement. S is just the opposite, he loves water! 

J, L and E are practicing piano all summer as well as doing a 'bit of fun school' with some math thrown in every week. 

Oh and Papa and I? What are we learning? Well...yesterday I learned how to install a toilet! How's that for life skills? Papa?? What is he learning you ask? Papa is learning all about water systems, from the pump to the sink and every bit inbetween. Oh and we are both learning that everything happens WHEN it happens, not necessarily when WE want it to happen. 

Life lessons: Everyone is learning something. Your lesson may feel harder to you because you are bigger and doing bigger things, but it's not. Everyone is learning something and the 'little things' matter as much as the 'big.'