Lyla May is 1.....actually 13 months, but who's counting;)

Our Sweet Lyla May is 1! How is it possible that each year goes faster then the one before??  She is so fun and so full of personality already.  She loves to be heard and seen, she loves to be where things are happening, and she loves to make us laugh!  I totally think Lyla is going to be the big hamm in our family!  She has her own little personality, but also follows so closely in her siblings footprints in other ways!  One being her words! Right now she can tell us what she wants so much of the time, with her clear words being "teeth" "peas"(which is actually please;) "yes" "night" "hi" "mama" and more too that are far less clear;)  She has finally become a "good-sleeper" (which I am not complaining about, it happened a lot sooner then the other 2 did) and she is our first baby to sleep better instead of worse when she is "under the weather" (for naps anyway)  Lyla loves to squeeze in on her brother and sister to play with them, and they are usually pretty good with her until she just starts to wreck everything!  The older 2 love to make her laugh and teach her new "tricks"  Dexter especially loves to "babysit" her and keep an eye on her when I am trying to get stuff done.  Lyla tends to be pretty content as long as she is tagging along with someone, and in the evening when the others go to bed before her, she loves to have some time to herself as well.  Lyla has 8 teeth, loves to clap and blow kissses, and can give the cheesiest grin when its picture time.  She gives the best "look" complete with eyebrows frowned and her big bottom lip hanging out that is very difficult to catch on camera.  Though she gets around and into EVERYTHING very fast, she has no desire to walk!  She will stand up by herslef, cruise furnature, and transfer between furnature, but as soon as you try to encourage her to walk she refuses!  She will definetly do on her terms when she is good and ready!  I have a feeling she will skip walking and go straight to running kinda like her sister did;) I have never felt anxious for our kids to walk, but I have to admit I am ready for this one to do it!  Lyla also has a way of making people, (especially her daddy) feel so good!  When he leaves, she gets sad, and when he walks thru the doors she is so excited she can hardly stand it!  It is so sweet to see how easily she melts Daniel's heart:)
p.s. my pictures are not uploading, so i will have to try again later:)

Saskatchewan!!

We had 2 weeks hoildays this year and chose to spend them with family in saskatchewan and are so thankful that we did. I love spending time with family and feel that's its such a priveledge for our kids to have so much family to encourage and cheer them on as they do life. The first weekend was spent in Waldheim celebrating its 100th anniversary. We took in the parade, games in the park, fireworks, pancake breakfast and much more. One of the highlights was having Daniel preach and the community wide church service. What a priveledge for him to minister to his hometown! After the weekend the boys went on a very succesful one day fishing trip, while the girls did some grocery shopping. Then we headed out to memorial lake for a week to camp at great grandpa's campsite. Though Lyla was SICK for the first half and we were exhausted from no sleep, the good memories far out way the bad! We took everything from waterskiing to tubing to fishing to beach time to mini golf to playgrounds and puddle jumping along with much more relaxing time. Dexter and Lexi literally spent hours playing in great grandpas golf cart, it was a great source of entertainment! Our trip ended with time in Calgary for a family wedding. I could post a hundred pictures, but I'll have to keep it to just a few:)

 

 the morning we were getting ready to leave, daniel went to work for a bit while i tried to get packed up, dad came by and insisted the kids come out for a bit as they got a hand me down quad from some other grandparent friends! It worked out great, the kids loves the pre drive quad ride and we finshed getting packed in a bit of peace:)

Dexter and auntie Cheri at the blow up obstacle course, and Lexi all ready for the beach:)

 

After supper park play with great grandpa!

 

Fishing, Fishing a more fishing:)

 

Hanging out at mini golf with "crunchy grandma"

 

Loving story time with grandpa!

 

Shoulder rides with great grandpa

(noticing his beautiful noodle necklace made with love by lexi:)

relaxing after a late night before teh wedding!

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Our attempt at a family picture!

Dexter is 4!!

Dexter is 4!! I cannot believe how fast this stage of life goes by!! He is officially out of the toddler stage, although he hasn't felt like a toddler for a long time, I think turning 4 makes it official!  Dexter is really so sweet right now.  He definetly knows when he needs to pull it together and be the "big brother" but he can certainly choose to be a pesty big brother too;)  Dexter LOVES to help me out, he begs me to let him vaccum or sweep (and actually does a decent job!!) and he likes to help get meals ready and bake.  Getting him to clean his room is still a challenge tho.  Dexter started playing soccer this year, abd may have been one of the smallest kids (he was still 3 against some 5yr olds) but he was a force to be reckoned with!  He loved soccer so much that he would eat everything on his plate and take "rests" and drink extra water on soccer days just so he would have more energy to run faster!  Dexter also loves to ride his bike, he likes to go so fast the I sometimes have to run with the girls in the stroller to keep up!  I am not surpriesed at all, but he still loves huinting and fishing and gets so excited as soon as we mention the word camping!




















Favorite color: all of them (i wonder where he gets his indecicivness from:)

Favorite food: cupcakes, pizza 

Favorite sport: lots! but football and soccer the most!

Favorite thing to do: ride my bike down a hill

Favorite Book: find it books

Favorite animal: dinosaurs

Favorite activity from being 3: fishing with big bad Botkin

Favorite song:  God is bigger then the boogie man

I'm excited about being 4 because: I am getting bigger!

When I grow up I want to:  be a dad

One thing I am good at:  soccer and football and babysitting Lyla

One thing I would like to learn: to skate

If I could say one thing to the whole world I would say: If you don't know how to catch frogs I can teach you how! 

 

For a while Dexter wanted to have a frog party, (this came after we babysat...or frog-sat our friends tree frog)  I was getting all geared up to have a frog party when at the last minute he changed his mind to a fish/under the sea party, and there was NO changing his mind!  He had all kinds of decorating ideas so we started decorating....it took us over a week!  The kids painted, finger painted, bingo dabbed, cut ribbons, sprinkled glitter, coloured, and I did a lot of cutting out shapes.  everything from sea weed to fish to starfish, but i have to say my favorite were the jellyfish hanging from the roof under the blue streamers to really give the under-the-sea effect:) 

decorations in progress!

 

birthday breakfast!

the cousin twins!

 



one of the real twins! Dexter LOVES babies, espcially Morgan and Koston

party gaem "catching the alphabet"

 11 on the couch:)

6 months......

I wrote this at 6 months, even tho our Sweet Lyla May is now 7 months......I have put off posting it because I so badly want to say she is our good sleeper of the bunch.......however she seems to be following in her siblings footsteps.  We have had really good stages where she only wakes up once a night, but lately that isn't the case.  Her lastest trick is to wake up and literally party!! She is not hungry, she is not grouchy, but she squeels and talks so loudly that we can't tune her out!  Eventually she tires herself out and goes back to sleep, but these parties have been known to go on for an hour of more.  I know our kids are unusually cute and smart and funny, but they definetly rate pretty high on the weird charts too:)  Normal right now is for her to be up twice a night, and we are hoping that she gets back into a one time only routine!!
Lyla is so much like her siblinbgs were as babies its crazy!  We keep expecting this quiet chilled out 3rd baby that we were promised by so many, and she is far from that!  She loves to be entertained and played with and packed around and talked to.  She has so much personality already and has a laugh that is truely contageous!  The biggest difference from Lyla and the other 2 is that she naps!! Its wonderful.  She is down to 2 naps a day, but it is NORMAL for her to nap for an hour and a half at each nap, sometimes 2 hours!  we are so used to cat nappers, that this has been a very nice change!  Her bed time is slowly getting earlier now, around 8 or 8:30 and we are slowly reclaiming our evenings.  Since her siblings don't nap, they are both in bed by 7 or 7:30, so we have an hour or so with just Lyla before she goes down.  Lyla is into everything already.  She has been mobile (rolling to her desired location) since about 3.5 months and has been "army crawling" for the last month now and is fast!  She loves to cruise into the bathroom, spare room and under the table to see what kind of trouble she can get into.  When she is going for something she shouldn't (like a dirty diaper, or piece of food) and you call her name, she only gets really excited and moves faster.  Seriously I don't know if there is a better word to describe our children then "turd" not bad or anything, but just little stinkers!  ("turd" has become a term of endeerment in our home) They are seriously born this way.....must be a recessive gene or something;)  Thankfully our other 2 have gotten into the routine of keepong the basement door shut as Lyla also like to make a be-loine for the stairs.  Lyla enjoys the jolly jumper and sitting on the grass and picking it.  She loves to be carried around in the sling and sit in the highchair to join the mealtime commotion.  She is not a fan of pablum, but I am not giving up yet:) she likes to play/munch on rice crispies in the meantime.  Since day 1 Lyla has LOVED bath time, and nothing has changed.  She likes to sit and splash, lay and splash and even roll on her tummy and splash.  Water in the face does not bother her a bit!! She is getting to the age where when we are out and about she doesn't stay asleep as good anymore, but it still seems that on Sunday mornings she will have a good nap in church.  I love it when she falls asleep on my chest and just snuggles in as it only seems to haapen like that at church.  Lyla is generally a very happy girl, she gets grouchy when left alone, but is usually satisfied by just being picked up and tagging along for general housework.  I am sure there is so much more I could write about our little doll, but I should move on to making supper now!  I will leave with a few pics of her 6 month photo shoot:)

cheesy smirk;)

oooooo, my name!

Playing with the props!

doll:)

always good for a laugh:)

Daniel had to go to the endodentist yesterday for a root canal, and as everybody knows, he does not like the dentist! It has become routine that with any appoinment (that is bigger then a cleaning) he gets drugged, which has always proven to be good for a few laughs:)  This time we made it in and out of the office with relativly no incident and I have to admit I was a little dissapointed that the dental assistant had no good stories for me.  However on the way home Daniel made up for it!  We stopped in Winfield to get gas, and as Daniel tends to be the one who fills up the van this time was no different.  I was sitting in the van waiting (in the driver seat ovbiously) and I looked back to see how it was going, and I could see Daniel looking quite frustrated and throwing is arms up in the air.  I asked what was going on and he said it wasn't working, I reminded him he had to pay at the pump first and follow the instructions on the pump.  By this time the gas station attendant came out to see what was the matter, and I don't know if Daniel was embarrassed or that out to lunch, but he didn't even really acknowlede the guy.  To make a long story short he couldn't figure out how to get his card in the reader, how to get the pump back in its place to restart, or how to get the gas flowing once I pre paid for him.  You'd think he never filled up a vihicle before, pretty sure the gas attendant thought he had too much to drink.  By the time he got back in the van I was laughing so hard I was crying, and Daniel couldn't help but laugh too!  One of those had to be there moments for sure!  I still can't help but smile when I think about it :)

some pics

Easter!

I love Easter, it is a toss up between Easter and Christmas as to which is my favorite, but I do Love Easter. I love that while we take time to remember the unimaginable sacrifice made for us - Jesus hung on a cross to die for MY sins - We can take great JOY and celebrate because we know that Sunday is coming and that we serve a living God!
We have a tradition of joining the good Friday Easter walk. We meet at 8am and do a short hike up a mountain for a Sunrise service. This year we borrowed an extra vehicle and picked up all the youth to join as well. We meet at the top and join in a time of worship, testimony and encouragement as the church and members from the community who desire to be a part of something on Easter. Then we head back down to enjoy fellowship and a potluck breakfast together, really a beautiful way to start off the Easter weekend. (this is the first year that we all forgot cameras, so no pictures this year:( ) After the hike we headed into Winfield and enjoyed a meal at Britt and Brads place. Saturday was spent at home, relaxing as a family and getting ready for Sunday, as I cooked for the crew this year!! Sunday morning we were up early as usual, I got my scalloped potatoes in the crock pot and veggies prepped, then we went out side for a little plastic egg hunt before church. The kids loved finding their eggs and helping out each other when they spotted one of the other's colour egg.
Next we went to church, enjoyed a monlogue type skit presenting the gospel story, very cool way to share the meaning of easter. Very tangible for those who only come to church at Easter to understand, yet still challenging and encouraging for the regulars. After church we had unexpected company for lunch which was great! gave me less time to get cleaned up and organized for the family to come for dinner that evening, but I would choose company over a clean house anyday of the week (just ask those who see my house regularly - haha!) Our company was easy company which still allowed me to get the pies made and baked before we headed out to G&G Olunds for an egg hunt. As we were literally walking out the door to bring our company home and head out I missed the bottom step of the stairs and sprained my foot. I kept thinking I was going to shake it off and be fine, but by the time we got to mom and dads my foot was burning hot and the size of a balloon!! talk about maddening!! I could not even put an ounce of weight on it! It was rediculous! I had to sit there (quite grumpily i might add) icing my foot, while the kids hunted for their colour coded plastic eggs. We didn't even get a family picture that day:( I was so thankful that I had the food ready or at least in the oven so after the egg hunt there wasn't much to do. I tried to hobble around the kitchen to get everything out, but was more of a hazard then anything! Thankfully between mom, grandma and Daniel they forced me to sit down and put my foot up! I had no idea I was one of those people who "couldn't sit down" if you know what I mean! It drove me nuts to sit in the living room while I knew others were picking up the slack. My wonderful Hubby was so happy to help me out, after dinner he totally took over cleaning up the kitchen, making coffee and serving pie and truely did it with a happy heart. It was good to have so many people over cause while i sat on my tail all evening with my foot in the air, there was lots of laughter and conversation to keep me distracted! Today (3 days later) I can limp around on my foot and the swelling is down by at least half, but I tell ya it is still such a pain in the butt being injured!!
Even amoungst the chaos (believe it or not there was more then mentioned:) Easter was a beautiful celebration of the freedom we have because of Him who laid down his life for ME! I have a very clear picture of where my life might be without my saviour. I continue to be thankful and stand in awe of God's grace and the life he saved me from!
The few pictures we did get aren't working right now, so maybe i will add them later:)

10 LOOOONG days!

Well we have almost made it!! Tommorrow Daniel gets home from Mexico! He took the youth to serve in an orphanage/safe home in Mexico and is returning home tommorrow (sunday) from a 10 day absence! 10 days is a long time, we have never in our married life had to be apart for that long, then add three kids, 3 and under to the mix, I can honestly say I am exhausted!! There are many times where Daniel is pretty busy between the 2 jobs and it feels like we only get him at supper time, but even in those crazy days, he still comes home and warms up the bed for me! 10 days with the kids by myself and a cold bed is looong! I am a weenie and a bit spoiled with my hubby, and I can't imagine being a single parent, or even a parent who's husband works away regularly. I know several mom's who do it, and do it really well, and I really have a TON of respect for them! I took advice from a mom of one of our youth kids, and PLANNED my week!! I intentionally made a lot of plans at the beginning to make the time go faster, then had a few unexpected invites. by Wednesday I kinda fell out of the "lets make this fun" mode and slipped into "survival" mode, I was so exhausted from little sleep and early mornings, that I just didn't want to be fun anymore. Thankfully dex insisted we went to playgroup thurs morning which after we made an impromptu trip to armstrong for a "special lunch" (McDonalds.....what can i say i had coupons, haha) then home for some much needed "quiet time. The kids were so impressed with their french fries and cheese burgers that they actually played happily for quite some time. By that evening I was again tired, feeling a bit sorry for myself and not wanting to be fun, but ended up with visitors all day the next day. (although tiring, it made the day go fast:) It was very cool how God filled the days that I hadn't with plesant surprises (visitors, a meal brought over, sleepovers etc) when I had no desire left to "play". Friday bedtime was by far the worst, and by the time I got to "chat" with Daniel on the computer I was in the crazy, over-tired mode that may have been funny for him, but I really don't even remember our conversation! Tonight, however has been sweet!! I was dreading bedtime all day, but it went so smooth, and even Lyla had a happy evening. Its amazing how a sweet semi-relaxing evening can erase all the crazy, chaotic preious ones and leaving me feeling like maybe this wasn't so bad afterall!! (not to be mistaken with "i want to do this again anytime soon"-cause I DONT!)
I am looking forward to tommorrow being the last day! I have clothes laid out for the kds for church, I have "extra-special" snacks planned to bring to church (ie popcorn and bear paws;) and I am anticipating a quiet morning getting ready for church, followed by a good "quiet time" after church so I can maybe get things a little cleaned up before supper.........a girl can be hopeful right!?!

kids say the darn-dest things ;)

Our kids have been FULL of witty comebacks and funny phrases and questions lately and I want to remember them in the years to come, but I already forget so quickly! so here are a few:)

Dex: Hey mom, do birdies dig owies?

Me: ah, no!

Dex: Ya, Daddy told me they do!

(this came after he wiped out in the drug store and got a big cut on his forehead and Daniel told him "don't worry, CHICKS DIG SCARS")

Dex and I are drawing pictures for daddy like deer and moose and fishing.....

Me: what else does daddy like that we could draw for him?

Dex: ummm, mommy! :)

ever since halloween....

Lexi: nugga, nugga, nugga, nugga, BATMAN!

Lexi: mommm, i fall in the toilet!!

most kids this may scare a bit, but Lexi thinks its pretty funny!

both: "I hold Lyla" - after 3+ months they still love her:)

Dexter loves to make everythign into a song these days, one of his latest being

"When the sun comes up you don't have to be afraid, cause Jesus is with you so you can go ice-fishing!" (sung while playing the piano and to a nice liitle tune!)

Dexter was going downstairs to play and he really doesn't like to be by himself, so as he is heading down the stairs, he says "c'mon Jesus, c'mon God lets go!"

lexi: lyla my little boogie,

dexter: (quite offended) she is not a boogie, she is just our little turd:)

just for clarification, turd is a term of endeerment in our house:)

Lexi is 2!!

My sweet, firery, little girl is 2! How does this happen sooo fast? I think Lexi being 2 seems hard, because she is such a "grown-up" 2 year old! She sleeps in a big girl bed, she is potty trained, she has no problem putting 6 and 7 word sentances together that most people understand, and she does not miss a beat! She loves to copy everything Dexter does from the way he talks and prays to the way he plays. She loves to play with him and therefore joins in on all the hunting and fishing trips, hockey and football games, and many wrestling matches. However, when she would rather be by herself its all babies for this girl! She LOVES wrapping her babies up, reading to them and putting them to bed. She also loves to sit and look at books and make puzzles. My grandma gave her three 25 piece puzzles for christmas and she can do them all by herself and is literally wearing them out from doing them over and over! (note to self-need to look for more puzzles in the second hand shops:) Dexter has only become interested in puzzles because of Lexi's obsession with them (and he can now put together 48 pieces by himself) Lexi has always been so full of personality! And we are only seeing more and more of it at 2! She has taken to picking out her own clothes and often insists on pink, or a dress. Seriously I was sure the days of fighting about wardrobe were still years ahead of me!! We have been going to strong start regulary and Lexi has not only impressed me with her ability to summersalt and run with the big kids, but also how well she will sit and take part in circle time! She never ceases to impress me with how much she can do and I feel like she is flying thru this toddler stage. As much as I would love her stay stay "little" it is still fun and exciting to watch her grow up and absorb so much! I have been working on a "prayer book" lately for our family and was reminded of the verse that was chosen at Lexi's baby dedication. "She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come." Prov 31:25 It continues to be my prayer for Lexi that she be clothed with strength and dignity and that she will look at the days ahead with aticipation and joy and excitment rather then worry and fear. This verse is such a good representation of Lexi right now, and I pray that it will carry on into her childhood, teenage years and adult life.

I will finish off with a few pictures of Lexi's second birthday. We are blessed with family near by so even tho we don't do "friend" parties yet, it is still always a big party!!

birthday breakfast!

we did a snowman theme!

pin the nose on the snowman!

special snowman drinks

snowman cupcakes!

enjoying her cupcake;)

a sweet moment...

Having quiet time for myself these days is tough! Today I decided to listen to a sermon online while making puzzles with my kids. The sermon was about reasonable faith, and when the pastor began to quote Matthew 22:37, He got thru "Love God with all your heart, and...." and Dexter finsihed before the pastor had a chance to, "with all your soul and with all your mind!" It was a sweet moment and reminder that my kids are so present in every moment, even if I am not! They hear and see everything we do - the good and the bad:( I'm looking forward to more sweet moments like this!

Lyla is 3 months!!

I can hardly believe that I am typing out our third baby, and that she is three months old already! Where does the time go?? God is good. Our little Lyla, really is the Sweet Lyla May that she gets called. Her smile is so sweet and beautiful and she shares it easily with everybody! Right from the get go, Lyla has loved to get her clothes off and have a bath. She has yet to make a peep in the bath outside of coos of contentment and little giggles! Even just changing her clothing or diaper is a treat beacause she loves it! (a pleasant chage from her big sister! haha) When Lyla was first born, we really thought she had a look of her own, but as time has gone by, she is looking more and more like her big brother! Most people now take one look at her and say she looks just like her daddy, (or auntie Cheri) but the odd person sees my resemblance in a smile or expression that she shows. Lyla is meeting every milstone with ease, and has perfected the art of rolling over, smiling, giggling, reaching for toys, and holding onto small toys. She is pretty content, especially when her siblings choose to lay beside her and read her books or sing her songs, but she does love to be held too - which is good because by the time the kids and I have had our fill of holding her thru the day, Daddy is anxiously waiting for his turn when he gets home from work! Lyla has been our best sleeper so far (consistantly only waking up once or twice in the night) but recently seems to be follow her siblings footsteps! Hopefully this will just be marked as a rough week of sleep and things will get better again soon! Our "routine" seems to change weekly as Lyla's nap patterns change, we try to have "everybody play together time" first thing in the morning, so that when she has her first nap Dexter and Lexi are more content to play with each other and without me so I can try to get a few things done! Lyla has been and so far continues to be our best napper! she will consistantly nap 1.5 to 2 hrs at a time, and if she has had a bad morning nap she tends to make up for it with her second nap being a bit longer! This has been my lifesaver this time around as our first two were definate cat-nappers! Well this is kind of a nutshell of where Lyla is at now! I'm sure I have forgot a bunch, but will finish with a few pictures:)

p.s. i forgot to mention the drooling! if you spent any time with our first two babes, you will remember the unreal amount of drool, and Lyla is definetly following suit in that department! Each of our kids have also been "spitter-uppers" and my memory may not be totally right, but Lyla may be even worse then Dexter was!

roll started.......

and accomplished!

rolling into the party!

big beautiful blues!