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!

First ice-fishing trip as a family of 5!

Sunday was a beautiful sunny +5 day and we decided it was the perfect afternoon for a family ice fishing trip! I was a little worried that there would be too much slush on top the ice because it has been so warm and that we would get wet, but we decided wew ould go and just see how long we lasted! Turns out it was perfect! There was a solid 4 inches of ice topped with snow, lots of it untouched and no slush! We had a great afternoon mixed with fishing, snacking, strolling and playing fox and goose in the snow!

Classic family photo:)

getting the rod in the water

let the fishing begin!

going for a stroll in the sun

playing a little goose chase

checking the line

the classic "us" pic

headed for home!

unfortuantly we didn't catch any fish, but our kids sure made a few older guys feel good about their catches when they ran over to see them and continuously oooooed, and awed over them! Maybe next time we will catch one, but I still consider this a successful fishing trip:)

Baking Day!

So the other day, my house was clean and I had the last bit of cooked pumpkin in my fridge and decided we would bake pumpkin cookies! I brought the mixer over to the table and let the kids take turns measuring ingredients into the bowl! It went well, a little messy as it usually is when I bake with the kids, but not bad. This batter was a lot stickier then normal cookie dough so after they were all mixed, I decided I should finish by myself. However the kids still wanted to bake, and do what "mama-yama" does. (A funny little sweet potatoe cook they watch on cbc kids sometimes) So I figured why not! I filled a few little bowls with small amounts of flour, oatmeal, bran, rice and rice-crispies and let them measure and mix and pretend to bake! They had a good hour of fun with it, and have asked everyday since to do it again! I knew it would be messy, but I greatly under-estimated just how messy, and due to that, I think this will be a "special time" activity that we only do once and a while!