The Days Go by...

Here is some of the random things that happen around our house as the days keep ticking on by....

Some time with second cousins.  I love this picture for one, because of the cute fun they are having together and for two, because Kyndal is supposed to be the one babysitting.  You can see her sprawled on the couch while Dawsyn works to entertain 6 children at once.  Her greatest ambition at the moment is to be a babysitter; she will be a great one! She did a great job playing with and entertaining children.  Of course, to give Kyndal credit, she did spend most of the time trying to help a crying baby, who did cry quite a lot.  So she did work hard as well. Just funny the moment caught here.  We love cousins!

We had the great opportunity to attend the Harlem Globetrotters with our girls.  We had a really fun evening together.  They sure put on a fun show!  We were entertained and inspired by their skills at the same time.  The kids had been practicing their trick shots after this.

We also traveled to watch some provincial basketball in Lethbridge. Ashley was there coaching her team from Edmonton area, so we went to cheer her on.  We also caught a Pearson game and saw some old teachers there.  It was really fun to watch some pretty good basketball with the kids. They got to see where they could progress to.

Some cuddle time with my Baylor at the basketball game.  He is a big fan of the game but mostly wants to play it himself.  He did really well for a 2 year old watching 2 long basketball games!

Giving Deakin a plate for the first time.  It is entertaining to see what he does with it!  He loves his sweet potatoes!

I love this moment!  Paul got reading a very simple book to Baylor but he is so fun that he draws in a crowd and everyone is fully entertained!  I even love Ashley listening and laughing at Paul doing silly voices to make the kids laugh.

Elliette has made her first quilt.  She had finished the top probably 2 years ago and it took that long for us together to quilt it and bind it.  It was probably done quilting a year ago as well.  Anyways, it is a beautiful medallion pattern that she planned and sewed herself.  She did a beautiful job.  We are going to donate this one and time to get started on another one!

Paul and I going out for our weekly date night!  The best night of the week!  It doesn't matter what we are doing, we are just happy to spend the time together.  I love date night!

This baby crawling up my legs every time I sit at the computer.  I notice the book and pillow blocking his way from pushing buttons, as he loves to do that.  It is good to remember these moments of this sweet face, getting into things and yet smiling and making us happy.

Marshall and Clara, these 2 are such a pair.  We had a week with Clara here every day.  It was so good for them.  I think in the past Clara didn't have as much patience for Marshall but he won her over on this week together.  They played so good the whole time and even spent time marrying (as done by kissing on the lips) and telling each other that they love each other.  Marshall often tells me that when Clara is his mom, or he means wife, the life that they will have.  It is so cute.

These girls working on a bigger school project both on their favorite animals.  They did research and made a beautiful presentation of their learning.  A successful day for schoolwork!

These cute boys sitting together in a Costco cart.  I love my baby boys!  Even though they are less baby like all the time.  I wish I could just freeze some of their stages.  When they are so cute and funny.  Like Baylors cute talking voice, I can't get enough of it.  Deakin laughing at his brother all the time. It is so much fun.  Of course there are things that I won't miss at all, many of them but I am trying hard to remember the good.

My sweet girl is growing so big.  I can't often believe that she is 12 years old.  I am so happy to see glimpses of maturity coming and giving me so much hope for the wonderful girl that she is going to be someday.

A Happy Life!

Here are many moments captured in our busy and happy life!

These kids can entertain themselves.  Here they are on a roller coaster!  They sure make me laugh and it seems Deakin doesn't know what to think about it!

This happy baby bring us so much joy!  I love this sweet, smiling face!

Babies playing with their toes is one of my very favorite stages!  It is baby rodeo, with white knuckles holding onto a bucking bull ot a foot.  I love it and have enjoyed watching him at this very cute stage!

My darling Kyndal is a very good big sister!  She has progressed in her ability to look after people and has even been a babysitter for other people.  She is looking forward to being a mother someday!

Sometime when we really need to keep this boy busy, or still, or contained, or all of the above, he gets put in the Jolly Jumper.  He barely fits in height but is below the weight restrictions.  He then is entertained and, even more importantly, contained!  He is a very busy 2 year old!  So this is a nice break time allowing me to make dinner without any interruptions!

Baylor was having a hard time waiting to have this treat.  He is trying hard to wait but tempted to get into it, biting it open!  He is so funny!

Deakin not wanting to be left out of the kids game!  

Kyndal making some sort of potion or concoction. She loves to do this.  It often smells like good cooking from all of the spices but not edible, really.

One day our darling capable daughter getting the table ready so beautifully for supper.  A day to celebrate!

My boys playing at the zoo park.  These days Baylor loves to say his own prayers and her always says, :Thank you that we can go to the Zoo today!"  It is wishful and hopeful and very cute.  He loves the zoo!

Kyndal wanted to do some cooking for her schoolwork.  So she learned to make buns.  They were delicious!  The only problem was my silly need to double everything that we make.  We froze many but I was still consuming far too many delicious buns!

Baylor is in love with basketball.  Every chance that he gets, he is wearing the girls basketball jerseys.  He is such a fun and busy boy.  Baylor below is getting into the jerseys from coach Paul's bag, his teams pinnies.  Even they will do for this basketball boy.

Deakin took a long time to learn to sit. Every time we would put him down on his bum he would throw his body back.  He wanted to move.  He was capable of sitting, just not interested.

Deakin was my earliest crawler.  He was dragging himself forward for over a month before he started crawling, and he even began rolling at 2.5 months.  So we always knew that he wanted to go and move.  He is not any less so, only more.  He is loving the stairs and climbing up them.  He is also learning really well to go down them.  He is such a sweet baby!  Marshall is also learning to love basketball.  We watched some videos of Harlem Globetrotters trick shots and Marshall was obsessed with them for a while.  Here he has set up his own hoop to work on his trick shots.

This boy has such great big sisters that love him.  These two have an extra special bond!

My little zombies when there is a screen on.  

This picture was taken by another mom from Elliette's basketball team.  She was pretty amazed by our crew that she needed to document Elliette's cheering squad.  You may guess that we were not at every game.  With this group of busy boys, it was rather difficult to get them to sit and watch, even with every break them getting time to run on the court.  They just wanted to play the whole time.  But it was so fun to watch and be a part of the girls progression this year.

Elliette loves to build things.  This is a robot spider kit that she got for Christmas.  She had a fun time building it.

Some time with my growing baby!

He was so proud of himself for these antics of climbing in and out of the ottoman.  It is just great to sit and watch him explore and have so much fun doing it.

This is the getup that Elliette was going to bed in one night.  She has 2 hats, full fleece pajamas, socks, gloves, a robe, and tucked inside were small flannel blankets, inside and outside of her pajamas.  Then she has a fleece blanket on her pillow, underneath her, over top of her, and a thick fuzzy blanket and a quilt over her.  She loves to sleep toasty warm.  What a crazy kiddo!

This is our Valentines supper this year.  We really did it fancy with no plates or utensils.  Spaghetti, meatballs and breadsticks, with just our hands.  It was an adventure!

Our girls had a great week of going to Stampede School.  They were able to go to the Stampede grounds for a full week and have so many amazing lessons about the history of our local area, the local impact of the stampede, the art involved and on the grounds, meeting with the Queens and Princesses, having a western artist come teach them, learning about horses and even more.  We were the first homeschool group to ever participate.  Our amazing friend, Jenny, being such a great ambassador for homeschoolers and organizing this whole thing for us.  It was a great learning opportunity.  I had a fun time decorating the girls lunch bags.  They came home very tired and grateful that we homeschool!

Oh, these crazy monkeys!

Baylor really loves book, shoes and Daddy time!  Here is the best of all 3! This picture makes my heart so happy!