Precious boy

This is just a little post about how big my little boy is getting to be. He's been asking when he will be old enough to mow the lawn, so today it really needed done and he went out with Ryan and had his training on how to start the lawn mower. He mowed a little bit of the front lawn and then "his arms were tired" and he went off to ride his bike and visit with the neighbours. He was so pleased with himself though for doing something that is "a grown up job." It was very sweet!

Now I have to tell you a story about the way Evan thinks. A little while ago, on garbage day, after we had watched the garbage truck come and go (a huge thrill in our house) Evan sat, looking thoughtful for a few minutes. Then he said to me, "Mom, Jesus is kind of like the garbage man." I thought, "That's interesting, I'm not sure where he's going with this," and I said "What do you mean, Buddy?" Then he launched into this big description of how Jesus is like the garbage man and our sins are like the garbage. We have to put them out at the curb for Him, that is our responsibility, but then He will take them away for us and we don't have to deal with them any more. One of my favourite writers of children's poetry is Shel Silverstein and he wrote a poem about Sarah Sylvia Cynthia Stout who would not take the garbage out. I brought that up and we talked some more about how we can choose to not "take the garbage out" and just let our sins build up and build up until our lives are cluttered with sin the way Sarah Sylvia Cynthia Stout's house was full of garbage. Or we can ask Jesus to forgive us and He'll take our sins away to the dump! :)

Visiting

While we were in the Okanagan we also had a nice visit with Chad, Roberta, Izabella and Carter. It was good to see Carter twice within the period of a month because he remembered us this time and he warmed up a lot quicker than when we were out in April. I managed to get Evan, Grace, Rachel and Bella to sit still long enough for me to snap some quick pictures while they were playing outside at Granny and Grandpa's house. It has become a tradition to take their pictures on Granny's little bench - it is getting tricky to squeeze them all on there now that they are getting bigger though!

For some reason, Evan was more into having his picture taken than the girls were, especially Grace and Bella. They just wanted to play. I didn't mind. It is rare for Evan to sit still long enough for me to take pictures of him. And if he does, he always makes silly faces. I love these pictures of him because he is really being himself, light saber and all! :)

Wrapping things up

It feels like there have been a lot of lasts over the past couple of weeks. The kids had their last swimming lesson and their last art lesson.

Evan has been in Pioneer clubs at church on Wednesday evenings this year and they had their last night last week. Evan got a certificate for finishing Voyageurs and he will be moving up to Pathfinders in the Fall.

This week was our last Tuesday morning Mom's Time Out Bible study. Rachel has been going to pioneer clubs while I am at Bible study and Evan and Grace have their homeschool learning centre. She and her friends had a little "graduation" on Tuesday and received their badges which they have been working on throughout the year.

Papa's 60th Birthday Party

On May Long Weekend, we went back to the Okanagan to celebrate my Dad's 60th birthday with him. We had family pictures taken at the park and then spent a nice day visiting and relaxing. Here is a slide show of a few of the many pictures I took in one day - thank goodness for digital cameras! :o)

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

In honour of my Mom this Mother's Day here is a picture of us. I think I was about 2 - yes it was the seventies!! :o)

Happy Mother's Day Mommy!

Mother's Day Adventures

Mother's Day Poem

This is a little video clip of a poem that Evan and Ryan read to me at breakfast this morning. They were having a date at Wendy's yesterday and Ryan had suggested to Evan that he read me a Mother's Day poem and Evan said, "No, let's write one ourselves." So they did and they wrote it down on Wendy's napkins! The video clip turned out really dark for some reason. It looked ok on the camera but when I transferred it to the computer it was darker. Anyway, the important thing is that you can hear it. :)

Growing things!!

This picture is not posted here to show you how badly we need a new fence (though we do) it is posted here because I get very excited when my garden is ready to plant. There is something very satisfying about working your butt off to dig out a bunch of knee-high weeds (I should have taken before pictures instead of just after!), raking in a load of new topsoil and some compost, and planting vegetables. I have to say that I think flowers are very pretty but I don't have much patience for growing them for some reason. I am a practical girl. I love planting things that we can pick and eat all summer long. I love the convenience of being able to run out to the garden just before dinner time and pick enough lettuce, cucumbers, and carrots to make a fresh salad. I enjoy being able to say to my kids who are playing in the yard and want a snack, "yes you can pick some strawberries and peas to munch on." OK, I know I'm a geek but that's alright!

So anyway, we did our planting over the last few days. The kids helped me pick out the seeds and they each planted what they wanted in their two rows. It was a fun thing to do together and we had good learning discussions about what plants need to grow. I'll post some pics in a few weeks of our little plants coming up.

I just took this picture because I thought the tulips were beautiful (despite the weeds all around them) and I was excited to see so many blossoms on the apple tree. I really pruned it quite a bit this winter and I was worried that it wouldn't get any fruit this year. A couple of years ago Ryan really did a hack job on our plum tree and it hasn't had any plums for the last two years. This year it finally blossomed again so hopefully we will have lots of plums at the end of the summer. Plan to come to our house for plum tarts and apple pies in the Fall!

Date with Grandma

Gracie got to have a special date with her Grandma on Sunday. Mom knows someone whose daughter was riding her horse in a competition and she took Grace to go see. Grace was absolutely thrilled of course - she loves horses!

Sweet little girl

I just had to take a picture of this! Rachel was having quiet time in her room this afternoon and it got very quiet so I knew she had gone to sleep. Evan walked past her room and didn't see her so he came and told me that she wasn't in her room. I assured him that she was in her room but when I went in there, she wasn't on her floor or in her bed. I drew back the curtains that are across her shelf and there she was, sound asleep. :) So you see, Dad, even though we don't need to use it as a change table any more, it's still getting lots of use!! My Dad made the change table for us when I was pregnant with Evan. Mom made some curtains for it this year so we could use it as a puppet theatre, but the curtains also work really well to hide the mess or to make a nice little fort for a three year old to hide in and sleep in!

Another party!

Here are some pictures of Gracie's 6th birthday party which we had at our house yesterday. It was very fun and girly and pink which was what the birthday girl wanted. I have to say that a house full of 10 little girls was a lot quieter than a house full of 11 little boys, though the girls got quite giggly when Evan started goofing off for his audience!! :)

I know these collages make it difficult to see some of the pictures because they are smaller. If you click on the collage, you will be able to see it bigger.