Baby Ella

Early this morning we welcomed our precious little girl into our family. This baby is so special to us, we are so excited to be able to hold her and love her!

Elizabeth Annabella Joy
8 pounds 14 ounces
20 inches
was born at 12:40 am June 28th after 6 hours of natural labor.

She is beautiful. We are so grateful to be so blessed once again with a perfect little baby in our family.

6 years

 When Jon and I were getting married we spent over a year planning every single detail. I even designed my wedding and engagement rings with a jeweler There was nothing that we didn't have a say in. We wanted the day to represent us perfectly. It did! It will always be one of my most favorite days and cherished memories.


It is ironic that what we felt had so much importance at one time...doesn't.
I loved my rings. I would get them cleaned every month and would get distracted at eating my meal in restaurants from the light catching the diamonds I had handpicked.
I loved my rings. They represented so much time, thought, love and value.

I wonder what I would have thought if someone has said...

"You know, 6 years from now you will not be wearing these rings. You will be the busy mother of two little boys. You are too swollen from 9 months of pregnancy and swallowed emotions to fit them over your fingers. He won't be wearing his either. He will be fighting Cancer. He will have lost too much weight to keep it around his finger. 6 years from now, those rings will be sitting in a box".

I would have thought then...as I do now... that those rings are beautiful. But as long as I still have his fingers to wrap around mine, I don't care what's on them.

6 Years later.



 Three houses, one crazy dog, three pregnancies, allergies, asthma, home schooling, home renovations, three kids under five, Cancer. Whew. Has it only been 6 years?!
Do we really feel like we did the day we said "I do"?
Without hesitation, I can say absolutely not.
I am so much more in love with him than I ever knew I could be. I am so proud of him and so very blessed to be his wife.

I love being married to him.
How have we stayed on top of all the things life has thrown at us over the years? Become stronger for it?

I thought about it...



We have enough differences to keep it interesting but enough that unifies us to keep us on the same page.
We share the same priorities and agree on the "big stuff"
We don't bicker over the little things.
 We talk about things...and in the end may paper scissor rock it.
We compromise. 
We don't get upset easily.
We give the benefit of the doubt to the other and don't take things personally.
We take time together everyday without children.
We laugh a lot.
We have defined roles- He is the provider, I am the nurturer, it works.
We appreciate one another..
We pray together each day.
We  have purposeful quality family time.
We are honest with one another.
We say kind things to each other and about each other.
We take good care of one another.
We are best friends.
We prefer to be with each other over anyone else.
We can count on the other.
I let him win when we play games. I don't care about winning as much he minds losing! 
We never tease, name call, belittle or raise voices to the other.
We are happy in our life together.
We don't take anything for granted.
We are grateful. 
We love each other.

A lot.

You don't need a ring for that.

Not Posed

He ACTUALLY fell asleep while colouring...crayon in hand.
Our last entertainment of the day is always checking on the boys to see what we will find...but THIS was a first!

Almost as Good as Ducks

Jon dismantled a birds next one evening that a robin had built right under our front door before she had a chance to lay eggs in it. She worked all night rebuilding though and when Jon discovered her hastily built nest the next morning...there were already egg in it. We left them then and have enjoyed watching them grow. Jacob misses his ducks so these baby robins on our porch have been a close second.

Watermelon Freeze

Our family is a little obsessed with watermelon these days! Or newest love? Watermelon freeze!

2 cups frozen watermelon
1 cup fresh watermelon
juice from one lime
squeeze of honey

blend... love.

(if you don't want to freeze the watermelon first (actually it tastes good just like that too!) you could probably add some ice to the blender instead but it wouldn't be as "watermelon-y")

He Reads!

Ben has begun reading his early readers series on his own. He is SO proud of this accomplishment, as are we. His biggest cheerleader though is, as always his brother. He has Ben read to him over and over again. Ben has now taken it on himself to teach Jake to read himself. This will be interesting:)

Hot and Huge!

Oh yes I am!

Great Grammie's Mat

Ben loves his mat that his Great Grammie hooked him when he was born...this is the first time he has actually slept with it though!

"Big Big Corn"

 "Ohhhhh BIG BIG CORN, Mommy!" Jacob squealed in the grocery store. He rarely makes a fuss over buying things at the store so this request and excitement was unusual.
"You want the corn?"
"YIPEE (his adorable cheer at anything that goes his way)!!!! Big-Big Corn!"

In the cart it went and down went two pieces for dinner. He is a boy who knows what he wants!

Made Me Smile

 Ben is my helper...I count on him a lot. Mostly when it consists of bending over these days...or running up the stairs, or stopping Jake from maiming himself...I sometimes forget he is only 4.
But then when I check on him at night, "I'll Love you forever" style...he looks so little in his big bed. There is usually evidence of what he has been up to before he went to sleep and often a drawing or love note for "Moomy" left on his dresser. On this particular night, he has not only cleaned up his room, turned off his own light and pulled his blankets over him just so. He also picked out his clothes and laid them carefully on the bed...complete with a bow tie.
That little bow tie...it made me smile and smile bigger and harder until it came out in tears...because he is still my little boy even though he is big in so many ways...

Growing Up!

We took the boys to a local park for the long weekend that had some carnival games, car show, face painting and children's entertainment. When asked for volunteers to come up onstage Ben's hand shot up. This boy is more of a watch and observe for awhile before dipping a toe in kinda guy moreso than a dive right in kinda guy. I wasn't sure if he knew what he was volunteering for and tried to warn him what that meant but before I could get a word out he heard "Boy in the white!" and he ran up onstage! I could hardly believe it! He took his role as egg shaker very seriously and has his reward button proudly displayed on a shelf in his bedroom. He has become so confident in his abilities, responsible and capable. If four year old Ben has been such a joy I can't wait to see what five brings!

Bliss

There is nothing that makes this boy happier than water, some grass, a little dirt and his lawn mower.

The Little House

Grammie and Grandad gifted the boys with a house warming gift...their OWN house of course. My dad was going to put it together for them but when my engineer minded husband saw the 10 000 pieces it came in, he saw the worlds biggest puzzle and so they waited for a day that he felt up to tackling it. Ben sat on a chair and watched, ready to run and grab anything they might need for no less then three hours straight, amazed the the contents of one box of wood could build him this house! He is his Father's son!
Jon added the deck a few days later and I must say...it is awfully adorable and the boys LOVE it!

Baby Jakey

Seeing as I will be 37 weeks this Friday (officially "full term" although I tend to bake em up to a month longer...just too see how big the human ankle can swell...) so I want to have everything ready should there be a miracle and Little Miss makes an early debut.
As soon as "Big Guy" Jacob got wind of these baby preparations he abandoned all current independence and has adapted his days to give me some practice. How thoughtful. "Baby Jakey" as he insists on being called carries his bottle, soother (until now something he only used for a couple of minutes before he went to sleep and we thought was on the way out...) and this ridiculously huge fleece blanket (in 30 degree heat) that he is carrying around with him everywhere and calling his "baby blankey". He wants to be wrapped up in it on my lap (did I mention the 30 degree heat?!) We have decided to go with it. The more we fight the "baby" the more he is going to act like a...baby. So we indulge baby Jakey... and we DO NOT call him a big boy. That makes him scream and sob. I understand this paradox of excitement of welcoming his baby sister but also fear at the displacement he feels at losing his role in the family. I can't reassure him enough that once a Mommy's baby...always a mommy's baby...I don't mind holding, rocking and cuddling this little guy for a little longer one bit...but the lap? It is quickly disappearing.