Christmas Day

Ever since Meadow saw these in a catalog several months ago, she has wanted and fully expected to get a "back hoe" for Christmas. So Grandma and Grandpa John gave them each one (a battery operated excavator and loader with levers that really work!). Meadow gives her animals rides in it.

Meadow got a fun easel set from Grandma Cooke with paints and chalk.
After presents we have our traditional breakfast of ham, egg & cheese croissants topped with hollendaise sauce, made by chef Matthew.
Matthew made Meadow a nice twin size bed. The picture doesn't show it, but there are drawers along the bottom, and there will be a shelf headboard eventually. She liked it but when I checked on her for her first few times sleeping in it, she was back in her old bed which was still in her room in the closet! I guess she doesn't like change. She's more used to it now.
Then we went to the delicious feast at the Goulds. I guess next year I'll be the preparer of the Christmas feast at our house. It will probably take many years to get up to Sheila standards! But I've learned a lot from experiencing her many Christmas dinners and Sunday lunches!
Here are the hosts..with dad in the middle.

All 8 kids! From youngest to oldest. We should re-take this photo in 10 years!

Igloo

Matthew built the kids a big igloo! He made it at night then left a candle burning in it. Meadow enjoyed playing in it in the morning, but Logan wouldn't go in.
For everyone awaiting a pansy update, I'm afraid 2 weeks of being frozen and 10 inches of snow finally did him in. Poor thing.

Wheee!

Look at the difference in Logan's face from his first time sledding to his second!

Happy Birthday Meadow!

Meadow turned 3 on December 10th. She got to have her first kid party! They played stick the tails on the donkey, and didn't even need blindfolds! The tails were everywhere!Meadow got her wish for a cake with "pink sugar frosting" just like Eeyore's party in her Winni the Pooh book. (You can sort of see the cake in the background. I took really rubbish pictures.)
We gave her a bike with training wheels. She practices riding inside the house.
Meadow and Juliet played together.

Various things...

We finally got new carpet downstairs in the hallway and kids room. The old carpet was very stinky and gross from cats. After pulling up the old carpet, we decided that indoor cats are a very bad idea! There was also tons of dust and dirt under the carpet. In the picture Matthew is saying, "it's like a beach down here!" After spraying down the floor boards with bleach, it smelled much better. Now we have very nice new carpet. The kids were excited about it, even though it's not yellow like Meadow wanted!

We also have put up our Christmas tree! Meadow the tree-hugger gave it a nice big hug of course!

Our very wonderful, cool, fuel efficient, low mileage, Jetta GLS, just refuses to sell! We can't understand why. It's a great little car for a good price! People keep looking at it and driving it, saying they like it and will get back to us....but we never hear from them again! Twice we have planned to take it in to the dealers to trade it (for much less than we owe), but just when we're about to do it someone calls to set up a test drive! The second time, Matthew specifically prayed for someone to call about it that day if we weren't supposed to take it in...and they did! So, just as we've felt all along, that's not the way to do it. God hasn't forgotten us and will provide the right buyer, and right vehicle at the right time. But it sure can get frustrating. Why does it have to take this long! I'm sure my parents would love to have their van back! And we would love to stop making payments on a car we can't really use! Anybody want to buy it? $8900! Or make an offer!

I'm No Pansy

This Pansy's no pansy!

I just wanted to make a tribute to the pansy who refuses to wilt. All my other flowers have long since passed on, but this guy just keeps on! This picture was taken just before this last freeze, so we'll see if he survives. He survived a few days of being frozen before, and perked right up again! I'll keep you updated...I'm sure everyone will be checking my blog daily to find out!

The Feast

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving on Wednesday because Matthew had to work Thursday night. We had 21 people including babies (8 kids total, all 6 yrs. and under) over to my parents house. It was a very nice time. This is the group we've gathered with for most Thanksgivings over the last 16 years. Now they're all leaving us. How sad.
The kid table. The kids were all very good!The Grandparents table.
The littlest turkeys, celebrating their 1st Thanksgiving!

Abby and Brennen

The Places We Go

Here's some nice pictures of some of our favorite places to get out and walk.

"The Totempoles" (Totem Bight) is one of Meadow and Logan's favorites.

Brennen likes cozy walks too!
Along the trail, Meadow found this tree "family" which she always stops to say hi to, and give each one a hug and kiss!


Ward Lake is another wonderful spot! The campgrounds, now that they're closed, are a good little kid distance to walk, although I'm sure Meadow would have no trouble running around the whole lake!

Meadow the naturalist, loves to tell us all about the signs, and the trees along the way!

Sometimes we bring Gramma and Grampa with us! A great place for the kids to have a quick run on the way home from town is Alder Park, just above the Pioneer Home. I was impressed- it was very clean!
So there's my advice if you need a nice kid safe place to go, or a nice place to walk.

At the lake

Yesterday was a lovely day for a walk around the campground at Ward Lake. Logan ran almost the whole way! Meadow enjoyed moving big sticks off the trail, and Brennen slept curled up in his sling. Then they splashed in a mud puddle. We even saw a lady dressed in a tiger suit. (I don't think the kids noticed because she had a coat on.)

Fall is nice

I've been enjoying the cozy fall weather. I know most people probably hate it, but I love the big wind storms and pouring rain...and the occasional nice day in between! Matthew used the bad weather to be home and build a beautiful hearth and install our new wood stove! (He installed the chimney during a brief sunny time.) It makes our house so nice and cozy! The kids like it too and fortunately understand not to get too close, but we will be putting a gate around it just to be safe. We've been doing other nice fall things like baking pumpkin pie and cookies, and collecting the beautiful maple leaves from our yard to make decorations. Meadow filled a bag with the leaves, then excitedly asked me, "Are we going to make a pie with them?"
Brennen is sleeping pretty well now at night, but during the day he seems to think he's in some kind of contest to be the loudest baby ever, and the most spittupy! I don't think anyone will ever beat Meadow on that one, but he's close! Beware everyone's furniture and carpet! In the bottom picture, Logan is giving him a nice kiss, not tackling him! :)

Brennen and the Babes

We had some visitors this morning. Mommies had coffee and visited, while kids played and babies nursed and pooped! Brennen didn't mind being the only boy amongst the babies! They are laying youngest to oldest: Hannah, Brennen, Sophie (her mom, Sarah, is a friend of Kristi. I just met her today), Rachel, and Abby. Then below is a picture of "Time" and "Spud", the babies who wouldn't come out! I'm sure they're secretly discussing plans to be awake all night, crying as loud as they can to see if they can hear each other! Actually in this picture Hannah was making a kiss face!

Life

It' s 4:30 AM, and my little lad is wide awake, so I guess it's a chance to do a new post. He's a good baby. Meadow and Logan still like him, but are still adjusting. Their behavior has been a lot worse than usual, and newly potty trained Meadow has stopped using the potty. But there are good things too. They love to help by throwing away dirty diapers for me, (they actually fight over that job!!), and by taking their plates and cups to the sink when they're done. It's very sweet. Logan had his first ER visit the other day. He tipped over in his high chair and fell straight back on his head! He cried for a long time, and then vomited, so we decided to take him in to get checked. Fortunately he was fine, but it sure scared mommy! Here's a picture of the kids in their Fine Line Custom Carpentry shirts I made them. (That's Matthew's construction business, in case you don't know.)

Brennen James

Here he is...FINALLY!!

He was born on October 2, 8 lbs. 10 oz! 20 1/2 inches!

And yes, it was a surprise when they said, "It's a boy"!

I was just sure it would be a girl! But I'm quite glad to have him! He and Logan will hopefully be good friends.
He shares his birthday with Grandpa John, who won the baby bet for the date, but he guessed girl.
Our big happy family!
My two sweet boys. Logan climbed up to cuddle with him! He likes giving him kisses, and likes to "play" with him (slap, poke, step on, etc...) I can see it will be quite a challenge to keep Brennen safely out of reach for a while!