Fall on the Farm

We went to Fall on the Farm at the Steinbach Mennonite Museum again this fall. The boys had a lot of fun again. (Most photos are from my brother, Thanks Joel)

My Mom and Dad

Nath throwing Noah into the air

Luke burrowing into the straw

Luke talking with the goat
He just kept saying "hi goat"
Then it licked him and we moved on

Noah loved feeding the animals grass

Here we are on the horse-drawn wagon

Our family portrait
courtesy of Joel

Mommy gets a haircut

Before

And After

Now I know from previous experiences that Nath is not an incredibly observant guy but I thought that he would notice if I cut 6 inches off my hair. Well apparently not! After 45 minutes of waiting for him to notice I finally said "I got my hair cut today!!" He looked at me and said " Huh. Ya I guess it is shorter."

I sometimes wonder how much I could get away with.


Oh well.....

Noah and Luke go to the Dentist

Noah and Luke had their first visits to the Dentist! And they did really well. Noah had a full cleaning and was very cooperative for the Hygenist and Dentist. Luke wasn't as cooperative but still did pretty well, the Dentist just looked at his teeth.

I would highly recommend the Children's Dental Centre on Ness. The hygienist was so awesome there, explaining everything to Noah. They had a miniature train that ran on a track through the waiting room and the exam rooms and everything was kid friendly. The boys had a lot of fun and loved the Cars Stickers and cute toothbrushes they go to take home. I was definitely relieved that everything went well and that the boys had a good time. Here's a couple of pics of Noah that Nath took with his phone, but we forgot to get luke's pic.

Noah sitting in the elevator chair with his special sunglasses- mouth ready for the special toothbrush.
He chose orange toothpaste.

Here he is finishing up with the flouride treatment
He chose orange flavor again

What we've done this August

Here's a few pictures of what we've done this month. We've been swimming, to the cabin, working outside, to the Zoo and more.
Uncle Eric playing with Luke and Noah at the Cabin

Luke's New Best Friend Diego
(We visit him at Toys R Us)

Oma's was surprised by Noah with the Camera at the cabin

Nath is digging a 40 foot long, 2 feet deep trench with his new pic axe
It will bring electricity to the shed

The finished trench

L at the wading pool

The Ladies of Nath's side of the family
at the wading pool
(L-R) Me with Noah, Luke, Rach, Oma with Caleb and Jess

The Zoo has a nice, new playground.
Here are the boys on the slide but they did not want there picture taken.

Cousins: Noah, Jack and Luke
with their new motorcycles from Gramma

Noah in the slide

Luke Gets Stitches

Well we got a tour of the new Children's ER last night thanks to Luke. Around 8 last night, Luke and Noah were playing in the hallway just before bed when there was a crash and Luke was crying. Then we saw the blood running down his face. We're not sure what happened but we think that he must have caught the edge of the air return vent at the bottom of the wall. So we got into the car, and went to the Vic first but they said they only had one doctor in and that it would be a long wait. So we went to Children's. It had mostly stopped bleeding by the time we got there so they just put a band aid over it and the boys played in the waiting room. Which is quite nice.

Eventually we got in to see a student nurse, then a nurse, then a resident, then a doctor. Who decided that yes, he did need stitches. Then they put on some ointment to numb the area, which had to stay on for 30 minutes. Then the resident, Penny, came back 45 minutes later with a student doctor, Murdoch, to do the stitches. I'm not sure how many times Murdoch had actually done stitches. Not too often I don't think, because he needed a lot of coaching. I was a litttle nervous when Penny was looking over his shoulder while he was putting on the sterile gloves, and telling him he did a good job. But he did alright. He needed a little help with the first one but I think he did alright for the rest.

Luke was such a trooper. He didn't cry once. He didn't want to lie down on the table so they wrapped him up, kind of like swaddling a baby so that he couldn't squirm too much. I stayed with him and made sure that he could see me while they had a drape over him face. His chin quivered a bit while they put in the anesthetic, but he didn't cry. The nurse and doctors were all very impressed with how well-behaved he was.

As soon as they were all done , and he was unwrapped he stood up with a smile on his face and gave me a hug, and said he wanted to go play some more.

All in all it wasn't a bad evening. We were there for just over 3 hours and the boys were happy the entire time. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they asked to go back to "Lukie's hospital" to play again. Noah calls it Lukie's hospital because we've told him Luke was born there, and he considers Victoria to be "his hospital" because he was born there.

The stitches are supposed to taken out in a week. But we're going to his pediatrician for that.

Luke with his three stitches

Luke showing off his new bracelet
It has a panda bear on it

Weddings, Grand Forks and Zuchini

So here are a few pictures from our summer so far. Sorry they are out of order and I don't have the patients to move them today. But here's what's been happening in our lives. June 30th marked the wedding of Nath's baby sister Rach to Eric Fehr. It was a beautiful wedding, and we had a lot of fun. The boys were ring bearer's and wore the Washington Capitals hockey jerseys to walk down the aisle barefoot with Oma, while the band played an acoustic version of "Jesus loves me" It was so sweet. We had a little mini vacation this past weekend when we went to Grand Forks for a couple of nights at the Holiday Inn. The boys had a blast splashing in the pool and Mom and Dad had fun shopping at Target. When we got home from our holiday we discovered that our garden hadn't wilted in the heat like I was thinking it might. Instead it flourished. Zuchini and Pumpkin plants have almost taken over the entire garden. We even had two zuchini which could be picked. I guess zuchini really love the weather because they tripled in size in the three days that we were gone! It has been so fun for the boys (and me) to watch our garden grow. We harvested our two zuchini today as well as a hand full of sugar snap peas and a strawberry. We also pulled two carrots but they have a bit of growing to do still. They were only big enough for one bite each, but they were still delicious! So that's what we've been up to. We are looking forward to spending time at the Brereton Lake cabin with Nath's family in August, but I think that's about it for our summer.

Here's the zuchini that we picked from the garden.

The boys checking out Noah's new bedding

Here's the new bed tent we got for Noah in Grand Forks


Wedding pictures...

The boys with their water wings ready for the pool.

My Silly Boys

Me and my boys

Noah and Luke on a jungle expedition-
(yes we're planning on mowing tonight)

Luke likes to streak in the back yard
When I came out he had taken off his shorts and diaper to play in the sandbox

Noah, the thinker, examining a blade of grass

"I'm this way!"

Luke sporting a bare bottom and Noah's snow boots

Noah and the Tamarack

Baby Shower

We had a baby shower this weekend for Jess and Caleb. About 20 family members came out and enjoyed and evening of visiting, games, and food. Jess got a lot of great stuff and a good time was had by all.

This was the Name the Chocolate game. We melted different types of chocolate into diapers and they had to guess what kind it was by examining/smelling the diapers.

Here are the chocolate diapers.
From L-R: Reese' Pieces, Oh Henry, EatMore, AfterEight

Here is Caleb. He was such a good boy, sleeping through the entire shower while he was passed from one set of arms to another.

Here's Jess opening the High Chair that we got her

Here's luke playing inside Oma's ottoman with the Tinker Toys

Rhubarb Muffins

Here's a funny little story about Rhubarb Muffins. We have had this patch of rhubarb in our back yard that we have never really wanted. It was quite big when we moved into our house 7 years ago, but we started to just mow over it because we didn't know what to do with it. But this year I found a recipe for rhubarb muffins and decided we should try to revive the patch. So after several years of being mowed over, the rhubarb is allowed to grow again. But the only thing is that it's kind of tiny.

So one morning I decided there must be enough by now for one batch of muffins. I went and picked it almost clean. And brought my tiny stalks inside. Cut them up, and I only got 1/2 cup of diced rhubarb. I still made the muffins, and they turned out quite well. But I didn't taste any rhubarb, which was a good thing for Nathan.

Here's the recipe for those of you out there with a real rhubarb patch. It's from the Simply in Season Cookbook from Ten Thousand Villages. (I highly recommend this cookbook, it's really good. Another current favorite recipe is the sugared asparagus recipe.)

Here is my pile of rhubarb
the thickest stalk was about the size of a drinking straw-but not that long

Rhubarb Muffins
1 -1/2 cups flour (may use all whole wheat)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Combine thoroughly

1 cup buttermilk, or plain yogurt
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 egg (beaten)
2 teaspoons vanilla
In a separate bowl, mix well. Stir in dry ingredients until just moistened.

1 1/2 cups diced rhubarb
1/2 cup nuts (toasted and chopped; optional)
Stir in. Fill greased muffin tins two-thirds full.

1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter (melted)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon flour
Combine and sprinkle on top of batter. Bake in preheated oven at 375F until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean, 20 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks.

Enjoy!

More Pics of Caleb

Here's just a few more pictures of our newest nephew, Caleb!

Uncle Nath

Lukie was very excited to hold his little cousin
(for about 2 minutes)
Noah didn't want to get too close.

We really didn't actually spend that much time with him. We were there 3 times but only for short visits (20-30 minutes). We just had to take pictures every time we were there! Don't worry M&J we'll leave you alone for awhile now. You're lucky we live 1 1/2 hours away!

Uncle Nathan with Caleb

Luke and Noah talking while waiting at the hospital

kw

The newest boy in the family

We have a new boy in our lives. Our newest nephew Caleb, made an early arrival May 2!




kw

Lukes Birthday

We just finished celebrating Lukes second birthday. It was an extended celebration because it was Thursday before Easter we had to wait til the next weekend to have the party. We spent Easter weekend in Winkler with family. When we got back we gave him his birthday present from us- a tricycle. We had lots of fun putting it together with our little helpers.

This is the Fire Truck cake I made. I really like the way it turned out. It wasnt even that hard. Required a lot of icing though. I think I made 3.5 recipes of buttercream!
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The celebrations finally ended this weekend with a Fire Truck party Saturday morning. We had 7 boys between the ages of 3 and 18 months in the house. It was a lot of fun!

I found that this birthday was a lot easier to take than his first. Last year the memories were still too fresh from his birth and the first couple of weeks of his life. It was still on my mind this year but more in the terms of how thankful I am for how God has carried us through the past two years. It has been really crazy at times but he has been faithful!

So now that birthday season has ended we look forward to the birth of our neephew (niece or nephew) at the end of May and Naths sisters wedding at the end of June. The boys are the ring bearers!

kw

February Fun

February has been filled with celebrations! We started out with Jack's 2nd birthday, then my birthday and finally Noah's 3rd birthday. It has really made this month fly by. And now the boys are talking about Luke's birthday which is a month away.

The weather has finally turned nice again, so the boys and I have been spending time playing outside playing in the snow. It is so great watching them play together. Noah will say what he's going to do and then Luke has to follow right behind.

Noah's imagination is vivid these days too. When it's finally quiet in the house, while Luke is napping, Noah will get out his dinosaurs and line them all up and play out little scenarios with them.

Luke is still just as silly as ever. He is talking a lot and often has 4 and 5 word sentences. But his favorite word right now is "Huh!?" No matter what I say to him his response is "Huh?! What you say Mommy? Huh?!" and he'll repeat is so many times and so loud that I end up laughing so hard that I can't correct him.

We are currently trying to decide whether we should put Noah into preschool in fall. Unfortunately we have to decide this now because this is when schools are having registration. I think Noah would probably enjoy it, but at the same time, is it necessary? He's only at home for another two years and then he'll be in school all day long everyday? Maybe I should just enjoy the time I have left with him. I feel like the last 3 years have been such a blur with everything that has gone on.

I guess that's it for now. I can't believe that it's March next week and only a couple of weeks til Easter. I can't wait for spring though. It will be so great to go outside again without bundling up the boys.

kw