winter activities

Winter can be challenging with energetic children especially when there is a lot of mud outside and not much snow to play with.  Loud noises have always bothered me and now our house at times is so loud, I am sure that it is rocking. On top of that we have hardwood floors just to make things echo.We have someone living in our basement so running downstairs and being crazy far away from me is not an option. So, God has been teaching me a lot through this winter. The biggest problem is my inconsistencies. There are times that I can handle the boys running around me in the kitchen and up and under the kitchen table - in fact I even laugh with them. There are other times, however, that I feel my blood pressure jumping and steam coming out of my ears. I cannot handle the craziness and I just wait until I hear one boy run head first into a piece of furniture or even worse, the corner of a wall. This never fails even when I am yelling "beeee carefullll" as they chase and bang into one another. It is a challenge to find the right balance of letting the boys get rid of all of their wiggles and caring too much about my house. I do not want them growing up and only remembering me saying "No."  When I was growing up my mom let us do anything in the house. She even moved the furniture around so that we could get around without ever touching the floor. But then again, she had four girls. There has to be a difference?! I struggle with finding the right balance. Should I have a rule that does not allow chasing eachother? Should I let them run as much as they want to even though they usually end up getting hurt or breaking something? Is is wrong that I base what I allow them to do, on how I am feeling that day? Finally, is it wrong that in the midst of the craziness I sing "I am slowly going crazy, 6,5,4,3,2,1, switch. Slowly crazy am I going, 1,2,3,4,5,6, switch."  Do you know that song?!
When there are quiet moments I savour them and enjoy watching the boys play together. Here are some indoor winter activities that our family loves to do.


My aunt and uncle gave us a fooze ball table. This has been great and we hear many shouts of glee as the winner scores goals. We have also heard many sighs and protests from the looser of the game but it is all good. They are learning how to play together and how to take loosing.

Reading. What would we do without books? It warms my heart when I catch them reading quietly on the couch. So cozy.

The boys have spent hours playing with this wooden board game. This was a Christmas present from their opa and oma and we have all enjoyed it. Last year we also spent a lot of time playing shuffle board but this year Tyler has made it his duty to wreck each game by taking the pucks and throwing them at his brothers. Shuffle board has remained in the closet this winter but we look forward to playing it again next year.

                   While the other boys play or chase eachother, Tyler finds his own things to do!

wordless wednesday

I could not have put it better.

taking care of three 1.5 year olds

Taking care of three 1.5 year olds.....

I had just finished vacuuming up a box of cheerios that had been dumped and put the vacuum cleaner away.
I walked back into the kitchen and this is what I saw!

It was very tempting to give them their cups of milk
and yell, "snack time!"

                                        James felt very bad for what he had done.

But I told him that it was no problem. We like to have a good time here and I want to be known as the "fun" aunt. (The bad thing is that they all have way too many aunts.)

So the boys had fun going up and down the slide. They were so polite and took turns. That lasted about 5 seconds.

                                                   And then it was a free for all.

These boys are so blest to have cousins the same age. We don't even have Kentin here, but can you imagine what it is like when they are all together?! They are in the same stage of developing but they each have their unique way of talking, walking, laughing and their characters are really starting to shine. As parents we pray that these little guys will grow up to be men that love God,challenge eachother, hold eachother accountable, and encourage one another in good, and God-fearing ways.

sharing memories

Last year my sisters and I each wrote a story about our childhood and we read our stories out loud at our Christmas gathering. We kept what we wrote a secret and when the stories were read, we had many fits of laughter as we heard stories that we had long forgotten about. We put the stories in a binder and we said that we would do this every year. My boys love reading the stories and they think that it is great to hear stories of their aunts and mom when they were young. (not that long ago:)

Here is my story. It is kind of embarassing so I wrote it in the third person hoping that it wouldn't be so painful when I read it.

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It was a very bad week for 11 year old Kerri. At least when she thinks back to it – all of these horrible occurrences happened in a week’s time frame. “Life” was not going good for her. She had done some impulsive things toward her sister who was two years her junior. These impulsive acts had gotten Kerri into big trouble. It started with the vacuum cleaner – and the beater bar. Kerri was vacuuming the family room with this powerful machine when poor, unsuspecting Rachel walked by. As the oldest, Kerri was sure that she had to do more jobs than her other sisters and as innocent Rachel made a skip over the vacuum cleaner, rage built up in Kerri. She took the vacuum cleaner and started to chase Rachel with it. Rachel ended up on the couch defending herself with her kicking legs, but those thin little legs were no match for the big powerful beater-bar. The beater-bar landed on Rachel’s head with a thud. She let out a scream that could stop a heart from beating . Kerri, realizing the horribleness of what she had just done, tried to lift the beater bar off of Rachel’s head only to have the bar lift up taking Rachel’s lovely red hair with it. The seconds seemed to stretch on until someone hurriedly unplugged the very powerful beater-bar. Rachel laid there crying in pain, and Kerri started crying too when she saw clumps of red hair twisted in the bar. Yes, Kerri was in trouble.

Not soon after, Rachel and Kerri were skipping in the kitchen. There must have been lots of freedom in that household because not too many mothers would allow their daughters to skip right where they are working.  Anyways, Rachel did something to irritate Kerri again. It was probably not a big deal, but Kerri took that pink skipping rope and hit Rachel across the back with it, except the hit became more like a whip…Rachel again cried out in agony and ran to show their mom the inflamed welt across her back. Kerri was in trouble.

Not soon after, the girls were out at the end of the driveway waiting for the school bus. Snow lay as a blanket along the orchard trees across the street. The snow was piled high in the deep ditch so that it looked like you could walk right across it. That is when Kerri got another terrible idea. Kerri saw poor, unsuspecting Rachel swinging her backpack around and talking to herself – probably going over the multiplication facts- and decided to let Rachel have it. Kerri slowly walked up to Rachel and gave her a good shove right into the ditch. Watching Rachel’s look of shock spread across her face was very satisfying for Kerri until she heard a familiar noise. She looked down the road and saw a flash of yellow. The school bus was on its way. Kerri frantically tried to pull Rachel out of the ditch. Rachel managed to stumble out, but she was dripping wet! She was furious at Kerri and went stomping back to the house. Kerri desperately tried to get Rachel to turn around and go on the bus no matter how wet and cold she was because after all she would dry off, eventually. Rachel would hear no part of it. Kerri slowly stepped onto the bus with a despairing, sick, feeling. Her father would have to drive Rachel to school and again Kerri was in trouble.

Now for the moral of these stories. Kids, no matter what your brothers are doing to you, do not get so easily irritated. If you feel like you are having a hard time at school, or with your friends talk about it. Do not let it fester inside of you so that you take your frustrations out on someone else. These will only hurt someone else and cause you to get into trouble. And here is another lesson. This one is for the mothers who have days when they think that their children are either going to ruin themselves or each other with their destructive behavior. Kerri and Rachel’s mother got through those days and you will too AND Kerri and Rachel didn’t turn out too bad either!

forget planking- whooo's up for owling?

So, farewell planking & hello owling.
Owling is the new planking. You find a spot, crouch down, & open your eyes wide. What will be next?!
Toothpicking, but that has not reached the same hype of planking & owling because not to many people can stand on their heads.

This past summer we had a friendly competition with the cousins on Adam's side. It was their family against ours. We had to see how many different license plates we could find through out the summer. Driving was never the same. In order to see the different plates we slowed down on the highway to less then 70 km/hr so that the car that we went speeding by, could catch up to us. We drove at speeds that I cannot write down to catch up to the car that went speeding past us in order catch their license plate. Our kids were sure that they saw a different license plate & I weaved throughout traffic only to discover that it was only another Ontario plate. It really was a lot of fun & it made long car trips go faster. We came up with 32 different license plates including Alaska & New Mexico. Unfortunately the cousins beat us & came up with 42 different license plates. The slogans under the license plates are fascinating. Some of our favourites were Nova Scotia: Canada's ocean playground, Alaska: the last frontier, & Saskatchewan: land of the living sky.


This summer....

                                       Liam grew sunflowers this summer to give away and sell.

We had a babyshower at our house for my cousin who is expecting twins. It was all well until a severe storm swept through and caused everyone to abandon their plans of leaving for home. It was rather an uncomfortable feeling to have a room full of ladies sitting there & knowing that they would prefer to be in their home during weather like this, but they were trapped in my living room. And then the power went out, and of course we didn't have any working flashlights. Here we were sitting there in the dark & it started to get hot without the air conditioning on which is not a good thing for some of my aunts who are going through a certain season of life. The weather eventually calmed down & the guests made it safely home. That was a baby shower that we will not forget!

Every Wednesday night we have soccer at our church for the kids & it is a true highlight for our boys. Adam played & helped out with the older group of kids.

                            We had fun times on the boat. Thank you mom & dad for being so generous with it!

Nate became an experienced driver (in his mind) on the rider. Adam had to rescue him & his tag-alongs  from the ditch only once:z

                I had fun garage saling & came home with a few treasures including this beauty of a vase.

The boys played & played. Their imaginations soared finding nooks & tiny spots for forts & farms.

We went to Niagara Falls one Friday night to watch the fire works... except that they were cancelled. Even though it was disappointing we still had a good time. Our country boys were simply amazed at the  city surroundings.

And now there will be no more lazy days of hanging around. School starts tomorrow & so will routine.
Nate & Liam are excited to go to school but I am going to miss them & Andrew is going to miss his playmates.  We hope that your summer has been a time of refreshment for you too!