Lil' Sweetie

When you are working on a house, you generally leave a bunch of tools around. The children get into hammers, screwdrivers etc. and play with them. (generally, it's safe. :)

So, Katie found Uncle Mark's ear plug thingys. :)

And that's only a toy saw. :)

(I told you that it was generally safe around here.)

I found her sleeping in our doorway one Sunday afternoon. :)

Playing with my old dolls.

My sweetheart with her princess smile.

Grateful to God for these days.

Reno's

I can't believe that we're almost done reno's in this house...and I hope to have pictures up of the entire house when we're done, but for now, here's some of what has been going on the last couple months.

We put this closet in (with help from Mike!)

Erik was helping daddy drywall.

During the sanding process - oh, how I hate the process, and yet, I'm not the one who's all white.

Mark spent a couple days doing our stairs - thank you Mark!!It is soo much nicer now!!

Another Haircut

Once again, it's time for another shearing of my little lamb.

Sooo cute.

He sits quite still, and doesn't mind too much.

Yup, I'm thankful for that. :)

Chapel's BBQ

To celebrate our chapel's 50th Anniversary, we had a huge community outreach pig roast.

There were games all afternoon, a dunk tank, snow cones, cotton candy, a whole bbq, and lots of visiting with people that live nearby. We had around 300 people show up, so that was encouraging. And what was more encouraging, was having a few people come to churcht the next day.

My little girl had her face painted by Auntie Nel.

Sarah helping put stuff out, when she wasn't running the cotton candy machine.

Visiting with a sleepy boy in my arms.

The Midwife.

Here's the picture board I put together (after help from Althea, and pictures from another lady in our church) to commerate the passing/legacy of others in the chapel.

Marc and Janice. 

Little Erik in the nursery.

(photo by Shantel) 

Eating an ice-cream sandwhich with much delight.

(photo also by Shantel!) :)

There are a ton of pictures I could put up of the event....but I think that's good for now. :)

Bits of Summer

Some more pictures that have been taken over the last couple months, in between renovations.

We have a splash pad that is just a couple minutes bike ride away. We got in a few times, which the children loved. (one of the joys of living in the city!)

My little helper.

I was washing the floor, when my little man wanted to help. So, I gave him a rag and off he went.

Ever so diligently.

Cleaning together.

He stayed with it for quite a while too.

After making browines together. (Caleigh, this is your recipe! :)

And if this looks like a perfect scene, it really wasn't. :) It was a mess, and I was frusterated and probably quite tired. But the kids were cute, so out comes the camera.

(just thankful it didn't capture my impatient attitude)

Good grief - ADORABLE!

Concentrating on her job.

Singing once again at the Tavistock drive-in-gospel meetings.

Putting together Katelyn's bunkbed at long last!

We had gotten it off kijij, painted it, and finally got it set up. :) She was excited!

Then I let her open up her new bedspread I found on Ebay (used).

Yup, she was happy. :) (and yes, more pictures to come when I finally get things done done!)

Weeding our forgotten gardens. (which have to be done again already...)

Having James home for a whole month was awesome. Doing family devotions together every day was special. He's such a good dad.

So that's the first smattering of pictures - with more to come.

Quick Trip to Ohio

We traveled down to Lewiston, to drop off  Julia and Nathan one weekend, when we got the chance to keep going, and pick up the rest of Henry and Heather's kids at camp in Ohio. So off we went. :) We left Katie with her remaining cousins, and off we went with Erik.

Henry & Heather paid for a hotel for us, which we truly enjoyed. Erik got to play in the water, and loved being the only child for a bit! He soaked in that attention like crazy. :)

Swimming at the pool. I was pretty impressed with how brave he was.

Mascara-running mommy and Erik.

At breakfast the next day before the kids were dropped off by Heather's parents.

Then it was another 6 hour trip back up to Lewiston! I even managed to have a 30 minute stop, at an outlet, and grabbed a few maternity items which I was quite pleased about.

 It was a fun little get away - although very hot. :)

 

Nelly's Birthday Hay Ride

Most of the family got together to celebrate Nelly's birthday (end of July) and to welcome Sarah home from 2 months in Zambia, Africa. Sarah had been working at the Chitokoloki mission hospital delivering babies, and helping where needed. For those of you who heard of the mission plane crash that took the life of Jay and Katrina Erikson, Sarah had just been dropped off by Jay when she arrived at the hospital a couple hours before he and his wife went on a short trip that ended in a river. Sarah and another single young woman, looked after their two little girls until their families came to get the. (Info on the crash/hospital is at: http://www.chitokoloki.com/)

We're so thankful that Sarah was brought home safely, and we all had a lovely evening on a hay ride - thanks to brother Mark's work putting the trailer together.

Erik rearing to go. Give him a tractor, and he's one happy boy.

But, as much as he loves it, he eventually falls asleep in Mark's arms.

So, back he comes to mommy, and stays sleeping for quite a while.

Nelly's birthday "candle" - all singing "Happy Birthday". I was treasuring all these times spend with the girls around, because soon Nelly is heading to Manitoba for school, and Sarah is up north delivering babies, as a Certified Canadian Midwife! :)