3 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed...One Fell Off...

...and broke her arm.

Just barely - one of those little buckle/fractures. Small enough to heal quickly - Doctor thought a week, but enough to put a little cast on to protect herself from hurting more.

The kids were having a blast jumping, which I didn't know about, on the bed, and when she fell off, and kept crying, it seemed different. But I wasn't sure, so we went off to Ladies Coffee Hour for a bit, but afterwards, it was time to get it checked out. Thankfully, the Lord worked things out for me, and with the willingness that Shantel had - watched the other three so I could spend the rest of the afternoon at the doctor/hospital. 

 Poor little darling. :) So cute and sad. 

Even though it was kinda painful for her, I did enjoy just snuggling her and being with her all by herself. She was so brave, and sweet. 

 Getting her little pink cast put on. 

On the way home, she was entitled to a doughnut. With sprinkles of course. Which she ate off and left the doughnut. :) 

At home, Rachel T. had stopped by and helped make dinner for us with Shantel. What a blessing that was... the house smelled so good when I walked in. The meal was wonderful too. And even Erik said, "can you teach my mom how to cook like this?" Too funny! :) So thankful to have these young women in my life.  

Shantel put the top heart on her cast, to remind her that God loves her. :) And she remembered. 

The other drawings are by Katie and a couple little friends.

But the funny thing is, that, that night - we wake up to tears. Katelyn was crying as Laura had taken her cast off. All by herself. And she did it again. And again - for a few nights. We'd put in back on in the morning, but she would manage to push it off. So finally, we gave up. :) And I never went back to get it removed. Figured it my two year old can take it off, I don't need a doctor. 

All healed quickly, and she's back to normal. 

And still loves to say "I fell off and broke my arm. Momma called the doctor and the doctor said, No more monkeys jumping on the bed." 

Haircut Time

So it was time to get Katie's hair trimmed again, and this time Laura's hair needed a cut.

Another "before".



Then off to Ashie's we went. Katelyn was so excited to get her hair done, and loved the whole experience.



Little puppy dog at that moment. :)

Then it was this baby's turn. Isn't she adorable. So proud of her with how still she sat for Ashie.



Little Miss Adorable. 

On the Ice

Shelly invited us to join them for an after school skate. Since I was getting out of the house for a bit anyways, I put the skates on the two, grabbed the Ergo, and off we went. :) 

Eating snow - such a typical wintery childhood moment.

 So cute on his skates that need to be sharpened.  

 Then it was racetime back to the van. 

Katie won. :) 

Bits of February

These past two months have been quiet on the camera lens lately. I find the winter months are calmer for my camera - but I have taken a few shots with my cell phone, so this is just a smattering of bits of life in the past while.  

I came out from a Sunday afternoon rest, and found this: Katelyn and Erik scrubbing the fridge. They had taken everything out, and were diligently working on a surprise for me! I took one look, and went downstairs, as I wasn't quite ready to deal with all of this. 

But I let them keep going, and came back up, and helped Katy put some stuff back - but she stuck through to the end! I was so proud of her and Erik! It's not every day that this 4 and 5 year old clean my fridge - and I appreciated it. :) 

Cleaning the house with my sidekick. 

Quiet time after a library run.

And we finally got to meet our new nephews!!! Little Joshua and Daniel Heikoop are here!! After a long year of paperwork and more, Henry and Heather got to fly to China and bring these darlings home. So proud of them, and what God is doing through them. 

Aren't they darling!

Jumping off our new countertop is a fun game. 

This girl has complete trust when jumping. 

Oh to be like that....

 On a quiet winter walk after shoveling the driveway.  

 Our street in snow.

 My little darling's tear. I never want to forget how a little puddle forms by her eye.... so sweet. 

 Coloring away - such a big girl. 

 My old playmobile being passed down to the next set of little hands. 

 Katy set up these toys for a "family picture". :) 

 Dirty hands after breakfast. 

 Uncle Jonathan set this train tracks up with Erik when he and Sarah came for a visit and the night. Pretty cool setup. 

After bathtime - the little fuzzy head. 

Winter Day in Collingwood

A Saturday in late January we went up to Collingwood, to meet up with Tim and Lannette on their last day of their honeymoon - for Tim's birthday. :) (and to bring Tim's car up to him) William drove up alongside us, and while a group of them went skiing/boarding, James, me and the kids attempted a cold winter walk. :) 

We made it to 28 km......

...or not.... :) 

More like two hundred feet down the trail that we looked hard and long for. :) We had tried walking on a different path close to the ski hill that we had briefly met Tim and Lannette at, but it was so cold and windy, so we looked for a long time before this straight path showed up....an answer to prayer after getting the kids so bundled up!

Little Pink Eskimo

The kids were antsy - wanting to get to the condo where Tim and Lannette had been staying, so they could go for a swim, so we were doing games and such, trying to keep them busy in the snow. :) This is one of the snow angels. 

Our Family Feet minus Amy who was on my back. 

We made it to the bench! :) Hooray. Yup - the extent of our family walk at this stage of life. :) 

A short snowball fight against Katy and I before we started back so we could bring lunch to the skiers. 

And when we got to the lunch area, we made the ski group wait forever, as we trailed around the wrong building, with four kids and a cooler, trying to find everyone - and leaving Laura behind in the process - that's the worst feeling ever.... to finally finding everyone, having a nice lunch, and then - o glorious then - off to the pool we went. :) The kids were so happy. :) 

My little fishes. :) Katy had to do a swim test to use the water slide there, and she passed. :) Quite proud of her. We enjoyed the pool for a couple hours, before enjoying a nice supper with Tim and Lannette, William, and a couple other friends. Then we headed home, with very worn old, sleepy children in the back seat. :) A fun and full day off.