This and That

Gavin lost a tooth! He must have worked on it a lot, because it went from slightly wiggly to almost ready to fall out, in a few days.

Brent isn't signing peace here. He was talking about two police cars. The boys were playing trucks and cars on the living room floor and I came and took pictures of them.

John Deere tractor pulling 1964 Chevy pickup

When I go outside with the little ones, they like me to tell them stories. Some of their favourites are "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Goldilocks and the Three Bears". Today I told them stories from real life, like what I can remember from the day they were born or about when we moved four years ago.

Warren and Brent can read well enough to read aloud now. Brent read "Little Red Riding Hood" and then Warren read "The Gingerbread Man".

This red balloon is supposed to be a heart. But as it turned out more like a round thing with ears, someone drew a pig face on it.

Warren and our new puppy, Casper. The puppy showed up at an empty house around the corner from us. The owners were selling the house and didn't want a puppy around. So now he's ours. He quickly learned to love Warren, who spends the most time with him. When Warren comes outside, Casper gets all excited and starts jumping around.

Nadia loves the dog, but Thomas is still afraid of him. There is one good thing, though. Thomas was scared of the neighbours' dog, which is smaller, but now he doesn't mind it because Casper is so much bigger.

Justine

Nadia...

...is getting so big!

She can sit on a swing like a big person. She isn't afraid to swing, either.

She is learning to talk. The other day when Mom was calling Allison for something, Nadia was hollering, "Ayee! Ayee!" And whenever she wants something, no matter who's around, she calls, "Emy!" and Emily answers from wherever she is in the house.

She can say "Wan' it!" or "Need!" If she's hungry she'll dig through the cupboards and find crackers or applesauce cups.

In her eyes, she's an adult. But she still needs us. When she is angry she will push us away and hold on at the same time.

I used to think Nadia was annoying. It seemed like she was always whining or getting in the way. But when we started schoolwork, we made a schedule of who takes care of her when. This way she is never left to make mischief, so when we are doing something else we don't have to worry about her, and when we are taking care of her we're not doing anything else and we can just have fun with her. When I take the three little ones outside I am glad Nadia is a girl because even at her age she likes girly-er things than the boys.

Love you, Nadia!

Justine

Family Pictures

My mom put some family pictures up on her blog. You can see them here.
Justine

Thanksgiving Weekend Hike

For Thanksgiving weekend, we went to visit some friends for a few days. On the way up, we stopped at Eugenia Falls and at Metcalfe Rock.

Eugenia Falls is not very wide, but it is tall. From what I could see, it looked like a small stream flowing gently through the woods. Suddenly the ground falls away to a valley between two cliffs and the water goes crashing to the bottom.

On this picture, the falls is to the right. The valley turns and seems to join another valley running perpendicular to the first.

This is a closeup of the far hill in the previous picture. Wouldn't that meadow at the top be a delightful place to build a house?

Here is Metcalfe Rock. Walking up to it through the forest, one wonders how such a big chunk of rock ever managed to be plunked down there. It looks like it must be solid right through for quite a distance, but in reality there is a crevice running parellel to the face of the rock only a few metres in.

We walked around the face of the rock and climbed down into the crevice. There were many small crevices running into the rock. Some were actual tunnels. We climbed from one part of this really big crevice to another, and then found a tunnel that led to a small hole in the wall of the first crevice. It was fun, but somewhat difficult, to climb through a low tunnel guided only by the light of a flashlight.

Emily sitting on a ledge near the end of a crevice.

Looking back into the crevice we had just come out of. The air down there was cool and damp, and it felt good to be out in the warm, fresh forest air. When the breeze came from the right direction it blew cool air up in our faces. The wind was really neat in the crevices, because sometimes it would come from the warm forest above and other times it would blow up from the cool, damp crevices.

The whole place was beautiful and awe inspiring. We thought about how God is our rock and salvation. The rocks are so solid, it makes us think about how God is forever and unchanging.

(All pictures taken by Allison. Used with permission.)

Justine

Cheese Men

During the morning, some of us older ones take turns doing things with the little ones. Allison gives them a snack, and sometimes they do a "craft snack". Today they made cheese men.

Here they are, lined up on the counter while Allison is getting things ready. (We have a "shortcut" between the dining room and kitchen. I took this picture from the dining room.)

Eager anticipation

Three cheese men

Justine

This and That

Today our cat got hit on the road. :( My brothers spotted it when we were going for a walk this morning. Thomas was very sad - for a few minutes. I'm glad he isn't traumatized or anything.
We have a few extra girls here for a couple days while their parents are away. We added a smaller table to the end of our table so we can fit 14 people around it plus Nadia in the high chair. It makes for a long table and somewhat crowded dining room, but this way we don't have to make anyone sit in the kitchen.
Does anyone have any suggestions for gluten free, dairy free, corn free, and maybe egg free food? My sister is trying to figure out how to get rid of her eczema. She gets a reaction from gluten and dairy. She's been off eggs for a week, and now might try going off corn. Hopefully it helps. Or maybe not, because it'll mean she can't eat anything with corn for probably the rest of her life. =(
Justine