Tomorrow is a big day. . . .and we have a little monster!

Well for about 6 months at least Chloe's been talking about getting her ears pierced. Two of her cousins have earrings and she thought she'd like them. So I told her that if, when she turns 5, she would still like them, then we'd get them done. Well my to my happiness they were only mentioned a few times and haven't been mentioned for a long while. . . . until yesturday! She still wants them. We told her that it will hurt a bit, not wanting to have any unpleasant surprises. . . and she still wants it! So I have raw nerves, but she is calm as can be. We will be posting pics of her new doo as soon as we come home!
Now to let you in on our sneaky and devious little Natasha! We went to Ben and Kendra's for our thursday night Church. Had the moniter on, the kids were pretty much out (or so we thought) Well as we wrapped up our church at about quarter to ten, we hear Natasha thru the moniter calling "Mommy?" So I'm thinking she's sick, and Trev runs over to see what's going on. He's gone for a little while, but doesn't call for my help thru the moniter. I'm super curious and when he comes back in, he has this look on his face and I know something happened. Well, this is what happened. While we were having bible study, she snuck out of her room, without us hearing in the moniter, decided to have a little snack. There was a container of yogurt with granola spilled all around it on the table, a chair at the stove!!!!!, pantry door opened,ketchup on the floor out of the fridge, sucker wrapper and my Diclectin (Thank goodness for childproof lids!) She also had a bowl filled with who knows what. . . and an eggshell on the floor!!!! Whose kid is this?!? I will let you see what she was up to in these pics. . . .
Oh Trev is telling me what she put in the bowl, a gingerbread cookie, and egg, asian sesame dressing and perhaps more. . . .What a goof!!!!!!
So, our lesson, DO NOT leave for church unless she is good and ASLEEP!!!

So today was the girls birthday party at camp! It was so much fun! We made a version of Candyland. The kids needed to follow a map to save Candyland and help out a bunch of the characters with some problems they had and end with a feast at king Candy's castle! The only mishap was when the kids were helping Mr Mint tell time and played what time is it Mr Mint? Well a bunch of kids running frantically away ended in a pileup of a few of them. Thankfully no one was too hurt to miss out on the rest of the fun, but there were a few tears. But all in all it went great! I cannot believe my babies are 3 and 5!! I keep reminiscing to their baby days and it seems so fresh and recent and yet I look at Chloe who is over halfway to being as tall as I am. . . . I was told it goes by fast and to hold on to each moment, but they slip right on by no matter how tight I'm holding. I love my kids. . . . .SO MUCH!!! Okay, I am getting a little weepy here, blame it on pregnancy, but I love my kids to tears and of course death!! What a privilege to be a mom, my life's dream is reality! So here's just a couple shots of the party and one of the girls with their cake we had with our friends last week. It was too cute to leave out! Oh and the picture of the kids standing on papers is a form of musical chairs, but a Candyland game version! So fun! I will post pics of the decor yet. I had some fantastic willing helpers help me out with that. Thanks Kendra H, Lacey and some girls who came out to help out at camp for a couple days!! It looked fabulous!

Just Another Day

So we had a nice vacation down to the family farm just outside Brandon! What fun! Despite the fact that Chloe had a fever for a few days, Trev's mom and Trevor made it a time of rest for me. I felt guilty for hardly doing anything with the family. I slept a lot and it WAS nice! Thank you Mom and Trevor! Chloe improved and had a day and a half there of feeling pretty good. We knew she was improving because her appetite increased significantly! Natasha seemed a little down, but no fever or anything. We spent a few days afterwards in steinbach with friends and celebrated Natasha's birthday with our good friends the Derksens! Now after a week away, we're home sweet home, just in time for me to come down with something that leaves a nasty headache and hardly an appetite. Trev's feeling a little low too. Not a good combination. Thankfully he's got a few (to say the least) days off. I slept most of the day today and he put up Christmas lights this afternoon. I am so ready to feel better and energetic again and play with my girls. All in due time :) On an exciting note, we are having our girls joint birthday party here at camp on sunday! Planning and putting it together is so much fun! We are having a Candyland theme (without the candy!) Lots of colors a life size version of candyland, gingerbread men decoration and a supper! It's always a lot of fun having a party and friends. Here's praying we are all feeling top notch by then!!
Oh and something BIG!! We were driving thru winnipeg on Regent at a stoplight between KP mall and Canadian Tire and all of the sudden we hear Chloe sounding out a word ....zzzz...e...ll...e..r..s and without hesitation says right after Zellers!!! So she can read more than we thought!!! WoW!! Well that's it for now! I am trying to figure out the pics. Last time it said I uploaded and nothing showed up. I will try again soon :)

Time Flies!!

Since spring I've had the expectation that I would keep up with the blog and post pics about our lives, teach homeschool this fall, keep on top of a preschooler, be the best wife to my husband and do it all with a smile. Well, life is a little tougher, top it off with a pregnancy (WOOHOO!! We are very excited about) add a heaping amount of grouchy Momma sydnrome, desperately needed afternoon naps (for me), a mysterious disappearance of patience to who knows where, I'm still looking. . . . .oh yes and sanity? What's that? But admidst these crazy days, my girls brighten each day with little moments like "you'll always be the best mommy ever" and "I lllove you mommy" and with a husband that works all day, cooks at least 1 meal, and does most of the housework these days, who am I to complain! Life is still good, God is Great and people are crazy!
So now that I have had a good dose of reality that my expectations of myself may be a little high, an update once in a while is ok and I just have to be the best me that I can be :)
On that note an update on our family, Yes we are growing!! We have a sweet little bundle due in June, just in time for a busy summer! I have been having a very different pregnancy than the last two. I have had some morning sickness, but nothing like the other two. I am just a tired grump. But praise God that my morning sickness is bearable :) Just between you and me, I think it's a boy ;)
Chloe is a learning machine. I'm learning to teach and she's learning faster than I know how to teach. She can read three letter words tell you the sounds of each letter and in some cases two or three sounds for specific ones!! she's not content with a vague answer and wants to know the hows, whys and what fors with everything! I love watching her learn. There's not a whole lot of stress with kindergarten, next year we will have a curriculum to follow, but this year is just deliberately adding learning into our everyday play and work. Math can be introduced into almost any situation. She writes out a short verse everyday. We pick a new one each week, I tell ya, it's a great way to memorize bible verses! We've also discovered whe's an expert fisherwoman! Any time she goes fishing, she puts her line in the water and almost right away catches a fish :)She's also outgrown her bike this summer and can't wait to buy her her first real mountain bike come spring!!
Natasha has gone from being my baby. . . . .no more cuddling and crying to me for sympathy with everything that doesn't go her way. No, she's pulled out a very strong and independant personality and is testing boundries pretty hardcore. She is a little firecracker but sweet as honey too. Her cute little smile can melt my heart anytime. She's finding this useful in discipline scenarios! She is still a small-ish girl and can almost reach the pedals on her trike for a full revolution around. She gets about halfway and if there's not any momentum to help her along she gets stuck. So different from Chloe who at two was crusing around on the trike with leg to spare! Natasha still falls asleep at one meal almost every day. She doesn't like being left behind and has some leadership qualities. She will haul Emma around by holding her hand and telling her what to do. It's very cute :) And Emma goes along for the most part.
Life out at camp is great! It's so beautiful and quiet and safe. Although we did have a coyote hanging around for about a week. We haven't seen him in over a week though, so that's good! There are pretty much no groups right now. 2 more before year end, so lots of projects are getting finished. And with Christmas coming, we are pretty booked. But it's a good busy, I love seeing family and friends so much and spending time together! Ah yes, life is good, and without a doubt God is awesome! So that's about it for now, all my energy is sapped, but here's a couple pics of our family recently for you to see!

Springtime FUN!!

This spring has been really nice, aside from a few chilly, windy and rainy days. One of our most exciting moments was when 3 weeks ago Chloe decided to be done with training wheels on her bike and within 20 minutes was riding all on her own without me(Terra-Lee) holding on to her seat. Since then she just cruises! It's so great to see that accomplishment. The joy on her face when she knew she could do it. . .well words just can't describe it!!