Canada day light show

Marin

Haven't posted anything here for awhile. Facebook has kind of taken the place of the family blog. Since we've been keeping all of our important events recorded here, I figured Marin's birth should be here too. She was born five weeks early on Feb 5. She weighed in at 7lbs 1oz, not bad for being so early.

So far she is very peaceful and quiet. She is already sleeping through the night sometimes. So after six kids(and no more. The factory has been decomissioned), we have a great little girl who is already an important part of our great family!

The Funny Things Kids Say...

I gave birth not to children, but to comedians. One of these days I am going to sit down and write a book about all the funny, silly or cute things my kids have said to us..

I thought I would share just a few of the little gems my kids have slipped on us the last year alone...

Who needs TV...

Jeremy told me that webs come out of spider bums...I asked him how he knew about that?  "God told me..." he said....  All I know is that it sure wasn't me... I spend as little time as possible thinking about spider bums...

We are going to be really sad the day my son learns to be more subtle...Tonight he picked a doctor Seuss book full of stories....He asked his dad if he knew why he picked that book...Kendal.."Because it is your favorite?"   Jeremy..." No, because I wanted to waste more time... I mean hear more stories... "

From Gracie after she stripped off all of her clothes AGAIN at nap time..."They just falled off and jumped off!! " Time for me to buy her some clothes that stay in place....

Kendal to Jeremy this morning.... " Mommy isn't the boss of me..."   Jeremy.. "Really? Is that how that works? "

Gracie was not feeling well this morning, so Jeremy being the good little big brother that he is felt her forehead to check her temperature... "Wow! Gracie is 50 lbs hot!"

Last night while putting Gracie to bed.. she said.. "Bye Crocodile.." I think she might have mixed up her metaphors....

I officially embarrassed my son at the Feta-Afahye Festival tonight when two clowns literally  dragged me up to dance... Apparently I don't dance well... because my son yelled at the top of his lungs " NO MOMMY! Don't do that! Don't dance!!"

Me to Jeremy... "What do you want to be when you grow up? " Jeremy... "Daddy!"  The greatest compliment any child can ever pay their parent....♥♥♥

Jeremy told me tonight that the reason the power went out the other day is because Daddy played a dumb game on his computer....

We were driving home tonight, and Gracie says to me in a really whiny voice... " Mommy  I want my purple cup" Me to Gracie... "Mommy wants lots of things too Gracie... " Jeremy to me... " But Gracie just wants her purple cup!"

Kendal was just playing "Yellow Submarine" by "The Beatles for the kids. Gracie asked her daddy.... "Daddy, do we live in a yellow submarine?"

Me playing I Spy with Jeremy tonight... "I spy with my little eye... something that is... Yellow... Jeremy to me... "NO. You don't."

Gracie poked me in the armpit today and said... "Mommy... is that your brain?"

and finally....

Me... teasing Gracie... "I'm gonna pick your nose..." Gracie... "NO your not. Your finger is too big..."

Girl #5, Child #6

So. Yes we are.
Pregnant that is....
If you are on our Facebook, then you probably already know this,
but as I haven't been posting much on blogger..
anyone who just follows the blog doesn't know.
So far. So good.
I am 23 weeks as of yesterday... and this baby is our little miracle.
I mentioned briefly yesterday that I had three miscarriages
previous to this...
One in 2009, one in 2010 (Exactly a year later) and a chemical pregnancy
a month after that miscarriage.
This was our last shot. If I had lost this little one, there wouldn't have been
another try.
Miscarriages are hard on your heart... :(

There is a very long and complicated story behind this little girl...
(Her name is Marin Amira Ciel )
I would love to  share it over and over again, once I am holding her safely in my arms...
For now, the story will stay close to me, to encourage me and help me stay in faith.
I can't wait for her, and neither can Jeremy and Gracie... (or Daddy)
Jeremy always says he wishes she was already here.
Gracie kisses her and hugs her every morning and night....
They are very cute.

The pregnancy itself has gone pretty good... no morning sickness..
Very unusual for me,
I did have bleeding for the first six weeks,
which has never happened without a miscarriage,
and obviously scared me...
My doctor put me on Progestrone suppositories for 15 weeks.
She is healthy..
I have had three ultrasounds so far, and will be having at least one more
in 8 weeks.
I have many contractions, which is actually fairly normal for me...
My blood pressure is great, and so is everything else.
I do have one complication so far,
and that is Placenta Previa.
They couldn't tell for sure from the ultra sound, but it looks partial...
So I am on "activity restrictions"  ...
I rest a lot when I get many braxton hicks... and I don't lift anything.
I may need a c-section, but my doctor assures me that in most cases,
that by the end of the third trimester, baby has changed position,
causing the placenta to grow up wards...
I am fully expecting a healthy baby girl in less then 20 weeks...
You can pray for us though... I like that.. :)
My only concern at this point is whether or not I am going to be able to
get everything out of storage in time...
You would think that by now I would have the hang of this thing...

Do you still use Blogger?

Well... since it is the time of year when blogger comes around asking for money, ( I just received an e-mail)  I need to decide if it is worth it to continue on with this blog.....
After all, my reasons for starting it have changed over the years, and I just don't have the time I used to, to devote to writing....

Why did I start this in the first place?

1. Mostly, after 17 years of not having babies, my husband and I had a son, and wanted to chronicle his life and our life with him... I guess that reason hasn't changed... in fact now... we have more reason for wanting to do that, since he now also has a younger sister and another sister on the way...

2. My family lives in a separate part of the country from me, and I thought it would be a nice gesture for us to do this to keep them up to date on what was happening with us, especially since I am a phone hater.  As it turns out, it was a bit of a useless gesture. My father was really the only one to check.. and even then not often. He died a few weeks ago now, and none of my other family is all that interested in what we do, or for that matter very interested in being on the internet...
Kendal's family has enjoyed the blog over the years, but most of them live in Regina and see the kids often, with the exception of Kendal's sister...

3. Facebook has kind of overtaken blogger for the most part, and seems an easier way to share pictures and day to day happenings. Of course it isn't great for the recording aspect, since it has a news feed that no one really wants to look back at. I am not a huge fan of facebook... but my older children actually pay attention to it more often then blogger, and I have managed to keep in touch with many people I may not have otherwise.

4. One of the reasons I joined blogger, was also because I had a deathly boring job at the time, where for hours on end, I had nothing better to do then sit on the computer..  I joined with a few chat boards, and also with blogger to get to know the blogging community so that I wouldn't go stir crazy... That part has obviously changed. First of all, I am only friends with a couple of my old blogger buddies, and they are actually on my facebook now... (I wish they had facebook back then... it would have helped...) Secondly, I really don't need the entertainment I used to get from the internet anymore, since I am at home... I am on activity restrictions now, but trust me... the kids are all the entertainment anyone could need.. You should hear them.

So.. that leaves me with a couple of problems.

1) I do still like to write once in a while, and when I do .. blogger takes care of that urge for me.

2) My husband and my MIL, really like my blog, and would be disappointed if I erased it, which I have almost done a couple of times in the past year, ... since I hadn't written in it since April...

I quit writing, as we were trying to have our last little one, and then when I actually did get pregnant, I didn't want to share, as we had lost three previous to this one.

There is the option of putting the blog into a book. I know a couple of people who have done that, and seem happy with the results. Then, maybe I could at least erase past years, and quit paying blogger...

So... just curious.. Has blogger outgrown it's usefulness for you? Does Facebook take care of that now? Do you read blog posts anymore?

We weren't planning on buying a vehicle yet....

Yesterday, since Kendal only has every second weekend off, we decided maybe we should look around and get a feeling for the van market, since it has been several years since we went shopping for one. What we didn't intend on, was actually buying one...

We were actually pleasantly surprised to find something we liked at every dealership we went too, which was also something we didn't expect. Also, a pleasant surprise, was the lack of pressure from Salesmen... we just looked at what we wanted, and no one tried to tell us what we should get!   It was a pretty difficult decision, as we actually found four vehicles we liked... and in the end.. four hours later.. we had one.

This is the Jeep Commander (a Chrysler product) we almost bought from Ford

It would have been fun... In the end, we decided that although it would have

been better for towing, and camping... and had a roof rack..

that it wasn't as practical for day to day use... 

seats were harder to access with babies, and less room for groceries ect.
We also decided it would probably be more in gas...
and gas prices being what they are..
It did have seven seats..
although the back ones seemed kind of cramped.

It was a nice ride ... I had fun driving it. :)

In the end... we bought this 2009 Montana from GM...

They gave us excellent service in the years we had the car, so we decided to go with 

the more practical vehicle... (sigh)
However, it is a pretty nice van,
and it only has 36000 km on it...
We purchased some extra warranty, so we are covered for the next five years
and also had a towing kit installed... for towing a tent trailer...(Yaaa us!)

We also looked at a Chrysler Grand Am with lots of toys..

(seemed a little overpriced...)

and we went to Toyota, and looked at a used Sienna..

It was a great ride, but it was older then we wanted.

The sales guy was great though..and gave us a bunch of info

for what to look for, and questions to ask.

He actually told us that he felt the Montana was a great deal..

I really appreciated his honesty!

At the moment we are still driving the car... 

but the van is sitting in our driveway...

I can't wait... no more being kicked in the back while I drive!  :)

Christmas in April

 REALLY April????

I guess finding the eggs might be a problem....

Happy Birthday to Me!

 Here are the beautiful roses Krystal and her family brought me...

Sat. was my 42 birthday...

Where did that come from already?? 

Had a pretty good day...

Went out for lunch with 4 of my kids,

My in-laws, and my BIL and SIL...

at Tony Romas

After we finished our shopping

My daughter Krystal, her boyfriend Steve, 

and my grandkids came over for a visit.

Pretty good day...

This was a figurine from the Willow Collection (I collect them)

My daughter Bree bought this one, because she said it reminded her of me and her

I love it...

My MIL also gave me some Melucca bath stuff which I also liked, 

but took out of the bag and put away before I decided to take pictures!  :P

April 3rd? Really Saskatchewan?

I don't remember it looking like this the day after my birthday.... :P

at least it was pretty... i guess...

What are the chances we will be hiding eggs outside this year....