Beauty

I love the feeling of being completely awestruck by our creator's beauty. What a beautiful day when we realize just how blessed we are....

Surgery

Kayla recently got her adenoids out. Easy peasy routine surgery. But not so easy for this mama! I think we wouldn't be human if we didn't fear our kids would never wake up after being put out. Ugh! But she did awesome.

This girl makes hospital gowns look cute! :) 

Dad and Kayla playing football on the ipad! They had lots of fun waiting :)

And this.... this made my day. Thank you man at the good earth coffee shop in the children's hospital. You made me smile. 

"School pics"

I've seen some of these done on blogs before, and thought it was a cute way to document a new 'school' year. So here's the kiddos...

Wyatt 9 months

Isaac 3.5- preschool

(this kids hair just kills me! LOL)

Evan 6.5- Grade 1

Madison 8.5- Grade 3

Emily 12- grade 7

Kayla 13.5- grade 8

The whole crew!

Be alive

So i've been seeing a lot of situations lately of sick people. Like the little boy a few doors down who has struggled most of his life with illness, and is expected to pass away very soon from cancer. So in light of that, I am here to say, I am thankful for my health! Yes, our family tends to have a perpetual cold the entire winter, and I won't lie, it wears me out! A lot! But there are no promises in life, so right now, in this moment I am choosing to be thankful we have that. Life can change so dramatically in just an instance, and if we can't easily find the good when we have it good, how can we expect to get through difficult times that WILL come eventually.


Here's a song I've been listening to lately. It is GOOD to be alive. :)

A little giggle for the day

A certain little brother thought this was funny :) Thankfully he knew which sister would appreciate his humor, and which one wouldn't ;) And also, note Madison's arm draped over Emily in the picture. They sleep all snuggled together every night. So sweet.

It's feeling like fall... a little bit ;)

Well all the public school kids are back in school, and of course we get asked constantly "have you started yet?". And I guess in a way we have, in that the kids got some new books and they've cracked them open. ;) But the reality is, we don't 'start' or 'stop'. We just learn! Some learning is more formal and from a textbook, but most is just by living. I feel so blessed to have finally just made homeschooling a part of who we are, instead of trying to fit it into our lives. (that has taken years to happen though for any new homeschoolers reading, so don't be discouraged when it doesn't start out like that!)

Anyways here are a few things we've been up to since the long weekend...

A lake day with Papa (grandpa). 

A trip to Lethbridge and while James worked we went on a nature walk, played at a park, and saw a movie at the theatre :)

Some 'electricals' with dad ;)

Running to save some tomatoes from frost and being thankful they will ripen inside!

And of course taking the time to really notice the beauty that fall is. How absolutely stunning to see these fall colors against that blue sky. 

Visits with family!

My mommy came to visit :) Which means I got to visit with my brother as well (since we don't see him often otherwise).

Gramma giving painting lessons to maddy!

At the zoo

Butterflies at the zoo

Isaac doing the 'flamingo'. haha