Take 47

Yesterday while at the park I tried my best to get a half decent picture of all the kids. HA, ha! Instead of a nice family picture, this is what I got! Everyone starts out semi co-operating, but just as you think you have it, someone turns silly. Trying to recover after that is a losing battle. Now everyone is getting frustrated and as soon as my dear sweet Noelle has discovered that she can control the situation, it's game over. But that's o.k. As punishment for her lack of co-operation, I will be showing picture #2 to all potential boyfriends as she gets older. Who gets the last laugh now. If she only knew the power we have as parents to completely humiliate our children, she would be singing a different tune. I of course won't be doing that as I know how it feels to be utterly embarrassed by those we call loved ones, but it is fun to imagine in the midst of frustration as I try to do something as simple as taking a picture of my children. I am not always sure about this thing we call agency.

p.s. Notice my sweet little Emma smiling her cheeks off, doing her best to help me. She is still at that nice age of wanting to please her parents. Innocence is blissful!

One Of Our Favorite Places

We love Beacon Hill park. It is one of our favorite places to go. The petting zoo is always a big hit! I had a doctors appointment in Victoria yesterday, so we decided to spend the day down there as a family. We had some errands to do but afterwards we went to the park. My favorite animals to see are the baby potbelly pigs. The kids love the goats, of course, because you can get right in there and pet them. Normally we go in the spring when the baby goats are pretty new. This time it was more like a bunch of adolecent boys. The goats were all over the place. Head butting each other, jumping and running around like maniacs. It was hard to get very close to any of them because of this. Still very enteraining to watch. As we left the goat area, we hear Tate saying something over and over. He is saying, "crazy goats, crazy goats." It was a very fun way to spend the day!

Me, Mom, Me!

While we were shopping in superstore one day, we happened to be in the baby isle when one of the kids noticed a bag of diapers with a picture on it of a boy they believed to be Tate. Even I, as his mother, was surprised at the resemblance. We showed the bag to Tate and asked him who he thought it was. He smiled and said, "me, mom, me!" Now whenever we are in that isle and he sees that bag, he is sure to point it out, saying, "me, mom!"

Noelle And Tate

What can I tell you about these two, they are just the best of buds! Noelle takes care of Tate 90% of the time, without being asked. She piggy backs him everywhere, she plays with him, she dresses him, she feeds him, she gets him out of bed in the morning, she has even taken up the challenge of changing his diaper and not just the wet ones. Brave girl! On top of all that she does for him, she has started yet another ritual. Every night before bed she reads to him. As many books as he wants. He would keep her there all night long if I let him. This is the day that you wait for as a parent. This is the reward of having a large family. These are the moments that make it all worth it. When you see your kids, who at times fight like cats and dogs, almost driving you out of your mind, care for each other and lift some of the responsibility off of your shoulders, nothing is more rewarding than that. Aw, finally I get a teeny tiny glimpse of the end reward that we as mothers are so fervently fighting for on the mission of raising our children.

Yucky Mom

******************Bergen, 3 Years Old**************

Every so often I like to "check in" with my kids and see how they feel I am doing as a mom. Yesterday was one of those days. Upon asking the kids if I was a good mom or a yucky mom, the girls, who of course are sensitive to my feelings and know to tell me what I want to hear, said good mom! Heaven bless them. Bergen on the other hand hesitated, put his little hand up to his chin, as if in deep thought and then asked me, "do you want me to say what you want me to say?". I told him that I wanted him to tell me how he really feels. This is what he said. I think your a yucky mom. In response to my question of why do you think that, he said, "because you put me in time out every time I hit". I tried not to let him see me smile. If giving your kids a consequence for their less effective choices and trying to teach them to be decent people makes you a yucky mom, then I guess I am one of the meanest moms around!

Tate's 1st Painting

It is my challenge every night to keep Tate occupied while I prepare dinner. Usually the older kids help out with this, but they happened to be downstairs visiting grandma. I had been painting earlier and Tate keep asking me if he could paint too. Trying to quickly finish what I was doing I didn't take the time to let him paint as well. So as I was getting dinner on I let him paint. The stuff was still out and he needed to be distracted. He enjoyed himself very much. You could just see the pride on his face, he felt like such a big boy!

Girls!!!

When I was expecting Emma, I hoped for a little girl. I wanted Noelle to have a sister, something I never had and I wanted to dress them alike. I know for some of you this is a sickening thought, but I have had so much fun doing it, not to mention it is so super easy too. The era is coming to an end as Noelle is wanting her individuality and as much as I accept that I am sad to let it go. I took this picture on Sunday as this is probably going to be one of the last few times that it will happen, with these two anyways. She doesn't mind sometimes and doesn't notice others, but I can feel it ending. Emma doesn't mind at all, for now. Thank goodness I am having another little girl!

Too Few And Far Between

Bergen is a boy! Increasingly so everyday. The hugs and kisses and tender moments are fading away, as is natural, and being replaced with wrestling moves and surprise attacks. So when Darren and I saw a very brief moment of compassion expressed to his little brother, of course the first thing we did was run for the camera, trying not to let him know that we saw what he was doing, as any sense of being watched would have ended the display faster that it began. It is nice for a parent to know that somewhere under all that emerging testosterone there is still the ability to be caring towards others, as long as nobody is watching of course!

Goldstream

After church on Sunday, Darren and I always try to find something to do. We do this mostly to avoid the all consuming urge to take a nap, as that is not a possibility for our us right now. So instead of staying home and fighting to keep our eyes open we decided to go to Goldstream. We haven't been there since I was expecting Emma, or maybe it was when she was a little baby. I can't remember, so far too long anyways. It was so very beautiful. We went to the waterfall first and then under the road through the tunnel to walk along the river, which is not much of a river at this time of year. I can't believe what I have become so use to seeing and therefore take for granted. We live in the most beautiful place. I am so grateful to live here and that my kids are surrounded by all these amazing places. One of the many things I love about my kids is that they are very earth friendly conscious. Emma spotted a pop bottle as we were walking along the river bed and there was no question as to whether she should pick it up and find a garbage can to throw it into and a few minutes later, what I discovered to be a beer can followed. This is something that my kids do quite often and I don't think it necessarily came from Darren and myself. As a mother I want to tell her don't touch that, you don't know what kind of germs could be on there, but I refrain as she is doing something so good and learning so much. She hasn't died yet or contracted any deadly diseases and we are always very quick to wash our hands after the fact. Luckily for us at the visitors center, where we found the recycling and garbage cans, there are public bathrooms with soap and water to wash up after using. Emma handed the bottles to me to carry for a time as she climbed up out of the river bed and onto the bridge. It wasn't until several people had walked past us that I realized how bad it looked for me, being very pregnant, to be carrying an empty beer can, so Darren carried it for the remainder of the time. As for Bergen he didn't notice the garbage this time and he is usually the first, but he did notice the graffiti on the tunnel walls and he asked me what it was and then after I told him he said to me, who would do something like that? I again refrained and didn't say, dirty rotten teenagers. I love that they care about things, I love that they are aware of how we should treat the earth and I hope that when they are teenagers they will remember the days when they thought that littering was unthinkable, that graffiti was just so awful and beer was so very disgusting.

Chemainus River

The exterior of our house, work that was started almost 2 years ago, is yet to be finished. We have until September 10th to complete it, for the final inspection. So most of Saturday Darren and his dad spent working on the projects needing to be done. The kids, grandma and I went to the Chemainus river. It was a little difficult for Tate to get around, but still very fun for everyone and a great way to stay cool.