Mills Tribe

Confession of a 3yr old

2009-05-05T21:28:00.002-06:00

My conversation with Emily first thing this morning went something like this.

"Mommy I ate money"

"What do you mean you ate money"

"I ate two penny's"

"You mean like you swallowed them?"

"Yeah"

After this came a 3 hour trip to the emergency room followed by x-rays which confirmed that my daughter did indeed eat some coins. I showed her some money and asked her what she ate, she picked out a penny and a dime, although the coin on the x-ray looks larger to me. Right now she's fine and we go back tomorrow for another x-ray, or earlier if she has alot of stomach pain or vomiting. (sigh....) Why do children put things in their mouths?

HELLO

2009-03-09T21:43:00.004-06:00

Yes we are still alive, sick, but alive. We've had an extremely busy winter. Sean is making sure that I always have lots of cleaning to do, sweeping bird seed off the living room floor and wiping multiple puddles off my kitchen floor (if you have toddlers DO NOT get a water cooler). Emily is very often his accomplice and likes to let him into the rooms he is not allowed in and proceeding to drop drill bits, nuts, screws and whatever into inaccessible locations. Jessica's speech is fantastic and I am hoping this spring will finish her therapy for good. She will also be a sheep in her ballet dance this April. Alisha never ceases to amaze me with her imaginative play. I can hardly keep track of what room she's in or what our house has become. She she will be a bunny in her ballet dance and is also tap dancing to the Chihuahua song. Kevin is keeping us challenged as parents. He is very strong willed which I am convinced will serve him well one day but right now it is only adding grey hair to my head. It seems we have all been sick alot this winter. I've had bronchitis quite alot and just got some antibiotics tonight for the worst case I've ever had. Sean has only had it badly once this winter so I am thankful for that. Kevin had his appendix out in December which I am somewhat relieved about. I had appendicitis quite badly as a child and am a little paranoid about my children getting it. Thankfully we got it early and he was in surgery the same day I brought him to the hospital.

We have been way too busy this winter and we're all feeling it. We've already decided that next year the kids will go in Awana and that is all. We're staying home and spending time together. I am soo looking forward to being done with activities.

The kids and I have been shovelling snow and earning a few extra dollars. We saved enough to buy a family membership at Telus World of Science. We've been twice already and enjoyed seeing the Grande Canyon in the imax theatre. We also got to see The Art of the Brick and meet the lego artist Nathan Sawaya. His art is absolutely amazing and he uses nothing but plain old lego.

I have been enjoying getting to know some other homeschool moms. We've been participating in a homeschool group in a nearby town. The kids have done swimming lessons with other homeschoolers and we also go bowling once a month. Last month we also went on a field trip to a vetrinary clinic and next week we have a our first science fair. Our topic is What Materials Will Stop a Magnets Force? The kids have been doing very well in school this year and are glad to know that they are not the only ones in the world who are homeschooled.

I'm off to bed soon to rest my aching lungs. I hope to have more time for blogging and to catch up with everyone else out in blog land once our activities are finished at the end of April/beginning of May. So, please come back and look for something new in May (maybe spring will be here by then too).

Bye for now,
Rhiannon

P.S

Thanks Josee and Denise for commenting, it's good to know people are still checking on us.

Summer has flown by

2008-08-30T11:29:00.003-06:00

I can't believe it's September in two days! Where did summer go? We've been having fall weather here for a couple weeks already, which I really don't mind because I love fall but I do hope that it means a longer fall and not an earlier winter.

We've had a fun and busy summer. We went on a last minute camping trip in July to Mount Robson, the highest peak in the BC rockies. This was the first time we've been camping since Kevin was a toddler. The kids absolutely loved it and they can't wait to go again. I loved the mountain air and reallly felt the difference it made in my breathing and energy levels. I would love to move to the mountains one day. After camping we made a few day trips to Edmonton to see different things. We watched a pottery demonstration, went to a railway museum, ate award winning strawberry shortcake at a greenhouse/farm and petting zoo, learned about stained glass art and spent alot of time together having fun. We also made a last minute trip back to BC to celebrate the life of one of Peter's aunts, Zona. Zona was a wonderful woman who was known for her hospitality and unconditional love. She battled cancer for many years and is now in the arms of her saviour. We miss her dearly but we also rejoice for her and look forward to seeing her again in eternity.

We did alot of gardening this summer which equals alot of canning too. I have pickled 56 litres of beets and canned 36 jars of beans and a few jars of carrots. I also made jam for the first time. I just did one batch of apricot jam and although it didn't jell properly it tastes wonderful. I still have alot of beets in my garden but I am done canning for the season.

We're gearing up to start school on Sept 2. I am excited about the coming year and also a little nervous. We have more activities to go to and more work at home to do too. I've made up a schedule that I'm hoping will help to keep us on track and also help the kids to see what needs to be done. I'm noticing that they work alot better when they know what comes next and have a list to check off.

In school we will be studying World History Part 2 which will take us from shortly before the time of Christ to our present day. We will also be studying Spanish together and Jessica will be doing kindergarden. She will also have speech therapy at the school a few days a week while the rest of us take advantage of the library. Alisha and Jessica are both in dance this year. Alisha is taking tap and ballet and Jessica is taking ballet. Kevin is in the Junior Judo class which is twice a week instead of once, thankfully this is on the same days and in the same building as dance. In Awana Emily will start Cubbies this year, while Jessica moves up to Sparkies and Kevin moves up to Clubbers. Alisha will be in her last year of Sparkies. I also have the kids registered in swimming lessons with other homeschoolers. We usually do swimming lessons in the summer but I want to join this homeschool group this year so I thought this would provide opportunity for the kids to get to know some of the others in the group a bit more. Right now the only week day we don't have lessons or Awana is Tuesday.

Lord, please help me to stay organized this school year. It is only by your strength that I can do this.

What's New?

2008-06-30T10:31:00.002-06:00

I have not been spending much time on the computer lately or even in the house. I have no idea what's going on out in blog land.

Kevin's orthodontist appointment went well. He needs to have some baby teeth pulled to make room for his adult teeth. Our dentist can do that so he doesn't have to see the orthodontist again for a year. He will also have spacers put in to keep the space open until his permanent teeth come through.

Our garden is doing way better than last year. We have 6 rows of beets that our growing like crazy and 12 rows of beans. We've already harvested our spinach and it's waiting to be chopped up and frozen. Carrots and parsnips are doing great to.

We're almost done school but not quite. July 18 will be our last day and we'll probably start again in mid August. Jessica is finished pre-school and will not return next year but will still go to the school to see the speech therapist a few times a week. I guess the rest of us will get to use the library alot while she is in therapy. She has come a long way but still has a severe speech delay.

Jessica has started reading and is doing great. She was a little sad at first because she thought that meant I would stop reading to her. Now she's much better and is learning a new letter every week and has a new book to read each week.

I got new rollerblades!! After I skinned my knee (which has healed up nicely but is still sore and pink. At least the new scar is covering up an old one) Peter insisted I get new blades and pads. I have been going to a park that has paved trail around it in the evenings to rollerblade. I love it and my stamina is improving fast too. Of course though I am having asthma attacks now that I'm a little more active so I've had to get a new inhaler.

Our web filter has decided that photobucket is a nudity website and I can no longer use it. I can't see any pictures on my blog and I can't access my account anymore. I don't like uploading pictures with blogger but I don't know what else to do. Anyone have any suggestions? I have thought about switching to wordpress. For anyone who uses it how do you like it?

I am babysitting right now and my neighbours kids are over playing so I have 9 kids in my house. Lots of fun and lots of noise. Some of them are running out the door now so I'm going to have to go.

I'll try and post more later. Sorry for the point form but my brain is still sleeping. I didn't get much sleep last night in the bottom bunk of the girls bed:)

Gardening and Skinned Knee

2008-05-26T10:10:00.000-06:00

We have spent most of the last week and a bit outside in our gardens. We have two nice sized flower beds in the front. Both are lined with violas, one has columbines that Peter started from seed and tiger lillies that a friend gave me from her garden. The other has an assortment of mostly perennials and a few annuals. The girls picked out some impatients to add to it as well. In the back flower bed we planted sunflowers, tomatoes and strawberries. We also got our vegetable garden in just in time for the rain. We planted pumpkins, spinach, lettuce, beans, carrots, parsnips, green pepper, peas, beets and onions. Peter made a little bog for some of his carnivorous plants outside as well. It is in container that can be brought in incase of frost.

The kids have been having alot of fun riding bikes all over the neighbourhood and playing with friends. Sean is fast at crawling and I have to watch him like a hawk. I also started rollerblading again. It's been more than 7 years since I put on these blades and about 9 years since I've rollerbladed regularly. I still have the blades I got for Christmas in grade 10. They are a little snug and the brake is worn out but they work for now. Yesterday I was blading up the side walk, not going very fast because of the lack of a brake, but I still managed to trip over the uneven sidewalk and rip my pants and my knee. I skinned a pretty good chunk of my knee and it's still really sore today. (this happened yesterday) After we got the kids in bed last night I cut my pants and hemmed them to make shorts. I needed new shorts anyway but this is not the way I hoped to get them. Anyway, I had opportunity to show my children how to take an injury without whining and complaining. Hopefully they will learn something from my example.

I have lots of pictures to share. I'll put some up today and see how far I get. This afternoon Kevin has his first appointment with the orthodontist in the city. Today is just a consultation but he will probably want to put a bridge in to widen his jaw. The weather is beautiful today so hopefully we will have some time to play outside as well.

Gifts from Nana

2008-05-26T10:05:00.002-06:00

And a couple more pictures.

Painting with Nana

2008-05-26T09:56:00.002-06:00

SPRING

2008-05-16T13:08:00.002-06:00

Spring has finally made it to northern Alberta!!!

These pictures are already a couple of weeks old.

'Lessons' Season is OVER

2008-05-04T13:00:00.003-06:00

For now anyway. Alisha's dance recital was this weekend. She had one show on Friday and two on Saturday. All of the dancers were really great and I loved watching the show. Alisha had a blast but is tired. We didn't get home last night until 11:00. Next year she is taking two dance classes, tap 2 and ballet 1. Jessica is also taking Singing and Dancing Wonders. Alisha's dance team also earned a gold medal at festival two weeks ago.

Judo has also ended for the season. Kevin earned his orange belt. Next year he will move up to the junior class and will have Judo two days a week. This is where the taxi part of being a mom comes in. I am glad dance and judo are in the same building at least. Hopefully the lesson times will be close so I'm not running around every day of the week.

We have a whole week off until soccer starts. That is two nights a week for May and June. We'll do swimming lessons for two weeks in the summer and the girls might go to a three day dance camp. I am looking forward to having most of the summer off from lessons. They are fun but it gets tiring too.

My Mom is here visiting and was able to watch yesterday afternoons dance performance. It has been really nice to visit with her and the kids love playing with Nana.

I've been trying to think of something more interesting to say on my blog. I often get ideas of things and will think up a post in my head but not have time to type it out. Then I get all my kids in bed or out to play and I have no idea what I had thought of earlier. I need to keep a note book or something. Hmmm....

Oh, I did want to piont out a new link I put up on the side bar. I think I titled it women's health. It is Lorna Vanderhauge's website. I have been taking some womens vitamins and a supplement called EstroSense that she formulated and I've also been reading one of her books, The A-Z guide for Women's Health. I have four health conditions that are all related to an embalance of estrogen and this supplement has helped more than anything I've tried in the past. I have also been having night sweats quite badly since Sean was born. My doctor had some blood work done but nothing came back positive so he told me that this was just the way my body had changed and I'd have live with it. I love my doctor but I am not willing to accept that answer. Within two weeks of taking EstroSense everyday my night sweats stopped. I have also had very little symtoms of another painful condition that I have. EstroSense is a blend of 6 or 7 herbs that promote healthy estrogen production in the body. There are no synthetic hormones or hormone mimickers in it, it just helps the body to produce estrogen the way it is supposed to. Lorna Vanderhauge also has alot of information and products for dealing with menopause and many other women's health issues. I highly recommend her website for all women even if you don't have any health problems right now.

2008-04-28T09:27:00.002-06:00

Our bug is a Great Diving Beetle not a May Beetle as I had thought earlier. Here is a website with more pictures
I ordered a kit from this website that includes all the supplies we will need for mounting and displaying our bug and also for catching more bugs. Kevin is eager to go on a bug hunt and collect more but I would like to wait until we have our supplies handy.

The thumb next to the beetle in the picture below is Kevin's. It is a pretty large bug.

Look What We Found Today!!

2008-04-27T18:51:00.002-06:00

Kevin found this bug (already dead) on our way to church this morning. I think it is a May Beetle (Phyllophaga spp.), this is what it looks most similar to in my Bugs of Alberta book. Kevin would like to start a bug collection with it so I am now scouring the web looking for information on how to properly dry and pin it. It looks like I may need to go shopping first.

Kevin's Birthday and More

2008-04-19T16:35:00.002-06:00

Happy Birthday Kevin!!!

Kevin turned 8 years old on Monday. Wow does time fly. We spent the day in Edmonton, shopping at IKEA and Toys 'R' Us. Kevin saved his birthday money from last year and was able to buy a whole lot of Mars Mission Lego. He found some on sale too so he really has alot of lego now. He plans to complete his set next year. We also picked up a new table (that can seat our entire family and more!) at IKEA. Pictures of that to come later. After shopping we went to Montana's for supper. We often eat at Montana's when we are in town and Kevin has seen birthdays there before so he was quite eager to go. Here are some pics from supper.

The Montana's Birthday hat! This was the reason Kevin wanted to go to Montana's for his birthday. The staff get the attention of the resteraunt and sing an original Montana's birthday song. It's sung pretty fast and I can never catch all the words. This is our favourite resteraunt and it is especially fun on a birthday.

Spring was here and now it's winter again. Anyway, we got to enjoy one meal outside before the snow came back.

Still cute, even with the food on the face.

Funny girl. She was sticking her tongue out at me and when I would say "eww" she would giggle. Perfect for photos.

Sean is not very interested in the hamburger I'm trying to feed him for supper.

Sean has especially been enjoying all the new discoveries outside, in his normal "one activity to the next" fashion of course.

Alisha had her last dance class and photos last week. Here she is getting ready.

A friend came over to do her hair and show me how it to do it for festival and recital. She'll be dancing tomorrow and then she has a dress rehersal on the 30 and three shows on May 2 and 3.

Kathy Guessed It

2008-04-15T14:37:00.002-06:00

The last picture in my 'Indoor Blooms' post is an avocado seed. We have a few of them sprouting and the one in the picture is quite a bit bigger now. We won't get fruit from it in this climate but (we've heard) they make nice house plants.

Here's a few more pics I wanted to share earlier but didn't have time.

This is a miniature model of stonehenge that I picked up at Chapters. We recently read about stonehenge in our school studies and couldn't resist when I saw this little model.

Also from Chapters, this is a model of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. We also read about this recently. The seeds should sprout in about two weeks.

I have more to share from Kevin's birthday yesterday but I need to get pictures off my camera. Check again soon, I'll probably post tonight or tomorrow.

Indoor Blooms

2008-03-30T14:37:00.002-06:00

This is for all you BCer's posting pictures of flowers in your garden. I've got some flowers too, although not outdoors. Who says you have to live somewhere warm to have flowers in March anyway?

An Oxalls plant. This is supposed to be a Shamrock but it's actually a different species. Apparently Shamrocks are hard to cultivate indoors. Oxalls is supposed to look very similar though.

Gerber Daisy's

Primrose

African Violet's

Cyclamen bud and flower

Cyclamen flowers

Can you guess what this one is?

Attention Span of a One Year Old--Four Minutes in the Life of Sean

2008-03-30T14:13:00.004-06:00

4:36-Let's turn this music up and have a party.

4:38-After digging in the toy box I finally found my favorite toy to suck on.

4:38-This thing sure tastes good. It must look cute too 'cause mommy's got the camera out.

Still 4:38-Hey Mom, can I take a picture too?

4:39-Well she isn't going to give up that camera. Hey, someone left a purple crayon in the living room. I wonder if I can reach it?

4:40-I got the crayon and I even found a piece of paper too.

4:40-Hmmm What should I draw next?

4:41-Mom still has that camera. Maybe if I try again she'll let me have it.

4:41-Maybe if I get really close and look real cute.

4:42-Oh forget the camera. I'll just sit here and eat this crayon.

Answered Prayer

2008-03-26T15:58:00.002-06:00

I woke up this morning with a song going through my head.

God is a good God, Yes He is
God is a good God, yes He is
He lifts me up
He turns me around
He sets my feet
On solid ground

God is a good God, yes He is
God is a good God, yes He is

There are many things I have been praying for lately. I'll only share a couple. One is about homeschooling. I really don't know if I'll homeschool all the way through and I don't know if I'll homeschool all of my kids. We are taking this year by year. I have been praying about whether or not I should continue homeschooling next year. With Jessica in school this year I will admit there are days when I wish they were all going and I could just do my own thing. Anyway, my prayer was that if God wants me to continue homeschooling He would make a change in my children's attitude that only He could make. That they would be more excited about school and more obedient when asked to do something that they really don't like (like spelling and math). Also that I would have more patience with them. The change I have seen in the kids and in my self over the past couple of weeks has been amazing. We've been doing school without them even realizing it, we're just having fun learning together. I have more ideas and things I'd like to do. I've had more energy to research these ideas and much more patience with my children. They are also responding much better to me and, it seems to me, learning alot more in the last few weeks. So, I do plan to continue homeschooling next year. We will study World History Part 2 as well as Spanish. I'm not sure what I am going to do for art yet but this is something I cannot neglect with my kids. They love art. I am excited to start getting my supplies together for next year.

Answered prayer number 2.

I used to be a morning person. Not so much recently. If I get a good start in the morning my whole day goes so much better but recently (since Sean was born) I have had such a hard time getting out of bed. I've also had some postpartum issues with Sean that I havn't experienced to this extent before. My prayer has been that God would help me to build this discipline in my life and that I would be able to get up and get moving before my kids get up, even when I'm tired. Yesterday I was up at 7:10 and out of bed more than an hour earlier than normal. I had more energy and got my morning started before my kids. This morning I was up at 6:00!! By about 6:30 I was dressed and out in the living room singing God is a good God. I have had so much joy today. I am not angry about things that I would normally get upset about.

A passage I have been trying to live is 1 Corinthians 12:4-7
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

This is the kind of love I want to give my family, my friends, my neighbours and the people around me. I believe this kind of love can only come from God who is love.

We have a wonderful, amazing, awesome, loving God. I pray that you would know God's awesome love in a very personal and meaningful way.

My Cross-stitch

2008-03-24T17:47:00.003-06:00

Here is what my cross-stitch looks like today. I had to undo a bit at the top because I counted wrong. I'm really eager to finish the picture and get to work on the words.

NEVER NEVER NEVER.....

2008-03-24T17:44:00.003-06:00

Leave a full bottle of bleach on top of your dryer! If you do, your washing machine might shake it off while it is spinning, and it might break open on the hard cement floor all over your unwashed clothes. And then your very favorite shirt might look like this.....

and your daughters pants might look like this....

and your brand new GREEN sheet set might look like this....

I think I've learned my lesson.

Lotsa pictures

2008-03-24T12:45:00.003-06:00

So, I finally uploaded pictures from our camera. These first ones are from a few weeks ago. Almost all of this snow has melted now. It was so warm out we didn't even need the snow pants but then who wants to crawl around in the snow without them.

My snow pictures won't resize properly. I'll have to play with this and I'll put them in when I can. Sorry. Enjoy the rest of the pictures.

Sean's first birthday. I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. I also find it hard to believe that I won't be having more. My family doesn't feel complete yet.

Here is Sean opening some presents.

This car from Nana is his favorite gift.

A few days ago we went out to the plant store and Peter found a pitcher plant. It just has one pitcher on it because the rest were cut off. Peter plans to prune it and get some more pitchers on it. There should be one on the end of each leaf.

Easter. On Saturday we painted Easter eggs and had an egg hunt in our basement.

Quick post with more coming

2008-03-09T15:19:00.002-06:00

So it's been a while. February was a very busy month and life just seems to be going by too fast. We've had a few colds in the last few weeks as well the flu. Right now Sean has bronchilitis again. He's on the nebulizer every 6-8 hours for a week. We have a doctors appointment on Tuesday.

In February I went to a homeschool workshop and listened to author Sigmund Bouwer speak about teaching reluctant children to write. I loved listening to him and I got alot of really good ideas to teach creative writing. This is something I struggle with because I'm not very good at it. I also went to another session about writing for my self. I can't remember the name of the lady who led that one but I also really enjoyed it. I'm learning that writing isn't quite as hard as it seems but it does take effort. I am hoping that I can become a better writer as I help my kids learn to write.

We celebrated two birthdays recently. I turned 27 and four days later Sean turned 1. I can't believe a whole year has gone by already. Kevin, Alisha and Jessica each picked out a present for Sean and we had a family party with cupcakes. Sean loved having a whole cupcake for himself. After he opened presents the older kids played with Sean's new toys while he crawled to another room to escape the excitement. He is not walking yet but he is getting steadier on his feet.

I have a bunch of pictures on our camera I want to share but right now don't have alot of time. Sean is in his bed crying (not sleeping well lately) so I need to go get him. Please pray for his health if you think of it.

Bye for now,
Rhiannon

A few recent pics

2008-01-28T20:57:00.000-07:00

Saturday is bath night in our house. It is quite a deal. I do two baths, one girls and one boys. After the girls bath I had them sitting and reading in the living room. Emily was quite tired that day. I got Sean from the tub and came in the living room to get a diaper. Emily was sitting in the rocking chair with her blankie and both sippie cups tucked in beside her rocking away. I went in a bedroom and dressed Sean then came back into the living room to find Emily fast asleep in the rocking chair. She was so tired she rocked her self to sleep.

While I brought Emily to bed Kevin kept Sean happy by reading to him.

Kevin loves taking care of his little brother. He often talks about teaching him things as he gets older. Things like building with lego and playing video games. I'm sure he'll help with learning to read as well.

Today.

Alisha gives Emily a piggy back ride.

It is very cold outside but Peter went out and shoveled the snow that fell yesterday.

The girls went out to play for a short while too.

Then they warmed up with some tea.

Sean likes to take his socks off and put them in his mouth. He had this one his mouth for a good 10 minutes. He is also starting to pull himself up onto things. He has pulled himself into a standing position twice but he often just goes up onto his knees. He loves standing while holding onto someone's hands.

Kevin, playing Mars Mission. His favourite game.

Jessica pretending to be a monster.

This is the cross-stitch I am currently working on. I am hoping to have it done by the end of the year but I won't be too disappointed if I don't. It is an 16x20 inch picture of the Footprints poem.

Alisha's hair cut and Peter's new hobby

2008-01-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

Alisha had her first trip to the hair dresser last week. She was very excited but sat in the chair with a very serious face on until she got to see the back of her head. Then she let out a big grin. Her hair has not been this short in a long time but it looks really cute. We also went out for lunch together first and had a fun afternoon together. Here are some pics.

This girl loves having her picture taken.
And one of Jessica.

Jessica was disappointed that she didn't get her hair cut so I put her hair in the pony's and braids and took her picture too. She has such fine beautiful hair that doesn't break so she really doesn't need it cut that often.

I don't know if I've mentioned it before but Peter has started a new hobby. He is growing venus fly traps. He bought one at our local grocery store last fall and got really interested in carnivorous plants. He is hoping to add some more plants to his collection in the spring. The plant that he bought had a few plants in the pot so he just repotted it and he is also trying to root some cuttings. Here is a picture of a few of his plants.

These plants have been catching bugs although I don't know where they are coming from this time of year. Peter even caught a small spider that dared to enter our living room and the trap ate it. Any plant that eats spiders is a friend of mine!

Thankful for a new week

2008-01-21T20:47:00.000-07:00

Jessica got over the flu pretty quickly. Kevin had it on Tuesday night and then I got it Wednesday night. So far no one else has had it so I'm really hoping this is the end of it. We started out last week a day ahead with school and finished a day behind but that's OK. We can catch up pretty easily. I am hoping to get a couple of weeks ahead over the next few months so that we can finish our year a little earlier but we'll see how things go.

A couple things I'm noticing about my self:
1. I eat when I am avoiding something, especially something I feel God wants me to do. While I want to do His will and often pray that He would show me what He wants me to do in certain areas, I am also afraid of this. So, what am I so afraid of? I think most of all I am afraid of people. What will people think? I know it doesn't matter what people think. It matters what God thinks. I am His servant and no one elses. I need to remind my self who I belong too often.

2. I do not handle sleep deprivation very well. This may not seem like a big thing but when a person has 5 children under the age of 8 sleep deprivation is a reality. And while I do need to sleep I also need to do life even when I am tired. I have always used caffeine to deal with sleep deprivation and I do enjoy a good cup of coffee but recently my body has not liked caffeine so much. I'm thinking I need to find a better way to deal with this.

Here's a few pics from our painting day.

Everyone happily painting away.

Notice how she is concentrating on mixing the colors just right. This is her first time painting.

These are my four favorite. Alisha's is the top left, Kevin's pig is top right, Jessica's is bottom left and Emily's is bottom right. They all did a couple more but these are my favourites.

I know there was more I wanted to say but I can't think now. I need to get to bed.

loooong night, loooong day

2008-01-15T17:20:00.000-07:00

We have the flu in our house AGAIN. So far only one is sick and I am very hopeful it doesn't spread. Last night Jessica threw up 4 times and wet her bed, along with Alisha and Kevin. So, despite my efforts yesterday to not have any laundry today, I am still washing tonnes of laundry. At least it is mostly sheets and blankets and so there isn't alot of folding to do. Anyway, this morning we got a late start and Jessica stayed home from pre-school but we still got all of our school work done. Tonight I am hoping for an early bed time and a long sleep.
I'm tired.

Strange Fears

2008-01-14T13:11:00.000-07:00

I am afraid of driving over bridges. Well, I don't know that I'm really "afraid" of it but it makes me nervous. I have never gotten into a car accident and I've never fallen off a bridge so I really don't know where this fear comes from. Everytime I am driving up to a bridge I get nervous and my hands get all sweaty, then I freak because I think I won't be able to steer properly because of the sweaty hands. I imagine driving over the edge or getting knocked over by another vehicle. I always make it just fine though. Hmmmm...

Our week of school went really well. I love having the school area downstairs. We can come upstairs for snacks and lunch and leave all the books out and just jump back into it. The kids are getting things done alot better too. Emily is also playing better and not getting into so much trouble. That is a big stress relief. The room is completely baby safe so there really isn't anything for Sean or Emily to get into while we are busy learning.

Last night I went to a missions prayer meeting and we watched a little video clip about the Canadian Food Grains Bank and their work in Ethiopia. I love the way this organization works. They take donations of food or money. In Ethiopia they have a work for food project. The people come every day and get paid in food. What they are working on is irrigating land to make it suitable for farming. When the project is over the people who are working to receive aid right now will farm the very land they are working on to be self-sufficient and eventually not need the aid. Also the Canadian government will match donations 4-1. So if I donate $10 the Canadian government donates $40. I think this is incredible especially because it is a Christian organization. It's motto is A Christian Response to World Hunger. I'll add their website to the links on the right if you are interested in learning more.

Today we have no school. Peter is home so we are just hanging out together. I have decided that I cannot get 2-3 loads of laundry done on school days so I am working on laundry today and I plan to go to Curves this afternoon. This morning the kids painted with some paints that Nana sent for Christmas. They did 2-3 paintings each and had alot of fun. (pictures later) I read this brilliant idea to cut up egg cartons and put a little bit of paint in them for each child, that way the colors don't get mixed and everyone has their own little dish of paint. I wish I had thought of that earlier. I cut egg cartons up into sections of six, since we have six colors, and everyone got to enjoy painting without whining or waiting to use another color. Emily also painted for the first time. She dipped her brush into each color and then painted a big blob on her paper. I showed her how to make hand prints and she loved that.

That's all for now. Tomorrow we're back to school.
Have a great week and feel free to leave a comment and let me know you were here.
Rhiannon

p.s. Hi Russ and Bev, it was nice to hear from you!

Back to the regular routine

2008-01-06T18:45:00.000-07:00

We start school again tomorrow and I am looking forward to it. We have all enjoyed our break and a part of me wishes it could last longer but I'm also eager to plunge back into the normal routine of things. The kids are excited to start school in our new school room. Yesterday I bought a white board and today I put everything planned for tomorrow on there. That way the kids can see what we have left to do and what's already been done. I will also be starting language arts with Jessica. She has been doing a pre-school program that focuses on reading readiness skills. She has been flying through that and is really eager to learn to read so we shall see how it goes. She also starts public school pre-school again on Tuesday. She is now doing two full days a week and is really enjoying that. I am also seeing a huge improvement in her speech and in her willingness to speak and try to say things that are hard for her. Judo and Awana also start again this week and Tap Dance starts next week.

The weather here has been wonderful lately. We have a nice cover of snow and the tempratures have been up around 0 degrees for a few weeks now. We've had almost no wind too so it really feels like spring out. I'm glad nothing is melting though, that just makes a big mess to freeze overnight.

I started digital scrapbooking yesterday and I am really enjoying that. Peter got me a program for Christmas called Scrapbook Factory Deluxe. I also bought my self Digital Scrapbooking for Dummies. I really like how easy this program is to use. I am hoping to get more into it over the next year and maybe start doing things from scratch later this year. Right now I am just using templates and customizing. I told Peter the next thing I am going to want is a good photo quality printer so I can print some of my pages and put them in albums. We picked one out but it's pretty expensive so I think that will be a while.

We ended the year by paying off one of Peter's student loans!! That is such a nice feeling. Our van will be paid off next month and then we plan to adjust our payments for the other loans (national and SK, we paid off BC).

Now I must go and get my kids to bed, on-time.

Till next time,
Rhiannon

Got a hair cut today

2008-01-03T18:29:00.000-07:00

but you can't tell. That's what happens when your hair is down to your waist. It does look much healthier though. I went to a different hair dresser than I normally do and I like this one alot better. It's a little more expensive but she didn't try to talk me into a short cut. The main reason I wanted to go somewhere else. Jessica looked worried when I told her I was going out for a hair cut and looked relieved when I came back with hair. This is the one that doesn't like my hair.

I didn't do much else today. This morning I spent some time cross-stitching and after my hair cut I cross-stitched some more then made supper. We had ham, onion and spinach quiche with a Fresh Express salad. The salad was called Pacifica and had all different kinds of greens as well as carrots, pea pods, sunflower kernals, soya nuts and a poppyseed vinegrette dressing. It was very good. We also had fried mushrooms. Mmmmmm.

Happy New Year!!

2008-01-01T11:37:00.000-07:00

Last night we had our friends Dave and Janeen over for a New Year's Eve supper. It was so nice to have company over. We havn't done that much lately. We stayed up for fire works that we were able to watch from our backyard. The kids loved this. Their daugher, Emma, especially loves fire works. She kept saying that we need more fire to make more fire works. Their son, Ian, who was in the hospital a little while ago is doing really well. He had surgery at the beginning of December to remove a part of his pancreas He has been home now for a couple of weeks after two months in the hospital. He is recovering really well and is off of morphin now but is still on a low fat diet for a while. Here is a picture of him from last night.

Thank you for praying for this young boy and his family. They appreciate all of your prayers.

For the last week we have been sorting toys and reorganizing our play room to make a school area in it. We purchased some desks at Ikea last weekend and finished our room on Sunday. Here's a couple of pictures.

I still have a few things to go on the walls but this is the school area. Kevin's desk will be painted black in the spring time and Alisha's will be painted blue. Our kids are eager to start school again next week.

This is the other end of the room, the play area.

I've never really been much into new year's resolutions but this year we do have a few things we would like to change for the new year. Peter and I need to start dating again. We've been averaging one date a year for our anniversary and this is not enough. We do spend time together at home when the kids are in bed, which is really nice but it's not the same as getting out. Our goal is to have one date a month even if it's just a one hour walk. I need to get out on my own more too and pick up some of my hobbies agian. I've been cross-stitching more lately and have really enjoyed that time. I also need to get to curves more often. I'd like to take the kids out for walks more but the energy to get them all ready is really tiring. That one might wait until spring. We would also like to have people over more. We used to really enjoy having company on Sundays after church but we stopped a few years ago and never started again. We've thought of some families that we'd like to get to know more and plan to invite people over on Sunday's that Peter is off of work.

I hope you all have a great New Year.
Rhiannon

Emily's favorite game.

2007-12-28T14:26:00.000-07:00

A conversation between me and Emily.
Emily "Mom, where my cup?"
Me "I don't know, where is your cup?"
Emily "It in da hallway?"
Me "It's in the hallway?"
Emily "No it in da kitchen."
Me "It's in the kitchen?"
Emily "No, it in da box."
Me "It's in the box?"
Emily "No, it in da playroom."
Me "It's in the playroom?"
Emily "No, it in da..."

This will go on and on until Emily can't think of anymore places that her cup can be. She also does this for snacks. You want a cookie? no cake, no chesse, no cereal... You get the idea. Each time she says no it's in a silly no way, not possible sort of tone.

I'm savouring these moments.

2007-12-26T21:53:00.000-07:00

This is a video of Sean's funny crawl. It's not a great video but you can see how he tucks his leg under his bum when he crawls.

Alpacas

2007-12-26T21:45:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas

2007-12-26T21:29:00.000-07:00

So it's boxing day but I can still say Merry Christmas.

Yesterday we spent the day at a friends farm. We had alot of fun and enjoyed being with another family for Christmas. They have alpacas and the kids had alot of fun seeing those.

Our family is finally over colds and flus after two months of beings sick. What a nice Christmas gift. Sean is over the broncheolitis as well.

I am going to try and post some pics with photobucket. I hope this works.

This is a craft we made a few weeks ago. We sewed a tree on fun foam and added beads and stickers.

The kids.

More of the Alpacas coming. (I hope)

Another Random Update

2007-11-22T16:15:00.000-07:00

We have SNOW!
We had our first snowfall a couple of days ago. It's not much and it's disappearing now but it's still exciting for the kids. And I do prefer the nice clean white look rather than the dull brown scenery of this time of year.

We got out our Christmas decorations yesterday. The kids are very excited and looking forward to Christmas. Alisha wants to buy a present for Sean. I have never thought of having them pick things out for each other but maybe we will try that this year.

School is going really well. We just finished studying Egypt. Kevin and Alisha want to go there and visit King Tut's tomb. He was unveild recently and is now in a glass case where you can see his face and feet. We saw pics online. The kids are fascinated with the mummy's. Tomorrow we start learning about Crete.

Kevin saw the dr. yesterday. His lymph nodes are swollen and have been since July. He had a blood test in August and that was repeated yesterday so the results could be compared. He also has an appointment with a pediatrician in Edmonton in two weeks. This is pretty worrisome for me but I'm trying not to think about it much. Worrying will not change the cause or outcome but I do not know of a cause that is NOT serious. Prepare for the worst but hope for the best. And pray, of course.

We have had the flu already and are now in the midst of colds. Sean has bronchiolitis and is on a nebulizer 4 times a day for a week. The first time he cried and now he does pretty good with it. He has to have the mask on his face for about 5 minutes to inhale all of the medicine and he mostly just sits and plays with the tubing until it is done. I am glad we can do this at home and do not need to go to the hospital so many times.

Our friend, Ian, is still sick. He is home now but will go back to the hospital next week for surgery. The part of his pancrease that is swollen will be cut out. If the surgery goes well he should recover and his pancrease will still work like normal without this piece. He is not eating well right now so that is a concern. Especially right before surgery.

Hope everyone is doing well!
Thanks for reading,
Rhiannon

Meme

2007-10-28T14:45:00.000-06:00

"You have to post these rules on your blog. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you do not have a middle name, choose one you would like to have. When tagged, write your own blog post containing your middle name facts. At the end, choose one person to tag for each letter of your middle name. Then leave them a comment telling them they have been tagged."

I was tagged over a month ago but I'm having a hard time thinking of words. Here's what I can come up with.

E-exciting, with 5 children there is alot of excitement in my home.
I-
L-learning,I am constantly learning new things about my children and parenting,
especially as I homeschool!
E-education, like I said, I homeschool so education is a big part of my life.
E-
N-neat, well I try to be. People keep telling me how organized I am and although I don't think I am THAT organized I do like things to be neat.

Got any suggestions for I and E?

I tag Dana, Denise, Mandy and Aimee.

Update on Ian

2007-10-28T13:50:00.000-06:00

If you have prayed for Ian thank you very much. His family appreciates it. I saw him and his mom, Janeen, on Friday. Ian is doing better but is still very sick. After his cyst was drained another grew. They figured out the cause. He has been diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis. Because of an injury his pancrease is inflamed and the enzymes that should be going to his stomach are going to his intestines, this is the reason for the cyst's. On Friday he had an MRI and what the doctors thought that they would find is a plugged duct. Because of his age they can't put a shunt in like they would in an adult but would actually remove a part of his pancrease. This would not affect his diet though and would not affect insulin production. I have not heard from Janeen since Friday and so I do not know what the results of the MRI were. He will be in hospital for at least another two weeks though. I think that Ian's parents are doing as well as they could be doing in this situation. They are thankful that he is not worse and they know that God is with them. Please continue to pray for them.

Thank you
Rhiannon

What do you do when...

2007-10-21T17:19:00.000-06:00

...all of your children are busy and happy? Well, I know what I could do. I could cross-stitch, work on Jessica's crochet blanket, read, sew, clean. What do I usually do? I usually think about everything I could be doing and wonder what to do. Instead of thinking I am updating my blog. When was the last time I did that anyway? Quite a while I think.

So what has the mills family been up to in the last month and a half?

We took our first family road trip in September. We drove first to Calgary and visited friends from Caronport there. Then we drove to Kelowna and saw more friends. Then to Abbotsford to visit lots of family and lots of friends. It was soo nice to see everyone (well almost everyone, we missed a few people). Peter's parents hosted a family BBQ where the kids got to meet many of Peter's aunts uncles and cousins. We spent some time at my Mom's place, visited the ocean at White Rock and saw my Dad. And, as with all road trips, we drove home.

Peter and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. We had a small date out in Westlock. That was very nice to be out and something that is needed much more often. Unfortunately our babysitter is going to Kenya in the spring so we'll have to take advantage of her services a few times before she goes.

Kevin has started Judo again and is enjoying that very much. Alisha has started tap dance. This girl LOVES to dance, and show off the neat sound her tap shoes make. Jessica has started pre-school and so far that is going good.

We have also gotten back into our school routine since coming home. This coming week we will start studying ancient Egypt. This is something Kevin and I have been looking forward to for a while. Both Kevin and Alisha are doing great with their reading skills. We do need to focus more on writing skills though. They are also enjoying art.

Emily turned 2 years old. She is talking quite alot these days but not always so clearly. She truely is a delightful little girl. She loves to look at books and take care of her dolly's.

And now my kids are all back inside and I see it's just about time to make supper. Here are a few pics and then I must go.

Till next time...

Ok so pictures won't upload you'll have to wait...

A very good friend of mine just called. Could you please pray for her son? His name is Ian and he is two years old. He has been in hospital in Edmonton since Friday with a cyst or absess on his intestines. He has been sick since August but the doctors have just figured out what's wrong. This morning he started getting worse and they did the procedure they were going to do tomorrow today. The doctors are draining the cyst/absess and hope that he won't need surgery. Tomorrow morning he will have an x-ray and then they will decide if he needs surgery or not. He's on IV antibiotics as well. His mom and dad are both in the hospital with him and he has two siblings at home with grandparents. Please pray for their family and that Ian will get better quickly. Nights in the hospital aren't going so well either.

Thanks for reading and for praying and now I really must go.

Thinking...Learning...Changing...

2007-09-10T13:55:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday I was reading Demara's blog and found it very encouraging. She was talking about her weightloss goals and success and gave a bit of a challenge too, or that's the way I read it anyway. From there I went to someone's blog whom I have never met but this woman wrote about how God is speaking to her about certain things and it was a very encouraging blog to read.

As I was reading I thought to my self "this is what I want. This is the kind of relationship I want with God." Then I started wondering why I don't. Well, the fact is, I'm busy. Everybody who knows my family knows that. And everybody who sees me out for a walk with my children likes to remind me of that. But am I too busy for God? Absolutely not. But that is just what I have been telling my self for the last year and more.

I have tried in the past to wake early for quiet times but it seems when I am just really getting into that habit I get pregnant again and I am just too tired. So I sleep, which is not a bad thing after all it takes alot of energy to grow a human inside one self. The bad thing is that I have never made time for God else where in my day. For the last few years I have mostly relied on short moments through out my day for quick prayers. These moments are a very good thing but I am learning that I need to deliberately make time for God each day if I want to see His will done in my life.

As all this was going through my mind I felt like God was whispering to my heart and telling me that there are things He wants to do in my life but He can't until I open up my life more to Him and make that time real by deliberatly planning it. And then, if it doesn't work out, to find time later in my day, every day.

Back to Demara's blog. She ended her post with " And remember, today is a great day to start your new life..."

So today. I am making the decision to pursue a closer relationship with God through prayer, bible study, worship, and time spent in His presence.

I feel shameful that I have treated God this way for soo long. He has been soo good to me and has sustained me and given me the energy to take care of this great family that He has also given me. He has continued to hear and answer my prayers and yet far to often I offer quick prayers without leaving time for Him or reflection of His word.

And yet this God still welcomes me. He has not forgotten me nor foresaken me. He has not turned away and said "oh well she doesn't have time for me now" He has kept persuing me. Wow!! What else can I say? We have an awesome and amazing God.

Kids....

2007-08-29T16:49:00.000-06:00

...grow up way too fast!

Sean had his first food today. And I'm a little sad. We don't plan on having anymore children and Peter has had the surgery to make sure of it, but I am some what mournful. I really would not mind a surprise at all. I've been somewhat hesitant to start Sean on solid food because that means he will not need as much of me. I love nursing and it's not something that I look forward to ending. We made our decision to not have more at a bad time (while I was pregnant) I think that if we had waited and talked about it more we would have more. But, sadly, there is nothing that can be done about that now. I do enjoy every stage that my children are in and have been through and am very thankful for the 5 wonderful kids that I have.

On to other things.

Last week I read The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks. I think I have read it about 10 times in the last week because the kids keep asking me to read it again. This afternoon, while Peter was making lunch, there was steam coming out of the pan from under the lid and Kevin says "that's a lot of water vapor coming out of the pan". Now they are asking me when we will get more Magic School Bus books. Tomorrow we will be in town so maybe we'll have to check out Chapters.

Here are some recent pics.

Sean is rolling over now although he doesn't really like to. He'll look at the blanket for a minute and then roll back over.

Yes, Sean is a thumb sucker but I am really not concerned about it. I have tried giving him a few different kinds of soothers and he doesn't like any of them.

Emily's new favourite outdoor activity is the swings. I have had to pry her fingers off to bring her in.

BUBBLES!! Emily has just learned what these are and she loves them.

I think my family is getting hungry so I better go and make some supper.
Bye for now.
Rhiannon

2007-08-21T21:50:00.000-06:00

Last week we had some company again. Our old neighbours from Saskatchewan were here for three days. They have four kids and Kevin says he will marry one of them, Miriam who is 6. They have been saying this for a few years now. Our visit was wonderful and the kids really enjoyed seeing each other again. I have pics but they are still on the camera so maybe later.

We have officially started our school year now. It's nice to be back into the routine of things again and the kids love it too. I expect this school year to be a little more challenging though. Last year Kevin and Alisha did everything exactly the same and now they are doing different math programs. I decided to switch Alisha from Horizons to Miquon because it is better suited to her learning style. The Horizons approach is teach a lesson and do a worksheet, which works great for Kevin but Alisha really struggles to stay focused. Miquon uses a discovery learning approach which takes alot more one on one time but I think it will be better for her. I am also doing pre-school with Jessica but so far that has been a breeze. She has been so eager to start school that we are already into the third week in just a couple of days. Her comprehension skills are amazing. Kevin and Alisha are doing the same reading and science program. For science we will mainly study water, light and magnets. Today we read The Magic School Bus at the Water Works. This was the first Magic School Bus book that we have read and Kevin loved it. He loves science. Other books we are currently reading are Charlotte's Web, The Usborne Book of Peoples of the World, The Beginner's Bible (Kevin and Alisha are reading this one), Missionary Stories with the Millers and From Akebu to Zapotec. I am really looking foward to our school year.

Summer is over here but my garden isn't quite finished yet. I have alot of green tomatoes and I don't think they are going to get a chance to ripen. Our pumpkins are doing good but alot of them have fallen off of the stems and we're not sure why. I think we have about 5 on there right and we've lost at least 7. We've canned 7 one litre jars and 9 half litre jars of green beans. Some from our garden and some from the farmer's market. I've still got more beans out there too but I don't think there is enough for canning. I might buy more though just because I love green beans. We also canned peaches last week and that turned out good. The leaves on our trees are already turning color and falling. Fall is my favourite season so I really don't mind it coming a bit early. Hopefully this doesn't mean that winter will come early too. I do like winter but an early winter usually means a looong winter and winter is quite long enough here.

Well, it's getting late and I still have things to do so I had better go. I will try and get some pics up soon.

Good Night
Rhiannon

Feeling Lazy Today

2007-08-03T10:28:00.000-06:00

Do you ever have a day when you just can't get going? I've been having alot of those lately. I probably need a day to just hang around and not do much. That sounds good today.

We bought a canner/pressure cooker a few days ago. I have never canned before but I have been eager to try it this year. One thing I was looking forward to was pickling beets but all the beets in my garden died. When I noticed they were wilting even though the ground was still wet (we've had alot of rain this summer) I pulled them out and by the next day they were all moldy. Well I mentioned it to a dear friend and she gave me a bunch of beets from her own garden to pickle so on Tuesday Peter and I made pickled beets! I can't wait to try them in a couple of weeks. Next week while Peter is off for a few days we plan to can green beans. I love canned green beans in the winter. One thing I like about this is Peter and I are doing it together. We each have different hobbies and neither of us is really interested in the others hobby so it's nice to do something together that we both can enjoy.

Plans are coming together for a trip to BC in the fall. We plan to be out for the last two weeks of September and maybe make a few stops on the way to visit friends. I am hoping to stop in Jasper on the way home because I have never been there. Peter also has a friend there so maybe they can catch up a bit. I am really looking forward to seeing some friends and family that we have not seen in years. I am also looking forward to going to Central Heights. We still miss it there. Anyway, I hope you will be around if you live in that area and we can visit.

Here are a few pics from Kevin's and Jessica's birthdays a few months ago.

This is Kevin's birthday cake. He wants to be a pilot and loves planes. He also loves chocolate so that's why he wanted a brown plane.

This is Riley taking a swing at the pinata. This boy has quite a strong arm. I think we would have been hitting this thing for quite a bit longer if he wasn't there.

A friend of mine gave these blocks to the kids a couple of months ago. This is an electricty tower that kevin built.

Jessica's birthday cake. I don't have any good pictures from her party. We did it outdoors and had a BBQ for lunch.

I need to go some laundry. That is unavoidable. And then a movie and popcorn sounds like fun. Some days I think I like veggietales more than the kids do.

Have a fun day!
Rhiannon

A few random photos

2007-07-29T16:14:00.000-06:00

We took the kids to the Jordan World Circus last week. It was alright. I'm not a big fan of the animal acts but I do enjoy watching some of the stunts, although I wish they would use safety nets more often. This man almost fell before he did a hand stand on top of all those chairs. Look closely at what the chairs are resting on.

While walking home one day Kevin was carrying a plastic bag and it caught the wind to fly like a kite. Soo as soon as we got home Kevin found a stick and some dental floss and tied the plastic bag to the string and string to the stick. We have a kite and instant fun. Later on the kids decided to use their "kites" as fishing rods. It's cheap and it's versatile.

Emily is enjoying a plum. She has since learned that she can reach the fruit if she pushes her chair over to the counter. We have found her a couple of times digging in a nectarine or apricot. I'm glad she is enjoying the fruit but it is expensive here too.

This is from the first fishing trip of the year. Kevin caught this one. I think it is a walleye. That's usually what they fish for anyway. Peter and Kevin are out with one of Peter's friends Dave. I don't know if anyone else went along but that is Dave in the background.

Here the kids are watching a storm and Alisha is screaming everytime she here's thunder. We had a couple strong storms in two days. One split a power pole and threw the lines acoss the highway. Hail from this storm ripped some holes in our pumpkin and knocked a tree branch down. So far as I know no one was hurt, just alot of leaves and branches around.

Today it is hot. I don't like the heat. Peter thinks he would like to go further north for our next posting (not for another 3years but he likes to think about it) I'm completely fine with that. Winter doesn't bother me one bit.

Babies calling. Gotta go.

Beach Pictures

2007-07-28T19:14:00.001-06:00

Peter's brother Harley and his wife Charmaine were here a couple of weeks ago. While they were here we went to the beach. Here's a few pics.

Sean, enjoying the shade and the cooler breeze by the lake. It's been pretty hot lately.

Emily swimming in the algae(sp?) water. It looks gross but it's really not that bad.

Kevin is helping Jessica go in a little deeper because she is scared. He is very good big brother.

Alisha loves the water. It was kind of hard to get a picture of her because she doesn't stay in one place for long.

Jessica's beautiful smile. These are hard to catch on film.

We enjoyed our visit with Harley and Charmaine. The kids had alot of fun with them, especially Kevin. The last time they came to visit Peter was in depot and Kevin loved having a guy around to play with. It was obvious that he remembered that and was eager to build lego and do all kinds of stuff with Uncle Harley.

I have quite a few pictures I would like to post. I will plan to do a bit more tomorrow and perhaps I can stop neglecting this blog so much.

Thanks for reading.
Rhiannon

Hello

2007-06-27T15:57:00.000-06:00

So life has been pretty busy lately. I've been thinking about blogging and all the things there are to write about and I tell my self when I have time. But I don't have time so we'll see what I can type in these few quiet minutes.

Some highlights of the last couple of months (in no particular order)

-Kevin turned 7 on April 14. We had a few boys over for a party and had a pinata. That was alot of fun. The boys especially loved being allowed to hit something with a stick.
-Kevin finished Judo for the year and earned his yellow belt.
-For the last two months Kevin and Alisha have been playing minor soccer twice a week. That is over now for the summer. They both got medals for participation last Monday.
-My mom came to visit for a week. She took the picture of our family on the front steps. I have been trying to put this picture on our profile but the changes are never saved even though it says they are. It just keeps going back to that old picture. Any ideas?
-Jessica turned 4 on May 27. We had two families over for a BBQ which went very well. I think that was the hottest day we've had this year at about 28 degrees. It's been a cold spring.
-We planted a vegetable garden that the bugs are quite enjoying. I've had to re-plant my beans after the bugs ate and killed more than a third of them. We also planted rhubarb carrots onions beets pumpkin tomato and potatoes.
-Sean is now 4 months old. He had his 3 month check up today and is just over 17 lbs. He is also sick and had a swab done for RSV. The dr doesn't think that Sean has RSV but they always test anyway. He's got a pretty bad cough and a mild wheeze.
-Emily is now sleeping in a toddler bed so that Sean can move to the crib. He is getting to big for the craddle. Emily is also sick and is extra tired so this has helped with the switch to a bed. She's too tired to complain much.
-Jessica was re-assessed for her speech therapy and while she has improved alot over the last year she is still quite behind. In October she will start attending a pre-school class for children with special needs. It is called a PREP program. She will work one on one with a speech therapist and in a group with other kids her age and older than her. She will also do some activities with the regular pre-school class and kindergarden class. I am not sure how will this will go with homeschooling the others but we will see. I do enjoy homeschooling as well as the kids and plan to continue.

I can't think of much else right now. I know there's lots but the days pass so quickly it's hard to remember everything. Sometimes I wish I could slow things down a bit and enjoy my little ones longer but I also look forward to the day when I change the last diaper. Children are precious.

Thanks mandy and aimee for your comments. Nice to hear from you demara. Where can I find your blog? I've been on it once a long while ago but I'm not sure how I got there.

That's all for now. I'll try and update more regularly as we get back into a routine. I also have some pitures I'd like to post soon.

God Bless You All
Rhiannon

2007-06-08T21:01:00.000-06:00

2007-06-07T21:28:00.000-06:00

This is long but it is very good. Originally posted here http://www.themarriagebed.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=23560

Enjoy!

Creation Hymn

Nothing. There is no thing and no one to share it with. It cannot be explained, but You are all that is. And all that ever was. You did long ago, in this place where time is meaningless, create these Servants, these Spirit-Beings you call ‘Messengers.’ But they, as yet, have little to do. They stand near you, awaiting Your orders, for they are to be a part of something far greater that only You could imagine. For there is a need in You, a need as big as The Void that is just beyond this place, begging You to fill it. It is a Desire that permeates Your entire Being; Your very existence demanding that there be Others who can benefit from Who You are. Others who will want to commune with You, willingly and gladly and in turn receive from You all the Good and Pleasurable things that are in You to give. Others who, like You, will exist to the benefit of Others. Others to whom You can be God. You imagine these others as Children. Created reflections of Yourself, but possessing in corporeal bodies that which is unique in You. Children that You imagine dwelling in a beautiful, wondrous place filled with all kinds of whimsical and extraordinary things that interact with them to fulfill all the desires that you will give them of playing, exploring, creating and learning. A place that will not only shelter and feed them, but will be friendly to their every need. For You imagine this place evolving with them, growing and changing as they do, stimulating them to learn from the deeper things that You will hide for them to discover. It will be a place designed for work as well as play. A place that will inspire them to self-expression, a place that will excite them with possibilities, a place that will reveal to them Who You are and kindle in them an ever increasing respect for You. A place where You can provide for them an eternity filled with joy and satisfaction. Your heart races now, as You and Your eternal companion, Wisdom, contemplate the Universe that You are going to have to create - and then bend, to serve in their Home’s construction and maintenance. Your imagination soars as you meticulously plan out all the delicate and obscure details that will infuse every thing You make with meaning. Things especially designed to awaken Your Children to all that You Yourself are aware of. For You intend that they alone, among all You will create, will be just like You, knowing Good from Evil and delighting in doing Good. Now, at last, after an eternity of thinking and planning, You begin to lay the foundation of All Things, creating a New Reality where, for the first time, Spirit and Substance can co-exist. The Angels watch spell bound now as You begin Your Work. Hydrogen and Oxygen are created first, ex nihilo. And as they bond together upon the instant of their creation, they form a massive sphere of pure water which will be the raw material from which everything else will come. Your Spirit now hovers, fluttering over this sphere like a mother bird that will soon flutter around its nest. The water polarizes in response to Your energy, creating a powerful magnetic field through the center of this immense sphere that begins heating it. And as these intense, newly created lines of flux reach into The Void and encounter Your active Spirit, the sphere begins rotating. Slowly at first and then as You gradually increase the energy in Your fluttering it begins spinning faster and faster till it achieves a pre-determined velocity. And in that instant, when the conditions are optimal, You call loudly into the sphere, creating a potent sound wave that pressurizes and collapses the center of the sphere, igniting it: “LET THERE BE LIGHT!” The Light spreads quickly throughout this very great deep, illuminating the sphere and shining out into the darkness. Darkness that can’t help but retreat as, for the first time, it comes face to face with its more powerful antithesis: Light. A pre-determined interval has now elapsed and You take a moment to examine everything You’ve just created. You name the retreating darkness ‘Night’ and the advancing light you name ‘Day’. You establish this division into a cycle, solemnizing this interval into an evening and a morning you call ‘The First Day’. And satisfied that all is as You intended, You say to Yourself, “This is all good!” Immediately, as the first interval ends and the next interval begins, You speak to the water again causing another kind of reaction deep inside this colossal, rotating sphere. This time a thin, spherical layer of metallic hydrogen begins to form that you call ‘The Firmament’. And as this firmament forms and gathers around itself, hovering in the intense magnetic field, it divides the water into two layers, making a place for the water ‘below’ to gather separate from the water ‘above’. You then name this ‘vault’, formed by the firmament and spread out like an arch above the water below, ‘Heaven’. And as another interval, another evening and morning come to an end, You again pause to look with satisfaction on what You’ve made and say to Yourself “This is all good!” Now plunging joyfully back into Your Work, You speak again to the water below causing ‘The Dry Land’ to appear and by separating it from the remaining water, which You now call ‘The Sea’, You form ‘The Earth’ with an atmosphere of air that is wholly contained and pressurized within this firmament, this remarkable shell that will act as a shield to protect The Earth and it’s soon inhabitants, playing an integral part in illuminating and re-energizing it. Again You pause a moment to inspect all You’ve created so far and again You say to yourself, “This is all good!” You now take the remainder of this Day and fill The Earth richly with all manner of grasses and herbs and flowering plants and seed bearing trees, causing the water stored in the widespread network of underground caverns to seep up to the surface and form a mist that will keep The Dry Land of The Earth moist. This Third Day now comes to its end and before another begins You again examine all that You’ve made and say to Yourself “This is all good!” Now as the next Day begins, You turn Your attention to the water that is spread out above the firmament. Light has brought with it a singular new thing called ‘Time and Space’ and You begin this Day of Work by stretching out this ‘Space-Time’ like a fabric. You then make from the water above two very singular sources of light with the lesser light of the two reflecting the greater light of the other. You also make from the water an uncountable number of very powerful but distant lights arranging all these lights, as You place them on this fabric, so that they will not only provide energy and illuminate The Earth but will assist those who will soon dwell here in marking the passage of a singular new thing called, ‘Time’. This time though, as the Fourth Day progresses to its end, the Angels, who have been watching spellbound up to this point, suddenly erupt into a song and clap there hands with glee for seeing the beauty of the light in the Sun and Moon and all these stars and the planets. Happily, you receive their joy as once more You inspect all you’ve made and say to Yourself, “This is all good!” Your creative energy is flowing freely now as the Fifth Day begins and You direct Your attention to The Sea. You’re delighted as You finally begin to make all of the fantastic creatures You had dreamed of making as You planned out this Creation. Soon, The Sea is populated with all manner of life, from gigantic whales and fishes and above them all, the awe-inspiring Leviathan, to the tiniest creatures that can’t even be seen. You then turn Your attention to The Earth’s sky and begin filling it with all kinds of fantastic birds and huge flying reptiles, enabling upon command, all You’ve made in ocean and sky to reproduce and fill The Earth with life. Your Work is nearing completion as this Day too draws to a close and Your satisfaction is tremendous as You pause once more to examine all You’ve made. In five day’s time You’ve created a beautiful, incredibly detailed, finely-tuned and intricately balanced Universe, designed not only to sustain Your children for an eternity but engross them forever with all the Wonders and Mysteries that came from You and Wisdom in creating it. And once again You say the only words that can truly convey how You feel, “This is all good!” So, here it is at last. The time for completion, the sixth day, has come. The moment is right. Everything has been prepared and now, with great anticipation and with great excitement, You bring forth, from the elements of The Earth, the reason for all of Your Creation, Your son... He is so like you in every way, both inside and out; the very Image of You. And yes, he’s so handsome, so very beautiful. You heart swells with pride to see him lying there and with joy in Your every Breath You impart to him a Rare and Incredible Gift indeed; You give him of Your own Spirit, You put into him Your own Personal Life-Force. A thing unknown to all You’ve made so far. He stirs after and in him You see the deep desire of Your heart beginning to be fulfilled, in him You see the potential to, at last, have someone beyond Yourself who willingly chooses to love You and to appreciate You for Who You are and what You’ve accomplished in creating all this for him. As his eyes flutter open, he sees You for the first time and fully aware of Who You are and who he is, he immediately, joyfully, embraces You and Your heart thrills to feel his affection pouring out freely from his heart, like water, as You return his embrace. You begin speaking to him first and say, “I am giving you your name, My son. You will be called ‘Adam’ for you are A Man, made of the elements of The Earth. And in you, by means of your blood and My Spirit, Life and Self-awareness exist together. You are a Living Soul.” And watching him as You speak, You see reflected in his face the worshipful adoration he feels as comprehension enters him for this Precious Gift You’ve given him and You feel deeply satisfied. You now turn Your attention to the eastern part of The Dry Land and after planting a special garden there You turn to the Man and say, “Come with me Adam, I have something to show you.” The canopy above begins to brighten, filling The Earth with a diffuse glow, as You and he walk through the entrance of this garden together. You watch as his eyes go wide with wonder and You say to him happily, “I have planted this garden, here, in the Eastern portion of The Dry Land just for you. The Dry Land I will now call ‘Eden’, for in this place are all of the delightful things I have made.” And as You walk with him and talk to him, watching him with joy as he takes it all in, You guide him to where two exceptional trees are growing near the bank of a river that runs through the center of the garden, the same river that, outside the garden, divides into the Four Rivers that run through the rest of Eden. You watch him as he takes notice that each of these trees has an amazing fruit hanging from their branches. You then get his attention and he listens intently to You as You speak. “Son, this tree, here, in the middle of this garden, is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Next to it is the Tree of Life.” “Now, listen to me carefully. I have made all these things for you,” You say, waving Your arm to encompass the whole garden, “The fruit of the seed bearing trees and the herbs of the field are for your food and you may eat as much as you desire, for there will always be plenty.” You pause here a second and draw a breath as You emphasize the importance of what you are about to say. And as he turns from looking around at the garden to look at You, You meet his eyes and continue. “But, of the fruit of this tree,” You say, pointing to one of the trees and punctuating the air with Your finger, “the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, you may not eat its fruit.” You pause again, watching him, letting what You have just said fill his mind and then lowering Your arm You continue. “I can offer no other explanation to you at this time, than to say that in the day you eat of it you will cease to exist as you now are, you will surely die.” Wonderingly he gazes at You and You see in his eyes he has no intention of doubting You and You wonder to Yourself if this trust is strong enough to endure… Reflecting on this and why things must be done this way, You know that this fruit will do what You created it to do, it will awaken in them the very knowledge You have of Good and Evil. You also know that a time of testing is going to come soon enough. But, what You don’t know is; will they choose to trust You when tested and thus be allowed to eat the fruit afterward, with Your permission, letting their newly acquired virtue work with the fruit in awakening them? Or will they choose to gain this knowledge with disobedience, infecting the work of the fruit with guilt as it does what it was created to do? You must hide from them the great personal risk You are taking through this process because You know that for them to be aware, as You are aware, they must be completely free to choose. For inherent in the knowledge of Good and Evil is the responsibility to choose to be Good. And for innocence to manifest this virtue it must be put to the test. Will they, then, choose to be virtuous? Or will they choose to be selfish? It is a simple rule and the only restriction placed on them. But it is a restriction that, if followed, will ultimately prove to be their awakening to an understanding of the Universe equal to Your own in creating The Earth for them. An understanding that will allow them to commune with You at that level and to be deeply appreciative of everything You have done. The ultimate satisfaction for You. And one that will prove to be nothing but good for them for all eternity. For You intend to give to them, flowing out like a river, all the pleasures You have at Your Right Hand, forever. You now lead him away from there and for the next few hours You and he continue talking and walking in the garden. You watch him closely as his newly created senses feed his hungry mind and he responds to all the things in this place and to all the things You are saying. You answer his many questions and tell him all about the things he sees and about what he must do to dress them and tend to them and help them grow. You watch as his comprehension increases exponentially and You notice, gladly, that there is also a kind of sadness creeping into him. For as he begins examining his own body and his own thoughts he is awakened to the knowledge that he was made for something more than just to walk and talk and eat and learn. You know very well what he is feeling for You have felt it Yourself; a longing, long unsatisfied; a desire to share Yourself with another that doesn’t even yet exist. “Father,” he says, “I feel alone.” At last! Someone apart from You who feels as You do! Just as You had hoped! He has awakened to the desire You wanted him to feel! He knows what it’s like to be the only one of a kind, to be alone! But preparing his heart to receive what You have in mind to satisfy this need will take even more creative effort. So sitting him down near You, You say, “No, Adam, it’s not good for you to be alone, so I am going to make for you an ‘ezer kenegdo.” Now, as he watches, You begin to make, from the elements of The Earth, all kinds of wonderful beasts, large and small and all manner of creeping things. And as each one is newly made, You bring them to him and tell him to give a name to each. He begins naming them as quickly as You can bring them till many hours have passed and the place is teeming with new life, surrounding him and delighting him. But the final hours of the day are closing and the canopy above begins to dim a little as You tell him that You are finished. All the animals and creeping things You intended to make are made and as You say this he looks at You questioningly. “Father,” he says, “You have created all these wonderful things in pairs, calling them Male and Female. You have made each with a mate that is fitted to the other. Yet I am made Male and I have no mate. Is this why I still feel alone?” “Yes, it is,” You say. “And now that you are aware of this and know that nothing now here is suitable to be A Strength Equal To You then you also know that I have always intended to make for you a Female to meet that need. I am now going to take from you one of your ribs and fashion from it your mate. Sleep now, My son and when you awaken you will see the one I have in My heart to make just for you.” You then cause a deep sleep to descend upon him and as he is lying on the soft grass, You reach into him and bloodlessly remove from him one of his ribs, closing over the opening with flesh. You then form, from this rib, a singular being of unsurpassed beauty among all You’ve made. She is Your daughter, yes, but also Your son’s sister; his Counterpart and A Help Against Him; his well-fitted equal and his mate. She is the final act and the crown of glory on all of Your creation. A being of unparalleled grace and symmetry, rapturous to behold, with an intellect equal to her brother, yet, with an outlook opposite, but also complimentary to, his. She also has a strong desire to please and a desire to be known that will bond them together, intimately, as You, their Father, are bonded together among Yourself. For passed on through her brother Adam, she has also received Your Breath, Your Life-Force, Your Spirit. So, as she awakens, she too is fully aware of who You are and who she is and upon seeing You, she also pours out her affection in an all-enveloping embrace, which You joyously return. Deeply satisfied now to see all You’ve hoped and planned for coming to fruition You tell her, “My daughter, there’s someone I would like you to meet.” When Your daughter sees Adam lying there, she gasps to recognize him as one of her own kind, yet… different… and watches intently as You rouse him from his sleep. He sees You first as he wakes and he smiles. And standing up to look around, he then sees this being similar to himself, yet very different, standing somewhat timidly behind You, staring intensely at him. Their eyes meet and suddenly His heart leaps! And seeing a look of admiration reflected in her eyes as she steps from behind You to take him in, he recalls the words You spoke and exults in a joyful and insightful double entendre as You present her to him: “This is bone of my bone And flesh of my flesh! She shall be called Woman For she was taken out of Man!” Delighted now to see their joy You reveal to them all You have in Your heart. “Now,” You tell them, “you are complete. This one you call Woman, your sister, I give to you as your wife. She is fit well to you and will benefit you and complement you; she is your ‘ezer kenegdo’.” * “So, listen now, my children, to what I have to say. I have split the Essence of Myself between you and between you have given you My ability to create Living Souls. Therefore, for the cause of this very powerful Sexuality I have created in you and in order that all things be kept proper, your male children, when they come of age, must leave their father and mother and each man of you will take a sister to wife and will cling to her and her alone and in becoming One Flesh they will know each other.” “Therefore I want you to take charge, the two of you, over all I have created. All the creatures in the oceans and all the creatures on the land and in the air are yours. Rule them well.” “Learn about each other and when the time is right, you will bear children. Fill The Earth then with your offspring and beginning with your wife, my son, teach them well all I have taught you this day.” You then watch as naked before You, they embrace each other and kiss, freely and unashamedly, for the very first time. And as the moment swells with joy, the happy sounds of the garden and the glad Celestial Music, like ethereal wind chimes, are all any hear. “This is all so good!” You say, grinning broadly as the canopy dims further and evening comes on. “Everything I intended to make is made! And as I look at it, I see that it is all very, very good!” Turning now to look at You, with gratitude in their hearts for You and love in their eyes for each other, You continue speaking to them. “Therefore, My children, as this day comes to an end and a new day begins I declare that this, the seventh day, is Holy, set apart for all eternity. For six days you will work at tending this place, just as I have taught you, but on the seventh day you will rest. For as I took six days to create it and am now going to rest from My work, so shall you also do.” “I will be gone when you wake, but I will visit you often to see how you are doing. So, go now, find sleep and in the morning you will awaken to the first dawning on all I have made, a Sabbath Day indeed.” ~ Here now, at the beginning, everything has started grandly. You peek in on them lovingly, like any proud Father, delighted as they begin their days together tending to the garden. A task necessary to keep things orderly but an easy and enjoyable one. For everything, all the animals and all the trees and all the plants, each of them desiring their new master’s touch, is elated to be in their presence. The rest of their time each day is spent playing and swimming and resting or experimenting and exploring, tasting all You have made and seeing that You are Good. And yes, play follows work, here in the garden, just like love follows touch. So it is that they often find themselves spending time learning what it means to be Husband and Wife as they eagerly and joyfully and with increasing adeptness, learn how to give pleasure to and receive pleasure from, each other. And as the days accumulate You begin spending even more time with them, most every day now, walking and talking with them, thrilled as You listen to them telling You of all the wonders they have found. You feel immense satisfaction to see their happiness as they share with You their excitement in discovery as they investigate everything You made, learning from it till they are exhausted. Feeling satisfied then, at the beginning of each new day, they lay next to each other, head on chest or arm in arm, innocent and free as they watch, together, the beautiful, brightly lit, pink sky slowly dimming and the ever-bright stars coming out to tell their story in the subtle twilight that will last till dawn. They listen to the enchanting Celestial Music that filters through to them, mingling with the conversations of the evening creatures and filling the air everywhere with beautiful, ever-changing sounds as they turn, first the one and then the other, to see that the love they feel is reflected in their companion’s face. And gazing intensely now into each others eyes, one thought following another as each touch once more guides them on, they joyfuly make love before falling asleep in the soft, comfortable grass of the Garden of Delights You planted right in the middle of the place You call The Earth, set itself in the middle of an intricate and boundless Universe that You created just for them. ~ You are aware that The Satan, Your adversary, the one from among the Angels who first tested Your authority in the Before-Time, is on the prowl. You know his hatred for You will lead him to try to destroy what You have made by tempting Your children to rebel against You. A thing that You dread, but know must be allowed to happen. And knowing also that they will only have one chance at making the right decision, the correct choice that will sustain them and their eventual offspring in this place for all time, more aware than they can imagine, You reflect on Your Contingency Plan. A Plan that involves Yourself as its Key Player and Executioner. A Plan that will be necessary to reclaim them from the damage that will be done should they make the wrong choice. Because You know that if the wrong choice is made, the damage will be far, far beyond their ability to repair by themselves. Yes, that day eventually arrived, as You knew it would and through the calculated lies of the enemy of their souls they are put to the test… and fail. ~ “Where are you my children?” You call, while visiting them in the cool of this day… but there is no answer. You call again. “Adam! Where are you?!?” But still, there is no answer and now You know that they are hiding from You and You begin to wonder if the testing had come. You keep on calling, knowing that they will soon have no choice but to show themselves, for You are not going away till they do. When they do finally step from behind the trees into the glade where You are standing, You see immediately that the worst has happened. The pitiful thing of leaves they have covered themselves with breaks Your heart because You know, as they now do, that they can’t go back. “What is this You are wearing?” You ask. “Why are you covering yourselves and hiding from Me?” Your son hesitates as he answers, tempted to try and lie, but realizing that the evidence was plain, he decides to tell the truth. “I heard you calling… and… I am hiding… because I’m ashamed to be naked” “Who told you that you are naked?” You ask, “Did you eat the fruit I told you not to?” You watch as your son’s face turns from shame to anger and not willing to admit anymore to You, he points his finger at his wife and spitting in rage he says, “It’s her fault! This woman YOU gave to me, she made me do it! SHE gave me the fruit…” his voice then trails off and his hand slowly drops as he recalls standing passively beside her, watching her being tempted and what his own thoughts were in hearing the words of the serpent, “and I… I… I ate it” Your heart is now broken completely in two. The effect is complete. Blame and guilt have now entered into the Universe. Sin has been introduced and nothing will be the same again, for a very, very long time. Sadly then, You turn to Your daughter and ask gently, “Is this true what he says? Tell me, what have you done?” Glaring at her brother, her husband and her lover, recalling the approving look in his eyes as the serpent spoke and remembering thinking that she was pleasing him in what she was doing, she is stung to the heart by his blame and accusation. And feeling, for the first time, abandoned and unprotected for having her guilt exposed with his harsh words, tears well in her eyes and becoming angry she refuses to allow the blame on just herself demanding, “I was tricked! The serpent… it tricked me into eating the fruit… and breaking YOUR rule!” Your heart sinks from the words You have just heard because now it is filled with heaviness from knowing what You must now do. For the entire Universe and especially this Earth that You labored on with all Your heart, must now be altered to counteract their failure. The fruit has done its work. They are now aware, as You are aware, what Good and Evil are, but, sadly for them, they have chosen to get this knowledge the wrong way. The final work then, that permission would have made pure, is now corrupted. But first, You call to the serpent, Your adversary’s current disguise, who has been standing behind a tree, with a look of triumph in his eyes, watching gleefully as his handiwork unfolds before him and grinning widely, he walks up to You. You speak to him first and as You speak, Your son and daughter watch horrified as Your Word transforms him before their very eyes. “Because you have done this,” You say grimly, “you are cursed above any animal I have created!” His head shrinks to less than a third its size and his legs and arms shrink to nothing even as You speak. “You will crawl upon your belly from now on!” His tongue, the thing that targeted the temptation to Your daughter, changes into a forked, slithering, grotesque caricature as You finish Your curse. “And you will eat dust forever!” Now, watching the serpent writhing under Your curse, You take a deep breath as You prepare to put Your Contingency Plan into effect. Turning now to look at Your son and daughter and catching their petrified gaze, they stare dumbfounded at You as You look straight into their eyes while addressing Your words to the slithering serpent. “HEAR ME!” You say, Your Voice a thunder, shaking The Earth “I will put hatred and fear between you and The Woman, between your seed and Her Seed, between those whom you will win with your lies and the Chosen One that she will bear. You will strike at His heel, wounding Him with your Poison, but after, HE WILL TURN AND STOMP YOUR CURSED HEAD INTO THE DUST!” “…Into the dust!” The words echo through the garden fading into silence. Silence. Unnatural, eerie, silence. For the very first time there is utter silence in the garden, as if the Universe itself were stunned to hear Your Word. And as You listen to the silence, You breathe out a long sorrowful sigh, knowing full well what you have just committed Yourself to doing. But it’s not over. For now comes, for You, the hardest part. With tears of sadness running down Your cheeks from the terror You see in Your children’s eyes, You begin to speak to them, pronouncing very hard, but necessary words over them that, ultimately, are for their own good. For through this curse You know You will be able to delay, as much as possible for now, till You can realize Your Plan, what will eventually lead You to have to annihilate The Earth. “My daughter,” You say somberly, “I am now going to enable you to conceive. However your children will now come forth with dreadful and anguishing spasms of pain. And, because of your turning, the satisfaction you sought for and found in your husband will now turn against you, frustrating you, because your desires are intimately linked to what your husband wants and because of this, he will now rule over you.” Sadly then, as You finish speaking these words, You and Adam watch as she puts her head in her hands and bitterly, uncontrollably, sobs aloud. It’s rending Your heart to watch the realization dawning on her for what she has done but You must maintain Your composure as You turn to Your son, who turns from looking woefully at his wife to look at You and say, when his eyes meet Yours, “Because you did not listen to Me to do what I said, but instead, listened to the voice of your wife, I am going to curse The Earth for your benefit. It will no longer be responsive to you but will, instead, frustrate you. You will have to extract your sustenance from it through hard, backbreaking labor for it will now become to you, an adversary. You will therefore work hard all your life, just for you, your wife and your children to have bread to eat. And when you die, for you will now certainly die, you will all return to the dust from which I made you.” The necessary words now spoken, Your son hangs his head for understanding the bitterness he must now endure and You watch him knowingly as quietly, silently and secretly, he fights against his tears. Yet, even now… even now… with all that has just happened, You look at them hopefully as Adam embraces his sobbing wife. And in a moment of tenderness, with love and sympathy in his heart for the realization of what the curse will mean to his precious wife, he says, in an only slightly broken voice, “Take courage, my love, for you now have your name. You will be called ‘Eve’ for from you will all Life Spring.” Now, watching them with renewed optimism in Your heart, You allow the moment to pass before speaking again. “Children,” You now command, “come closer.” At the sound of Your voice, reality comes flooding back on them and they raise their heads to look at You. And as they obey, breaking their embrace to walk toward You, they avoid looking at each other as they try, unsuccessfully, to wipe their tears away on their own. They then see, as they approach, coming out of the thicket behind You, two of Your most darling and innocent creations; two beautiful, soft, woolly rams. And as they pause and gaze at them a small smile plays upon their lips as their minds are filled with remembering the play they had, chasing them around the hills… and when they decided to stop running and let themselves be ‘caught,’ how wonderful it felt to bury their faces in the soft wool… and how their funny, bleating sounds made them laugh. They remembered also how sometimes they would lie next to any one of them, tired from a morning’s work, napping against their soft bellies… “Watch me children now and learn!” You say to them harshly as You pick up a large piece of flint and striking it repeatedly against a rock with another rock, You form on it a sharp edge and a handle. Your children are watching You in unknowing anticipation as You walk up to the first young ram, which looks up at You, his Maker, trustingly. Your children’s eyes go wide and their mouths drop open in stupefied horror as they watch You drop down on one knee and quickly grabbing the ram’s head with one hand You pull it back sharply while, in the same motion, You take the knife in Your other hand and with its terrible cutting edge, You slit open wide the throat of the ram. You then drop the knife and using both hands, You gently but firmly hold it close to You while holding its head back as it writhes, it’s precious and bright-red life blood silently spewing… then bubbling out, staining forever the floor of the once pristine Earth. When the blood is drained and this ram is dead, You gently, with sorrow apparent in Your every move, lay it down and then, picking up the tainted knife, You walk purposely up to the other and do the very same thing to it. And as this ones blood spills out onto the ground You tell Your children, “I must be the One to make for you a suitable covering because you cannot adequately cover yourselves. Learn then from this to sacrifice, for your sake, for the sins which you will commit.” And taking the dead animals, You skin them as Your children watch, each now standing frozen in shock to see this bloody carnage and for knowing that they are to blame. You clean and fashion the skins into the needed tunics as they watch and handing them to Your son and daughter, You say, “This is what you need to wear from now on. Go and put them on.” And as they accept the skins from You, their bodies now responding mechanically to Your commands, the reality of what they have done begins to fully impact their minds as they move apart, each hiding behind a tree, grateful to be alone as they clumsily learn to put them on. When they return, ugly in their unnatural coverings, they overhear You talking among Yourself and stopping nearby, but not to near, waiting meekly for You to address them, they listen intently as You talk. “Yes,” they hear You say, “they are like Us now, knowing Good and Evil… and now if they should reach for and eat the fruit of the Tree of Life and live forever…” You then turn suddenly to them and say, “Children! You must leave this garden! You can never enter it again!” And as You walk deliberately toward them, noting surprise and… yes… yes… the look, also, of a new and virulent idea dawning in their faces, You grab them each by the shoulder and turning them around, You push them ahead of You, driving them out. And as You pass hurriedly out of the entrance, with them stumbling a little in front of You, Angelic Guards suddenly appear and a terrible, wondrous sword, turning every which way, appears also, blocking the entrance and striking tremendous fear into the hearts of Adam and Eve so that they and anyone else, will never dare to approach the entrance to this now forbidden garden ever again. After allowing them a time to catch their breath and to let the realization of what has just happened settle fully into them, You speak to them directly and with great sadness, one last time. “Good-bye for now, My children,” You say to them, “I must leave you here and you will not see Me like this again. But, I will be back. And on that day I will make everything right. Remember and learn from what I said to the serpent and pass it on to your children. Teach them also to trust in Me and to sacrifice for their sins as I have taught you. And know this above all; even though you will no longer see Me, I am still here and I will always be watching over you and over them and that I love you all very, very much.” I dedicate this to my very good ‘friends’, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, who got me thinking. And to my own precious wife, who encourages me. And an extra special thanks to Dr. Carl Baugh of the Creation Science Museum in Glenn Rose, Texas for his inspiring Creation in Symphony video series. And to the late Henry M. Morris II, founder of the Creation Science Institute, to whom we all owe thanks. * ‘ezer kenegdo is very difficult to translate into English. “A Help, meet for him,” with the Old English meaning for meet, that is, ‘precisely matched,’ is the usual translation. But, as time has gone on, the meaning has been further insulated in modern translations to read, “A help-mate,” implying that she holds a somewhat inferior position. And inferior is not what Jehovah created a Woman to be! The phrase has been translated by the ancient Jewish sage, Rashi, to read, “A help against him” He then explains this by saying, “If Adam is worthy, then she will be a help (ezer). If he is not worthy, then she will be against him (kenegdo) for strife.” This ancient translation holds true while, at the same time, modern archeological work indicates that, “a strength (or power) equal to him” is also an equally valid interpretation of ‘ezer kenegdo'. Adam’s double entendre, at first seeing this Female, emphasizes that he understood both of these ideas and shows the great joy he had in this realization. The best single English word we have, then, that can sum up this remarkable creation is that she is his “Counterpart” with it’s attendant idea that she is ‘uniquely fitted’ to be both his ‘complement’ and his ‘foil’; an ‘Help’ or an ‘Adversary’, benefiting both him and herself, eithier way, simply by being herself. And this was intended to hold true in all areas of their combined being; the spiritual, the intellectual, the emotional and most especially in the area where all these things intersect, the sexual. The Woman is, indeed, ‘a strength equal to’ The Man, but, nonetheless, it was she who was created to be his partner, not the opposite. This makes the curse pronounced on Eve to read more like a prediction. For when she allowed herself to be turned by the serpent’s lies, the good desire in her to be an ‘ezer kenegdo' for Adam was then turned into a dependency (which leads to frustration) on Adam, who is now a frustrated and fearful man himself, with a very real curse to deal with on his satisfaction, The Earth. One need only look at the fatal history of women in this sinful world and their response to it, Feminism, to see how horribly distorted the beautiful reality has become of shared and equal rule that Jehovah intended for us to exercise together, as Husbands and Wives, over each other and over creation.

2007-04-09T12:35:00.000-06:00

I've been wanting to post for a while but it seems when I have time I don't have the mental energy to think. Right now Emily is sleeping and the older ones are outside playing (in the rain) and Sean is sleeping on me so I'll see how much I can write before I need to go.
Peter is back at work now. I am missing the help but I think he is glad to be back at work. I know they are glad to have him back too. We did get one date while he was off. We went to see Confessions in Westlock. It was a music/drama production put on by Canadian Lutheran Bible Institute. It was very well done and we enjoyed the evening out. Since I am bad at describing things I won't try to but there is a very good description of it on consideringlilies blog. I was also able to finish a few craft projects that have been almost done for too long. I finished quilting two cross-stitch's, one that I started when I was pregnant with Kevin and one that I did while Peter was in training. I also finished crocheting a very small afghan (big enough for one lap) that I started last winter.
Life is starting to get back to routine. Kevin and Alisha have finished this years reading program and we've started the next one. School is still going well and I am starting to plan next year. Jessica's speech is still improving but it is slow. I've started teaching her the alphabet by the sounds the letters make instead of the names of the letters and that has been helping a bit. She really wants to do school work too so this is one thing we can do together.
Sean is doing really well. He is sleeping very well and often sleeps for 8-9 hours at night. I'm beginning to sleep a better too. I had been having alot of weird dreams and a few night mares but they've mostly stopped now.
Anyway, I am going to go and put Sean down. I'm beginning to feel a gurgle in my tummy so I had better try and eat while it's peaceful. Here's a few recent pictures.

Emily will sit here for half an hour and just look at books. She loves to sit with me and kids to read too and is starting to bring us books.
Jessica and Sean.

Emily thinks Seans new toy is for her. It's actually made for toddlers too so I don't mind so much. She leaves it alone when he is sitting in it and doesn't get jealous.

Father Son Time

2007-03-10T14:15:00.000-07:00

Peter took Kevin to a father/child RC race this morning. They both had alot of fun racing around obstacle courses and Kevin came home with the first prize in his age group!

He is happier than he looks in this picture. I think he is just pictured out and determined not to smile.
Our house was a little noisier than usual while Kevin showed the girls what he could do with his new toy.

The Siblings

2007-03-06T11:13:00.000-07:00

Kevin is especially happy to have a brother. He already talks about playing lego and video games with Sean when he is older.

The kids are all adjusting very well to having a new baby. Jessica constantly asks where he is and Alisha wants to hold him all the time. I don't think Emily really understands whats going on but she is showing no signs of jealousy. However she does come to me for a cuddle as soon as I put him down. She seems so big now.

2007-03-05T13:10:00.000-07:00

Sean is 2 days old in these pictures and very alert.

Playing with daddy

My welcome home sign. Peter took this picture before I came home. He also had blue balloons taped around the door. The drawing to the right of the word "and" is by Kevin and the two on the bottom are by the girls. Peter drew the flower. The kids were all very excited to have us come home.

Sean Wesley Mills

2007-03-01T17:05:00.000-07:00

Sean Wesley was born at 12:38am on February 28, missing his due date by only 38 minutes! Both of our boys were born one day late. Labour was good, only 3.5hrs long with about a half hour or so of pushing. It was longer than the girls but shorter than Kevin's. Sean weighed 8lbs and 5oz and was almost 20inches long. He is doing very well. He's a natural breast feeder and loves to eat and sleeps very well. We are both home now.

2007-02-27T20:23:00.000-07:00

My appointment went well today but I am still at home. I am 4cm now so all I need are the contractions and then we can get on with this. I also went for a non stress test and baby is doing well in there. My doctor said if I am still pregnant in a week he will induce me. I have never been induced and I don't really want to know what it's like but I would really hate to go that far over too.
So we are waiting waiting waiting....................
Other than that everything is going well, kids are well, Peter's working, and life is pretty routine.

2007-02-27T13:39:00.000-07:00

Today is my due date and no baby yet. I have a doctor's appointment in an hour and I am kind of hoping he'll tell me I'm 5 or 6 cm dialated (I sure feel like it) and he'll meet me at the hospital to break my water and get this going. I am starting to get worried about the size of this baby. We tend to have big kids but when they're late...that's worse.
If I'm home tonight I'll tell ya what the doctor says.
Rhiannon

2007-02-24T13:51:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday. The only day I DO NOT want to have this baby. So far no signs of labour so that's good. I saw the doctor last thursday and he said I am 3 cm dialated and he stripped my membranes but obviously nothing has happened. It's so close to March now that I am kind of hoping I will have the baby in March and then all of our birthdays will be in a different month.

Today has been a good day so far. I got to sleep in this morning and Peter made french toast just for me when I got up. Alisha is at a birthday party and Kevin is at the neighbours so the house is pretty quiet. It's really nice and sunny out too. If there wasn't so much snow it would be nice to go and sit outside but there is no where dry enough to sit. For my birthday Peter got me a gardening tool set. We have a large garden lot here and garden beds around the house so I hope to do alot of planting this spring and canning in the fall.

I can't think of much else to say. Life is pretty routine right now. The kids are all doing well and anxiously awaiting the arrival of another sibling. Hopefully he or she will arrive before another round of colds hits.

Maybe I'll see if I can figure out how to get some pics up.
Bye for now
Rhiannon

2007-02-16T11:27:00.000-07:00

Baby's head is now engaged but my cervix is not co-operating very well. It's still high and not dialating at all. My doctor told me yesterday to do whatever I can to get things going but there really isn't that much I can do. Babies come when they come. So we are continuing to (try) and be patient and wait for this little one to come. I would really like to be home from the hospital (with a baby) before my birthday in 8 days but it's not looking like that'll happen. Then again things can change fast too, so we'll see what happens.

Everyone here is doing well and we are all over our colds now. We got more snow last night and are expecting more over the next few days. It's pretty warm out too so we've been outside and enjoying open windows and listening to birds sing alot lately. It sure is nice to have some fresh air in the house. Maybe a few walks around the block in this nice weather would help to get things going a bit!

I'd like to post some pictures but apparently bloggerbot died and I only know how to post with hello. So we'll have to figure out something else when we've got time and I guess we're gonna have to switch to the new blog pretty soon but I don't really want to. I'm quite computer illiterate and I just don't want to take the time to figure it all out. One day I'll get to it.

One more thing. Today I played chess with Kevin for the first time and he is really really good. I'm no excellent chess player (and I did win) but he had me worried a couple of times. He has been playing with Peter and on the computer for a few weeks now and just loves the game. He will even play with himself to figure out strategies and stuff. I'm very impressed.

Anyway, I need to go and get some lunch and do some laundry then maybe I'll go for that walk.
Later
Rhiannon

2007-02-08T12:58:00.000-07:00

Today I went to the hospital for pre-admission. The hospital here is nice and the maternity wing is on the main floor, very nice. Actually I have been at the hospital every day since Sunday. Emily has had croup and has been on ventillin twice a day for the last 3 days. She is doing much better now but still very sleepy. I also had a dr.'s appointment this morning. Everything is looking good but he does not think I will be early:( But he did give me his cell phone number in case I go into labour soon. I tend to have fast labour and delivery's so he wants me to call him before we go to the hospital. I have been having false labour every day for the last week and a half and a couple of times have wondered if it's the beginning of real labour. Usually everything stops as I start timing contractions. Baby is down but not engaged yet. They come when they come. The hard part now is just being patient.

Everyone else is doing well. A few colds but nothing major except for the croup which is cleared up now. Peter has been off all week so it's been great to have him home and helping. Yesterday we cooked a turkey and today we are making lots of turkey pies to freeze. So far I have 11 casseroles in the freezer and we should get lots from the turkey. The kids are enjoying all the snow. We've had more this week. They are building a fort in the backyard. We also put a bird feeder up in our front yard and the birds are just going crazy over it. They empty it in about a week and fight over it. It's so nice to see and hear birds around.

I'm going to go and have some lunch, work on my afghan (I'm about half done now) do some laundry and make those turkey pies. I'll keep ya posted with baby updates.

Time Flies...Quick Update

2007-01-25T13:58:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while but I didn't realize quite how long. Life sure has been busy lately.
Christmas was good. Peter was on day shift but was allowed to stay home on call. No calls came in so we had a very nice and quiet family Christmas. Hopefully I'll get to posting some pics when I have more time.
Pregnancy is still going well. Baby dropped around new years so I am feeling alot of pressure on my pelvis but this is normal for me and I don't think the baby will be too early. I am now 35 weeks. Most of our stuff is ready I just need to clean the craddle lining and pack a hospital bag. The kids are excited and anxious.
I started crocheting an afghan last week. Since I need to be sitting a little more often this is something that makes me sit down and not fall asleep. There are three different blocks in it, an octagon, a square and a triangle. I am half done the octagons now.
The kids are all doing well. No major illnesses recently, just sniffles. The weather has warmed up quite a bit, too much for this time of year actually, we have been enjoying the outdoors a little more often. School is going really well too. Kevin and Alisha are both reading really well and enjoying it too. Kevin is very good and quick in math. Alisha struggles a little more but considering she is 5 and doing a grade 1 math program she really is doing excellent. Kevin told me recently he doesn't like reading stories that aren't true. He can't understand why somebody would make something up and write it in a book. He told me to only read him stories about real people. We do read alot of biography type books for kids but he just can't get enough of them.

Speech therapy for Jessica is in less than an hour (which is also going really really well) and then we have immunizations for Emily and Jessica right away. Come home and eat supper then off to Awana. Life is busy but it's good. I always tell people if I didn't have my hands full with kids I'd just fill them up with something else and what could be better than this.

Hopefully not to long before you hear from me again.
Rhiannon

Fun Day

2006-12-13T14:11:00.001-07:00

Peter has been making an ice rink in our back yard for the last week and a half. Today the kids got to go skating on it for the first time. Alisha doesn't like to skate so much but Kevin and Jessica love it. This morning we also made clocks out of paper plates. Kevin and Alisha are learning how to tell time and now they want their own watches. I'm not sure about that yet but they like their toy clocks. We decorated them with some stickers that Grandma and Grandpa sent. After the clocks the kids had lots of fun making things out of pipe cleaners. Kevin made a bell and a lizard. Alisha just twists them together and then makes up names for her creations. I made a bunch of stars out of the sparkly ones.

In November Alisha turned 5. We didn't have a party until December because of Peter's shifts. We had 4 girls over for cake and crafts. Alisha had alot of fun and couldn't sleep the night after the party. She kept getting up to go to the bathroom but she would just stand in their and stare at all her new earrings.

The kids are having alot of fun now as we are getting ready for Christmas. They have found the stash of wrapped presents in our bedroom closet and can't wait to see them under the tree. I won't put them under until Christmas day because I don't want any peeking. They are also learning a little more about Santa Claus. Until this year we've pretty much been able to ignore the Santa figure but as they get older it gets alittle harder. We have taught them about the real Saint Nicholas and we want to teach them to give to things like Santa's Toy box for kids who won't get anything else for Christmas. I think the real santa did a great thing but now it is just a thing for rich kids to get more toys. I want to keep the idea of Santa Claus as a man who gives to the poor. I really just don't feel right about trying to make my kids believe something that just isn't true. Yes there was a Santa who lived many years ago but there is no one who fly's around in a sleigh pulled by reindeer to give presents to kids who already have everything.

Pregnancy continues to go well. It looks like we are having a boy this time but I am not going to buy anything until he is out. I have been a little lazy about making my prenatal appointments on time but I also feel like everything is going just fine. The doctor says this is a big baby but we have a history of big babies so I'm not worried. I also think that my uterus is measuring bigger than it should be because this is my fifth child. I imagine it would be pretty stretched out by now.

Emily is walking now! She took her first steps while my mom was visiting in November. That was so nice for her to see the first steps. She is now walking alot and climbing onto everything. She especially likes to climb onto the kitchen table when we are not looking but she has already fallen off once. She landed flat on her back and knocked her breath out. Kinda scary at first but she is OK now. That isn't stopping her from trying again though.

I need to go now and make some hot chocolate for the kids that just came inside. Enjoy the pics and have a wonderful Christmas season.

Rhiannon

2006-12-13T14:11:00.000-07:00

My mom sent Alisha a polly pocket set for her birthday. I think this was actually on her birthday.

2006-12-13T14:10:00.000-07:00

While Peter was away he bought Alisha a jewellery box for her birthday. He got home around the kids bedtime. I also got her some earrings that she has been asking for since she got her ears pierced last summer.

2006-12-13T14:08:00.000-07:00

Alisha's birthday cake. We had this 2 days after her birthday because Peter was away on course. He came home the day after her birthday and made this the next day.

2006-12-13T14:07:00.000-07:00

Alisha's new favorite thing to cuddle with at night. She had even been telling me that she needs some nice pillows for her bed.

2006-12-13T14:05:00.000-07:00

A barbi back pack that has lip gloss and hair things.

2006-12-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

This is a doll that has hair down to it's ankles. It came with barrets and a little style book.

2006-12-13T14:03:00.001-07:00

Alisha loves earrings and any kind of jewellery.

2006-12-13T14:03:00.000-07:00

Alisha and her friends at her birthday party. We had alot of fun making crowns out of gold and silver doilies folded over a strip of tin foil. I found some scrapbook stickers that look like jewels to decorate the crowns with.

2006-12-13T14:01:00.001-07:00

Alisha's second birthday cake.

2006-12-13T14:01:00.000-07:00

Our Christmas tree.

2006-12-13T14:00:00.000-07:00

Jessica is pushing a chair around to get used to the ice.

2006-12-13T13:59:00.000-07:00

Kevin is having alot of fun just playing pass with Peter. He yells score everytime he gets the ball past him.

2006-12-13T13:46:00.000-07:00

Alisha and Jessica. Jessica is enjoying skating alot more than Alisha is. She says "me play hockey"

2006-10-30T21:22:00.000-07:00

Alisha making a snow angel. I think we got 6inches of snow on Friday/Saturday. It's deeper in the back than in the front, because of the trees I guess.

2006-10-30T21:20:00.000-07:00

Jessica loves the snow a little more this year than last. She still likes to be where I am though and that is usually inside. Today I stayed outside for about an hour while Emily slept.

2006-10-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

Kevin is always laying down in the snow. I can't believe how much of it is caked onto the top of his head when he comes in. He loves to be outside and the cold does not bother him at all.

2006-10-30T21:11:00.000-07:00

Today the kids and I went for a walk around the block. This is the view from the end of our street.

2006-10-30T21:09:00.000-07:00

Our first snowfall, about two weeks ago, Kevin and Alisha's new snowsuits arrived the same day.

2006-10-30T21:07:00.001-07:00

Kevin on the day we had our Thanksgiving Supper. He loves having his picture taken.

2006-10-30T21:07:00.000-07:00

Alisha and Jessica, ready for some Turkey.

2006-10-30T21:06:00.001-07:00

Peter ducking from the camera.

2006-10-30T21:06:00.000-07:00

Emily's birthday cupcakes. She turned one only a few days after we moved so we really didn't do much. She did enjoy those cupcakes though.

2006-10-30T21:04:00.001-07:00

Mmmm...

2006-10-30T21:04:00.000-07:00

Cool this stuff comes off. I think the unwrapping took about 10min before we helped.

2006-10-30T21:03:00.000-07:00

Here you go. I'm sharing.

2006-10-30T21:02:00.001-07:00

Maybe kissing it will help. Emily is in a kissing phase, or I should say drooling and slobbering phase.

2006-10-30T21:02:00.000-07:00

This isn't working...

2006-10-30T21:01:00.000-07:00

Yeah, it's finally open.

2006-10-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

Emily loves these toys. She likes to take the round ones out and chase them around the living room. She does stack them too.

2006-10-30T20:58:00.000-07:00

Emily wasn't sure what to think of the leaves.

2006-10-30T20:57:00.000-07:00

This was almost a month ago. The kids had alot of fun throwing the leaves around while I continued raking them together.

2006-10-30T20:56:00.000-07:00

We grew this from a kidney bean. It was really neat for the kids to see the roots and everything. We have grown four more since. Those four are now in pots and some are in sunny places and some aren't being watered and one is in the cupboard. We're going to find out which one will grow the best and see if the kids can figure out why.

2006-10-30T20:54:00.001-07:00

Yummy!!

2006-10-30T20:54:00.000-07:00

In Sept. the kids and I made some fall cookies together. I've had the cutters for two years and this was the first time we have used them.

2006-10-30T20:45:00.000-07:00

Alisha drew this picture today. She says it is Zaccheaus (sp?) and she sang the song "Zaccheaus is a Wee Little Man" while she was drawing it. I love the way she draws happy faces.

2006-10-21T22:22:00.000-06:00

I just picked up my mug for the 2nd or 3rd time to take a sip of tea and it is empty:( I suppose I should just go and make some more tea but then I would stay up longer. It's already past bedtime but, like my children, I don't like going to bed.

I put Emily in cloth diapers last week. I used cloth for the first three but didn't with Emily because of the timing of her birth, I wanted to keep life as stress free as I possibly could. Then after we moved here there was no room in the bathroom for a pail so I had another excuse not to use the many cloth diapers I had stored in the basement. Well now we have a nice size bathroom with space for a pail and with expenses a little bit more in a house (this is the first time we have actually lived in a house) I decided to make use of the cloth. I forgot how much of a stink that little pail can make so today I bought an airfreshener and now our bathroom smells like TROPICAL DIAPERS. Oh dear.

I still have those pics on my camera to post but if I start that now I'll be up way too late. Maybe next week while Peter has a few days off.

I'm going to go to bed now.
Right after I dump the diapers into the washer to soak overnight. I'm looking forward to one day having all of my children potty trained.
Good Night(or good day, what ever it is when you are reading this)
Rhiannon

Busy Month

2006-10-17T21:15:00.000-06:00

Our move has gone well and we have been busy since with many things. I was very thankful for nice weather on the day we moved. It had rained for a week before and then the day before was very windy and all the clouds blew away! We had some nice cool sunshine on moving day and got everything moved by about 3pm and then had the old place cleaned and ready for inspection by 8pm. What a busy day! We love the extra space of our new home and we have great neighbours for our children to play with. A 6yr old boy and 3yr old girl on one side and a 4 yr old boy on the other. Kevin is having tons of fun with his new friends.

Emily turned 1 on Oct 1! We made cupcakes after church and took some pictures but no parties or anything. We actually didn't even buy anything for her because I just didn't know what to get (she has 2 older sisters and everything a little girl could want) and it's not like she cares. She did get a gift mailed out by Nana (my mom) which she loves, and some money which bought her a needed jacket and some long underwear as she is alittle colder in her new bedroom.

We only took one week off of school for the move so that has been taking up most of our mornings. Alisha is reading 3 letter words already and is way ahead of our curriculum. I am going to upgrade to the advanced readers for her. Kevin however is not doing as well with reading. Nothing I am concerned about because he is improving but he is having trouble turning sounds into words. He can say B-A-T but he has trouble turning that into BAT. I think he is also bored. He enjoys me reading chapter books to him and finds them much more interesting then "baby" books. Anyway, I am sure once he "gets it" he will be a very good reader because he does enjoy books very much.

Kevin has also started Judo lessons and is enjoying them very much. Peter is also going when he can. Kevin loves doing something that daddy does.

Pregnancy continues to go well. At my last prenatal the Dr. told me that baby is a little big but that is nothing new for me. Everyone except Jessica (who wasn't being fed properly because an umbilical cord problem) was over 8lbs at birth. So I fully expect to have a big baby. I am around 21 weeks now and feeling lots of movement and my energy levels are climbing back up too. My appettite is definitly back and our grocery bill is proof of it!

In the midst of our business(busyness?) we had very quiet and enjoyable but late thanksgiving. Peter worked both the Sunday and Monday so we had our turkey on the Friday after. Peter baked pumpkin pies and buns the day before and we all enjoyed a lovely Turkey supper and we are still enjoying leftovers.

We also celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary this past Sunday. Actually our anniversary was on Monday the 16th but we were able to go on a date on Sunday night. We enjoyed supper at Boston Pizza, a place we used to go to ALOT while we were dating, with NO children. A young lady in our church who has babysat for us before offered to babysit as an anniversary present. The kids enjoyed being babysat and we were again reminded that we need to do this date thing more often.

Now I must be off to fold some clothes and clean up some toys so I can get to bed at a decent time. I hope you had a good Thanksgiving and are enjoying the harvest season.

Rhiannon
p.s I also have a whole bunch of pics to post. Hopefully I will find time to do that in the next couple of days.

Moving

2006-09-25T12:10:00.000-06:00

Tonight we go and see our new home with all of the renovations completed. We saw it in August in the midst of carpet and lino being torn up and insulation being put in. Alot has been done since. The only carpet is in bedrooms and I think only some. All walls have been painted. New furnace, stove top, ceiling fan...I am really looking forward to seeing it. We are almost completely packed now and we will start moving on Tuesday evening and finish Wednesday afternoon. Then clean this place on Thursday and the new tenants move in here on Friday. Today I had planned to clean up the yard and cut the grass but it is raining! The forecast said sunny today and the rest of the week and now the forecast says rain today tomorrow and cloudy on Wednesday. We do have a truck coming on Wednesday that is covered so if it is raining our furniture won't be rained on but it would still be really nice to have clear skies.

Peter is packing our computer tonight so we will be offline for a few days. Probably till Friday.

If you think of us in the next few days pray for a smooth move.
Thanks
Rhiannon

2006-09-20T13:25:00.000-06:00

These are the the things we have made with the Perler Beads. Peter did the flags (the blue and white one is a finnish flag because Peter's mom is from Finland) and the sunflower and hexagon. I did the diamond (that was supposed to look like a kite) and the star. The kids each did a heart from top to bottom they are Alisha's, Kevin's and Jessica's. The others are patterns from the perler bead website.

Earrings, Potty, Perler Beads, Moving and Baby

2006-09-20T12:52:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago I took Alisha to get her ears pierced. She had seen me putting earrings in and asked if she could put some in too. I explained to her that she had to have holes in her ears before she could get earrings and she started asking to get them pierced. After talking to Peter I made a deal with Alisha. She has been having alot of unnecessary accidents lately because she just doesn't like to get up and go to the bathroom when she needs to. So I told her that if she can stay dry then I will take her to get her ears pierced. The change was instant! No more wet undies! She asked repeatedly everyday and so I kept my end of the bargain and she now has pretty pink studs in her ears. I thought she was going to cry after the first piercing but she is a tough little girl and held it all in, but she did not want to talk about for a few days. Her ears are healing up nicely and I think she will get a few new pairs of earrings for her birthday in November.

Since all of this Jessica has become more interested in potty. We had alot of trouble potty training Kevin and Alisha so with Jessica I just thought she'll do it when she's ready but I don't want a battle. She has had underwear in her drawer for quite a few months but would wear it until she peed and then bring me a diaper. Last Friday she decided she wanted to wear underwear and she has only had a few accidents since then! Two days she stayed dry all day long. I am so impressed with her and NO BATTLE. Last night she even wore underwear to bed and got up to go to the bathroom. WOW. So now I only have one in diapers, for a few more months anyway.

Last weekend we drove into Edmonton and stopped at Micheals to pick up some Perler Beads. We have all been enjoying them and the kids love them alot more than I expected. Kevin has been getting them out first thing in the morning even before breakfast. Peter is having lots of fun too. Yesterday I went to their website, perlerbeads.com, and checked out some patterns that they have. There is a picture of our creations below this post.

Next week we will start moving into our new home. We are all very excited and busy as we pack and clean and continue with school through this. I plan to take next week off of school but I don't want to have to stop for any longer then needed.

I am now 17 weeks along and I am feeling baby moving around in that ever growing belly. I am also feeling braxton hicks contractions quite alot and so have been trying to sit down often. Packing for 15 min. then sit down and crochet for 15min. I like this pattern of work because it allows me to do something I enjoy and rest while getting some work done. Kevin is also anxious for me to finish his scarf.

Ultra Sound

2006-09-07T21:36:00.000-06:00

I had my first ultra sound today. I am now 15.5 weeks pregnant and baby looks healthy and active. My due date is a little earlier then I guessed on February 27, only 3 days after my birthday, (does anyone know if it is leap year next year?). Morning sickness is now passed and I am starting to gain back some of the 13lbs I lost. I have also been able to go back to curves but I can definitly feel the loss of strength after being so sick. I would really like to keep up the exercising while I am pregnant and hopefully make getting back into shape afterwards a little easier.

The kids and I have also started school and yesterday we received the french program I ordered. It is alot of fun and Kevin and Peter and I are enjoying it alot. Alisha likes to say the words and repeats them while I am doing a lesson but doesn't really know what they mean. Today she kept repeating cinq et six over and over. I think she knows they are numbers but not what numbers. Rosetta Stone is an excellent program and I am very pleased with it so far. The kids also started Awana tonight. Kevin and Alisha are both in Sparks and Jessica is in Cubbies. They all enjoyed it very much. Then in two weeks Alisha and Jessica start swimming lessons (Kevin's level was booked, I'll have to try to get him in over Christmas or after the new year.) and then in October Kevin will try out Judo lessons. The first two lessons are free and then we can decide if we want to register him for the year. I think Kevin will really enjoy it but we shall see. A part of RCMP training is Judo so Peter has done a little bit and would like to take more lessons but that is hard to do with shift work. The guy who runs the Judo club here is very nice though and has a good deal for RCMP members so Peter will be able to go when he has the night of lessons off at no charge. They also welcome parents to come and join in their childrens lessons.

Our fall is looking busy and I am very glad that my energy levels are going back up. I just need to remember to take all those vitamins and get to bed at a decent hour. Speaking of getting to bed it is only 20 minutes away from my bed time now so I am going to say Good Night and Sleep Tight!

Autumn Weather

2006-08-28T13:18:00.001-06:00

The high today is 30 but it sure feels like fall outside. Actually the leaves are changing color already and there are a few on the ground. Today is also the first day of school (for the district) and we also started (again) today. I had started school in July after taking June off but then got so sick with pregnancy that I had to stop. I was really surprised how much the kids remembered from July. The only thing we havn't started yet is Math. I wasn't going to do Math with Alisha because it is a grade 1 curriculumn and I didn't think she was ready for it but when I got the program and started looking at it I think she would catch on to alot of it pretty quickly so I ordered her the work books and we will probably start next week. We are also going to learn French this year! I ordered a computer french immersion program, designed for homeschoolers, and I am really looking forward to using it. We tried the demo on the internet (Rosetta Stone) and Kevin thought it was a fun game and wanted to go to the store to buy it right away. It's on back order right now though so we will have to wait a while for it.

I saw the doctor last week for my first prenatal and he said that the size of my uterus is about 12weeks, so I would be 13 weeks now. That would put my due date in the beginning to middle of March, just like I guessed. My ultra sound is booked for Sept 7 so then I will have better date. We could hear the baby moving around and the blood flow through the placenta but baby was hiding behind the placenta so we couldn't get a heart beat. I am feeling much better now and my energy levels are slowly coming back up. I am still a bit nausiated but it's bearable and I can keep up with everyday housework now.

The kids are all outside in the yard now and I told them we would go to the park this afternoon. I feel like I missed summer because I have been so sick. Oh well...fall is my favorite season anyway so I will be sure to enjoy the outdoors before it gets too cold.

Enjoy your day!!
Rhiannon

2006-08-26T20:29:00.000-06:00

Kevin with his tongue where his bottome teeth should be. He lost one while brushing his teeth and didn't even realize until I went to brush his teeth. We found it on the bathroom floor. The next one he lost eating a grilled cheese sandwhich. Alisha is now anxious for her teeth to start falling out.