Surgeries

We had yet to have surgeries on any children until April of this year and them we had two surgeries 1 week apart! JD had a minor mouth surgery with a tooth extraction and William had a significant eye surgery... a Bilateral Strabismus surgery. Unfortunatly I didn't take any photos of JD after surgery but I did of Will.  Will's surgery was very effective but we won't kow the full extent of the recovery for another 2 months or so.  We were able to see an immediate differene in his eyes of course as the surgery corrected laziness in both eyes and it is amazing to see him look at you with both eyes at the same time!  His biggest hope for success is that he might be able to see in 3D, something he has never been able to do as both eyes did not work together. We will see if his eyes will fully correct over the next couple months to allow 3D vision with glasses! I loved how the other children prepped the house in anticipation of his return.  I was especially touched by the huge amount of time Shelley spent reading to William as he rested.  He really was pampered by the others over the days of his recovery and he loved it!

 



Double Digit Midgets

We had the joy of celebrating the twins 10^th birthday last week!  I kept thinking really …. 10??!??  Ten is such a big number for me as a momma!  At this age sometimes I feel desperation to slow the hands of time as I have noticed over the years the speed at which 10 becomes 13 and then 13 becomes 16! While they are both growing independently in so many ways, I love it when they do something similar and I will hear one or the other say … “well we are twins”.  J

10 is a big deal around here for a few reasons.  You get to have a “friends” party, you get to go out to dinner with just momma and daddy and possibly the biggest of them all for a Honey….your first “cuppa”… cup of coffee that is!  Shelley in particular has been unabashedly anticipating her cup of coffee for many, many months now!  I am so thankful our machine did not disappoint for her, she absolutely LoVeD her cup! Poor Will on the other hand was a bit like his sister Isabelle in that the delicious steaming cup of coffee just did not meet all the big hype and they both could gladly go without.  Our tally is 2/2 now… Mitchell and Shelley are coffee lovers, Isabelle and Will, not so much!  JD is already talking about his cup of coffee he will get in oh …. 4 years … so hopefully the tie breaker will go to the “cuppa”!!

 I could still say about Will much of what I wrote about him on his 9^th birthday!  He is still faithful in his tenderness in response to instruction from us, he is always willing to work with rarely a complaint, he still LOvEs building all he can with KNEX and LEGOS!  He still constantly asks Daddy how he can help him or if he can work or build with him around the house, and his handwriting is still beautiful! He is the faithful caretaker of our dog Rocky, and he is growing stronger this winter as he hauls in wood almost every day for our fireplace.  He has come to love RC items, especially the helicopter and airplane he received over this last year for Christmas and birthdays.  He spent many hours mastering his helicopter before it met it’s demise and now he is mastering the RC plane he just received for his birthday.  Hands down, he still is one of the most longsuffering big brother anyone has ever met….someday JD will have the privilege of understanding what a gem he has in his older brother William.

 

Much is the same for Shelley also!  She is all girl, all the time and we love it! She has a deep love for horses and cooking, she loves spending hours listening to stories/books on CD while her imagination is living the story in her mind. She still so enjoys “playing out” those stories for hours on end with her siblings in their makeshift frontier home. She is still a faithful student and is loving her sewing and knitting instruction this year.  I can’t wait to post about some of her completed projects! Hands down she has the most beautiful penmanship of ANY of our children.  She still excels at helping me around the house and is always willing to do the next thing I might ask of her. She has become an excellent reader aloud as she has spent many hours reading to Will for school and JD for pleasure.  Still one of the best ways to pass the time for JD is to snuggle next to his big sis for a story time. Yes, she still loves being “little momma” and gets better at it each year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Little, Little House

I love imaginative play and there is nothing like an old barn and castaway supplies to get the imaginations of children going! Myself and  ALL of our kiddos, including Mitchell (sorry honey), have long loved The Little House on the Prairie.  Many hours were spent reading the books and watching the old show... in fact we have all 9 seasons on DVD!  While the show was not perfect to the book, it was endearing all in itself.  Chad loves to joke that the only hymn they know is “Bringing in the Sheaves” and that Michael Landon takes his shirt off every third episode….I think the latter is a proven fact!  Nonetheless, this sweet series has been and always will be a family favorite.   So… we have this old red barn on the back of our property and boy have the children made a home away from home!  Unfortunately Chad’s desired storage space in the red building has been inched out little by little over the last couple years as the children have expanded their once “little room” to a full “little house” for play! I love that they will spend countless hours in sun, rain or snow playing out there!  They have what they consider a pioneer kitchen, a pantry, a fireplace and sitting area, a bedroom and a dining table. They have made everything from vegetable soup to banana mush to their own ink and quill…that actually worked for a while!  What I love the absolute most is that they have worked and played long hours together to create this “Little, Little House” and in the process, created priceless memories.

I guess SuperMan spans the ages! :-)

I love that in the midst of the pioneer home we have a cordless phone!



A kid quip worth sharing....

Overheard yet today as the children were working in the yard….

William to Isabelle…

“Isabelle, if Adam and Eve hadn’t sinned, would we be picking up sticks?”

Another precious and teachable moment!

9 years and a Cheeseburger Cake

Our little "Will-Bug" and "Shell-Belle" celebrated 9 years of life this month!  We have had such a sweet time of celebrating them and enjoyed 2 separate gatherings to commemorate this milestone! It is such a joy to see them grow and watch their individual personalities develop and at the same time they definitely are twins and similar in so many ways! 

William continues to be so faithful in his tenderness in response to instruction from us, he is always willing to work with rarely a complaint, he LOvEs building all he can with KNEX and LEGOS, he constantly asks Daddy how he can help him or if he can work or build with him around the house, he has great tenacity in his schoolwork and some of the best handwriting I have ever seen for such a young man!  His handwriting speaks of a future as an “architect” or “engineer” to me!  He is always willing to play many hours of “Little House on the Prairie” with his sister’s out in our red building they have converted to their frontier home! Hands down, he has to be the most longsuffering big brother anyone has ever met….someday JD will have the privilege of understanding what a gem he has in his older brother William. 

Shelley is all girl, all the time and we love it!  She has a penchant for all things pink or purple, she loves spending hours listening to stories/books on CD while her imagination is living the story in her mind.  She so enjoys “playing out” those stories for hours on end with her siblings in their makeshift frontier home.  Shelley is also so faithful in her schoolwork and also has beautiful penmanship herself! She is quite dependable in her chores and work around the house, always willing to do the next thing I might ask of her.  She loves to read stories to little ones and is so helpful to me when JD needs a little quieting down.  One of the best ways to pass the time for JD is to snuggle next to his big sis for a story time.  She loves being “little momma” when big sister Isabelle and I happen to be gone at the same time and she does a marvelous job filling in my shoes. 

They chose a delicious birthday dinner again this year…. Chicken Carbonara, garlic ceaser salad and golden garlic bread…. it is all “to die for” food!  They both wanted Kelsey and Aaron Tolsma over for their birthday dinner celebration and so we had a sweet time of fellowship with the two of them a couple nights ago.  This year for dessert they chose a Cheeseburger Cake!  WOW…. what an endeavor!  I baked everything, got all we needed from the store and planned on putting it all together and then my gem of a hubby actually ended up doing the assembly for me and he did an amazing job!  He had some interesting cake to work with as the top part that was supposed to be the bun had a hard time coming out of the bowl it was baked in and then broke into 3 pieces, but his talents prevailed and created an awesome and memorable cheeseburger cake! Children are a sweet blessing from the gracious hand of the Lord and it was another precious year of celebrating these two “not so little” ones that we love so dearly.

Going West