Giants...

        I know I know, it has been f o r e v e r since I have updated. Life has been a bit overwhelming and so my thoughts haven't been really straight to blog. I have opened this page up many times, began to write, and then... nothing. I am sure many know this feeling: so much emotion, thought, and activity that you don't even know what to say... that equals my life over the past several months it seems. I am longing for simplicity. But I guess we aren't always promised that in this thing called life. And I guess that's alright. Don't really have a choice do we?! :)
     
        Question, when you seem to be in the middle of a "storm" in your life, how do you handle it? Do you go against it face on? Do you let it blow you this way and that? Do you hide from it, hoping it will pass? I have probably done all of these things, all the while wondering, searching, and hoping that God will teach me (and quickly...Ha!) what it is He wants me to learn. Through reading and searching, there is one story that keeps coming to mind... One that I have read over and over.

         David started out as a shepherd, he was a poet, a king and an ancestor of Jesus. When you read about him, you can get a real sence of what it really means to worship. He wasn't perfect, He committed adultry, disobeyed God, and arranged a murder, but he was a man described by God himself as a man after his own heart. He weathered storms...

        Of course the most heard story of David includes Goliath. Goliath, the giant with attitude. He dressed of bronze and strutted his stuff challenging those around him to fight, one on one. For 40 days he did this. Although he was big, and he had all the "gear" He was missing one of the greatest strengths... God.

       When David told the king that he wanted to fight Goliath, the king tried to dress David in similar armor, but David was uncomfortable. He took them off and picked up 5 smooth stones. He was armed only with his shepard staff and a sling, and he went to fight the giant. Of course the giant basically laughed at the sight of him. I love what David says in defense :"You [Goliath] come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord..." (1 Sam. 17:45)

       "As Goliath moved closer to attack, David quickly ran out to meet him. Reaching into his shepherd's bag and taking out a stome, he hurled it with his sling and hit the philistine [Goliath] in the forehead. The stone sank in and Goliath stumbled and fell face down on the ground." (1Sam. 17:48&49)

       David was a shepherd. A regular sized man. Facing a giant. With a sling and a stone. And with God's help, he defeated a giant. When others looked at Goliath, they saw an opponent too powerful to deafeat: when David looked at Goliath, he saw a target too big to miss!

       When I face a giant-like storm, I confess, I see it as something too powerful to defeat. I feel weak, illequipped, and lost. But slowly, (I'm a bit of a slow learner :) ) I am learning that I have exactly what it takes to rage against the storms. God gives me all the tools/weapons I need to face the giants in my life. (Ephesians 6:10-18) And I need to be like more like David, and "quickly run" out to meet it, so that God can be glorified!

        What is your Goliath? Do you look ahead at something too big to conquer or something too big to miss? In Romans 8:31 it says, "if God is for us, who can ever be against us?" Face giants knowing that God is for you.

Potty Training...Day 1

I always tell people that you can do anything in 3 days, when it comes to common parenting milestones. Like taking a soother away or bottle, getting your child to sleep through the night, changing a bad behaviour, or potty training. Now I know some of you are thinking I've fallen off my rocker, but I believe that with a lot of consistancy and patience you can do many things in three days.

Today I started training my youngest (and last) child. It is bittersweet to not have a "baby" in the house, to be rid of diapers, and "onsies", but every stage in a family brings new joys, and as good as these last stages have been, I know that the joy ain't goin' anywhere! :)

Isabella is the 6th or 7th child that I have trained. Having an in-home daycare in the past sure adds up the amount of times you experience potty training! I have learned several things when it comes to potty training that I thought I would share. Take 'em or leave 'em.

1. Set small goals. Very small. This leaves very little room for disappointment.
2. Flood train. A good friend of mine works with autistic children and they use the "flooding" method to train. She told me about it when I trained Savannah. This way there is no guessing game. You know they are going to pee, and likely a lot which hopefully allows opportunity for some success. (Thanks great friend....you know who you are ;) )
3. Be patient. Don't get frustrated with little puddles, and the 10 changes of clothes on the first day.
4. Be the ultimate encourager. I find that kids don't really need treats or bribbery. It may help you both, and that's ok, but what they need most is a LOT of encouragement. For instance, tell them how great they are doing just sitting on the potty. Every time. No matter how little or how long they sit there for.
5. Get excited! There is nothing that I love to do more then get excited after a little tinkle ;) I mean, I shout and holler and jump up and down and dance and sing and laugh and hug and kiss... which makes little ones giggle and smile and shout and holler and jump up and down and dance and sing and giggle and smile more and more!!!!! They beam with pride!!!

Isabella isn't trained...yet. But I just set a small goal today (see #1) I hoped that she would know when she was wet. That was it. And guess what....she did!! I guess that's what happens when you give them lots to drink (#2) By being patient with her (see #3) I didn't get frustrated with the puddles (or when she peed right on me, or in my chair....twice...little monkey), she wasn't nervous or unsure of anything. She was free to learn, even learnign to help clean up the puddles :). That goes right into encouraging her. (#4) Every time she had an accident I would get her to sit on the potty. And I would say, "this is where your pee goes" which she would reply, "oh" LOL. I know that she just needed some time, and finally I caught her at the right time, and she made it to the potty in time!! (See #5) WOOT WOOT!! Once a child sees that excitement and recieves all that love and encouragement, I know that it just helps the process along :) Now remember, it wasn't my goal to have her pee in the potty today (Although I was sure hoping for it) In my eyes as far as I was concerned, if it had ended there, and she just kept having accidents, I would have considered the day a great success. But it just kept getting better! All together Isabella had 10 accidents and 6 successes :) The very last time she went, she went all by herself to the potty, before having any accidents. And everytime she did have an accident this afternoon, she went to the potty right after without me even having to ask her!

Potty Training Day 1..... huge success!!! I'll keep ya posted on how things go tomorrow.

Laundry. A never ending cycle...

Being a mom of three girls, and working on a farm means lots and lots and lots and lots of laundry. Lots. I have stated in other posts that laundry "ain't" my thing. I hated it!

Well I am pleased to say, after over 7 years of doing (or mostly ignoring) laundry. I don't hate it. Not even a little. In fact, I kind of like it. All stages... Let me tell ya why!

This summer, because it was so very hectic, my mom graciously offered to help out with my laundry. So we made an agreement that she would wash the girls laundry. Which then just left mine and J's, towels and barn clothes. Now I realize that not everyone has a mom like mine, who has this weird love for laundry (love ya Ma ;) ) But for me, it was a step in helping me realizing that I could actually maintain the other laundry. The laundry was always done....for like, the first time ever!

After a short time, I did a little bit of research about laundry... sounds a little bizarre I know, but clearly I wasn't born with any common sense regarding the issue. :) On the website Circle of Moms (which is basically a website where moms from all around can ask questions, offer tips and advice) It gave several suggestions. Here are the ones that helped me.

1. Do at least one load of laundry everyday.
                        Simple right?
2. Have a separate laundry hamper for every child.
                        This is the one that has made the BIGGEST difference for me, so I will explain a little bit here. Isabella, has her own laundry hamper, but Savannah and Lily used to share one. Which once things got to the folding process, I was left with a lot of sorting. Now, I know that doesn't seem like a big deal, but Lily and Savannah are close to the same size, and even though I am their mom,  there are too many pink girlie clothes to be able to always know what belongs to who. Therefore, I was always looking at tags, which made the whole process longer. Since getting their own hampers, I can put everything in the washer, and when it comes out, I already know exactly where it needs to be put away!
3. Fold as you take it out of the dryer.
                       Anyone else out there guilty of piling laundry cause you just wanna get it done and washed?!?! My room was often floor-less because I would wash all the laundry, saying I'll fold that later....but then I was left with even more sorting...big piles of sorting...
4. Keep drawers cleaned out.
                       There is nothing more frustrating then trying to shove clothes into a drawer. So I cleaned out dressers. If it wasn't the kids favorite things then we took them out, or if things were stained we now use them as barn clothes. The biggest thing here is rotating the clothes so that their drawers weren't full of clothes that didn't fit. Keeping things better organized in the drawers makes putting away easy and less frustrating.
5. Put clothes away after folding.
                       Now that the girls stuff is all separated, it makes it easy to put the laundry away promptly.
6. See laundry as a blessing.
                      If I have laundry, and a lot of it, it clearly means that God has blessed us with being able to have lots of clothes, and there are many people in the world that are not as fortunate. I am also blessed with a working washer and dryer. I don't have to take my laundry to a laundry mat, or wash things by hand.

I hope this helps anyone who battles and struggles with laundry. And to those of you who already know what your doing...keep up the great work!

I'm back....I think... LOL

Wow, has it really been June since I posted last? That really wasn't my intent on leaving the blogging world for so long... Oh Well!

Let me give you a sneak peak at what summer has looked like for me.

July was a busy, "growing" month. Helping out with VBS at our church was so much fun. There is just something about turning a sanctuary into an adventurous place for kids that makes everyone excited! This year we did SonSurf beach bash. It was a huge success in my opinion :)

About a week after that, myself along with other volunteers and the Youth participated in a mission tour called Tidal Impact. This event was definitely the highlight of my summer. The way that God stretched me, and opened my eyes to see our youth on a whole new level, was life changing. Along with serving people within our church and community, meeting people's needs through lots of hard work really shows why it is God calls us to serve. There were blessings all around!

Aside from church activities, life on the farm has been of course busy. Putting up silage and hay, and working away at the other normal chores have kept me busy. Most recently we trained calves for the the local exhibition. Leading the calves, washing and clipping them. It was so fun! And we learned some ways that we can improve some of the mistakes that were made this time, so that the calves do better another year, or in another show. Doing these things has really given the girls some first hand experiences, and taught the some responsibility. They enjoyed it all. The good the bad and the ugly :)

Now, things are are starting to settle into a good fall routine. Lily is back to school. Grade two...hard to believe really. But she is enjoying it and looks forward to going each day. Now, I realize this is only week two, but I am hoping that it sticks. It's been nice to not always be counting down to the weekend.

I guess that the summer in a nutshell :)

Stay tuned for info about some of the things I learned this summer to keep me better organized!

My little old treasures....

Some of you may not know that I love old stuff! The house that we live in used to be J's Grandfather's house. (I believe that we are the 4th or 5th generation to live in this house, cool or what!) Anyway, when the attic was being cleaned out, lots of little treasures were found that I fell in love with!! I thought I would share a couple with you. Hope you enjoy!

When the cupboards were gone through, this plate was found! Blue and yellow have always been my favorite colors, and pink is right up there since having three girls...the color just grows on ya! This plate was love at first sight, and I am so happy to have it!

And it works great with fresh chocolate-chip cookies!

These shelves were given to us as a Christmas present from my parents. They were put up in our living room before I even knew what was going to go on them. So up to the attic I went, and I found the box of things that were set aside for me. On the left are old cream bottles, and a tin that held yeast. In the middle is an old lantern, and a not-so-old vase. I love the pop of red! On the right is another cream bottle filled with old wooden spools of thread, and then there are old hymnals (And a painted rock that Lily gave J for fathers day!)

When we renovated our house 2 years ago, and we looked at designs for our kitchen cupboards, these little shelves were actually drawn up as wine storage. Not being wine drinkers, we asked if we could just have little shelves instead. Again, I had no idea what I could put on them. At first I thought plants, but I am not much of a green-thumb... so up to the attic I went again!

Here is a closer pic of what is on the shelf. The top shelf has an old post card, which is rather ridiculous! Ha!, and an old memorandum book. The second shelf has an old cigarette can, a not-so-old baking powder container, and an old tin that held OXO cubes. The third shelf has a Frozen Food Saw on it. The box is so vintage and the saw is still in the box!! I don't think it was ever uesed! The other two items on the shelf aren't old at all, but fit in well, adding some color!

The bottem shelf has 2 old cans that held yeast. And they still sell that same yeast today (there is a modern style jar of the yeast there too.) And those bottles are old food coloring bottles, and an old mint flavoring botttle.

This is some of my bathroom decor :) An old bandaids tin, and two tins of after shave "talc"...whatever that is! There is still "talc" in them, which Savannah has tried to use on several occasions as toilet bowl cleaner...

This clock was given to us as a wedding gift from my great aunt and uncle!

This is an old chest that was up in the attic too. It is one of my favorite things. I have little file folder boxes inside it for our files, and our cds are in there too! Cool filing cabnit and Cd storage case, eh?!

These are up in my laundry "room" (it's more of a hall then a room, but whatever :) ) It is an old clothes "dryer" and "washer" and "iron"! I also have some vintage laundry soap boxes, but don't have any shelves over the washer and dryer...yet :)

I just love the old with the new. It is amazing to see how far things have come over the years and how things have improved.

I am gonna link up with playingwithmycamera.blogspot.com! This fab lady is actually my neighbour, and has terrific blogs filled with stunning photos, and she has a liking to vintage stuff as well! Check it out!!

Big "Muskles"(muscles)...

Most nights when putting the kids to bed, Savannah always wants me to tell her a story. Not from a book, but from the top of my head. Well, I am not overly creative to just tell a story and the "princess/prince" stories just get old so fast. So usually I will tell her a bible story.

One particular night, I told her the story of Noah and the Arc. A common story. She listened so very intently, helped me list off so many different animals, we flapped our arms as if we were the dove going for the olive branch. And of course at the end, I told her that God sent a rainbow as a promise that He would never flood the whole earth as He did then. I am not really sure how that triggered the next part of our conversation....

Savannah (with BIG eyes): "Mummy, you know what?"
Me: "What?" (thinking that the story just went over her head....)
Savannah: "Did you know that God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die on the cross?"
Me: (WHOA...not didn't expect that....) "Yes, do you believe that Jesus came and died on the cross to save us from our sins, from all the things that we do wrong?"
Savannah: "Mmhm, I do"
Me: "Do you believe that after Jesus died, that He rose again and left His spirit, part of Himself, to live in our hearts?"
Savannah: "Yeah Mummy."
Then I said: "If you believe those things, we can pray, and ask Jesus to come and live in your heart, and then you can go to heaven."
Savannah (with REALLY big eyes this time): "But Mummy, if I were there, when Jesus was on the cross, I would have climbed up there and taken Him down.
Me: "Yeah?" (with little tears in my eyes!)
Savannah: "Yeah, 'cause I got big muskles! (As she flexes and feels her"muscles")

Then we prayed, and she asked Jesus to come into her heart.

Jesus said, "Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14

Party Animals....

The past few weeks have been crazy both with work and birthday parties. Savannah and Isabella's birthday's are only 15 days apart, which leaves us partying for a couple of weeks :)

In year's past, Alana, (my Sis-in-law who used to work in a bakery) would decorate the girls cakes. She always did such a great job, and even though they were store bought cakes, they were still special because she would decorate them. When she left there, I still bought the girls cakes, but was always a little disappointed in how they looked. I even purchased a couple where you could hardly read what the name was...it was awful. And as a mom, I want things to look good, especially on their birthdays. So, this year, I decided to make their cakes. I made their cakes from scratch, but bought the icing as I haven't really played around with icing a lot or found any that I really like. (I am not much of a sweet tooth to be honest)

For Isabella's, I made a cow cake. She is OBSESSED with cows. Cats are cows, dogs are cows, even birds are cows. When we drive around in keswick, she knows where the cows are! (Farmer already ;) ) So after a couple of google image searches, I found a couple of cow cakes, and sort of created it into one of my own, and I must say, it didn't turn out too bad for my first ever "themed" cake! Here are some pics of her party...

I told her to say cheese....and this is how she responded...LOL

The Cow Cake...the spots are brown...they look darker in this pic, but I just thought that I should clarify, ha!
(Sorry that it is sideways...not sure how to fix that, fixed it in my pictures folder, but it wouldn't add it on here right....)

1st and 4th generation!

For Savannah's, I noticed rainbow Cupcakes on a blog that I follow found here. I used my own homemade cake recipe, but the results of the colors turned out great! Savannah was thrilled!  Here are some pics from her party...

RAINBOW CUPCAKES!

Present time! (I don't have many pics of present, as her back was to the camera. Well that, and Savannah didn't waste anytime :)

4!!! (Hard for this Mumma to believe!)

Mmmm, mmm, good!

Miss Lily enjoying her's!

When Isabella see's a camera, her automatic response is to say "Cheese"...even if her mouth is full!

It was so fun making the girls cakes for their birthday's, and wish I had started it sooner. They too were very excited which made it that much more special! I wonder what I will be able to create next...

I am gonna link up with

Enjoy!